AND YE SHALL KNOW THE TRUTH, AND THE TRUTH
VOL. LIX.
CHARLOTTE, N. C„ THURSDAY. AUGUST 4, 1938
m
NO. 31
COMPARISON OF CHURCH FIELDS IN
THE SOUTH
By Rev. W. Harrison Lane. D. D.
Today I am sitting alone in a
meditative mood, taking a ret
rospective view of Presbyterian
Church activities in the South
among Negroes 70 odd years
ago, just a few years prior to
my birth.
Just after the close of the
Civil War in 1865 the United
Presbyterian Church of North
America began her missionary
work in the South and founded
a college in Vicksburg, Missis
sippi, for colored people recent
ly emancipated. The records
show that this school had the
Reverends A. Calhoun and D. S.
Littell for Superintendents, and
Capt. Joseph Morehead for
Business Manager. The teach
ers connected with this institu
tion of learning were Prof.
Peter Donaldson, dean; Mrs. A.
Calhoun, Mrs. Joseph More
head, Misses Agnes D. Frasier,
Mary A. Cummings, Belle
Brown, Aggie E. Hammond,
Alma Glasgow, Sarah J. Gibson,
Maggie Littell, Jennie Cum
mings, Mollie Hezlap, Sallie J.
Balph, Anna M. Smith and
Mrs. Nancy J. Campbell, ma
tron.
'this institution prepared
many of the pioneer teachers
who rendered efficient service in
the South following the Civil
War, and was under the auspi
ces of the Board of Freedmen’s
Missions. It rendered great
service until the State of Missis
sippi began to establish a free
school system for colored chil
dren, and the last report of this
Board to the General Assembly
was made in 1874, and its use
ful career was terminated.
,. .Out of this school work, a
colored Presbyterian mission
church was organized April 8,
1868, under the Indiana Pres
bytery, and later transferred
to the Tennessee Presbytery.
It appears that this mission
church took the course of the
school by making no reports to
the General Assembly when
the school work was terminat
ed, but its real, actual existence
as a religious body continued
until April or May, 1901, when
it was re-organizedHby a com
mission appointed by the Pres
bytery of Birmingham, U. S. A.,
to receive the local colored
Presbyterian church of Vicks
burg and its property into the
fellowship of the Presbyterian
Church in the U. S. A. This lo
cal church, of which my father
and I had been ruling elders,
owned real estate valued at
$2500 at that time, and was free
of debt when it was received
into the Presbytery of Birming
ham, U. S. A.
_ Our last effort to procure a
minister of the United Pres
byterian Church was in 18%
when the Board sent the Rev.
J. A. Cotton, D. D., to Vicks
burg to investigate the condi
tion of our local colored Pres
byterian church. The Rev. Dr.
Cotton found the membership
still in the faith, but small and
discouraged for lack of leader
ship. None of the members
had renounced the faith of the
U. PrChurch.
The membership waited un
til 1899 when I was sent to
Charlotte, N. C., to make or es
tablish church relationship with
the Catawba Presbytery, U. S.
A., and lead the Vicksburg col
ored Presbyterian church into
the Presbyterian Church, U. S.
A., which plan was completed in
Birmingham-Vicksburg in early
May of 1901, for I was made
licentiate by the Presbytery of
Catawba and was ordained by
the Presbytery of Birmingham
in March, "1901, and the peti
tion from the Vicksburg col
ored Presbyterian church, U. P.,
asking /tor membership, was fa
vorably received and her re
quest was granted. This was
the first meeting of the Presby
tery of Birmingham, U. S. A.,
whose charter members were
Rev. C. H. Trusty . of Chatta
nooga, Tenn.; Rev. Job Law
rence of Columbia, Tenn.; Rev.
L. B. Bascomb and Rev. Eli
Clarke of Birmingham, Ala.;
Rev. Tom McLin of Ethel and
West Point, Miss.; Rev. W.
Harrison Lane, of Vicksburg,
Miss.; and Dr. H. T. Payne, of
Mary Holmes Seminary, and
Dr. Davis of Barber Seminary,
Mississippi and Alabama re
spectively, and three or four
ruling elders. Today this small
beginning has increased to
twelve ordained ministers and
eighteen established churches,
with many ruling elders and
deacons-and members. Of this
growth the Birmingham Pres
bytery should be proud.
I am anxious to know what
has become of the church pro
perty in Vicksburg, Miss. There
were only two legal Presbyteri
an churches for colored people
in Vicksburg. The first church
was organized April 8, 1868,
and the second church was the
first church re-organized in
early May of 1901. I should
like io know what has become
of our church property in
Vicksburg, Mississippi, for $2,
500 worth of property in 1901
should be worth much more
now.
Leaving the country east
of the Mississippi River, I
visited the great State of
Texas, west of the Mississippi
River, where our Church work
centered in and near the little
city of Crockett and had its be
ginning about as early as the
activities in the country east of
the Mississippi River. Here we
find but little development in
church work and 1938 can
claim but meagre gain over
1870 or 1900. What appears to
be the trouble? The right an
swer is fiofthComing-^-laek of
home (or State) interest and
organization.
From the parish in Vicks
burg went the ministers, who
ordained my father as ruling
elder and who baptized me in
my infancy, to the parish of
Crockett, Texas. So the work
in Texas is of age in consider
ation of time. There has been
abundant time for growth, but
the will, home interest and or
ganization were not to be found
in Texas. I think the minis
ters who are residing and work
ing in Texas should change this
awful condition out there. You
have in Texas as much brain
development and material re
sources as the ministers east of
the Mississippi River had at the
beginning of their career, and
as much time has been yours.
Why not have a deep concern
for the work in Texas and a
will or determination to make
Texas the equal of any other
field in the Church? Make an
inventory of your stock today
behind closed doors with a de
termination to improve condi
tions there.
At Crockett is established a
fine, well-equipped coeduca
tional Junior College—Mary
Allen Seminary—with our very
brilliant Dr. Byrd R. 'Smith as
President; and the Rev. L. A.
Ellis is there, too. At Hawkins,
Texas, is our veteran preacher
and scholar, Dr. Coyden H.
Uggams, a man of great ex
perience. In Lubbock, Texas,
our very much beloved brother,
the Rev. M. H. Wilkinson, a
highly-polished product of Lin
coln University, has located re
cently, and has charge of a $4,
000 concrete church building
and a working congregation of
50 or more loyal members.
In Paris, Texas, the Rev.
C. A. Payne is occupying the
pulpit of the old Africaii-Grace
Congregational church build
ing in which a Presbyterian
mission church is operating. In
Dallas, Texas, the Rev. W. W.
Mayle has located recently.
And the Rev. Wm. H. B.
Tapp, with his beautiful and
talented wife, the daughter of
Elder C. 0. Gamble) M. D., of
Paris, now waits for an oppor
tunity to show what he can do.
These young people are pre
pared for our church work. Mr,
Tapp is a product of Bishop
College in Marshall, Texas, and
his wife is a graduate of our
own Mary Allen Seminary in
Crockett.
Last year when I was render
ing service in the Presbytery
of Kiamichi the Paris mission
was organized, and this year
though not in active service I
visited Lubbock, Texas, and
during a preaching mission of
11 days the congregation of 50
communicants,'with all proper
ty possessions, applied for mem
bership in our Church. I was
called as pastor, but found a
better leader in the person of
the Rev. M. H. Wilkinson, whom
I recommended to the congre
gation; and Dr. Wilkinson and
his wife are now located in Lub
bock. Watch them bring-great
things to pass out there!
Now I should like to see these
gifted men and ministers of
the gospel organized into a
Presbytery in Texas, for an or
ganized church activity gets
better results. May this compar
ison of Church Fields in the
South be a challenge to the
workers in Texas and our
hopes and dreams for Texas be
I changed into fruition ere long.
God grant it and thou shalt
have the praise, now and in
eternity!
DREAM ON
“Aye, dream thy dreams. The nob
lest of achievement,
The schemes of daring which
have crowned the race,
Lived once but in the fancy of the
dreamer—
Illumed his dwelling-place.
“Aye, dream thy dreams. The fret
work of time’s glory
Is built upon that first prismatic
ray
That flashes in a thought when mind
is soaring
’Midst the unknown. Today.
“The feet which scale full many a
towering ladder,
~ The hands which reach Tor many”
a goal,
Were lifted in pursuit on airy dream
wings—
The thought-wings of the soul.
“Dream and pursue, although the
vision falter;
Although the feet stop ere the
height be gained;
Joy broods amidst the sheen of
dreamland vistas!
“Dream, but dream nobly. ’Midst the
spirit-chamber
Dwell guests who enter with a
thought sublime;
Dream, and move on to will,* to do,
to conquer—
Move toward the dreamland
clime.”
“TIME” APOLOGIZES
New York, July 29.—Time
magazine apologized this week
for use of *the term “Darky” in
a recent article appearing in
the news magazine, describ
ing a Michigan horse show in
which Joe Louis took part.
In a letter addressed to Wal
ter White, Executive Secretary
of the National Association for
the Advancement of Colored
People, who protested use of
the insulting epithet, I. Van
Meter, editorial secretary of
the publication, said:
“. . . . I can assure you that
your frank criticism has had
the careful attention of all
those who contributed toward
the preparation of TIME’S re
port on the Orange, Virginia,
horse show.7
“Our attempt at a pun (on the
race-track slang ‘dark horse’)
in the caption was, we now
realize, objectionable to many
of TIME’S good friends—and
hence in bad taste.
“Frankly, we had not known
that feeling was so strong
against this traditionally kind
ly Southern expression. But
we know it now, and won’t
forget it, you may be sure.”
A man who has assumed a
new responsibility, said to me:
“I never knew until I began to
take an active interest in its
work, what the Church could
mean to me. It speaks with a
different message.” — Dr. S.
Nye Hutchison.
“In all their affliction he was
afflicted” (Isa. 63:9).
WHY SOCIALIZED MEDICINE IS
H
By DR. KELLY MILLER
That Public Health should be
made one of the chief object
ives of the New Deal is essen
tial to the fulfilment of its bas
ic purpose. It is indeed but the
concrete embodiment x of the
Declaration of Independence,
vthich declares that all men are
entitled to the inalienable right
of life, of which health/is the
prime essential. Health is more
essential than wealth, knowl
edge, culture and goodness; for
without health none of these
other human values would be
very much worthwhile. “What
profit is it to a man to gain the
Whole world and lose his
health?” Like education and
charity, health was at first re
garded wholly as an individual
concern controlled by the indi
vidual, the church, and philan
thropic organizations. Such
agencies were active until the
State with its more competent
machinery undertook to as
sume the social responsibility
in all suqh functions. The State
in effect says to rugged indi
viduals and private agencies,
“Occupy till I Come.” When
ever such functions as educa
tion, charity and health are as
sumed by the State they are
performed with moiety of ex
pense and with thrice the effi
ciency as when conducted by in
dividual and private agencies.
The history of education fully
illustrates this principle.
The advocates of private med
icine today are no more intol
erant and dogmatic than were
the advocates of private schools
against public education a few
generations ago. In the South
the advocates of rugged indi
vidualism and private enter
prise were especially insistent
dis^nguiahed
Southern statesman who at
one time declared that “He
would put a torch to every pub
lic schoolhouse in his State,”
afterwards was a high public
official and became an advocate
of the public school system.
The sudden reversal of South
ern opinion in the sphere of ed
ucation may well be taken as
prophetic of the early shift of
national sentiment from private
to socialized medicine.
Carlyle says that for “One
man to die ignorant who had
capacity for knowledge is a
tragedy though it should hap
pen twenty times a minute.” It
is* a double tragedy, then, if
any individual who might have
enjoyed normal health and
strength is permitted to live and
die afflicted with sickness and
disease. Our land is filled with
millions of such tragedies of
human beings who with capac
ity for health and knowledge
are allowed to drag out a misr
er-able existence of disease and
ignorance. Private medicine,
like private education, is waste
ful at best by duplication of ef
fort and failure to cover the
whole circle eof,needs.
Public schools are calculated
to make the population one hun
dred per cent intelligent. Under
public provision every individ
ual not only may but must ac
quire a certain minimum of
knowledge. It is not left to the
ability of the individual to pay
for his enlightenment but each
receives from the State instruc
tion according to his capacity
to receive and absorb.
When it comes to the ques
tion of health and disease, the
disparity is still more glaring;
for knowledge is communicable
by contact and association. But
disease and not good health is
contagious.
President Roosevelt informed
us that quite a third of our pop
ulation is illy fed, illy housed
and illy clothed. Perhaps a
larger proportion are grievous
ly suffering from sickness and
disease for lack of proper med
ical care. On the crowded
streets of our large cities phy
sicians, mostly idle, stand in
each other’s way; while in ru
ral districts and smaller com
munities the dearth of doctors
is lamentable. On the other
hand, school teachers under
State control are more or less
evenly distributed throughout
the United States, according to
the educational needs of the
population.
Socialized medicine will im
prove’ the general condition of
the public’s health just as pub
lic education is calculated to
stampout ignorance.
Of course the money must be
raised for medical treatment
just as it is for education by
public taxation. Those who ob
ject on account of the bug-bear
of regimentation, are .'merely
caught up in the culture fag of
centuries ago. As our popula
tion increases and the process
es of civilization become more
and more complex, the world
must conform more arid. niore
to the regimented regime. As
Tennyson with a prophetic eye,
told us a hundred years ago,
“The . individual with<wfe and
the world' is more and m$ffe.”
But what is to become of the
machinery which has beep built
up under private agencies* when
the State takes over medicine?
The example of private schools
and colleges which still exist
in rivalry with public education
indicates the solution.
A few private physicians will
find patients under specialized
circumstances just as there are
specialized private schools. The
great private institutions of
learning like Harvard, Yale,
Columbia and Princeton now
compete with public education
only by keeping out of its way
through specialization.
In some such fashion, no
doubt, private physicians and
private hospitals will continue
for years to come, but will con
fine themselves mainly to spe
cial expert functions.
The misting - corps *af
cians will in the main be ab
sorbed as State doctors, just as
private instructors have be
come public school teachers:
The relative efficiency, enthusi
asm and enterprise of our corps
of teachers today indicate we
need not fear the lack of incen
tive as our spur to the medical
fraternity when medicine be
comes socialized.
3,000 GOT DEGREES CRISIS
SURVEY SHOWS; NINE
PH. D.’S
New York, July 29.—There
were 3,079 colored persons
graduated from mixed and seg
regated institutions of higher
learning ;n the United States
during the academic year 1937
1938, according to the twenty
seventh annual education edi
tion of the Crisis magazine for
August.
This figure does not repre
sent complete and accurate
statistics the magazine says,,
because the National Associa
tion for the Advancement of
Colored People does not have
the “means or the staff to make
an absolutely accurate survey.”
Another contributinng factor
is the manner of keeping rec
ords in such mixed schools as
Columbia University, Univer
sity of Pennsylvania and the
University of Southern Cali
fornia, where graduate statis
tics are kept without regard to
race.
Howard University continues
to have the largest enrollment
among the Negro universities,
2,240, according to the maga
zine. Other figures set forth
in the article show that 22,361
students were enrolled in Ne
gro colleges during the past
year. Of this number 2,451
were graduated with the bache
lor degree. Of the mixed
schools, New York University
headed the list with 494 col
ored students enrolled. There
were 2,525 colored students en
rolled in mixed schools during
the past year with 192 receive
ing the bachelor degree. There
were nine colored students who
received the Ph.D. degree last
June.
The romance languages are
Italian, Spanish, Portuguese,
Provencal, French and Rouman
ian.
LIMA, OKLA., NEWS
The Presbyterial Summer
Conference of Kendall Presby
tery was held at Lima, Okla.,
beginning Wednesday night,
July 20, and ending Saturday,
July 23, having a total registra
tion of thirty.
Wednesday night was open
ing night and the members of
the faculty were introduced. A
short sermon was preached by
Rev. J. S. Wilson, of Stroud,
Okla. Song period was led by
Rev. M. L. Bethel.
Thursday morning the Con
ference breakfasted at 7:30
and after an hour of preparation
and study, classes began. From
9:00 to 9:45 Bible Study was
offered. Rev. W. J. Stacks
taught Group A-—Young Peo
ple’s Bible Class. The Adult
Bible Class was taught by Rev.
M. L. Bethel.
From 9:45 to 10:30 the fol
lowing courses were offered:
A—Sunday School Manage
ment, Rev. H. G. Lee.
B—Methods of Young Peo
ple’s Work, Mrs. O. A. Conner.
C—Teaching Children in the
Church School, Mrs. B. L. Glenn.
D—Our Presbyterian Church,
Rev. L. N. Neal.
After a short recess the mem
bers of the Conference met in
the chapel where a five-minute
report of each class was made
by a representative. This meth
od made it possible for every
one to obtain knowledge from
each course. Various report
ers were Mrs. H. G. Lee, Okla
homa City; Mrs. C. P. Wallace,
Okmulgee; Joyce Starks, Lang
ston ; Mattie Hood, Okmulgee;
Mattie Lewis, Oklahoma City;
Opa Payne, Lima; Eldridge
Logan, Lima; Rheta Lane,
Oklahoma City; Annie Strain,
Oklahoma City; Beatrice Fos
ter, Lima.
The next twenty minutes
were devoted to business, dur
in& whicj^ m
ports from the Sunday schools
were made. Mr. Henry Cro
well acted as President in the
absence of his father, Mr. J. H.
Crowell, who is ill.
Assembly period was con
ducted daily by Rev. J. S. Wil
son. Dinner was served at
3,2:45 and until 4:00 the Con
ference was at leisure.
Recreation and games began
at 4:00 under the supervision
of Mr. Thaddeus Logan, of
Lima. The players were divid
ed into two groups—the Reds
and the Blues. The captains
were Joyce Starks for the Reds,
and Mattie Hood for the Blues.
Soft ball was one of the main
games played. I
supper was served at 6 r. M.,
after which vespers were held
out on the campus.
Thursday night the Presi
dent’s annual address was de
livered by Mr. Henry Crowell.
Misses Thelma and Oneda
Payne and Mrs. Roberts were
in charge of the program on
Friday night, which was Young
People’s Night. The following
program was rendered:
Song—“We’re Marching t o
Zion.”
Invocation. &
Selection—The Lima Federal
Choir.
Recitation—Eldridge Logan.
Bolo—Pearly R. Gordon.
Reading—Lucille Freeman.
Introduction of Speaker—
Alease Gross.
Address — Mrs. Guilford
Snowton, Wewoka, Okla.
Offering.
Closing selection—Lima Fed
eral Choir.
On Saturday morning during
assembly the Conference offi
cers were elected. They are as
follows:
J. H. Crowell, President;
Henry Crowell, Vice-President;
Joyce Starks, Secretary; Mat
tie Lewis, Asst. Secretary; Mrs.
H. G. Lee, Treasurer.
Delegates to the Synodical
Conference to be held at Lima,
and Cotton Plant, Arkansas,
were also elected. They are:
Joyce Starks and Nannie Beth
el. Alternates are Annie Strain
and Henry Crowell. >
The Conference adjourned at
the dinner table Saturday with
the song, “God Be. With You
Til We Meet Again,” to meet
next July.
MATTIE HOOD, Reporter.