Cayton's Weekly

PRICE FIVE CENTS CAYTON'S WEEKLY Published every Saturday at Seattle, Washington, U. S. A. In the interest of equal rights and equal justice to all men and for "all men up." A publication of general information, but in the main voicing the sentiments of the Colored Citizens. It is open to the towns and communities of the state of Washington to air their public grievances. Social and church notices are solicited for publication and will be handled according to the rules of journalism. Subscription $2 per year in advance. Special rates made to clubs and societies. HOLACE ROSCOE CAYTON..Editor and Publisher Office. 513 Pacific Blk. Telephone Main 24. R. V. SIDNEY STRONG His critics to the contrary, notwithstanding, it can be said without fear of successful contradiction that the Rev. Sidney Strong has never drawn an unpatriotic breath and that the preservation of this union and the protection of its fundamental principals are as dear to his heart as to any man who boasts of being an American citizen, not even excepting a president or an ex-president. That he has been indiscrete, owing to his over-enthusiasm for world peace and the brotherhood of man, in the language he has used and the friends he has chosen, during these war times, seems quite apparent. For years Seattleites have known the Rev. Sidney Strong as a man of worth and character, yea to such an extent did he partake of these principals that he was readily pronounced an ideal citizen. It hardly seems possible that he so suddenly lost all of these admirable qualities and developed into a dangerous degenerate and a fit subject for imprisonment or ignominious banishment. For years he has been a beacon light for right and we believe that is still his life ambition. He has always been a strong advocate for the man at the bottom and we, belonging to a class of citizens of this country who have been the recipient of many helpful things at the hands of Rev. strong, can see nothing but good in the man. The state press very generally has severely criticised him, but it remained for the Washingtonian of Hoquiam to say, "Reverend Strong has become to be a man to be held in suspicion, for he has aligned himself with the known enemies of his country." The editor himself does not believe a word of the above excerpt and he wrote it to pander to public sentiment, and chiefly to impress his readers that his paper is full and overflowing with patriotism. It is always well to watch the fellow that hollows the loudest about his convictions for nine times out of ten he has a selfish motive for so doing. The effort of the few Spanish-American war veterans to recall Miss Anna Louise Strong as a member of the school board is to our mind puerile and another exhibition of trying to attract public attention for selfish motives. In our opinion neither the Reverend Strong or his daughter can do or say anything that will stop the present world war and the only patriotic thing for them to do is to get our country in a condition to fight its way out, but we conclude, as we began, in our opinion, the Rev. Sidney Strong has never drawn an unpatriotic breath and that he has not one iota of sympathy with Germany or any other enemy of the Stars and Stripes. WAS ANYTHING EVER WORSE Inch by inch the Congressional investigating committee is bringing out the horrors perpetrated upon the colored citizens in the East St. Louis riots and while the daily press tell of it as briefly as possible, yet one can read between the lines and see that the cruelties practiced upon the Armenians by the Turks pale into insignificance in comparison. "There is not a slacker among the colored men drafted for the war in which this country is now involved" boasts one of the members of one of the recruiting boards, and yet those brave black boys at the front read in the daily press of such horrors as the Memphis, Tennessee incineration and the East St. Louis holicust, the resultant effects of color prejudice on the part of the white folks of this forsooth, the blacks only number one in ten in comparison to themselves, and might ten in comparison into themselves, and might makes right. Slacking would not help the situation, but what fair-minded man could blame them if they did slack and prefer a prison sentence to enlistment. This is the black man's country the same as the white man's and our advice to the black man is that he stand by his country until his last drop of blood has been spilled, but we think it shows little of the spirit of the golden rule, when the white man will appeal to the colored man to show his patriotism and then permit his wife and children to be shot down by soldiers to prove their ability to shoot and by fiends incarnate, who will throw a crying baby into the flames in order to keep organized labor in the future from having to compete with a black laborer. The horrors of East St. Louis have been known to the white citizens ever since it was committed and yet the press, the pulpit and the public have systematically struggled to suppress the facts and they would not now be leaking out if the millionaires, who were using the colored citizens to satisfy their own greed for gain, had not been cut off from a large amount of dollars and cents. "Who soweth to the winds will reap a whirlwid" and some day the murderers of innocent women and children, because their skins are black, will reap the prophetic whirlwind. Belgium, for years, under King Leopold, perpetrated attrocities on the native Africans, the horrors of which were never before inflicted on human beings, and while we do not now rejoice, yet, Belgium is reaping her whirlwind. Two wrongs never make a right and it is our prayer that the Belgians will be spared from further punishment for their sins. We have no desire that those in this country who precipitated such holicusts as the East St. Louis affair on the colored folks be visited with a like retribution, but we do hope that they will awaken to their senses of the brotherhood of man without regard to race, color or creed and let all colors, classes and distinctions of the human family domiciled in this land and country be able to earnestly and consistently sing, "My country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty." As the weather grows cooler, rumblings of raise in price of coal are to be heard in the distance and that, too, when Dr. Garfield promises it is to be cheaper. Evidently the coal kings do not give the doctor very much consideration. VOL. 2. No. 20 PROFESSOR KINCAID'S LECTURE A house full and overflowing greeted Professor Kincaid at the Mt. Zion Brotherhood meeting last Tuesday evening, which was made up largely of the leading colored citizens of the city. Taking as his subject, "The Origin and Environments of the Negro," he forgot history and plunged into pre-historic science, and for an hour and a half he had his audience guessing as to whether the Bible or science was correct in man's origin. Among the many things he said of rare interest to the Negro was that he originated in Asia instead of Africa as is the common belief. He also said that the Caucasian originated in Northern Africa instead of Europe as was commonly believed. The Negro, in his opinion, has been the most prolific of the three principle types of the human family, the Ethiopian, the Caucasion and the Mongollic, and owing to his prolificness his blood has been diffused into the majority of all the races that are offshoots of these distinct father heads. The Negro has never shown any great strength in organization, which resulted in strong national governments, and yet he has exercised a most wonderful influence over those peoples who have played leading roles in the making of powerful central governments. The Negro, according to pre-historic science as gathered by Professor Kincaid, has furnished the blood, bone and sinew for the upbuilding of all the other races and the Caucasian itself is by no means free from borrowing Negro blood for its own fortification. The Negro, according to his theory, is responsible for the color of the Hindu, the Latin races, the Jewish race and much of his blood was injected into the Mongollic people. He believed that all races had one common origin and that the divisions and subdivisions were due to environments and common topographical barriers. While such subjects are always interesting and the person of thought can listen to them discussed for hours without tire, yet they can be of little service or aid to the world of today, save to learn from whence we came and to, if history repeats itself, whither are we drifting. There is no doubt in our mind but that if man had one common origin it is the divine policy of Him, who is directing this great universe, to, after man has been scattered the world over and battled with himself until the best of him is left, to again unite the dissenting elements and some day they will again find themselves members of one great big family with the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man as its chief creed, and if that will not be Heaven then, pray, what is Heaven. The lecture of Professor Kincaid was one of the most interesting ones that we have ever listened to and it is to be regretted that only colored persons were present to hear it. To sit and listen to Professor Kincaid unwind the story of man of a million years and do so without hesitancy and without projudge or favoritism you are convinced of the wonderfulness of the mind of man. If the South Bend Journal has the largest circulation of any paper in Pacific county, then the citizens of that county must be dead easy and willing to give up their money for nothing. --- PERCENTAGE OF PATRIOTS According to Dr. D. A. Nease, of New York, quoted in the Washington Post, of September 26, about 50 per cent of the people of the United States are true Americans at heart. Assuming a total population of about 100,000,000 and a colored population of about 10,000,000 (there are slightly more of each), what does this signify? The 10,000,000 colored people are practically all Americans at heart—real Americans. The rest of the population, 90,000,000, is composed of whites and various nondescript peoples. Among these the 50 per cent, or 50,000,000, of un-Americans at heart must therefore be found. That is to say, we have about 55 per cent of whites and nondescritps who are not true patriots. Analysis: If Mr. Nease's estimate is correct, the percentage of true Americans among all the groups in our country are as follows: Colored, 100 per cent; whites and nondescripts, 45 per cent. That is to say, about 55 per cent of the whites and nondescripts are not thorough patriots. In ordinary times this startling statement of facts would not demand serious attention; but when it is remembered that we are now engaged in a great war, the outcome of which must be momentous to the country for good or bad, and that most of the public places of trust are filled with these whites and nondescripts, it is a serious matter. This 55 per cent of doubtful patriots constitute probably over half of our army and navy, of our civilian officials, of our clerical force in the Government departments. Many of them take no pains to disguise their wish that Germany shall win in the war. Of the thousands of new clerks, messengers and laborers appointed in the civil service since the war began, how many are colored? The systematic policy is to exclude them. The cards are stacked and cut that way; it is the unwritten law. The petty officials who make the appointments in the departments, aided by the photoraph system instituted in very recent years, put race prejudice above patriotism. If the Government wants dependable patriots in places of public trust, if it wants the best for the Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard, men guaranteed to fight and not betray valuable secrets, let it consider the qualifications of that group of the population that is 100 per cent American—"all wool and a yard wide." Why should this group not be trusted and preferred in these trying times to the group less than half of whom are believed to be trustworthy? "Put none but Americans on guard."—Washington Bee. A copy of Cayton's Weekly perchance fell into the hands of one of the leading white citizens of Washington City and he read our article on the Negro Will Go South, meaning to Central and South American countries, and he writes at length and is of the opinion that, Liberia will be their objective point and millions of them will cross the briny deep and found a grand African republic with Liberia as its neucleus. We do not even partially agree with the idea. The Negro nor the Jew will hardly return to what is known as his father land, and most assuredly not the Negro. The American Negro is going to be marged into the nations of North and South America and in our opinion within the next one hundred years his identity will almost be a thing of the past. The report of the throwing into the fire of a colored child by the labor union fiends incarnate during the East St. Louis riots, was found in the sporting columns of the Post-Intelligencer. It was sport for the red handed murders to commit the dastardly act and the P.-I. carried out the spirit of the sport. EDITORIAL PARAGRAPHS Bob Fitzsimmons has not only been knocked out, but has been laid out. Peace to his ashes. The colored man who will work for fifty dollars per month these times, must be wrong under the hat. If in the past Camp Lewis has not seen Uncle Sam through a "glass darkly" it will certainly do so from now on. What Seattle wants worse, just now, is Morehouse, not only for the county jail, but for the influx of new comers. A United States senator having been taken for a wild duck by his brother is now a dead duck. The hunting "ijiots" are still at large. Gill had nothing to suggest when confronted with his reign of vice. Well, we suggest the recall of Hyram Charles Gill as mayor of Seattle. It hurts when such papers as the P.-I. slam at the colored man, but when such a vulgar sheet as the Seattle Daily Times does so, it is simply "amoozing." We hardly agree with Senator P. L. Allen in that there are no slackers among the colored citizens, for if there were not, they would be un-natural, but there are less by a hundred per cent than among any other distinct class of citizens in this country and yet they are given the least consideration by the powers that be. It is reported that there are forty million men fighting in the present world war, which must mean that before the war is ended a great majority of them will have been killed and at that it is our opinion that the war will end in a draw. Probable Constable Ed. Shrewsbury was on the square and in the open and his acquittal was right and proper, but he will have a hard time convincing the public of that and he will have to do some great work to get a renomination and election. If there is a family in the United States that feed upon the fat of the land more than the P. P. Carroll family, of this city, then we have never heard of it. P. P. Carroll, father, draws a very large pension; Frank M. Carroll is surgeon general in the army; John H. is major in the army; Mrs. Beals, a daughter, is justice-of-peace in Seattle and her husband, Walter Beals, is a candidate for judge-advocate of the army, while still another daughter is clerk in one of the courts. Beat this record and you will be going some. Extoling the telephone girls as having been inspired by a high degree of patriotism, which was responsible for temporarily averting the threatened operators strike, on the part of organized labor papers, is so ridiculous that it is "amoozen." They did not strike because their business agent reached the conclusion that the entire bunch stood a chance of losing and he took the stand that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. There is no more patriotism among the members of organized labor than there is among a herd of hogs. The Mere Man—"Are you sure that was a marriage license that you issued to me last month?" The Official—"Why, of course, it was. What's the matter?" The Mere Man—"Well, I've lived a dog's life ever since." Editor Scott Bone continues to write fascinating essays for publication in his paper. It is remarkable in his old age how well he keeps up his school boy work Cayton's Weekly. If we were permitted to do so, we could suggest a subject upon which Scott should be amply qualified to write "fascinating essays" on: "Why has the P.-I. degenerated from the leading position in the daily newspaper field in this state to the steenth place under Mr. Bone's management?" Of course we are not intimating that Scott isn't a great editor, he is. He would shine like a "nigger's heel" on the Georgetown Bugle or the Black Diamond Miner—Camas Post. "I grovel before you in the dust!" observed the impassioned youth, as he sank onto the drawing-room floor. "I don't know what you mean by dust," replied she coldly. "I dust this room most carefully myself every morning."—Tit-Bits. Come All Ye and Step With Pep at the GRAND HALLOWEEN MASQUERADE BALL at the Renton Hill Club House Tuesday Evening, Oct. 30 4 - Beautiful Prizes - 4 Prize each for the most original lady and gent. Prize each for the most comical lady and gent. Latest and best dance music by Eastern musicians. Begin the fall season by attending a large affair on a large night. Plenty of Refreshments. Two Kinds of New Punch. Auspices Colored Musicians' Union Admission, 50c. Elliott 991——Elliott 992 H. & S. Taxi and Touring First Class Cars Capable Drivers STAND 724 PINE ST. Reasonable Rates Day and Night Service on our Touring Trips We Never Sleep “SERVICE” OUR MOTTO THE DOUGLAS CLUB Now Occupies spacious and elegantly furnished and equipped NEW QUARTERS And will be pleased to meet old and new friends 308 Washington St. Frank Smith, Prop. Main 4930 --- Q THE NEGRO'S CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN ART THE NEGRO'S CONTRIBUTION TO AMERICAN ART Literary-Digest Our only original contributions to the domain of American art have come to us through our Negro population. If this proposition is doubted one is asked to mention what, besides the ragtime of the modern dance and the Uncle Remus stories of Joel Chandler Harris, has as yet "sprung from American soil and out of American life." The originality and power of these artistic creations, declares Mr. James Weldon Johnson, field secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, have influenced and appealed not only to America, but the world. He places the most importance upon the "Uncle Remus" stories and the spiritual or slave songs to which the Fisk Jubilee Singers made the public and musicians of the United States and Europe listen. The stories constitute the only folk-lore that America has produced, says Mr. Johnson in the New York Evening Post, and the slave melodies the only folk-songs, "for in them the Negro sounded the depths, if he did not scale the heights, of music." Mr. Johnson also mentions the "cake walk" and ragtime and points to the fact that we need not go very far back to remember when cake walking was the rage of the United States, Europe, and South America. "Society in this country and royalty abroad spent time in practicing the intricate steps. Paris pronounced it the poetry of motion." Though the popularity of the cake walk passed away its influence remained, a fact which this apologist goes on to examine: "The influence which the Negro has exercised on the art of dancing in this country has been almost absolute. For generations, the clog and the jig, which are strictly Negro dances, have been familiar to American theater audiences. Several years ago the public discovered the turkey trot, the eagle rock, and several other varieties that started the modern dance craze. Half the floor space in the country was then turned over to dancing, and highly paid exponents sprang up everywhere. The most noted, Vernon Castle, and, by the way, an Englishman, never danced except to the music of a colored orchestra, and he never failed to state to his audiences that most of his dances had long been done by your colored people, as he put it. "Any one who witnesses a musical production in which there is dancing can not fail to notice the Negro stamp upon all the movements, a stamp that even the great vogue of Russian dances could not affect. That peculiar swaying of the shoulders which you see done everywhere by the blond girls of the chorus is nothing more than a movement from the Negro dance referred to above, the 'eagle rock.' "Just at this point it would be interesting to trace the origin and development of rag-time, but that we must pass over. I go straight to the statement that ragtime is the one artistic production by which America is know the world over. It has been all-conquering, and is everywhere hailed as 'American music.' "Of course, there are those who will deny that it is an artistic production. American musicians, especially, instead of investigating ragtime, dismiss it with a contemptuous word. But that has always been the course of scholasticism in every branch of art. Whatever new thing the people like is pooh-poohed; whatever is popular is spoken of as not worth while. The fact is, nothing great or enduring, especially in music, has ever sprung full fledged and unprecedented from the brain of any master; the best that he gives to the world he gathers from the hearts of the people, and runs it through the alembic of his genius. "In spite of the bans which musicians and teachers have placed upon it, the people still demand and enjoy ragtime. One thing can not be denied; it is music which possesses at least one strong element of greatness; it appeals universally; not only the American, but the English, the French, and even the German people, find delight in it. "In fact, there is not a corner of the civilized world in which it is not known, and this proves its originality, for if it were an imitation, the people of Europe at least would not have found it a novelty. And it is proof of a more important thing; it is proof that ragtime possesses the vital spark, without which any artistic production, no matter how approved its form may be, is dead." In spite of the amount of "worthless, vicious imitation," Mr. Johnson contends that there is enough that is genuine, mentioning "The Memphis Blues" where he thinks "the musicians will find not only great melodic beauty, but a polyphonic structure that is amazing." Continuing: "I have spoken of 'The Memphis Bues' as a composition. Strictly speaking, it is not a composition. The name of the composer printed on the copies is Handy, who is a Negro musician of Memphis; but 'The Memphis Blues,' is one of those Negro songs which like 'Topsy,' 'jest grew.' However, that is another story. "We are all familiar with the great influence that ragtime has had on music in FIVE—Cayton 0-24 chl America. Most people will recognize that influence on the musical comedy stage, but not many know that ragtime has even influenced our religious music. I do not know how many of us here are familiar with Gospel hymns, but if you are, you can at once see the great difference between the songs of thirty years ago, such as 'In the Sweet Bye and Bye,' 'The Ninety and Nine,' etc., and the up-to-date, syncopated tunes that are sung in the Sunday schools and like meetings today. "Now, these dances which I have referred to in passing and ragtime music may be lower forms of art, but they give evidence of a power that will some day be applied to the higher forms. Even now we need not stop at the Negro's accomplishment through these lower forms. In the spirituals or slave songs the Negro has given America not only its only folk-songs, but a mass of noble music. I never think of this music but I am struck by the wonder, the miracle, of its production. How did the men who orginated them manage to do it? The sentiments are easily accounted for; they are mostly taken from the Bible; but the melodies, where did they come from, some of them so weirdly sweet, and others so wonderfully strong? Take, for instance, 'Go Down, Moses.' I doubt that there is a stronger theme in the whole musical literature of the world.'" Mr. Johnson expresses his wonder that "this greatest gift of the Negro" should have been the most neglected of all that he possesses: "Money and effort have been expended upon his development in every other direction except this. This gift has been regarded as a sort of side show, something for occasional exhibition, whereas it is the magic thing; it is the touchstone; it is that by which the Negro can bridge all chasms. No class of persons, however hostile, can listen to Negroes singing this wonderful music without having all their hostility melted down. Any one who can hear Negroes sing from their hearts 'Nobody Knows de Trouble I See' without shedding tears must indeed have a heart of stone. This very music can be used as bond. "I believe the Negro possesses a valuable and much needed gift that he will contribute to the future American democracy. I have tried to point out that the Negro is here not merely to be a beneficiary of American democracy, not merely to receive. He is here to give something to American democracy. Out of his wealth of artistic and emotional endowment he is going to give something that is wanting, something that is needed, something that no other element in all the nation has to give." Greek met Greek last Saturday when the Broadway football squad met on the gridiron the Franklin squad, with Green starring for Broadway and Prim for Fraklin. The latter team met its Waterloo, but it went down defending its colors. HEAVEN IS LARGE ENOUGH The new city spoken of in Revelation xxvii is measured by the following astounding figures: "And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." Twelve thousand furlongs, equal to 7,290,000 feet, which, being cubed, is 469,793,088,000,000,000 cubic feet, the half of which we will reserve for the throne of God, and the court of heaven, half the remainder for streets and the remainder, divided by 4096, the cubic feet in a room 16 feet square and 16 feet high, will be equal to 30,321,843,750,000,000 rooms. We will now suppose that the world always did and always will contain 900,000,-000 of inhabitants, and that a generation will last 31 1-3 years, 2,700,000,000 every century, and that the world will stand 100,-000 years, equal to 240,000,000,000,000. Then suppose there were 12,000 such worlds equal to this in number of inhabitants. Then there would be a room 16 feet long, 18 feet wide and 16 feet high for each person, and yet there would be room to spare. This is in answer to a boy in Sunday school who wanted to know if there was room in heaven to hold all the men killed in battle.—James Cumming., Emma—How shall I have my summer hat trimmed so that it will correspond with my complexion? Amy—Well, if you want it to match your face, I’d advise you to have it very plain. Job work in the latest and newest styles turned out in this office. Main 24. VICTOR CLEANING and Dye Works. Ladies and Gents Tailoring. Pressing, Repairing. 1203 Yesler Way. Beacon 528. IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF Washington for King County. Roy Green, Plaintiff, vs. Emma T. Green, Defendant. No. ..... Summons by Publication. The State of Washington to the said Emma T. Green, Defendant: You are hereby summoned to appear within sixty days after the date of the first publication of this summons, to-wit: within sixty days after the 8th day of September, 1917, and defend the above entitled action in the above entitled court, and answer the complaint of the plaintiff, and serve a copy of your answer upon the undersigned attorney for plaintiff at his office below stated; and in case of your failure so to do, judgment will be rendered against you according to the demand of the complaint, which has been filed with the clerk of said court. The object of the above entitled action is to obtain a decree of divorce from the defendant by the plaintiff on the grounds of cruelty and incompatibility. ANDREW R. BLACK, Attorney for Plaintiff. P. O. Address 316 Pacific Block, Seattle, Wash. Sept. 8 to Oct. 20, 1917. IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF Washington for King County. Helen Kolenc, Plaintiff, vs. Jack Kolenc, Defendant. —No. Summons. You are hereby summoned to appear within sixty days after the date of the first publication of this summons, to-wit, within sixty days after the 22nd day of September, 1917, and defend the above entitled action in the above entitled court, and answer the complaint of the plaintiff and serve a copy of your answer upon the undersigned attorney for plaintiff at his office below stated; and in case of your failure so to do, judgment will be rendered against you according to the demand of the complaint, which has been filed with the clerk of said court. The object of said action is to secure a divorce on the grounds of non-support, for custody of children, for alimony and attorney fees. WILLIAM WRAY, Attorney for Plaintiff. Post Office Address, 90 West Madison St., Seattle, Washington. First Publication Sept. 22, 1917. IN THE SUPERIOR COURT OF THE STATE OF Washington for King County. B. L. Ducknoviske, Plaintiff, vs. Selma Ducknoviske, Defendant.-No. Summons by Publication. The State of Washington to the said Selma Ducknoviske, Defendant: You are hereby summoned to appear within sixty days after the date of the first publication of this summons, to-wit: within sixty days after the 13th day of October, 1917, and defend the above entitled action in the above entitled court, and answer the complaint of the plaintiff, and serve a copy of your answer upon the undersigned attorney for plaintiff at his office below stated; and in case of your failure so to do, judgment will be rendered against you according to the demand of the complaint, which has been filed with the clerk of said court. The object of the above entitled action is to ob- tain a decree of divorce from the defendant by the plaintiff on the grounds of desertion. ANDREW R. BLACK, Attorney for Plaintiff. P. O. Address, 316 Pacific Block, Seattle, Wash. Oct. 13: Nov. 24, 1917.