The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-08-17
For so Years Negro Has Fought
Ignorance and Hliteracy.
Progress Shown by Speakers
Before Knights of Pythias.
MORE DELEGATES ARE COMING
Special Trains From
Chicago and st. Louis.
Convention Crowd to 10000.
Grand Review Tomorrow.

| UEduu hcft0M lOmOrTONs -
! According to word received this
morning at the local headquarters OF
the Knights of Pythias. special train
maoe up of 16 coaches will arrive in
Topeka over the Santa Fe either We'd
nesday night or Thursday morning.
This train will come from Chicago
and will bring all of the delegates
who were unable to come the first part
of the week to attend the convention.
The delegation from Chicago will be
strengthened by another delegation
from St. Louis and Kansas City. This
! latter group will be brought to Topeka
/ on four special trains
The majority of the delegates from
! these points had refrained from COM
ing to Topeka with the first trainload
/ because of the unsettled weather.
| They were uncertain as to whether
the convention would be held or not.
If the weather continues good the new
delegates will arrive here on Wednes-
day or Thursday. With this addition
to the convention the total number of
delegates and visitors to the conven-
tion will be about ten thousand.
Big Review Friday.
The main event of the week for
members of the Uniform rank and all
delegates to the convention of the col
ored knights of Pythias will be the
dress parade and review Friday at 10
o'clock in the morning. Every dele
agte and every member of the uniform
rank will take part in the parade. Gov.
Henry ]. Allen and Mayor Herbert J.
Il Corwine, with their staffs, will review
the parade from the official reviewing
stand on the south balcony OF the q.
A. r. Memorial building at Tenth and
Jackson streets.
All of the prominent officers of the
Knights of Pythias will be present at
the parade and will occupy the review
ing stand with the governor and the
mayor. The parade will be a full dress
affair. Many military maneuvers will
be executed by the marching COM
panies of men and women.
The line of march will be from the
fair grounds east to Harrison street.
north on Harrison to Third street,
cas-. ON Third to Kansas avenue, south
on the Avenue, to Ninth street, west
on Ninth to Jackson street, south on
4 Jackson to- Tenth. The parade will
then march on Tenth past the review
ing. stand to Kansas avenue. 1t Will
go south on the avenue to Seventeeth
street and west on Seventeenth to the
fair grounds. At o'clock Friday aft
ernoon the First Regimental band of
Illinois will execute a musical drill.
And at s o'clock Friday night the
prize drills of class A and class B will
be held. After the drills there will be
a band concert. Friday will be the
final day of the convention.
+ Saturday at $50 p. m. the uniform
rank stationed at the fair grounds will
break camp in preparation for leaving
the city.
The reports made in the second
days session of the Supreme Lodge OF
Knights of Pythias and the Supreme
Court of Calanthe showed remarkable
progress in the las- two years, and the
/ order is welding a wonderful influ-
ence over the colored people thruout
the country. Supreme Chancellor s.
w Green of New Orleans, and Su-
preme Worthy Counsellor Ernest 9.
Harrington expressed themselves as
being pleased with treatment of tho
people of Kansas, with but one excep-
tion.
"In calling the supreme lodge to
, order in the house of representatives
this morning, Supreme Chancellor
Green said, Tt is to be regretted that
a paper headed by Senator Arthur
Capper should attempt thru its coll
umns to poke fun at a meeting which
represents the progress we have made
/ in fifty-five years, with graduates
from some of the best institutions in
4 this country. and we are helping to
build up not only our own peops., but
| the communities in which we live.
! The newspaper lost sight of what we
are doing and saw only women wad-
; ing thru the mud and water at the
camp. for which Kansas is not re-
sponsible, holding their dresses above
their knees, and some one is reported
, to have said, I dunno, 1 dunno where
to go' / don't '--~-v whethc. lou
will find in this her of men with
the school room open, who wou.l so
disregard the proper use OF English.
Producing Thinkers.
~ For the past If '-~ars we have
: made fight against Ignorance and
illiteracy, and kno.s that we are not
all perfect yet, and cannot be expected
. of US. About two AID half centuries
we were held in bondage. and then
{ it was a crime for a negro to be
! caught with a book. He was lot to
4 think, but to meaEure lis real man
. hood by his physical size and strength
, rather than by his mind / am Clad
Z that we are producing thinkers men
/ with degrees from such institutions.
= as the University of Kansas. Yale.
Harvard. Univerc ty of Chicago,
} Brown and many institutions Of our
own.
The supreme lodge opened with
singing the Ode, and prayer by the
Rev. Dr. N C. Nix, Of South Caro-
lima, supreme prelate. Following the
reading OF the journal. Frank A.
Young, secretary of the committee on
credentials, made a short talk. COM
I mending the grand lodges on their
excellent records, and the manner in
, which they had promptly filed their
e credentials, and not a single contest
= reported.
i THE Knights of Pythias of this
f country stand a living example OF
the business ability of the American
4 negro" he said. we are handling
u millions of dollars annually, a thing
:. which was not dreamed of fifty years
ago, and then we are inspiring our
4 people We are building homes, erect-
# ing buildings. and figuring in the
: commercial and financial world"
Q Several prominent Pythians made
remarks during the morning. among
s them We're w Jerald Smith, of Hous-
n ton. Texas. vice-grand chancellor Of
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