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NEBRASKA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER DEVOTED TO THE INTERESTS OF COLORED AMERICANS
THE REV. JOHN ALBERT WILLIAMS, Editor.
GROWING —
THANK YOU
$2.fl© a Y —S Cent* a Copy Omaha, Nebraska, Friday, December 30, 1927_Vol. XIII—Number 26 Whole Number 648
A Happy New Year To All
SECOND CONTEST FOR MUSICAL
COMPOSERS OF THE NEGRO RACE
Several Cash Prizes Are Again Offered by Rodman
Wanamaker Through The Robert Curtis Ogden
Association to Stimulate Composers.
Omahans Should Compete.
Philadelphia, Pa., Dec. 29—(Spe
cial Correspondence)—Rodman Wan
amaker of this city has again offered \
$1,000 in prizes for composers of the j
Negro race, the offer, as was the case j
last year, being made through the
Robert Curtis Ogden association, an !
organization composed of Negro em
ployees of the John Wanamaker!
store, Philadelphia. This is the sec
ond offer of the kind made by Mr.
Wanamaker, who inaugurated a sim- 1
ilar plan last year, the results being
some excellent compositions in a
great variety of forms. This year,
however, Mr. Wanamaker has made
several radical modifications in the j
offer as compared with last year, by I
increasing the prizes in some in - ^
stances and lowering the numbers of j
classifications. The National Associ- '
ation of Negro Musicians, Inc., is ]
working with the Robert Curtis Og
den association in making public the !
terms of the contest. This was also
done last season and the names of I
the winners of the prizes were an- |
nounced at the national convention
of that organization last August in
St. Louis.
This year, there are four classifica- j
tions instead of five as was the case :
in the first contest, with three
prizes in each class, making twelve
in all. The four this year are as
follows: Class 1, a composition for
orchestra; Class 2, a love song for
one voice with accompaniment op
tional with the composer; Class 3, a.■
group for miscellaneous works fora
one or more instruments; Class 4, a :
composition for band. In all of these I
classifications, the widest possible lat- j
itude is allowed the composers in all i
respects except as to the instruments j
or voices for which they shall write.
The compositions intended for!
Class 1 must be a work scored for i
full orchestra, that is, an orchestra
containing as a minimum number of
instruments, the full complement of
woodwind, brass and string parts of
a symphony orchestra, although ex
tra instruments may be used at the
N. A. A. C. P. AIDS FIGHT
ON ATLANTIC CITY
SCHOOL SEGREGATION
New York, N. Y.—The National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, recently announced
it had retained Eugene R. Hayne, of
Aabury Park, in a legal fight on
school segregation in that city. Mr.
Hayne is the attorney through whom
the N. A.. A. C. P. decisively defeat
ed the attempt to segregate colored
children at Toms River, N. J., last
spring.
The Atlantic City fight arises out
of the establishment of two segregat
ed schools for colored children. To
reach these schools some of the col
ored children, it is reported, have to
pass as many as three schools at
tended by white children.
The decision of the N. A. A. C. P.
to enter this fight was the outcome
of a conference at the office of Ar
thur B. Spingarn, chairman of the
association’s national legal commit
tee, participated in by Mr. and Mrs.
J. C. Edwards, Mr. Huntley, Miss
Tanner, Mrs. Haynes of Atlantic City,
and Messrs. Spingarn, James Weldon
Johnson and William Andrews, rep
resenting the N. A. A. C. P.
WISHES MERRY CHRISTMAS
WHILE BEING EXECUTED
Urbana, 111.—Wishing more than
200 spectators a “merry Christmas
and a happy New Year,’’ as he stood
on the platform of the gaHows just
before the cap was placed over his
head and the trap was sprung, Her
schell Andrews, of Indianapolis, Ind.,
paid with his life last Friday morn
ing for the slaying of Thomas Tate,
of Champaign, 111., on Christmas
morning 1026.
option of the composer. It may be a
symphony, a symphonic poem, an
overture, etc., and may be in one or
more movements. The prizes for this
class are: First prize, $250; second
prize, $100; and third prize, $50.
Compositions submitted for Class
2 must be a vocal solo for one voice
only. Instrumental compositions will
not be considered in this classifica
tion as they were last year. The ac
companiment may be for piano, or
chestra, etc., and obligato instruments
may be used as the composer desires,
but they are not necessary to make
the composition eligible for a prize.
The prizes irt this class are: First
prize, $100; second prize, $75; and
third prize, $50. However, it is re
quired that the composition be a love
song. Song poems, that is, words un
accompanied by music, will not be
considered under any circumstances.
Class 3 is for instrumental compo
sitions only. Works submitted may
be in any form, dance, sonata, or mis
cellaneous, and may be written for
solo instruments with an accompani
ment desired by the composer or for
groups of instruments which, how
ever, must not exceed ten in number.
The prizes in this class are: First
prize, $100; second prize, $75; third
prize, $50.
Compositions submitted for Class
4 must be for a full brass band and i
any type of composition is eligible,
a theme and variations, a march of
any form preferred by the composer,
frhe prizes here are: First prize,
$100; second prize, $75; and third
prize, $50. The employment of the
Negro idiom melodically, rhythmic
ally and harmonically, will have some
weight with the judges, but the qual
ity of musical thought and workman
ship will have the first consideration.
The Negro idiom is preferable, but
not essential. All compositions sub
mitted must be in the hands of the
Robert Curtis Ogden association of
the John Wanamaker store, of Phila
delphia, not later than midnight of
June 1, 1928.
DR. MOTON TELLS PRESIDENT
LYNCHINGS HAVE DECLINED
Washington, D. C., Dec. 30—In re
sponse to a direct inquiry from the
president of the United States Dr.
R. R. Moton says that lynching is on
the decrease in the South. Dr. Moton
called on President Coolidge last
Tuesday.
Dr. Moton said that President
Coolidge inquired specifically into
the situation regarding lynching and
mob violence and that he was able to
report that on the basis of present
indications the number of lynchings
for this year would be substantially
below those for 1926.
President Coolidge also received a
report on the Veterans’ hospital lo
cated at Tuskegee, which some time
ago was placed entirely under the su
pervision of a Negro personnel. Dr.
Moton reported that the hospital was
showing excellent progress under the
present management and assured the
President that things were running
smoothly.
I
DR. E. R. EMBREE TO
HEAD ROSENWALD FUND
New York City, Dec. 30—Dr. Ed
win Rogers Embree, vice-president of
the Rockefeller Foundation, will be
come president of the Julius Rosen
wald Fund, with headquarters in Chi
cago, 111., January 1, according to an
announcement made by Mr. Rosen
wald last week. Like the Rockefeller
Foundation, the Rosenwald Fund is
devoted to general welfare. It has i
given much assistance to medical re
search throughout the country. Fif- i
teen race Y. M. C. A.’s have been as
sisted and hundreds of schools in the
rural districts throughout the south
and west.
EDITORIAL
There is always something pathetic about the passing of
the Old Year. It is very much like watching an old friend die.
So it has always seemed to us. This, no doubt, will be regarded
by many as merely sentimentalism, but sentiment plays an im
portant part in life.
As the one is passing we think more of his good qualities
than of his bad, of his points of strength rather than of weak
ness, and we are remorseful that we were not a little kinder
or more considerate or more appreciative of him when he was
in the flush of years and of health. We instinctively look back
ward through the years and recount our shortcomings towards
him.
And so it is with the closing of each year.
Its passing involuntarily evokes in us a retrospective mood.
We are impelled, if not compelled, to take a backward glance,
to hastily review some of the opportunities we have had and
perhaps let slip, to think of mistakes we have made, of sins
we have committed, to sum up and strike a balance between
our successes and our failures. To write our credits and debits
in the ledger of life.
Many, perhaps most, will decide that the debits, largely
outnumber the credits; but, in reality, this is not true. In the
average life there is something to write upon the credit side of
life at the close of every year. You will find it so this year. Sor
row and sadness and disappointments—many may have been
your lot, and yet you may find that even these have left you
richer in spiritual experiences and in the evaluation of life.
Whatever your mistakes and failures may have been, do not
lose heart. Take courage and go forward. Sursum corda.
Lift up your heart.
A New Year dawns, bringing with it its golden opportuni
ties for growth and progress. How will you use it? Wisely or
unwisely? Wisely, we hope, for larger and fuller growth in
every way, building a larger mansion for our soul as individuals,
as a race, and as a nation.
“Build thee more stately mansions, Oh, my soul
As the swift seasons roll;
Leave thy low vaulted past;
Let each New Year find thee nobler than the last,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell
By life’s unresting sea.”
_
IS THIS ANOTHER THREATENING GESTURE?
The Monitor believes that the Pullman Porters are justified
in their efforts to organize for better wages and working con
ditions. As we understand it, they are the only railway or
transportation employees who are not recognized and union
ized. The conductors have their union and it is respected.
The locomotive engineers have a powerful organization, and
so have other trainmen. By virtue of their organization and
union they have been able to secure better wages and improved
working conditions.
This is precisely what the Pullman porters desire to do.
That is why they have organized the Brotherhood of Sleeping
Car Porters, which the Pullman company is fighting. It looks
very much as though that powerful corporation is using every
method possible to intimidate this class of employees and to
frustrate or destroy their union. The company’s latest threat
ening gesture is the »mployment of Chinese as club car porters
on trains on the Northwestern-Union Pacific lines. This is
following up the plan adopted a short while ago in displacing
Negroes by Filipinos as buffet porters. The number of such is
not large; but it is being tried ostensibly as an “experiment,”
but in reality as a threat and bluff to intimidate the porters.
This latest move is one of the same nature, in our humble
opinion. Adroitness has been displayed by the Pullman com
pany in trying to see to it that the Chinese who are to displace
Negroes are American born. This is to forestall criticism
against the employment of foreign labor. American born
Chinese who will want this kind of employment are quite
scarce. Even though they were plentiful, it would be interest
ing to note the reaction of the American public, which really
at heart believes in fair play. White Americans who, of course,
constitute the majority of the traveling public, may take kindly
to the experiment of the displacement of black Americans by
yellow ones of oriental extraction, but that is questionable. It
is possible, but not highly probable.
These gestures by the Pullman company should make Negro
employees exceeding punctilious and careful to render the best
of service possible, so that valid criticism of inefficiency can
not be brought against them; and so far as the Pullman porters
are concerned, it ought also to make every man-jack of them
more determined than ever to unionize and to loyally support
their brotherhood. ....
We hope the Pullman porters will not weaken in their
fight, but continue until victory is won, in securing a living
wage and humane and reasonable working hours and condi
tions.
RACE RELATIONS SUNDAY,
FEBRUARY 12
The annual observance of Race Re
lations Sunday—the sixth since its
inception in 1923—will take place
this year on February 12th, when
thousands of churches, young peo
ples’ societies, Sunday schools, Y. M.
C. A.’s, and other religious groups
vill focus their attention on the
problems of the race. Especial em
phasis will be laid this year on peni
tence and prayer for the complete
luppression of lynching and mob vio
ence in America. In issuing this call
the Federal Councils Commission on
ftace Relations points out the fact
.hat in the last 40 years more than
’our thousand persons have been put
.o death by mobs in this country, and
[that crimes of this character, though
less numerous than formerly, are still
of frequent occurrence.
A pamphlet containing topics and
suggestions for the observance of
Race Relations Sunday can be had
for five cents a copy from the Com
mission on the Church and Race Re
lations, 105 East Twenty-second
street, New York City. Other pam
phlets on the subject may be had
without charge from the Commission
on Interracial Co-operation, 409
Palmer building, ^Atlanta, Ga.
Sergeant and Mrs. Isaac Bailey
entertained at whist at their home,
12816 Pratt street, Monday evening in
honor of Dr. and Mrs. R. B. Dodson,
house guests of Dr. and Mrs. W. W.
Peebles.
N. A. A. C. P. APPEALS AGAINST
LYNCHING TO SOUTH EDITORS
New York, N. Y.—In a letter sent
to leading editors of white dailies
throughout the South, James Weldon
Johnson, secretary of the National
Association for the Advancement of
Colored People, appealed for a unit
ed stand against lynching and its ex
tenuators, by all citizens, regardless
of race or color. Mr. Johnson’s let
ter is as follows:
“An editorial published by a Bain
bridge, Ga., editor and reproduced
and commented upon in a number of
newspapers, deserves public consid
eration at this time. This editor, E.
H. Griffin, of the Bainbrige Post
Searchlight, still defends the bar
barous crime of lynching. His utter
ance has received well merited re
buke from such outstanding news
papers as the Columbus, Ga., Sun
and the Dotham, Ala., Eagle. Mr.
Griffin takes the ground that lynch
ing is the only meet punishment for
the abhorrent crime of rape. Does
Editor Griffin feel, when a mob
avenges the crime of rape by lynch
ing or, as is frequently done, by
burning a human being at the stake
while women and children look on,
that civilization is being saved?
“But Editor Griffin’s statements,
implying that the crime of lynching
always avenges the crime of rape,
that ‘law or no law, justice or no
justice, tolerance or no tolerance,
when a brute rapes a woman the
hemp rope is just as certain as sin,’
merit further comment.
“The facts about lynching have
been stated before, and to the entire
country, but they do not seem to have
reached Mr. E. H. Griffin of Bain
bridge, Ga., who openly condones,
defends and even advocates the ab
rogation of civilization in favor of
the beastliness of mob murder. Let
those facts be here restated.
“There have been 92 women lynch
ed in the United States during the
past 40 years.
“Out of the upwards of 4,000 re
corded victims of lynching mobs in
this country, less than one in five
has even been accused of the crime
of rape; and it should be borne in
mind in this connection that accusa
tion and execution by a mob in the
often whiskey-sodden atmosphere of
brutal passion is not calculated to
establish guilt or innocence, a func
tion for which the entire structure of
law and the courts is designed.
“The crime of lynching shames the
entire country before the civilized
world. It can hardly be advanced
as proof of the superior culture of
the race in whose hands government
and the courts rest, when they de
liberately trample their own institu
tions of law and orderly processes in
the mire, often making a holiday
scene of an act of inhumanity and
savagery.
Is it not time that apologists for i
lynching be recognized for precisely
what they are? Namely, the most
dangerous of anarchists and advo
cators of the lawlessness against
which all decent United States citi
zens of whatever race, color or sec
tion must stand united in their com
mon citizenship and faith in Amer
ica.”
CELEBRATES HER 100th
BIRTHDAY CHRISTMAS
Kansas City, Mo.—Mrs. Rebecca
Williams, 1710 East Twenty-eighth
street, celebrated her 100th birthday,
Sunday, December 25. Mrs. Wil
liams is the mother of Mrs. Clara B. 1
Franklin and grandmother of C. A.
Franklin, editor of The Call. She
was born in Frederick, Md., Decem
ber 26, 1827. She has always been
free. In the 1850’s she and her hus
band moved to Wisconsin, where in
1856, Mrs. Clara Franklin was born.
The family moved and lived in Illi
nois until 1869. Mrs. Williams has
been in Kansas City with her daugh
ter and grandson since the fall of
1920. Until two years ago, she read
and sewed daily.
The Misses Inez and Evelyn Bat
tles, daughters of Mr. and Mrs. H.
Battles, 3122 Burdette street, have
returned home to spend the holidays
with their parents.
CHINESE PORTERS
REPLACE NEGROES
ON CRACK TRAINS
Official* Claim Change Experiment
and Disclaim Intention to Extend
Displacement to Sleeping
Car Men
ORGANIZER SEES INTIMIDATION
Chicago, 111., Dec. 28—The niche
occupied traditionally by the Negro
Pullman porter was usurped for
the first time by the oriental when
young Chinese were introduced
i this week as club car porters on
trains of the Northwestern-Union
Pacific lines. All but one are
Chinese of American birth.
Local Pullman officials said that
the use of Chinese was an experi
ment, but that if successful they
would be probably retained in the
club cars. Their use as porters in
sleeping cars is not contemplated,
however, they said. Filipino boys
have been employed by the company
as buffet porters for more than a
year.
Bennie Smith, field organizer foi?
the Brotherhood of Pullman Porters,
which seeks recognition of the com
pany, said he believed the Chinese
were being put on as another means
of intimidation. “They won’t find
them successful,” he said.
AMERICAN LEGION SMOKER
The public installation of officers
of Roosevelt Post No. 30, held last
Wednesday evening, December 21,
at the beautiful Grotto, together,
with the “smoker” and unusual pro
gram, will long be remembered as
one of th§ outstanding events of le
gion activities. Dr. W. W. Peebles
functioned as master of ceremonies
in a truly creditable manner.
Department Commander Jean B.
Cain officiated as installing officer,
after which he delivered an excep
tionally appropriate address for the
occasion. Among the many guests
of honor were Major General Smith,
Commander of the Seventh Corps
area; Major General Duncan, retir
ed ; Allan Tukey, Sam Reynolds,
Jake Isaacson, A nan Raymond, Wil
liam Ritchie, City Commissioner
Dean Noyes, Hird Stryker, and
others.
The brief, inspiring speeches of
Generals Smith and Duncan, were
indeed interesting and seemed, as it
were, to have “switched on the cur
rent of enthusiasm.” Our distin
guished visitors were unanimous in
expressing their unrestrained pleas
ure of the affair and hearty co-oper
ation, with the progressive efforts of
the post. The report of Adj. R. L.
Williams, on the “History of the
Post,” was very commendable.
Throughout the entire evening, one
could readily observe the prevalence
of good will and comradeship that
always characterizes legion activities.
Last but not least, the cigarettes
and “eats” were abundantly in evi
dence; prepared, of course, by the
post’s efficient chef, Mr. James Bell.
The delicious coffee that was pre
pared and served by Mrs. Lizzie Bu
ford, demonstrator for McCord-Brady
Wholesale company, must not escape
commendable mention.
We wish to compliment the enter
tainment committee for the success
ful manner in which they staged the
affair, making it possible for the en
tire post to share the many pleasant
comments of our notable visitors.
BOY LOCKED IN HOUSE
IS BURNED TO DEATH
Mexia, Tex., Dec. 29—Mrs. Frank
Winson decided to take advantage of
holiday bargain sales here Tuesday
and took her son, Frank, aged 4
years to the home of her brother,
Henry Lonzo. Mrs. Winson and Mrs.
Lonzo put the youngster to sleep,
locked the house and left for their
shopping tour. The house caught on
fire of some undetermined origin and
burned to the ground and the child
was burned to death before firemen
could rescue him.