Cayton's Weekly

Cayton's Weekly PRICE FIVE CENTS CAYTON'S WEEKLY Published every Saturday at Seattle, Washington. U. S. A. Subscription $2 per year in advance. HORACE ROSCOE CAYTON..Editor and Publisher Entred as second class matter, August 18, 1916, at the post office at Seattle, Vash., under the Act of March 3rd, 1916. TELEPHONE: BEACON 1910 Office 303 22nd Ave. South WOODROW WILSON President of the United States so comes the report, is not necessarily sick unto death, but perhaps is sick unto the end of his present term, and then some. His exact ailment his physcians have not and doubtless will not permit to become public property, but the public has its suspicions. While his trip abroad may not have been the beginning of his troubles, yet it is said to be largely responsible for them, and being on the verge of collapse on his return to Washington City and there meeting both censure and criticism of such a nature to force him to take the field and defend his actions must have hastened the collapse which his physcians foresaw. There seems to be an unnecessary amount of secrecy about the White House administration. First the treaties made by the president were kept a profound secret and now his sickness is no less a guarded secret than were the European treaties, and there does not seem to be any reasonable excuse for the same. If the president is even sick unto death this republic will roll on just as perfectly as if he had never lived, and the same would be true of any public man, hence the public is entitled to know the exact nature of the president's malady. Irrespective of his constitutional condition, President Wilson in the settlement of the late world war attempted the Atlas stunt and when it was too late realized his mistake. Like Charlemagne, Caesar, Napoleon and Kaiser Wilhelm, President Wilson flatly failed in his attempt to become the world power. All of them for a brief spell believed that they held the key to the situation, and they may have, but each of them tripped before reaching the great door. Jefferson was right in declaring "all men are created equal" and that being so, to keep peace in the family they must reason together. With President Wilson down and out the League of Nations will get but scant support in the United States and its death will be but a question of time, in which case Senator Johnson will be left almost without a presidential issue and in the final campaign the Democratic party will be without a "paramount issue." The fight Senator Johnson has made against the policies of President Wilson has given him an enviable party position for the presidential nomination, but of that he will lose much in case President Wilson is not a candidate to succeed himself. In his address in Seattle, Roscoe Simmonds mildly rebuked the spirit that seemed to prevail in the audience to more or less rejoice over the misfortunes of the president and he is to be commended therefor, all of which made the thoughtful ones wonder, why such a feeling? It will be remembered that since Mr. Wilson has been president, the colored folks of this country have had more trials and tribulations to contend with than they have had all told SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1919 since their emancipation and they can be laid at the private entrance of Woodrow Wilson to the White House. While he was not directly responsible for the recent race riots, yet the spirit he has engendered and from time to time encouraged was responsible for it and the colored folks fully realizing this are not kindly disposed toward him, well, sick or dead. Wilson's anti-Negro program has harassed the colored folks from the Lakes to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Pacific and even on the battlefields of France, and little more could be expected from them than, "I do not give a tinker's dam what happens at the White House," and yet the colored folks should remember they are taught, "Vengeance is mine saith the Lord of host." THE PASSING THRONG At the A. M. E. Church of this city last Monday evening occured the annual election of the officers of the Seattle Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, which resulted in the election of O H Winston, president, Mrs. A Bonner, vice president, Mrs. Ethel D Howard secretary, and Mrs. L. A. Graves, treasurer. The members of the executive committee are Richard S. Brown, Rev. D. A. Graham, Stephen Young, John H. Cragweil. All of whom are well qualified to give the public a good account of themselves which, it is hoped, will be done. The colored folks of this community are doubtless advancing along the lines of general uplift in many ways, but one would hardly suspect as much after sitting through the meeting last Monday evening, which was laying the foundation for greater advancement for the ensuing year. If in attending public meetings, you find it necessary in order to carry your point to become personal and abusive, you have not only gained nothing yourself for having attended, but no one else has gained anything for your having attended many of the speeches made at the meeting did not show much advancement on the part of those making them. "For ruling as you did you are no gentleman" shouted an excited member at the meeting of the Seattle Branch at the election last Monday evening and this was said despite the fact the excited member was not denied the privilege of appealing from the decision of the chair and have the body sustain the contentions. There were other members, who were no less guarded in their language than that excited member, all of which brought about a more or less chaotic state. Unless there is a marked improvement on the part of the members attending the meetings the organization will soon go to the dimnation bow wows, which will result in all the hard work that has been put in on it going for nought. Let us remember the recent fight of Emmett J. Scott and Du Bois, and profit from their experience. But casually is the writer hereof acquainted with O H Winston, president elect of the N. A A C P., but he gives every evidence of being a man fully capable to further the work which he has undertaken, to a most brilliant success. He seems to be a matter of fact man that proposes that the workings of the VOL. IV., NO. 18 Branch be practical rather than parliamentary. "Let us pray" was the soothing elixir for the rough house that had proceeded his election and if he continues along that line he will not get very far out of the way in directing the affairs of the organization. For more than two years past Samuel H. Stone has been president of the Seattle Branch of the N. A. A. C. P. and be it said to his everlasting credit, a more conscientious worker was never before at the head of an organization. Apparently he was without a selfish motive, and his errors, if any at all, were of the head and by no means of the heart. He gave his time, his talent and his money unstintingly for the good of the cause. Men have made more brilliant speeches than could or can Mr. Stone but brilliant oratorical displays do not always win, but hard labor such as he always gave will win. Sam Stone's administration was a success. While little advancement seems to have been made among the local colored citizens in conducting public organizations, yet they are making mighty strides in acquiring real estate. Within the past ten days Russell Smith and Burr Williams have purchased the north east corner of Twelfth and Jackson and plan in the no very distant future to erect a modern hotel on the site. It is without doubt one of the best corners on Jackson street and ten years from today the lot alone will be worth $100,000. It is the acquiring of real estate that will show more advancement than large bank accounts. More than a passing consideration is due Russell Smith and Burr Williams in the purchase of the valuable piece of real estate mentioned above and Cayton's Weekly is glad of the opportunity to say a word of commendation for them. They are both men of the easy life, but both men of high hopes for the success of the black man. Regardless of how one gets the money, if after getting it it is used advantageously to the whole, it, to an extent, over shadows the method used in getting it In times past Russell Smith and Burr Williams have given of their money freely for worthy causes and they continue to show their hope for the future by putting their money into real estate, thus giving the colored citizens of Seattle a better standing in the body politic. Two other colored citizens of Seattle, to the personal knowledge of the editor hereof, have purchased valuable real estate in the city in the present week. Mrs. Letitia A. Graves has purchased a $3,000 residence on Twenty Second avenue south, and got immediate possession thereof. Mrs. Graves for the past fourteen years has conducted a hair dressing establishment in the People's Savings Bank Building, in which she has been quite financially successful. But a few weeks ago she purchased a $3,500 income property on Twetny Second avenue, North, thus giving her a realty investment of almost $7,000. To the millionaire this all looks small, but to the person of ordinary means it looks mighty big. That was a well arranged little six acre tract formerly owned by A. W. Bragg near Kennydale and it is too bad that owing to age and infirmity he was forced ay ST eee eee es A] Ae ae ~f as oe" aoe tibet iar tas Me eee Pee ; inetee we >.) eek esi sel. Spd aye : uP : pI . ay Abate ek F: Sry SRLS RW a aay a. Hy My ee Mg Sia hie ae gee < Se hg sete DAE Og Rope Mee a ei Pe ets doubtless did) not get to exceed half that amount. Mr. Bragg was exceedingly anx- ious to sell to a colored family in view of the fact that for more than a mile stretch east and west the lands were own- ed by colored folks and using his own words, “‘I did not want to break the black belt.” The eidtor hereof had hoped to he able to purchase the traet, but the wind blew the other way. But few, if any colored folks had the making of a more ideal home than did Mr, Bragg, and it is to he regretted that he was not able to hold on to the end. After having accumulated a_ sufficiency out of the chieken raising business, Dan Myers formerly of Sunnydale, a Seattle suburb, has leased his ten aere tract and with his family has moved to a fifty acre tract near Winlock, Washington, where, using his own words, “‘T mean to lead a less strenuous life.’? In other words Dan is going to live ‘fon the interest of his money, Some fourteen or more years ago he with a very limited amount of capital went into the chicken business at Sunnydale, and went into it with the view of making it go and he did so beyond his most sanguine expectations, THe simply got the money while getting was good and he seems to know when he had enough of a good thing. After listening for nearly three hours to Roscoe Simmonds deliver a set speech, a cynic would wonder to himself, what would have been the effect on that speech if by some ledgerdemain the pronoun ‘1’? had been eliminated from it a few mom- ents prior to its delivery. In introdue- ing Mr. Simmonds, Dr. Cooper said ‘he is America’s greatest platform orator’? and there is no doubt of him being some talker. If in all this world there is a greater combination of ego, conceit, public plat- itudes, oratory, eloquence, comedy, com- mon sense, cussedness and curiosity, finally, little inymuch in one human being, sueh an one hk still at large. There was how- ever a more or less logical conclusion in Mr. Simmonds speech, but it would re- quire the perceptibilities of a Philadel- phia lawyer to find it. An ideal chairman of the evening was found in Dr. David T. Cardwell at the Simmonds meeting as he did his work with neatness and dispatch. A thing not often done, When James Weldon John- son was in Seattle, he, in speaking about his meeting said, ‘Sit was real refreshing to not to have had to enter into an ora- torical contest with the presiding officer for the honor of the evening. It often happens as I go from place to place that the presiding offieer and not myself makes the speech of the evening.’’ But in spite of the modesty of the presiding officer and the introducer Mr, Simmonds in thanking those dignitaries for his more or less fav- orable introduction said, ‘‘though TI have heen introduced to audiences by kings and royal robers throughout Europe, and by governors of this country yet this is the first time I have been properly knocked down,’’ That however may have been but a stock remark generally told at the expense of those having to perform such duties. It was more or less a financial venture on the part of Mrs. Thompson to bring Mr. Simmonds here to speak, owing to the fact that he exacted $250 for his ser- vices, but all is well that ends well, and apparently she was eminently suecessful in the undertaking and after paying all ex- penses was able to turn over to the building one to sell a revolver to an individual and likewise a felony for any one to be found with a gun in his or her possession. No man has any use for a revolver and when he carries one he is already a criminal and should be locked up. Owing to the serious illness of Mrs. Ruth Cayton Wright, Mrs. S. R. Cayton with Mrs. Wright’s baby left for Portland Friday afternoon where she will remain at the bed side of her daughter untii there is a change in her condition. In the passing of Mrs. A. Hall one of Seattle’s land marks so far as the colored folks are concerned has been swept away. For the past thirty odd years, she has been an administering angel, not only among colored folks, but among all classes of folks. For many years she conducted a home dining room. which was the eating headquarters of most of the colored colony in Seattle and it was there that all of us learned to love her for her true Christian worth. “T am offering Russell Smith a good round sum for his bargain,’’ said a real estate dealer last Friday. ‘‘There seems to be a rivalry between the Japanese and the colored citizens as to which one of them ean acquire the greatest amount of real estate on Jackson street. If the Japanese have their way the name of the street may be changed to Mikado Midway, but if the colored citizens have their way the name of the street may be changed to Negro Broadway. The odds seem to be in favor of the colored citizens, owing to the fact they are not handicapped in ac- quiring title to the real estate while the Japanese have to deal under cover. That the colored citizens are showing signs of much prosperity is seen in the fil- ing of a number of divorcee proceedings among the ‘“‘uper crust.’ Poor people are not able to enjoy the luxury of a sensation- al divorce proceeding, but those with mon- ey feast and in some instances, fatten on it. Colored folks differ in no wise from white folks and the former no sooner come into they at havethreiNN—bdyeemfw mfw ff possession of considerable money than they at once adopt those forms of fun and amuse- ment so common to white folks. Divorce sensations are for the rich and that too without class, color or condition. And now comes the national president of the Lincoln League and announces, if any one has circulated a report to the effect, the Lincoln League is an independ- ent political organization such person or persons have not only imposed upon the public but gravely missrepresented the League. The Lincoln League is Republi- can to the backbone and is in full accord with the Republican leaders.’? A number of branches have been organized in the state of Washington and those responsible for their organization laid stress on the point they would act independent of any political party, in other words, they might be Republican, Democratic or So- cialistic in the coming campaign. The Hon. I. TH. Norris, Sr., is said to be re- sponsible for the above propaganda, but he was noticeably absent at the banquet when Mr. Simmonds explained matters. President MeCant could throw no light on the tangled situation as none of the lit. erature had come into his possession. If the Lincoln League in this state continues it will be a Republican instead of an in- dependent political organization to the value of $40,000. No there are no colored millionaires in Seattle, but they are steppin right along. Demands for ‘‘protection’’? going up to the Republican congress indicate that many of our industries are still ‘‘infants.’’ The General Education Board has appro- priated money to employ field agents for Negro rural schools in Texas and South Carolina. The Baptists of Virginia have held a ter- cententary celebration and collected $23,000 for missions and education. Dr. Z. D. Lewis was chairman. The formal inauguration of Dr. J. Stan- ley Durkee as president of Howard Uni- versity will take place next month. A Readjustment and Reconstruction Congress will be. held at the same time. COLORED LITERATURE 2230" esa; zines, _' Hastern Periodicals. High-brow Toilet Articles. First Class Tonsorial Articles at Tutt’s Shop, 300 Main Street. ae ee ee ee P. FRAZIER 22! Estate, Insurance, Coltect- . fons. 316 Pacific Block, Seattle Main 4554, nn . Graduate Op- J. W. EDMUNDS, OPH. D., Grsuste 2°; Hye Specialist. Personal attention given in Eye ex- aminations for Glasses. Fifteen years in Seattle. Balcony, Fraser-Paterson Co. ee WHERE TO EAT 1207 Jackson Street At the Diamond you will find every- thing as you like it. Chaffen Dishes Our Specialty. So long as you eat, so long will you live. If, therefore, you want to live long, come to the Diamond to eat. Boxes for ladies. WE NEVER SLEEP GEORGE SIMMONDS, Proprietor William MeHinton, Manager 1207 Jackson Street The Grand Opening of the Is Announced, with BOB DISHMORE, Proprietor, M. C. HARRIS, Manager Every Accommodation 1212 Main Street Seattle SANDERS & COMPANY LOANS NEGOTIATED 1003-1004 L. C. Smith Building Office Hours From 8:30 A. M. to 5:30 P. M. Seattle, Wash. Elliott 4662 You Are Welcome GREAT NORTHERN POOL AND BILLIARD HALL Cigars, Tobaceo and Soft Drinks. BOYD & WILLIAMS, Props. 1032 Jackson St. Phone East 179 Calls Made Promptly Day or Night PENN UNDERTAKING CO. FUNERAL DIRECTORS and EMBALMERS H. Alfred Lewis, Funeral Director 1215 East Marion St. Seattle --- SHILLADY AND TEXAS. From The Crisis There was once a man who said that if he owned Hell and Texas, he would prefer to rent out Texas and live in Hell. He may have exaggerated, but he had some supporting facts: Texas was settled by white Southerners in order to extend slave territory; it was forcibly stolen from Mexico in 1837, largely because Mexico tried to abolish slavery in 1829. Thereupon Texas became the center of the African slave trade and the "most shameful violations of United States slave trade laws were perpetrated through Texas. During the years of Texan independence slaves were rushed in at the rate of 15,000 or more a year and the annexation of Texas and the Mexican War were movements to extend Negro slavery. Out of this past has risen the present Texas. In that state the first public burning alive of a Negro took place, at Paris. Since 1899 Texas has lynched 338 human beings—standing second only to Georgia and Mississippi in this horrible eminence. Notwithstanding this, the Texas Negro forged forward. Encouraged by his first great leader, Norris Wright Cuney, he has bought 21,182 farms with nearly two million acres of land, worth $25,000,000. Starting with nothing fifty years ago nearly one-third of these black folk are now land owners. To reward Negroes for their thrift and struggles Texas gives them no voice in their own government, taxes them without representation and enforces "Jim Crow" travel, more irksome than in any other state because of the immense Texas distances. The Negro schools of Texas are better than in many Southern States and there are fourty-four high schools for the 690,049 Negroes of the state, but 25 per cent of the Negro population is still absolutely illiterate and according to the Houston Post: "The rural schools for the Negro children where they exist at all are a joke." Is it not natural for the Negroes of such a state to endeavor to escape slavery? Music and Art. John McCormack, the noted Irish tenor, is said to be educating a young Negro baritone, Ross Houston, of Shelbyville, Ill., at Fisk University; a musical education is to follow his academic training. R. Nathaniel Dett, the Negro composer has secured a leave of absence from his position as Director of Music at Hampton Institute, to devote his time to study at Boston, Mass. Ilya Schkolnik, the concert master of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, conducted A. Walter Kramer's "Symphonic Rhapsody on Negro Themes" at a concert given at the Stadium, New York. George W. Broome, of Medford, Mass., is manufacturing a series of phonograph records by Negro artists. "Go Down Moses," by Harry T. Burleigh, and "Villanelle," sung by Mm. Florence Cole-Talbert, are announced in September. The Denver Musical Association, for the purpose of encouraging study, a higher standard of music and the use of compositions of Negro composers and the folklore songs, has been organized, with Mme. Lillian Hawkins Jones, president. Mrs. Azalia Hackley has held folk-song festivals in Montgomery, Ala., Greensboro and High Point, N. C. They have been largely attended and very successful. Over two hundred Negro musicians met in Chicago and formed the National Association of Negro Musicians. Mr. Henry Grant, of Washington, D. C., was chairman. A Scholarship Fund was inaugurated and Miss Marion Anderson, the young contralto of Philadelphia, was selected as the first beneficiary. At the close of the A. and T. Summer School, Greensboro, N. C., Mme. Mary Ross Dorsey presented the play "Everywoman." There was a mixed audience, including many prominent citizens, who witnessed the successful performance. "The Smarter Set," Negro comedians, etc., headed by S. Tutt Whitney and J. Homer Tutt, will present this season under the booking of Klaw & Erlanger "Children of the Sun," in two acts and ten scenes, representing the Swanee River, Japan, India, Persia, Thebes and Ethiopia. The Fredrick Douglass Film Company in Jersey City, N. J., owned and controlled by Negroes, has added to its productions "Heroic Negro Soldiers of the World War," in two parts, directed by Dr. William S. Smith. The Democracy Film Company, of Los Angeles, Cal., a Negro enterprise, is presenting "Injustice," written and directed by Captain Leslie T. Peacocke, as an answer to the "Clansman." Percy Grainger, the distinguished Australian pianist, who makes his home in America and whose appreciation of Afro-American music and musicians has been particularly noticeable, statees that in a list of works taught and heard during his first two week's teaching at the Chicago Musical College were works of R. Nathaniel Dett, the Negro composer. Mr. Grainger adds that he will play a Dett number on his programs this coming season. He further states that a colored student, Mrs. Cornella Lampton Forrest, was one of his best pupils at the Chicago Musical College. Industry The Liberian Haberdashery Company has been organized by Negroes in Cincinati, Ohio, as a $5,000 corporation. Thomas B. Richmond, 19 Temple Court Building, is attorney for the enterprise. A colored woman, Margaret Myers, of Marysville, is the champion peach pitter of California. Her wage at a local cannery is $14-$20 per day. The Mississippi A. and M. College reports that in 1918 the membership of Negro farm clubs increased 400 per cent over the previous year. Five boys produced an average of 108 bushels of corn to an acre; 195 boys reported a sale of hogs amounting to $6,253.38, at a profit of $3,474.10. In 1918 through the United States Department of Agricultural and State Colleges there were organized in the South 1, 563 rural colored women's clubs, with 37, 913 members, and 1,962 girls' clubs, with 50,995 members. The total colored membership is 103,377. The women in these clubs have organized 117 co-operative poultry breeding associations and fifty co-operative egg circles. Negroes in St. Louis, Mo., have organized the Co-operative Association of Liberty and subscribed $25,000 in cash and pledges for the stock of the store. The Rev. B. G. Shaw, pastor of the Metropolitan A. M. E. Zion Church, which has a membership of 4,000, is president of the association. At a meeting held in Metropolitan A. M. E. Church, Philadelphia, Pa., $15,000 was subscribed by Negroes for a local department store. The Order of Sleeping Car Porters of Canada has been chartered by the Canadian Brotherhood of Railway Employees and admitted to membership in the Trades and Labor Council of Winnipeg, with delegates representing each road in Canada at all meetings. Mr. J. A. Robinson, of the Canadian National Railways, was elected president. T. L. O. Lambert, a colored man, has been in the employ of the Detroit Post Office for forty-nine years. He is seven- ty-eight years old. J. F. Rickard has been in the employ of the same office forty years. Uzziah Miner, of Fay, Okla., who has been employed as a clerk in the office of the Register of the United States Treasury since April, has been promoted to Assistant Supervisor in the Division of Interest Coupons. He is a graduate of Harvard University '18, and he saw active service in France with Battery "F" 349th Field Artillery. A site 290 x 150, at Auburn Avenue and Courtland Street, Atlanta, Ga., now occupied by the Wesley Memorial Hospital, has been sold to H. E. Perry, President of the Standard Life Insurance Company and of the Service Company of Atlanta, colored, and will be converted into an office building for Negro lawyers, physicians, fraternal associations, insurance companies commercial agencies etc. The Berry & Ross Manufacturing Company a colored business in New York City, has added a first-class clothing, doll, toy novelty and notion store to its enterprise. The Elroy Manufacturing Company, Inc., at St. Louis, Mo., which manufactures everything necessary for undetakers, is a concern owned and operated by Negroes. Apart from the private office and a general office there are ten departments in connection with the factory, including a machine room, storage room for lumber, a polishing room, drawing and design department, sewing room, a varnishing and drying room, a stock room and a shipping room. The president and manager of the company is J. W. Bronaugh. The United Investment Corporation has been organized in Atlanta, Ga., by Negroes with a capital stock of $100,000—$30,000 of which was raised at a recent meeting. The ultimate end of the enterprise is the supplying of funds to Negroes of the South for the building and owning of homes On the board are J. B. Long, Captain A. T. Waldon, Charles McArthur, R. H. Singleton, P. James Brown, William Driskoll, W. F. Body, S. C. Cummings. A Negro, Green Springfield. at Corsioana, Tex., very black, and white haired, has oil lands to the value of half a million dollars; a deep test well in his 400 acre farm is expected to add a million dollars to his fortune. In Chicago, a Negro daily—The Chicago Evening World, has been started, with T. A. Donaldson, City Editor. The paper sells for two cents. CAYTON'S WEEKLY (Office 303 22nd Ave. South) Regular, Reliable, Republican, Readable Wants 500 New Subscribers This is a Sample of what it sends out Every Week No Friends to Reward or Enemies to Punish A Publication of Ideas Rather Than Personalities Read for Yourself and Be Convinced Telephone Beacon 1910 ---