The Washington bee., 1907-07-06
Afro American Council
--r MOST SUCCESSFUL MEET
ING IN THE HISTORY OF The
ORGANIZATION

.-- .f the Bethel Church. FROM mere
III. convene in the Londondale Bap-
@.- Church and will close its tenth an
anal session in Sharp Street Memorial
r,,r~rh. The council was called to or
s.- hy Bishop Alexander Walters, with
NJ. Fannie Bernice Williams, the ac-
,om7lished secretary, and DR.. Stewart,
of the American Baptist, Louisville, KY,
acting secretaries.
The session was opened with an adj
dress by Bishop Walters, which was
f,r-ib's and eloquent 1t electrified the
rsrgs audience present and enthused the
DELEGATES present. There are fully two
hundred delegates in attendance from
sn oarts of til country Grat interest
;s manifested in the report of the COM
m.-tee that is to prepare and issue the
address to the country. One of the
most busy men is the Rev L. y, Jor-
dan. national organizer.
Many speeches were made that seem
To- meet with approval
TIL. address of Editor McGirt OF
Philadelphia, Pa, ELECTED great applause.
This PAPER was one of the strongest
.r.+ wa, read in the council. This was
+ra OCCASION for Recorder of Deeds J.
C. Darcy to apologize for the Admin
r.r-raa. He asked permission to speak
trr.e minutes. He started off by crit
i-..rg the Negro press and others for
-r. one mistake, as he said, the Presl-
dent had made. He made no qualihca-
aou
Mr. Dancy seems to be the special
champion of the Administration, but he
doesn't know how. He declared Thurs
day afternoon, after lunch, that the COM
mittee on address should not adopt or
pass anything condemning or criticising
the President. He was told that 1t
would be best for him to board the train
and return to Washington. 1t was a
contest royal in the committee on ad-
dress, but the entire committee eventu-
ally agreed and the report was unani-
nous. The real contest came when the
committee on election of officers report
ed. The report of the committee was
adopted with the exception of the name
of w. H. H. Hart, which was opposed
by w. Calvin Chase, The contest last
ed two hours. Mr.. Chase substituted
the name Of Attorney Thomas L. Jones.
Prof. Kelly Miller, DR.. Francis and Rev.
S. L. Corrothers substituted the name
of Attorney James A. Cobb, but he was
objected to on account of his absence
from the council More than likely he
would have been elected, because Attor-
ney Jones declined. The contest became
so warm, and the opposition seeing its
defeat, Bishop Walters
HELPED IT.
Hopelessly was the opposition defeat
ed. Bishop Walters declared that Hart
should be elected. Mr.. Chase took ex-
ception at this remark, and declared that
the presiding officer was running the
gag law, which he would not tolerate.
The Bishop put the affirmative vote and
declared Hart elected.
During the contest DR.. John R. Fran
els made a speech in defense of Hart
and declared among other things that
we should stand by our colored lawyers
Mr.. Chase asked him why he didn't
employ colored lawyers at the time he
had his bank suit in ccourt. This re-
mark created a sensation, and DR.. Fran
els in reply said that ali the colored
people were opposed to him.
PROFESSOR KELLY HELPED HIM
OUT.
Professor Kelly, coming to the res
cue of DR.. Francis, stated that, perhaps,
the Doctor did not know the legal abil-
ity of the editor of The Bee at the time.
This created laughter and enthusiastic
applause. The only way that the friends
of Hart could have elected him was in
the manner in which Bishop Walters,
the presiding officer, acted by declaring
HIM elected by an affirmative vote, and
declining to put a negative vote.
DR.. S. L. CORROTHERS.
The most vigorous and manly speech
es that were made were by DR.. S. L.
Corrothers, Bishop Walters, Archibald
Grimke, Editor McGirt Rev. George
Bragg, DR.. William A. Sinclair, Thomas
L. Jones, Prof. Kelly Miller, DR.. L. G.
Jordan, Rev. Blackwell and others. Df.
Corrothers took no middle ground. In
fact most every speaker gave manly ut
terances with the exception of John c.
Dancy, the Washington Recorder of
Deeds. He seemed to be walking around
with chip on his shoulder, but before
the committee on address to the coun-
Try could knock it off he took the ankle
express for Washington, declaring that
he could remain no longer.
The addresses of Attorney Thomas L