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.
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