Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1920-03-20
THE PASSING THRONG


scratch or a jar, the daily and weekly
press of the city to the contrary nOtwith-
standing but at the time | neither knocked
cording to the supersittous some calamity
was bound to befall me. For two days 1
escaped and l was about to congratulate
myself again for having completely out
generated the goofs when on Sunday morn
ing | scanend the jury list for April and
found my name among those drawn.
Escaped from wrecked street car to be
drawn on the jury for thirty days and [
felt like saying, Oh, Street Car, where is
thy sting? | have lived in Seattle for
thirty years and have never sat on jury,
not because | trumped up excuse to
keep from doing so, but because l have
always operated a one-man business which
would undergo great suffering if | were
not constantly with it, The late Judge
Robert Brook Albertson excused me from
jury duty such plea and | trust it
will work on this occasion
A fair-sized audience listened to j. A.
Hassell tell about the glOries of the Black
Star Line and the achievements of the
Negro from the time that memory of man
runneth not to the contrary and he told
it eloquently as we'll as intelligently, and 1
said, Amen to all he said so far os spread
ing out and becoming a factor in the
worlds work was concerned, and [ fully
conceded with him in the ACCESSIBILITY of
buying stock in the Black Star Line if you
and each of you, consider it good bust
ness investment But as [ listened to his
earnest appeal for the good of the concern,
for which he came there to talk, it oc-
cured to me, why not ''let down your
bukets where you are'', by opening small
business in the community in which you
reside? Why cross the continent to benefit
yourself, when you can do so at home?
Multiplied hundreds of japanese are do
ing business in and about Seattle and do
ing business with the white population, who
lat heart bear them good will, but in
spite of that they are succeeding. The
white man would just as willingly, and
probably more so, trade with colored folks,
if they would open up small business houses
as do the Japanese Cease chasing the end
of rainbows for tabled gold mines and dig
down where you are.
Many of Seattles colored colony wit
messed the change of chief executives of
the city with more or less fOrebOdings as
well as misgivings, for they believed man
assumed the duties Of mayor Of the city,
who was more or less unfriendly to them.
Of course | know the mayor Of city has
little or no opportunity to show any dl-
rect unfrendliness to the colored folks any
more so than to any other distinct class,
but they know as rule white man from
the South seldom, if ever, loses an Oppor-
tunty to do the colored man gross in
justice, in this however, Claude c Ramsay,
one of the county commissioners, is a most
brilliant exception | am not sure that
Mayor Caldwell made the remark about
coored folks that has been attributed to
him. but even before that was published,
the coored citizens, almost with one &C.
cord said they wanted no Tennessee mayor
for Seattle The colOred citizens want to
see men elected to executive positions, to
whom they can go with whatever troubles
they may have and be cordially received,
which is not characteristic of the southern
white man. I trust however, that the col
ored folks will experience no more civic