The bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1917-03-16
BRUCE CHOSEN TO HEAD NE.
GRO CLUB,
Members Feel Confident.F Former High
School Teacher Is Ablest Man
In State.
.KE SECOND BOOKER
Once St. Joseph Principal, Now Su'
perintendent of Bartlett Farm
ing School.

Prof. N. C. Bruce, former principal
of the Bartlett high school Of St. Jo-
seph, now head of the Bartlett Agri-
cultural and Industrial school at Dal-
ton, Charlton county, Missouri, known
also as the "Missouri-West" and
Country Life" school, has been chosen
leader Of the Negro Freedom Progress
sive Colored Mems club Of Missouri.
The schools at Dalton was made
possible through the generosity of the
Bartletts, Judge and Mrs. w. K.
James and other white people of St.
Joseph and other cities. It is almost
in the center Of twenty-seven south
and north Missouri river bottom coun-
Ties, The black belt Of Missouri, and
was established in a small way in
1909, and since has grown into one Of
the leading Negro educational centers
of the United States. The school is
planned "to help the Negro people get
back to the land and to their best
place for desirable, useful, productive
citizenship"
Judge w. X. James is president of
the board of control, Herschel Bart
lett is treasurer. Charles Nagle, FORM
er United States secretary of COM
merce and labor; Clarence H. How
ard, president of the Commonwealth
Steel company; William B. Ittner, ar
chitect, and Judge Joseph Wheless,
all of St. Louis; George D. Dayton,
Minneapolis; Huston Wyeth, St. Jo-
seph; Alexander Massey, Kansas City;
Prof. Joseph D. Elliff, educational
commissioner of the University Of
Missouri, are on the board of trustees
and have given time and money to
the work.
School Well Equipped.
The school now has 18O acres,
boys building, girls dormitory, mod
.ern stock barn, repair and manual
training barracks, several cottages
for housing students, good start in
stock, teams and farm tools, vehicles
and implements worth some $4,000.
The school stresses farming and do
mestic service training. It is supply
ing competent, educated farm workers
and domestic servants. The students
lead in corn raising and acreage crop
yields and are good spoilers, readers
and fgurers and excel as cooks, laun-
dry and sewing workers and in field,
kitchen, shop and barn work. The
school needs more land, tools and
equipment and is trying to deserve
these by making proper use of what
little it now has.
Negroes Make Appeal.
Il In the following article DR.. William
j. Thompkins of Kansas City, a lead
ing Negro surgeon, gives an account
of a recent meeting in Jefferson City,
of the forward movement for the Ne
gro people of Missouri, and of what
the governor and some leading edu-
Gators and statesmen think of the
work of Principal Bruce:
|, "A score of trained solid, capable
colored men, real, educational, religi-
Gus and industrial leaders among their
race in Missouri, met in Jefferson City
to present an appeal on behalf of Mis-
souri, rural life Negro people to the
especially called joint session Of the
senate and house appropriating COM
mittees.
"Among those present were Lafe
Rucker, Doc Payne, Randolph county;
Prof. J. B. Coleman, A. M. and Virgil
Schweich, T. E. Martin, Columbia,
Boone county; Henry Mann, Nathan
Thornton and Chairman N. c. Bruce
of the Missouri State Negro Farmers
association, Charlton county; l. N.
Jordan, Peter Sanderson, J. T. Stokes,
Alex. Slater, Cole county; Prof. J. 5.
Craven, Shelby county; Thomas Draf-
fen, Caleb Williams, Cooper county;
DR.. E. l.. Harris, Paul w. Mosley,St.