Chapter C: H. Duell, (4)

BY E. E. COOPER.

EDWARD E. COOPER.

For twenty-five years following Emancipation and the new
opportunities which that great event brought, many of the
brightest minds the colored race has produced had been
endeavoring to solve the perplexing and important problem of
how to make a newspaper, published in the interest of the
colored people, a profitable business enterprise. The number
of such newspaper ventures whose managers failed to solve
the problem mounts well up into the hundreds.

In the early spring of 1893, Mr. Edward E. Cooper, fresh
from conquests in race journalism in Indianapolis, came to
Washington and established "The Colored American," a weekly
newspaper whose circulation last year was put down at 12,000
copies per week, and numbers among its readers residents in
every clime where our flag floats. Mr. Cooper interpreted
the "want" for such a newspaper.

His first venture in journalism was "The Colored World,"
published at Indianapolis. This was quite a success, but he
gave it up to accept a position in the Railway Mail Service.
On leaving the Mail Service be again embarked in journalism
and established "The Indianapolis Freeman," an illustrated
weekly. This was a new feature. "The Freeman" quickly jumped
into great popularity and soon gained national fame. Having
made "The Freeman" a success, he decided to go to Washington
for a larger field of endeavor. Mr. Cooper is undoubtedly
the best all-around newspaper man the colored race has yet
produced.

Edward E. Cooper was born near the little town of Smyrna,
Tenn., and attended the old barracks school for colored
children on Knowles Street, Nashville, south of the
Nashville and Chattanooga depot; which school afterwards
became the nucleus of Fisk University. He began life selling
papers, etc., on trains; then worked on a farm two years. He
next went to Indianapolis, attended the public schools and
graduated from the high school. In 1883, he married Miss
Tenie Jones, one of the most cultivated young ladies of
Paris, Ky.

Mr. Cooper freely acknowledges that his wife has been the
balance-wheel in his life that has brought him what success
he has gained.

We stand in the shadow of a national sorrow.

In an hour of national pride and jubilation, with the eyes of the world upon the greatest republic since the eagles of Rome overspread the earth, in the fullness of his powers and the prime of his usefulness, the Chief Magistrate of the Republic was stricken down by the hand of an assassin. It is meet here that I should refer in the opening of my address to this third assassination in the history of our country, for the purpose of illustrating the short story that I have to tell you and to point a moral and adorn a tale which may not be without value to us. For it is true that

"Lives of great men all remind us
We may make our lives sublime,
And departing leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time."

William McKinley was the incarnation, not only of the possibilities of the humblest American boy who, by diligence, integrity and devotion to the best interests of the country, rose by steady strides to the highest dignities in the gift of the people, but he was also the embodiment of that grand sweep of American business genius which has spread over the world, and promises to predominate it. If this man who now rests from his labors with his honors full upon him represented anything, it was the logic of business development in its largest and best sense, for, as Governor of Ohio and member in Congress and President of the United States, his name is indissolubly associated with the commercial promotion, protection and expansion of American trade.

He was not only a great executive and a great legislator, but, when yet a youth, when the great Republic was in the agony of possible dissolution, he heroically shouldered a musket and went to the front as a private to preserve the union of the states bequeathed to us by the noble fathers and the heroism of the American revolutionary soldier in that memorable struggle, the first victim of which was Crispus Attucks, the lineaments of whose personality have been chiseled in marble and will stand a monument upon Boston Common, to show a "Man's a man for a' that and a' that," and that the rank is but the guinea's stamp.

Ah, well, we faithful hearts and true, who were never false to a friend, who have always loved the flag, even when the flag waved not over us, who fought with Washington at Valley Forge and with Perry at Lake Erie, with Jackson at New Orleans, with Shaw at Fort Wagner, and with Butler at New Market Heights, who went up San Juan Hill with Theodore Roosevelt and the immortal Rough Riders and followed little Joe Wheeler in Luzon, who, although a Southern brigadier, as a reconstructed unionist in a reunited country showed in Cuba and Manila that he had the same regard for a black soldier as for a white one when he was loyal to the flag and faithful to his country, are here to mourn our loss. This great heart that loved his country and gave his life to it and for it is stilled in death!

The assassin! What of him? It is a matter of notorious fact that he was so obscure in the life that he had led and had contributed so little to the public weal in the place where his hands found labor that he was utterly unknown and went down to the quicklime that consumed his miserable remains, to the chaos from which we all spring, stigmatized with at least two cognomens and with the reputation of having contributed nothing to the wealth of the Republic or the happiness of mankind. There are millions of him in Europe and America who keep in perpetual jeopardy the splendid civilization evolved out of the tumult of Egypt and Rome and the Dark Ages. And the very genius of logical business development sprung out of the bosom of Moroe on the Nile and of Tyre where ancient Afro-Phoenicians ruled the blue waters of the adjacent seas and of the lordly Egyptians, who were African in their fiber, historians to the contrary notwithstanding, were the founders of the commercial spirit that dominates the world to-day. More than that, they laid the basis of our literature and of our philosophy. As Lord Byron hath beautifully said:

"Ye have the Pyrrick dances yet--
Where has the Pyrrick phalanx gone?
Of two such lessons, why forget
The nobler and the manlier one?
Ye have the letters Cadmus gave;
Think ye he meant them for a slave?"

Now, Cadmus was a black African slave captured in war; so was Aesop, the world's greatest fabulist; so was Terence, among the grandest of Rome's lyric poets; so was Pushkin, the national poet to-day of Russia; so was Alexander Dumas the first, the greatest, not only of French novelists, but of novelists of all times and the infinite storehouse from which all novelists draw, Honore De Balzac and Charles Dickens to the contrary notwithstanding.

But of this vile assassin, Leon Czolgosz, why do I make this exordium here upon the violent taking off of the President beloved by all the people, and my animadversion upon the character of the man who lifted his hand against the supreme representative of the greatest Republic upon earth and the most prosperous nation? It is an incident in the life of government that the supreme head of it shall be subject to the vicissitudes of its maniacal, fanatical and criminal classes, those who live by their wits or those who dream of a condition of society unattainable, as human nature is constructed, such as Edward Bellamy has pictured in "Looking Backward." I wish it distinctly understood that I refer to this matter simply to draw attention to the fact that Czolgosz, the obscure assassin of the highest representative of the logic of business development in this country, is inseparably linked as the Siamese twins to the mobocrat, and that any effort made to root out the anarchist in this country will fail, and should fail, unless the mobocrat is rooted out at the same time.

It is written in the stars. God has said, "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people."

And what business development can we have when the dark shadow of anarchism and mobism overshadows the land like the dark cloud that covered the children of Israel in their confusion, when in their perversion they had turned their faces from the God of their destiny? No, there can be no business development in this country while our laws are so lax as to allow irresponsible individuals or organizations to clog the wheels of industry or to waste unnecessarily the red blood that gives life to a virile human form. I say, with our grand President, throttle the anarchist that would shoot a President or a successor to a President. Yes, but if you leave the Southern mobocrat to shoot John Jones, an unknown entity, the element of anarchism remains pregnant in the body politic and is liable at any time to show its venomous head.

Who could have told when the whole nation was hopeful that a John Wilkes Booth lurked reluctant in the body politic to cut down the wisest and the most humane and the most lovable of all the Presidents? Ah, my friends, you can't protect the President of the United States from the assassin, and leave unprotected in any corner of the republic its meanest citizen, because, as Alexander Pope has wisely said, "We are all but links of one stupendous chain. Break a link of that chain and the power of that chain is destroyed."

TOPIC XXXVIII.

HOW TO HELP THE NEGRO TO HELP HIMSELF.

BY W. R. PETTIFORD.

REV. WILLIAM R. PETTIFORD, D. D.

It is difficult to present a life's record so as to furnish
a correct estimate of the man in question. Particularly is
this true if we attempt to give upon a page the account of a
long life of active and useful service.

Among the leaders in Christian work in the state of Alabama,
Dr. W. R. Pettiford ranks very high, having but few, if any,
superiors. As a business man he is unexcelled. Twelve years
of unremitting toil and unbroken success in the banking
business demonstrate the truth of this assertion.

In presenting this sketch we could not do better than quote
from the Cyclopedia of the Colored Baptist of Alabama, by
Rev. C. O. Boothe, D. D.:

Rev. W. R. Pettiford, D. D., son of William and Matilda
Pettiford, was born in Granville county, North Carolina,
January 20th, 1849. He was, when a boy, of an industrious
turn of mind, working faithfully at whatever his hands found
to do. At one time he was with the tanner, and at another
time he was running his father's farm.

At the age of 21 years he united with the Baptist Church of
Rocksboro, Person county, North Carolina, and was immersed
by the Rev. Ezekiel Horton of Salisbury. While he was
serving this church as clerk he told his mother the secret,
which he greatly desired that she would not reveal, that he
felt called to the gospel ministry. Brother Horton often put
up at their home, hence soon got possession of the secret.

Dr. Pettiford now says: "When I was called into an examining
council and learned that my secret was out, I was very much
frightened, but the advice given upon this day has ever been
helpful to me."

At the commencement of Selma University, 1877-78, he joined
Brother Woodsmall, becoming a member of the pioneer faculty
of the school. It was here that he was seen as the patient,
studious, industrious man--loved by tender youth and trusted
by those of riper years.

He was called to ordination by the Berean Baptist Church,
Marion, Ala., and dedicating hands were laid upon his head
in Marion, Ala., in the midst of the Conventional Session
held there in November, 1880. After this he severed his
connection with Selma University to enter the pastorate in
Union Springs.

As teacher and financial agent he made such a record that
unprecedented prestige was given to his work at Union
Springs, where for two years, by his labor of love and
sacrifice, he laid the foundation for permanent Christian
work that shall stand throughout all time.

For a brief period Dr. Pettiford worked under joint
appointment of the American Baptist Home Mission Society and
the Home Mission Board of the Alabama Baptist State
Convention as lecturer for ministers. In this capacity he
accomplished a great work. Many ministers to-day look back
to those days when they sat in institutes conducted by him
as the times of their greatest inspiration for mental and
spiritual development.

As president of the Alabama Penny Savings Bank he has a
reputation as extensive as the country of which he is a
citizen. There is no city of importance where this bank has
not done business. It has gained the reputation of being a
safe business, having survived several panics to which many
other similar institutions have succumbed.

Dr. Pettiford has managed to find some time to write. He is
the author of the following treatises: "Divinity in
Wedlock," "God's Revenue System" and "The Centenary," all of
which do him honor and his fellow man service. But this
sketch would be incomplete if it were closed without stating
this truth: That much of the Doctor's success is rightly
attributed to the sympathy and help of his life companion,
formerly Miss Della Boyd, to whom he was joined in bonds of
wedlock November 22, 1880. Three children have graced their
home, being systematically trained for usefulness in life.

Since the emancipation of the Negro in this country philanthropists have contributed largely to the establishment of schools and colleges for his education. Some of these institutions have been the means of affording the Negro literary instruction, and others have given him more practical benefits in industrial training. These methods of helping a race that was necessarily groping in the darkness of illiteracy are not only commendable from the viewpoint of humanitarianism and sound philanthropy, but it must be conceded that some such help was indispensable to any real advancement of the Negro in the matter of education. For all such assistance it can be said that the Negro is truly appreciative and, for the most part, has earnestly striven to demonstrate his profound gratitude by eagerly taking hold of the opportunities thus afforded for his enlightenment. The industrial schools, Hampton, Tuskegee, and others, have done much in a practical way for the Negro in giving him a knowledge of trades--a class of training that must prove of inestimable value to him in his endeavor to earn a living honestly and honorably. That person who has been taught how to do something well, who has been so equipped as to be able to do with skill what the world is willing to pay a desirable price for, has been done an incalculable service, and one for which society as well as the individual himself has occasion to feel grateful.

So generously have the Negro's friends contributed toward his education and so marked are their continued efforts in this direction that it would appear somewhat bold for anyone to offer a suggestion at this time looking to any additional contributions from this source for the purpose of materially advancing the masses of that race along other lines. On the other hand, when it is remembered with what avidity the beneficiaries of these funds have seized the opportunities offered, and the splendid results so far realized; and when the further facts are borne in mind that the improvement of one class of the population never fails to inure to the benefit of the entire community, it may not, after all, require unusual temerity in one to venture upon the suggestions which are to follow in this article. When it is noted, too, with what care, discrimination and rare judgment such contributions have been directed in the effort to lift the Negro out of his unfortunate condition, and with what earnestness, consistency and sincerity of purpose such aid has been given, the conclusion is irresistible that any other needed help will come if the method suggested is shown to be practicable and gives promise of beneficial results.

While the school has wrought wonders for the Negro, as it has for all civilized races, it cannot be hoped or expected that all desirable improvements in the development of a people can be accomplished through this agency. All the virtues may be taught in the school-room, but the student gets only a theoretical idea of what is intended to be conveyed to his mind, and necessarily so. He has not yet learned to be practical and cannot, until he is brought in contact with the actual and serious responsibilities of life, see the real, practical phase of things as they actually exist. He needs to learn the practical value of economy and thrift, of constant industry and frugality. If he would build on a certain and safe foundation, he must do so by honestly earning every dollar he can and wisely saving as much of it as his actual necessities will permit. Nothing so strongly encourages this spirit in the Negro as a savings bank operated in his community by persons of his own race. The powerful influence exerted in this direction by such institutions may be shown by some impressive figures which have been secured from reliable sources: Atlanta, with no such institution to stimulate its colored population to save, has only 1,000 colored depositors in the associated banks of that city out of a total colored population of 30,000; or one out of every thirty. Richmond, with a thriving institution of this character, has 5,000 colored depositors out of a total colored population of 45,000; or one out of every nine. Birmingham boasts of 5,000 colored depositors (4,000 of whom deposit with the bank with which the writer is connected) out of a total colored population of 20,000; or one out of every four. These three thriving Southern cities, blessed with equal prosperity and promise, furnish convincing proofs of the great power for good exerted by such institutions. If Atlanta, which in other respects equals either of these two cities, were favored with the presence of a bank of the kind mentioned, a much larger percentage of its colored population would be filled with the spirit of economy and the desire to save.

If such institutions are materially helpful to the Negro, if they tend to inculcate right principles and encourage habits of industry and frugality; and if it be true that the uplifting of one class benefits the entire community, is it not within the bounds of legitimate reasoning and fairly good common sense to suggest that it would be well to have these beneficial agencies established, as far as possible, in cities containing a large Negro population; taking care, however, that none is established until it becomes apparent in each instance that such an institution can be wisely, safely and successfully conducted in the proposed community?

The writer has had a great many inquiries in the last few years for information and advice looking to the organization of savings banks by colored men; but it has been noted that in nearly every case the element of doubt, fear and backwardness developed when the promoters were brought face to face with the problem of how to begin such a business and conduct it successfully. They found the problem a difficult one, just as all problems are difficult until they are understood. Here then is where the wealthy friends of the Negro, the Northern and Southern philanthropist, can be of invaluable help. It would be well if a few such friends would become interested in the work of assisting in the establishment of such banks, to be conducted by competent colored men in such cities as offer favorable conditions for institutions of the character mentioned. They could form themselves into a board for the general supervision of the work, and then engage the services of an experienced and thoroughly competent man to give personal attention to it. This man should comprehend every detail of the banking business, and he should be willing to meet and advise with those who are to have in hand the conduct of the institution and instruct them in all the details of its proper management before the doors are thrown open to the public. He should then give daily attention to the operation of the bank for two or three months, or until the officers are able to proceed safely without him. By this time a similar work should await him in another locality. He should, however, keep in constant communication with the president of the newly established bank and so arrange his engagements as to be able to return to it from time to time, as the work elsewhere will permit, in order that he may oversee the management and give such helpful counsel as the situation may demand. With the right kind of men at the helm, educated, popular with their people and possessing unquestioned integrity, it would not be unsafe at this stage to trust the management to their hands for a few days at a time, after it has been ascertained that all departments of the business are being conducted intelligently and without friction.

So that instead of having only three or four communities in the country reaping the good results of such forceful agencies for the moral and material elevation of their citizens, we will have at least a few more to assist in spreading the gospel of economy and thrift. The expense attached to such an undertaking would be represented in the salary paid the organiser, and perhaps a stenographer, and the traveling and other necessary expenses of both. Their services would not be required for a longer period than five years, at most, and the real good accomplished would be incalculable.

The plan is not impracticable. The few savings banks now being operated by colored men had no such help. They overcame the difficulties under which they necessarily began, and they have succeeded admirably. Cannot others succeed as well, especially after such difficulties are effectually removed? New Orleans, Memphis, Nashville, Louisville, Montgomery, Atlanta, Charleston and other cities offer fruitful fields for this work. But let it be understood that such assistance as is here suggested should in no case be attempted until the citizens of a given community have first evinced a proper interest in the enterprise, such interest, indeed, as would leave no doubt of their earnestness in the matter. The only real danger, in any instance, or, perhaps, it may be better to say the chief danger, lies in an unwise selection of a locality for the establishment of this kind of business. But this question might be safely determined, after proper investigation, by those who furnish the funds.

Lest there be persons in the North, who, not being altogether familiar with conditions as they exist between the races in the South, should doubt the wisdom of the undertaking because of a fear that the idea might meet with disfavor on the part of the dominant race, it may be well to suggest that the writer's personal experience in connection with the conduct of a similar institution for nearly twelve years in an extreme Southern community, has justified the opinion that the very reverse is true. The bank referred to has enjoyed ever since its establishment the moral support and cordial good wishes of the white people of that section. And the reason for this is apparent. Perhaps the true reason is nowhere more aptly and succinctly given than by the editor of the Charleston _News and Courier_, who, in commenting on an address delivered by Mr. Booker T. Washington, said: "The Negro with a bank account, with houses and lands, with education in the practical things of life, is a far better citizen and a safer and more desirable neighbor than the Negro who is steeped in ignorance and who has really no part in the life of his country." The wise, progressive, far-seeing citizens of the white race recognize and admit the influence for good exerted upon the colored population by banking institutions operated by members of that race, and they welcome and encourage the establishment of them in any community.

It is hoped that some little grain of merit may be found in these suggestions. There has been no desire in the preparation of this article to aspire to any literary effort. That would not be possible in one who makes no pretensions in that direction. It is submitted with the hope that the ideas here sought to be expressed may find favor with those who practice the doctrines of true philanthropy--that class of Americans who find genuine happiness in doing good wherever good can be done, and who believe that no harm can come of helping the Negro to help himself.

* * * * *

[Transcriber's Notes:

The transcriber made the following changes to the text:

1. before p. 51, add quote at end of paragraph starting "Bishop Haygood of the M. E. Church" 2. p. 53, remove extra quote in paragraph beginning "Anciently the whole land," after text "from the ancient Canaanites." 3. p. 55, add quote at end of paragraph beginning "Rollin, in speaking of the fact," after text "descended from the common stock." 4. p. 72, "educacation" changed to "education" 5. p. 80, add quote at end of paragraph beginning "This is an Anglo-Saxon country." after text "shadow does the substance." 6. before p. 83, "were" changed to "where" 7. p. 120, "massage" changed to "message" 8. p. 121, "vestly" changed to "vastly" 9. p. 161, "aborigne" changed to "aborigine" 10. before p. 163, "wth" changed to "with" 11. p. 191, "form" changed to "from" 12. p. 274, "swathy" changed to "swarthy" 13. p. 277, "many" changed to "may" 14. p. 278, "many" changed to "may" 15. p. 279, "Chestnut" left as it appears in text 16. p. 297, add quote at end of paragraph beginning "But this progress is further" after text "branches of the common family." 17. before p. 349, "Walter W. Wallace" changed to "Walter N. Wallace" 18. p. 349, "By Walter W. Wallace" changed to "By Walter N. Wallace" 19. p. 396, "nego" changed to "negro" 20. p. 426, "heighth" changed to "height"

The following paragraphs have mismatched quotes that the transcriber did not correct:

1. p. 53, paragraph starting
"Anciently the whole land, including Tyre and Sidon,"
2. p. 455, paragraph starting
"Hon. Robert Allen, one of the most noted criminal
lawyers of Texas,"

End of Transcriber's Notes]

End of Project Gutenberg's Twentieth Century Negro Literature, by Various