The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-11-17
NEGRO PROGRESS
 IN BUSINESS
Farmers and Merchants Make Good' Work As a Foe to
 Race Prejudice.
WILLIAM ANTHONY AERY
 Hampton Institute.
6ExcIusive Service The Survey
 Press Bureau.)

ranging in weight from forty-five to sixty-two pounds, recently attracted and held my attention in AEnskogee, Okla. while was passing through splendid agricultural and industriaI exhibit
 skfnHed negro of East Afuskogee. who is share tenant, working a. dog on acres of rich Arkansas bottom land. raised these melons. He had caught the idea Of growing fne fruit and other farm crops from seeing his from their few acres
 Winning Confidence and Respect
 He had done his best in farming ana had won. thereby. both for hin-sI self and for his race. the confidence and respect of many white and black business friends. Lava bidfnss hard- working and thrifty, he has not been aerionsly troubled by any pressing problem of race adjustment He has solved the problem through adj vanclng the best interests of his own community
 When he was a child he lost his mother and father and was brought up. along with one sister. by his grandparenfs Though they were ig- norant Of k-1earning. they taught him to work, to save and to be hon. est
 E1ATTf[IDU IS E61lls a. renter ana 114oG j in a two-ro0n house on a smell plan- fzEion, but he is on the road to be- coming an Independent farmer. He has kind and foresighted landlord man who furnishes his tenant a team of strong mules. good faT1re i'm pIenentss and q conf fortaole house Hawkins is also making hundreds Of dollars for himself. as we'll as for his ,sslboss man, from his cotton corn, sweet potatoes and watermeIons.
 f1 have told, in some detail. the story Of Hawkins and his success to helping and worth understan ding; tlaat he ia really succeeding. and that he Is d real asset to the white man. The best SoutheFners know and be- Heve this
 Racs FrlendI1ness Through ErI1rifts
 That Hawkins has done in East Atskogee to cement more friendly race relations through his thrift and good farming, the National Negro Business League has been doing on a large acale, during fourteen years. for the whole nation
 what negroes In Oklahonaa have done to earn bread by the sweat Of their brow may be readily repeated by neeroes throughout the United States. provided they arc willing to pzly the prtce nanaeIy, forego the lure Of the city for the blessangx of the open country and make their essential Interests harlnonize with the interests Of the best white people.
 Negroes in Muskogee Coun nty ac- eording to the city superintend ent of echeols, own and control 60.0o0 acres Of valuable agricultural and oil land; they own city real estate in Muskogee that is worth $l,6O0.000. Their bus value Of at least $1sOOs0OO and in- elude. clothing store for men, dry1 goods store, ice company plumb ing and plumbing supplies shop. s contractors and builders, 12 barber shops concrete uanufactUreTs, 50, grocery stores drug stores. haF- ness shop. 20 restaurants. g black smith shops 12 shoe shops, 1z tailor shops. I dairy ice cream stores 10 coal dealers undertakers, steam tate brokers. cab lines, moving picture theatre. betting works.
 Muskogee has four fine schools for it's negro children. The 'boys Of the Manual Training High school did all tn e carpentry work last year on ai 1ctIy modern, six-roonn cottage for fy-0nP by forty-seven feet, worth $2,-i coo and renting for 20 a month when times are hard in MuskoEee. The az gregate value of the negro schools Is s8o. .0g0 and 56 negro teachers are e1np1oyed in the public schools
 , geean. a public chIcial should know these facts concern1ng negroes in business and other pursuits Is in itself. important, because it is a common occurrence to find that many, many of tlae peqt white people of the south do not know. and tIlerefore cannot possibly understand. what the better negroes are doing to reflect credit on. themselves. their race, and their com munity-
 Successful Negroes.
 j. D. Thonpson. of Clearview,. sylxla., which is one of several pros porous negro settlements represents the idea Of ssbig business,' among ne- groes Thompson controls 5000 acres of farm lands furnishes employment throughout the year for many mem Ders Of his race; grows crops that ket to his products: enploys the methods Of scientific farmIngs ana breaches the doctrine Of keep a. push1ng,,
 The son Of a slave-wonan, he be- gan at the age Of thirteen to. farm. Today. at the age Of hfty-five Thon1p- 2 son actually owns 1,S0o acres He raises mules, horses hogs and cattle. This is in contrast to his condition in 1s71s when he stood on the porch of renters hove1 and. looked IongingIy with his sister into 8 garden full of 1a5zs1aFds signed: IT we only had some meat. we could ceok it in p1en- ty or znustard-'
 Logan Morgan who lives within four miles of Muskogee. Okla, finds that no color line is drawn in the market against his twelve and four teen-ouuce Alberta peaches. which N bring $2 a bushe1 in the orchard. H is tvventy-one years of experfence iu fi1e Southwest have taught him the value of remaining quietly at work and of producing among other crops .speaches that can't be beat"
 Morgan was married twenty years asee when he had only six 'sbits7 and