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Star Day,
THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH
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NUMBER SIXTEEN.
CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINA THURSDAY. APRIL 28, 1921
VOLUME FORTY-FIVE
Shall We Go Under or Shall We Go Over?
It is now about nine days to The :
Star week and seventeen Says to Star
Sunday. The fi^st attempt in our
history is being made to have a con
nection-wide move to place the paper
in the homes of the race and our
friends. The bishops have appealed
and we are now before you. We offer
The Star upon its growing merit.
It will come weekly into our homes
like a white winged angel bringing
lews from church and race through
out the world to interest old and
young alike. No phase of \ life and
living will be neglected, for inform
ing, entertaining and inspiring min
isters, laymen, boys and girls. Our
effort is to have the paper commend
itself to everyone who reads it.
The Church needs the hand of help
The Star extends to our work locally
and in general and the Publication
/ House needs the money. The manage
ment has increased the facilities to get
| it to you on time. Our help is costing
us hudreds of dollars more each week
and we have assumed a twenty thou
sand dollar debt fpr equipment in
machinery etcs.f
We have undertaken for you our
Zion and our Love. Will you let us go
under or help us to go over the top
with a victory fpr you. '
Every pastor is asked to preach a
sermon or make an address on the i
Church literature in the home against |
the rotten propaganda of the devil’s
printing press to confuse believers.
This done on Sunday May 8, one
week before St^r Sunday, and a can
was in the homes by agents or clubs
during the Star week with an 'an
nouncement made at each service,
will get 'several dozen subscribers
from most charges.
Rates:
1 year. $1.50
6 months. $1.00
3 months. 75
1 month. .25
1 copy.....5
Agents or clubs get twenty per
cent on all collections. Send for Vour
receipt books and report blanks, at
once.
W. J. Walls, Editor.
S. D. Watkins, Manager.
Watching The
Breakers.1
MOSTLY ABOUT MINISTERS,
By Rev. W. H. Davenport
WHERE IS THE DEAD LINE?
11
4
4
2
The Tampa Tribune observes the
following: (
The ministerial dead line of fifty
seems to have vanished. Ke have no
ticed the result of an investigation
made among the new pastors of thir
ty leading Baptist churches in this
country. And this was the result: \
1920 1904
Under thirty years of age.. 0 1
Between thirty and forty.. 1
Between forty and fifty.. 17
Between fifty and sixty.. 17
Over .... 2
In other words, in 1904 there were
pastors under forty in twelve of the
churches, every church but one has
a minister who is over forty, while
two-tljirds are beyond fifty. From
these figures the investigator con
cludes that “the minister who is
westward of fifty is the man df the
tour. The younger man is looked at
askance until he fully proves his
worth and power.” We feel almost
sure this \ showing would obtain
throughout all denominations in this
country. We have come to a new day
in more ways than one
London, April 12.—“The business
men of London are not such fools as
to put their sons to such a rotten pro
fession as preaching,” said Dr. In
gram, Bishop of London, in a speech
advocating better pay for clergymen.
“By their niggardly support of the
church at the present time,” he add
ed, “the people of England are under
mining the ministry itself.”
The Rev. Wj. C. Vesta one of the
fathers of Zion Methodism in this
State, said to the writer recently.
“Ypu had better ' do something else
besides depending upon the ministry
for your support in your old age.
True, you will get a little something,
but that will not keep you when you
are worn out, the most jfou will get
is the praise and sympathy; but that
wont help you any. Better take my ad
vice when you are active and look
out for yourself and not depend upon
the Church taking care of you.”
A North Carolina Presbyterian
minister,with a touch of irony, for he
is well fixed in this worlds goods,
writes:
“I have been thinking recently ,that
you and I will have to retire from
active ministry ere long—what will
become of us? No money—too old
to work—and no home for aged min
isters. I Could go and pile upon- my
children, but what would become of
you? Do you catch the mdral?”
This Presbyterian minister who
knows the history of the Zion Church
and the men who have put things over
is not half so dull as he seems. Cer
tainly We catch the moral, and in the
next twenty-five years—oh well
wlfet’s the use? j
Said a minster the other day: “Du.;
Davenport I have a family to take
care bf—children to educate. I cap
n*t depend upon my church for a liv
SHALL WE LOOK TO EUROPE
FOR OUR SPIRITUAL STRENGTH,
By Rev. Charles S. McFarland, Gen
eral Secretary of the , Federal
Council of Church of Christ in
America.
Shall we look to Europe for our
moral ideals and for our spiritual
resources? I have begun to think
that this is not an unreasonable con
sideration.
At a recent public gathering in1
honor of the new Ambassador from |
Italy, for some reason which I do [
not understand, the customary pray
er of gratitude to God on such occa
sions was eliminated. I feuspect the
omission was on the assumption that
any religious touch to the occasion
might possibly be offensive to a for
eign Ambassador. If so, it must have
been with some surprise that his ad
dress was listened to, replete as it
was,, apt only with a deeptdiigioua
spirit and reverent tone, but with
.discerning quotations from the Holy
Scripture and touching reference to
the religious life.
The newspaper dispatches nearly
every morning contain, in connection
with our foreign correspondence, re
ference to impending dangers threat
ening “American rights,” and
“American interests-’’ The various
trade journals 'constantly bemoan
our economic and business condi
tions. The Wall Street Journal pleads
with pathos for the reduction of
wage scales to save us from impend
ing poverty.
Meanwhile, strangely enough, the
most buoyant notes of faith and hope
come from the devastated regions
of France, from turbulent Italy. Their
messengers never utter a note of
complaint, they do not come to beg,
they are reserved and dignified and,
despite all their vicarious suffering,
they have no mein or Pharisaism
They often make no appeal except
that which is inherent in the moral
tone and the spiritual force of their
message.
There are three of these messen
gers whose public utterances I have
heard and with whom I have had the
privilege of some personal confer
ence. Rene Viviani spent a little time
the other day with the Federal Coun
cil’s on Relations with France and
Belgium- M. Viviani is not distinctly
a churchman; indeed there are those
who have counted him among the
unfaithful because of his attitude
many years ago on the relation be
tween the Church and State. But the
burden of his utterance was that of
gratitude for the moral and spiritual
help of our churches, without which,
according to Viviani, our material
help would have availed little.
Speaking of his attitude of his
country toward religion, he said:
“Before the war there were those
who thought that we were a light
hearted skeptical, superficial na
tion, without spiritual force, without
moral inspiration. The) true nature of
our people came out in the war and
the world realized that France had
twenty centuries in wtich she has
stood for the rights and liberties of
mankind.
‘‘Our nation is a country of toler
ance, blit also of profound faith. To
us has been given he privilege of suf
fering for mankind. It was one cf our
Continued to pays .8
Walking About Zion
BISHOP J. S. CALDWELL VISITS
SOUTH AND SCANS THE
CHURCH—IS OPTOMISTIC.
Mr- Editor:
I have jus't returned from Alabama
where I was in attendance of the
Third General Convocation conduct
ed by the Home and Foreign Mis
sionary Department of our Church.
The meeting wa^s well attended and
the financial results good. It was
pleasing to see the earnestness with
which our women went about the
work. The women, of Zion -are on
fire with missionary zeal.
Bishop Wood gave his unstinted
support to the Missionary workers
of his own ifield as well as to those
representing other conferences
The Missionary Department?
throw
eimghtehihg and boosting the Mis
Mr. Oscar W« Adams Editor of the
Birmingham Reporter, Alamama’s j
distinguished layman. Mr. Adams was
leader on the General Conference
floor and waged a strong fight for
the race politically in the last elect
ion. He is a delegate to the Ecumeni
cal Conference, and was urged by
his friends for a political appointment
at Washington, but declined. If the
President appoints an Inter-racial
Commission he would be a suitable
selection. |
sionary endeavor for the redemption
of Africa. Boosting is a profitable
business nowadays. There is not
much to be gained in knocking, as
we usually say, any enterprise that
we hope to get results from- Boost
ing will do it more good than knock
ing. ,
A few days ago a bulletin was is
sued from the State Department at
Washington, D. C., stating that ap
proximately a million persons had
found employment in the Nation
since the first of the year, thus re- ,
ducing about one-third of the whole
number who were without Jobs a
few months ago. No bit of news
could be more heartening to the
Nation because we see in this a
trend of better times. Anything that
will make the nation light-hearted
will tend to send it forward with
more zest toward the goal. If this
THOMAS W. BICKETT PLEADS
FOR JUSTICE TO ALL NEGOES.—
MR. TAFT ON “EQUALITY OF OP
PORTUNITY.” OTHERS SPEAR.
STRIKES AT ALL KLU JtLUX—
By William Anthony Aery.
Hampton, Ya-—That the Ngero is
entitled to equal and exact justice
before the law and that the white
man must accord him that justice or
be false to all' Anglo-Saxon tradi
tions, was the opinion expressed by
the Hon. Thomas W. Bickett, former
governor of North Carolina, in his
recent address delivered at the clos
ing session of the fifty-third anniver
sary of Hampton Institute, over
which Principal J. E. Gregg presid
ed. Governor Bickett said:
“Though only- fifty-three ydars old,
Hampton Institute has achieved th»
unique and noble distinction of be
coming at once a fountain and a
shriife.- From it are constantly flow
Cfral" Tfidker^ste places
glad, and from every quarter of the
continent weary pilgrims come to
Hampton Institute for a new birth
of courage, faith and love;
“The Negro who has to get an or
der from a white man before he can.
buy a sack of meal or a side of meat
is almost as much h. slave as the!
man who had to get a permit before
he could leave his master’s land. The
Negro as a race will not travel far
until his credit in store or in bank
is as good as that of the white man.
‘‘All during my administration the
hand of executive clemency knew
no color line- I opened the prison
doors to more than four hundred
Negroes. During my administration,
I preached against lynching and I
fought lynching. I rushed troops to
protect prisoners, leaders of mobs
were indicted and convicted, and I ,
personally walked into a mob and
persuaded men to abandon their pur
pose.
Strikes at Ku Klux.
“In this free country the message
that cannot be proclaimed from the
housetop ought not to be heard by J
a loyal American citizen. The Ku j
Klux Klan believes in the whisper
and that is one of the reasons why,
when the strong man from Texas
tried to establish the Ku Klux Klan j
in North Carolina, I rose up and hit j
it with all my might and drove it from j
our borders. Listen to your leaders .
who proclaim their message from the
pulpit and through the local press. I
When the whispering agitator comes
around, say t° him, “Get thee behind
me, Satan.”
A Candid conression*
“Let me make a candid arfd solemn
confession. The whites in the south,
and in the north as well, do not al
ways deal justly with the Negro.
We sometimes do him wrong,—and
God knows I am ashamed of it,—but
violence will not hasten the day of
always hinder ita—ofehrdlu
your deliverance and hate will al
ways hinder. The God of your re
demption will come, not in the mighty
wind, not in the‘earthquake, and not
in the fire, but in a ‘still small
voice’ that will trouble the white
man’s conscience and drive sleep
from his eyes until he gives to your
people the fullest measure of justice.
The one safeVpath for the Negro to
The Vidette of
The Blue Ridge.
PARAGRAPHIC COMMENT ON
MEN AND MEASURES.
By Rev. E. M, Argyle, B. D. -
One year ago all eyes of th®
Church were turned toward Knox
ville, Tennessee, where the clans
were soon to gather. It was hoped
that certain legislation would be en
acted that would materially help in
spreading the borders of Zion and j
better stabilize the tenets and poli
cies of the Connection. The confer
ence opened with a great sermon,
and to say that the opening was not
an auspicious augury of great thing!
would be too severe a stricture upon
the truth. The General Confe
by tacit agreement organized
into two houses, the upper f
*-tb wer'“hotrse: "TW&nipper
composed of the Bishops, General
officers, and those of the delegates
that hac^been designated by appoint
ments from the respective Bishops
whose special friends they were,
some of them having failed in being
elected from their respective confer
ences. The lower house was compos
ed of nearly all the regularly elected
delegates, and to say that there was
not an array of intellectual brillian
cy in both houses would clearly show
that one was incompetent to judge
unbiasedly. A good observer could
see from the very start that it was
going to be a tug-of-war.
The upper house was determined
that no legislation should pass with
out its censor. The lower house was
equally determined that certain re
medial legislation should be enacted
over the censor of the upper house,
and thus many a needed measure was
defeated, because the upper house
had not been consulted. The defeat
of certain measures that even the
upper house knew was needed, tend
ed to draw out acrimonious debate
and create ill feeling.. But the modt
far fetched exercise of authority of
the upper house was shown in the
election of bishops, when even some
of its own members dissented and
bolted from its high handed ruling.
After the General conference had
voted that the Church really needed
three more active bishops, and pro
ceeded to elect two of them, sudden
ly a revolution of opinion was evi
denced in the upper house, and it
declared it did not needcVsm m mm
declared we did not need but two,
and to thwart the will and purpose of
the whole body, it kept to the lore
certain candidates that it knew could
not be elected, and who it did not
want itself, to defeat others who
showed formidable strength. The
.wisdom of this move has been se
riously questioned and the upper
house has come in for a deal of ad
verse criticism in and out of the
Church. It was argued at the time
that we were not able financially to
support any more Bishops. The would
be economist, actuated by a sickly
sentiment, and false interest in the
Connection said that the Church was
taxed to death. This primarily waS
the slogan of opposition to much
the needed legislation But
many of thei
: 'IS
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the unraveller