The New York Age from New York, New York • Page 4

31u Nlw florlt Age THE NATIONAL NEGRO WEEKLY Entered at th Tot 0 York Second OaM Matter. a Thnndn Street, Mew York. FRED R. MOORE. sa4 Uk LESTER A.

WALTON. Maaasinc aod Dranati E4h JAMES W. JOHNSON. tribady tBtar EUGENE L. MOORE Adrartiatag Aia4 London Office, 17 Greea Street.

Ckarlnl Crou Roads, E. Addret. an letters and all Honey order tykU to THE NEW YORK AGE. v.n nnotntid. ONE YEAR If civ unvTHt 1.00 tUBFE MONTHS TO KIIKtlUW IJUUfflJUCB, vm YEAR 1.00 In lending auDuacrlpt lor anbHeatlam, kindly endoie ttaaipa foe poanMt rejecoom.

r. hUratim Ikt current iitMt. tmrtspondtnet must mi THE AGE tfic met Idler thorn TdJ. MisctUamtout t1 ttrUmg -Wt THE AGE 5 fattr lata tinetday, 10 a. ra WW.

TUTJBSDAY, JULY 19, HIT Don't forget the boys of the Fifteenth Regiment They need Send in a contribution to help provide them. You can send through The Age or the Woman's Auxiliary. IT CUTS BOTH WAYS. The reluctance, of the present Democratic administration and its followers in Congress to make any orovision for the enlistment on equal terms of the Negroes, in th Army and Navy, is hard to under stand. Despite the patriotic response of members of the race in section of the country to the call to arms, they have been shunted aside and no provision maae iq utilize their services, beyond re cruiting the existing regiments of regulars to war strength.

In the Navy the only capacity in which they may serve is that of menials. Now this indisposition to accept the Negro as a soldier has not been lost on the white people of the South and while at first they approved, the probable results are not to their liking. They argue that if this policy of excluding Negroes from active military serviqe is to prevail, so many more white men will have to be drawn to fill the quota of the various Southern States. According to the figures given out by the War Department, the number of men required to fill the quota of the South will be: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, 10,081: Tennessee. Texas, 30,545 Virginia.

13,795. Keen interest is reported as be ing taken in the question in the. States above named, as the white men in the main have not exhibited any too great alacrity in coming forward to volunteer. Now that their service seems to be obligatory under the selective draft, with the Negro left out, they do not, relish the The probability is that the ad uu si ration ana tncir representatives ia Congress will In- Mll.l i I near fnncs I While the quawel appears on the surface to be a sectional one, be tween the southern' administration orA ie 'iirrwM-tr' Jn rfi oration i frmn it derives its greatest str ength? the 'question is national in its scope oeyer can be settled until it settled on the broad principle qf a square deal for all 'classes of citizens, without discrimination. That the oolicy of evasion and exclusion should return to plague its inrentors retributive justice' It demonstrates that the only safe rule for governments, as weU as for people, is that of justice for all.

Let the administration and the Congress wipe out all discriminating laws and regulations affecting the rights of citizens to serve their country. Put them all on the same plane, and thus do away with dis affection among all classes who deem themselves wronged by the discrimination. For injustice, like a two-edged sword, is apt to cut both ways. COLOR SCHEMES. That the obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship are appreciated by the people of Porto Rico was shown by the response to the call for registration under the selective draft law.

The total num ber registered was divided as follows: white, colored, 24,605. This division will strike those familiar with the superficial aspects of the Porto Rican population, es pecially in the large cities, as some what peculiar, as the division on any color scheme would break about even according to the way it is done in the States. But the Porto Ricans have their own way of adjusting such matters. White and colored are very elastic terms in their vocabulary. Apparently "white" in their internal affairs signifies any mixture in which the white strain predominates, and "colored" is used only when the darker strain comes to the curface.

It would therefore be safe to conclude that at least 50 per cent, of the Porto Riran registration would be classed as "colored" according to the construction prevailing in this country, that one drop of African blood marks its possessor as "colored" or Negro. This is another phase of the color problem added in the acquisition of our West Indian possessions. To add to the confusion that attends these various attempts at segregation, a keen observer has pointed out the fact that the white people of the South are apparently growing darker, so that it is becoming more difficult every day to distinguish between the two races when they become mixed. If this is so, it may help to bring about the abolition of all unjust discrimina tions based on color or caste. Hail to the day! FUSION.

All signs point to the renomin- ation of the present Fusion administration. The voters of New York City this fall will havd to render their verdict as to the conduct of the affairs of the municipality during the past four years. As it is out of the question for a straight Republican ticket to win in the Greater City, where Democrats predominate, it would seem to be the part of wisdom for prudent Re publicans to continue their alii ance with independent Democrats and re-elect' the present administration in the interests of good gov ernment. Any movement with a contrary object -would work only in the interest of those forces that have worked against good government in the past. The present city officials have done much to put the affairs of the city on a practical business basis, cutting out graft and favoritism, which benefitted the few the expense of the masses.

Mayor Mitchel and the other city officials Who have aided in carrying out his jnHicics kitmuu uc uu utc jwu The Silent Parade orooosed to be held down rifta avenue on bat-. I -fi 10 fce made a raut sol lemn pro test against the atrocities and discriminations practiced against die race in various parts of the country. Every niaji, woman child who can devote the two THE NEW YORK AGE, THURSDAY, JULY 19, VIEWS and JAMES W. JOHNSON, THE POWER OF THE NEGRO CHURCH. We have said before that the Negro church is, beyond all ques tion, the one powerful organization in the race.

We have pointed out that it is relatively far more The white people of the country may be reached and influenced through many mediums, but the great mass of our race can be reached' and influenced through only one, the church. There is then a correspondingly greater obligation resting upon colored ministers than upon white ministers, and that obligation was never more serious than it is today. The pressing dufy before the Negro ministry is to take the power of the Negro church and make it an instrument for bettering the conditions of the race. It is used to secure for the race a larger fore-taste of better things right here and now. It is a time when less attention should be paid to larger collections for handsomer churches and some effort be made to raise-a great general fund to In such an undertaking we would be following the example of the Jews, who dre now raising one hundred million dollars to be used in fighting for greater rights for themselves when the war ends.

It is time to put the Negro church questions that affect the welfare It is a time when less attention said and did and more attention by the makers of current history. rivalries and to unite with one Union, that is what we need. race. It does not make much difference what we attempt to do, i we would all do i at one time twelve millions could be so organized in taking any step for the advancement of the race as to the same purpose, no power in the Such race-wide power could would come together and solidify working in cooperation with existing protectionnd civic organiza tions would constitute a force defeated. EVEN FROM Even from the South comes son attitude on the East St.

Louis below is from a long editorial in the the leading dailies of the South When Cleveland was President of the United States and Altgeld was Governor of Illinois, another city of the same state underlay like threats. Then, as now, the governor of the State took no steps to protect the interests of the public, and the President of the United States sent troops to Chicago against the excited protests of the governor of the State. It has been said that it was merely a 'pretext to assert that Federal property was endangered; it may be that President Cleveland was wrong and President Wilson is right, but can we say a risk may not be taken when life is at stake at home by President who risks so much to defend Belgium and France across the seas? Are German Sympathizers to be punished, even if a proclamation of martial law be necessary, where organized labor may slay at will? It may be claimed that a Federal investigation has been ordered, The writer feels free to say that he has absolutely no hopes of anything beneficial comiug out of a Federal investigation made under the direction of the men who are now in control at Washington. The most likely result to come from such an investigation will be a finding that it is detrimental for Negroes to come North in large numbers and a recommendation that the Government take some steps to check the migration. If such a happening as the East St.

Louis massacre at such a time in the country's history as the present has not caused President Wilson to utter one word in behalf of justice to colored Americans, nothing will do it. And the race had just as well make up its mind that the first relief it will get from of President Wilson's term. JOHN HENRY WOODSON. In the stress of events it is only natural that the official recog nit ion given last week to John Henry Woodson for his deed of simple heroism should not have attracted the attention which it deserved. It ought not, however, be allowed Woodson is an intelligent colored man, thirty years of age, and a member of the New.

York Fire ing a fire 'an Brooklyn, a mother appeared at a window on the fourth circled with flames. Woodson ran raised, but found be was only on called for a twelve-foot scaling ruing of the main ladder, fastened a the the woman stood reeling and shrieking. Ascending the scaling lad der, he took the child from the mother's arms and passed it to a fireman further down. Then he drew the woman out of the window and with his one free arm let himself down to the main ladder. In speaking of Woodsonis deed, one "It was a daring and compile rescuej not a flaw in No hesitation as tQ just tQ do For this heroic action John the ranks of honor men.and with I 1 JT If.

I 1 1 icnei. ouco a Krinor drMnr in inv inivil.tl Wtt farther reaching significance. There are more than five thousand in die Nw York Fire Department, and all of them ere white except Woodson. So, for the one, than five thousand mien to be an distinction not only to him but to Woodson has wade himself a line hours required to that "purpose through the color line that nas so long hedged, in the.de-hauld join in the ranks of "Ihc part meant. There is no reason now why other colored men should marchers.

As a sober, dignified (not follow his lead. 1 protest against the wrongs com-1 plained of, as well as protest. "against the failure of the proper authorities to provide adequate protection and redress, the parade should be made as imposing as i nc History oi nreman wooason appointment is aouoiy imcr- numbers and bearing can make it. The ministers of the various churches, together with all race REVIEWS Contributing Editob powerful than the white church. a time when that power should be be used in fi ghting for our rights into close touch with the practica of the Negro people as citizens may be paid to what Saint Pau to what is being said and done It is a time to put away petty purpose in view.

Union of the great mass of the and together. If one million of the take that step together and with country could withstand them be realized if the Negro ministry the Negro church. Such a church within the race that could not be THE SOUTH. condemnation for President Wil massacre. The paragraph given Florida "Times-Union," one the Government will be the end to pass unnoticed.

Department. Last September dur holding her baby in her arms floor of a burning tenement en up the main ladder that had been level with the third story. He ladder and, mounting to the top scaler on to the window where of the Department officials said, an(J tQ Henry son was called from words of praise oubliclv awarded a i fl 1 1 aeea apa sucn recognition wouia in tViia solitary Negro in a body pf more honor roan aJnd a medalist gives the whole race. In fact, Fireman breaker. He has' smashed a big rtrjraniV.ations and societies, should rally to make this movement a monster success.

7 esting. First, of course, because because the head of the Department up to whom the final word on his appointment had to come, is a Southerner, and not only a South erner, but a Georgian. Let us quote here the interview given by Commissioner Adam son to a reporter on the Evening cause of one paragraph which shows up so frankly what colored men, no matter how well qualified, are up against when they apply for such positions: STORY OP APPOINTMENT. How did it all come about? Here's the way Commissioner Adam-son told it to me as we sat at his desk in the Municipal buliding. "Back in 1914 Chief Kenlon and I were talking over the next batch of appointments that were to be made in a few days," began the commissioner, with a reminiscent twinkle in his eye.

"I can remember the whimsical look of the chief as he called my attention to the fact that there was a Negro on the eligible list. You know what that would have meant in the old days." I assured the commissioner I knew well what it would mean. If the Negro ever got on the eligible list there was always the department surgeon or surgeons who could be relied upon to find him too flat-footed or to detect tragic heart murmurs that would positively prove him unfit for the Strenuous job of fireman. "Well.lhe chief looked at me fixedly and asked, 'What will you do about it, "What sort of a man, physically, is this applicant?" I asked. a regular Jack answered Kenlon.

'Nobody could object to him physically, that's a certainty. His civil service rating is not extraordinary high, but still, he's got by and he's on the eligible "I told Chief Kenlon that if Woodson met all the appointment requirements I would make him a fireman regardless of the fact that he was a Negro." "'All right, said Kenlon, 'we'll find some sort of a special detail for him 'I won't appoint Woodson if we've got to provide him with a special detail because of his I told the chief. 'If he's the right man for appointment he'll get it regardless of the shade of his skin. But if he's to be a fireman he'll be a fireman and an active fireman. He'll run to fires and hell help to put out fires and he'll share the peril ahd the hard work of the department That's the only way I'll appoint him.

And I'm going to appoint him if he's "I remember Chief Kenlon nodded his head like a man agreeing to shake hands with trouble if the handshaking were the only way out of a dilemma. No doubt he had many forebodings of friction. But I determined that the fire department should be run on a broad basis, fair and square and just, according as I saw it" Next to our admiration for the Woodson comes our admiration stiffness of backbone displayed there were more colored men like officials like Commissioner Adamson, the race would soon have a fair representation in all the departments of the city. As it is, there no reason now why we should Woodson in the Fire Department. SOUTHERN WHITE FOLKS (BY T.

THOMAS FORTUNE) Washington, D. great as tonishment" is gradually coming over the white people of the Southern SratM the greatest that could come over a proud people who believe firmly that white is the only color that has any right to the protection of the laws and respect of the public opinion that makes the laws ana the aaminisirawrs of them. Christian scientists have a theory that if you believe a thing is so. it is so, and if you believe a thing is not so, it is not so; that is to say, if you are real sick and believe you are real well. i 1 1 k.

rel well you are ana noi rcai i is a real nice theory, but the white citizens of the South, and of some other spots on the Federal map, are working it over time on the color and race question. There is bound to be a reaction from this view of the matter, because there are two partes to it' Where there are two parties to any thing, one party to it cannot always have his way. He will be called to account, but just how docs not always appear clear to the aggrieved party. There is a way in whirh insqualities are evened, that we do not always perceive, operating in the affairs of persons and states. It is happening that wav in this country, in the vital mat- tert.

of race readjustments, not alone as to our own white and black people, but as to the large European mixed race pcpulation. We have been industriously intermixing with our citizenship, most of whom is a race cross, blend and amalgamation of African, Asiatic and F.uorpean races and trilR's. who have come out of all the tribulations of it. the mixed indurated race type they are, hut attect not to know it. The ereat astonishment that is coming over the white people of the South is this: Great numbers of them are becoming so tanned, so saffron colored, that they look much like our own Tugh browus, the Afro-American cross of white and black becoming "a confusion to them." Especially is this the case in traveling by water.

Conductors and pursers have a time of it deciding "who is who." without getting lto trouble. Mos-t of them have Ne gro spotters, who are supposed to kunn- "who is "who," invariably, but they often "fall down" even they are not infatlibe, and often fail to detect "their own." What a dirty job the Necro spotters have A person has to sink very 4ow in his own estimation to earn his living as a Negro spotter. I had an interesting exnertence re- ently upon returning from Norfolk to Washington. I wanted to be sure of1 berth ahd sowmt to the Norfolk office of the Washignton Steamboat Company, on Ganby street, and asked' i or a ticket and stateroom. The man gave me a first-class ticket and said 1 1 would hare to eet the stateroom of the purser on the boat Thev have only I limited number of people in a segregated part of the boat.

1 I you wait until vou cet on rhe Kr.ai uc unaoie to get a room or berth and have to "sit up" all nijrht Several white nersons about 4iirh is far from white, ets and pot rooms while the man and disputed about, it. hd I called lii. attention to the fact, but he refused retreat a smele inch." He trwvl oil the plain talk I eave him. anH An some plain talking when I am injured my rest feelings, but he keDt the stateroom. When I got on the boat and it pulled not 8.

Of he is a colored man, and secondly Mail. We. quote it especially be bravery and heroism of Fireman for the sense of fairness and the by Commissioner Adamson. If Fireman Woodson and more high have more men like John Henry ARE CHANGING COLOR: out into the bay, a long string of white persons was lined up to the purser's window, and many colored persons were lounging about waiting for the white persons to be waited upon. That did -not suit me.

I got on the white line and broke the color of it When it came my turn at the purser's win dow he asked my name and the price I wished to pay for a berth. He gave me a desirable room and a porter, alter asking me it I wanted him to do so, took my baggage to the room. After a while I went to Social Hall, and securing a good seat, "lit my and watched "the passing show until clock and turned in. Colored spotters eyed me and I eyed them, but they also eyed others many others some of the best blood of the South, wiio were no whiter than and lew ot them as good looking. In the cars and on the streets of Washington it is much the same the white folks are generally becoming so much colored that there is no longer any uniformly color among them, i can see as i scrutinize t.iem that a great astonishment" is gradually cover' ing them.

The magical power of God it compelling their jinx to find them out. They need no pity as they have not pitied us. They have mixed with the Negro blood and spirit in core and they cannot escape. CURIOUS INCONSISTENCIES. To the Editor of The Age: In an article on the editorial page in die Times of July 6, under the heading: "A Distinction ot to Be Forgotten," the Times in undertaking to excuse the East St.

Louis massacre has this to say: "An excellent example of a kind of comment easy to make, and too often made, upon the East St. Louis riots, is to be found in tiie Boston Journal. Here is an extract: "Shall there be morf race warefare? shall the streets of cities in free America run with the blood of innocent people whose color offends the mob mind?" 'The East St. Louis riots wer NOT but LABOR RIOTS. They were not RACE RIOTS( the capitals are min), aimed at Negroes, but at underbidding workmen who happened to be Negroes." The article closes as follows "The riots are comparable to those in Califor nia against the Chinese in the seventies Though the Chinese were the victims, those were not race riots; they were a ruflianly protest against cheap labor Thus on July 6 the Timss declares that the East St.

Louis riots were not race riots, but on July 3, it published the following big black headlines across three columns appeared in -RACE RIOTERS FIRE EAST ST. LOUIS AND SHOOT OR HANG MANY NEGROES." The article of July 3, under this, heading begins by saying: "Many Ne groes nave fteen killed in RACE RIOTS which have been raging here since Sunday night," etc. As to the Times' claim that the riots were simply "a rufhanly protest against cheap labor" I notice in its issue of July under the heading "ANTI-NEGRO RIOTS DUE TO LABOR CAUSES?" the following according to Representative William A. Rodenberg, of the 22nd Illinois Congressional District, including East St. Louis, which city Ls Mr.

Rodetiherg's home: "Ot course tiie Negroes were not members of the labor unions. I don't know that they could have got in if they had tried but it i a fact that black lafiorers are not capable being successfully uninnire tu (I don't understand why they should pay dues, fie that as it may, there were enough Negroes in town to fill all the jods oi me men who went on strike against the open shop, and they were put to woric. iney received the SAME WAGES (capitals mine) whici their white predecessors had got, the minimum "daily pay for the humblest sort of work in the aluminum plant being $2.75. This was a fortune to the Negro who had been working for 75 cents a day in the South." So, according to the above the Negroes in East St. Louis were not "un-derbidding-workmen" and "cheap labor" as etaimed by the editor of the Times.

In another article in the Times of July 8, under the heading "RACE RIOTS LAID TO LAX POLICE RULE," I read the following: "In the packing plants, stockyards and ore factories there is an abundance of hard, dirty and unpleasant work which no white American would consent to do. These jobs were abandoned by the skilled white workmen to the Negroes and foreigners. Many of the latter, natives of Austria and the Balkan countries, were summoned to the colors, which meant additional Negroes were employed in their places." The writer goes on to say that, "The Negroes found themselves receiving such unprecedented wages as $4, $5 and $6 a da; and it was not strange many of them wrote glowing letters to friends and relatives in the South, inviting them come and enter into this financial paradise." Here is work too filthy for white Americans to do, they abandon the jobs to the Negroes and then murder them for taking the jobs. It seems to me that there should be a determined effort made by us to see to it that the other countries of the world do not come to regard us the same as we are regarded by our own democratic administration and its followers and sympathizers. I can, as we all ought to, at least be thankful that God has seen fit to let Col.

Roosevelt live. ALEX. ROGERS, 373 Cumberland Brooklyn, N. Y. HARTFORD MINISTERS ON ILLINOIS MASSACRE Hartford, Conn.

Col. Theodore Roosevelt was commended and the East St. Louis massacre deplored by the pastors of the colored churches here last Sunday. The Rev. W.

B. Reed of Shiloh Bap tist Church preached on "Southern Migration and Gompers' Mobs of East St Louis. In speaking of the bast St Louis tragedy the Speaker not only charged every drop of blood drawn, every house destroyed, every life lost to Gompers' labor unions, but he, pictured their tends dripping with blood, prowling the land, infesting Congress and dictating to the head of the Nation. At the A. M.

E. Zion Church the Rev. R. R. Ball spoke on "Workers of Iniquity." He said in part "We are not far removed from, those conditions that drove our people by the thousands from the South to the North before the Civil War.

It was hatred for people on account of their color which intensified the riots in East St. Louis and which is driving some of the noblest and best people of our race to seek a new home and liberty in the North." "An Ideal Nation" was the subject of the address delivered by the Rev. James A. Wright of the Talcott Congregational Church, who said in part: "An ideal nation will have God-fearing men for its rulers. It will select men of integrity, ability and piety for even the petty offices.

The men will have large hearts and broad minds, whose philosophy of life will be: "We rule by the consent of the Because men have not held this, but have rather chosen the false philosophy that 'might makes and The superiority of one race over another, the nations of Europe have been plunged into a bloody conflict We, as a nation, have talked much of our interest in and for democracy abroad, but have failed to cultivate real democracy at home The Rev. C. Fisher of the Union Baptist Church siwke on "The Declaration of Independence in the Light of Christianity." He said among other things "What does the Declaration of Independence guarantee to every American citizen? 'Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Are we not American citizens? Is not liberty to us a coveted prize? Is not our life sacred? What estimate does America the boasted 'Land of the free and home of the put upon the Afro-American citizen? Has she profited by our presence here these 300 years? Or have we been a menace to her government and an eye-sore to the body politic? If our ranks had been filled with Benedict Arnolds. Booths. Guiteau6 and Czolgosz's if our records had been be smirched with treason and anarchy, there might have been some reason, not justifiable, for the horrors of Waco, lexas: Memphis.

and East si Louis, I1L But, on the contrary, we have been loyal to the flag. We have fought in every battle where Old Olory has waved over shining steel. We have shared in every victory which nas perched upon her banner." RIOTS AND TENANTRY. (New York Mail.) Apparently one of the causes for the race, war in East St. Louis is the large influx of Negro laborers from the South, laborers attracted by the h'g'1 wages paid in industries of the North-The same migration of Negro labor is to be observed in most of the northern, states.

The Negro's exodus from the South is an indication of wrong conditions there. The southern Negroes live tenaots upon the soil owned by landlords who do not till it. We have not developed, ia this country, the financial mechanism for allowing ant farmers to beepme proprietors by land which they work. Terhaps th terrible experiences in East St. LouU will help direct the attention of tne country to one of the underlying eases of our agricultural body.

Taken at Her Word. Grace "I told him he mustn't me any more." Her Brother "Well, what did he do?" Grace "Turned out the lights I They Jack-V-Lantern. II 13.