Cayton's Weekly

Cayton's Weekly SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, March 27, 1920. 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, Wash., under the Act of March 3rd, 1916. TELEPHONE: BEACON 3579 Office 317 22nd Ave. South WHO IS HONEST? The conviction of Senator Newberry of Michigan and the indictment of hundreds of government officials brings the patriotic citizenry of the United States face to face with a state of degeneracy common to a large percentage of the citizens of this country, which is constantly growing. The question of the hour is, Is honesty among public officials the exception and by no means the rule? Is not the prevailing spirit in official circles, grab yours while the grabbing is good? When a man spends a half a million or more dollars to be elected to a seat in the U. S. Senate does he not do so with the view of making of it a business investment? While he pays out the cash, yet does he not feel absolutely certain that the moneyed interests will reimburse him for every dollar he paid out? From the North, South, East and West reports daily pour in of the crooked public officials, who are grabbing the money, and the reported ones are but a small percentage of the actual cases. But a few days ago we heard a man, who stands high in this community, say, he felt morally certain "Mayor Hanson got a round million dollars for making the Seattle street car deal," and yet Hanson is posing as the patriot of the world. May perhaps there is nothing in the above allegation, but so much crookedness is pulled off that every man is suspected. "I do not know what Mayor Caldwell will do in the way of exposing the Hanson stret car deal, but I feel almost certain that he has the facts and can make it warm for the parties who consummated the deal, if he wants to do so," said this self same man. Perhaps there is nothing to this later statement, but its another proof of the state of mind the average citizen of this country is in just now. "If you are not a thief I think you are" is the position taken by most men out of office concerning those in office. And yet in the face of this condition many of us wonder, why 34,000 men and women voted for Duncan in the late municipal election. We, however, do not believe that those who voted for Duncan were any more patriotically inclined than is Jimmy Davis, member of the Washington legislature, but it is another case of the outs wanting to get the goats of the inns that they might have an opportunity to likewise get their paws into the public pit and fill their pockets with the other fellow's money. Just how this country can much longer live under such a state of affairs is the burning question of the hour. WANTS MORE MONEY Our legislature is on call, to save us from a money squall, and protect our public institutions, from private contributions, and keep the schools in running gear, until the regular legislative year. One year ago a million marks were dumped into their iron barques, but that went trinkling down their sleeve, like water through a corn-meal sieve. Old Oozaula hits it hard because he knows its public lard, and spends our money like a fish that's cached within a golden dish. Next year he'll want two million bucks, to educate his college ducks, although those ducks he seldom sees, as he is always chasing bees, in lands and countries far from home, where he is wanted for his foam, and he's a stranger in the school, where he is paid to swing his rule, and our children wonder why he's paid for structures he has never made. In Denmark something strongly smells, and as roten as particular hell, which doesn't seem exactly right, to those who don their working tights. A million bucks go up like sparks and fly away like meadow larks, when old prexy gets his spending gun completely mounted for the run. Our U's a school for millionaires, but much in need of "tax" repairs, to keep it brushed right up to snuff, to suit old prexy's powder puff. The prexy runs the school by proxy and thinks that he is very foxy in grabbing salaries on his fame and yet add nothing to the flame. WISE AND OTHERWISE It's nice to boast of your better half, but these Sahara days cheaper quarts will make you smile much longer. "To shoot craps is human," said Bones. "To win, however, is divine," answered Rastus. The diamond on exhibition on the finger of a fair lady discloses the fact that there is a man in the case. Discretion is a great thing, but the most of us are too old, when we find it out, to benefit by it. The other day the editor hereof was accused of being a rhymster, which doubtless relieved him from the accusation of being a trickster. Don't think you own a horse because "er hoss fly" buzzes about your head and don't chu think you own an automobile because the sheriff sends you his autograph. During the past winter there may have been some pretty nice girls South, but as the weather begins to warm up their skirts start North with a rapid rise. That high school lad that walked through school instead of studying through has made good. He has been employed as a mountain guide. A man accused a woman of wearing too light weight shoes, but when she lifted her skirt in protest an unusual heavy calf showed up. Most any man that loves the ladies will agree with old Cy Peterkins from the hills, who beheld his first fashionably dressed "fair thing", "Aint Nature Grand." When a witness was asked, "Was it this man's habit to talk to himself when alone?" answered, "I do not know, as I was never with him when he was alone," was it one on the lawyer? Bribery is so much of a common offense these days that, when a prisoner was asked: "Have you anything to offer to the Court before sentence is passed upon you," replied, "Nothing, your honor, my lawyer took my last cent." Because there is no constitutional amendment in existence forbidding one man from kissing another man's wife it does not necessarily follow that it will not be if woman suffrage prevails. If the woman voter will not take money for her vote then she ought to get money's equivalent. Vol. IV. No. 41 EDITORIAL PARAGRAPHS It's bad enough to attack a man behind his back, but its absolutely damnable to attack a dead man. Though Charles Danna Gibson has purchased Life, yet he is just as liable to die as you or I. If Yap Island goes to the Japanese the whole of China may follow in the wake of Shantung. March is going out lik a roaring lion. Quite so, sir, and that furnace in my basement is singing a fine second to old March. The auto toll of death is becoming more and more alarming and yet the wreckless driver seems to take no heed of the gruesome warnings. Would it not be foolhardy for Mayor Caldwell to let out all of the "grafter policemen"? It might leave the city entirely without adequate police protection. Uncle Sam now knows that Billy Booze is an unruly little cuss and will have to be spanked good and hard before he will go way back and sit down and be good. It's always unwise to fall out with any one because you have an aversion to him or her, lest you later on change your mind and have to eat crow in the presence of all your friends and acquaintances. Before the next meeting of the King County Colored Republican Club the county convention will have been held and yet the Club took no steps towards getting delegates to either the county or state convention. In killing the Gillett bill, which had for its object the equalizing of taxes, it strikes us that Boss Davis of Tacoma, has compromised the Republican party by turning it over to a bunch of political highbinders, who are determined to rule or ruin. If reports be true, six hundred Chicago policemen are to lay down their billies April 1st unless their pay is increased. We never suspected the meager salary a policeman gets had anything to do with him remaining on his job. "Prohibition Will Kill Bryan," is a head line. Politically speaking, he is already as dead as a door nail, and not even a gatlin gun could harm him. However, as dead as he is, his ghost is going to make the dram shop advocates have nightmares on the convention floor at the libation of the Democratic Ass. If the street car system of Seattle lost a half million dollars last year, and is in line to lose a million and a half this year, and, if it maintains the same ratio for ten years, then the system will have cost the city thirty, instead of fifteen million dolalrs, but all that time, be it remembered, the city will have owned its street car system and that's worth a whole lot. Despite the fact, however, the system is being operated at a loss, yet we are unalterably opposed to raising the fare for a ride on the system. A hundred times over do we prefer being taxed for the deficit rather than to increase the fare. The street car is the poor man's automobile and he has no way of increasing the price of his labor to meet any additional expense. ```markdown ``` CITY OR COUNTRY In every country town, in every farming community, we find young men who are pining for the gay life and the higher wakes of the great cities. In every city we find men of mature years, heads of families, who would give anything to get back to the sanity and purity of country life—but they can not. And there you have the situation in a few words. The young man in the country store, or the bank., or the blacksmith shop, or on the farm, reads of the high wages that are being paid in the cities. They seem fabulous compared with his more modest earnings in the country. He becomes fired with a desire to coin money, break his home ties, and join the millions of toilers in the maelstrom of marts of commerce. But once there he is soon disillusioned. He finds that his wages are perhaps double or treble what they were in the home town or on the farm. He also finds that his expenses are not only doubled or trebled, but are four or five times as heavy. If his room is sanitary, though modest, he will pay from $4 to $6 a week for it. His meals, if he is a light eater, wil cost him from $10 to $18 per week. If the Lord has blessed him with a healthy apeptide, only the Lord knows what they wil cost him they vary from $1 to $3 in any respectable restaurant per meal-or $3 to $9 per day or $21 to $63 per week, all according to what he eats. For a shave each day he will pay 25c or 35c, and a hair cut will relieve him of 50 to 75 cents. His laundry bill comes high, his clothing is frightfully expensive, and he can pay $15 or $25 for a pair of shoes. And he must dress up to his part or get left in the shuffle. Then a show will touch him up to the extent of $2 to $5, and he pays car fare every time he turns around. If he gets married his troubles begin in real earnest. The furniture for his little four room flat will cost him from $500 to $1,000, and the flat itself will squeeze him of $60 to $75 a month. Then the grocer and the butcher and the baker will cheerfully take from him his last cent. There is only one way in which he can beat the profiteers and other sharks in the great cities—the county will bury him free of charge if he dies a pauper. It is this class of men in the cities who would give an arm to get back to the country again. But they have families, their money goes as fast as it comes, and they seldom get enough ahead for a decent vacation, to say nothing of the expense of moving and establishing themselves in business in the God-given freedom of the country. They are anchored to a life of toil and drudgery, with no hope for the future, and must remain anchored until death severs the chains. Fortunes are made in large cities, it is true, but they are made by men who have money with which to make more money. There are a few notable exceptions to this rule, but this is the story of ninety-nine out of every hundred who chase the rainbow of city life. At home the young man has individuality and is a free agent. He is of some consequence in his own community. In the city he is but a little cog in a great wheel that grinds out greater wealth for some captain of industry. He is nobody, is unknown, and no one cares whether he goes up or down. Does the prospect appeal to you, young man? Unless you are endowed with an extraordinary amount of brains and business acumen, your best opportunity is right here in this community, where everyone knows you, and where they respect you for what you are.—Advertiser-Journal. What a sermon in a nut shell. As we struggle each day to meet our constantly increasing financial obligations, with one foot in the grave and the other badly hobbled, our mind goes to the good old days way down on the farm ,where worry about obligations were unknown. Year in and year out, we garnered from the land a bountiful living and if there were ever any hard times, we on the farm never experienced them. In these trying days of the high cost of living how I long again to be fixed upon a farm, where I watched my living grow. But few working men in cities get one dollar ahead whether they get big or little wages. If on a little farm one gets six hundred dollars per year in cash it is far better than the city man that gets six and eight dollars per day. All persons will not live on farms, but believe me, a darn site more should be on farms than there are in the Puget Sound basin. PLATFORM AND POLICIES OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND THE NEGRO It is not necessary to call attention to the unrest among the colored people of the United States. This unrest is due to various causes, but in some degree it is due to what colored people regard as the attitude of indifference and neglect on the part of the Republican party to their interest and welfare. There is a sentiment among the colored people which has been increasing for some time, that the Republican party no longer considers a stand for justice and equal opportunity to the Negro as among its tenets. There was a time when the Negro in this country had supreme faith in his national citizenship, regardless of whether doubts he may have had as to his state citizenship. He felt that he was a citizen of the United States even though his citizenship might be abridged by the state in which he lived. Even in the darkest South the Negro felt secure in his national citizenship. Today this is not the fact. When the present administration came into power it at once adopted the policy of refusing to allow colored men any representative place in the government; it also accepted the policy of segregating government employees at Washington. The policy of segregation was carried so far that there were authentic cases where postmasters in the South established Jim Crow windows at which colored people received their mail. Had it not been for the interference of the war, the present administration by this time would have swept away every vestige of the Negro's national citizenship. Today the Negro is wide awake. He is thinking and he is watching. He is not in that political frame of mind which will permit him to be satisfied with mere promises of the same sort that have been made him in years gone by. Radical political organizations of the country are putting forth great efforts to enlist the support of the Negro and they are doing so on terms which must be overbid by the Republican party. The big job before the Republican party is to re-enfranchise the Negro nationally. It must give back to him the feeling that he is a full-fledged citizen of the United States even though he might not feel that he is of Mississippi or Alabama or Georgia. But the party must go even further than that. It must not only give the Negro back what has been taken from him, it must also pledge itself to see that he gets what he have never yet had, all the common rights and the protection in those rights which belong to American citizenship. Such a pledge would be far more than a matter of political expediency; it would place the Republican party in its old position as the party of human rights. The party should include in its platform an emphatic plank declaring for equal citizenship rights and equal industrial rights to all citizens, regardless of race. This plank should not be phrased in mere generalities, but in explicit terms that refer unmistakably to the colored people of the United States. We give below ten points which we think the Republican party should consider in shaping its platform and policies. Not one of these points calls for more than the enforcement of existing laws and for justice and fair play: (1) Legislation for the enforcement of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments; to the end that no Negro citizen can in any state be deprived, on account of race, of the right to vote, under any subterfuge whatever. (2) Enactment of a law making lynching a federal offense. (3) Abolition of the Jim Crow system on railroads in interstate travel. (4) Abolition of the segregation system in government departments at Washington and of the Jim Crow policies which are now practiced in the restaurants operated in government buildings at the Capital. (5) Endorsement of efforts to secure the enactment of civil rights bils in the various states that are normally Republican. (6) National aid to states for common school education, with such safeguards for the apoprtionment of Federal grants that there can be no discrimination against colored school children in the distribution of funds in any state receiving aid. (7) A proportionate number of colored officers and men in the new national army. (8) Increased appropriations for Howard University at Washington. (9) The independence of Hayti and the appointment of a colored minister thereto. (10) Representation in the government by colored men in both appointive and elective positions, especially as members of Congress from districts which are centers of large colored populations. We should like to have "Age" readers consider these points carefully and send into this office any suggestions they may have to make on the points given above or send in any other points they may have in mind. The race should let the Republican party know exactly how and what it is thinking politically; and "The Age" wants to be instrumental in gathering this consensus of opinion. We say the Republican party, because the great bulk of the thoughtful men and women of the race agree that for the present and for, perhaps, a long time to come the Negro will have to work solely through the Republican party for whatever national political results he obtains. It is worse than idle to hope for any national benefits from the Democratic party so long as that party is dominated by the South. This is not a mater of history and tradition or of party loyalty; it is a matter of practical politics. Of course, there are minor and new parties that promise much; but they are not in a position to deliver, nor are there any indications that they will be in such a position within a practicable time; and furthermore, there are no guarantees that when they reach that position they will be willing to promise as much as they do now. The only national party that is willing to pledge the Negro anything, and at the same time has the possibility and power to make the pledge good is the Republican party.—N. Y. Age. "Horace Greeley was over estimated," says a recent writer. Fifty years after his death, it is discovered that he was camouflaging, and was devoid of real greatness, all of which leads us to suspect that, after we are dead some sucker will say, "he was a false alarm," which in our own estimation, would be maligning a truly great man. Let the names of Horace Greeley and Horace Cayton live forever. if this Republic is to continue to lead the world. Rum smuggling is a tempting morsel these days, and quite a few are taking a chance on snatching the prize and get away with it, the vigilance of Uncle Sam to the contrary notwithstanding. After making it hard for the Republican party the special session of the legislature of the state of Washington adjourned and Jim Davis of Tacoma returned home with the destiny of the party in his vest pocket. - RR a lS Se ae ET A. er eae Meek ae i & THE PASSING THRONG e1,0tY PCISUNS Man MECH arresved ill OCs attle the past fiseal year, and among that number were 789 colored persons. On first blush my wife exclaimed, ‘‘that’s a good showing for the colored citizens,’’ and I quite agreed, but on sober second thought I discovered that instead of being a good showing for them it unveiled a deplorable state of affairs, and, using the words of another, “something must be did.”’ If it be true that Seattle has upwards of 400,000 then the percentage of arrests among all classes of white citizens was a slight frae- tion over five per cent of the entire white population. If Seattle has 6,000 colored citizens, and this is questioned, then the per- centage of arrests among the entire colored population was a fraction under twelve per cent. If, as maintained by some, there are but 4,000 colored citizens in Seattle, then the percentage of arrests was almost twenty per cent of the entire colored population, which, to say the least, is an alarming state of affairs, and, as said above, something must be did. * 8 * No, there is ntohing to be gained by mak- jing war on the various ‘‘social clubs’’, for they will continue to exist, if not publicly then privately, and men who wish to visit them have as much right to do so as the men who visit the palatial up-town clubs, in which as much gambling goes on as in Ilence Broken’s club. But those mothers and fathers who have sons, whom they hope to make useful as well as honorable men of, would do well to get their heads together and establish places of amusement and entertainment for boys in their tender years and thereby destroy the desire to visit and frequent clubs and resorts, where men of vast and varied experience meet and indulge in games of chance, which is accompanied by the vilest of language, for the soul sake of gain and amusement. * * * There are three well established churches in Seattle among the colored citizens and neither of them, thus far has taken any steps to provide any form of amusement for the boys of the community. They praise the Lord with one accord on Sun- day and leave them to the devil on Mon- day and until the next Sunday. An even- ing with the boys for fun and frolie is an unheard of thing in the colored churches of Seattle.. ‘Get religion’? is alright and should be the desired thing for every per- son, but if you attempt to shoot religion into the boy, you may perchance shoot it plum through him and thereby leave him the worse from his experience. Some boys will go wrong in spite of all you may say or do for them to the contrary. but such boys are the exceptions and not the rule. 8 @ The young colored boys of this city under twenty years of age are permitted to run wild and many of them may he seen as- sociating with men of the easy life and twice their age. This is so because the older heads have made no provision for their amusement among themselves. If each of the churches is not able to provide club rooms for their amusement then all of the churehes and the various uplift organi- zations should get together and_ establish a community club room and it should not be buckled down too hard and fast to the “old time religion’? ideas. Have a club room sufficiently liberal to permit the boys to periodically invite their girl friends thither for an evening of dancing and gaming. Such a club room would be an incentive to attract the atention of the boys from club rooms frequented by older men Bn eee ec Me ere eae ee) See ete eRe lieve an ounce of preventive is worth a ton of cure. The preventive in this case is a place or places of entertainment for these boys and they would have no particular ex- cuse for seeking undesirable associates. Of course some, even with all this, will seek the evil haunts, but the saving of a ma- jority or even a large minority is well spent money. I repeat, if the colored citizens hope to build well for the future in this community, they had better begin to lay the foundation for a stronger and a better manhood for the men of tomorrow. so & You may think its no concern of yours as to what happens to Brown’s boy, to Jones’ boy and to my boy, but you are, for if evil befalls a large percentage of our boys it maters not how good your boy may be he will suffer on account of the sins of others. When a heavy percentage of our boys are known to psosess a criminal mind those that are not of a like mind will ex- perience as much difficulty in being honor- ably employed as the actual criminal ones. We are all our brother’s keeper, and unless we keep each other good and well misfor- tune will overtake us. It’s another case of hanging together or hanging separately. Now the chureh religion is not the only sal- vation for this situation, but it is a strong factor. Let each and every one of us lay aside our selfishness and put our heads to- gether with the view of making better boys and thereby give to the world better men. eo oe “Ye must be born again,’? read an in- scription on a push cart, which was being rolled down the streets of Seattle by a man beyond the prime of life, and as he walked he sang in a tone of voice loud enough to be heard across the stret, and as he passed along men and women all down the line looked at him and smiled and then looked knowingly at each other, and without ut- tering a word it was plain to be seen that, the unanimous verdict of all who saw him was, ‘‘there goes a nut.’’ Ts there nothing in that. I said to myself. Once upon a time much store was placed in ‘‘ye must be born again,’’ but it seems to have lost its efficacy, like salt that has lost its savor. Why brand one a nut because he or she ex- claims aloud the teachings of the Bible? Is it possible that all Seattle has been born again, and those who smiled as that man passed did so because he was behind the times as they had already been through the ordeal? No, in my opinion, the most of them no longer entertained such religious beliefs and lokoed upon that man as a re- ligious fanatic. No wonder the Almighty Dollar is our Christ Jesus and the Christ Jesus of Mt. Calvary is a myth, if not an actual humbug. If the most of the swell enys were born again there probably would be less crime in this and other communities. * * * It’s a long lane that has no turning and both Ed Hagan and ‘Tom Clark, of much Seatle police fame, must now feel that there is more truth than poetry in the statement. Some months ago both of these men were in good standing on the police force of this city and had things much their own way. They worked among the deni- zens of the underworld and charges and counter charges were frequently made by both sides. As the news came to me Frank Smith, proprietor of the Douglas Club, was the king of the bootleggers of the city and in this he was protected by Hagan and Clark, who shared in his illgotten gains. For some unexplainable reason one night when Frank was handling the stuff in his predicted that they would get theirs some day. Ilagan is now under federal court conviction and’ Clark was caught one day this week, so goes the story, with the goods on him, and is now held by the federal au- thorities. It’s a long lane that has no turn, and I am inclined to think that the ghost of Frank Smith stares into the cells of both Hagan and Clark and holds up a placard which reads, ‘IT told you so.” ‘ oe % At the King County Colored Republican Club meeting last Sunday afternoon one of the prominent but rather refractory mem- bers thereof charged the club as a whole with being crooked. which was responsible for the women of the city not identifying themselves therewith. TI am not prepared to successfully dispute or verify the alle- gation, but to say the least, it was an ugly charge with no more grounds for verifica- tion than the said member presented. When foreed by the storm of indignation among the other members to substantiate the charge the accusing member said, the club was crooked beeause some four years ago the then president of the elub, who is now dead, took from a candidate for public of- fice, who was persona non gratist to the colored voters, fifty dollars for said candi- date to have an opportunity to speak to the colored voters. Leaving the truthfulness of the charge completely out of the question, for a living man to attack a dead one is to my mind a most dastardly as well as cowardly act. That man lived for two Years or more after the closing of that cam- paign and during all that time this refrac- tory member of the club made no such charge, especially in publie, which is proof that it was not true, but after the man had been dead for many months he is publicly charged ‘with political crookedness. For the sake of argument, however, I grant you, that the accused man got the fifty dollars, which he did not do, in my opinion, yet because he got fifty dollars wrongfully it does not necessarily follow that the Club as a whole was or is crooked in its deal- ings. But, oh what’s the use, it seems to be the nature of some men, to fatten and feast on tearing their fellow men down rather than building them up, but even such minds as this should work on the theory, “Of the dead, let no evil be said.” o % & One, two, three, run most mishaps, that is to say, the first accident is fololwed by a second and the second by a third and this generally breaks the spell. If the above be true then T should take a long breath and say, though the goofs gave me a hard chase, .T beat them to it. A few days ago T was in a street ar shake-up and came out none the worse from my experience, then T was drawn on the April jury, and from this T anticipate no serious trouble, though you ¢an not always some times tell, and last Wednesday T was hit by a passing auto- mobile and though knocked head long to the ground, yet barring a few scratches and a slight shake-up, I suffered no serious in- conveniences from my auto experience. Three strikes and out, failed to do the work so far as T am concerned and T simply fling defiance in old Goof’s face and in- vite him to do his worst, but, in the mean- time, if that confounded pestiferous accident insurance agent will eall around soon T am inclined to think he can do some busi- nes swith the editor of Cayton’s Weekly. sa nari Sea a, You Are Welcome GREAT NORTHERN POOL AND BILLIARD HALL Cigars, Tobacco and Soft Drinks. BOYD & WILLIAMS, Props. 1032 Jackson St.