Newspapers / The Star of Zion … / Sept. 1, 1921, edition 1 / Page 1
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f THE OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AFRICAN EPISCOPAL ZION CHURCH number thirty-four CHARLOTTE NORTH CAROLINA THU] SEPTEMBER 1, 1921. , VOLUME FORTY-FIVB Responsibility of the Church in Industry. Labor Sunday Message, September 4, 1921. Commission on the Churc*1 and Social Service Federal Council of The Churches of Christ in America. The message for this Labor Sun day is set against a background of suffering and confusion. The land is filled with unemployment. Possibly one-fourth of the population is strait ened and anxious. Thousands of em ployers are holding their industries together merely from day to day. Labor is fighting for the fundament al right of collective action, and fight ing at a serious disadvantage. The freedom of the ministry to proclaim a scial gospel and to apply it ac cording to their own honest convic tions is sharply challenged. Even the common right of the citizens to free dom of speech and assembly in many communities is at stake. In such a troubled time as this it would be easy for the Church to hold aloof from industrial questions. To confine itself to simpler tasks would seem the path of prudence. The sum mons, however, is not to the easy way of duty. Concerning the relations of men to each other in the economic and industrial realm, as well as in the other areas of life, the Church must seek to discover and proclaim the mind of Christ. To do so calls us, in deed, to humility and to prayer, but also to courage and to faith. When the pulpit speaks on human relations in industry it is not under taking to advise the engineer or man ager about the techniques of manage ment or machine processes. It is sim ply trying to apply its Gospel to the relationships between men in the working world. It cannot be too strong ly asserted that the preacher has a specialty as well as the! engineer. Machinery, buying, selling, finance— these are matters of which he has on ly incidental knowledge. But the re lations of persons to one another is always a moral and religious ques tion and so is inevitably in the preach er’s field. JL tiv A 11HUV/U1U Iv ation for the church is always its divine commission to win men and women to personal discipleship to Christ. But a redeemed life is one re deemed in all its aspects and rela tionships. The economic and indus trial factors that condition the lives of men and women and help to make them what they become are, there fore, as much a concern to the Church as any other phase of their moral en vironment. An industrial practice that cramps and devitalizes human beings in body or in spirit is as much a foe of religion as in the liquor traffic. The Church cannot ignore the one any more than it can ignore the other. Not only so, but the charter of the Church, received directly from its Leaders, requires that it proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom. Jesus said of this Kingdom that it is like leaven hidden in meal—it works until “the whole lump” is leavened. There are no areas of life which Jesus excluded from the ultirrfate operation of the lav/ of the Kingdom. A Gospel that is sus ceptible of only partial application is not a Gospel which can save the world. A church which is content to recognize limits to the proclamation of its mes sage is a defeated church. Christian Principles to be Applied in Industry. there are at least three fundament al principles in the teachings of Jesus that the Church must apply in indus try. Unless we can learn to conduct industry according to these basic principles the Kingdom of God cannot prevail in the modern industrial world. 1. Men are to live as brothers. That God is our common Father and that men are therefore to live together as brothers is the very foun dation of Jesus’ message. To the more simple social and business relation ships the application of this teach ing is at once apparent. The store keeper and his clerk, the farmer and the hired man, the mistress and her maid, find no obstacle outside their own wills to the maintenance of Christian relationships. But between several hundred absentee stock holders on the one hand and the several thousand wage earners on the other, relations are so impersonal and distant that the responsibilities which brotherhood implies are more difficult to grasp and are too seldom regarded with serious ness. In the administration of a large industry policies are frequently inau gurated whcih would not have been determined upon if their full human consequences could have been instant ly visualized. The investors in an in dustry expect its managers, first and principally to produce profits. The directors scrutinize the records but rarely visit the work shops. In con sequence men and material are lump ed together as commodities, labor is bought in the market like goods, and the personal equation is lost in a me chanical system. Democratic relationships in large scale industry do not necessarily pre suppose a restoration of the early intimacy between employer and em ployee. Such intimacy is impossible in large plants, and where it actually ob tains it is by no means a guarantee of a square deal. Democracy requires rather that every individual shall have opportunity effectively to register his will. What really matters is that the life interest of the workers should be the first consideration; not that they should be called by their first names. But where there can be added relationships of personal friend ship between employer and employee, the human possibilities" of the situa tion are greatly increased. Significant in this connection is the fact, not wide ly realized, that according to most: re cent available figures, more than one third of factory workers in America are still employed in plants having fewer than one hundred employes. The employers of these small group of workers have superior advantages too little utilized, for the promotion of fel lowship. In an industrial age there can be no real brotherhod of man unless there is a brotherhood in industry. Mr. John D Rockefeller, Jr., has put the matter well; “Surely it is not Consistent for us as Americans to demand democracy in government and practice autocracy in industry.” Of similar import is the recent statement of one of our fore most labor leaders that to political citizenship must now be added indus trial citizepsip. Political democracy leads to industrial democracy because a nation trained in school and church and state to democratic relationships, will inevitably carry these same prin ciples into industry. The growing sense of manhood and responsibility in the workers tends in the same (di rection. There can no longer be satis factory relationships under an auto cratic shop rule, any more than in an autocratic state. Arbitrary control leads to class war, which is as contra ry to Christian principles as any other war. S Democracy in industry must be re alized progressively and is being steadily approached today in an in creasing number of industrial estab lishments. Recognition of the ideal commits no one to any particular so cial theory or program. Collective bar gaining with labor unions is an^ ex pression, >f the democratic ideal; so Continued to page 5. SALISBURY PHILADELPHIA A CONFER By Rev. B. J. Bolding, Pwsiding Elder LTIMORE itrict at the ce by Bish t Baltimore, at St. Paul, . Prime, S. a beautiful on one of intelligent organized ting its fi 4tual condi r, preacher Id Rev, V. have a new I was appointed to thi last session of the co: op J. S. Caldwell, D. D Md and started my v Salisbury, Md., Rev. T. D., pastor.Here we ful modern church loci the main streets with membership Church ’i envelope system for col nance and in a fine S] tion. Dr. Prime is a sch< and up-to-date pastor. St. James, Salisbury, H. Manuel, pastor. W< church built out of concrete blocks in the western part of the city, it is a large colored section. 5Rev. Manuel starts off very well and the people love him. Large crowds and splendid collections. Quarterly conference very interesting. Mt. Hope, Princess An|ie, Md., Rev. T. L. Smith, pastor. This.work has tak en on new life and church has been painted and parsonage nearly com pleted in two months. He entertained the Missionary Mass Meeting. Kind and lovable, he is succeeding along all lines. istor and building ith, St. Johns, Ross Point* Del.^ Rev. T, J. Vesta, pastor is in a poo* condition. People cannot understand; his methods. We have a and forty members. Delmar Del,, Rev. F, tor. We have a new good man and a splendid preacher. Quantico, Md., Rev. C. H. Waters, pastor, this mission is located away from the people, it is hard to reach and poor accommodations. Our people love Zion, but its in a place where the young leave for the city and we have nothing to draw on. St. Michaels, Md., Rev. Geo. W. Neal, pastor. We had a lot of trouble here. It caused four visits and many changes of ministers but now they are moving off well with brother Neal. Church electric lighted and a seven room parsonage well located in the heart of the town. Easton, Md., Rev M. D. Brown, pastor; this used to be great work but it has been failing for years. Now, our membership is greatly reduced. We pray for our good pastor and this work. Rhodesdale and Sharptown, Md., Rev W. W. Kirby, pastor; we have two good churches well organized. Rev Kirby is one of the best all around preachers in the district and always has^ a round report. He is starting to build at Rhodesdale. Williamsburg, Md., Rev.W. W. Kir by, pastor. This church was given him after conference and it has not done very well The pastor sent there got into some trouble ^nd this scattered the people. Rev. Kirby is worknig hard to bring them together. Federalsburg, Md., St. Lukes, Rev. W A. Argro, pastor. This used to be part of Williamsburg circuit, but went out last year as an independent A. M. E. Zion church. Rev. Argro wrote Bishop Caldwell that he wanted to come back into Zion. I took them in August 8th, pastor and 49 members. New church building 35x65 with its own electric plant in the basement, four acres of land all enclosed and a pavillion; the whole plant built at a cost of $3000 Fine church, well locat ed and a hustling pastor and great organizer. Grace, Wilmington, Del., Rev. H. E. Blunt, pastor. We have a bgautiful brick church and a splendid people will entertain the District conference Oct. 5-8. Quartely meeting and con ference a success. Continued to page 8. Extracts from Address of Dr. R. R. Moton National Negro Business League, at its Annual Meeting Held in Atlan ta, Georgia, August 17, 18, and 19, 1921. If there has anywhere been any doubt as to the wisdom of continuing the Business League after the 'pass ing of Dr. Washington, its founder and main source of its great inspira tion, the enthusiasm with which the people of the nation have rallied to the movement during the three years’ administration of our distinguished friend, President J C. Napier, under his wise leadership, and during the past two years since his retirement— that enthusiasm convinces me more than ever that there is a real need and therefore a real place for such an organization and that the business people of the country want such a forum for both the information as well as the inspiration which it brings. This should have been ex pected from those who know of the work and wisdom of Dr. Washington. During the past four years there has been a great deal of discussion about the large number of Negroes reported to be migrating to the North from this section of the country. This number was variously estimated to be as high as three million. Just recently it was pointed out that the Negro population of the South has increased a little less than two per cent. These figures have led many people to conclude that probably half of the Negroes of the country are now living in the northern and western part of the country. The recently is sued census figures, however showed that about 400,000 Negroes have left the South. Of the total Negro popu lation, 8,912,000 or 85 per cent, are still living in the South. On the other hand, in spite of the heavy migration, only about a million and a half, or about 15 per cent are living in the North. This means, as has been so often stated, that the race problem to a very large extent has still to be worked out south of Mason and Dix on’s line. Uut we must Keep in mma always that what affects the Negroes in the South affects ultimately to a large extent, the Negroes of the North. NUMBER OF NEGRO FARMERS. On account of the large number of Negroes leaving the rural districts of the South, it was thought that the number of Negro farmers in the South had decreased. It is found, how ever, that there are now some 30,000 more Negro farmers than there were ten years ago in this part of the country. This does not mean that in all states there was an increase, but that when the South as a whole is taken into account, we have a de cided increase. For example, Georgia has 7600 more Negro farmers than ten years ago, North Carolina had some ten thousand more, and South Carolina some twelve thousand. INCREASE IN PROPERTY OWNERSHIP CONTINUES. The past two years have been marked by a continued increase in property ownership by our'race. In almost every sejfion of the country the colored race has been investing in property. It is conservatively esti mated that $25,000,000 were spent during the past year in the purchase of homes alone. It is sometimes said that we are a shiftless race. We franl^ly admJLfc that there are some shiftless Negroes, but as a contradiction to the general charge, however, it is found that we now own one-fourth of all the homes we occupy in this country j that is, starting fifty years ago with com paratively few homes owned, we have through our thrift and in the face of many difficulties from within as well as from without the race acquired ownership of over 600,000 homes, ( r / : _v • . ^ . V. -.rV. [ more than one-fourth of our people j Hiving in homes owned either Jby ! themselves or some other member of 1 the race. Take the state of Georgia. It is found that right here in this state that Negroes during the past year in creased their land holdings by 78,969 acres. That is, in 1919, the Negroes of Georgia owned 1,759,160 acres of land and one year later they owned 1,848,129 acres of land valued at $20,808,549. The acquisition of this property is about as rapid as that of farm land. The increase in the value of city’ property owned by Negroes of Geor gia in the past year was from $15, 208.000 to $18,600,000 or $3,479,000. The Negroes of Georgia now own $68, 628.000 worth of property which is in value $13,770,000 more than the amount $54,858,000, which they owned one year ago. What is true of the Negroes of Georgia is true to a large extent of all the Southern States as well as many of the Northern and Western States. ENCOURAGING FEATURE OF NEGRO BUSINESS DEVEL OPMENT. me progress which tne JNegroes are making in business is of special in terest to us who have gathered here for the annual meeting of the Busi ness League. Some of the special features of this are, first, the large increase in the number of business en terprises operated by Negroes. When the Business League was established twenty-one years ago, we were oper ating about 20,000 business enter prises, many of which, had the truth been known, were going at a “poor dying rate.” Today Negroes are con ducting more than 50,000 business en terprises. Twenty-one years ago there were only two banks, both of which have long since failed—and their failure was in all probability due to lack of banking experience more than any other 'cause. Today we are operating successfully 81 banks, nine of which have been established within the last eighteen months. In this connection it is a significant fact that when the Declaration of Inde pendence was signed there were in the new nation no deposit banks of any kind, and that when George Washington was president of the United States there were o/ily three banks in the entire nation. Another encouraging feature of our progress is the increased volume / of business which the insurance com panies'"are doing. In the past year alone the volume of business done by the insurance companies increased by j more than fifty million dollars. The Standard Life Insurance Company of this City, headed by Mr. H. E. Perry, as an example, during that time wrote over thirteen million, dollars worth of paid insurance, and passed the mil lion dollar mark in its assets. The other insurance companies which we operate, as for example, The North Carolina Mutual, Mr. A. M. Moore, president; the Atlanta Mutual, Mr. A. F. Herndon, president, have made similar progress. It is a pleasure also to state that we now have four regularly organized fire insurance companies; the Mutual Fire Insur ance Company, T. S. Dafidifer, pres ident, with headquarters at Camden, Arkansas; the Western Fire Insur ance Company, A. E. Leonard, presi dent, with headquarters at San An tonio, Texas; The Bankers’ Fire In surance Company of Durham, North Carolina, W. G. Pearson, president and the Great Southern Fire Insur ance Cbmpany of this city, W. C. Thomas, president. Many of the fraternal orders have been most successful in operating in Continued to page 5,
The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.)
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Sept. 1, 1921, edition 1
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