The Twin City star. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1910-19??, 1915-01-09
BY RALPH w. TYLER.

BY RALPH W. TYLER.
There Is popular belief existing.
which I. too. shared before my recent
visit to Boley, Okla. that Boley Is but
q mere settlement Of incapable imi-
tators, ignorant lawmakers. like
some who obtruded themselves into
public Office In the south during the
reconstruction period; that few log
huts and makeshift houses and stores,
that are stores only In name, constitute
Boley; that the municipal government
In farce comedy, and that modern"
n word as foreign here as phonetics
to Brazilian monkey that quenches
his thirst In Colonel Roosevelt's river
Of Doubt.
The town Is well illuminated by cleo
tric lights furnished by the city's mod
ern electric light and power plant;
the main street, in its entire length.
has granolithic sidewalks; the stores
are substantially built, well stocked
and orderly conducted; the church
edifices are very creditable indeed. and
the towns bank building and Masonic
temple are the equal Of any town with
three times its population, both being
brick, the Masonic temple being $685.
600 structure. Boley il a modern town.
The public school building is per-
fectly modern, two story. eight room
brick Of chaste design. In addition to
II there IL a good denominational
school. Nineteen teachers are employed
to instruct q registered 800 Negro
pupils. Eight churches conserve the
religious interests Of the town. two
Baptist and one each Of the following
denominations: A. NJ. E., q. M. E.,
M. b.. Congregational. Catholic and
Church Of God. The people Of Boley
subscribe for 2,1O0 monthly publica-
tons, 1,8O0 weekly publications and
1b0 daily publications. This number
Of publications subscribed for by
community Of $500 souls indicates that
Boley n reading community that
means 10 keep informed regarding
what II current In the great outside
world The town maintains seven
physicians, two dentists. six lawyers
and nfty-one merchants, the latter
having over 100000 invested In their
businesses. The town has a federal
form Of government
On arriving at this town. and l ought,
to dignity It with the title of city be-
cause Of the highly Intelligent manner
In which its laws and ordinances are
administered, the visitor alights at a.
railroad station whose station master.
ticket agent. express agent telegraph
operator and baggage smasher'' are
all men collated by the census bureau
at Washington as Negroes. One finds
here the well conducted hotel is pre-
sided over by a member Of the race:
that the telephone exchange is a Negro
institution; that the electric light and
power plant 10 wholly in the hands of
Negroes.
There ID no race discrimination in
Boley. Although the city Is an ex-
clusively Negro owned and populated
town. when a white man puts In an
appearance at Boley. as Is frequently
the case, on business errands, he Is not
subjected to the discrimination and re-
voting segregation to which Negroes
are 90 frequently subjected in white
governed communities. In this Negro
town q white man Ia accorded that
generous hospitality which must i'm
press him with the Negroes sincere de-
sire to return good for evil.
Captivated by the harmony existing
here, observing the progress being
made, could not help recalling Oliver
Goldsmith's lines:
= Hope, like the cleaning taper's light, .,
Adorna and cheers the way
And still. a. darker grows the night,
Emits q brighter ray.
There are many things, and frequent
discouraging happenings to incline
those Of us with less sturdy hearts to
the belief that. for the race. darker
grows the night" But when we turn
our eyes to Boley, Okla, to Mound
Bayou, Miss. and q dozen other ex-
clusively Negro towns "where peace
and smiling plenty reign" In which
Is the proof of Negro cooperation and
capacity for self government we are
made conscious Of the fact that Hope.
IKE the cleaning tapers light, adorns
and cheers the way"
As Plymouth Rock, where the Phi
grim fathers landed. was wild. bleak.
uninviting spot. save for the hope II
offered for freedom Of thought and &C
tion. 30 Boley, only dozen years ago.
was but a virgin forest. trackless
plain, an unpeopled region that offered
no welcome save to those who desired
to establish upon the south's I'M
mutable prejudice the fact that
white or black, mans a man for all
Of that:" that the Negro can cooperate
and harmonixe, and that he has the
intelligent capacity for self govern
ment. For the Negro rae.. n Its de-
sire to establish proof Of hs capacity
for self government. Boley II the hope
that "adorns and cheers the way"
Boley. the Million Dollar Black CITY,"
Ia magnificent In Its proof Of race pro-
gress and capacity for self government