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Afnig^Anui' ‘AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, VOL. LIX. CHARLOTTE, N. C., THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 1938. THE PASSING OF GEORGE FOSTER PEABODY, PHILANTHROPIST By Dr. Kelly Miller The name of Peabody looms large on the horizon of Ameri can Philanthropy. George Pea body was born in Massachu setts in 1795 and died in 1869. Among his many other philan thropies, in 1866 Mr. Peabody established the fund of three million five hundred thousand dollars for education in the South, applicable to both races. Though George Peabody and George Foster Peabody, who recently passed away, bore the same name, they were not re lated to each other. These two homonymic Americans, though irrelated by blood, evinced a close spiritual kinship and were both philanthropists after the same pattern. George Foster Peabody was born in Columbus, Georgia, in 1852, and went North after the Civil War where his career be came interwoven into the indus trial, business, religious, educa tional and civic fabric during the past fifty years. While achieving remarkable success in the business world, he became keenly interested in all forms and phases of philanthropic and charitable activities and gave generously of his time, service and substance as well as his sympathy to every worthy cause. Indeed philanthropy or a love of one s fellowman must be bred in the bone. Perhaps no man of his day and genera tion showed a livelier interest or a wider range of sympathy and altruistic devotion. His broad-gauged philanthropy en visioned the varied and many sided interests and activities of American life, without regard to race, class, creed, or section al division of States. As a son of the South, he remained loy al to the best traditions of his native Southland. He was a member of the Southern Socie ty of New York City, and was a life-long member of the Demo cratic Party, serving as Treas urer of the National Democrat ic Committee for twelve years; nevertheless, he insisted that the Negro should be permitted to enjoy the full measure of his rights guaranteed by the Consti tution, not for the mere sake of abstract enjoyment, but be cause he needs these rights for self-protection. If his broad, human sympathies and humani tarian impulse had any special field of application, it was ex erted in behalf of the Negro race. He was not actuated by any maudlin sentimentality but he was convinced that the Ne gro, as the man farthest down, stood most deeply in need of his sympathy and benefaction. In this day of mammoth for tunes and worship of wealth we are in the habit of extolling those so-called philanthropist’s who magnify their own names by endowing colleges, universi ties, art galleries and libraries or establishing foundations out of their surplus wealth for which they could have no personal need. But in the truer and more exalted sense, the true philanthropist, like the apostle Peter, says to the needy, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have, give I unto thee.” As Walt Whitman puts it, “When I give, I do not give lectures or a little charity. When I give, I give myself.” When we learn to appraise moral values in terms of motive rather than munificence, the mere money giver will be deemed least worthy of the name Philanthro pist. General 0. 0. Howard and the Northern missionaries who fol lowed in the wake of the victo rious Army to start the begin nings of a better life among the benighted Freedmen, whose souls needed to be enlightened with wisdom from on High, embodied the highest expres sion of philanthropy which the Christian centuries have pro duced. George Foster Peabody was a philanthropist in the truest sense. He was interested in the souls as well as the bodies of the handicapped Negroes struggling upward from dark-, ness towards the light. Mr. Peabody gave to the col ored young men of his native city, Columbus, Ga., the first Y. M. C. A. building in the his tory of that organization. He believed in the moral and spir itual as well as the material and intellectual phases of life. He was a Trustee of Hampton, Tuskegee and Howard, and con tributions came to these insti tutions largely because of his connection with them. Mr. Peabody was a close friend and firm believer in the work and worth of Booker T. Washington, whom he admired for his merit as a man as well as for the role of race states man, which • enabled him to bring about peace and harmony, cooperation and good will be tween the races. George Foster Peabody was endowed with a noble nature, simple, kind, gen erous and genial. He was court ly and courteous; his humanity and kindliness beamed upon the highest and humblest alike. In his death the American people have lost a great soul, a genuine philanthropist. He was a true and sincere friend of the Negro, if there ever was one. SAVED FROM DRINK BY HEARING TEMPERANCE TALKS ON RADIO By Ethel Hubler Scarcely a generation has passed since the establishment of the first commercial radio stations in America. In those few years, the power of this new medium of expression to accomplish great good for hu manity has been demonstrated in millions of American homes. It has brought education, en lightment and contact with the outside world to isolated sec tions many miles from other means of communication. It has cheered the lonely hearts, bringing entertainment and amusement to while away long, idle hours. It has brought strength and healing comfort to the sick bed, courage to the shut-in. It has narrowed the far-flung borders of a great na tion, and welded its people clos er than any other development of modern times. Now comes news of a new humanitarian and merciful serv ice being performed by radio— a new achievement accomplish ed through man’s benevolent use of the air waves. In recent months more than five hundred men and women, boys and girls, have written letters of profound gratitude expressing their thanks for learning the truth about liquor from temperance . broadcasts now being heard over a number of radio stations throughout this nation. Excerpts from just a few of the letters offer a most inter esting sidelight on the tremend ous possibilities of radio as a power for good. A mother writes: “My sons drank frequently, but since we have purchased a radio and listened to the tem perance talks, they have not touched the rotten stuff. . . ” A wife writes: “My husband drank liquor but he has been listening to temperance talks on the radio. It has been about two months since he came in drunk. We enjoyed Christmas this year for the first time in thirty-five years. ...” The only hope of ultimate peace lies in religion. .Knowl edge is not sufficient; law is not enough; bulwarks of steel and of armament are extravagantly expensive and many fail in the crucial hour. Nothing suffices but the law and Spirit of God. —Selected. BETTER PARENTHOOD * WEEK A movement of unusual in terest to ministers and all other church and Sunday schol work ers is being launched this Spring. Better Parenthood Week is being inaugurated the first week of May to link Child Health Day, May 1st, and Moth ers’ Day, May 8th, in a new, in tensified observance. It will make an intensive drive to im press parents forcibly with their duties to their children in the realms of spiritual, moral, men tal and physical development. Better Parenthood Week has the cooperation of the United States Children’s Bureau. Kath arine F. Lenroot, Chief of the Bureau, endorsing the week said: “It seems to me that this week will offer additional re sources for bringing before the mothers and fathers of this country helpful suggestions for improving the health and wel fare of their children. 'It should also serve to bring to the atten tion of parents the developing services for promoting the health and welfare of children which are being made available under Governmental and private auspices.” The week is being sponsored by The Parents’ Magazine. George J. Hecht, its Publisher, is Chairman of a nationwide committee in charge of the ob servance; Associated with him are such leading parent educa tors as: Dr. George D. Stoddard, Chairman of the National Coun cil of Parent Education; Mrs. Jacob Schechter, President of the United Parents’ Associations of New York City; Dr. Lillian M. Gilbreth, Vice Chairman of the Girl Scouts; Dr. Grace Lang don, WPA Specialist in Parent Education, Homemaking and Nursery Schools; Dr. E. A. Gil more, President of the State University of Iowa; Dr. Louise Stanley, Chief of the Bureau of Home Economics, U. S. Depart ment of Agriculture; Miss Hazel Corbin General Director of the Maternity Center Association; Dr. H. H. Riley, President of the State and Provincial Health Authorities of North America; Mrs. Sidonie M. Gruenberg, Di rector of the Child Study Asso ciation of America; Dr. Flora Rose, College of Home Econom ics, Cornell University, and Dr. John E. Anderson, Director of the Institute of Child Welfare, University of Minnesota. A number of famous parents are also on the committee in cluding: Mrs. Herbert H. Leh man, wife of the Governor of New York State; Faith Bald win, novelist; Giovanni Marti nelli, Metropolitan Opera star; Mrs. Irene Wicker, the Sing ing Lady of radio; Mrs. Elaine Sterne Carrington, creator of the radio feature, “Pepper Young’s Family;” Carl E. Mill iken, ex-governor ot Maine and Secretary of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, and Kathleen Norris, authoress. Child Health Day falls annu ally on May 1st, Mothers’ Day on the second Sunday of the month. This year May 1st is also the first Sunday, making the intervening period unusual ly appropriate. An effort will be made to have Child Health Day moved from May 1st to the first Sunday in May so that Better Parenthood Week may become an annual event. Churches, Sunday schools, Parent-Teacher associations, women’s clubs, schools and sim ilar groups are being urged to observe Better Parenthood Week. i __ NOT GOOD GOVERNMENT (Prom the Danville, Va. Bee, Peb. 23, 1938) The triumph of the filibuster in preventing the Wagner anti lynching bill from coming to a vote in the Senate is another demonstration of the ability of organized minorities against the majority. After 47 days of speechmaking, the proponents of the bill who sought its sub mission to a vote yielded and the I Southern bloc joined by some others marked up a temporary victory which must be attribut ed not to logical discussion of merits, but to sheer wind-pow er. It is not, we hold, the dem ocratic way of determining leg islative issues. The Senate has got behind in its work in this tour de force during which wild and exaggerated statements were made for and against the bill as senatorial tempers be came frayed. Generally Speak ing, however, the filibustered clung more closely to the actual subject matter than they usual ly do. It remains now to be seen if the South will make good on the asseverations of several of the anti-lynching bill support ers that lynching is now under control and that the situation so long complained of is improv ing. Upon what authority this is based is not altogether clear as mass killings share with pas sion all the elements of uncer tainty. But no matter what the char acter of the legislation is, the lameness of an administration al situation which permits any measure to be held indefinitely from a vote on account of the combined whims of a minority, runs, as we have said before, contrary to the concept of gov ernment by the majority. REPORT ON HEALTH CON DITIONS IN THE STATE Raleigh.—The January report of the State Board of Health’s Vital Statistics Division, of wfiich Dr. R. T. Stimpson is the Director, shows that the up upward trend in the number of births in North Carolina, which was maintained throughout 1937, was holding its own the first month of 1938. The num ber of deaths, however, was al|Q jjreater than in January The first month of 1938 was marked by the birth of 6,395 little Tar Heels as compared with 6,103 a year ago, wmie deaths numbered 3,098 against 2,796 reported the first month of 1937. There was a slight decrease in the number of deaths among babies under a year old, how ever, the number this January having been 411, as compared with 420 las year, but an in crease of four in the number of maternal deaths. “We always keep an eye on these figures,” said Dr. G. M. Cooper, director of the Division of Preventive Medicine, who gives much at tention to maternal and child clinics. “It is gratifying to note,” he continued, “that there was a decrease in the number of pellagra deaths in January, the total having been only 15, against 25 last year.” Increases were noted in deaths from several causes, es pecially pneumonia, the Janu ary, 1938, total having been 404, as compared with 333 in Janua ry, 1937. There were ten more homi cides last month than a year ago, the report shows, and two more suicides. Deaths from cancer continued on the up grade, with 173, as compared with 151 last year. Tuberculo sis deaths were up three while there were 14, or twice as many, from firearms and 19 more from accidental burns. One death from smallpox was re ported, this being an unusual occurrence in this day and time, while measles took the lives of 16 children, as com pared with none a year ago. Syphilis deaths dropped one, while diphtheria was up five. “Pneumonia has continued to be one of our greatest prob lems,” said Dr. Cooper, but he expressed the hope that as the result of the appointment and activities of the State Pneumon ia Control Commission, of which Dr. Hubert Haywood, of Raleigh, member of the State Board of Health, is chairman, “a brighter day lies ahead.” The telephone is a wonderful invention. A few deaf people can hear over it and a whole lot of dumb ones can talk over it. MUCH SUFFERING AND GREAT PROPERTY UAMAGE CAUSES RT FLOOD By Rev. Warren C. Jones When I was a boy around j home in the backwoods of South Carolina, three miles from a store and more than a mile from the nearest neigh bor, I would have to work very hard during the long, hot sum mer days in the corn and cot ton field, but I bore my burden cheerfully because I well knew that when the noon hour would come then I would be free for a short time to go down to the little stream that ran near our home and take a swim. Well, just somehow I have always loved water. I guess this spe cial liking for water can be traced back to the time when I was a baby. The story goes something like this: My mother, who was a lover of people and who was a very zealous work er among the unfortunate people of York County in South Carolina, started one day to go in a buggy into a community near Turkey creek for the pur pose of organizing a Woman’s Missionary Society. I, as it happened, was the baby at that time, so naturally I don’t recall this, but I am sure that I had the pleasure of accompanying) her. Well, she attended the meeting and started home, but before she had gone very far on her homeward journey a heavy rain came up and she was forced to stop under some trees until it had let up a bit before continuing her journey. When she reached Turkey creek the water had come out of its banks and was all over the place around about. What must she do? It was growing late and the rain was still falling. After a minute spent in prayer she pulled up the - lines of old Maud and started through the water. When old Maud got right at the bridge something made a noise in a tree near her and she made a leap for ward* thus throwing me from my mother’s arms into the swollen creek. After some very quick action on the part of my mother and sister (who was in the buggy with her) I was res cued, the water forced out of me, and without any other se rious happenings we reached home late that night. And so it was that I grew up with this fondness for water. But little did I dream that I was soon to be placed so near the banks of the famous Red river. This river, as you know, is the lowest Western branch of the Mississippi. It rises near the Eastern border of New Mexico, flows eastward through Texas, forming the entire Southern boundary of Oklahoma, thence Southeast below 31 N. latitude. It is 1500 miles long and its drain age area is estimated at over 95,000 square miles. The chief affluents are the North Fork, Washita, Peace, and Big Wash ita. The Presbyterian Parish lo cated in McCurtain and Choc taw Counties, and made up of Oak Hill, New Hope, and Beav er Dam churches, lies along this river in Oklahoma. Heavy rains, snows, and freezes in Western Oklahoma caused the river to rise and by the time the water had reached Southern Oklahoma, the local creeks and streams added their water to the already swollen stream, causing it to leave its banks and extend many miles out on both sides. The distance it ex tended depended on the slope of the land and the depth of the bed at that point. This mad, rushing stream left the river bed, flooded many thousand acres of farm land, bringing the greatest destruction in McCur tain county where the writer lives. The river in this county began to spread out over this low land late Friday, but tTie people thinking that it would not spread very far, did not go out of this bottom, land. It con tinued to rise and late Satur day water had forced those nearest the river out of their homes. By Sunday morning the river had covered many thousands of acres and the peo ple living six and seven miles away had to flee to higher ground, leaving all behind them. 99 per cent of these refugees were Negroes. Things grew worse and the CCC boys came with boats and brought these people out as swiftly as possible, but as they were not familiar with this section, rescuing was slow, and as the day grew older the weather grew colder, the water continuing to rise. By night fall more than 600 had been gotten out and carried to the nearby town where they found shelter in the homes of friends, and those without any friends were cared for in the Armory. I went down to see this water and although I was more than seven miles away from the river itself the waiter was more than 40 feet deep. I could not keep back tears from my eyes as I stood on the banks of this rushing river, watching the boats bringing out these refu gees, wet, cold, without shoes and coats, and hearing the sad stories as told by those caught by the water. I wish here to relate a few of them. One man told of his going to bed on Saturday night and early Sunday morning he was awakened to find that the water had come up to his bed. As soon as he could get out of bed he went for his clothes and found them soggy wet. But as there were no other dry ones he put them on and began car rying his wife and fourteen children-out-of the house. They were poorly clad but went up into the trees in the yard and stayed there until they were rescued some hours later. The father could not get into the boat as the wife and fourteen children had filled it to over flowing, so he had to carry out the same spirit as men at sea: “Ladies and children first.” But the boat did not return for this man. He waited all night in the cold tree but on one came. Early the following morning, after praying that God would save him, the man took off his half dry clothing and with them tied about his waist jumped into the icy wat er, swimming for two miles to the dry ground. Another story is that five people started to higher ground in a small boat. The water was swift and deep and there were many logs and other drifting things in the route. When the boat had gone about a mile from the house, something up set it and the five people were thrown into the cold water. As it happened the water at this , point was not over their heads. The two men climbed up into a tree, leaving three girls there in the water, where they stood for more than six hours. The water came up to their necks. They were rescued and rushed to Idabel to the Armory and as a result of this experience one of the girls has pneumonia. As I returned that afternoon I stopped by the Armory to see just what the conditions there were. Well, this is what I found. The Red Cross had taken over things and as best it could, under conditions, was making a fine go of caring for these 500 or more people there. But as the place was overcrowded, and with so few conveniences, many hardships were undergone by the people. There were eight or ten sick women on cots in one of the rooms. Several of these had gotton wet and had taken pneu- * monia. There were others there who had been sick before the flood came. There was one woman in this sick room, very sick, caused by worry over her husband. She had left him several days before that in the (Continued on Page 4)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
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