The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1916-03-12
NEGROES PLAN
KANSAS COLONY
ALL THEIR own
Committee Dickers with Rail-
road Company for Purchase
of 10000 Acres.

TOPEKA. Kan. Mar. ll.--Negroes
from all over the United States som
Will establish colony. exclusively
fol, negroes, in western Kansas.
"A committee Is now dealing with
the AtchiBnn, Topeka and Santa F0
tRilroad for the purchase OF 10000
acres OF land, with an option OH an
other equal area en- which to estaD-
lIBh the proposed colony.
u. ID. Brooks, editor Of the FIutCh-
inson Blade a negro paper; Thomas
Owens and n. Fl. JeIttz. Of Hutchln-
son, and T. w. Gaugway. OF Pratt, Hre
the organizers of tho plan for the
colony II the deal for the western
Kansas land can DO made.
Negroes now living In New York,
Philadelphia, Chicago, 81. Louis. Gin
uipnaH, Washington and several
southern cities have Joined the Peo-
pla's Civic League. the name Of the
sAgalr.ation.
how Colony VIII De ltun.
1t is not proposed 10 manage Tho
colony ON any s0cIallstic or c0-opa.a-
4 tive plan. Tho committee simply eH-
pacta to purchase the land from he
| railroad ind hold II in trust for LHe
members OF the Organization until the
| final payments arc made. The rail-
road company owns many thousands
of acres Of good land In tho western
part Of the BtHte. It sells the land
only to actual settlers on the Install
ment plan. Tho land Ia offered at n
/, low price and may be paid for in five,
ten or twenty year lnstRllmonts.
Y Only negroes who arc now actual
4 FARMERS, or those III cities who want
to get back 10 tho llnd, will be per-
! taittad to take land In the colony. The
only exception Is Il town site OF 160
acres on which town Ia to be es-
tabliRhed az trading post for the
colony The civic league does not
propose to establish this trading post
to handle any business except that Of
lseking after the land.
UnIy Negroes to Hold Office.
Tha deeds to the land will require
that the settlers can never sell their
land to other than negroes, And=the
SAME prohibition Is to apply 10 the
lots on the town site. 1t Is not ex-
pected that any white man vii ever
spend the night within the confines of
the colony. The charter for the town
is to provide that only negroes can
hold Office. The school districts with
the colony are to be controlled en-
tirely by negroes, only negro teach
ers will be employed and negro chill
dreri allowed to attend, even though
the negro schools might be the near
est to a white family living Just out
! side the colony limits. All church or
! saniEattonB admitted are to be given
ten acres as site and only one
/ church of each denomination Is to be
allowed within the colony.
Kansas already has one negro col
baTr It was established nearly thirty
years ago In Graham county. The
Union Pacific railroad gave colony Of
negroes several thousand acres OF
land In the eastern edge of the oOun-
tys The township and the town they
established waa named Nicodemus.
Hamlet Close To RRilrOnd.
1t Is only hamlet, several miles
from the railroad, The negroes arc
ali farmers but few who maintain
stores and shops al Nicodomus. There
are no rulings against white mon at
INCIDENTS, but rs d matter OF fact
the negroes control the township and
run things to suit theuiselveH Sew
erhi eHunty officers have boon elected
from NiepdemuA Nearly all the mo-
Ernpa awn their own land. and many
/ OF them have tlno homes. Their ohil-
! tirbn attend the state agricultural coll
i-leRs and arc prosperous, advanced
farmers. The negroes arc actually
more progressive and moro careful
farmers than many OF the white
! farmers OF the naighborhood and &C.
! tua1ty make moro money than do
many white people.
/ This colony wRs established simply
by group 1f negroes OF eastern cit
les gathering up their friends and
4 moving ont. There was no idea Of
self government.