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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.
<mes says: “ Dr. Wash
a new Definition to
ILcox and Rosenwald
shrine of Booker T.
ashington.
THE NEW
BOOI
Dr. M. Ashby
ington gave
‘Negro/ ”
parties visit
By Will
HAMPTOl
and inter-racii
jways been tt
' gee Institute
! Dr. Booker
founded Tus|
has gone thi
day any imj
gee .brings
parts, of the j
j tinguished coi
! ored leaders,]
| to the need
. for all-round
! service and fc
! of promoting
; white and cc
cent fifth anmi
(er’s Day at
Cont
Anthony Aery.
IA.—Negro progress
-operation have al
objectives of Tuske
ie fame of the late
. Washington, who
se Institute in 1881,
jhout the world. To
mt event at Tuske
ther from different
ited States a dis
iy of white and col
19 are keenly alive
lining Negro youth
useful, community
idership in the work
il good-will between
citizens. The re
jbservance of Found
tegee was no except
Shaking The
Nnm Tree.
By Dr. E. D. W. Jones.
What goes with the, fifty per cent
Tercentenary money left in the an.
nual conference. This question was
asked me, and I was requested to
make my answer public. I will.
I have raised the Tercentenary
three different ’ times; twice under
Bishop Blackwell and once under
Bishop Caldwell. At neither time by
either authority was that money
taken out of the hands of the local
conference treasurer, nor paid out
without the vote of the conference.
-In Bishop Blackwell’s case, the
money was turned over toi Dr. J. H.
j Ellison, our esteemed Presiding El
der and treasurer of the Western
New York Annual conference, and;
it was appropriated by the finance
committee of the annual conference:.1
before the^onference adjourned, and
,whatever balance was over, Dr. El
lison deposited the same in the name
of the annual conference in a bank
——-r
Right You Are Broth
er Jones, Just Once!
! •
"By Rev, T. J. Moppin. ?
_ ■. ■ - . . ■ 1
Readers of the Stfir will be patient
with Dr. E. D. W. Jones until he finds
himself and understands what is ye
quired of a man who undertakes to
ride two horses going in opposite di
rections at the same time. The splen
did article, or as much of it as re
lated to the law and spirit of the
Churfch, in launching the Tercenten
ary campaign for souls and money,
commands our serious attention. "Yfe
agree with the good Doctor, univer
sal co-operation is needed for the de
signs set forth in the preamble and
resolutions by which the Ter-centen
ary movement was inaugurated.
Although belated in his declaration
of faith, yet under the circnmstances,
our good brother seemed to join In
with those he once denounced in the
conviction that‘only straight forward •
honest endeavors to collect and apply
the funds of the Ter-eentenary cam
t. ■
v"
—
'
“Let the Conference Now Come to Order.” Bishop Robert E. Jones, the Fiitet Methodist Episcopal Bishop of
African Decent Makes History in Presiding Oyer the First Conference the Central Alabama, At Alexander City,
Alabama.
Session -under
of Bishop
the Presidency
Robert E. Jones, D. D.,
Negro General
the Methodist
LL. D., the first
Superintendent oi
Episcopal Church.
Promptly at 8:30 a. m., on the
morning of the 10th, the ministers
all being present, Bishop Jones
spoke to the C©inference, saying,
“Brethren let us come to order.” He
then announced the hymn.
'And are we yet alive,
And see each otter’s face?
Glory and praise t* Jesus give,
For his redeeming grace.”
He read and emajhasized the entire
hymn, and at the Send of each stan
za, there were hea:ty “Amens” from
all over the little; auditorium. When
he read the last;stanza:
“Let us take up tiie Cross
Till we the Crlss obtain;
And gladly reck<
So we may J<
all things lostf',
fus gain,”
grey haired pioneirs and young men,
probationers
the Conference,
seemed to bend together to get a
firmer hold on tlk cross of Calvary.
When the song ias
Conference knel I in
finished, the
a season of
prayer. When th y arose from their
knees, it was p ainly .evident that
the Lord was ir his Holy Temple,
and the Bishop aid Conference -wrere
In His Holy Pre ence.
A Day to ] emember.
The Sacrament of the Loird’s Sup
per was adminis ;red after which
the Bishop spoke >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 <