The Chicago world., 1900-01-27


point.
My friends, we have serious ques-
ton before us, and it will be a more
serious one if the people of the race
do not apply themselves more to the
common things of life. AS the wears
go by it becomes harder and harder for
any people to compete with the thou
sands that started with the common or
little things in life, and in the north
ern states, where we have so many for
eigners, it will be a still more serious
one unless you do the common THINGS so
well that no one can improve upon
them
am glad, my friends, the head wait
ers have established institutions for
the black men TO receive training in
this art. | have said more than once.
and l will repeat it again here in Chi
cago, that the class of people that
have grown in respect and confidence
perhaps more than any one else in this
country. are the Pullman porters.
Wherever you meet them, they are
clean, polite gentlemen. You will find
that they have the confidence and re-
spect of the company, and | am glad
to say that you do not hear of white
men displacing these gentlemen"
My friends, | fear we take the Bible
too literally. When the Bible saws:
Take no thought of tomorrow" we be-
lieve in it every time. The American
white man is mentioned in the Bible
only once, and that is in the fifth chap
ter of Matthew, where it says: "The
meek shall inherit the EARTH We
want to initiate the white man more in
this respect. We must begin by put
ting money in the bank. We must save
our earnings; start bank account now
with a dollar, then add one dollar and
one-half, and then two dollars, and so
on, and you will have laid foundation
for bank, my friends.
We must plant ourselves in the indus
tries and businesses of life, and, in the
proportion as we do that in the same
proportion we will begin to rise as a
race. Our board of trustees 'elected a
colored man recently to a place there.
You ask, who was this man?" | will
tell you. Eight years ago this boy was
porter in dry goods store. In few
years he opened a small store for Lin
self, and he told me recently that he
had a business which paid him $4,000
this year, and now he has established
another store at Decatur. Ala. He be-
gan at the bottom and gradually came
to the more important things Of life,
and he is respected and has the conf
dence of all where he lives. Another
thing about this man; he came into the
probate court about a matter. and the
judge of that county insuIted' the black
man, and he slapped him down. What
did he do? He went to his store and
stayed there, and in few minutes some
of the leading white men came there to
protect him. There was no lynching;
he had the proper mold on them; he had
property. reputation, good standing
in the community, and so they said:
eve cannot afford to be lynching a
black man of that characterize can
not afford to disgrace our city"
/ am glad to see what you are doing
in the way of establishing institutions
and accumulating property in the
north. There is Provident hospital. A
few years ago it was without standing.
and had no reputation, and Only about
81 900, but to-day it has standing and
reputation throughout the country.
In the city of Washington | saw one
of the most encouraging sights that |
have seen in 20 years. | saw black
man who was a graduate of a college and
worth about $4,000, but my friends.
that is not what distinguished him.
Although a graduate of technical col
lege. he is controlling and running
bootback establishment, and he is do
ing more than that. He is using his
education to the extent that he manu-
factures all the polishes and backing
that he uses in his bootblacll stands,
and he has six other bootblack stands
in the District Of Columbia. That young
fellow began at the bottom and proper
tionalIy. in 20 years he will be worth
$50 900 or 100000.
The white man who advises you not
to make friends with the white man in
himself. for every time he goes to the
south, the first thing that he does is to
make friends with the southern white
man. and if the Negro viii get up on his
feet he must do the same thing, There
are some bad white men in the south,
and there are some good ones. When
YOU find the good ones, you must take
them by the hand. y bill was intro
duced in the Georgia Legislature not
long ago DISTINGUISHING the Negro.
When il was introduced, number of
colored men, tax payers. property hold
ers. went to the committee in the legis-
lature and said: I'VE are not aliens,
but citizens of this state; we are tax
PAYERS, and we must not be enemies,
but friends. You must not pass this
unjust bill" When il came to vote,
three voted for the passing of the bill
while 1877 said that no such bill should
,acS. and that incident resulted in the