The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-17
NEGROES GO HOME.
National Business Mems League Con-
cludeS Session.

| National Business Mems League Con-
cludes Session.
| About 400 people enjoyed the banquet
at the Auditorium at 10 o'clock last
\ evening. The banquet was given by the
local Negro Business league to the Ma
| tional organization and was very elab-
! crate. 1t was considered by most OF
those present to be the best and most
| enjoyable feature of the whole session
OF the league in Topeka. Ira o. Guy,
! of this city, who is first vice president
OF the National League, and one of the
POSTMASTER. The following toasts were
| responded to: The Negro as Devel-
oper of Opportunities Isaiah Mont
gomery, Mound Bayou, Miss; "Oppor-
| tunity and How to Improve 1t, DR..
Sumner A. Furniss, Indianapolis, Ind. /;
The Successful Farmer" John G.
Groves, Edwardsville; How to Make
the League a Success" Emmett J:
| Scott, Tuskegee, Ala Harmony"
Gurley Brewer. Indianapolis, Ind; The
Story of a Successful Organizer" Fred
r. Moore, New York city; THE Negro
in Business" Rev. G. D. Olden. To-
Banking Systems ?''' ]. E. Bush, Little
Rock, Ark; The National Negro Bush
ness League Booker T. Washington,
Tuskegee, Ala.
This afternoon there is picnic at
Vinewood park which is the final event
of the week for the league
The following resolutions were pre-
sented by the committee and adopted
by the league:
The National Negro Business league
organized at Boston, Mass, in 1900, is
no longer an experiment.
Attendance upon its annual sessions
has grown year by year. More than
], 200 persons in the seven years of Its
existence have allied themselves with
1t as members.
There are now ass local and six state
business leagues, doing the work and
extending the influence of the nation
al organization in different parts Of
the country.
The amount of capital invested in
negro enterprises and the number and
variety of negro business concerns Is
There are 81 negro banks now In ac-
tive operation and some four. possibly
six. others are in process of organiza-
ton. Eight years ago there were but
two. Much of this progress is due to
the enthusiasm which the meetings of
the National Negro Business league
have generated and to the encourage
ment which Indirectly has been given
to business enterprises.
We emphasize again our belief in our
honored presidents terse epigram, that
An inch of progress is worth yard
of complaint" This is the spirit we
would have our people adopt through
out the country.
We would emphasize the value of be-
ginning now the esta blishment of bus
inesseS on no matter how modest
scale. 1t is not impossible at the very
beginning for US to have business en-
.terprises to compare with those which
have been started years ago in humber
beginnings: ri
cure homes; to root themselves into the
soil, and before too late get possession
of the land now undeveloped in the
South and West. as
foF hot
of our people are to live in the rural
districts and that there they are to find
opportunity for independence such as
is not to be found in the cities.
We would be recreant to our duty
if we did not urge the most rigid
economy in living and steady applica-
ton to such employment as we are
engaged in.
A bank account, no matter how small.
is the surest sign of progress. We
would urge the starting OF bank ac-
counts everywhere
On behalf of the league. we extend
unbounded gratitude to the citizens of
Kansas and Topeka for the hearty and
reassuring welcome which marked our
coming and deliberations here. For the
use of this magnificent state capitol we
thank the state government. Sur
rounded with hallowed memories our
sessions have been doubly inspiring.
To the Topeka Negro Business league
tertained the organization as we'll as to
the chamber of commerce we are duly
and lastingly grateful. The daily press
has been extremely kind in the matter
and manner of it's presentation of the
several sessions, and we register that
gratitude of which we are capable. To-
peka homes have been thrown open
wide to US, and the unbounded hospital
ity of them will finger long. and form
no mean part of the pleasant recollec-
tions we shall have of this meeting.
We set our faces toward the East and
move on as best we may, in the work
before us. believing that in the larger,
final and inevitable solutions Of the
many complexities encountered, we are
contributing something that must tell
down the ages.
Arkansas sent the largest delegation
closely followed by Mississippi, Indiana
and Oklahoma
The wealthiest delegate present was
Robert c. Owens, a real estate man
from Los Angeles. His fortune Is esti-
mated at s675.o00.
Topeka led all previous conventions
in the number of life memberships en-
rolled, leading New York by one.
Stenographical work was done all
through the sessions by students of the
western university of Quindaro OF
which w II. Vernon is president. Five
the time and the work turned out was
high class.
Weekly Bank Statement.
New York, Aug. 1.-THE statement
of the clearing house hanks for the