The Washington bee., 1909-08-21

Although the National Negro
Business League is in no way direct
| " connected with the Negro school
at Tuskegee, it was conceived in the
spirit of that institution, and in a
different way and on a broader scale,
has done much tn same sort of
work. It's purpose has been to di-
rect the attention of the Negro peo-
pie to the opportunities which are
open to them in trade and in bust
ness; to encourage thrift and enter
prise, and to organize in every part
of the country local organizations
which will impress upon the masses
of the people the Importance of saw
ing their money, of buying homes,
and, in order to do this, of improv-
ing the quality of their labor by max
ing it more intelligent and more re
liable.
THE STATE LEAGUES
At the present time there are more
than 400 local business leagues in
different parts of the country, most
of them in the Southern States. Flo
rida, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkan-
sas and Texas have State organiza-
tions, which hold annual meetings,
make special studies of the Negro
people in their territory, and, through
the medium of speakers, the news
papers and other publications, carry
on a campaign of education along
industrial and economic lines.
THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI
Perhaps the best organized and
most enterprising of the State Busi-
ness Leagues is that of Mississippi,
which occupied all of the Thursday
morning session with an account of
what has been accomplished by the
Negroes of Mississippi, as individ-
uals and through their business or
t, ganizations. Mississippi has at the
present time eleven Negro banks,
which is larger number than those
of any other state, though Virginia,
which has the next largest number
Of banks, has the first Negro bank
established in the United States and
q considerably larger invested CAPT
tai There are several Negro towns
in the United States, where no white
man lives and where all the business
as well as the local government, is
carried on by Negroes. The largest
of these IS Boley, Indian Territory,
but the oldest and best established is
Mound Bayou, Mississippi. Among
the delegates present at the meeting
is Isaiah T. Montgomery, the found
er of Mound Bayou, and Charles
Banks, the cashier of the Bank of
Mound Bayou, and leading bust
ness man of Mississippi.
NEGRO TOWN. OF MOUND
BAYOU
Mound Bayou, which was started
in the wilderness some twenty years
ago by few Negro PIONEERS, under
the leadership of Isaiah T. Mont
gOmery, is now a town of about eight
hundred or a thousand inhabitants.
In the colony surrounding the town,
where the Negroes own over 10000
acres of land, there is a population
OF a thousand or fifteen hundred men.
During the present year a company
has been organized, OF which the
stock is very largely held by Negroes
throughout the State. to build a cot
ton seed oil mill, to cost $4,000. The
mill at the present time is nearly
completed.
FOR SEVEN NEGRO BANKS
An indication of the influence of
the National Negro Business League
in stimulating enterprise among the
Negro people is the fact that nine
years ago, there were but two Negro
banks in the United States. At the
present time there are no less than
forty-seven such banks i'll active
operation, and all but two of these
are in the Southern States. There
have been in all something like fifty
SIX Negro banks in existence. Sew
eral of these have since gone out of
business. Only some two or three
failed, and, so far as shown, in not
more than one or two cases did de-
poSitors lose their money as a result
of these failures. Three years ago
at Atlanta, there was organized in