The Washington herald., 1915-08-28

Business League. OF which Booker T:
Washington Il president At one OF the
| sessions Of the convention Mr.. Lewis
gave an interesting talk on Banks
and Banking" in which he made some
striking statements. The paper fol-
lows in full:
Mr.. president, ladies' and gentlemen of
the National Negro Business League, my
subject. Banks and Banking" Is by
no means a new one. Solomon said aptn,
There is no new thing under the SUM- n
Traces Of credit by compensation and
by transfer orders are found in Assyria.
Phoenicia and Egypt. Clay tablets in
the British Museum taken from the ruins
of Babylon show that as far back as
the days of Northumberland. loans OF
silver at interest were made and loans
secured by mortgage on land.
In Babylon banking was carried on as
early as 700 B. C. This seems to be the
first firm. The Chinese understood the
use of paper money hundreds of years
before the European nations, and es.
banking as We understand it did not
commence before 1854. The bank Of
Venice was established in I'LL. The
bank of Sweden in 1856. This bank
still exists. The Bank of England was
founded in 1894. the Bank of France
in 1900.
You will notice that the great fnan-
cial institutions of the world count
their ages by the hundreds and hun
dreds of years. We may be somewhat
disappointed at the slowness with
which negro banks have come into ex-
istence and the slowness with which
they have increased their financial re-
sources. -
Never Taught to Save. -
But, Mr.. President, the reason is easily
seen. We do not know the value Of
money: We have never been taught to
save. We have never been taught the
lesson. Look after the pennies, nickles
and dimes. and the dollars will look after
themselves"
Evidences of this are seen every min
ute Of the day in our race. If sugar is
6 cents a pound. lard u 1-2 cents, meat
II 1-2 cents. We buy one pound. three
pounds and the like, without ever stop
ping to think how We can save those half
pennies and what they mean.
Take a pound Of tea, sixteen ounces.
which sells for so cents. What DO We do?
We send to the store for cents worth.
This is done day after day, thus paving
50 cents for that pound Of tea. Any time
the child and even the adult says to the
merchant. Give me 10 cents worth OF
meat" if tine meat is III -2 cents per
pound. you get about three-quarters of a
pound and there is saved to the merchant
about cents on the pound.
My friends, there is scarcely a person
under the sound of my voice who has not
the above. What are we going
to do about it? Where is the remedy?
Can't we learn from that merchant Of
the Jew? He knows our
weakness and preys on it. He opens his
shops in our midst and smiles and bows.
pets our children, gives them cake and
candy until he catches the old flies. That
is his molasses. In a few years he Is
able to move in larger and more spa
cious quarters. He has grown rich of
our pennies, nickles and dimes.
Why Are Our Banks Few: |
Mr.. President, we have a population
these ten millions of people spend
yearly between three and five hun
dred millions of dollars. We have the
people. We have the money. Why
haven't We the banks? One reason
is, We do not know how to manage
and operate a bank. we have no OPP
to serve as apprentices and
thus become proficient in conducting the
same. We only learn by doing. Let US
have more banks.
The negro in the employment of a white !
bank is there as a messenger. janitor, |
or Waterman. He is not promoted for !
faithful service, honesty, education nor
ideal character. No reward is for him
save a few extra dollars at Christmas
time. |
a second good rea son: Negroes who |
have money just simply prefer to walk |
in the old paths of their parents and /,
deposit in white banks. Mr.. President, |
no depositors means no bank. The white |
man likes to handle and control. the |
negroes money, paying him 2, 3 and 4
per cent. interest and charging him 6, |
and per cent, and a bonus for lend |
ing it back to him. They employ men
to solicit the influential negro and they
advertise Mr. A and B deposit here as
a magnet to draw thousands of other
depositors.
Mr.. President, I live in the Capital
If the nation with population in |
md around Washington of 125, 900 COL
,red people with more culture and in
it is said, than any other
,ity in the country.
For necessities of life it costs them
$500 a year per capita. In other