The Washington bee., 1909-01-09

petitors for the plans of the Negrs
uilding.
DR.. Francis, no doubt, will ever
feel grateful, because in his Sana-
tarium on Pennsylvania Avenue,
December 2I, 1897, died Rev. w. w.
Brown the founder of the organizs-
ton that has trained an dassisted
more men and women than any other
organization operated by Negroes
today. We represent three things:
a combination of brains. muscle sud
money. With 10000 mea. and wo-
men paying dues of from * to g.
cents per month; 5000 men auS
women paying from SIao to Sz.sS
cents each. every quarter; 2o,oos
children paying 10 cents per montk.
each; with rents collected from fifty
buildings monthly, with a bank with
monthly deposits being made fron
more than three thousand differewt
places.
Why have we been so successfuIS
We think together, talk together, and
move together; this demonstrates the
power of organization. When We
realize the power of organization, we
Will learn that a dollar coming to US
from the man that tolls in the ditch.
and the woman i'll the kitchen, will
shine as bright and will buy as muck.
as the same amount coming frozl
a lawyer, doctor or professor. Our
future success as business men de-
pends upon our union of thought.
brains, finance and actions.
We will build an industrious SEN
tlment among the Negroes of this
country; we will build a sentiment
OF combination, thrift, energy and
progress, and We will make the waste
places bloom and blossom like a rose:
instead of sorrow and distress. we
viii send consolation and gladness
from heart to heart and from house
to house, and community to commu-
nifty, and instead of preparing a race
Tor chain-gangs, prisons, work-houses,
and penltentlarieS,w will be prepar-
ing race of useful and honest men
and women, for industrious husbands
and wives; citizens that will build
happy homes and make glad the
hearts of any and every community.
Register Vernon said:
Honorable w. T. Vernon, Register
of the Treasury, who is a life mem
Der of the organization made a very
eloquent speech, which was roundly
applauded by the assembled gentle
men.
In part the Register spoke as fol-
lows:
Il congratulate myself upon hav-
ing been present at this your annual
banquet, and heard the splendid report
of work done by your local organi-
zation. 1t is a source Of gratihca-
ton to me as it must be to every one
who wishes well for his people to
observe the material progress of the
people of this community.
You but demonstrate the capacity
of the race to acquire and hold, and
this demonstration is but a type of
that which l understand is going on
wherever the Business League is
known
Aside from a racial interest in the
work of the organization-as life
member | feel an especial interest in
its growth and development Though
occupying a position Of aapolitical :
character. / have had some opportu-
nifty to observe the certainty Of busi-
ness success and its guarantee for the
future, when weighed against any
other success, 50 liable to Auctuation
because Of external agencies.
The man who builds well along
business lines, gains confidence in
himself, confidence of his communi-
ty. and has an assured footing for
the future.
I have been much impressed With
the statistics given of the growth
along business lines Of the race dur
ing the past forty years. Especially
has this phase of our racial develop
ment taken on concrete form and
been made more apparent since the
bringing together Of the business meH