important
3farta
or
Problems
of the
IMPORTANT
FACTS
OR
Problems of the Church
BY
H. T. JOHNSON, A. M. Ph. D., D. D.
EDITOR "THE CHRIST AN RECORDER"
Prefare
If there is one virtue at a discount above an¬
other in church circles of the writer's race identity
it is the virtue of moral stamina, the disposition to
exercise the courage of one's conviction. A thou¬
sand and one things may be known to be arising,
but, rather than speak 6ut against them for fear
of giving offense or losing prestige or missing a
main chance of winning a fat berth or obtaining
a comfortable office, the evil or wrong or outrage
will be allowed to fester and eat, as a cancer, until
the life or safety of the institution or body ecclesias¬
tic is threatened with serious injury or death.
Cowardice is an intolerable sin, and it is to be
deplored that but very few of those who are looked
upon as leaders are exempt from the monstrous
moral delinquency. The man who really loves his
church and is on the side of truth and is concerned
in the prosperity of both may be silent in the face
of error and abuses for a season; but, while he is
musing, the-fires burn and he resolves to speak out,
though a thousand evil spirits bid him hold his
peace.
The writer has long been aware of the fact that
there exist certain grave evils within the inner cir¬
cles of our communion which, like cutworms, are
sapping its very vitals. He has discussed this peril
with others who covenanted to unite in its over¬
throw again and again. As the pledge has not been
redeemed by others, and as the monster still strikes
at the life of the Church, the writer undertakes to
make good his part of the covenant and lift his
voice and pen in behalf of the great trust endan¬
gered.
His pen has not been aroused in a spirit 6f
yindictiveness, nor is he open to the indictment of
personal animadversion against any man. In these
successive pages he will be discussing principles and
grave issues rather than individuals who may be
involved only in an incidental way. He has no
chips on his shoulder, but means to hew to the
plummet, let the chips fly whithersoever they may.
He bespeaks and implores the indulgence of the
reader who is concerned in the welfare of his race
and people. That God's favor may accompany this
modest but timely utterance i^ the unfeigned prayer
of the writer.
ilntrnimrttmt
Dr. H. T. Johnson is at work on a brochure
bearing the significant title, "Problems of the
Church." Upon a subject so full of facts and fancies,
with a pen so versatile as that of the writer, the
Church and the public in general have the right to
expect some sparkling sentences. Steering as he
will between Scylla and Charybdis, the hope of all
will be that this latest venture of the Doctor will be
a veritable bon voyage.
BISHOP BENJAMIN TUCKER TANNER.
(Cnntmtta
i. A Great Church Heritage.
2. The Fathers Faced Grave and Difficult Prob¬
lems.
3. Some Present-Day Problems in African Meth¬
odism.
4. Problem Number One.
important fcta
nr
flrnblma of the GJIwrri}
BY
H. T. JOHNSON, A. M. Ph. D., D. D.
Editor—" The Christian Recorder"
All churches or church connections have prob¬
lems of greater or less momentousness, and the
A. M. E. Church in this respect is no exception.
To sa,y, therefore, that this particular church has
problems, and some perplexing ones at that, is only
a truism that might or might not awaken interest.
Nor does it occasion much interest to say that there
is either gravity or originality to the problematic
side of Allen's Church life. That uniqueness in this
respect cannot be claimed; it is necessary only to
scan our history or glance backward to the cradle
of our infancy or, the bed that gave us birth. Amid
troubles and fears our ecclesiastical offspring was
I
ushered into the world, and an interrogation point
of varying proportion has been her invaluable trail¬
ing school and chief patron saint. For a great
while the fragile form and swaddling garb of the
little visitor in ebony seemed a certain prophecy
of its brief career, but the unexpected happened,, and
Allen's Church still lives, with bright prospects of
many years ahead to bless the race and answer its
heaven-appointed mission.
The early pioneers of African Methodism had
a herculean task before them, which they mef with
unflinching faith and heroism. They lacked books,
but the deficit was more than met by the abundant
stock they possessed of heart and brain. The talk
we sometimes hear of their building wiser than they
knew is jargon more worthy of the mouth of mad¬
men than the lips of wisdom.
To form anything like an adequate estimate of
the labors of our church founder and his comrades,
or to have the faintest conception of the perplexing
problems which they so successfully met and mas¬
tered, it is necessary to grasp the situation that
environed them, and to consider the hostile forces
arrayed against them on every side. Seen in this
light they loom up as giants rather than pigmies,
as eagles of light and strength rather than symbolic
bats or fledglings groping in darkness or beating
their wings in quest of freedom.
A slight idea of the mettle of our pioneer
2
churchmen may be realized when we consider their
struggles in behalf of religious liberty. The effort
to secure this in the original household was a suc¬
cessful failure, so they deserted the parental roof,
their pathway meanwhile lit up by the sparks of
manhood, rather than remain as servile dependents
beneath a roof whose shelter was by no means what
it promised.
Nevertheless the problems with which our
church fathers had to grapple were only foreshad¬
owed in the faintest way while they remained in the
landlocked harbor of the mother church. It was
only when they cut loose from their moorings and
ventured forth in their own craft upon the untried
waters, exposed to treacherous rocks and shoals,
that they began to realize the magnitude and grav¬
ity of their venture. The seaworthiness of their
ship liad to be tested, and the hostile elements in
conjunction with their own experience as mariners
soon gave them a wealth of wisdom of which they
little dreamed before. Scarcely had they weighed
anchor and put out to sea before the wind, tide and
warring elements turned upon their craft in all their
fury. For awhile it looked as if they would have to
reef sails and drift before the winds of an angry
sea. Though brought*to their wit^ end, these
heroic seamen did not desert the ship, but, in their
hour of peril, sought guidance and safety in the
counsel of the Divine Captain, who, to all outward
3
seeming, was "asleep in the hold of the ship." To
Him they did not have to cry loud nor long, for in
a moment He was on the deck of the ship, waiving
the dashing breakers into serenity and hushing the
roaring tempest into placid silence.
Changing a figure of speech into facts of his¬
tory, we see an array of bristling, stubborn prob¬
lems staring our church fathers squarely in the
face. Their first difficulty was to secede from an
intolerable bondage of ecclesiastical caste and pro¬
scription. As trying as was the venture they made
it, but their independence resulted in kindling the
relentless flames of antagonism and persecution
against them. It was comparatively easy to desert
the old church homestead, but to be recognized as
bona fide housekeepers under their own vine and
fig tree was more than the Tobiases and Sanballets
of the opposition could tolerate. We will note in
a moment the more vexatious character of the prob¬
lem they had to face as amateur churchmen and
freedom-seeking worshipers.
The idea we wish to emphasize in this uncon¬
ventional brochure is, that church problems are no
new things to the custodians of the ark of African
Methodism; ^hat our successors met and mastered
difficulties from which we would turn aside, judg¬
ing from the apathy and time service we betray on
monentous questions, and under trying odds in
4
less strenuous times. The prime virtue displayed
by these pioneers was courage of the highest order.
But they were as consistent as they were courage¬
ous, and it were well that this royal jewel should
decorate our crown as well as theirs. In principle
as well as by profession they were Methodists, and
no amount of persecution or persuasion could make
them otherwise. They could have found ready
shelter under the wings of the Episcopal bishop and
church, as some of their comrades did, but they
were born and bred Methodists and preferred the
simple Wesleyan diet of pulse and pure water to
the hunger-mocking bill of fare offered by Bishop
White or the Protestant Episcopal Church. Absa¬
lom Jones and his allies might be allured by the
latter and receive the priesthood as a trophy.
Richard Allen and his compeers held on to the
former, and by the strength it furnished scaled the
heights of the most lofty churchly honor, making
it possible for others of exalted aims to follow in
the wake of the noble example furnished. If our
church heritage to-day is a spectacle to men and
to angels; if it solves the problem of Negro capac¬
ity to govern themselves more fully than any other
Hamit church branch; if it gives a constant incent¬
ive to the aspiring race youth to look and mount
up higher, it is due chiefly to the character and con¬
duct of those who lived and labored with the im¬
mortal Richard Allen.
5
When it is recalled that the pioneers of Afri¬
can Methodism were finally disowned as Meth¬
odists, but that they fought to retain their name and
legacy,, we have an additional reason for yielding
to them the palm and crediting them with mettle
in the clay of their composition far superior to any
we may boast of. To their undaunted courage and
splendid consistency, we must attach the elemfent
of conscious co-operation with providence before
we can account for the unbroken series of victories
which crowned their struggles in every conflict.
They appealed to the Courts whenever they were,
driven to do so by having their rights denied or
trampled on. In every vital issue they won a ver¬
dict, even though they might be driven to the court
of last resort. This element of their virtue we of
to-day might well emulate with profit. It was per¬
haps this dogged determination to win; this repeat¬
ed crowning of their every effort with golden
sheaves of victory that excited the jealousy of their
opposers and unrelentless fire from the enemy's gun.
These noble church sires performed an inestimable
task for the generations that have since entered into
their glorious inheritance. While others may dis¬
count their labors, it is our duty to emulate their
deeds and keep verdant their precious memories.
Wisely did they build, and well did they do the
work Providence intrusted to their hands, and gen¬
erations yet unborn will pronounce their memories
blessed.
6
But justice has been done these vanguards of
the precious church legacy we enjoy only in a par¬
tial way until we take their constructive as well as
aggressive labors under review. It is refreshing to
know that they were never forced to retreat before
ttie fire of the pursuing foe; it should be inspiring
tonote the conquests and vantage grounds captured
and held to their lasting credit. It is one thing to
desert the household which has sheltered us in the
\
past, but quite another thing it is to erect another
that will afford us comfort and safety during the
§ultry and stormy seasons to come. Our fathers
demonstrated their independence and courage, no
doubt. Did they display their wisdom, sound judg¬
ment and executive genius in the ecclesiastical struc¬
ture they built and the machinery and running gear
they planned to give it life and efficiency? They
exercised an eye to these living questions and an¬
swered them after a fashion we are bound to ad¬
mire.
Had the founders of the A. M. E. Church not
reckoned with the literary and educational factors
in the problems before them their credit for mental
breadth and concernment in the durability and pros¬
perity of their work would have been greatly over¬
drawn. But they grasped the situation fully and
gave proof of their faith and wisdom by providing
the nucleus of a publishing house.. It was their
lofty notion that for an institution to live and thrive
7
it is necessary for it to have a head and brains and
eyes, just as an individual has. For their people to
maintain the newly-projected church enterprise the
fathers felt that it was necessary to enlighten their
intellects and provide food for their minds in the
shape of good books and papers to foster race pride
and edify their unborn children in the faith. At
once were they confronted with the problem of a
publishing house in miniature, and in an unconvinc¬
ing way grappled with the work of its solution.
The publishing plant they installed was only such
in a meagre and apologetic way, we Confess. Its
initial scope was limited to a book of discipline, con¬
ference minutes and a periodical of varying fortune
as to issuance, but this humble beginning was but
the prophecy of larger undertakings and better
fortune in the book concern or church publication
venture. The dreams and plans cherished have
been realized, some thirty and some sixty fold.
Whether they materialize an hundred fold in the
future will largely depend upon the quality as well'
as amount of work of head and heart we invest in
the trust committed to our han.ds.
Our Publishing House problem has been obvi¬
ously a knotty .and stubborn one, but its vexatious-
ness is due largely to the nature of the equation in¬
volved. By factoring and the process of elimination
and substitution it can be so simplified as to render
its solution possible; but before this is done it were
8
well to appreciate its magnitude in the terms and
implications of its statements. Daylight might
have been seen long ago by those who have as¬
sumed the task of working out the problem in ques¬
tion had they-wisely grasped it as a whole before
dismissing or relegating any of its vital elements.
The prime blunder on the part of the men charged
with the management of the Publishing House, with
possible exceptions in the forgotten past, is the folly
of mistaking the part for the whole in the assump¬
tion that the Church is the creature of the Concern.
Until our publishers or book agents (for more than
this they are not, and titles and arrogance cannot
make them more) can get the idea in their heads
that their enterprise has a connectional and benev¬
olent, rather than a departmental scope and aim,
we may exist until doomsday without getting be¬
yond the treadmill or rut-track method of doing
business. The institution may be a goose, to be
sure; but, whether it pr6duces flesh or feathers, the
Church, or, more directly, our veteran ministry, is
to be the beneficiary of the productive capacity'*of
the goose. In other words, until the business of
our publishing plants succeed in such a manner as
not only to meet their own expenses, but yield an
annual revenue or dividend for the support of our
worn-out ministers, those who conduct them will
be amenable to the charge of grossly ignoring what
the fathers wisely planned and generously decreed
and measurably carried out.
9
problem Number ($ne
The Book Concern—Why Not a Success.
The constant growing indebtedness of our Pub¬
lishing House may be considered an unanswerable
evidence of its shortcomings. In the past quarter-
century three times has it been placed under the
sheriff's hammer and half a dozen times has it been
disgraced by being advertised for sale. Once it
was sold and bought in by the employes, who sued
for back wages and enforced the manager from
right of way and access to the books of the office
and from making his official report. But for the
timely interposition of one of the officials of the
corporation, who was a man of extraordinary brain,
tact and nerve force, this strategic holding would
have then and there been lost to the connection.
The brave director preferred to take advantage of
an important legal technicality, threatened to im¬
prison the mercenary hirelings in question, and suc¬
ceeded in making them recall the damaging action
taken against the concern and its unfortunate man¬
agement.
10
The misfortune of this department cannot to
any marked extent be attributed to a lack of con-
nectional interest and support. Its books, papers
and other outputs have yielded a steady revenue
to maintain and promote its career for many dec¬
ades. For years the Recorder has had exclusive
right of way among preachers and laymen, and, at
a cost two and one-half times as great as at pres¬
ent. In addition to this the General Conference
went so far as to legalize a general day on which
a collection was to be lifted throughout the church
to aid the work of the department. Thousands of
dollars have doubtless been realized through this
source alone, to Say nothing of the thousands real¬
ized through the issuance of bonds and other de¬
vices operated by sundry managers. After all
these varied expedients and resources it was only
reasonable to bespeak for the Book Concern a busi¬
ness basis safe and promising, to say the least. Add
to the advantages already stated the further fact
that a loan of five thousand dollars was secured
from a source which could afford to let the prin¬
cipal rest indefinitely as a matter of family confi¬
dence and helpfulness if only the interest be kept
paid up, and you have an additional reason why the
connection had a right to expect success rather than
failure from the Book Concern.
The gloomy history of the Publication Depart¬
ment is happily relieved by a streak of good for-
II
tune here and there. The erection of the present
Publishing House by the Business Manager, Dr.
J. C. Embry, in 1893 was as sunshine to prevailing
clouds which for the most part have ever mantled
the department. All things considered, the struc¬
ture is a -monument of credit to the enterprising
officials who built it. It reflected as much credit
upon the connection at the time of its construc¬
tion as the building whose place it took reflected
otherwise by its squatty stature and back-numbered
appointments and condition upon the gfeat church
it so grossly misrepresented. For some time the
new publishing house towered as the architectural
masterpiece of the block it graced so strikingly.
Tint for the grime and dirt-marred visage worn by
its exterior since that time it might still be pointed
to with pride by the loyal church-loving Allenites
rather than shunned for fear of compromising his
taste and church pride.
A moment ago the reader's attention was
called to the smile of good fortune which dawned
upon the Publishing House in the shape of its five
thousand dollar long-term loan. It was hoped that
this dawn of sunlight would have forestalled the
night of adversity for a protracted period, but, alas,
stern fate seems to have decreed otherwise. In an
incredibly short time the warning notes of the pres¬
ence of the Philistines were sounded, and our Sam¬
son had a hair's breadth escape for his life. In 24
12
hours the new building was to go down under the
hammer of the sheriff, and the mourners met with
long faces and grave demeanors to pay the last
tribute' of respect to the doomed concern. How¬
ever, before the final word was spoken the intrepid
form of a personage who had done emergency serv¬
ice for the Concern before was seen to enter the
door. On inquiry he was told of the judgment
against the-property, and that nobbing could avert
the impending doom. "It shall not be done !"
"Who and where are the creditors?" were thrown
out as lifelines and preservers of hope and courage
by the newly-arrived member of the Board and Vice
President who had just come from another city.
Incredulous at first, the Board decided to await the
return of the hero rescuer of the concern, who vol¬
unteered to see the parties concerned at once. He
did so, and in a short while the effect upon the dis¬
heartened little group, including the lugubrious
manager, was magic beyond description.
It is needless to say that this greatest peril of
the department's history the day was saved and
the concern renewed another lease of life. It is
due as a matter of fact and history that the name
of the concern's emergency savior, this time, as be-
fote, and yet again, is none other than that of Dr.
William B. Derrick, of New York, whose eminent
services, merits and endowment have won for him
*3
the honor and eminence of a piece on the Episcopal
bench. As a matter of history it should also be
stated that Drs. Coppin (now Bishop), Stansberry
and others loaned money to save the Concern.
Wiith a connection of a million and more,
counting its ministry, lay membership and follow¬
ing to back it; with the salaries of its head officials
paid from the treasury of the Church; with the pro¬
ceeds from the subscription of the Church Organ
and the sale of its literary outputs and revenue from
the job work done to keep it in a thriving condition,
the question, Why does our Publishing House fail
to reach the high-water mark ? is a logical and press¬
ing one and should be answered in a prompt and
unmincing way.
His fifteen consecutive year's of intimate service
and knowledge in connection with the book con¬
cern should not disqualify the writer from answer¬
ing this pressing question.
In venturing this answer I shall avoid every¬
thing of a personal, sinister or controversial charac¬
ter and deal only with the things which the Church
has a right to know, rnd, indeed, with some of the
things not done in a corner. I shall classify the
causes which minister to our delinquencies and fail¬
ures as a Publishing House as functional- and arbi¬
trary on the one hand and chronic and "officious on
the other.
14
(Ernies of a Jfathtrp
Chief among the functibnal causes leading to
the failures of the Book Concern is its Dual Head¬
ship. The publishing house may be divided into
three, but at least into two distinct departments,
with a general officer in charge of each division of
the work.
Its business, or the mechanical side, is under
the superintendence of an official known as" the
Business Manager. The Christian Recorder and
Quarterly Review each has an editor elected by the
General Conference and clothed with absolute re¬
sponsibility and sovereignty as relates to the liter¬
ary and news features of the publications. While
these respective servants of the Church are intend¬
ed to be no more than peers among equals in the
eyes of the law and in the exercise of official func¬
tions, it is nevertheless true that this is so in theory
and not in fact. It is an exception to which neither
history nor memory of man can refer when the
Business Manager and Editor have pulled in the
tra.ces together without bucking or injuring the
credit and welfare of the interests jointly committed
to them. With the major heft or purchase in the
hands of the Manager, who controls the hire, pay
and work of the employes, and who rarely con¬
tributes a farthing toward making smooth the rough
pathway of the editor, the backwardness of the de-
15
partment is measurably accounted for. One has
but to reflect that an editor has to be provided with
an office outfit, facilities and a contingent fee to
meet the incidental expenses of his office just as
any other officer of the Church, and when he is
forced to provide these things out of his own scanty
purse the injustice will scarcely be regarded less
than an outrage. To the credit of that administra¬
tion, the writer is happy to state that on assuming
duties as editor, fifteen years ago, he found his
predecessors supplied with a small yearly appro¬
priation to meet the pressing demands of his
office. For twelve years this imperative help has
been withdrawn and the editor has been ever since
told to "root, pig, or die."
In the light of functional derangement and of¬
ficial disharmony of a greater or less aggravated
character is it to be wondered at that our publica¬
tion interest should be of stunted growth, if alive
at all, or that one or both of its editors should crave
divorcement from its • managerial interference or
denomination? The editor of the Review, for eight
years, has been granted the right to exercise his
official functions untrammeled, and the General
Conference may be asked to show cause why simi¬
lar respite should not be granted the Recorder's
Editor.
16
A Mflitertt lEifitor'a (Outfit
Let the reader fancy the editors of his Church
organs favored with the good fortune that brightens
the official skies of the average editors of other
church papers. A swept office and ready clerk and
easy chair await the arrival of the messenger and
molder of the connectional life. The letters and
exchanges that furnish the material for the day's
work have been already opened and carefully culled.
The chaff has been separated and the wheat set in
order on the editor's desk. A glance over the col¬
umns of the daily and the contents of his desk
equips him for telling work with the amanuensis
and typewriter. With arms folded and legs crossed
he simply shuts his eyes and reclines in his easy
chair while he dreams and dictates his message to
waiting and distant multitudes. There is no earth¬
ly reason why our editors should not be favored in
this typical way and thereby insure the most whole¬
some returns to the race and Church. To expect
the editor to do his bestvunder the consciousness of
being handicapped officially is to expect more than
is generally looked for by the average servant or
employe who is mistreated and nagged continually
and yet is expected to give the most satisfactory
service to the Church.
In all the retinue of railroad employes none is
so important as the man at the throttle of the en-
17
gine. He is the'veritable headlight and conductor
of the train. It is imperative that at all times his
head should be clear, and that he be kept in the
pink of condition. Let him get out of gear, mentally
or otherwise, and life and fortune incalculable ^re
endangered as a result. The figure is not the least
overdrawn when applied to the man whom the con¬
nection makes its chief sentinel or engineer. Give
him fair treatment, keep his heart warm and his
head clear, and, despite sharp curves and long tun¬
nels, bridges and high grades, he will take both
train and passengers to the grand station of safety.
(Emtriuitfttg iFarta
This booklet has already gone beyond the scope
intended in this first of the series, and yet the writer
must not bring it to a close before saying a word or
two about some other things that militate against
the Editor and detract from the success of the depart¬
ment. The thing to which I especially refer is the
arbitrariness or unwarrantable assumption of the
Business Manager. In some cases this breach of
fairness may directly affect the Editor, but whether
so or not it has a demoralizing effect upon the busi¬
ness. One or two illustrations will suffice to make
clear th$ allegations made. For nearly a quarter
18
century the Business Manager has been giving em¬
ployment to members of his family in the Book Con¬
cern. Under no Manager during this period has less
than two been thus employed, not counting the man¬
ager himself. During the period referred to not a
single member of an Editor's family has been thus
regularly employed, although the records will show
that not less than a dozen relatives of Managers have
been on the pay roll of the concern from time to
time. Perhaps this point will not be made sufficiently
clear unless it be understood that the editors have
had families, members of whom have been no less
desirous of and eligible to employment than those
related to Business Managers.
Just another word and the discussion of our
departmental problems must be postponed to a forth¬
coming chapter. Our Business Managers, like edi¬
tors and other church servants, each and all, should
comprehend the interests of the church, far beyond
the limited horizon which officially and locally shuts
them in. They should not do aught that would
checkmate or ruin the welfare of the department,
which should survive, even though the official head
should go up or down or out. That this vital thing
has not been observed in the past will account for
the crippled condition of the Concern in the past and
for years to come more than anything else. A man¬
ager on retiring from office has been known from
the records to have advanced the weekly wages' of
19
the employes from 15 to 40 per cent. In the light
of an added burden of $25 a week to the pay roll of
the employes this arbitrary act cannot be considered
as less than a high-handed piece of selfishness and
wanton outrage. It is but fit that the Church should
be told that the same outrage just mentioned has
been visited upon another department of the Church
whose pay roll runs up into the hundreds weekly. I
might go on and mention the suicidal habit of bor¬
rowing thousands of dollars at the rate of 60 per
cent, to carry on business, but I must leave this and
other startling facts of an arbitrary character to in¬
terest the reader and General Conference lawmaker
further on.
20