The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-09-20
COMMON SENSE
 TALK BY NEGROES Progress of Race Discussed by
 Leading !BaptiStS GREAT CONVENTION HELD National Convention of Negro Baptists at Washington Is Marked By More Intelligent Effort Than Many
 Similar Meetings.
GREAT CONVENTION HELD

Washington, September 19.-(Speeial)- The National Convention of Negro Bap-
 lists, which after q weeks session in this
 city adjourned today. was productive of
 more intelligent effort than any other
 meeting of the race heretofore held. What
 werec lassed as common-sense addresses were delivered, and good advice given to the negro by the negro. One of the best
 addresses was that made by R. H. Boyd, the secretary Tn 1896" said Boyd, you
 elected me to this position and sent me out to do your work, and did not place one cent in my hands but, believing that the negro must do something for himself,
 l went to work believing in you, knowing that 100000 negroes should do something, and now we have the largest printing press in the world, owned and operated by negroes, and furnishing employment to at least 300 of our own educated men and women l have heard much said
 about tho American prejudice, but I have no unkind word to say about it. If any thing at all, 1 would thank God for Il,
 because of the good we have gotten out of it. We should not complain when the prejudice says to us when we are refused in places established by the white people for white people only, we should get such l places for ourselves. The refusal of q 1 glass of soda in a white mans drug store 1 says to the negro: Go to your own drug i stores and get your soda, and if you
 havnt got drug stores, then get them. 1 We should not whine about eating in
 white mans restaurant when we should have our own and thus make ourselves i rich
 Boyd, in reading his report, told about the machinery owned by the Baptists; spoke of the buildings and one now in course of erection, and of the missionary
 work done at home through the home board and many other things. The re-
 ceipts for the department during the year,
 he said, had been $16o, 152 IA, and the eX-
 penditures $44.576.s6. The receipts for the home mission board were $42,57696. The publishing board, in it's manufae- l turing department, was compelled to start
 out by employing considerable number | of white skilled workmen, because negro ! mechanics, capable of operating this de- pt
 had to be trained Today there is not q
 white man in the place, and we are show ing the world what the negro can do for himself"
 The convention gave opportunity to
 study the progress made by the negroes since their emancipation. The body was
 composed of doctors, lawyers. professors, teachers, editors, business men and prom inent laymen of the church and all grades
 of preachers. Some of them pastors
 of large churches and draw as high as
 s4000 per annum in their work. The Rev. A. J. Stokes, the treasurer Of
 the convention, is pastor of a church Tn Montgomery. with 200 members. He has forty deacons. Not all of the, members
 are able to get into the church at the | same time, hence the services are diVid- l ed. He says he is erecting tabernacle which will seat LOGO people He has been l pastor for twenty years.
 | The Rev. w. F. Graham, Richmond, 1 Va, Is pastor of a large church and at , the head of an insurance company of his 1 people.
 1 Prof. Hudson of Selma is principal of
 the negro high school of that city, and ] has held the position for a number of 1 years. He has accumulated some prop l erty and owns a large coal yard. The Rev Dr. Thomas Bellinger of Pen- | sacola, Fla, is regarded as one or the l leading young ministers in the church. 1 The Rev. E. R. Carter of Atlanta is also l classed as an able preacher. He has been l in Atlanta for a number of years and l has travelled extensively throughout Eu- 1 rope.
 The Rev. C. T. Walker D. D., of At l lanta is to the negroes of this country
 what Sturgeon was to England and has
 been styled by many 'the black Sturgeon l of his race"
 The Rev. Dr. E. C. Morris IS one of the
 most eloquent speakers in his church, and
 is considered leader. He has held l the position of president for sixteen years, | being elected each year by acclanation. 1 He owns the plantation where he served l as a slave.
 | The Rev. Dr. H. M. Williams, D. D., of l Galveston, Tex, is one of the literary
 men of the Baptist church. He is an ex- l pert stenographer. and reports many o1 l the conventions in his home He is de- | voting much of his time to the uplifting | of his people.
 Frank Lancaster of Florida, the Rev. G.. l w Raiford of Georgetown, s. C.. the Rev.
 j. J. Durham F. W. Merchant of Little
 Rock, Ark, D. B. Gaines, NJ D.. Little
 Rock, are cassed among the able men 1 in the convention.
 The Rev R. H. Boyd, D. D., secretary l of the national Baptist publishing board | Nashville, one of the most remarkable 1 men in the convention, is regarded as | man of great experience and ability. lie
 was born a slave in Texas. where he l spent all of his life until 1896, when. he
 was elected to bring into life the publish
 ing scheme of the negro Baptists. For | number of years the negroes purchased
 their literature from the American Bap- 1 list Publication society, Philadelphia, but
 when the society refused to employ negro | clerks the national convention withdrew | and established their own printing plant
 where all their Sunday school literature
 is published Books from negro authors
 are also printed there.
 pr. Boyd is not colleSe-trained man;
 in fact, the only schooling he had was for l one month in country school. But, he
 says. he is a graduate from swamp uni ! versity and Slavery High school. In tnls he had the benefit of manual training
 and common sense. He is a practical bus
 mess man and preacher combined.
 w s.