The Colorado statesman., 1911-10-14

minded of little story they tell about
the elephant and the partridge nest. II
is said an elephant was out grazing
one day and as he walked about In
the tall grass he came upon a nest OF
young partridges. inadvertently he
stepped upon and crushed the mother
bird. The story goes that when the
elephant saw the mother bird was
dead. and that there was no one to
take her place. he became very sorry
and in pity looked down upon the
dead bird and said: Poor thing; |
have killed you; didn't mean to do
1t; and poor little orphan birds with
out any mother, ! am so sorry for you.
Now that your mother is dead you
will have no one to brood you, to
nestle you under her wings: no one to
feed you and teach you the shrill
sweet notes of your kind. | really feel
sorry for you. poor little orphan birds,
and even II you have no mother to sit
on you. will take her place. will
sit on you. little birds. will sit on
you"
| can't believe that that kind OF
help did those birds any good. What
those birds wanted was help from
birds like them selves. And what the
negro wants. in a constantly increas-
ing degree. is the help of his own
kind | don't care how much inspira-
tion comes to us from other sources,
self-help. self-rellance and strength
must come to us from seeing what our
own people are doing and what they
can do.
And now. then, in conclusion, want
to do what one of my friends asked
me to do by way OF illustration.
refer to r. l.. Smith of Texas. have
used this illustration a hundred times
to show our people the wonderful
power of united effort and how little
money is required to make great
race rich. 1t illustrates just what CO.
operation along race lines in business
is going to do for us. even though we
do not control the great money mar
kets of the world. Let me show you
how the members of our race can use
their money for their own best benefit
and at the same time help and inspire
other business possibly
producing negro millionaires within
very short time.
Now here, for instance, are three
men-Doctor Washington, Hon. j. {.
Napier and myself-these three men
representing the whole negro race
(for the sake of illustrationl so far as
Interchange of values is concerned.
Now | owe Doctor Washington three
t.
however.) Doctor Washington owes
Mr.. Napier three dollars, and Mr.. Ma
pier owes me three dollars. Il am
sorry that is not reality) Remember
there are nine dollars owing in that
debt, three parties involved, and let us
say that there is only one dollar in
the crowd and | have that dollar
(Which is a pretty big supposition).
Only one dollar in circulation. Being
anxious to pay my debt to Doctor
Washington, go to him like an hon
est man and give him that one dollar
on account; that leaves two dollars
which l still owe him. Then Doctor
Washington hands the dollar over to
Mr. Napier an account. leaving two
dollars left on his indebtedness to Mr..
Napier. Then Mr. Napier comes in
and pays me one dollar on account,
leaving balance due me from Mr..
Napier of two dollars.
Now take that same dollar and go
to Doctor Washington and l say to
him: Here is another dollar of the
two dollars balance l owe you; this
leaves only one dollar owe you now"
Doctor Washington goes to Mr.. Napier
and likewise cancels another dollar OF
his indebtedness, leaving one dollar
still due. Mr. Napier gladly comes to
me and hands that dollar over to me
leaving a balance due by him to me OF
only one dollar. Now, as the matter
stands. | owe Doctor Washington one
dollar, Doctor Washington owes Mr..
Napier one dollar, and Mr.. Napier
owes me one dollar. Now with that
last dollar Mr. Napier gave me | pay
off my entire Indebtedness to Doctor
Washington, who in turn cancels his
indebtedness to Mr.. Napier, and Mr..
Napier comes to me (like a good finan-
cier that he Isl and squares up his en-
tire debt with that dollar.
So you see there has been nine dol
lars worth of debts paid with that one
dollar. How was it done? Simply by
keeping that dollar travelling in
circle-as 1t ought to do among mem
bers of our race. Suppose, instead OF
taking that dollar to Doctor Washing
ton. | had handed it to man outside
the circle, one who had no interest in
the circle, my debt would not have
been paid until found another dollar,
and likewise the debts of others would
have still remained outstanding, but
see what you can accomplish when you
keen your dollars in proper circula-
toni
Now you put the negro grocer IN
that circle, and the negro shoemaker
and the negro furniture dealer. the
negro dry goods merchant, the negro
oil