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WHAT AILS RICHMOND. It is a concensus of opinion here that something is dogmatically wrong with the colored group in Rich mond; noted particularly when an attempt is made to get unanimity of action for proposed social, eco nomic or community movements. It is also noted that there seems to be too much division in thought, as well as in action. We make this our concern for this week because we consider it of prime importance. Let us give some attention to the historical back ground for this division or lack of cooperation. Sub sequent to the War Between the States, the Negroes of Richmond developed more rapidly in education and business than Negroes in many parts of the South and their rapid rise in the cultural and bvsiness world was a wonder of that day: When there were only IQ colored banks in the United States, we had four in Richmond, and our cultural life was the model for other sections. The pioneer work done in the old Richmond High and Normal School was largely re sponsible for this. Our large uneducated m ajority naturally allied it self to the few educated leaders and soon found it self divided into several camps, with two main groups which grew in power. A natural antipathy developed between these groups and all of our community ef forts became partisan. Al though the original Rich-' mond Negro is almost extinct here, a good bit of this jealousy has seeped through into this generation and this is primarily what we see today in our lack of co operation. Another unfortunate thing happened. We lost a large number of the second and subsequent genera tions that graduated from the old high school: They went to New York. Philadelphia and other Northern cities and in their places we received thousands of Southerners, who had not had the advantages we enjoyed. Richmond’s cultured group failed to encour age contact with these S outherners and denied them a splendid opportunity to imbibe our spirit, and this created a group hosti le to native Richmonders. These conditions are being gradually remedied. The educational institutions here are moulding this ^heterogeneous group of ours into one in culture anrl habits and points of view. In time this will give us a citizenry which will know how to cooperate: In the meantime, the greatest need of the present is a loud-speaker to amplify the voices of our leaders If the populace could hear plainly the voice of our leadership, they could more readily respond. There is enough profundity of thought and calibre of ability in the leadership here to acco mplisli the task of placing Richmond in the forefront of colored communities in America, if we only had a journal of sufficient power to command and rally th folk in big majorities. Our ailment of non-cooperation is caused largeiy by the lack of a sufficient mouthpiece. The Planet is committed to the task of giving Richmond a loud speaker to be used by any and all interests for the forward march that we believe is ours for the future VOX POPULI Can Peace Come? W. R. Johnson. Ex-Secretary Negro Organization Society of Vir ginia, Inc. Every time we pick up a news paper or a popular magazine we see something on world peace. Great peace conferences have been called, disarmament conferences for the scrapping of battleships and the like, all arouse much thought and inter est. Thousands of dollars are ex pended in sending delegates and in general for these meetings. Every once in a while it seems as if we are almost to the point to declare world peace, but something, though small it may seem, bobs up to halt the pro gram. We believe that it is the all powerful hand of God that waves its spiritual wand over theh earts and minds of the people, thus causing them to disagree, for there are so marry thing's unnoticed that need at tention until we are led to ask the question. Can peace come? England exploits the Africans and the rest of her possessions while Franc? and Belgium follow as closely as possible in her footsteps. The United States no! only exploits Haiti, but in our Southland in certain sec tions peonage rages. The murder of a Negro by a white man is as un noticed as the death of a chicken. Men and women who pay taxes and are law abiding citizens are denied the ballot and their children must take what is left of public school ad vantages, and in face of all this our politicians cry “Peace.” There is no peace. Missionaries go into our be nighted lands and carry everything, but the spirit of the Christ, while he himself considered the lilies. Christianity as practicted in Amer ica must be overhauled before peace can come. Those who practice it don’t believe conscientiously that they are right when color serves as a barrier when it comes to magnyfying the Christ. One man will say we shall all see the same God and yet on account of the color of a man’s skin orders him from the same house of worship. When a God of that kind reigns we wish to he delivered from his presence forever. We believe that there are going to be wars and ru mors of wars until Christ promises are fullfilled. We may call all the conferences, and sign all the papers possible, but until all men of earth are looked upon as human beings as laid down by the Nazerene, we need not fool ourselves about the coming of peace. In spit of all this we find ourselves crying peace. The real question is, can peace come? A W ord of condolence from South America. I . Bohio, Brazil, January 2, 1930. I write these lines with a heavy heart! 1 feel certainly that a great cree has fallen in a mighty forest, a mighty fire has been quenched; a great Tight has gone out; a lion’s heart, in the breast of a man, has surrendered"; a great man has been taken from us; a great spirit has flown; a noble character has left our humble abode; a truly brave, but Godly man and a Christian, has de parted this life; a rather great soul has answered to the call of death; a life than has been offered many times for causes of valor; but as many times refused, has now been accept bed chamber, after being refused by the chief of the nation in honor of ed by death; in a quiet and peaceful his flag during the great World War. John Mitchell, Jr., needs no eulogy from us; his life spoke for itself; he was not only a leader among Ne groes, as his many fraternal orders and his rank among them proves, but he was a leader of men and was so honored and respected by the fore most of his country, for many years; a true type of modern “self-made man,” so famous in the national his tory, and honored with the member ship of distinguished societies in Europe. Still, we say this for no benefit to him, but to the young men that must come after him. His life deserves the emulation of prices and pesants alike. Such was John Mitch ell, Jr. He has been called from labor to reward! I. S. Moore. 'u£L ROYALTY !•' *t n years ago the r.r,".-; .’’.at the K - s grands;Tt was v. -Mag in H I-’ id's assembly pi uU in lb. - Aires, Argentina, hr $.? a d. ' v • tiI<! have furnished a t"yir for S -:: i j a.'CS in tile big it '■• spapers. ]y ■ ■ the fa^t that the son of i!ie ( u Prince has ha-1 to ,c j t > work in the name of ‘Doctor Ferdm— r. •» hardly a theme tor a passing <p: • . ..r:n>h. >■ i f the rcsmlis of the Great V • be debatable but that it ir. t; e .• 1 oiled the old idea of royal tv g v Divine mandate is all to ti, d.Y COOPERATION The purpose of the Federal Tarm Boai 1 is to convert farming from a Lo.-c. mode of liung into a business, it can share in ‘he nation’s gene. . -1 prosperity only by adopting busiwss methods. In the process, many farmers will have to .rive up far-nbi.r and go into something e>se. That may scum! harsh, but i’ is the plain logic of tl.: trend of events. William M. Jaidine, former Score tary of Asrr;rtj1f.M»'e and -r!f a successful ;>ra.\il forme , says there are t >u am:.. '7iruns ;.•.*» warm ers. Jn any sound tn.;:ii.- -s, producers regulate their output to the d-.rmand fur" their products. Fartr.cs- have not done that because t!u*> ha\e never worked together. ‘i lie Farm Foard pr. g-am is ifo* y.rt'HWSl trepenn ; t in . .operation. e.vr dtemptei*. i world. Its site Ce.-s V. it! doper:*! :u the intelligence an.' .ision ot i.ie men who run it. DAWES They are talking a Soul Charles G. Dawes for Mayor o; Chicago. The election will be ir. April, 1931. If the former vice•i'rcsitltnt. present Ambassado r to G.reat Britain, can be nominatehe prMia'-w can be elected. If he is elected, Chicago will get the most con;. Ft; cieaning-up it has ever had. h i: trouble will be to get the nominal 1. l.’ppunli.-an but actually bi partism; ir. -liir.c which controls Chi cago po'irr* to let him be ncmiratel The ost-nsil ic basis of opposition wil1 be that he is net a rrs:da,t of C.ti cag • bbt or the adioi.-.ing city ci Evanston. POPULATION Take < ut your wrvich anti look at the sciorid: ha- c!. “"omit thirteen seconds. Some,’hce :n the United Sta’cs a bai;v has been born. Follow’ the bam. to the 23-second c-jark. Soneo v has died. \Va*ch it for 3 imniitc and a half. Another immi grant has landed on our shores. Hold it for five and a half minutes. Some body has sailed av/av froni Atn.*rvtt to stay. The a erage of all those computa tions, worked ou* by the United .States Census ofiio, is the addltior of one perron to our total popula ikr every 23 seconds. While you iifft*' ("la^+Ji htK-;:s !asr' night, 2,213 nahu •. < »•*»• 5 ji u, 1,208 persons died. The na increase in population is V)?4 a day. At midnight on Decem ber 31, as the first stroke of 1930 sounded, rhrie were 121,873,140 living inhabitant; the United Sta’.cs, the Census peop>< -ed. If there v- - — no immigration and nobody b»ft me country, the excels of births over deaths would add 3,uX) a day to cur population, or more thau a million a year. COLD The other day I saw a c o „ed truck on Sixth Avenue, New Y< rk, with the name of an ice-cream maker on the side and the words “Tempera ture 105 degrees below zero.” breez ing ice-cream sc solid that it will keep for weeks if stored at anv tem perature below '.:2 degrees :5 only one of the commercial application- f the new freezing processes in which b *!x liquid air and solid carbon dioxide cc used. Fish, meats, fruits and vegeta; les frozen so quickly and thoroughly 1 hat their juices do not form ice-cryitals to rupture tiie fibers are now on the market in the large cities. They taste, when thawed, just like fresh food. Chicago packers are preparing to put cot frozen meats in the form of 3in«I* steaks, chops, roasts, each sealed in cellulose and shipped in con tainers designed to keep them frozen until dtUrtred to the consumer. If this method develops as it prom ises, the world center of the meat industry may shift from the United States to Argentina, Australia or South Africa, wheie land and labor are cheap and at$U and sheep can be raised af smaU t Hear an Interesting Story of an adventurous Life™ The Man Who Would Be King’ The story of the life of John Mitchell, Jr. by Roscoe C. Mitchell. i Watch for Date. k h■ ■ ll 'i'.iUorth oiurft'-''"J j T':. m • :s a:io tb* d*» •» I'j ':-t; wsna or .* ,*;.n As a : »•!;• i i> waiu-l doe ;.va;J From an eagle ill its I see the lights of the Y.i’h'tge (r!fi;r through the ran .iv 1 iY» mist * Avt a ■ eli:sjf jf sadness* c-nr.. • er r.’.e That :. y he . t c.'u;;;-< :*•••/*» A fee';,.3 of r» .’n-s* an ' j T!i.r • :*• r :•> : . . And s • >r --.v : • j As thi tn.-ai ie**;nbJ.\. •. ' V 'I iiroesh tiie c> -ri lo; s I For, Id* ■ strain? : r ' :r Thcii nrhjlity th>iiv Li/e’- endless t •:! a: And t >nigiit I long lor r*:>t. Road from some hut; ‘ * . \Yh<*e SollyS g. - i ' :.3 heart, j As showers from the c! ' 's . ri mer, Or tears from the eyelids start Who. through lorn? days of la.!.**, r, And rights devoid of ease. Still heart, in ms sou! the mtisic Of wonderful melodies. Such songs have »he pow**r to rj*liet The restless pulse of care, And conic like the benedtctitn That follows after rriver. Then read from the treasti'1*! v •h ire The poem ot thy cho* -». And lend to the rhvir.e -i llso | The music of thy *oke, And the night shufl he filled with^ mnsic - And the care t* ,1 tV dav Shall fold thesMen • •'-*. tit A:r»h * And a* silon.i* s'ea, i * v Publihed every Saturday by R_ C. Mi'oche 1 at till X. 4th Richmnd Va Intend at the Port Ortoo at Blefcmaatf, ftrgiala, u aaoond tlm natter. n* Tear .*•••••••«.••••»•«•#«•• Ms tfontte .... Moitb .... foreign Mubacrtpttew CbES