The commonwealth. [volume], September 04, 1915, Image 1

About The commonwealth. [volume] (Baltimore, Md.) 1915-19??

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THE COMMONWEALTH
“Entered as second-class matter July 24, 1915, at the post-office at Baltimore, Maryland, under the Act of March 3, 1879.”
VOl . 1 NO 1
THE LOTT CAREY
~ CGNVENTION.
~ Quite a number of distin
guishied Baptists left the city on
last Tuesday for Pittsburgh, Pa.,
to attend the 19th annual session
of the Lott Carey Baptist Conven
tion, which assembled in that city
on the first, second, and third of
September. Rev. Dr. William M.
Alexander, editor of “The Voice,”
of this.city, has been, for many
vears, the leading spirit in that
good work. Lott Carey, is ithe
name of one of the distinguished
and useful Negroes born in old
Virginia in the seventies. He was
a most remarkable man, in many
respects. He was born a slave,
and by working over time not
only saved enough money to pur
chase his own freedom, but laid
aside a considerable sum for the
purpose of going to Africa as a
missionary. And although he oc
cupied a responsible position in a
tobacco factory in Richmond,
Va., and every financial induce
ment was offered him to remain,
he felt called of God for the work
in, Africa, whither he went and
labored with great success. The
Lott Carey Convention has for its
object the prosecution of the
work to which Lott Carey gave
his life. The convention is not
only building churches in Africa,
but is sustaining a number of
missionaries in that far off coun
iy, '
Certainly, our Baptist brethren
can point with very great pride
to the life and work of Lott
Carey, one of the foremost Chris
tians and pioneer constructors for
the race, of his times.
WEST VIRGINIA NOTES.
Dr. Prouty is the female doctor
of Wheeling. She is a graduate
of Maharry, and is winning laur
els in the town for her race, her
sex, and her profession. Her
services are in demand by both
white and colored people.
Ms . R Dickerson, of lLio
side, Monroe county, W. Va., 18
among the successful farmers in
this district. Together with his
brother, owns 12,000 acres of land,
valued at $20,000. £AI kinds of
grains and fruits are cultivated by
them; He is a class leader in the
Methodist Episcopal Church of
his. town. He is the lather of
Ftol. 11, 1. .INckercon,. an
alumnus of the State University
of Ohio, and now a teacher in the
Bluefield Institute.
Mrs, Jane C. Lowe, of Wheel
ing; »W.. Va., president of the
Cumberland District Women's
Home Missionary Society, and
one of the officers of the Wash
ington Annual Conference, was
among the workers. Mrs. Lowe
travels the district in the interest
of her work with great effect and
benefit to the local organization.
She is a woman of intelligence,
sweet spirited and earnest.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY IN THE BEST INTERESTS OF THE COMMUNITY.
BALTIMORE, MARYLAND, SATURDAY SEP. 4.
THE FOUNDERS OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION
Black men had nothing to do
with the founding of the Amer
ican Colonization Society, neither
are they responsible for the Col
ony of Liberia on the West Coast
of Africa. White men organized
the Society and established the
colony, which subsequently be
came the Republic of Liberia. Ii
the enterprise has been a failure
the failure must be attributed to
the distinguished men who were
the originators and whose stand
ing character, learning and ex
perience were stifficient to guar- .
antee the integrity and success of the undertaking.
It ought to be noted that there were at first many colonization
organizations, viz.: The Maryland, the New York, the Boston, the
Virginia and the Washington Societies,
. Robert Finley, Elias B. Caldwell, Samuel J. Mills, Francis S.
Key and John H. B. Latrobe—associated with these were the Honor
able Bushrod Washington, a nephew of George Washington, the
father of his country, as the first President of the organizaion.
Henry Clay, Thomas Jefferson, Ebenzer Burgess, Judge Tucker, of
Virginia; James Monroe, who afterwards became President of the
United States, and later Bishops Potter, of the Protestant Epis
copal Church, and Henry McNeal Turner, of the African Methodist
Episcopal Church; Louis Grannon and Booker T. Washington,
who is a member of the New York Society. Many of these societies
still exist in form—although their treasury is full of unexpended
balances accrued from annuities left in trust for the Republic for
one service or another. The American Colonization Society, domi
ciled in the City of Washington, the nation’s capital, is responsible
more than any of these other agencies, except perhaps the govern
ment of the United States for the existence of the Black Republic
on the West Coast of Africa, and for this.reason it is interesting to
note the present corps of officers who still manifest a deep and lively
interest in the weliare of the Republic.
Henry: L. E.. Johnson, M, D). it President. '‘Dr. Johitson has
reached the point of excellence in his profession, and as evidence
of confidence reposed in him by the government and people of
Liberia, he was recently decorated with the insignia of Knighthood
in the Human Order of African Redemption by President Howard.
The other members are Paul Steman, lawyer, Secretary and
Treasurer; Hon. Henry L. West, Hon. Milton E. Ailes, Hon. J. B.
Reynolds, Secretary of the Republican National Committee ; Messrs.
J. Henry Small and Charles E. Howe, Secretary and Assistant Treas
urer of the American Security and Trust Company—all of Wash
mgton, D, C, ,
AFRICAN BISHOP TO BE HONORED IN LIFE.
Episcopal Board Of Missions Will Erect Buildings As Tribute To
The Right Rev. S. D. Ferguson,
The Episcopal Board of Missions, No. 281 Fourth avenue, has
decided to aid in the erection of a building for St. Thomas’ parish,
Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa, as a tribute to the Right Rev.
Samuel David Ferguson, Bishop of the diocese of Liberia, Africa.
This will be started while the prelate is alive.
Bishop Ferguson, who is the first and only negro member of the
House of Bishops of the American Protestant Episcopal Church,
recently rounded out fifty years as a priest and thirty years as a
member of the Episcopate. The see city of Bishop Ferguson is Cape
Palmas.
Bishop Ferguson is well known in Episcopal circles in this city.
At the General Convention of the Episcopal Church held at the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine two years ago he was one of the
most commanding figures, and the fact that he had a dark skin did
not in the least hinder his voice from being heard often in the House
of Bishops and at public joint meetings of the bishops and clergy.
Bishop Ferguson is seventy-three years old. He was born in
Charleston, S. C., but in 1848 emigrated to Liberia with his parents.
—New York Herald. :
SOCIETY.
1915,
PRICE 2 CENTS A COI Y,
THE WOMAN’S MITE MIS
SIONARY SOCIETY.
An Interesting Note From Bishop
John Albert Johnson, of
South Africa.
The annual meeting of the
Woman's Mite Missionary So
ciety, of the A. M. E. Church, of
this conference, will convene in
Grace Church, Catonsville, Md.,
on September 8, 9 and 10, Mrs. L.
M. Beckett, president.
This organization of the African
Methodist Episcopal Church is an
exceedingly helpful and useful
agency in church extension. With
respect to one feature of its inter
esting work, we quote from a let
ter to Mrs. Minnie Gaines, of this
city, from Bishop John Albert
Johnson, of South Africa, under
date of July 23d. DBishop Johnson
said, in part:
“Last month I received through
Bishop L. J. Coppin a donation
from the Woman’s Mite Mission
ary Society, Conference Branch of
Baltimore, a donation of fifty dol
lars. I immediately acknowledged
the receipt to him, and enclosed
a voucher, asking him to forward
the same to the proper person in
Baltimore, with my very grateful
acknowledgments. He did not
give me the address of the presi
dent or secretary, else I would
have addressed a personal letter
to her. I take the liberty, there
fore, of asking you to be good
enough to thank the good women
of the Conference Branch in my
name, and assure them of my
hearty appreciation of their
bounty.
- I am leaving for the interior,
and north country in a few days,
‘and do not expect to return to
Capetown until after the Confer
ences are over in September. Soon
‘thereafter, I hope to sail for Eng
land, God willing, en route to
iAm-erica, when I shall reach
America is difficult to say, as
ocean travel is now exceedingly
perilous. The deadly submarine
is taking enormous toll in human
life and property, and expert
lswimming is of little avail in the
h)road Atlantic.
The war here with the Germans
terminated last week in the ‘un
conditional surrender’ of the Ger
mans, and about 75,000 troops are
returning from the front in daily
contingents. We have had a year
of exceedingly trying experience.”
The Rev. R. F. Coates, a mem
ber of the Washington Annual
Conference, and the pastor -at
Woodville, Charles county, is at
the Johns Hopkins to undergo a
minor operation. At this writing
he was convalescing. Mr. Coates
1s one of the strong men of the
Conference. . Before his admission
into the itinerary, he was in the
service of his country and saw
active fighting in the Philippines;
having been wounded, from which
worn 4 he jo ~nw sisfiering. o o
At The Johns Hopkins.