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44 THE CRISIS replied "I am so thankful I am not that kind of a fool." - M. L. S. S., Washing-ton, D. C. " -----, Oklahoma. "The subscription which I paid for to be sent to the Carnegie Library of this place may be changed to ------ "This request is made for the reason that THE CRISIS is not permitted to remain in the library. This information was given me by the janitor who happens. to be a colored man. It is ordered out as soon as it appears." "The board of trustees of the Hyde Park Presbyterian Church at Fifty-third Street and Blackstone Avenue will hold a meeting to-morrow night in the board room in the church to consider what shall be their attitude toward the theatre which has been built next door, and which, its owners say, will be converted into a Negro church if a theatrical license is denied them.-Chicago Examiner. "TOANO, Va. "I am bothered and handicapped in my business. I have struggled in affliction and discouragement to the limit of human endurance; and alone. I have been afflicted with rheumatism for ten years. "I have a nice little farm which has been advertised for sale by one of the worst me here. In my crisis I was forced to borrow some money from him. In a short time he attempted to sell my home, raising my account to nearly double what I had gotten from him. I charged him with usuary and took out an injunction and stopped the sale. "On the 8th the judge in the lower court decided against me. I at once filed an application for an appeal. On the 23d inst. I went to Hampton, Va., with the hope of seeing Major Moton or Capt. Allen Washington to get some advice. I did succeed in seeing Capt. Washington. He advised me to write you and it might be that you would make some recommendation that would help me. I have a large family; a wife and seven little children, the oldest twelve years. "And above all things earthly, I want my farm on which I may learn my little children how to work and get an honest living, without walking the roads in idleness. "This man claims that I owe him $625 with interest from 1913 to date. I don't owe it, I have never gotten it. I have valuable property here near Toano, Va., on the peninsula, about 40 miles from Hampton and 37 miles from Richmond, Va., near the railroad station, which is worth double the money; this man wants it and says he intends to have it. "He has taken my uncle's which joins mine and is now building houses on it. He says he is going to build on mine in the same way. "I am now praying for help from those of our people who can help, and who know where help can be found. I am very humbly yours, (Signed) J. A. Jones. The legislature of Oklahoma has had a stormy debate on the race problem arising from a proposal to appropriate $15,000 for the support of the colored State University and an extra $20,000 for water works and sewerage systems. Representative Childers of Garfield county, declared that he was opposed to any appropriations for "niggers." "Let's take care of out white institutions first," shouted Childers, "before voting money for the niggers. I don't believe God created the black man, anyway, and if He did He only intended for him to be a servant for the white man." Representative Morgan, a Democratic minister of the gospel, made a bitter speech against the Negro: "They dont need educating," declared Morgan, "for I have observed that the Negro woman takes in washing to support her worthless educated husband. We should take care of the Negro only as far as we are able. This is a white man's country." Other representatives supported the appropriation which was finally passed but with the water works and sewerage system item cut out. As a matter of fact the $15,000 thus given is really less than the state receives from the United States, for the agricultural training of Negroes. One legislator defended Langston. He said that it "educates the Negro for agricultural pursuits. The town nigger is a THE BURDEN 45 curse and the country nigger is a necessity. I want to see them taught to be useful on the farms and as servants." Representative Pinkham was among the few who took a strong stand. "We Democrats," said Pinkham, "cannot take a position that involves hatred or viciousness against the Negro race. They were brought here against their will, and it is up to you people to take care of them." THE MURDER OF PAUL SMITH Early one cold morning in last December, some time before daybreak, the dead body of a young Negro man was found on Ninth street, near State. The discovery was made by two policemen. Several hours before this gruesome find was made, these same policemen had gone to a house of ill repute in that neighborhood, probably in search of Paul Smith, a Negro youth who had escaped from the chain gang. At any rate, Smith was there when the officers arrived, and he made a dash to escape, clad only in his night clothes. The officers fired several shots and went their way. The young Negro found dead on Ninth street, two or three hours later, was Paul Smith. He wore only his night clothes and had been shot to death. An indictment was returned against the two policemen who had attempted to arrest Smith, charging them with murder. The case was continued and did not come to trial until two or three days ago, when it was called in the Circuit Court at Blountville. The officers are said to have testified that they did not shoot at Smith or in his direction. The evidence was such that the jury rendered a verdict of not guilty. The policemen who attempted to arrest Smith would have had no right to kill him, since there was no charge against him of a more serious nature than a misdemeanor. Therefore, it is with a feeling of relief that the local public learns that these officers did not commit this crime. But here arises a question which, doubtless, has suggested itself to the reader: Who did commit the crime, and what is the theory of the police department as to the motive, and what steps have been taken to clear up this mystery? Paul Smith was "only a Negro," to be sure ; he seems to have been an occasional petty lawbreaker ; probably he was not worth much to the community. But he was human, and he had a right to live so long as he did nothing to forfeit his life. He was not a dangerous character ; he had committed no serious offense ; he was killed without provocation, for he was found dead in his night clothes, with no weapon of any kind on his person. It is to be regretted that, so far as the public knows, no effort has been made to apprehend his murderer. And it is to be hoped that this is the last case of the kind that will occur in this city. -Editorial in the Herald Courier (a white daily) Bristol, Tenn. FROM SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS The following incident that occurred recently is illuminating on the canniness of even the white boy when dealing with Negroes and white people: A small white boy knocked at the door of the house where I was visiting. The lady of the house was a mulatto of very fair complexion. It developed that the lad was peddling picture post cards during his hours of freedom from school. He opened up with quite a line of talk, showing the lady post cards of the Alamo and other familiar scenes. She noticed, however, that there was a pack in one hand that he did not show and on asking him to let her see the pack in question, evidently mistaking his questioner for a white woman, he said airily, "Oh, you don't want to see them. They're for Niggers." Her interest being aroused by this unexpected reply, she insisted on inspecting the Jim Crow pack. They proved to be copies of a certain cheap, but familiar type of pictures of Jack Johnson, black angels, and a group of Negro notables. The whole incident was so unexpected, so illuminating, and so rich (because the boy rattled on about his way of dealing with Negroes, totally unconscious of the racial identity of his questioner, for certainly there was no natural racial repulsion to warn the boy), and so truthful a picture of the usual white man's attitude from within, that I think it worth the time to write to you.
