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About Omaha monitor. (Omaha, Nebraska) 1928-???? | View Entire Issue (Dec. 28, 1928)
Successor to The Monitor THE MILITANT DEFENDER OF THE RIGHTS OF THE RACE .00 a Year—5 Cents a Copy Omaha, Nebraska, Friday, December 28, 1928 Vol. XIV—No. 26 Whole Number 698 * HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU [RACE CONGRESS CLOSES WITH SUCCESS The National Inter-racial Conference Solved Long Standing Problems of Race SESSIONS CLOSED TO PUBLIC [ Washington, D. C., Dec. 28 (ANP) | —The spot-light of scientific research was turned upon the various ramifi cations of the race problem, here Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, when welfare experts from various i sections of the country gathered here to attend the National Interracial Conference. M The real meetings, at which the f 1 problems were discussed with frank ness and candor by white and colored '< > speakers, were held behind closed " doors, with the press barred. So com § pletely was the fourth estate kept out that an examination of the “guest || list” fails to disclose one member of the press. According to reports that leaked Jout of the closed conferences, the following disclosures were made: That the Negro is not more crimi nal than other races. That the Negro’s life expectancy Jfeis increasing. That Negroes are poorly educated | § in Georgia and other Southern states. That trades unions handicap the Negro’s progress in skilled trades. That recreational segregation pre y vails in northern cities. , That the voteless class is a menace ' ■|* to the race. That the races are welded by mu , m tual needs. J85 National Agencies Participated The principal meetings were held ] in the auditorium of the department ' ill of Interinor, and the evening meet- ' | ings, which were for the most part 1 4 open to the public, were held at the 1 ’ Howard University medical building, '' ( with the following national agencies participating: American Friends : , S Service Committee, Interracial Sec £ tion; American Social Hygiene Asso- 1 ■, ciation; Commission on Interracial ' i Co-operation; Council of Women for ' f m, Home Missions; Federal Council of Churches; Commission on Race Re- 1 ,Illations; Fellowship of Reconciliation; ' M Home Missions Council; The Inquiry; ^Jjjr National Association for the Ad vancement of Colored People; Na r tional Board Y. W. C. A.; National 1 H Catholic Welfare Conference; Na- ' tional Council Y. M. C. A.; National Federation of Settlements; National Urban League; Phelps-Stokes Fund; | Protestant Episcopal Church, Depart L. ment of Christian Social Service. LOS ANGELES PLAYGROUNDS PRAISED Los Angeles, Cal., Dec. 28 (ANP) —Los Angeles playgrounds were giv en high praise by a San Francisco official last week, when Miss Alicia Mosgrove, playground commissioner of the Bay City visited the local sys tem and complimented its executives upon the great progress being shown in the development of play facilities here. Miss Mosgrove was a resident of Los Angeles for many years before removing to the northern city and has watched the growth of Los An geles playgrounds practically from their beginnings. She was warm in her praise of the efficient planned program of development of play fa cilities to meet the growing needs of the local public. (Paul Sylvester Holliday Special grand organizer of the I. B. P. O. E. of W. for the states of Nebraska and Iowa. The exalted . niler of the Iroquois lodge No. 92, I Omaha. 1 Meharry Medical College of Nashville, Tennessee ‘‘MEHARRY MEDICAL COLLEGE-THE BATTLE GROUND AGAINST DISEASE.” 4ALF OF NEGRO POPU LATION CHURCH MEMBERS Washington, D. C., Dec. 28 (ANP) —The Department of Commerce an lounces that, according to the returns •eceived, there were in the United States in 1926, 42,686 churches, with i colored membership of -6,203,487, is compared with 39,592 churches md 4,602,805 members in 1916. The total for 1926 is made up of 14 exclusively colored denominations, vith 36,505 churches and 4,558,795 nembers, and 6,080 churches with >44,692 colored members in 30 white lenominations. The corresponding 'igures for 1916 are 19 exclusively :olored denominations with 34,258 :hurches and 4,070,286 members, and >,334 Negro churcheB, with 532,519 nembers in 21 white denominations, rwo of the denominations reported it the Census of 1916, composed ex dusively of colored members, have jone out of existence. The data for poth census periods relates to the :hurches composed entirely of Negro nembers, and the membership re porter does not include Negro mem pers belonging to local white ;hurches. At the census of 1926 the total expenditures were $43,024,259 as :ompared with $18,629,827 in 1916. Under this item are included the imount expended for salaries, re pairs, etc., for payments on church iebts; for benevolences, including home and foreign missions, for de nominational support, and for all pther purposes. The value of church edifices in 1926 was $206,782,628, as compared with $86,809,970 in 1916. This item includes any building used mainly for religious services, together with the land on which it stands and all furni ture and furnishings owned by the church and actually used in connec tion with church services. It does not include buildings hired for religi ou services or those used for social or organization work in connection with the church. WHITE MAN SHOOTS NEGRO WIFE-BEATER Vicksbuig, Miss., Dec. 28 (ANP) —As a result of a shooting fray in the northeastern section of the coun ty, John Dodge is in a critical condi tion, while Henry Ward, a white man, is slightly injured. Dodge is said to have been beating his wife when Ward, who lived near, went to the scene. Dodge fired on the peacemaker who returned the compliment. Dodge was struck in the stomach, while Ward "was filled with buckshot. DINING SYSTEM HEAD DIES Kansas City, Mo., Dec. 21 (ANP.) —Fred F. Harvey, president of the Harvey system of railroad restau rants and dining car catering, which employs hundreds of Negroes as wait ers, died here Thursday of pneu monia, which followed an attack ol influenza. REDISTRICTING WILL IMPERIL NEGRO CON GRESSMAN IN ILLINOIS Chicago, 111., Dec. 28 (ANP)-— Since 1901 there has been no con gressional reapportionment in Illi nois. Because of that and because of the growth of the population of the state, Illinois has two congress men-at-large, twenty-seven including thosee lected from the regular dis tricts. 0 But the lisparities in the number of voters in districts that have come with the growth of population have finally become so great that there are some congressmen representing near ly ten times as many voters as others. Cook county, in which Chicago is located, has ten districts and ten con gressmen. Five of these districts have 266,70 3voters and five con gressmen. The other five districts have 1,260,268 voters and only five congressmen. According to the vote cast for gov ernor at the November election, the First District from which Oscar De Priest has bee nelected, is the third smallest in the state, having only 50, 906 voters. Congressman Michael son’s district, the Seventh, cast 316, 612 votes. Although several of the state rep resentatives have indicated that they plan to put through a reapportion ment measure at the coming session of the general assembly, colored po litical leaders are not looking for ward to it without some misgivings. There are, of course, enough Negro voters in Chicago to elect a congress man on any numerical basis if the re districting were made favorable to them. But the politicians are suspi cious that any general redistricting will result in a gerrymander that will so cut up the Negro vote that it will not be big enough in any district to be decisive. In that case, the re-elec tion of Mr. DePriest or of any other Negro would bei mprobable. The chief safeguard which Negroes have is the presence in the state as sembly of six Negroes. Adelbert H. Roberts is in the senate. In the low er hoi se are George Blackwell, Har ris B. Gaines, William R. King, George Kersey and William J. War field. Upon the shoulders of these men will rest the responsibility of seeing that in any plan of redistrict ing the Negro will not be euchered out of representation in the national congress. The Illinois general assem bly has 61 senators and 163 repre sentatives. EMANCIPATION SERVICES IN 100 YEAR OLD CHURCH New Orleans, La., Decv. 28 (ANP) —The old Baptist Church, on Liberty and Third streets, for the past 100 years has stood out in the religious life in our group in New Orleans and is known as the mother church in the state of Louisiana. Preparations are being made for emancipation services to be held there January 1st by Rev. W. Scott Chin, the pastor. SLAYS WOMAN WHO REFUSES RIDE Danville, Va., Dec. 28 (ANP).— Just as he was about to make a get away to Winston-Salem, N. C., Thom as Fitzgerald, alleged murderer of Miss Clorir'? Owens, was arrested by local polic. and placed in jail here. Fitzgerald is charged with fatally stabbing Miss Owens, Sunday after noon, when she refused to go for a ride with him. After the killing he made his escape and a search by the officers was in vain. Tuesday police learned that he had made arrange ments with a friend to take him to Winston-Salem. Finding the friend, the officers forced him to take them to Fitzgerald’s hiding place. When the automobile arrived, Fitz gerald emerged from the cabin in which he was hiding and rushed to the car, only to find that it was filled with officers whom he was attempt ing to evade. ASSOCIATION FIGHTS FOR REPRESENTATION Detroit, Mich., Dec. 28 (NP) — The West Side Improvement Associa tion, an organization here that fights for the beterment of conditions, in its many phases, among Negroes on the west side of the city, has peti tioned the Krogor Chain Store man agement here to place a colored man ager in the store located at 28tr and Milford streets, where fully 99 per cent of the trade is colored. The in stallation of a colored manager may also lead to colored clerks. The outlook for success in this ef fort is promising, for the Improve ment Associations officials have been advised by the Krogor management that if the Negroes present a man who is fully capable to handle the store, he will be given due considera tion. TREASURER SQUANDERS CHURCH FUNDS; JANITOR LOSES HIS HOME Louisville, Ky., Dec. 28 (ANP) — Albert Vandyke, ' janitor of the Broadway Baptist Tabernacle Church (white), will lose his home as the re sults of certain financial manipula tions by the treasurer of the church, a former judge, who is accused of misappropriating over $40,000 of the building fund. The treasurer is blind, yet he is alleged to have squandered over $200,000 from the church and his friends. JOHNSON SAYS ROSENWALD INDUCED WHITE SOUTH TO SPEND $17,000,000 ON NEGRO Buffalo, N. Y., Dec. 28 (ANP) — Colored people who have been some what inclined to discredit the South’s attitude toward Negro education will probably be surprised to know that a prominent Hebrew of Chicago has done more toward changing the white South’s attitude with reference to Negro education that forty-five years of Negro pleading had done prior to the beginning of the Rosenwald Southern rural school system for Ne groes. Speaking before several hundred persons of both races, President Mor decai Wyatt Johnson, in an address delivered at the new Michigan Ave nue Y. M. C. A., Monday night, re deemed the white South from its one time unfavorable light generally ac cepted is the orthodox point of view held by many members of the Negro race unacquainted with what the South is doing for Negro education. Rosenwald Begins Contributions Julius Rosenwald began the contri butions fifteen years ago by placing $1,000 in the hands of the late Dr. Washington. Since that time the Ro senwald schools have grown to 4,190 and have exacted a round $3,000,000 from the Chicago philanthropist. The school property today, Dr. Johnson pointed out, is worth $25,000,000. In the last fifteen years colored people have given $3,500,000; while Rosenwald schools have exacted $900,000 in voluntary gifts from the Southern whites; added to this is an additional $17,000,000 which have come from county treasurers. These sums are spent on primary educa tion and furnish educational facilities for 456,000 Negro youth. The Negro Church and Education churches which some big folk say are doing nothing, are actually spending upward of $3,000,000 per year on Negro education,” he pointed out, “In the South,” he continued, “241 Negro high schools have been ac credited. In the normal schools ol the South there are over 17,000 Ne gro students—more than five time: the number represented severa years ago,” President Johnson tolc his auditors. Says Howard Only Negro Universitj Speaking of these secondarj schools as feeders to the colleges am universities, he said: “After 6f years of progress we have one grea Negro university. There are severa institutions going under that name,' the educator averred, “but there i only one such institution. That in stitution is Howard University. J university,” he defined, “is an insti tution of higher education with oni undergraduate college, at least threi or four other schools with independ ent faculties; and at least one gradu ate school. Howard University meet that qualification. Howard has nin schools—medicine, law, dentistry pharmacy, college, music, education applied science, and religion,” Di Johnson explained. NEGRO ADVANCES IN BUSINESS AND FINANCE Survey Shows Great Strides of Colored People in Business and Industrial Field. (By the Amsociated Negro Pre>«) The United States chamber of commerce has found through a re cent survey, the approximate num ber of people it takes to support sev eral kinds of retail stores. The chamber reports state that there is an average of 450 people to each grocery store, 900 to each butcher shop, 1,350 to each drug store, 1,700 to each dry goods store, 2,300 to each men’s clothing store, 2,600 to each hardware store, 4,300 to each furniture store, 4,800 to each shoe store, and 10,500 to each department store. These figures show an aver age of 56 retail stores to each 10,000 population and the conclusion to be deducted from these facts is that it takes the number of patrons indi cated to give successful support to the individual business enterprise. Let's compare this average of the nation’s with what colored people are doing in Savannah, Georgia. Our survey of that city follows: Negro population of Savannah by the 1920 census—39,179. In the field of retail trade Negroes own and operate: 4 drug stores 50 groceries 40 confectionaries and delicates sens, etc. 42 restaurans They also own and operate: 45 barber shops 11 beauty parlors 1 hotel 2 newspapers 1 bank 3 theaters 5 dance halls Savannah is the home office of two sick and accident insurance com panies and one life insurance com pany. Seven sick and accident com panies have branch offices here and two life companies. There are two lawyers, 23 physicians, four dentists, five undertakers, five real estate op erators, and two orchestral organiza tions. The city school system em ploys approximately 100 teachers, some 75 Negroes work in the postal service and about 200 others work for the city as street sweepers and laborers. Most of the colored wage earners are employed by the steam ship companies, lumber manufactur ers and sugar refineries. A local branch of the Negro Business league watches the civic interests of the population, as well as encourages co operation and business expansion. Editor’s Comment: Instead of the 225 retail outlets we might expect to find based upon the chamber of commerce report, we find only 94 of the classes specified. There are no music shops, haberdasheries, shoe stores, furniture stores, or depart ment stores. No manufactories of any kind have been successfully es tablished and no laundry or cab com pany is at present in operation. Ap parently the city is in need of much enterprise and initiative. Its bank is the most hopeful symbol of prog ress.) NEWS ITEMS New Orleans, La.—A new 20-roon hotel with every modern convenience was opened here last week at JulU and South Ramparts streets. It wil be known as the Patterson hotel af ter the name of its proprietor. Detroit, Mich. — Announcement was recently made of a merger be tween the Calumet Cab company with 80 cabs operating, and the Wol verine Cab company with 16. The • Calumet company is the largest Ne [ gro cab company and the latter ii ; the oldest one here. I Chicago, 111. — Negro business i ' constantly becoming more progres i sive. Liberty Life Insurance, com pany of Illinois has its own broad casting studio and goes on the ai once each week. The other night are let to other enterprises. Kansas City, Mo.—Roy J. Barker colored grocer of this city, owns am > operates one of the finest as well a s largest stores in any colored commu , nity. He employs six clerks am , does an average daily business o . $260. Total sales for his sevent year were $77,000. I Atlanta, Ga.—Messrs. T. L. Curry ' and O. S. Hall have just opened a men’s haberdashery at 234 Auburn avenue, N. E. Besides the usual ar ticles, their store carries a full line i of shoes and hosiery for women. Port Arthur, Tex.—Negro business men of the city have just received a charter from the National Negro Business league and established a lo cal branch. Los Angeles, Cal.—The Dutch Shell Oil company has recently leased 160 acres of land from the Willis Petroleum company, a Negro corpor ation. 59,000 was paid for the lease. Norfolk, Va.—Victory Life Insur ance company of Illinois has opened a branch office here. Percy Bond, eastern supervisor, was in charge of arrangements. Pine Bluff, Ark.—Bids for con struction _of new buildings for the Agricultural, Mechanical and Normal School will be received by the board of trustees of that institution Janu ary 10, it was announced by J. P. Womack, state superintendent of public instruction. Buildings will cost 5275,000. NEGRO DEMOCRATS IN ARKANSAS SEEK PERMANENT INJUNCTION Little Rock, Ark., Dec. 28 (ANP) —The second step to secure full rights of citizenship for Negroes in the state of Arkansas was taken re cently, when Negro democratic lead ers of Little Rock launched a move ment to restrain demrocratic party officials from barring Negroes in any primary in Arkansas. The colored members of the demo cratic party, through the eljbrts of their attorneys, Booker and Booker, obtained a temporary order on No vember 27, enabling Negroes who could qualify as democrats to vote in the recent city primary. Permission had been given them by Chancery court, where the litigation is pend ing, to include E. L. Gompere, chair man of the democratic state central committee, and H. L. Lambert, sec retary, according to the amendment filed recently. With the leaders of the state com mittee as defendants, the suit is ex pected to establish definitely the stat us of Negroes who have allied them selves with the democratic party. Booker and Booker, attorneys, have expressed the opinion that the case will terminate in a victory for Negro citizens and point out that the voting of Negroes in the recent primary re sulted in none of the dire calamities so frequently predicted by those de siring to prevent Negroes from ex ercising their franchise. PRISONER ESCAPES BUT LEAVES NOTE Columbus, Miss., Dec. 28 (ANP) —Ed Campbell, who was serving a sentence of 60 days for violating the prohibition laws, sawed his way to liberty, but before his departure he wrote the city marshal a note telling him that he had completed his sen tence and was going out to make his fine and costs which he would mail to the city as soon as possible. f Willi. W. Mo.Ujr 1 Associate editor of The Omaha Monitor, Lincoln, Nebraska.