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LAURENCE JONES
FOUNDS SCHOOL
Institution at Braxton, Miss.,
Roaches the Masses.
HIS CAREER AS A STUDENT.
Brief Account of How the Principal of
Piney Woods Country Life # School
Roee From Hotel Porter to Leading
Educator—Graduated With Honors
at Btate University, lowa City.
Braxton, Miss.—The history of this
state would be incomplete without the
record of the work being done in the
piney woods of Mississippi by one of
the most remarkable young men of v the
race, Professor Laurence Jones, presi
dent and founder of the Piney Woods
Country Life school, which is Indeed
all that the name implies.
This school is reaching a class of
young people that no other school In
this section is reaching and is prepar
ing them for service in any useful field,
whether as physician, lawyer, teacher,
preacher, farmer, blacksmith, laun
dress or cook.
Unlike most men, Professor Jone 3
claims three states, as he puts It In his
own language: “I am a Missourian by
birth, an lowan by education and in
clination and by matrimonial affilia
tion, and a Mississippian by force of
circumstances.” He is not an outlaw,
yet he was born near the old house of
Jesse James, In St Joseph, Mo. His
father was a porter in the Pacific ho
tel during the flourishing days of its
early establishment. The elder Jones
was born a slave; yet, like many fath
ers, determined to give his son an edu-
LAURENCE JONES.
cation. When young Jones first enter
ed school he was very timid. Every
thing was new to him and seemingly of
little Interest. As time passed and he
grew older and better acquainted the
school began to attract bis attention
above all things else.
His high school days were spent In
Marshalltown, la. He worked In a
hotel there for his room and board.
He helped In the dining room morning,
noon and evening, and at night sought
extra work to earn a little money to
keep np books and clothes. He was
a general utility boy around the hotel,
bellhop, porter, yardman, bootblack
and dishwasher. Any man wanting a
place or time off had only to call on
Laurence, and his place was filled.
He was one of the few boys of the
race who had the pleasure of editing
the High school journal, the Quill,
and also wrote the class song. He was
the only member of the race in the
class and the first one to graduate
from the Marshalltown high school.
80 when he walked across the floor to
receive his diploma he was given an
ovation. Thus in his heart he declared
that he must make good because every
body was watching him.
He was active in the Y. M. C. A. and
Sunday school. With some of his earn
ings he became a meml>er of the “Y.”
Step by step he made progress. In
the fall he secured a letter of intro
duction and recommendation from the
principal of the high school. Mr. M.
Graff to Mr. McChesney, president of
the State university of lowa, and with
other necessary papers signed by
County Superintendent Miss Hostet
tler, and with encouragement from
r^*
Mrs. Richard Lane, he entered State
university, lowa City.
He was received as a freshman, and
remained through the entire course,
graduating with honors.
In his work he Is assisted by his wife,
who Is an expert stenographer and who
takes charge of the work when he is
away getting up money to run the
school and to make the necessary im
provements. The Farmers’ conference
is one of the features for good. Clubs
and literary societies are formed
around the school and good work is
being accomplished. The white people
of Mississippi find pleasure in assist
ing the Piney Woods Country Life
school, because Laurence Jones is a
man of common sense, well educated
and a recognized leader among the best
educators In his line.
the McCracken banquet.
St. Paul Friends Present Ex-Cong.
Stevens’ Secretary With a
Silver Loving Cup.
St. Paul.—A banquet was tendered
Mr. Fred. D. McCracken on Monday
evening at the Busy Bee Cafe—as an
expression of regard for the valuable
services rendered his race during the
fourteen years in the employ of Con
gressman F. C. Stevens. Mr. Fred. D.
Parker introduced the speakers. Rev.
B. N. Murrell asked the Divine Bless
ing.—Letters were read from Messrs.
T. H. Lyles and C. H. Miller. The
following toasts were responded to:
“A Friend of the Postal Employees”
—Jose H. Sherwood. “Political As
sociations”—R. M. Johnson. “Possi
bilities of a Young Man”—Rev. B. N.
Murrell. “Young Men, the hope of the
Race”—Orri C. Hall. “The Negroes’
Hope of Salvation lies in the Peace
and Harmony within the Race.”
Poem: “A Race Man” by A. V. Hall.
‘Business Co-operation”—Owen How
ell. Remarks by J. H. Loomis, J. Q.
Adams and Chas Sumner Smith. A
silver loving cup (which bore this in
scription: “Presertted to F. D. Mc-
Cracken by the Colored Citizens of
St. Paul in appreciation af services
rendered the community and race,
March 22, ’915,) was presented by
Geo. W. Wills. Mr. McCracken re
sponded with appropriate remarks, re
viewing some of the work done by the
friends of the Negro during the last
session, paying a high compliment to
the entire Minnesota delegation.
Others present were, J. H. Coquire,
Harry Robinson, Wm. Godette, H. F.
Mclntyre, J. Edgar Murphy, F. B.
Simpson, Augustus Banks, E. W.
Crancum, J. B. Johnson, J. W. Milton,
Clarence L. Smith, Dr. V. D. Turner,
John Cloak, W. A. Green, Edw. Hall,
Sam’l Ransom, Cleat Oliver, Geo.
Sleet, M. L. Barksdale, Homer Goins,
Tlios. N. Morgan, C. H. Miller. Many
expressed a belief that Hon. F. C.
Stevens would again return to Wash
ington as a Minnesota representative
and that the Negro race would again
have a representative in Mr. Stevens,
who had the courage to employ a Ne
gro as his private secretary.
Life Amid Deathlike Stillness.
In tho rain less interior of Australia
there is a “silence of the grave.” This
deathlike silence Inis a peculiarly de
pressing effect. If two men are camp
ed and one of them goes to a distant
township to get provisions while the
other remains behind to look after the
camp, the man who Is to remain says
to his friend In forcible, gold fields
language: “Now. Bill, don’t be long
away. Yon know what kind of a place
this is to live In by yourself,” or words
to that effect If his mate Is away for
two or three days the silence gets on
the man’s nerves and In the end he
shouts to make a noise. And often he
Is afraid of the sound of his own
voice.—Exchange.
Strong Proof.
“Sued for breach of promise, eh?”
“Yep.”
“Any defense V’
“Temporary insanity, and I expect to
prove it by the love letters I wrote.”—
Exchange.
The Intricacies of It.
“Why don’t you study the time ta
ble, and then you wouldn’t have miss
ed your train?”
“That was the trouble. While 1 was
trying to translate the time table the
train pulled out.”-New York Herald.
Not Been Dead.
Mrs. Styles—This paper, says eagles
and parrots are among the longest
lived of the birds. Mr. Styles—Come
to think of it. I guess that’s correct.
I never see ’em on women’s hum."—
Yonkers Statesman.
Send Your Subscription
. . . . .
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MARCH 27,1915.
BRUCE “GRIP AT
ISSUE WITH TYLER
On Proper Title For Our Race
PURE BLACKS HERE FIRST.
The Negro Race le Genuine and Recog
nized by Ethnologiate Throughout
the World—Occupies Place In Natural
History Term Afro-American or
Colored Mere Makeshift.
John B. Bruce of Yonkers, N. Y„
known to the newspaper profession
among us throughout the United
States as Bruce “Grit,” takes Issue
with the Hon. Ralph W. ?tyler as to
the proper title by which the Negro
race in America should be known and
called. After asking the question,
Shall it be Negro, Afro-American or
colored? Bruce “Grit” says:
“The first cargo of black slaves that
were brought to the United States of
America arrived in 1019 and were set
tled at Jamestown, In the state of
Virginia. They were unmistakably
Guinea Negroes, captured on the
Guinea coast and sold to the slave
traders (when not stolen outright by
these gentry) by other tribesmen than
their own. From these twenty Ne
groes and the accretions to their num
ber up to the period when the slave
trade was abolished (1808) their de
scendants numbered in 18G3 a fraction
over 3,000,000 souls.
“The census of 1890 showed that
there were 7,470,040 people classed as
Negroes, of which number 6,337,980
were pure blacks or of African de
scent; of mulattoes, one-half Negro,
966,989; of quadroons, one-quarter Ne
gro, 106,135; octoroons, one-elghtb Ne
gro, 69,936, or a total of Afro-Ameri
cans, Negroids and “nelthers,” 1,132,-
060.
“The proposition to saddle either of
these names upon the black Is not a
fair one, since there are now more
than 0,000,000 blacks against a mere
handful of variously mixed people who
are afraid or ashamed of that robust
and meaningful term Negro, which Is
the name of a genuine race which is
recognized by ethnologists the wide
world over—a race which occupies a
place In natural history.
“These hybrids—offshoots—the result
of alliances between black men and
white women, or vice versa, ask for too
much when they ask that we discard
the only proper and scientifically rec
ognized name, Negro, and adopt a
hybrid, meaningless racial cognomen
representing a type of which white
men and black men are the creators.
It is a case of the tall wagging the dog.
“The terms Afro-American and col
ored are makeshifts. They are apolo
getic. There is no such race as the
Afro-American race. There never was
such a race. The term ‘colored’ is
misleading and indefinite when applied
to people of African descent. It can
apply equally to the Indian, Japanese,
Chinese, Turk, Carlb and white man,
only he Is colorless and by courtesy is
called white As a designation of that
branch of the Negro race which is
neither white nor black. It doesn’t tit,
and it cannot be made to Qt by ama
teur ethnologists and scientists, white
or black. The Negro race, being in
the majority in this country, as the
statistics show, has the right to oppose
this mischievous attempt of the minor
ity party to change the family name.
“A Negro can no more be an Afro-
American than an Afro-American can
be a Caucasian except by u decree of
a court We can neither escape his
tory nor the Negro race, no matter
hew we squirm, because our grand
parents were Simon pure blacks, some
of them, and some of us have straight
hair, fair complexions and regular
white folks’ features. The die is cast,
and we cannot change the existing or
der by academic argument and ques
tionable logic. The thing created h
not greater than its creator.
“Some of these critics of the word
Negro object to its use ltecau.se it Is a
reminder of slavery and also that it Is
corrupted into the vulgar term 'Nig
ger.’ By the same process of reason
lng white men, both In Europe and
America, who were ouce slaves, some
of them of black masters, might object
to being called white. The term ‘Nig
ger’ has only recently—l. e., within a
hundred years or so—been regarded a»
a term of reproach.
“The white man hat outlived his rec
ollection of the days of his bondage
and risen superior to his past condi
tion Thousands of whites were slaves
of black planters in Santo Domingo,
warn i ■
In America.
and thousands of them were slaves
here in the United States, purchased
for a few hundred of pounds of tobac
co. Today France is a mighty nation
and America is a great republic, with
a little over 1,132,000 people of mixed
blood and different kinds of hair, who
because of these physical differences
are shocked when referred to as Ne
groes and wish to abolish its use
Neverl"
Indianapolis’ Clubwoman Are Aotive.
The Elizabeth Carter Council of
Federated Clubs Among Colored Wom
en, Indianapolis, IndL, has begun prep
arations for representation at the an
nual meeting of the state federation
which will be held in Marlon, Ind., the
last week in May. Mrs. Carrie Crump
to president of the council.
BENEFACTOR OF HIS RACE.
How a Washington Church Proapors
Under Dr. W. H. Jornagin.
Washington.—The growth in activity,
membership and the ability to handle
successfully large financial problems
are some of the many excellent fea
tures of progress noted at the Mount
Carmel Baptist church under its capa
ble minister, the Uev. Dr. W. H. Jer
uagin. Within six months after Dr.
Jernagin became the minister of this
congregation it was found that the
church edifice was too small to com
fortably accommodate the membership.
The matter of securing a larger
meeting house was taken up by Dr
Jernagin and the officials and mem
bers of the church, and within u short
time, to the great surprise of both re
ligious and business circles, Dr. Jerua
gln negotiated for and tinully purchas
ed the church building in which Pres
ident Wilson was at the time a pew
holder. Many Dersous who are not
members of Mount Carmel when visit
ing the church often request the privi
lege of being seated in the chair for
merly occupied by President Wilson.
The increase in new members the past
year was quite large, and during the
HEV. DR. W. H. JERNAOIN
past months of 1915 the additions to
the membership have been quite fre
quent.
This is Dr. Jernagiu’s third year at
Mount Carmel. His leadership is rec
ognized not only by Ills own congre
gation but by the Baptist denomina
tion In and out of the District of Co
lumbia. He Is a thorough race man
and never lets an opportuq'.ty pass by
which he muy benefit the race. In the
case of the people against the Oklaho
ma separate car law argued before the
UnltAl States supreme court by Attor
ney William Harrison of Oklahomu
City, Okla., In October, 1914, he was
Lawyer Harrison’s right hand man in
financing and creating favorable senti
ment among high legal authorities. He
encourages business enterprises con
ducted by our people and urges the
race to patronize such as are endeavor
ing to do a legitimate business.
It is through his efforts that Wash
ington society has been honored with
four of the greatest musicals of the
season; hence the eyes of Washington
are turned toward Mount Carmel Bap
tist church as never before. This Is
due to Dr. Jernagin’s wise and honest
leadership. He has the confidence of
the community, and the people know
that he is a man of his word and fully
capable of handling matters of great
moment with skill.
Progress at Wilbarforce Univsrsity.
With Lieutenant Benjamin O. Davis
as military instructor at the Wilber
force (O.) university, the new equip
ment In the commercial department
the Institution is doing a most praise
worthy work among the large number of
students In attendance. Galloway hall,
the finely equipped trades building, has
at its entrance the following as a mot
to: “A sound body, a trained hand, a
trained mind and a true heart.” Presi
dent W. 8. Scarborough is proud of
the success of the school and labors
unceasingly In its Interest
Smoke the Reliable
SIGHT DRAFT CIGAR sc.
ALL RACES EQUAL,
SAYS RABBI DEIHARD
“Some Favored, but All Can Ad
vance With the Best if Given
the Opportunity.”
f . f
Sermon by Rev. 8. N. Delnard, pastor
Jewish Reform church. Text: "This is
the book of the generations of Adam.
On the day that God created man, In
the Ukenesa of Ood made he him." Gen.
vsl.
e 6
The prophets and sagos of ancient
Israel were neither scientists nor
philosophers. Vet sublime religious and
moral truthrf-flushed upon their minds,
which neither philosophy nor science
have been able to improve upon. Such
• sublime moral truth is that which
is found in the very opeuiug chapters
of the Bible, the chapters containing
the old oriental legends of the crontion.
Adam is the ancestor of the entire
human race, and he 1b made in the
likenese of God. All races and groups
of humanity are alike, so far aB tho.v
are all descended from one progenitor,
and are all equally eudowea with di
vine capacities ami powers.
The old writer of the creation atorv
is familiar with tho fact of racial di
visions. lie distinguishes three racial
groups, the descendants of Shorn, Ilam
and Jnpheth respectively, and ho
enumerates their various branches, ac
cording to tho best knowledge of his
day. He knew that certain groups of
human beings occupied separate ter
ritories, wero distinguished by certain
physical characteristics and differed
in speech, manner and habit from one
another. Yet. in spite of it all. he
claimed a common descent for them,
au essential equulity beneath all
minor superficial differences, all boing
equally endowed with tho same divine
powers of soul, heart and mind. Well
do the old rabbits declare, In comment
ing on our text, that it contains a
fundamental doctrine of Israel ’b Law,
equal to that other busic precept, “And
thou shalt lov# thv neighbor as thy
•elf. ’ ’
Essential Unity and Equality.
Maa is essentially the same, no mat
ter in what racial, national, or religious
ftroup we may find him. IHs soul, his
nnate powers of heart and mind, are
the same; his capacity for progress, for
intellectual unfoldinout, and moral
growth is the same. True, there have
always been, and there are at the pres
ent time, advanced races and backward
races, races that stand in the forefront
of modern civilization, and races that
are still found in the stages of bar
barism. But these differences are due
to geographic and historic conditions
and circumstances. The location and
environment of a human group un
doubtedly have their marked influence
upon it. The conditions of the soil
and the climate, the facilities or dif
ficulties of communication and inter
course with other groups, are nil de
terminintf factors in the life and de*
velopment of a human group But the
power of development, the capacity for
progress is possessed by all. Change
the outward conditions, nnd the so
called inferior, or backward, race will
step to tho front, and show its innate
powerß by its new activities and
achievements, at least tho achiove
incuts of its best elements, of its most
capable and best endowod individual
members. For within each group tho
differences and variations, physical,
mental, and moral, of its individual!
members are considerable. But tho
capabilities of a race or group should
not bo judged by its weakest, but by
its strongest members. _ What rapid
progress a so-called iuferior race, may
make when the oprmrtunitv offers itself
is best shown by tho rise and advance
of the yollow race of Asia, especially
the Japanese, and the achievements of
the black race in America after fliyj
years of emancipation.
Pseudo-Scientific Ideas.
There is a great doal of pseudo
scientific thought that has gained cur
rency in modern times, which runs
counter to this fundamental religious
doctrine of the essential unity or the
human race. A good deal of staid
scientific nonsense is being said a“d
written about the peculiar mental and
moral characteristics of different races
and groups of human beings. Their
psychological, or soul differences and
divergences are pointed out. We are
told that a certain race, or even branch
of a race, is endowed by nature with
certain gifts, or deprived by nature of
certain other endowments; that nature
herself has selected certain races to
rule and to lead, and certain others to
follow and to serve; that the supe
riority or inferiority of certain races
is fixed bv natural law. Itace distinc
tions are made where none really ex
ist Thus tho prejudices and.antag
enisms that exist hetween. different
human groups are scientifically ex
plained. And tho domineering, tne ar
rogant, the evil-minded and tho preju
diced. eager to find some excuse for
their offensive and malevolent attitude,
have pounced upon this pseudo-scien
tific idea as a veritable godsend. Now
they can scientifically explain why they
are prejudiced against, and hostile to.
their fellow men. why they oppress and
persecute them.
Is the Jew of a Different Race?
The fiendish persecution of the Jew
during 1,700 years, and the present-dav
social prejudice against him that still
exists even in the most enlightened
and humane nations, are explained on
auch grounds. The Jew is a Semite.
All other white people among whom
he lives are Aryans. These two
branches of the white race differ in
certain mental and moral traits; are.
therefore, mutually antagonistic and
repellant. These two branches are gen
erally spoken of ji* two distinct race*.
Their Incompatibility, therefore, ia
racial, fixed bv natural law. The Jew’s
ahrewdness, the Jew’s business meth
ods. the Jew's aggressiveness and for
wardness. the Jew’s capacity for com
merce and finance, are all racial char
acteristics. unalterable, ineradicable.
It is the French savant Renan who is
Supposed to have been the first to coin
the phrase, “antisemitism” in char
acterization and explanation of the
Srejudiee against, and hostility to. the
ew. He, too, baaed it all on racial
grounds. The antagonism of the gen
tile world to the Jew is the racial an
tagonism between Aryans and Semites.
But is the Jew a Semite? Who knows?
What does tho word “Semite” connote,
anvway?
The distinction between Aryan and
Semite is purely linguistic. Because
certain nations are found speaking
kindred languages, they are grouped to
gether as constituting a distinct branch
of tho human family.. Tho Hebrew lan
puai*e and the Assyrian Arabic, Phoe
nician, etc., being akin, those who spoke
them are supposed to have been eth
nically related, constituting a group of
Semitic peoples, corresponding to the
group of Semitic languages. The same
principle of grouping is applied to the
/rvnns.
But the Hebrew language is in the
Bddo itself spoken of ns the language
of Canaan, the country which the
Israelites subsequently occupied. Tn
other words, having settled in that
country, they adopted its language,
even as all nations that come to Ameri
ca adopt tho i’n"l'sb language as their
own. What language tho Israelites
originally spoke we do not know. What
country their first ancestors migrated
from, we do not know, 'the traditions
on tliiß point, recorded in the Bible
itself, vary.
A natioual group may speak a dia
lect akiu to til at of anothei national
group, may live in tho same or in con
tiguous territory, and still not be re
lated to it by blood, not have sprung
from the name stock. Tho component
elements of modern nations amply illus
trate that. Were the Hebrews the
kindred of tho Arabs, Assyrians, l’ho*
nicans, etc., and therefore, unrelated
and alien to any member of the so
called Aryan group? Who knows?
The Modern Jew.
Take the Jew as he U at the pree
ent time. What is there that charac
terizes him as belonging to a separate
race, to a separate branch of the hu
man family tree! Is It his physique,
his physiognomy, his mind, hia charac
ter! Tho Jew is in all those respects
the creature of his environment. The
Jew of one country differs in all these
respects from the Jew of every other
country, provided they are all native
to their respective soils, or, Btill bet
tor, have lived there for several gen
erations. That which commonly passes
as the Jewish type is really the type of
the people occupying the rim or the
Mediterranean basin, where tho Jews
lived, flourished or suffered for many
centuries. Tho Jew who has lived iu
Russia for many generations is com
pletely assimilated to tho Slav type;
while the Jew of Germany, with the
sume number of generations back of
him, is cast in the Teutonic mold.
A great dosl of rubbish is being
said and written about the Jew’s pe
culiar mentality and character. The
Jew is this or that or the other thing;
he possesses or lacks this or that or the
other endowment of heart or mind. If
all the traits, good and evil, that have
been predicated of tho Jew were ac
tually imprinted by nature upon some
living being, there would be produced
a monstrosity the like of which the
world has never seen. The Jew, as a
Jew, excels In nothing, nor does he
fall short in nnvthing. 110 la neither
superior nor inferior.
The fiction that tho Jew is the world's
foremost figure in commerce nnd
finance has long been exploded. How
many of America’s multi millionaries,
captains of industry and heads of big
business are Jews! Tho Jew does not
held the world’s purse-strings, thus
having the power of dictating war or
ocace, the declarations of a certain
perogrinatlng scientist to the contrary
notwithstanding. That the Jew has
urtll now been so largely and conspic
uously represented in trade and com
merce is entirely due to his peculiar
antecedents, his unfortunate history.
When all avenues of useful activity
but those of pettv trading and money
lending were dosed to him by hi« op
pressors, what could ho do but take to
petty trading and money lending, and
acquire a cunning therein that has at
tracted the world’s attention! But see
how quickly ho Is abandoning them
now in favor of the learned and skilled
professions, useful trades and even
agriculture. Has not the Jew really
achieved greater results in tho domains
of letters, science and philosophy than
In the spheres of commerce and
finance! But even here he is not pecu
liarly gifted Others have done equal
ly well.
The Antagonism Religious.
No, there is nothing about the Jew
to mark him off as beljnging to a sepa
rate race. The bond that has united
the Jews the world over is a national
religious bond. They have had the
same faith, the same past, the same
hopes and aspirations. Once they were
a nation. When the national bond
broken, and they wore scattered over
the world, their faith united them, and
they continued to cherish their na
tional memories and national hopes.
They mingled with all other nations
and all other groups of the human fam
ily. and. where allowed to do so, be
came in all respects, except that of re
ligion, like them iutegrul parte of
them.
It is in sphere, tho sphere of re
ligion, that the Jew, as a Jew, has
really distinguished himself. He has
produced the longest line of prophets,
preachers of righteousness, tribunes of
the people, propagandists of justice and
peace, beginning with Moses down to
tlio very latest of them, Joseph Fels.
Being the most oppressed of all peo
nies, his soul became the most sensi
tive to the world’s wrongs, and, when
gifted with the necessary power, he
rang a clarion note _fpr Jyetioa. and
Cont. to page 3, col. 2.
No. 17