■ r" -j^rw. : mWK"m MI ijpwf^ - 44 number seventeen. CHARLOTTE. NORTH CAROLINA N METHODIST EPISCOPAL ZION CHI RSDAY, MAY 5, 1921 ▼OLUMB^PORTY Negro Methodist Episcopal Bishop Holds First Conference A New Mile Stone in the Journey of a Race By Richard La Fetta Gould The Time and Place Alexander City, Ala., is a sleepy town of about two thousand inhabi tants, in the heart oif the Negro belt, between Birmingham and Ope lika The event of the day is the meet ing of two evening trains, one bound for Birmingham and the other for Savannah, Ga., to which it seems that one-half of the town comes. .Here, Tuesday evening, November 9th, 1920, assembled the ministers of the Central Alabama Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church, a large number of laymen, and many visitors from other parts to be pres ent at what, to the colored member ship of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was to be one of the most important occasions in the history of the race. This Conference was to assemble on the morning of the 10th at 8:30 a. m., and to begin its Annual uii me circles ui me eai ui, uui One who walks the streets of Alexander City and a member of the central Alabama Conference and interested in all problems. God can use men most when they are unself ish. God can use men most when they are -just. It is no test of char acter to be just to 'men who are above you socially, intellectually or otherwise, nor is it a test of char acter to be just to men who are on a level with you. This might be self ish reciprocity. The test of character comes when we are able to be just to men who are below us. God can use men most who are good. All forms of sin weaken and every Chris tian grace adds strength to men. This does not merely concern the re ’igious, but all phases of man’s life. Good was r d!erred to as gooidness, Continued to page 5. H HONORS T. WASHINGTON. n, When God can use men most el actively,” referring to the oft-repeate statement of Fred erick Douglass lat ‘KJod and one ANTl-LYNCtt LAW PASSED IN WEST VIRGINIA. MOST STRIN GENT OF ANY STATE. Charleston, W. Va.-—Subjecting the county to a forfeiture .1 ? 6.0 00 for the benefit of the family of the person lynched and mak ing participation in a mob a ' fel ony punishable with death, bot& houses of the West Virginia legis lature have approved the most strin gent anti-lynch bill thus far enacted by any of the states. H. J. Ca'pehart, the colored mem ber of the House of Delegates from McDowell county, drew and spon sored the measure in the lower branch, overcoming the most deter mined opposition of the democratic minority which sought to emasculate it by proposing various amendments. As originally drawn, the bill provide ed for a forfeiture of $25,000 and made every county through which the mob might pass jointly and sev erally liable. To meet the objections of many of his party members and secure their support, Capehart re duced the amout to $5,000, and limited, the forfeiture to those coun ties whose.citizens might aid and abet the lynchers. In his fight tor put the measure through, the member from McDow ell had the able and active'support of T. G. Nutter, Kanawha county’s colored delegate, and the legislative committee of the West Virginia State League, composed of all class es of Negro citizens, of which T. Ed ward HJH, of Keystone, DAY IS BREAKING LETS GO. ■■—. 0 We depend on news for sen timent. and sentiment trained ' right has changed the fate o* the world. It abolished slavery and the Russian * serfage. It ! dethroned Icings and established democracy. It brought Chris tianity into the arena dnd drove the liquor traffic from the land. It opened the free school, the Sunday Schocl and the Social | missions. In Zion Church the Press created the sentiment that gave us departments, schools and a steady grasp on changing condi tions. The Star Week begins May 9th and ends Sunday, 15th. Every day, letters come telling us that pastors and agents are getting busy. Make addresses or preach a sermon on Star Week or Star Sunday. An nounce it at each service. Begin the home canvass. for your paper nowSGet subscribers and order the number you want for weekly sales. Every church needs an agent: to get news and send sub scribers. — at Elmira, N. Y., and it remained there until drawn out by order of that same committee. It was not used for donations, for in that con ference we always had hundreds to pay cnr bills and a surplus over. In Bishop Caldwell’s conference, where I jpay $900, the largest appor tionment in the conference, and you | are right, I want that to be known, we raised over $4,000 at our Mid year session. It was collected by members of each of the three Pre siding Elder’s districts, turned over to, the conference treasurer, Dr. H. J. Callis, who divided it, ome half to the General Church and that other half to the Annual conference. The Bishop and a committee composed of the Presiding Elders and Dr. E. H. Curry brought in a report oi its appropriation and the conference accepted part and changed part as they saw best and Dr. Callis and his finance committee paid it out in the open. All this was done according to the plan of the Tercentenary man agers. Every local church in the Philadelphia and Baltimore confer- 1 ence that expressed a desire for help, ’ got it, and even those who did not so express themselves, “received ^ help from the sanctuary.” In both 1 of these conferences we raised the * money and said where it should go. * We presume all do this. If not, it is t the fault of the members of the can- * ference. This phase has never pre- < sented itself to me as a reason for o argument. The only issue before the Church and the Tercentenary paign will insure its complete suc cess. Of course this must apply to the conduct of the individual pas tor, officers and members With as. much force as to the conduct of the Bishops and General Officers.; We also agree with the Doctor when he calls for a revision Of the present method, which is so unsatis factory and radically different to the original plan. The assessment method is breeding a spirit of unrest and resentment, equally strong among ministers, officers and members of our local churches; ninety per cent of our constituent membership will present ly feel that they are giving some thing for nothing, as under the pre sent method we will hardly reach ten per cent of the real needs of the Church set forth in the genera) state ment. We have contended all along that the departments should receive in cash their quota of every dollar raised for them in this drive, hey, the departments, should ass he responsibility of appropriat he funds as under the laW they a ■equired to do and is held respot Jnder our loose system, the opptir-; unity for flagrant violation of iledge to the people is so ai hat ;t is difficult to find anyone ^ hinks we will get anywhere with ;reat movement. Owing to the hat we have no mission with inferences listed as such in the bool f Discipline, the men and woz zg mission fields are placed it are not <