The Dayton forum. [volume] (Dayton, Ohio) 1913-1949, 1938-04-08
Millions

Millions
1t is cheering TO see several Negro
business enterprises now III the mil
lion dollar class. III the annual state
ment Ut the North Carolina Mutual
Life Insurance Company, there were
several million dollar items assets,
FIVE million, legal reserve, -four mil
lion; insurance III force, forty-one
million, etc
Atlanta Life Insurance Company
reports: assets, three million; income
il .a7, Two million; legal reserve,
nearly two million.
The Afro American life of Jack
sonville, Ilas reports. assets, a mil
lion; and income last year, i million.
supreme Liberty Life of Chicago,
now reputed O. te the largest Negro
business enterprise II the North, re-
ports assets two million, legal e
serve, nearly two million; insurance
In force, thirty six million.
The American Noodmen 81 Den
xer report assets If oyer three mil
Lion.
Universal Life of Memphis had ii
come If j million last year.
III the banking field, the Mechanics
and Farmers of Durham reports as
sets of nearly i million and half.
Surprising are the gains made by
these institutions il the depression
years. our best brains arc not in the
field Of education, nor IN the pro
fessions.
Books for Children
The current Horn Book Magazine,
which II devoted To books and read
ing for young people, published At
264 Boylston street. Boston, carries
an article OH Books Negro Children
Like by Marjorie Hill Alice. This
article, which largely concerns the
work of Miss Edith Moon, libra
ian at the Poster school, Evanston
has three striking paragraphs Of gen
eral interest u the Negro public The
author says
BY and large, in the loves, grades
any well written book that most chill
dren like will be read by some col
ored child with pleasure Anima
stories are great favorites; 50 ar,
stories about other American chill
dren, and, 70 q much lesser extent
those about foreign children. Book
about Negro children are an especia
pleasure, when they are we'll chosen
but many d well-intentioned but ig-
norant publisher has damned book
for Negro use for want Of Informed
editing. Nigger' is a fighting wore
and Is likely to be scratched out o
the book by an indignant child
'Pieaninny and darky are almst a
Objectionable
"The southern Negro child doe
not like stories Of old plantation life
he is still too close to those time
and manners The northern Negr,
child often feels sufficiently remot
to enjoy such a story, just as h
might enjoy a tale Of old Bohemia
There is little interest among chill
dren IN stories whose chief reason
for being is an African background
but as the children grow older tie.
are intensely interested in their owl
background and their own heroes j
this country, such as Paul Robeso
and Harriet Tubman.
Some Of the Foster School ia
yorites among books about Negroe
are Evans Araminta' and 'Jerom
Anthony, Enright's Little Kintl
and Bontemps 'Sad-Faced Boy j
biography, Haynes 4Unsung Heroes
and Bullock's In Spite Of Handi
caps; and they like Cuthbert's w
Sing America, a simple but Yer
excellently selected little volume {
facts about American Negroes. '
We trust book publishers will not
this viewpoint, and govern themselve
accordingly. Some white peopl
have naive way Of presenting in
sulting material to Negroes and ap
parently expecting them to like it.
The authors summation is admir-
ably stated: Briefly, we might sa
that book on an American topic
clearly written in vocabulary nc
beyond that Of fourth grade chile
and exhibiting ordinary courtes
when and II 1t treats OF Negroes,