Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-05-27
By
Frederic
j. HdSkirl

lotte, the chief promoter of the associa-
ton work there and vice president of
the United States league, is s, Witt
housky. He landed in the United States
with only one dollar in his pocket and he
went to Charlotte as a clerk in a store.
He, too. made his first saving through
the building and loan association. For S
years he has devoted his time and at
tention to the work of fostering the build
ing and loan associations Of Charlotte
and the country. He has not taken one
cent of pay for his services, but is In
the work as a missionary, pure and SIM
pie. 1t is to these two men that the
prominence of the building and loan as
ISOLATION in the social. industrial and A.
nancial life of Charlotte must be cred
tied.
If the delegates to the United States
league will remain in Charlotte until
Saturday they will see things which will
make even professional building and loan
men open their eyes. The streets will
be crowded with working men and wo-
men, white and black, old and young.
They have been paid off and they are
ready to spend their money 1t is the
great Saturday night. Everybody is gay
and the carnival spirit is in the ART
looks like big night tonight" But no
one goes into the saloons for the very
6ood reason that there are no saloons in
which to so. No one seems to be intox-
icated with anything more than the joy
of living. But they all have money and
they are all bound down the street to
the same section of the city. What are
they going to do?
"Wanta shoot some craps?" whispers a
slouchy and addressed negro to one of
the passing throng. Come on. We've
gotta game" You ain talkin' to me,
niggah," comes the reply from the coll
ored gentleman with the cash in his peck
ct Use gwine to pay Ole Billy Malone"
That is the reason why Charlotte is more
prosperous than any other town of it's
size in the south, that is the reason why
more of it's workmen own their own
homes that is the reason why the
hands" in Charlotte cotton mills are not
romadic, that is the reason why Char
lotte negroes stay out of trouble and out
of poverty, that is the reason why Char
lotte is the Charlotte of today. 1t is Ole
Rilly Malone.
1.-The Meeklenburg Building and Loan
association" or any other sort of build
ing and loan association, was too much
of a mouthful for the Tarheel negro
The first one was tolled into paying his
money into the little window every Sat
urday 1t wasn't long before he found
himself a landed proprietor, the owner of
a house and lot Other negroes looked
upon him and envied his high and mighty
estate. From the supernal heights of his
dignity he condescended to tell them that
the building and loan association did the
work. Building and loan, building and
loan, Billy Malone, Billy Malone" echoed
the other negroes and they began to save
their money. Now they are landed pro-
prietors, too, and the Charlotte negro
begins at IL years old to lay up his saw
ing with ole Billy Malone.
AS result, there is a large population
of property owning negroes in Charlotte
which stands always for law and order.
1t is said that a land-owning negro is
good negro. Charlotte has many cot
ton mills, and a greater percentage of the
cotton mill operatives live in their own
homes than in any manufacturing town
of the south AS one of the chief diff
culties of the southern cotton manufac-
turer lies in the nomadic and irresponsi-
bic character of his labor, this hometown
ing has done much for Charlotte mills.
But the work of the associations in
Charlotte has not been confined to cotton
mill workers and negroes. Every class of
people in the community is largely repre-
scented among the shareholders of the
local associations. The building occupied
by the Charlotte Observer the leading
newspaper of the city, was built through
building and loan association. Every
Saturday afternoon the negro porter
takes the weekly payments for the OBJ
server, for the editorial staff, for the
composing room force, for the printers
and pressmen, and goes down the street
to make the weekly deposit which is