THE OFFICIAL ORGAN COPAL ZION CHARLOTTE, NORTH CARO UN A, THURSDAY, APRIL' 10, 1924 NUMBER FIFTEEN VOLUME FORTY-EIGHT WALKING ABOUT ZION. \ By Bishop J. S. Caldwell,' D. D. ,Mr. Editor: From some things we Bee and hear -nowadays respecting the brotherly feeling between ministers p tit all • ranks and the laymen throughout our Church, one would conclude that these good old days will pass never to Return with their sweet fellowship | after the rise of the next General Conference. I have just finished reading an ar ticle iu the Star of Zion written by the Rev. J. H. McMullen of Sewick ley, Pa., in which he deals a stun ning blow to the development of brotherhood in our communion. Quot ing from. one of the paragraphs in the letter, the following^ statement is made:—“This thing of certain leaders arranging Episcopal Districts in advance of the Episcopal Commit-! tee meeting at the General Confer ence, even to the placing of bishops is wrong in principle and a usurpa tion of authority. I know t\$o men not yet elected who have been tenta tively assigned to arranged districts. ,Not only legislation in advance, but hand-picked men for districts.” He further states, ‘‘The Episcopal Com mittee that will act on any plan handed them is not worth the name, for in so doing they are the tools in the hands of the bishops.” Brother McMullen objects to the in fluencing of legislation in advance of the General Conference. He is prob ably right in this, but I would like to ask him what view must be taken , of the'circular letters he is sending throughout the Church to the various delegates? This letter .beautifully sets out the splendid work done by you, and ends up' by soliciting their . support for your promotion to the bishopric. Is not this an attempt to influence legislation before the con vening of the General Conference? Why did you not wait to be sought out by the delegates rather than you seek them. I have no word of con demnation for your course, because self-preservation is the first law of nature. Brother McMullen further avers “that he knows two men not yet elected whom the leaders have made up districts for and assigned ,them even before any election has been held.” ! I wish herein to disclaim that any thing of the kind has happened to my , knowledge during my whole tenure as a bishop in the A. M. E. Zion Church. This statement is misleading to say the least- If the bishops among themselves should agree as to what part of the field they would like to work in, and even make this known to their constituency, how does that differ from those amog us who uesire certain favorable consideration on the part of the delegation. Who is the most concerned in this matter? t Continued to page 81 “Zion To Profit In The Election of Oscar W. Adams. Birmingham, Ala., April 5, 1924. Dear Dr. Walls: I want you and the Church to know that I am greatly encouraged over the many complimentary letters and expressions that I am receiving from delegates, friends, laymen and ministers, on my candidacy for the office of Secretary of the Extension Department of our great denomina tion, and take this method of express ing my thanks and assuring the fathers, ministers, elders and lay men of the church that I appreciate < their expressed confidence. - It is my hope that no ministers ofef yon would nse them with tailing onr defamation will got the im- >*><* tor tho canoe ot God and Zion, pression that I am making the fight (Continued to page 8.) against ministers, in this race - I am running for the office. It is now do ing held/ by a layman and a layman has been entrusted with the office for many years. My information is that they have honored the office and their work has been congenial, help ful, and constructive. I believe that the denomination will leave this of fice in the hands of a layman and -with the Idea and with a desire to serve the Church in the best possi ble capacity in keeping with my ability, I am standing for election. Among the many expressions com ing to me in recent months is a let ter from Prof. Robert W. Taylor, a leading educator of this State end a S. M. DUDLEY, Esq. Candidate for Secretary of Church Extension. s member of Zion. Because of the il luminations > made and the frank ut , terance of Mr. Taylor of our fitness for the office, I feel that our Church should have his interpretation. Here is Mr- Taylor’s letter: Sipsey, Ala. March 29, 1924. Mr. O. W. Adams, Editor, Birmingham Reporter, Birmingham, Ala. Dear friend Adams: I congratulate you upon your can didacy for Secretary of Extension Department A. M. E. Zion Church, and I congratulate that great Con* nection upon having so efficient. a son as yourself to seek to serve in that position. If I have been correctly informed, the duties of the Secretary of the Extension Department, in part, are to look into the value of church prop erty, to advise upon location find kind of churches to be built, and to assist in raising funds with which to build those churches. , Because of your business experi ence in building up one of the great est race journals in this country, be cause of your success as a private real estate operator, and because of your wide acquaintance among men of wealth and influence, you are ad mirably fitted to perform the duties of such office. In addition to these business qual ities, you are known as a fearless writer, and a gifted orator. Each of these accomplishments is a won derful asset to. anyt'cause; and those who know you' believe that, if e!ect 'orthcoming- General Conference she will reverse her proud history and ^ast the laymen, aside for a position that has always been held by ;Tay nen at least for the past two dec des, even if some of its foremost ninisters are candidates for the lay nen’g traditional position. The laymen of Zion Church irre spective of section, for this man does not need to circumscribe him self by geographical lines to prove his worth and win the suffrage of his brethren, present Lawyer S. M Dudley for the Secretary of the Church Extension Department of the A. M. E. Zion Church. We are herein prepared to give twenty-five reasons why Mr. Dudley is so well fitted for the office and measures up to the requirements of the same by a sturdy Christian manhood that should be the glorious possession of every man. 1st. He is a Christian, deep-dyed in the fundamentals of Zion Meth odism . 2nd. He is a layman. Early in life he connected himself with State St. Church, Mobile, Ala.,- that renown and famous society* of religionists whose Cathedral-like Temple has stood for over a half century as one of the towering watch shafts of our Zion, noted for its moral teachings, ■ts influential citizenship and its high spiritual zeal and example. 3rd. He is loyal and this means much in these days of flickering and flittering here and there from one church tp a^n+t’er seetinrr social preferments and emoluments. 4th. He Is a friend to the minis-^ try. Every pastor 'he has ever had loves him. because he was true to Twenty-five Reasons Why Lawyer S. M. Dudley Should Be Elected Church Ex tension Secretary. By Augustus W. <5ray, Esq. Zieir Church has always had a high sense of justice. She never stoops' to selfishness nor besmirches her fair record with unfair discrimina tion. In every General Conference she has given place to the laity in the distribution of offices and offi cers. We cannot believe that at the - ——g---;—.— . their interest and future as well as devoted to the highest welfare of the church. In this particular he is truly without contradiction "the John Dancy" of Zion Laymen. 5th. He is the originator of the plan to buy a Metropolitan church ’.n Washington, D. C., and hir ini tial steps led to the purchase of the great John Wesley Church of this city. In the minutes of the annfial conference of May-20-25, 1914, held at York, Pa., it is stated that in a speech Mr. Dudley brought to the attention of the conference a church building with a seating capacity of 1500 people, a $5500 pipe organ all for $69,000. 5th. Bishop Walters dratted Mr. Dudley frongu Union Wesley Where Dr. E. D. W. Jones is now pastor lug, to join ^John WeBley to lead the forces in buyings this finest of all church edifices. 6th- He is a gentleman of clean untarnished record. No voice of scandal has ever been raised against him. - t 1 7th He is no ^self-seeker. 8th. He is defferential, modest, . obliging, and no ..bishop or pastor has had to rebuke him for forwardness or negligence. t Continued to page 5) COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY STANDS FIRM AGAINST DACE DISCRIMINATION IN DORMITORY. (Special To Star of Zion) New York, April 4. Columbia Uni versity through Dean Hawkes has declined to accede to the request of a Southern white that a colored stu dent, F. W. Wells he ousted from Furnald Hall, One of the dormitories. the attenlf^ td have WeUs ousted, Walter White, Assistant Secretary of the National Association for, the Advancement of Colored People called upon the Columbia Dean. Dean Hawkes told Mr. White that he had informed the white trouble maker he could leave the dormitory if he wanted to, that his*room could very easily be rented as there was a long waiting list. ‘‘One man in the Hall,” said Dean Hawkes, “a trouble-making disagree able fellow tried to stir up feeling against a colored man who had been given a room in Furnald Hall. When he came to me about the njatter, I told him that colored men had stay ed in that Hall before and that in the future, as in the past, there, would be no discrimination of any sort al lowed. I told that as long as a man behaved himself, there would be no objection to any man, whatever his race, being given quarters at Co lumbia, and I urther informed this man that if he or any other did not want to stay in the Hall he couid move, as we have a waiting list with hundreds of names on it and could easily fill the rooms of those who moved. | “When I told him this he made the remark, ‘Well, I will give you some { publicity and see how you like that.’ He then got newspaper reporters and gave them the material on which the stories in today’s newspapers were based • I say again th&t any person or persoss who do not want ^ to stay in Furnald Hall can move and may the Lord bless them.” According to the account in the New York World of the protest against Mr. Wells, residing in Fur nald Hall, the objectors were led by J. B. Rucker, of Norfolk, Va.. and L. H. Hill, who comes from neftr Atlanta. Ga., both of them southern whites. On Thursday morning, * April 3> following a Ku Klux Klan demonstra tion on the Columbia University campus, the N. A. A- C. P., wrote Mr. Wells urging him to stand firm and offering assistance if it should be needed. GENERAL CONFER ENCE HOROSCOPE. By Bishop G. L. Blackwell. - \ Department*—Financial System* Our departments of church are all conducted by a fine set of men from my wjMvobfa* dorpot see that tb$ra is need for any radical changes in them, but of course, we might im prove on them perhaps a little. We can scarcely make a radical change lA any of our major departments . without interfering serio^ly with our financial system, Our financial system Is not perfect, neither will any radical changes be perfect. There is one thing1 in which we should take pride and that is our present financial system is essential ly a ZION METHODIST SYSTEM ' It has been developed within our . church by those Who have made the Church what it is, and our ancestral leadership should carry weight with it. I am not a reactionary neither am I a radical; I am a progressive Zionite; I stand ready to vie and co operate with the most progressive of our men, but I am anxious to serve the historic ideals indigenous to our ZIONISM. I am proud of the growth of our Church and the development of her departments. I have had a hand (ft helping her grow and have featured in the syndication of her departments in an official way for forty-three years. Would it be wise^to remove the landmark of the fathers and thus 'destroy that which accentuates the identity of lion’s own FINANCIAL SYSTEM? Is it not better that we lead in a system of our own rather - •than to mimic what others have tried and. now revising? Our 2ion &aS~ fertile soil. She . can im prove her own.system and make,it produce the desired results without importing foreign elements incom patible with the training and estab lished custom of a quarter of a cen tury. By this I do not mean that we should remain in a rut. Certainly we need to revise and impftve cur present system, but not to change its constituent parts, but evolve out of it the features necessary to give us an improved plan commensurate with our present needs and portend ing possibilities. Growth of our Financial System. A' recital of the. phenomenal growth of our financial system for the past forty years may be ^Illum inating to the minds of the General Conference delegates- The amount of Gen- fund raised in 1880 was about $5,000 for the whole Church. By 1900 it had increased to $18 000; by 1904 it had gone to $27,000; in 1908 it was $39 000;, in 1912 it was $45,000; in 1916 it rose to $75,00$; in 1920 it had gone up to $97,000; and it is now $108,000. Is not this marvelous growth in an essentially ZION FI NANCIAL SYSTEM? And yet it is thought b^ some that the system is antiquated. You will observe that the system hag yielded the greatest in crease during the twenty years we have had the regular departments. The departments from the time they were inaugurated in a regular way (1904) have had similar growth in a system essentially ZION, with the single exception, namely, during the time the money was centralized in the hands of one man. Central Clearing House. We have already tried the centrali zation of the funds making the finan cial secretary’s office the plearing house, and it was a flat failure. It would be more of a failure now since each of the benevolent departments is functioning in a first class way,; When the plan wag being operated quite a deal of money due other de partments never did reach them, not because of the unfaithfulness of the secretary, but because it was neces (Continued to page 5) SUBSCRIBE NOW FOR THE DAILY GENERAL CONFERENCE STAR. J