Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1915-10-22

=
A. result OF the sixteenth conven.
ton Of the National Negro Business
league. which recently held its three.
day session In Boston, where In 1900
the league was started by Dr.. Booker
= Washington and few like-minded
farsighted c0l0red men. the northern
Negro will better understand his
southern brother. and the southern
Negro will appreciate. even more fully
than he has done. how much the South
offers him In the form Of opportunity
to do something worth while. and 70
become somebody in the life of his
community.
Out Of this better understanding
there must come to the race more re-
spect for itself. q greater degree Of
confidence. growing determination,
especially ON the part Of young men
and women. to begin at once to i'm
prove their economic condition by
practicing greater thrift, pushing out
into new fields Of business activity.
and becoming more efficient in their
everyday business operations.
Seven hundred delegates came to
gether from thirty states. including
the District OF Columbia. Here were
some Of the most prosperous members
OF the Negro race. Yesterday many
OF them were not only poor in a
worldly sense. but they were without
any influence for progress in their
home communities. Many OF these
same delegates were hopeless fifteen
years ago, 30 far as thinking that they
could succeed In business. The way
to economic independence. however.
was lighted for them by the National
Negro business league. AS men with
out education and property, they ex-
erted little constructive influence Ell
Their on their black or white neighbors.
Today how different is all this! The
heart-throbbing stories of uphill climb
through long years Of sacrifice, work
and faith, which were told with direct
ness. simplicity and sincerity, under a
fire OF incisive questions from Doctor
Washington and others, would make
even the critical and hard-headed citi
zen marvel at the Negroes rare prog
ress during the fifty years of his free
dom. and especially during the last ten
or fifteen years, during which time the
pace in business has quickened and
competition has become keener.
Surely silent revolution has taken
place among American Negroes. Some
men in congress. years ago. honestly
supposed that Negroes would always
have to be fed. clothed and sheltered.
They were not able to look beyond
the days Of reconstruction. Today.
however. ex-slayes and their children.
in many instances, are powerful land
lords. rich merchants. level-headed
bankers and important community
builders. Today the American Negro
II real asset. Today the best white
people of the South are thinking OF
the Negro as man and are saying II
out loud. They realize that education
does help to improve the Negro.
The National Negro Business league
does not claim all the honor OF bring
Ing about the splendid Transformation
which means, for racial understanding
and good will. much more to the white
citizen OF the nation than It does to
the millions Of colored people The
league has endeavored, however, to
encourage Negroes to 60 into business.
apply to their work the highest stan
dards, and depend for patronage not
on any color-line appeal but solely on
merit. The league through its annual
meetings has been rare inspirational
force. II has discovered human be-
ings and has opened the way for the
young, the discouraged or the inexpe-
Yienced, to catch vision OF what real