Newspapers / Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.) / April 25, 1935, edition 1 / Page 1
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PROPOSAL TO MERGE BOARDS Philadelphia, April 22.— A project tor uniting two organi zations with assets of $41,000, 000 and annual expenditures of more than $o,o00,u00 will be one ox the questions to be de emed by tne annual uenerai Assembly of tne Presbyterian church in the U. S. A., opening at Cincinnati, May 23. The two bodies to be merged are the church's board of Christian umucation, which has its head quarters in Philadelphia, and its Board of National Missions, with headquarters in New York, between them the two Boards carry on all the educational and evangelistic activities of the Presbyterian Church except those in foreign lands. The Educational Board controls $4,000,000 in buildings, securi ties and other assets and spends about $2,500,000 a year in its work. Of this yearly outlay about $1,500,00 is for manufac turing, selling and other pub lishing costs of millions of co pies of books and weekly and monthly periodicals. It has also a cooperative relationship with more than 50 Presbyterian col leges that have total assets of about $100,000,000 of which $60,000,000 is the value of plant and equipment, and $50,000,000 is endowments. The assets of the National Missions Board total about. $43,000,000, and its annu al expenditure is approximate ly $3,200,000. This .Board merger, wmcn has been under consideration for several years, if adopted by the thousand men and women who compose the General As sembly, is expected to take effect in June, 1986. Presbyterians in tjon of a consolidation move ment which has been in pro gress for many years. Where' the Presbyterian Church 20 years ago had 17 Boards and agencies, this year’s proposal would bring the number down.1 to three. The two other Boards are the Boards of Foreign Missions and of Pensions. The Foreign Mis sion Board carries on work in 16 nations, with a force of 1,450 missionaries and nearly 9,000 natives. In assets and annual outlay it ranks close to the Board of .National Missions which is included in the present merger proposal. Disbursement, of old age and retirement pen sions forms the principal activ ity of the Board ' of Pensions, which has assets of more than $32,000,000. Last year it F*id pensions to nearly 6,000 minis ters and other Church workers or to their dependents. More than 60 languages are used by the 3,900 workers of the Presbyterian Board of Na tional Missions. They conduct 7.000 activities, from the most Northern tip of American terri tory where winter reigns three quarters of the year and sum mer is only six weeks long, bo the tropical heat of Cuba and Puerto Rico. Among mountain eers, migrants, Negroes, indus trial groups, Orientals, Indians, JWskimo and Spanish-speaking Eskimo and Spanish-speaking Americans they operate hospi tals, dispensaries, schools, col leges, community houses, Sun day schools, and churches. All these enterprises are un der the executive supervision of the Rev. Dr. E. Graham Wil son, of New York, the Board’s General Secretary. Associated with him are more than 60 oth er executives. I With the general secretary of the other merging organ ization, the Presbyterian Board of Christian Education, are as sociated more than 50 other ex ecutives. The General Secreta ry is the Rev. Dr. Harold McA fee Robinson, of Philadelphia. Fifty-two colleges, 12 theo logical seminaries and 48 State universities are among the cen ters of work of the Board of Christian Education. It aids the educational work of U,00*) churches and Sunday schools. It maintains 65 Presbyterian ministers for work among oo,000 Presbyterian students, recruits new ministers and mis sionaries, educates tide Church in money-raising and in social progress, stimulates and devel ops worBhtfTana" work in the lo cal churches, and every year publishes millions of copies of Sunday school lessons and illus trated weekly papers. A Church of 2,000,000 com municant members is represent ed by these Boards. The mem bers of the Presbyterian Church in the U. S. A. live in every State and are organized in 282 regional Presbyteries and 44 State Synods. They are served by more than 9,000 ordained ministers. Every phase of Church life will be considered by the Cin cinnati General Assembly, its decisions are binding on its Synods, on its Presbyteries which elect the Assembly's 1,000 members as their repre sentatives, and on each of its members and ministers. Alaskans, Indians, .Negroes and representatives from Chi na, Japan, Persia, Mesopotamia and other foreign lands will be among the men and women at the) tiieneral Assembly. % Besides the thousand elect ed delegates, known as “com missioners,” the sessions will be attended by 500 officers, missionaries and other Church workers. The General Assem sembly will continue for 4 oiie high honor the office of Mod erator, of their General Assem bly. This presiding officer is elected, annually for a one-year term, but, continues tor two years more as an ex-officio member of the General Council the ad interim executive body of the Church. During the Church year 1934-35 the Mod erator is the Rev. Dr. William Chalmers Covert, of Philadel phia. The chief executive officer of the Church is its Stated Clerk, the Rev. Lewis S. Mudge, "f Philadelphia. INTERRACE GROUP FAVORS FEDERAL INTI-LYNCH LAW Atlanta, Ga., April 26.—The Commission on Interracial Co operation, in seventeenth annu al session here yesterday, went on record as favoring the en actment. of federal anti-lynching legislation, and considered at length ithe status of JNegroes in industry and agriculture, ihe anti-iyncnmg statement was brought in by a committee headed by Forrester B. Wash ington, director of the Atlanta School of Social Work, and was adopted without, a dissenting vote. Dr. Geo. S. Mitchell, of Co lumbia University, reported the results of a national survey of the economic status of Ne groes employed in mining, iron and steel, meat packing, and railroad work. It appears from this report that, though Ne groes in these industries had suffered some ill effeets from the NRA the net result, had been to their advantage. Dr. Charles S. Johnson, of Fisk Universiy, who has direct ed an intensive study* of the Negro in agriculture, painted a gloomy picture of the status of farm tenants, white and colored. This condition, he thought, could be remedied only by an extensive federal program mak ing land ownership possible on easy terms. The commission ap proved the Bankhead farm ten ant bill, now pending in the United States Senate, which provides for the. beginning of, such a program. The results of these surveys, which were con ducted under the Commission's auspices, are to be summarized ana maae puduc. ! Dr. E. McNeill Pote&t, Jr., of Raleigh, N. C., was re-elected President of the Commission. Drs. John Hope and Ashby Jones were elected honorary t'residents and Mrs. Mary mc Leoa tfetfiune, of uaytona Heach, Fla,, 1st Vice-Hres. Dr Will W. Alexander was reelect* fd to direct the work of the Commission. The anti-lynching statement, which was given to the press and sent immediately to ail the Southern Senators, was as follows: • mtherfo the commission on Interracial Cooperation has taken no position relative , to i'ecleral anti-lynching legislation. We were agreed that the pri mary responsibility for the pre vention and punishment oi lynching rested upon State offi cials and courts, and that, in dje last analysis, public opinion was largely the determining factor. Consequently, the Com mission from its inception has worked continuously along these lines, seeking anti-lynching leg islation in a dumber of States, urging vigorous preventive measures when lypchings were threatened, asking effective court action against the mem bers of mobs, and at the same time seeking through all possi ble avenues of publicity and ed ucation to build up a public opinion that would no longer tolerate crimes of this charac ter. “Lynching records of the last fifteen years indicate progress along the line of prevention. Officers generally are more vig ilant 4h*nfa*m*% tection of prisoners, thereby re ducing the lynching toll. Mean time intelligent public opinion is practically unanimous in con u-Jtanation of mob violence. “On the contrary, with rare exceptions, attempts at prose cution in lynching cases contin ue to be futile. In nearly every case the community hysteria which gives rise to a lynching makes impossible any effective court, action against the perpe trators of the crime. Conse quently, in not one case in ten is an effective effort, made by *he authorities to identify and prosecute members of lynching mobs. Even in the rare cases in which such efforts have been made indictments have seldom been obtained, and convictions have usually proved impossible. "Disappointed by this record of impotence on the part of State and local officials, the Commission has reluctantly been forced to the contusion that little is to be expected from this source, at least, in the immediate future, and that an appeal to the federal courts in such cases is justified and de manded by the conditions. “The Commission favors, therefore, the enactment of federal legislation to this end, in the hope that federal agent£ and courts would be in better position to act fearlessly and; effectively in the prosecution of participants in the crime of lynching." NOTICE To Pastors and Church Ses sions : I am now available for evan gelistic Services and Bible Lec tures, and shall be pleased to serve city as well as rural churches and schools in any section of our great Church; Address: REV. A. A. HECTOR, 314 West Clay Street, Rich mond, Va. The Bible always maintains a perfect balance. Believers con stantly fall into the mistake of over-emphasis which is, at the same time, under-emphasis. THE TWO POLITICAL DECISIONS BY TOE SUPREME COURT By Dr. KeDy Miller Supreme Court of the States has handed down decisions concerning ant, of the purpose it of the 15 th Amend (first, the nullification or rather Clause and the recent decision on Democratic Frima The first of these decis as affirmative and the negative in tenor. The of the 14th and 16th snts was cieoriy to the Negro on a looting ol “*r o equality with the race. This purpose has fuity accomplished m which; are disposed to it so, and has been frus in those States of con mind. If the 15th Amend is observed in Massachu and Kentucky and circum ‘ in Mississippi and Tex it is because local sentiment ors it in the one case and upon it in the other. Fed authonty, whether politi or judicial, has not been fui ettective in enforcing the 1 War amendments against sentiment. Both of these decisions by Supreme Court, however, |ve had theoretical rather than ctical effect. The nullification of the Grandfather Clauses, by qpammous decision of the Su preme Court and through the ipouthpiece of Chief Justice white, previously the Demo cratic. Senator from Louisiana was justly claimed by Negro opinion throughout, the country fs TTpofitieitf deffveranee -of the rape. And yet, this decision has nad no practical etrect. The Grandfather Clauses, when in full force v and affect, did not affect a sufficient, number of white voters in a single State to materially change its pouicai compleXTbn. By declaring this iaw unconstitutional, not a sin gle Negro gained the right, to vote. The only beneficial effect to the Negro was that it keeps open the door of hope against political discrimination by Fed eral sanction. Political condi tions remained the same in the South after this decision as they were before. The recent Texas Trimary decision, the lawyers telli me, was strictly in accordance with hhe letter of the law, although it undoubtedly contravenes its 3pirit. A political party is de slared to be a private organiza tion with the right 'ito define and restrict its own member ship, If any party, therefore, wishes to restrict its own mem bership to race, sex or creed, it has the right, to do so. If this policy were widely followed in the different States it would lead to such confusion as would make orderly government, im possible. So much for the letter versus the spirit of the Consti tution. But, as a matter of fact, n^ Negro in Texas is deprived of his right, to vote nor to partic ipate in the nomination of any candidate of his choice, only he can not do so under style, title and designation of the demo cratic Party. He may join any party which will admit him to membership or he may form a party of his own and set its own conditions of membership. Tractieally the Negroes in Texas, and for that matter in the South generally, are treated in the same way by the demo cratic and Republican Tartfes. The Democrats exclude them from the primaries, through which the candidates for office are nominated, and the Kepub licans, by hook or crook, ex clude them from the nominating conventions. There is no differ ence of advantage between the attitude of the democrats and "White KepuDiicana m the state of Texas, in so far as the Negro is concerned. The etfect of this decision will be to bring the Negro to his political jfnses. As s» sharps marKed arui easily duterentiat ed minority, he is at the mercy of majority opinion in the State and community in which he re sides. if the dominant will ot the white people in Texas de nies him full and equal partici pation in political procedure, bis fate will be determined by that judgment, fit on the other hand, local sentiment in Illinois grants him abflgriute political equality, it will be so for the state of illinon. The enioren ment of the X9gh Amending! and the curtiUmi lit provision ofl he 14th AMiiment by Njjfrn4 al authority iahdt a part “he political mind of any serious statesman. I beliefs, that even Congressman Tin)dB|h of Mas sachusetts and ex-Coiigressmar DePriest of Illinois have given up such hope. All of this leads to the thought that the Negro’s polit ical salvation, such as he may reasonably hope for, must be pecured by local propitiation and not by national compulsion, rf the Negroes in Texas ever expect to gain the privilege ol voting in Democratic primaries, it must be done through the vot ers of Texas and not, through legislation at Washington. It is interesting to note that this Texas decisions was by Justices of the Supreme Court; unanimous concurrence of the the majority of whom are Re publicans. This decision was de livered through the mouthpiece of Justice Roberts, a staunch Pennsylvania Republican, who was nominated to take the place of Judge J. J. Parker, a lily-white of North Carolina. There was neither sectionalism nor partisanship in this decis ion. It merely brings the Negro to a realizing sense of the po litical situation which confronts him North and South, East'and West. The Negroes united and protested against the nomina tion of Judge Parker to the Su preme bench with a salutary unanimity for fear that his con firmation might seriously blast their political future. But, alas, and alas, the staunch Northern Republican who supplanted him became the mouthpiece of a de cision which blasted his politi cal nope. The Republican partisans of rhe Ferry Howard stripe, of whom there are a few left, will ?eek to dramatize this action to frighten Northern Negroes away from the Democratic Par ty. But this is but a part of the same old bugaboo with which this brand of leadership has been frightening the Negro ever since the Emancipation. The fact is, the two parties re main just as they did before as to their attitudes towards the Negro. wnere the number oi Negroes is relatively small they are accorded equal politcial rights and privileges by I/em crats and Republicans alike. On the other hand, where the number of Negroes is large enough to threaten the w hite political dominance, they are limited and restricted in theii political rights and privileges. T Unfortunately, the one s»ec ol conditions prevails in the South and the other in the North, but it runs deeper than political di vision between parties, which is not deep at all. - In his struggle for full polit ical equality North and South, and East and West, the Negrc must realize that it is a condi tion, and not a theory that con fronts him. The Women’s National and Foreign Missionary Fresbyte r|al of the Presbytery of South ern Virginia met f the Missionary Society of the the Community Prest church, Alexandria, Va., Wednesday, April io, 1035, in the above named church build hag....... I After the Executive meeteng the business meeting of the Preebyterial was begun with de /'*tionals conducted by Mrs. M. L. JLendrick at 10 o’clock A. M. *The _ Son of God Goes Forth to War” was sung, fol lowed by the reading of the 06th Psalm. The theme was : “Worship the Lord.” Mrs. Ken drick then URged her hearers to let service be their watchword. She gave a few minutes for each woman to give a statement of her fidelity in the service of l her Lord. Mrs. Burrell expressed Hpr attitude and said we do not RPNilHr best, in service, and asked that, we determine to do more. She said she is deter mined to do more. Mrs. Dillard and Mrs. Marks prayed and our tearts were made to feel glad in the Lord. Mrs. Stitt and Mrs. Marks expressed their feelings toward service for the King. The meeting then closed.. Alter listening to the read ing of the 23rd Psalm in the In dian language, we listened to greetings from the Community rresDyterian cnurcn, Aiexanr dria, by Mrs. Nelson, who in a very pleasing manner made us all feel perfectly at home. Miss Reynolds, in well chosen words, responded. / The roll call resulted in tne response of twenty societies, which showed an increase over last ya^s response. Tlie reports of , the various secretaries were discussed and advice given the delegates as to Ways and means of securing the necessary finance. One way is to have a big rally to raise the amount, especially the soci eties whose membership is small. Mrs. F. D. Nance, Secretary of Literature, urged the delega- - tion to urge their locals to spend more time reading the Litera ture of our Church furnished by our Boards. Mrs. Hedric en couraged the use of the Litera ture' at this time especaiily as never before, as this alone is the only means of Missionary Education being taught in our churches. Mrs. L. Lomax, the Secretary of Over Sea Sewing, and Miss Gunn, the Secretary of Young People's Work, made their re ports, both of which showed improvement, in their work. The report of our Stewardship Sec retary snowed Detter work as we better understand. Mrs. Hyde gave some re marks about Ingleside Semina ry and asked Mrs. McNair to give some of the needs of the school which she hesitated to specify or name definitely. However, she named several things and th£n left the matter to the desire of the Presbyte rial. Afternoon Session Opened with prayer by Mrs. M. L. Kendrick, President Emeritus. The report of the nominating committee resulted in the re-election of all the of ficers and secretaries, excepting , Mrs. McNair, who is to succeed Mrs. Harris as Secretary of Ed . ucation, and Mrs. Young, who is to succeed Mrs. S. D. Leake as I Secretary of Young People's Work. - The delegate was then electr ' ed to represent the Presbytrial , of Southern Virginia Presbytery at the Synodical to be held Oc tober/1^35, at ingleside aemi ' nary, Burkeville, Va., in tne | person of Mrs. C. P. Hedric, of Carver Memorial Presbyterian church. i (Continued on page 4)
Africo-American Presbyterian (Wilmington, N.C.)
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April 25, 1935, edition 1
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