Franklin's paper the statesman., 1911-10-21
By GEORGE FRANCIS KING.

By GEORGE FRANCIS KING.
Knoxville. Tenn.-For several years
the printing department Of the A. NJ.
E. church at Philadelphia has been a
topic discussed by thousands Of mem
bers of this influential denomination
for racial uplift. From Maine to Flori-
da and every section of the country.
because the liabilities of this depart
ment have been heavy for years and
the indebtedness is authoritatively as
serted to exceed $4,000. remedies for
the present financial ills are being ad-
vanced. The publishing house at Phil
adelphia will be potent factor at the
Quadrennial conference of the church
in Kansas City next May.
Ira Il. Bryant, secretary of the Sun
day School union of the church,
man of ripe business experience and
possessing peculiar ability. assuring
of success in managing large move
ments. has made the department of
Sunday union of his church an un-
at the general conference in Norfolk,
Va, he was elected secretary Of this
department, and he has become the
cynosure of the eyes of laity and cler-
gy Of his denomination. Contrasting
his success with the state of affairs
Of the printery in Philadelphia. which
is said to be heavily in debt and has
been so for many years, there has
been created tidal wave for the
merging of both houses with the
printing of the church being done in
Nashville, Tenn. where the printing
establishment of the Sunday School
union is located. This plan has been
discussed at all the conferences by
practical and successful men, who
were considering the pertinent fca
ture of the next quadrennial confer
ence of the church. The conferences
that Will be held this winter will. ns
others have done, send men who arc
greatly interested in conserving the
best interests of the general church
and making the publishing affairs of
the connection a success, ns have been
the achievements of Mr.. Bryant. who
has given his church and the race the
only Negro house making its own
type and borders 1t Is now being
claimed all over the connection that
under the conditions of the A. NJ. r.
church or any other similar move
ment for the uplift OF the Afro-Amer-
lean folk 1t is absurd to attempt to
create a tangible movement producing
sufficient revenue to make the propo
sition a success anywhere except be-
ynxr 's ~
An official in the church In discuss
ing combining both plants under n
single management said In part: "a
single management Of our two houses
simply means that the work will be SO
divided that best results will be OBJ
tainable. A single management for
the two houses would mean that all
work the book concern could not ham
die would be sent to Nashville, where
our own boys and girls are employed.
Then there is class OF work, such as
calendar making and fine cut work.
etc. that could be got out to bet
ter advantage in Philadelphia.
The plans are being discussed IA
vorably in all parts OF the connection
Professor j. NJ. Avery. prominent
layman and assistant manager of the
North Carolina Mutual and Provident
association in Durham. which has had
phenomenal success due to the integ-
rity of the officers and their ability to
manage large undertakings and which
is the greatest Negro insurance com
pany in the world. says: why not
accept Bryant's proposition to build
up in Philadelphia a first class book
store and in Nashville n first class
printery under one management?
Some may say that this would be
mere experiment. but most all other
denominations are operating on sim
liar basis and succeeding. Then. too.
Bryant. practical man. is man who
knows his business and has more than
fulfilled every promise made in the
past. He has run the union without
the chlldren's day money. has installed
and paid for over $4,000 worth OF
improved machinery. has given us the
best literature we have ever had In
the history of the church. and. on the
whole. he has done more than. his
friends ever dreamed he was capable
of doing