clubwomen are suggested. Such meetings would have as their object the
fixing of uniform and mutually satisfactory prices and service. It is
also recommended that Negro insurance agents constitute themselves
unofficial health inspectors for their sections of the town. In this
capacity they would report to the public health committee of the local
league all instances of badly ventilated homes or schools,
mosquito-breeding spots, accumulations of rubbish and filth, or any
other conditions menacing the health of the colored citizens. The
suggestion is made that where possible reading-rooms and bureaus of
information be opened in connection with the offices of Negro
newspapers and that such rooms place the colored papers from all
sections of the country at the disposal of the patrons after the
editor has finished with them. That several small shopkeepers club
together and employ one expert bookkeeper is another idea offered. It
is also proposed that small retailers get together for the purpose of
purchasing jointly such commodities as can be advantageously secured
in this manner. It is finally urged that a committee be appointed each
year to make a social survey of the Negro population. This study would
show what progress had been made during the year in all lines of
endeavor and at the same time furnish a directory of all the business
and social activities of the Negroes of the community. It is pointed
out that the sale of advertising space in its pages would alone more
than pay for such a directory.
It will be noted that these business leagues, like all other
organizations founded or moulded by Booker Washington, do not stick
to their lasts in any narrow sense. Mr. Washington never lost sight of
the fact that the fundamental concern of all human beings was living,
and that farming, business, education, recreation, or what not, were
only important in so far as they made the whole of life better worth
living. The means employed never obscured his vision of the aim sought
as is so frequently and unhappily the case with lesser men.
Just as at the agricultural conferences, so at these business
gatherings, Booker Washington used the methods employed by the
revivalist at the experience meeting. By so doing he accomplished the
double purpose of encouraging the successful by the tribute of public
recognition and spurring on the less successful and the unsuccessful
to go and do likewise. Also by means of men and women telling their
fellows in open meeting how they achieved their success the race is,
as it were, revealed to itself. It was, for instance, through a
meeting of the National Negro Business League that it came to light
that the man who raises the most potatoes in the United States, and
who is commonly known as the Potato King of the West, is a Negro--J.G.
Groves of Edwardsville, Kan. Groves' story at one of the annual
meetings attracted so much attention that an account of his life later
appeared in an illustrated special article in the _American Magazine_.
It was also discovered through a league meeting that Scott Bond,
another colored man, was probably the most successful farmer in the
State of Arkansas. After he had told his story at the meeting of the
National League held in New York in 1910 he was pursued by cameramen
and interviewers for days and weeks and his story was spread all over
the United States. At the Chicago meeting of 1912 Watt Terry, a modest
and even shrinking colored man of Brockton, Mass., unfolded a
remarkable story of success in spite of the hardest and must untoward
circumstances. So unbelievable seemed this man's story that the
Executive Committee took up with him personally the facts of his
recital, and later the Secretary of the League, in response to a
demand, had to vouch for his statements in open meeting. To clinch the
matter still further Mr. Washington wrote to the Secretary of the
Young Men's Christian Association in Brockton, who replied that
Terry's story had, if anything, been understated rather than
overstated. Booker Washington himself told Watt Terry's story in the
pages of the _Independent_ for March 27, 1913. Here it is: "... Mr.
Terry is a modest-appearing young man about thirty years of age. When
he landed at Brockton some twelve years ago he had, according to his
own story, a capital of just twelve cents. He found work at first as a
coachman. After a time he obtained what he thought was a better
position as janitor in the Young Men's Christian Association Building.
Some of the members of the association succeeded in getting him a
position as a railway porter.
"'Somehow or other,' said Terry, 'I did not care for that sort of
work, and after a few months gave it up. I made up my mind that I
would rather work at a trade, and tried to get work in one of the
shoe factories in Brockton. As I did not know the trade and there was
a good deal of competition for the places open to apprentices it
looked rather hopeless at first. Finally, I got the foreman to say he
would give me a chance, provided I was willing to work for two weeks
without pay. I accepted that offer and made up my mind to make the
most of those two weeks.'
"At the end of the two weeks Terry had done so well that he was given
a position in which he earned $7 a week. By sticking close to his job
and making the most of his opportunities he was gradually promoted
until he earned first $10, then $15, $18, and finally $25 a week.
"'I had some difficulties at first,' said Terry. 'The other men did
not like me at first and showed it. However, I stuck to the job, kept
on smiling, and it was not long before I was on just as good terms
with the men in the shop as I cared to be. As I did not have much
opportunity to spend my money, I found it easier to save.'
"When Terry reached the point where he was earning $25 a week his wife
was earning $9 as matron in the Brockton railway station, and they
both saved their money. Meanwhile Terry had begun to buy and sell real
estate in a small way. One day he sold a house and lot upon which he
cleared as commission $100.
"'That seemed to settle the question of my future,' said Mr. Terry. 'I
decided to go into the real estate business.'
"He added that at the present time his gross income from his houses
was between $6,000 and $7,000 per month. Altogether, including several
store buildings and two apartment houses containing fifty-four suites
of rooms, Mr. Terry owns 222 buildings in Brockton. One of these
buildings is leased by the United States Government for the use of the
post-office; another is rented for a public library and reading-room
by the city.
"I should not, perhaps, have dared to make this statement if I had not
confirmed the truth of Mr. Terry's statement by independent inquiry.
In a recent letter from Secretary White, of the Brockton Young Men's
Christian Association, he says: 'Some weeks ago I wrote you relative
to our mutual friend (Watt Terry's) business, but now I want to
enclose a clipping from the tax list which you will see is positive
evidence that the time the taxes were recorded he was carrying well on
to $300,000 and I know that his purchase of $120,000 occurred since
that time. It is certainly a most wonderful development within a few
years.'
"I ought to add that during all the time that Mr. Terry has been in
Brockton he has been connected with the Young Men's Christian
Association, and not long ago he contributed $1,000 toward the support
of that institution.
"Many persons will, perhaps, feel that money which is acquired in this
rapid way is likely to do the person who obtains it as much harm as it
does good. I confess that it seems to me that the same amount of money
acquired more slowly would mean more to the man who gained it. On the
whole, however, the Negro race has not reached the point where it has
been troubled by the number of its millionaires. And if getting slowly
and laboriously is a good discipline, the Negro has almost a surplus
of that kind of blessing. I ought to add, also, in justice to Mr.
Terry, that from all I can learn, his rapid rise has neither injured
his character nor destroyed his good sense. I suspect that the effort
to keep all those houses rented and the effort to pay interest on his
mortgages has had a tendency to make him humble."
Although Watt Terry's success is, of course, phenomenal he is only one
of the many notably successful Negro business men who have told their
stories at meetings of the National Negro Business League. Neither is
Mr. Terry the only Negro who has made a big success in real estate. At
the meeting of the league already described, held in Boston in 1915,
Mr. Washington introduced Philip A. Payton, Jr., of New York City;
E.C. Brown, of Philadelphia, Pa.; and Watt Terry, of Brockton, Mass.;
as the three largest real estate operators of the Negro race. Philip
A. Payton, Jr., was the pioneer in opening the Harlem district in New
York City to settlement by Negroes, who had formerly been excluded
from all decent portions of the city and obliged to live on San Juan
Hill and in other sections of unsavory reputation. E.C. Brown made
money in real estate in Newport News and Norfolk, Va., and headed
movements for the establishment of Negro banks in both of these
cities. Afterward he moved to Philadelphia, where he has opened a
bank, and also conducts a real estate business on Broad Street--the
only Negro, it is said, who conducts a large business enterprise on
this important thoroughfare. At the same meeting it was brought out
that a Negro by the name of Phillip J. Allston was chemist for the
Potter Chemical Company, having risen from bottle-washer to that
responsible post. The story of J.S. Trower, caterer, of Philadelphia,
showed that he was frequently engaged for the most important functions
in the city and had been regularly employed by the Cramps Company,
shipbuilders, to take charge of the catering in connection with the
ceremonies accompanying the launching of new ships for the Navy. Mrs.
Bell Davis of Indianapolis, Ind., has become equally successful as a
caterer. When the National Negro Business League met in Indianapolis
it was she who served the annual banquet. Booker Washington took the
greatest satisfaction in disclosing her achievements to the Negro
people who had previously known little or nothing about her. He thus
introduced her at a meeting of the League, "Mrs. Bell Davis, a widow,
the celebrated caterer of Indianapolis, Ind., who has served banquets
and receptions in honor of Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the
United States, who owns a stock of Haviland china, linen, and
silverware valued at thousands of dollars, all unencumbered, furnishes
another illustration of what heights can be attained in the commercial
world by strenuous effort and making use of every little opportunity
which presents itself. Mrs. Davis' humble beginnings, hardships
encountered, and success achieved would make three chapters of a most
interesting biography."
Among the men spoken of by Booker Washington at the Philadelphia
meeting of the Business League was Heman E. Perry, the founder of the
first and only old line legal reserve life insurance company operated
by and for Negroes. In his efforts to raise the $100,000 initial
capital required by the law of his State--Georgia--Mr. Perry had
tramped all over the United States at least three times. Finally,
having tried every conceivable source without securing the required
amount, he returned to all the subscribers of capital stock the money
they had paid in plus 4 per cent. interest. This action so inspired
the confidence of the subscribers that almost without exception they
not only returned the money, but subscribed for additional stock with
the result that the initial capital stock was oversubscribed. When
examined by the State Insurance Department three years after it opened
business this company was found to have a gross income of almost
$77,000 and admitted assets of almost $160,000. Each subsequent
examination by the State Department has showed a healthy growth, low
mortality, good judgment in the selection of risks, prompt payment of
claims, careful management, and a sound financial condition. By means
of this company, known as the Standard Life Insurance Company, life
insurance may be had by any Negro under the same conditions, with the
same degree of security, and at the same rates as a white man.
Among the other notably successful Negro business men who have told
their stories at meetings of the league are the following: Victor H.
Tulane, of Montgomery, Ala., whose story of small beginnings and
present success stirred his fellows at a meeting of the league. Mr.
Tulane entered the grocery business twenty-five years ago, a business
that any ambitious man of his race may enter, requiring small capital
but unlimited patience and close attention to business. He now owns
considerable property, and is a factor in all matters that concern his
race in Montgomery, being regarded by white and colored citizens alike
as Montgomery's first colored citizen. Mr. Tulane says: "Twenty-five
years ago I was a renter; to-day I am landlord of not a few tenants.
Twenty-five years ago my stock represented less than a hundred
dollars; at the present time it values several thousands. Twenty-five
years ago I had but one helper--a small boy; to-day I employ on an
average of seven assistants the year round, excluding my wife and
self. Twenty-five years ago I bought lard in five-pound quantities;
to-day I purchase by the barrel. Twenty-five years ago I bought salt
in ten-cent quantities; at present I buy it in ton lots. Twenty-three
years ago I was unable to secure credit to the amount of three
dollars, but since that period the very house that then refused me has
credited me at one time with several hundred times this amount, and
to-day it is not, how much do you owe?--but, how much do you want?
Twenty years ago my business barely required the service of one horse
and wagon; at present it demands the use of several. Twenty years ago
I did an annual business of something less than a thousand dollars;
during several years since that time the value of my business has
exceeded $40,000 per year." It is Mr. Tulane's boast that he has not
been denied credit during his business career except the one time
mentioned above, and that he has never been threatened or sued in
connection with the collection of a debt.
Another man's story that came out at the meeting of the National Negro
Business League is the story of Charles H. Anderson, a wholesale and
retail fish and oyster dealer. He conducts a fish, oyster, and game
business in Jacksonville, Fla., which supplies the largest hotels and many
of Jacksonville's richest white families. He is also interested in a fish
and oyster packing business on the Florida coast, and is the cashier of the
colored bank at Jacksonville. A speaker at the league meeting held in the
John Wanamaker store, Philadelphia, in August, 1913, referred to Mr.
Anderson as follows: "The first time I saw this gentleman was fourteen
years ago, when he was standing up behind a white sheet that had a round
hole cut in it, bravely negotiating his head and face as a target; he was
working for a man who was running one of those games known as:
'Every-time-you-hit-the-nigger's-head-you-get-a-fine-cigar!'
(Uproarious laughter.) There I found him fourteen years ago, posing as
a target, and for the magnificent sum of five cents anybody could have
secured the privilege of throwing three balls at his face. (Prolonged
laughter and applause as Mr. Anderson stepped forward and was
introduced to Hon. John Wanamaker, who warmly shook his hand.) To-day
this young man is one of the most competent and one of the most
prosperous business men of our race, regardless of section, North,
South, East, or West. (Hearty applause.) Recently he was offered
$18,000 for one piece of property which he owns in Jacksonville, Fla.,
and if he would sell out to me to-day all of his real estate and other
holdings and equities, I would be willing to give him my check for
$75,000."
Others are: Edward C. Berry of Athens, Ohio, who owns and operates a
family hotel in which he does a business of $25,000 to $35,000 a year;
J. Walter Hodge of Indianapolis, Ind., who, inspired by the recitals
at the Business League meetings, gave up his job as a Pullman car
porter, after he had saved some money, and is now the owner of a large
real estate business; Thomas H. Hayes who, starting as a day laborer
for the Southern Railway, now controls probably the largest
undertaking establishment in Memphis, Tenn.
Perhaps the most remarkable story of business success ever told before
a meeting of the league was that of J. H. Blodgett of Jacksonville,
Fla. Mr. Blodgett told his story at the sessions of the league held in
Philadelphia in 1913 at the Academy of Music. By request he in part
repeated it at the meeting held in the Wanamaker Store the following
day. Mr. Blodgett is an ex-slave. He has had no education whatever
except what he has picked up in his long and successful struggle with
life's sternest realities. We will give his story in his own language.
Bear in mind that this is the language, as taken down verbatim by a
stenographer at the time, of a totally unschooled ex-slave. He said:
"Now I want to say I went to Jacksonville nineteen years ago with the
magnificent sum of a dollar and ten cents in my pocket. (Laughter.) I
also had an extra suit of underclothing in a paper bag; that was all
the baggage I had as a boarder. (Laughter.) I was also arrested as a
tramp for having on a straw hat in the winter time. (Hearty laughter.)
And I say all this especially to you young men who are present here
to-night, for so many of our young men seem to think that they can't
start or succeed in business unless somebody shoves them off the bank
into the water of opportunity and makes them swim for themselves; I
simply want to say this to you young men, I started with $1.10 and one
extra suit of underclothing in a paper bag--(laughter)--and to-day I
pay more taxes than any Negro in Florida. (Prolonged applause.) I have
had all sorts of struggles and difficulties to contend with, but you
can't get away from it--if you get anything in this United States of
America now, you have got to work for it. (Hearty applause.) The white
people all over this country have 'weaned the Negro.' (Laughter and
applause.) Dr. Washington has been going all over this country
boasting about what you could do and what our race has done, and the
white man is just quietly and gently and in every way telling us: 'Go
thou and do what Dr. Washington said you could do.' (Prolonged
laughter and applause.)
"When I began, I commenced working for a railroad company; I had a
splendid job--washing cars for a dollar and five cents a day; I got
$8.40 from the railroad every eight days. After working for a month
and a half I saved enough money to send back and bring my wife from
Charleston, South Carolina, to Jacksonville. Both of us went to work;
we opened a little boarding-house; she ran that, and when my $1.05 a
day enabled me to save as much as one hundred dollars, I quit that job
and began to hustle for myself. I told the white man I was working
under: 'You don't know that a Negro with $100 in cash is a rare thing
among my people. I'm going to strike out and see what I can do by
myself.' I made up my mind that if all of the big Negroes that I had
heard of, read about, and talked with, if they could get honor and
recognition by having brains, money, and ability, there was nothing
the matter with me and my poor little wife to prevent us from getting
up, too; so I went to work and determined to work day and night, if
need be, to get some money, and other things necessary to succeed in
life. I wanted money because I had seen and suffered so many
humiliations put on the man who does not have money. (Applause.)
"The first time I saw this distinguished gentleman (pointing to Dr.
Booker T. Washington) I was laying brick in Jacksonville, Fla., at
$1.25 a day, and he drove by in company with Mr. James W. Johnson, Mr.
J. Rosamond Johnson, and another gentleman. I had always loved the big
men of my race; even as a little boy I delighted to hear of what they
had achieved, and when I heard that the great Booker T. Washington
was in town, I quit my job for that day, went to the place where he
spoke, walked up close, and was hoping somebody would do me the honor
of introducing me. But I found the gentlemen who had him in charge
were introducing him to nobody but the big Negroes, and the big
Negroes were shaking hands with him and completely monopolizing Booker
T. Washington. (Prolonged laughter.) I did not like to be rude and
therefore did not push through the crowd and shake hands with him
anyway, as I felt like doing. I was nothing but a poor brick-layer,
nobody would introduce me, but I heard his grand speech, was richly
benefited and inspired by all he said, and when I went away I made a
solemn vow to myself. I said: 'If God be with me, I mean to so work
and conduct myself so that some day I shall deserve to shake hands
with Booker T. Washington.' (Hearty applause.) Now let me tell you the
sequel of the story. Away down in Florida, in my humble home in
Jacksonville, there is a room named 'Booker T. Washington.'
(Applause.) I have set apart and dedicated a portion of my home in
honor of this distinguished gentleman and leader of our race.
(Applause.) He is the first human being on earth I have ever permitted
to sleep in it, and his good wife is the first woman and second person
I have ever permitted to sleep in that room. (Prolonged laughter and
applause.) We love him in the South, both Negro and white man! (Hearty
applause.) Booker T. Washington's name is a monument of strength
because he is teaching the Negro to use his hands and head in order
to be useful in the community and to achieve success. (Applause.)
"I have been sick this summer and just got back from
Saratoga--(prolonged applause)--of course all men who get rich go to
Saratoga. (Laughter and applause.) While there I met some folks, and
in the course of my remarks I had occasion to remind them that Dr.
Booker T. Washington, while an earnest advocate of industrial
training, is not an enemy or opposed to higher education. There was a
man from the British West Indies who began to speak on the subject of
the Negro; he began to orate around, began to tell how the Negro must
expect to rise in the world; oh! he made a magnificent speech going to
show that there was nothing in the world like higher education for the
Negro; he even said that the Negro race would never amount to anything
and get its rights until every one of us had secured a college
education. (Laughter.) Why, you ought to have been there and heard him
orate; he took us all through Greek, Roman, ancient, and medieval
history; across the Alps and all around the Egyptian pyramids--(hearty
laughter)--and even cited the Druids of old to testify to the grandeur
and necessity of higher education for the Negro. After he got through
orating I said to him: 'Brother, I was down to a meeting of Negroes in
the State of Florida--at the State Business League, and I saw sitting
on one bench eleven (11) Negro men whose combined wealth would amount
to more than one million dollars, and not one of them ever saw the
inside of a college.' (Prolonged applause, mingled with laughter.)
And I said to him further than that: 'If any of you gentlemen who
claim to be educated in the British West Indies, and all you gentlemen
who hail from Beloit College (wherever it is)--if you can fool any one
of those eleven Negroes out of one dime, I will give you ten dollars!'
(Laughter and applause.) Yes, sir, without much education these men
own their own homes and dozens of homes in which other people live;
they are self-sustaining and independent, and can write their names to
checks away up in the thousands of dollars; they live in neat,
comfortable, well-appointed homes and enjoy the respect and esteem of
their neighbors--black as well as white. 'Now, sir,' I turned to him
and asked him, 'will you kindly tell me what is your occupation in
life and what you have been able to accomplish with all this higher
education you have been talking about?' I found out that he was a
waiter in the United States Hotel. (Laughter.) I said to him further:
'My brother, I don't claim to be an educated man, but live in a villa
of my own; I own considerable real estate, and my dear little wife
rides around in our own $5,500 Packard automobile, all paid for.'
(Prolonged applause and laughter.)