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166 THE CRISIS

CHURCH.
THE Roman Catholic Church in the United States devotes to missionary effort among Negroes and Indians an annual collection on the first Sunday in Lent. Last year the total amount obtained for this work was $110,549.35.
¶ Archdeacon Bragg, of Baltimore, recommends the consecration of a colored bishop for Episcopalians in Boley and other Negro communities in Oklahoma.
¶ The first issue of the Georgia Congregationalist, the organ of the colored congregational convention, has appeared at Atlanta.
¶ The Mission House and Institutional Church for Negroes at Louisville is now free of debt.
¶ The educational board of the general Baptist convention of Texas is conducting a campaign for $175,000 to free from debt the schools controlled by this church-Guadalupe College, Central Texas College, and Boyd Institute. A Texas philanthropist "who is not a Christian" has contributed $40,000 to the fund.
¶ In an address at Grace Church, New York, the Right Rev. William A. Guerry, Bishop of South Carolina, stated that before the Civil War there were in his diocese, as generally in the South, as many Negro communicants as white, but that emancipation, prejudice and indifference on the part of the whites had forced most of the colored people into religious bodies of their own. The white man is, however, coming to appreciate his duty toward the Negro, and the bishop urged his hearers to lend their aid to the work among the colored people. The bishop said:
  "When the disciples came upon the man born blind they, in a speculative mood, asked: 'Who did sin, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind?'--a question typical of the view we once took of the presence of the African in America. Who did sin--the slave catcher, the slave trader, the planter, the abolitionist or the fire eater--who did sin? How contrary to the disciples was Jesus' attitude of practical helpfulness toward the blind man. 'Neither did this man sin, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.'"
¶ Rev. Charles Martin, of Beth Tphillah Church, New York, is said to be the first colored man to be admitted to the full presbyterate of the Moravians Church, although the Moravians or United Brethren were the earliest denomination to undertake to Christianize the Negro. Mr. Martin was ordained at Bethlehem, Pa., in July.

MUSIC AND ART.
THE music reviewer in Vogue says: "Those who are looking hopefully to America to produce music which shall offer a beauty that is racial and distinct from the music of other lands have recently listened with interest to the compositions based upon themes of the Negro melodies. The John Powell concerto played by Efrem Zimbalist and the 'Comedy Overture on Negro Themes' performed by the Theodore Thomas Orchestra last month prove that there is inspiration for our composers here as well as abroad, though it was necessary for a foreigner, Anton Dvorak, to point the way with his 'New World' symphony, which is replete with the rich yet plaintive melodies characteristic of the Negro race. * * * In Berlin an Indian girl is soon to make a début in opera--the swan song of a vanishing race, perhaps, or the prefiguration of a new achievement."
¶ Clarence Whitehill, baritone, of the Chicago Grand Opera Company, was soloist at the part-song concert of the Arion Club of Milwaukee last month. His singing of one of the "bandanna" songs--a Negro song written by Sidney Homer--was said to be one of the most enjoyable features of the evening.
¶ "Uncle Rome," of the same group of songs, which are in the Negro idiom, was among the most successful songs given by Charles W. Clark, the American baritone, at his Paris recital.
¶ A well-known impresario and actor sends us the following letter:
  "'Show business' may not have come under your direct observation, but it is a profession that is furnishing employment to hundreds of colored girls and boys. Every town of any consequence, in the South, has its colored picture or playhouse, but I am sorry to say that the major portion of the young women and men entering this profession are ignorant, and aside from a natural talent for singing and dancing are all unqualified

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to appear before intelligent audiences. Most of the performances in these small houses are a disgrace and an insult.
  "Unscrupulous managers, mostly white, anxious to fill their pockets with the Negro's nickles and dimes, caring nothing for his intellectual advancement, encourage the performers to make use of suggestive lines, vulgar jokes, etc. You can imagine what class of people this draws to the theatre, but the manager cares only that he fills his theatre, and he usually does.
  "Daily and nightly colored girls and boys are being educated in these 'smut' shops. What kind of an education are they receiving? The commonest theme for a sketch between two men or man and woman is a burlesque on the sanctity of the marriage relation, thereby encouraging immorality. Is it right that the good people of these towns should ignore this system of education?
  "I have been combating this evil influence with all my power, but I need assistance. I am well known and, I believe, well liked by these Southern performers, and I have accomplished some good. What ability I have as a writer has been used in this direction. I have written numerous articles encouraging and entreating the young men and women to study and perfect themselves in their work. This is why I desire to learn how to write well.
  "The stage is an educator. It is a potent influence for good or evil that may not be ignored. We can accomplish much good if the public will meet us half way. I trust this subject will interest you and the association. I will be glad to furnish you further information upon the subject."
COURTS.
MR. ROBINSON and Dr. Crampton, two prominent colored men of Harrisburg, Pa., won a discrimination suit against the proprietor of a theatre. On the night on which they purchased tickets, a notice was posted at the ticket office to the effect that:
  "The balcony of this theatre is provided for our colored patrons. If you do not desire to sit in the balcony do not purchase tickets, as they will not be honored in any section of the theatre." But Mr. Robinson bought tickets for the lower part of the theatre and, on attempting to occupy the proper seats, the manager informed him that he and his companion would have to go upstairs. In charging the jury the judge said:
  "It does not do for the proprietor of a place of that kind to say: 'You can just come in and sit on the balcony.' He has no right to compel you to climb the stairway on to the balcony when there are unoccupied seats on the first floor. You have the right to select your own seat, if it has not been reserved and not occupied by anybody else, and as long as you behave yourself in a quiet and orderly way.
  "Something has been said about this act relating to hotels and prohibiting the refusal to admit to the hotel or to furnish accommodations at the hotel because of race or color. That is the law of this State. It is part of this statute, and a very proper enactment, and one which the courts and juries must enforce. If there be anything wrong about the law, the remedy is by address to the legislature and a modification or repeal of the law. This law, as long as it remains on the statute book, must be enforced by juries and by courts. As I have just said, it prohibits the refusal to admit to a hotel or to give accommodations at a hotel because of race or color. That law with respect to a hotel would be violated if, because of the race or color of a man, he would be refused a room on the first or second floor of the building when he was able and willing to pay for it, and the rooms were unoccupied, and the proprietor undertook to send him either to the attic or to the basement; that would be refusing accommodations because of race or color, if that was the reason for sending him either to the attic or down into the basement. Rights must be recognized and privileges must not be refused because of race or color. That is the purpose of this act and its express declaration."
¶ At the first trial of Police Sergeant Duffy in New York for graft the jury failed to bring in a conviction, after having been out more than twenty-four hours. It was found that from first to last the ballot had stood eleven to one for conviction. The solitary friend of Duffy and crime declared that his Southern birth did not permit him to convict a white man on the testimony of a Negro witness. Duffy was convicted