The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-01-02

| Annual Address--Rev W. II. Neaiy. | D. D.. President.
 Combined choIrs.
 Introduction of Speaker by N. H. \ Alexander.
 oration--c. F. JohnsoK orator of the Music Combined cfonrs.
 Collection. election of officers and beped;ction. seated upon the platform were: I. ". Jones. c. W. Wells. Bishop J. W. Alstock. W. c. Banton. w. H. Finley. M. s. Pillneg. w. T. Breeding. N H. Alexander. Dr. A. c. Dungee, Dr. Wash ington,, pr. Northcross. J. H. Philips, M. J. Moore. E. E. Scott. E. M. Dale, | IT. J. Flood !. B. Branam. c. O. IIar- l ris and other leading negroes. One of | the main features of the occasion was the music: which was in charge of Rev.
 P. p; Scott, pastor of the congrega- tional Church.
 The coming of O. F. Johnson. of Mo-
 bile as orator of the occasion, had created much interest. and his address was listened to with the utmost atfen-, tion. The speaker ,cho for. h,ss sub- feet. "Go Forward" and below Is an extract of the address. The speaker | Go Forward.
 | We are here today in keeping with custom. and each one has made some sort of resolution. Whether this res- | olution is to go back into the grave, yard of our past and bring before our meptal eye our failures, our misfort-
 unes, our disappointments, our lack of l expressing our best in word, in deed, in achievement--forgetti all about I the joys. the successes, the real good | accomplished by us and buried in this | same past; is a question which should concern each one present. The living
 in the past will unfit us for the victo- ries of the future
 History tells us one hot August day
 in 1919. Dutch man-of war vessel en- tered the mouth of the James River, f in Virginia, upon the errand which sub | sequently resulted in the gravest con ] sequences to the people of the United
 States. The errand of this Dutch yes- sel was to bring cargo Of twenty African negroes and sell them at pub lie auction to the wealthy planters who purchased the helpless Africans for the purpose of making them slaves for fife Conditions at the South were pe- l culiarly favorable to the growth of l slavery, and it Is recorded that there
 were plenty of unscrupulois Yankees who were willing to engage in the trade | of furnishing slaves for the market
 which existed Thus the North. as I well as the South, was responsbble for
 what grew to be a national wrong. Helpless, ignorant. uncivilized-- against his inclination or desire. the
 negro was brought here to All the de-
 mand for the. service he only could best render to make America the modern
 Garden of Eden. For two hundred and 1 forty-six years he labored, toiiea and
 served until this country became nsted
 for its> agricultural and other indus tries With no recompense but food
 ard cIotbing and no hope of ever again
 enloying freedom, he labored and wait ed. On January 1, 1863, the immortal
 Lincoln, signed the ssnancipatlon proc
 lamation (as war measure to strike
 a blow at the labor system of the
 South) then 1t was this Nation act
 ually made the first great step towards
 lighting this National wrong. Imme- diately after the war of 1860, thousands
 of uneducated negroes wer. suddenl.' l cast upon their own resources, without money, home or food, and yet from this condition he has made such progress In the short space since the civil war \ little short of marvellous.
 "The following figures taken from
 a late statistic will give us an idea of the success we are making: Farms owned--twenty-o per cent of 746, 715
 farms operated by negroes. Farms part iy owned: Az per cent of number oper- ated. The 1S7,799 farms owned by ne- groes was 25.2 per cent of all farms operated by negroes; 190,111, private farm-owning negro families inI 1900. I Farm value for negroes. $57,l67,zo6.
 "In this State alone, the negroes own 30.e00 homes, valued at sSe,OeV. Tn Mississippi our people own 29,0O homes worth SS2.000.0o, The total valuation Of homes owned by negroes throughout
 the United States reached S940,OQO,0 ,000
 This is going on some for a race Aorty- three years ago left to make good or
 perish, Besides all this, the negroes
 in the South own and operate 1AO drug
 stores and thirty-eight banks.
 Racial Foundation.
 "It is said that fifty feet of the
 Washington monument at Washington,
 D. C., is finder ground, unseen and un- I apprsciated by those who tread about
 that historic shaft; but 1t is this found- ation. apparently thrown away. which l enables 1t to stand upright. frua to the
 nlumb-iine, trough all the Ntempests l that lash it's granite sides. large ! part of every successful life must be
 snent in laying the foundation-stone. l Thus it Is with us as race.
 sIh this foundation building, I ad-
 wise, as a first consideration, the lay ingsDf a firm, true. unquestionaoly strong character. By this word, char acter, do not mean simply conform | ing to some special codes. nean~aH tsthat the word character stands for In M. most liberal and complete definit- kion. mean that habit, desire. and effort to do the thing tha tis right---bs' cause 1t is right to do right
 I ssThe next stone to be laid in this | raaes foundation, Is that of education. l Tn this we. find the unfolding process l the power which forces men to think tie power that makes men useful. The 1 next stone in the building of this foun% | dation is the acceptance Of Christ as ! the only Savior, the Son of the living | Cod--the Prince of Peace, the wonder | full Counselor. Another stone in this
 foundatiot building is the getting of a | good home. I do not mean by this l rented shelter, but mean the owning | of a place where you can reside and ] call your home, a place where you can ! snend money and effort in It's beaptifi- 1 cation-where you can afford to strive ] to make 1t of all other spots on eaEfh the sweetest and most sacred to yolE
 "SfIll another stone which seems to me pre-eminently essential to the achievement of the greatest good which should grow out of this race, is that of race unity and self-respect, that is to say. the race should learn to appre- ciate the gifts, and use the gifts and opportunities 1t has
 The Image of God Upon Labor,
 Tt will not pay you to lack every where for some reason why your con ditions gre not what they should be; if you Win find the culprit you must turn your eye upon self and get the big stick of conscientious determina- A a