University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1911-03-29

first sets of the Century Dictionary
sold in Missouri. The set cost him
s1os.
The negroes of Columbia have more
churches than they really need. There
are four. There are only seven
churches for the white population
which outnumbers the negro by more
than three to one. The churches
have become almost a burden on the
negroes, for they are not as able u
support them as are the whites. The
pastors of the churches are actuated
too much by pecuniary interests, for
they must keep urging in order to &c:
their salaries. ; The average salary is
about $50 a month. This is paid By
weekly offerings and class dues, The
churches themselves are good and
fairly well equipped. The average
seating capacity is about 300. The
membership is high and the attend
ance usually good. Sunday school is
in the afternoon. The morning SER
vice begins at eleven, but the latest
corners may not arrive until about
twelve, at which time the service is
supposed to close.
At the St. Pauls African M. L.
Church on March was an interest
ing service. 1t was their usual SER
vice on the first Sunday of the month.
Their worship was largely of the old
fashioned, demonstrative kind. The
usual preliminary service of songs,
prayers, and scripture reading was
observed. The preacher announced
his text and gave his Interpretation
and his experience and then opened
the service to all the congregation.
Sometimes five or six were talking
at once. In the confusion it, came to
a contest to see who could make
himself or herself heard above the
rest. Still there was simplicity
about their service that We have al
most entirely abandoned. Everyone
had the opportunity to participate.
The negroes of Columbia are not ali
common laborers. Among them are
several well-educated men. There are
graduates of such schools as the Uni
versity of Kansas. the University of
Iowa, Fisk University, and the Uni
versity of Michigan. The high pro-
portion of home-owners among the
negro population is good evidence If
their thrift and enterprise. Proba-
bly, no less than three-fourths of them
own their homes. Some have sue
ceeded in accumulating good amount
of money and property. There is one
negro here who IS worth from $4,000
to $4,000, and there are two or three
others worth $4,000 or more each.
They are advancing into business and
professional fields. There are negro
BARRIERS that make as much on the
average as the whites. They shave on
the same 60 per cent basis. There
are negro grocers, who carry the same
line of goods, though in smaller guam
titles than the white grocers. The
clerks in their stores are paid as
much and in some cases more than the
white clerks in the same kind of
stores. They run on cash basis.
They consider weekly bills the same
as cash and these bills give them bu:
little trouble. There are two negro
doctors. They have good practices
sufficient to bring them from $500
to $4,000 a year. There is negro
pharmacist, who Is graduate of a col.
lege of liberal arts and Of college of
pharmacy.
Those who have had the advan-
tages Of education and have been
more successful in business way are
endeavoring to get their fellowmen
to look toward better things. They
are trying to- serve as examples t6
their races. AS one G: them put il:
81 try to keep my yard clean. try to
work as hard as any of them, so they
can see that, though may be little
more successful st;ll I am mo- better
than they. l have my house well
equipped and well furnished" There
were the electric lights. bath-tub, the
piano. and the various articles of fur.
niture to prove what he said.
The problems of housing and santa.
|tion are among the most distressing
with which the negroes have to deal.
The average size of the negro fami.
ly in Columbia is about six. The aver
age home has about three rooms. The
houses are often more sheds with big
holes in the sides and roofs, the win