Viewing page 19 of 27
This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.
296 THE CRISIS ¶ Representatives of the two warring wings of the colored Baptists met in Memphis, Tenn., for a peace conference. ¶ In the triangular debate between Hampton Institute, St. Paul School, and Virginia N. & I. Institute the last named institution won. The subject was "Compulsory Military Training." ¶ Clark University, Atlanta, has raised $35,000 and Claflin $65,000 toward permanent endowment. Of this money $70,000 was given by Negroes, $20,000 came from the sale of real estate, and $10,000 was given by whites. ¶ Dr. James H. Dillard, of the Slater and Jeanes Funds, presented to the Department of Superintendents of the National Educational Association, a concrete plan for national aid to Negro education. His proposal, which was adopted by the convention, is as follows: 1. Let the aid be offered in fifteen States, as follows: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Kentucky. Two other States, West Virginia and Missouri, might be added if the addition be thought advisable. 2. Let the aid be given for salary of teachers in public schools of all grades. With increase of salary, the question of length of term would take care of itself. 3. Let the administration of the funds be in the hands of a committee of three, consisting of the State Superintendent, the State Agent of Negro Rural Schools, and the president or principal of the leading State Institution for Negroes. Eleven of the fifteen States already have State agents of Negro rural schools, and the remaining four should have and probably soon will have such an official. All of the States have one outstanding Negro institution supported by the State, except two. In North Carolina with three, and Alabama with two, the selection of the member of the committee might be left to the State Superintendent. 4. Let the amount be, for fifteen years, one-third; for ten years, one-fourth; for five years, one-fifth; of the amount expended each preceding year for all purposes of Negro education from public funds, in each county and city, and for each State institution of higher grade. In order to give a general idea of the amount needed to carry out this plan I have taken the figures available. Not all are of the same year, and so the amount makes no pretense of absolute present accuracy. According to such figures as I have, the amount spent in a year in counties and cities for Negro public schools in the fifteen States was in round numbers $5,125,000. The amount spent for the State schools was $275,000. These together made $5,400,000 so that, under these figures the amount of national aid would be $1,800,000. ¶ Lydia W. Mollison was graduated at the University of Chicago, with the degree of Ph. D. She received her former education at Tougaloo. ¶ Vice-President Marshall and Governor Catts took part in the dedication of a new building for the Daytona, Fla., Industrial School for Negro Girls. Mrs. Mary M. Bethune is principal. POLITICS. THE Wilson Ballot Law, which has been on the statute books of Maryland for five years, has been repealed by the Legislature. It was designed to make voting by Negroes difficult. ¶ Charles Scott has been elected to the City Council from the Third Ward of Worcester, Mass. Of the three-thousand voters in his ward only thirty-six are colored. ¶ Major R. R. Jackson defeated Oscar DePriest for nomination as Alderman in the Second Ward of Chicago. Both men are colored. ¶ In the recent special election in New York City, Rev. Dr. Reverdy Ransom was the candidate of the colored people for Congress. The Republicans refused to nominate him and went into court to prevent his name appearing on the ballot. They were successful on a technicality. Nevertheless 465 persons voted for Mr. Ransom, the ballots of 600 others who tried to vote for him were thrown out because they were improperly marked, and a large number of colored voters stayed away from the polls. The result was the overwhelming defeat of John A. Bolles, the white Republican candidate. MEETINGS. THE Sociological Congress will meet April 14-17 in Birmingham, Ala., to discuss health, food, and labor of the South as means of winning the war. THE HORIZON 297 ¶ The Executive Boards of auxiliaries of the Colored General Baptist Association of Louisiana and Mississippi, have met in Natchez, Miss. There were one hundred delegates enrolled. ¶ The Negro Civic League in Louisiana which claims 300,000 members, will hold a congress in New Orleans April 3-5. ¶ A thousand colored people observed Lincoln's birthday in Faneuil Hall, Boston. Clement G. Morgan was the chief speaker. ¶ A Negro live stock association was formed at the Sixth Annual Farmers and Truckers Conference in Plateau, Ala. F. S. Jones, of the Mobile County Training School, was elected president. ¶ Negroes in Chicago, Ill., held a Lincoln-Douglass celebration at the Coliseum under the National Security League. Bambridge Colby was present as special representative of President Wilson. The Rev. Mr. Charles Walker of Augusta, Ga., spoke and there was a chorus of five hundred Negro voices. Three companies of Negro soldiers from Camp Grant were in attendance. ¶ The National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools will hold its annual session in Harper's Ferry, W. Va., July 31 to August 3. The President is J. S. Clark of the Southern University of Louisiana. ¶ Among the nationalities represented at the banquet of the League of Small and Subject Nationalities in New York City, was Africa, by Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois. Dr. Du Bois is a member of the Council. ¶ The Westchester Negro League has held its ninth annual Lincoln-Douglass celebration. There were prominent white persons among the speakers. ¶ A preliminary conference to discuss the "Back to Africa" movement will be held in Colon, April 15. A general conference will be held July 29. Information may be had of J. B. Yearwood, P. O. Box 604, Ancon, C. Z. ¶ Five hundred workers representing eighty rural colored schools in Montgomery Ala., met at the State Normal School in the interest of rural school work. INDUSTRY. LOUIS H. LATIMER, who has been employed as an electrical engineer by Thomas A. Edison for forty years, was present at the banquet of the Edison Pioneers Association on the seventy-first birthday of the inventor and read a poem. ¶ E. M. A. Chandler, who received the degree Ph. D. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois, last year, is employed as chief chemist with Dicks, David & Heller Company, Aniline and Chemical Works, Chicago, Ill. ¶ The Seaside Building Association of Norfolk, Va., reports total assets of $12,457 for 1917, an increase of 30% over the previous year. ¶ The St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, Inc., in Richmond, Va., reports for the year 1917 total deposits of $190,825. ¶ The People's Savings Bank of Philadelphia, of which ex-Congressman White is president, has been dissolved. All the depositors have been paid in full. ¶ The Forsyth Savings & Trust Company, Winston-Salem, N. C., was opened for business in 1907. It has total deposits of $78,000 and real estate and furniture worth $23,000. J. S. Hill is president. ¶ The One Cent Savings Bank in Nashville, Tenn., had clearings of $910,012 for the past year, as compared with $235,109 in 1904, the first year of its establishment. ¶ The Fraternal Bank and Trust Company, Fort Worth, Tex., had a paid-in capital of $250,000 December 31, 1917. The bank was established in 1912, and is unincorporated. Tom Mason is president. ¶ The Mayor of Dawson, Ga., wrote to Cleveland, Ohio, offering to pay the transportation of any Negroes who wished to return. He was informed by city officials that Cleveland needed all of its colored laborers. ¶ Within a week's time 136 colored men left Birmingham Ala., to work in coal fields in Virginia. ¶ The Railway Wage Board at Washington, has been giving hearings to Pullman porters and dining car waiters on the subject of wages and tips. ¶ Secretary of Labor, Wilson, is to appoint a special advisor on Negro labor problems for the United States Department of Labor. THE CHURCH. CENTRAL BAPTIST CHURCH in Pittsburgh, Pa., of which the Rev. Mr. G. B. Howard is pastor, reports $14,261 taken in during last year. It spent $2,323 in uplift and reduced the church debt from $17,175 to $12,700. There were 544 new members
