Africo-
rian
“AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH SHALL MAKE YOU FREE.”-John viii:S2.
V'OL. LVn.
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY. DECEMBER 10, 1936.
NO. 50
UHLE TOURS IN RACIAL UNDERSTANDING S
REMINISCENCES AND CONCLUSIONS
I!Y MRS. A. H. GEORGE
Article VII
On Monday afternoon, No-j any capacity,
vember 23, at 2:,30 o’clock, the!Negro many
Tourist went to headquarters, '
156 Fifth Avenue, New York,
turned in reports and expense
accounts and checked out. She
left in the office all the vestments
of the Board of National Mis
sions and walked out—a niere
housewife, an ordinary citizen
who cannot be sued for the con
clusions and observations that
follow in this article. The Board
of National Missions has no re
sponsibility for any statement I
may make, and my personal
earthly wealth consists in three
sons, a life insurance policy,
and five or six acres in a rocky
farm in South Carolina—so let
those who would sue, take note.
First, after visiting in, and
speaking before, groups of nine
Presbyterials, seven in the
State of New York in New
York Synod, and two in New
England, I have found that the
statement made by Dr. Herman
N. Morse in his book “Toward A
Christian America,’’ chapter 7,
page 136, “Trends and Policies,’’
article four, is absolutely cor-
dect. Believe it or not, missions
as missions will have to explain
in the future their reasons for
existing.
I concluded, in the second
place, that Negro work is far
from popular. Of the National
Missions fields, the Mountain
Work is the most popular on the
fields which I visited. There is
a great interest in the Negro in
Africa, but ignorance and in
difference concerning the Negro
under the bars and stars. In
almost every case, without one
exception, I found Mission
Study classes well organized,
studying “Congo Crosses,”
“Out of Africa,” and “Consider
Africa.” This is as it should be,
of course, but the same group
which waxes tearful over the
poor “Heathen in his blindness,
who bows down to wood and
stone,” knows little if anything
about twelve million Negroes
who are “bowed out of wood
and stone” buildings of learning
and improvement. It was a rev
elation to me—for I made the
mistake in my first speeches of
assuming that the missionary
societies knew something of the
work which they themselves
support. One President said to
me after a morning speech,
“This afternoon, will you tell
us about some of the Negro
schools; how many, the type of
work, how they are maintained,
etc.” I had assumed that with
the possession of all our litera
ture on the Negro work, mis
sionary groups were well in
formed. This is true in a hope
ful number of cases. In other
places I hear, “We take ‘Women
and Missions,’ but no one ever
reads it much. We pass it
around, as we do the Mission
Study bookor, “I stopped
taking the books and magazines,
for there was nothing interest
ing in them;” or, “Yes, I always
buy a book, but I am too busy
to read itor, “I find much
of the stuff they write in the
church papers sob-stuff, and
iike all newspaper writings it
is to be taken with a grain of
salt.”
In Northern New York and in
New England, there are so few
Negroes that they do not arouse
either approval or disapproval
from the church groups—they
just don’t register at all. The
servants are usually immigrants
or native whites and the only
knowledge of Negroes as Ne
groes comes from the informa
tion gathered from the Pullman
windows to and from Florida, or
from porters, bell boys or peo
ple in service. These people are
all right, but, after all, they
don’t represent the whole Ne
gro race. I have been in lit
tle towns and villages where if
a Negro has ever been before,
the natives have forgotten how
he or she looked. I have been en
tertained in homes where no
I am
school
iRuer. If you haven’t read it,
o so. I had the opportunity to
[witness the packing of a mis-
jsionary barrel, and some Christ-
Imas boxes, and have heard
minutes concerning the gather
ing and packing ot a half dozen
|rnore. Man3^ of the comments
the first i ’'^6re not made for my ears, but
children through any way. They
against you personally, bur used
as a standard by which all the
race would be judged. It con
sisted in remembering that for
the first time Negro women had
been sent out to do Promotional
WORKMEN’S COMPENSA
TION IN NORTH CAR
OLINA
Raleigh, November 30.-
North Carolina workers or their
have ever seen. Is there any rne form some resolu-
wonder that Negro work .is a i “’o^s for next New Year’s.' One
negative subject? This obser
vation, you will remember, rep
resents personal visits in only
9 of the 282 Presbyteries, and
a few of the 9,025 Presbyteri
an churches of our great de
nomination. They need not be
representatives of the whole
Church, but I was convinced
that I should read Dr. Morse’s
book, “Toward A Christian
America,” again. I have.
I conclude, therefore, that
mission work is not so popular
in any of the churches as it
used to be. The older people
who went to church, and who
still go to church, have been and
generally are, now, the heaviest
supporters of missions. Young
er people are not going into
missions in anj' great numbers,
or to church, either, for that
matter; and so missions as mis
sions are on their last legs un
less a stimulant can be found to
revive them. As concerns Ne
gro Missions, Negroes them
selves can best make the appeal.
The black face commands in
stant attention. In an audience
of white faces it evokes, “What
does she want here?” I am not
a good speaker, find it impossi
ble to make a formal address,
can handle statistics only when
I dress them up, and, modesty
aside, have only one excuse for
asking an audience not to go to
sleep: I can tell a story. I have
had special training in and a
half dozen years experience in
story-telling (thanks to mj'
husband in his Junior church)
—so I support my statement
that Negroes themselves can
best make their owm appeals,
when I say that recorded at
headquarters are some state
ments about my speeches that
make me say, “If I have made
the best appeal and the finest
speech they have heard in forty
years, what would they sa>' if
one of our real speakers went
before them.
In my little talks, I began by
admitting everything. Ne
groes are ignorant, dirty, lazy,
dishonest, immoral, . learned,
clean, industrious, honest,
moral—human, 1 then . pro
ceeded to build up a back
ground. No background, no
speech,—for back of every
thing, act, or event, there are
corresponding reasons. In ev
ery case the questions that
came before the speech, at the
luncheon, perhaps, or in the
home, the car, the church—
were answered.
Two questions still rankle a
bit, and I have decided to pass
them on to you. Some one gets
me off in a corner after the ad
dress and says, “I want to ask
you a verj' personal question,
do you mind?” I always say,
of course, “No.” My question
er continues, “Aren’t you
mixed? I mean don’t you have
some white blood in you?” To
which I reply, “Yes, but I’m
not especially proud of it.” Then
comes another question that
rankles: “I am told that Negroes
who have white blood Look
Down On the Pure Blacks, Is
That True?” I usually open my
brief case, turn to page 175,
chapter 8, in Charles S. John
son’s “A Preface to Racial
Understanding,” and to Ina Cor-
rinne Brown’s “The Story of the
American Negro,” chapter 8,
“Facing the Color Line,” and
read or point to the answer giv
en by two authorities on the
subject. I also ask my ques
tioner to watch her New York
paper’s Want Ad section, and
read, “Wanted: White girl, or
Very Light Negro.”
The second question concerns
barrel clothes, mission boxes
and the like. I read with inter
est the article in Women and
Missions for July, titled,
“Christmas Hints.” It’s a fine
Negro has ever been before in j article prepared by Miss Mc-
Woman told me this: “We sent
a barrel to a Negro minister in
the South, (and gave name and
station) and we did not hear
anything of it or from him for
three months. We wrote him at
the expiration of that time and
asked him if he got it. To
which'he replied, ‘Yes,’ he had
received it, but had not had a
stamp to write.’ ” Those two
things still worry me some: the
matter of racial prejudice with
in the race, and the lack of pure
business sense.
My conclusions and reminis
cences grow lengthy, but I want
to include one more story in my
article (and since Article V was
lost in transit the e.xtra page in
this may substitute for that).
It is not always easy to be
honest.^ When one faces a group
of three or four hundred women
there is a temptation to say the
nice things, to make a pleasing
rather than an honest speech.
Each day I’d read the second
chapter of Ezekiel and because
I know nothing of Theology and
very little of symbolisms. I’d
take the words literallj’, espe-
ciallj" when some times I had to
wipe the smile off faces that
stared back and said quite plain
ly, “Go' uhead, make us listen,
if you can.” I’d remember the
last words in my husband’s let
ters which said: “We are doing
our part at home, we are pray
ing for you and expect you to
do your best.” Such admoni
tion made me send up a prayer
and wade right in instead of
running nut the back door as
1 d be L'ffmpted to do. A yoiuig'
white man who was talking to
me asked me, “What do you
find it hardest to do as you go
about?” I replied, “To be hon
est.” He rewarded me with
this story which I used with
his permission in his own home
town (Syracuse) :
“I came out of Syracuse Uni
versity before the Depression,
got a job in a business concern
and went to work. I was not .in
line for a Junior partnership or
anything like that, but if I’d
have stayed with the concern
for ninety-nine years, and if all
ofher guys above me had re
tired, I might have worked up
to one. Along came the De
pression, wiped out my whole
department, left me and some
of my gang packing sidewalks.
Then they created the new
jobs. A Negro woman who was
qualified went down to Dunbar
Center and began to teach a class
in Adult Education, for which
she received $24 per week. The
fellows in my gang began to
say, ‘There is a Negro woman
taking our job away from us.’
To which I answered, ‘No she
isn’t—our job gave out. She
would never have been allowed
to work in our office in a thous
and years. She’s got a job that
was created for people who
need it, and if there ever was
a person who needed a job, a
real job with real pay, that is
that Negro woman.’ “And,” he
concluded, “and yet with all
that. I’m not a Roosevelt man,
but I try to be honest.”
This was evidence to me that
prejudice is not geographical,
but economic and perhaps—
something else. In all things,
in all answers, I tried to quote
authorities. I had them page,
chapter, and even line—at my
finger tips.
The trip was fine. It consist
ed in more than riding around
in Pullman cars and diners, in
sitting at the Moderator’s table,
in seeing one’s name in the pa
pers, in ante-rooms, on posters,
on bulletin boards in front of
churches. It consisted in re
membering that you represent
ed race of twelve million peo
ple; it consisted in remember
ing that every gesture, word,
attitude would be remembered
work, and, if the experiment; dependents in seven years have
worked, others in much larger|received six and one half mil-
numbers (we hope) will follow. |lion dollars in compensation ben
efits, plus three and one third
IN j million dollars in medical, hos
pital, and nursing care, or a to-
jtal of $9,747,775.00 in all bene-
jfits under the Workmen’s Com
pensation Act, according to the
a I Fourth Biennial Report of the
DR. METZ’S INTEREST
BETHANY CHURCH
Ry Mrs. H. N. Sullivan
Forty odd years ago,
young rnan was sent from the I North Carolina Industrial Corn-
Theological department of Bid- mission
Llllt^IlL ui J31U-
die University, now Johnson C.
Smith, to serve the good
people of Belhanj' Presbyterian
church, which is located' about
eight miles beyond Statesville,
N. C. This young man was
none other than Dr. W. L. Metz.
He was received with open arms
bj' his people, soon learned
them, lived among them and
taught their children. He not
only taught the children, but
the grown-ups as well, to do
many things that were new to
them. For instance, he taught
the ladies of the missionarj- so
ciety to make the custard and
freeze the first ice ci'eam for the
benefit of that church. Dr. Metz
During the seven years 200,-
534 claims were filed, divided as
follows: Death or permanent to
tal disability', 613; permanent
partial, 4,980; temporary total,
49,248; and claims for disabili
ty of less than seven days in
which only medical costs were
paid, 145,677.
Without counting days lost
due to death or permanent par
tial disability. North Carolina
workers actually lost during the
seven years 1,946,409 days from
work, due to the over two hun
dred thou.sand accidents. This
is equivalent to 278,057 weeks
time, or 23,171 calendar months
lost time, or 5,561 years, of 50
WETS AND DRYS DISSATIS
FIED AS THIRD REPEAL
YEAR ENDS
learned to love these people and j work weeks each, lost time. In
thej’ learned to love him with
a love that has lasted through
out the years.
On Tuesday before Thanks
giving, (I think Tuesday) Dr.
Metz left Edisto Island, S. C.,
telling his family that he meant
to worship at Bethany on
Thanksgiving day. As related,
he tried to catch a bus in States
ville but it was gone. He in
quired as to the fare by taxi
and that was far more than it
should have been. Und.aunted,
yes, and determined to be with!year.
round figures, this is equivalent
to three workers being totally
disabled continuously since the
birth of Christ.
For the fiscal year ending
Julj’ 1, 1936, 32,568 compensa
tion claims were filed, and $1,-
356,962 were paid for compen
sation and medical care.
The last fiscal year the Com
mission handled next to the
largest number of claims since
its organization in 1929, being
surpassed only by the first
his people, he buttoned his ov
er-coat, got in the road to walk
those eight miles. God knowing
what he pondered in his heart,
s,m'^,''rt and,sh_ook his head; the
weather was a little* too ■hitter
for one of his dear children to
breast and so he sent an angel
in disguise, Mr. Smith, who
stopped and called to him to get
in and he would take him to
Bethany, and to Bethany he
came.
I have been wondering just
about how man\' ministers are
there that would be willing to
breast weather like we had
Thanksgiving to walk eight
miles to be with a people thej’
had preached to over forty
years ago. Now if that isn’t
love—??? Nor is all the love on
the part of Dr. Metz. It would
have done your hearts good to
have seen how he was received
by old and young even though
he taught the fathers and moth
ers of the present generation.
Rev. H. N. Sullivan is serv
ing this church now and he
takes the attitude of a son to
wards Dr. Metz, ever relying on
his timely and fatherly advice.
Nothing fills his heart with
more pride and joy than to
have Dr. Metz make us a visit.
We hope he will come verj' oft
en for he tells us the things we
ought to know.
A Historian
Dr. Metz is not only a minis
ter of renown but a historian of
highest rank. That that he
dosen’t know about the Presby
terian Church, U. S. A., isn’t
worth trying to find out. He
knows some facts about the
founding of Bethany and other
incidents surrounding that
church that quite a number of
people would like to know and
I hope that some time, at his
convenience, he w'ill release an
article on the same, should he
feel so disposed.
On behalf of the members
and friends of Bethany Pres
byterian church. Rev. H. N.
Sullivan and the writer wish
Dr. Metz God’s speed in his
great uplift program there on
Edisto Island, and that he will
live long to come to see us oft
en.
A very Merrj' Christmas
him and his!
Lexington, N. C.
In addition to the claims for
accidental injuries, 216 claims
were filed under the newlv en
With the third year of re
peal drawing to a close Decem
ber 6, the nation balances it's
liquor ledger this week with re
sults that are unsatisfactory to
both wets and drys, according
to a survey by the National
Voice News Burau.
Elimination of bootleggers,
abolition of the old time saloon,
annual revenues of more than
a billion a year, and removal of
the liquor problem from politics
were among the principal prom
ises made by repealists in their
campaign arguments against the
Eighteenth Amendment.
On the third birthday of re
peal, The National Voice News
Bureau sums up the evidence
that drj' leaders are offering to
prove that these repeal promis
es have all been broken:
“The bootlegging business is
as highlj’ organized since repeal
as it was during prohibition,”
.says the Institute of Public Ad
ministration in New York. The
institute estimates that nearlj-
40,000,000 gallons of untaxed
liquor were produced in 1936,
nearly half of the total gallon-
age of tax paid spirits. “Illicit
liquor is the cause of 50 per
cent loss in revenue,” stated a
headline in Tap and Tavern,
journal of the liquor industry
recently.
Regarding the “no saloon”
promise, James G. Flaherty, at
torney for the Tavern Owners’
Association in California, re
cently declared in a newspaper
interview: “It is time to admit
it is a saloon, whether you call
it that, or a tavern, or an inn,
OT just Pete’s place.”
More than eight billion dol
lars has been expended by the
public for tax paid and illicit
liquor since repeal. The gov-
acted Occupational Disease ernment revenue over that three
Amendment, with a total cost Period will average less
of $6,138.00 and 2,418 davs lost Gian 50G .ujlh
ly, according
Voice News
from work.
Last vear
763 cases went to
to the National
Bureau, as com-
a hearing before an individual [ pnred to repeal promises that
to
The Old Testament has the
New Testament within it.
Commissioner, and 105 were ap
pealed to the Full Commission.
Since 1929 there have been
298 appeals to Superior Court
from decisions of the Full Com
mission, of which the Court af
firmed 161, reversed 40, and
107 have not been heard for va
rious reasons, including aban
donment of appeal.
Since 1929 there have been
99 compensation cases appealed
to the Supreme Court. Of this
number the Supreme Court af
firmed 79 Commission decisions
and reversed 20.
In spite of the apparently
large number of industrial ac
cidental injuries, there is more
interest in safety and accident
prevention at this time among
industrial management and em
ployees than at any time in the
history of North Carolina in-
dustrj', according to the Indus
trial Commission.
The Industrial Commission
has sponsored seven annual
state-wide industrial safety
conferences, and organized four
regional safety councils which
meet four to six times yearly.
The Commission has trained
several thousand workers in
standard first aid, and has as
sisted in organizing many plant
safety committees.
The Industrial Commission
through the co-operation of the
North Carolina Cotton Manu
facturers Association this year
sponsored the first state-wide
textile industrial safety contest
in the United States, with 174
plants competing.
Jointly with the Western Car
olina Safety Council the Com
mission sponsored a safety con
test last year. Both contests will
be conducted next year with an
anticipated increased interest.
Because the entire compensa
tion insurance premium is paid
by the employer and with few
cases having been appealed to
the Courts,' ' compensation has
been paid to- the injured work
ers and their dependents with
practically - no expense to the
workers, according to the Com
mission.
it would total from two to five
times that much. The drys
have made great capital of a
statement by Joseph H. Choate,
Jr., former federal alcohol con
trol administrator: “As for rev
enue, we have been greatly dis
appointed.”
“We thought repeal would
end the scandals of the liquor
traffic,” declares Congressman
O’Connor of New York, out
standing repeal advocate. “If
the situation that exists todaj'
is what we have as a conse
quence of repeal, as for me,
give me prohibition.”
Even manj' leaders in the
beer and liquor business have
sensed recent changes in public
opinion, according to the Na
tional Voice News Bureau sur
vey, and have been issuing a
steady barrage of dire warnings
to the trade that prohibition is
sure to return if present condi
tions prevail.
YOUTH PLEDGE AID
SCOTTSBORO BOYS
TO
New York, Dec. 4.—The
pledge of the youth councils of
the N. A. A. C. P. that they
would “work unceasingly until
the Scottsboro boys go scot
free” was delivered in person to
the defendants in the Jefferson
county jail in Birmingham,
Alabama by Miss Juanita E.
Jackson, head of the youth work
of the N. A. A. C. P., who has
just returned to New York from
a tour of the Central South.
Miss Jackson visited the
Scottsboro youths November
20, spending nearly two hours
conferring with them. The
pledge which she delivered was
taken by the 200 youth dele
gates to the 27th annual con
ference in Baltimore last June.
Miss Jackson was accompanied
to the Birmingham jail by Dr.
E. W. Taggart, president of the
Birmingham branch, and Miss
Laura Kellum, secretary of the
Birmingham youth council.
The redemptive purpose of
God in Christ goes back before
all human history.