YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 1936 racial ADJUSTMENTS IN THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH m m RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS IN THE METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH BY JOHN H. REED, D.D., K.C. United States Vice-Consul General to Liberia; President of the College of West Africa, Monrovia, Liberia WITH AN introduction BY ADNA B, LEONARD, D,D., LL.D. General Secretary Emeritus of the Board of Foreign Missions One Hundred Fifty, Fifth Avenue, New York City NEW YORK THE NEALE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1914 Copyright, 1914, by The Neale Publishing Company RX5I DEDICATION To MY FAITHFUL WIFE, MaEGURITE LoUISE Reed, who foe nearly twenty years has borne with me the sacrifices and privations of thb Christian Ministey; who, in the hom!e field, as well as in the foeeign field of our work, has been a true helpmeet through these yeaes of varied experiences; vrithout whom i could not have attained the degree of success that has attended oue aeduous laboe foe the MaSTEB, and whose DEEP DEVOTION AND UN DAUNTED COUEAGE, BOTH IN TIME OF PERIL AND IN TIME OF SOEEOW, HAVE BREATHED HOPE INTO MY FALTEEING HEART AND NERVED ME FOE THE BATTLE OF LIFE, — AND TO MY DEAE CHILDREN, WaLTEE AND FlOEENCE, — WHO, IN CHILDLIKE INNOCENCY SHARED THE MANY PARENTAL VICISSITUDES, PAE- TAKIN6 ALIKE OF JOY AND SOEROW, OF TRIUMPH AND DEFEAT,— I HUMBLY DEDICATE THIS VOLUME, WITH A PRAYER TO AlMIGHTY GoD THAT BOTH mother and children may take courage and be inspired foe yet nobler efforts in the church of our choice and in the struggle of life. The Author. I— Slavery and Emancipation 29 II— Our Sciiools in the South 40 III— Our Southern Conferences 54 IV— Our Colored Leadership 65 V— Bishops for Races and Languages . . 77 VI— Barriers to Episcopal Claims of the Race 91 -VII- Duty of Our Colored Leaders and Membership 106 VIII— Proposed Legislation No Solution of Problems 122 IX— Our African Field —Liberia 138 X— The Stewart Missionary Founda tion for Africa 179 Xl-Conclusion 192 INTRODUCTION The volume entitled "Racial Adjustments in the Methodist Episcopal Church," of which Reverend John H. Reed, D.D.,— Vice-Consul General to Liberia and President of the College of West Africa,— is the author, is a timely con tribution to the discussion of racial adjustments and leadership in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Dr. Reed is peculiarly fitted,— by racial ties, educational equipment, and experi ence,— for the task assumed, and, however widely the reader may disagree with the theory raaintained and the conclusions reached, no one will question either his ability or his sincerity. Dr. Reed was born, reared, and educated in America, and for eight years has been the suc cessful President of the College of West Africa, in Monrovia, Liberia,— the only institution of its grade in the Republic. In his "Foreword" the author affirms that the races that constitute the human family are "indissolubly linked to gether in literature, science, government, com merce, discovery, music, architecture, art, paint ing, sculpture, and all the material resources that make for human advancement and civiliza tion," and that it is vastly important "that 10 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS there shall be unity of religious purposes among the various races and nationalities of the earth. ' ' The history of our great Civil War and of the Reconstruction Period,— which closed in 1876, when the Federal troops were withdrawn from the Southern States and carpetbag rule came to an end,— is vividly sketched; the splendid work of the Freedmen's Aid Society in founding and developing higher institutions of learning,— in- situtions that were for a time under the manage ment of white men and then gradually passed largely into the hands of black men that were the products of the schools,— is generously re cognized; the industrial homes of the Woman's Home Missionary Society,— conducted by white women in the interest of colored women and girls,— are highly recommended; "all tending to promote the natural equality of the white and black races." Taking up the question of epis copal supervision, our author holds that the missionary episcopacy "should never have obtained under our polity," that it is now con demned by every thoughtful ecclesiastical leader. The proposed amendment to our Church Con stitution, providing for a race and language episcopacy, is unsparingly condemned as "a misnomer and a most miserable ecclesiastical subterfuge and makeshift for fundamental prin- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 11 ciples, and a stronghold behind which race pre judice hides itself in the Church of God." On both these points there will be widely divergent views and no small amount of discussion. The barriers that have obstructed the prog ress of the Methodist Episcopal Church and the advancement of the colored people in the South are pointed out, and the hope is optimistically pampered that the future has far better things in store for both, and that the time will come "when the old Church will rise to the height of her ecclesiastical power, surmount all barriers, and place a worthy black son safely within the folds of our Itinerant General Superinten dency. ' ' Very cogently it is contended that the race and language amendment would rob the black man of a right imbedded in our Constitution just as the legislatures of Southern States have robbed him of his constitutional rights as a citi zen of the republic. It is forcibly pointed out that the legal status of our colored membership is now on the S'ame plane with our white mem bership, and that the proposed amendment, if adopted, would concede the inferiority of the former and place a formidable obstruction in the path of race progress. As Dr. Reed argues : "In his advocacy of such a proposition the black 12 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS man stands at the parting of the ways, and vir tually asks the Church to take away from him the highest and most sacred right bequeathed to him as a species of the genus homo." It is further claimed that the proposed amendment would not solve the problem of racial differences but would rather accentuate them by setting up "two distinct racial episcopal supervisions cov ering every part of the territory over which this entire membership is scattered, place upon the s'houlders of a rising race a burden most grievous to be borne," and "write caste into the Constitution of Methodism." It is claimed that the residential episcopacy is a step in the right direction and needs only the election of a colored General Superintendent, who will co-operate with our bishops residing in Southern territory in order to "prove to the world that Methodism is able to measure up to the New Testament's standard of our holy re ligion," and to aid in bringing in "the day when the whole world shall blend most harmoniously into one eternal brotherhood." The author turns from the question of epis copal supervision in America to a discussion of the same problem in its relation to Africa, and reviews tbe history of our episcopa,! administra tion from Roberts and Burns to Hartzell and RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 13 Scott,— an administration that, on the whole, he regards as unsatisfactory, for the reason that no adequate policy has been adopted, and he claims that "the Church needs to define her policy in the missionary operation of this great land, the fringes of whose heathen garments we have barely touched." That policy should not sei>a- rate Europeans from native tribes, but should include both ; for it should ever be borne in mind that "the mission of our Methodism in Africa is primarily to the millions of her uncivilized population, and that all else should be merely incidental." In the evangelization of Africa, Liberia holds a unique position. Geographically this small republic may be regarded as only a negligible quantity, but in importance it bulks large, for it is the "gateway for missionary aggressiveness, opening up a pathway to the great tribes of the interior." The program for Africa's evangelization must have an educational basis, with the broad est and most ample equipment. The history of the College of West Africa is briefly told, and its pressing need for a new building, at a cost of $50,000,— is set forth and the hope is expressed that "some great soul will rise up and place upon God's altar the money needed for the 14 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS building of a great educational lighthouse upon the west coast of the Dark Continent." "The present era is the opportune time; the clock of God strikes the hour ; the call is loud and clear ; for Methodism has been set the task ; the waste and desolate deserts of heathenism must 'rejoice and blossom as the rose.' " May this hope be speedily realized ! In the final chapter the author discusses the importance of the Stewart Foundation as a pos sible source of efficiency and power, in the evan gelization of Africa under an episcopal leader ship that shall have a world- vision, together with a constructive Christian statesmanship. The volume closes with the author 's vision of a redeemed world: "There is a serene provi dence that rules in the affairs of men. His truth is eternal the waste places of the earth shall become garden spots of Christian civiliza tion, and all races, tribes, and tongues shall hear the glad tidings of the risen Christ as He marches down the ages; our prayer, 'Thy kingdom come'; will be answered in the coming of the Kingdom of Man, when all nations of the earth shall bow at one common altar and merge into one Universal Brotherhood." What is here written gives only an imperfect outline of a work to which the author has given RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 15 the best thought of his mature manhood. To be properly appreciated the volume must not only be read but deeply pondered. A. B. Leonard. New York City. FOREWORD Mankind is a Unit. God planted the race in Eden. From this original pair have come the widespread and variegated races that now in habit the earth. From time to time attempts have been made to disprove the unity, of the races and to deny the universal brotherhood of man; but these attempts have all failed, and the peoples of every clime have been left to build their racial structure upon this fundamental principle. In the infancy of the race,— in the early ages of the world,— this doctrine was readily subscribed to; but by dispersions and migrations of peoples the question has become more complex in its consideration. After the flood, Noah's three sons,— Shem, Ham, and Japheth,— settled in Asia, Africa, and Europe respectively. They constitute the for bears of the great races of the world, with their various colors, laws, institutions, and customs. We need not dwell at this time upon the antiq uity of the races, with their wonderful achieve ments, nor enter into any lengthy disputation to prove that the races were descended from one original stock, for this all-important question has been settled beyond any further contro- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 17 versy. The duty of present-day leadership is to address itself to the problems of the age and labor to find their solution in the mighty world movements that emphasize the solidarity and mutual interdependence of the peoples of the habitable globe. In the wake of human advancement there have been at regular intervals great events which have tended to emphasize the truth of racial and national solidarity. In the domain of explorations the world has been claimed by mankind as a unit. It matters not what flag has been planted upon the frontiers of human civilization, all peoples have shared in the bless ings that have come to the world through the discoverer and explorer. A little more than four centuries ago the world needed an outlet for broader achievements on part of its inhabit ants. Inspiration came to an insignificant Italian at Genoa; and Columbus gave to Ferdi nand and Isabella a New World All races and nations now share in the glories of this single achievement, which stands as a world fact. It was but the call of Providence to the races and peoples of the world to move forward in the occupancy and development of lands hitherto unknown. This unique event made the world one in 18 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS pus!hing the star of empire westward. What were the results? The globe was circumnavi gated; the world's industrial, scientific, political and religious avenues were thrown wide open, and the waves of the mighty sea were made as dust under the feet of traffic. It caused the var ious nations of the world to be welded into an homogeneous wTiole for the complete subjuga tion of the earth. It brought about govern mental dominion and control, and it bequeathed to following generations the most glorious heri tage of the centuries. It made the Western Hemisphere the arena upon which the world's populations find a happy solution to the might iest problems of human govemment and the permanent establis'hment of representative de mocracy. It has forged the thunderbolts that have blasted the doctrine of the divine right of kings; it has founded republican institutions that transmit the sacred influences of liberty and enlightenment around the globe; and it has given to the Church of God a broader concep tion of its mission than was held in the early ages. In our present age the flags of all nations are unfurled to the breezes of every clime, and the continents are tied together by an indissoluble bond of brotherhood, cemented by material in- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 19 terests that can never be broken. The peoples of the earth form the multitudes in the Valley of Decision. The spirit and genius of the twen tieth century will pull back the curtain from every hidden continent, sail upon all seas, scale all mountain heights, plant the ensign of every race and nation upon every foot of territory as a badge of human sovereignty, and claim do minion of the earth in the name and fee simple of our world-wide humanity. Again, the races of mankind are one in litera ture. Cuneiform characters, carved upon tablets of stone, marked the rise of letters and the spread of universal knowledge. The hiero glyphics of ancient Egypt were deciphered by successive generations and peoples, thus giving to us our written alphabet. There has been no patent right on the alphabet of the world, nor copyright on the written thought of man kind. The rise of letters meant the spread of knowledge,— to be equally shared in by every kindred, tribe, and tongue under the sun. The great storehouse of human thought has been opened, not for any special race variety, but for all the races and all the nations of earth. What we call English Literature is only so because of the nationality of the English writers. What the great literary characters have 20 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS thought and written belongs to no secluded race, —to no selfish household. Shakespeare,— the greatest dramatist of the ages,— was English only by birth and nationality. Rightly inter preted, he was a world character,— whose writ ings have influenced the high standard of liter ary taste and culture of all races of the earth. England can never place a racial patent right nor a national copyright on the bright galaxy of world-renowned ciharacters tiiat have left their rich legacy of literature and learning to the nations. To-day the best literature is studied in all the universities and colleges of the world, and,— no matter what nationality pro jected the truth down the ages,— it is taken up by succeeding generations and made a perma nent part of the world's best literature. France cannot place Alexander Dumas in one corner of her national library and say to the world, "Touch him not!" Dumas belongs to the en tire circle of literati, white or black, and be comes ours by literary inheritance. In the realm of Philosophy Germany caimot rob the world of Schleiermacher and Fichte, nor snatch from the intellectual grasp of modem nations the principles of her replete school sys tem. Oxford and Cambridge and the Univer sity of Heidelberg are not only for the English RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 21 people and the German, but are established as world-centers of thought and information. Students from the Occident take post graduate courses in the universities of the orient, and thus the races and nations are bound together in thought and human aspiration. The will of the late Cecil Rhodes,— who amassed his vast fortune in South Africa,— carries with it the provision for students from the United States of America to study in the best universities of the East, in order to broaden and deepen their culture and learn the govern mental principles of the Old World. In the exe cution of this will, Locke,— a Negro,— a few years ago won the laurels by competitive ex amination and took his place in the rank and file of his contemporaries of the Anglo-Saxon Race for world study and research. So we see that there is no color bar to genius; and in perfect harmony with the poetic sentiment ex pressed by a noted literary character, we re iterate : "Fleecy locks and dark complexion Cannot forfeit Nature's claim; Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in black and white the same." The world's best culture to-day,— regardless of race or clime,— comes from the study of the 22 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS so-called dead languages. There the storehouse of the best thoughts of the centuries is opened to the modern university and college student. Homer belongs to all ages and peoples; Virgil sings of "arms and men" for every schoolboy of whatever nationality ; Horace charms the lit erary world with his verse, regardless of the color of the skin or texture of the hair. "Nil mortalihus ardui est" has stood as the motto and poetic inspiration of thousands of the world's best m.en and women of all races,— beings that grasped the sentiment of it and from it took courage ; Caesar thrills all pupils with his high ly descriptive "Commentaries," and in perus ing the pages one truly feels that here was a mortal possessed of more parts than was any other man that adorned the annals of Rome. Greek literature, no less than that of Rome, is replete with world standards of culture and refinement. The historian, the poet, the phil osopher, and the dramatist belong to all ages and all climes. They make our literary world characters the connecting links in the chain of humanity,— links that bind together the races into one harmonious whole, that unite the best there is in the world of thought, and hold the standard of literary excellence for the genera tions yet unborn. RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 23 This unity of the races may be observed in Science as well as in Literature. We are living in an era of unparalleled scientific investigation and research,— movements that contribute to the present generation the greatest achieve ments in the history of the races. Mankind no longer creeps along the shores of doubts and forebodings, but launches out into the deep ocean of aspiration and thought to discover the hidden secrets of the universe. A world fact belongs to no special race. The discovery of the universal law of gravitation by Newton, gave to this earth a fact that has been most prolific in its efficacy and in the quickening of human impulses. Sir Isaac Newton at once be comes a world character, and the common ex ponent by which all races are raised to the most lofty scientific heights. He takes his place in the Hall of Fame as an inspiration to modern students, Franklin hamessed the forces of Nature and placed electricity under the control,— not of his particular race variety, but of mankind. The one fact has opened the galvanic batteries of the universe for the well-being of humanity everywhere. It has bound the continents to gether with cables of steel, and made our entire globe but a mere neighborhood; it has dissi- 24 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS pated all space and has made commimication almost instantaneous. This world fact touched the scientific genius of Marconi, and wireless telegraphy flashed out in the open spaces above us. And these are but the flash-lights from the hilltops of scientific investigation. The sun has not as yet arisen above the horizon, and we look for the coming century to reveal yet deeper secrets conceming the laws of creation and the relation of man to these lawB, In medical science the world is startled by the remarkable discoveries now being made with respect to the physical constitution of the races. From the discovery of the circulation of the blood by Harvey to that of the wonderful X- ray by Roentgen mankind has stood dazed in the face of the revelations disclosed imder the magic touch of medical research. These men find themselves connected not with some se cluded clan but with the races, the centuries, Newcomb, the American astronomer, was but a ripe product of the principle discovered by Kepler; and what the world enjoys of astro nomical knowledge is due to the unbounded blessings coming to us from these men, who stand as the common property of the world races. These characters become fixed in the temple of fame with that illustrious class of as- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 25 tronomers whose observations have increased the store of man's information upon all conti nents. Watt, Whitney, Edison,— all share in the glories of the scientific achievement of the twentieth century. The winds have been checked on their wonted course and made to do man's service; steam power has been yoked, like the ox, and bears the heavy burdens of human in dustry; the waves of the sea are made as dust under the feet of commerce and traffic; elec tricity has been made the humble slave of the race and illumines all civilizations by its service. This unity of the races is no less true in the social compact. The truth is emphasized in government. Mankind is born into the world citizenship. From the moment the race comes into existence its governmental relations begin to take shape. The reign of law establishes its permanent sway over all the tribes and peoples of the earth. The governments of the world find themselves tied together in mutual rela tions and obligations. There are no more her mit nations, but the entire national compact of the world forms what may be termed the sister hood of states all under the dominancy of inter national law, so that there can be no infractions upon the rights of citizens in their migrations about the globe. The world presents therefore 26 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS no more strangers and foreigners, but world fellow-citizens. The written constitutions of representative democracies are documents in w'hich the expressed will of the people is made knovra to the civilized world, and which in their operation and protection become binding ,to citizens of all climes. Greece gave to mankind the highest learning and the best literature; Rome transmitted the sturdy principles of Roman Law, When the Roman citizen subdued the Briton pn his isle, it meant the permanent esta,blishment of human govemment for succeeding generations. Since the time of King John and the writing of the Magna Charta the movements of human govern-' ment have been leading toward our present world powers. Invasions of peoples have been the means of injecting new life into the anaemic constitution of the world's body politic. The Norman conquest was not by any means the dismemberment of human government, but was virtually a great movement that solidified the forces for the rise and spread of the best there is in racial governmental power. The amalga mation of the Angles and Saxons gave to the world the dominant Anglo-Saxon race, whose conquering proclivities have made for the glory of human achievement. The flagstaff of Liberty RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 27 has been planted upon every hilltop, and all that we now enjoy of citizenship and universal suffrage has been bequeathed to the nations by the statesmen and jurists of ancient, mediaeval, and modern times. Thus has this end been brought about: that no national state can adopt class legislation and discriminate against its citizens because of race or color. Each is wholly dependent upon the social and political compact for the safety and protection of life and property. True states men legislate for the good of the world ; and he who now atempts to build his throne of power on narrowness and seclusion vrill find himself trailing far behind the swiftly moving chariot of civilization. Selfish and designing poli ticians are but freaks in the political compact, and now, as in all ages, will surely find them selves ground to powder under the rapidly re volving wheels of progressive thought. The race or nation that catches the spirit and genius of the present century at once takes its place in the catalog of nations as a world power. And why? Simply because it carries out the high behest of humanity and is not bound by the narrow limitations and restrictions of race prejudice. The Church of Jesus Christ on earth may 28 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS well heed the summons and march on to battle for the unity of the human race,— a movement that stands as the hig'hest expression of man's noblest spiritual endeavors. And if indeed the races are so indissolubly linked together in literature, science, government, commerce, dis covery, music, architecture, art, painting, sculpture and in all the material resources that make for human advancement and civilization, —how much more should there be a unity of re ligious purpose among the various races and nationalities of the earth? It is to this end that the author has undertaken to discuss some of the vital principles of our racial relations and the adjustment of these races within the communion of one great branch of the Christian Church; and he expresses the hope that this unpreten tious volume may shed some faint light upon the questions herein presented and assist in a humble way towards the solution of the prob lems involved. CHAPTER I SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, caught the world-vision w'hen he made the dec laration : ' ' The world is my parish. ' ' Jesus had already given to His Church a world-program in that matchless proclamation, in wliich He said: "The field is the world." He placed a divine seal upon this statement in those final words embodied in the Great Commission as He looked across the centuries and commanded the disciples: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature." The Christian Church was slow in comprehending this great truth until, in the fulness of time. Protestantism was born through the Reforma tion,— with Martin Luther as its chief exponent, —and Methodism was organized in 1784, co- temporaneous with the birth of the American Nation, and the world resounded with the dual proclamation: the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man. While the Nation slumbered,— with slavery as the foundation upon whioh rested the eco nomic and industrial security of the state,— Methodism marched forth with the propaganda of Universal Brotherhood, and at length 30 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS aroused mankind to a sense of the enormity of the crime of human slavery, thereby setting in motion those great waves of popular sentiment that were lashed into a surging foam in the Abolition Movement. This movement,— which gained impetus from Harriet Beecher Stowe, Gerrit Smith, William lioyd Garrison, Henry Ward Beecher, Frederick Douglass, Elijah P, Lovejoy,— not to forget its chief exponent, the world-famed John Brown and that galaxy of illustrious stars in our own ecclesiastical firma ment,— culminated in the historic "Separa tion" of 1844, and reached its climax and crystalization in Abraham Lincoln,— the great est statesman and humanitarian of modern times. Slavery had already been pronounced the "sum of all villainies," and these mighty forces, armed with righteous indignation,— forces that sprang from the sequence of hu man events,— crushed it forever. Standing as we do,— fifty years away from that time, with the radiant light of the twen tieth century beaming upon the Church and the Nation, and with that epoch in American history rising up and forming a dark backgroxmd to the picture,— it becomes altogether fitting that we should draw the mantle of charity over the deeds of the actors in that national drama, and RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 31 address ourselves to the solution of the prob lems that grew out of the greatest civil con flict of all ages. Suffice it to say that Methodism has stood as the greatest factor in the multiple of the forces that have produced the freedom that has come of the Nation's second birth. The place of our own Bishop Matthew Simpson in the birth of the new Nation will stand out in bold relief as the centuries retreat. He is truly and very rightly regarded as among the most worthy advocates of a great cause that tried men's soids. In the true light of American history the im perishable tribute paid to Methodism by the immortal Lincoln will stand out boldly, and the Methodist Episcopal Church must ever be re garded as a nation builder and a foe to tyranny and oppression, dispensing justice and liberty in the sociological and economic devel opment of the races under our national flag. From its very origin, in a political sense, Methodism, as applied to government, has al ways been republican in the fundamental and enduring principles, striving for the perpetua tion of those lofty ideals of American states manship and patriotism that make for true nationalism. While this is so true concerning Methodism in its relation to matters govern- 32 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS mental, the Church has been democratic so far as concerns the dissemination of liberty and en lightenment and the equality of mankind. It is in this sphere of operation that this branch of Protestant Christianity has become world-wide in its spiritual achievements and in its aggressive movements for world-conquest. There has been no discordant note of ultra-con servatism sounded by the world-adherents of Methodism touching the complete emancipa tion of both soul and body. Our ecclesiastical system had its birth in the struggle for spiritual freedom, and the age-long proclamation of hu man brotherhood has been predicated on this protest. The trend of our communicants has been upward,— beyond the range of prejudice based upon mere color and previous condition, —into the broader and higher humanities. This was the underlying principle that animated an Atticus G. Haywood, a Gilbert Haven, a Wil lard F. Mallalieu, a Charles B. Galloway in the Church, and a Henry W. Grady in the New South. These men all became the advocates of the doctrine of universal and aJbsolute freedom and justice for all. The Church therefore should never allow to enter into her ecclesiastical pol ity any discordant element that would in any RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 33 wise tend to mar the harmony of racial adjust ment. Such would be backsliding from the lofty principles that have been maintained for a hundred years. The Civil War,— studied in the light of the divine philosophy of our national history,— was but the outburst of righteous in dignation against injustice and wrong,— indig nation that had its very genesis in the doctrines of the Church from the time of the orgamzation of that Church to the outbreak at Fort Sumter, when was sounded the death-knell of American slavery. Another significant fact in substantiation of this truth is that from the historic dismember ment of Methodism in 1844,— which split the Church in twain,— the Northern Branch, with an unswerving devotion to the truth, contended for the principles involved in the separation. In the meantime the Southern segment of the Methodist circle, through the ministry of that historic epoch (1844-1865), held to the mistaken doctrine of slavery as a divine institution, and preached the inferiority and subserviency of the black race. When the Southern Branch set apart that black membership, the Northern section of Methodism,— to the consternation of their white brethren of the South,— continued to push forward the standard of racial equality 34 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS and brotherhood. Our ministry of that day fought for the noblest principles that ever claimed the attention of men upon a new con tinent. Men, born to meet the time and the oc casion, arose to the duty of the hour and flashed defiance into the face of race prejudice and caste in the Church of Jesus Christ,— flashed it with such boldness and decision that the entire nation trembled and quaked at the aggressive movements and undaunted faith and courage of these defenders of our glorious Methodism, as they marched forth more terrible than an army with banners with a "Thus saith the Lord!" upon their lips. Throughout that long, agoniz ing, and never-to-be-forgotten struggle our Methodism welcomed her black communicants to her altars with a Christ-like spirit that chal lenged the admiration of the civilized world. This black segment in our Methodist circle was to our Church the noblest asset in the ecclesias tical revolution of the nineteenth century. The climax was finally reached. The Civil War closed ; the slaves were freed ; Lincoln was assassinated. A new day dawned upon the be nighted race. The Nation, staggering under the weight of a tremendous war debt, — their heart bleeding at the tragic ending of the great RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 35 Emancipator, faced the solemn responsibilities of the hour,— with four millions chattels made freedmen with all that such a state implied. The historic Reconstruction Period now began, —consequent to the series of mighty events that had taken place in the political and economic history of the Western Continent from 1620 to 1865. Great and confusing issues flashed before the eyes of both statesmen and churchmen as they attempted to steer the ship of state through the breakers of an untried political and ecclesi astical sea, whose billows dashed upon the rocks and shoals of a dismembered Nation. Then it was that the historic "carpetbag gers ' ' rushed upon the scene, as plunderers and robbers might infest a storm-stricken city and stalk, seeking booty, among its dead and dying. With all the wiles of selfish, designing dema gogues, these men immediately took advantage of the newly emancipated race. The South,— weeping over the "Lost Cause" and ravished of the former wealth she had possessed in hu man beings (called lawful property) —was now made the unfortunate victim of these so-called "scalawags", who feasted, like so many greedy cormorants, on the dismembered States and preyed upon the easy duplicity and ignorance of the black race, now left helpless victims and 36 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS scapegoats of the bloodiest civil conflict of the centuries. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the Federal Consti tution were adopted in rapid succession by Con gress as a precautionary measure and as a safeguard to the citizenship of the recently em ancipated slave, who stood dazed and dumb founded under the weight of the sudden transi tion from the slave market and auction block, to the halls of legislation,— a transition fraught with tremendous significance. While the South stood aghast at what was considered a prostitution of governmental power, and that unscrupulous and unprincipled horde of office-seekers gloated over the fortunes of war,— using the credulous and beguiled mil- jions of black population as easy tools,— the spirit of humanity arose, and the Methodist Episcopal Church, like a life-saving vessel, sailed upon this dark sea of social and political storms and gathered up the wrecked and dis membered fragments of an outraged and de moralized race,— a race that had been the un fortunate victim of a system of unrequited toil and degradation for more than two centuries. The task that the Nation could not perform by emancipation the Church set about doing, with the Bible in one hand and the spelling book in RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 37 the other, and the whole South was alarmed as the thrill first stirred that marked the rising of a redeemed race,- a race rising, not by the intrigues and machinations of politicians, but by Christian Education backed by Christian Philanthropy, There appeared upon the scene great ecclesi astical leaders: Isaac W, Wiley, Richard S. Rust, John M. Walden, Henry W. Warren,— men of iron will and nerves of steel, who grasped the situation with a master hand, and the Freedmen's Aid Society had its birth. This was also the day in the world of philanthropy,— a day when Peabody, Slater, Daniel Hand, Eli jah Gammon, William F, Stewart, Philander Smith, and others of kindred spirit came to the rescue of the race and the Nation with their splendid contributions for the purpose of em ancipating the freedmen from the thralldom of ignorance. Instead of sending the new citizen to the Senate and House of Representatives, where, by virtue of the franchise, he would naturally reserve the right to go, Methodism sent him to school to prepare for racial leader ship and to win laurels in the true service of uplifting his fellows in both religion and poli tics. The story of the achievements of the black 38 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS man in this sphere of our national growth reads like a romance. Thus the work of uplifting a race began, and what we call the New South had its rise in the fundamental principles underlying the organ ization of a school system within the territory of the old slave States, The generation of babes that appeared upon the scene in I860,— the darkest period of American history,— became the scholastic population of this New South and formed the nucleus around which our public educational system had its subsequent growth and expansion. The Old South began to be folded up like a worn-out garment, and the rise of order out of chaos was manifest in public taxation for education among the masses. The old schoolmaster took the place of the former overseer, and the log cabin schoolhouse, with its crude facilities, became the center of attrac tion for the black boys and girls, who, with books and satchels, wended their way along many country roads to this Mecca of learning, for education was considered by the ex-slaves to be the real panacea for all the ills of the black race. The Reconstructive Period passed into his tory; Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, the hero of Appo matox, was elected President of the Nation. A RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 39 system of martial law obtained throughout the States that had seceded from the Union ; troops were quartered within the confines of the old slave territory, and the black man felt a sense of personal security at the sight of the blue jackets, with their glistening muskets and shin ing epaulets. From 1868 to 1876 marked the reign of military authority within the limits of the Old South. But this could not last; force had to give place to reason; the school had to take the place of the armed camp ; the appeal to sectional passion and partisan political preju dice had to give place to economic and industrial development, and soon a new order of things set in. The very forces of material and moral progress demanded the withdrawal of Federal troops from the South and the adoption of a higher policy for the welfare and protection of the public. CHAPTER II OUR SCHOOLS IN THB SOUTH In the organization of the educational system of the Methodist Episcopal Church the best and most earnestly consecrated Christian teachers of the white race took up the task, in the face of the coldest social ostracism on the part of the white South. Despite this, however, our schools in the South became the centers to which the black multitudes rushed, with an avidity for knowledge that was the marvel of the century. The whole system was a home missionary pro paganda,— the most glorious of the past cen tury. These institutions were manned by such saintly and devoted characters as Braden, Godman, Fayles, Dean, Libbey, Davis, Tliayer, Clifford, Dunton, Hill, Melden, Adkinson, Hoyt, Lowe, and their noble corps of teachers,— too numerous to mention,— whose impress upon their pupils can never be erased; men and wo men of whom the South was not worthy when measured by their deeds. These men and their associates were the in crement of power that lifted the black people of the South into Christian civilization and manhood. The lives of these leaders are inter- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 41 woven with the growth of these institutions, for they were the builders of a race and the conser vators of civil and religious liberty in the black belt. Together with these men, whose names shall remain imperishably inscribed upon the history of this educational work, are Rich ard S. Rust, John M. Walden, Joseph C. Hart zell, John W. Hamilton, Wilbur P. Thirkield, and Madison C. B. Mason. These are the pioneers who wrought mightily in the per manent organization and standardization of the educational work of the Methodist Episcopal Church among the black people of the South,— men through whose leadership have been be queathed to following generations the vast pro perty interests in grounds, buildings, and equip ments for the administration of their most worthy successors in office,— Dr. Mavcety and Dr. Penn,— who now direct the forces for Chris tian uplift and enlightment within this terri tory. From 1866 to 1888 the Church concentrated all its efforts, under the name and work of the historic Freedmen's Aid Society. In 1888, the General Conference,— in order to meet the exi gencies of the occasion arising out of our white scholastic population in the "South,— affixed the term "Southern Education," which gave as a 42 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS new name: The Freedmen's Aid and Southern Education Society. This change necessitated a double secretariat. The election by the General Conference of a black man,— co-ordinate in ad ministration with a white,— was an ideal stand ard for the equality of the races in the admin istration of the entire educational system of the Church. In view of the peculiar social condi tions in the South, the greatest wisdom and discretion were necessary on the part of these two officials, so constituted. All honor to these men that carried forward the work in the midst of such delicate problems as those with which they had to deal in racial adjustment! Every member of the two races must concede that the adjustment of all the intricate problems, which came up in the administration of this work, was about as satisfactory as could possibly have been accomplished, considered in the light of all the surrounding circumstances. Another phase of the problem in the growth of our schools in this section of our common country was the opening of doors for the ad ministration of black men as presidents. Up to 1892, all the schools were manned by white presidents, who administered under the ap pointment of the Board of Managers of this educational work. At length the day came, when RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 43 one door after another was opened before the very forces of racial growth, until there arose confidence on part of the Board that the black man was capable in the administration of the educational affairs of his kith and kin,— both in point of scholarship and executive ability. What was the result? There stand to-day to the black man's acknowledged educational ability Wiley University, Bennett College, Sam Houston College, George R, Smith College, PhUander Smith College, Central Alabama College, Meridian Academy, Gilbert Academy, not to mention our foreign mission institutions in Liberia,— all having at the head men that are themselves the ripe product of our institu tions in the South, But the foregoing is only an indication of what the future will reveal in the expansion of the educational work of the Church, Mighty agencies are now at work in the re-adjustment and standardization of our educational institu tions. The most far-reaching among the present discussions is the movement for the permanent endowment of these institutions. This will doubtless reach its high-water mark under the present Jubilee Commission,— the jubilee marking the fifteenth anniversary of the black man's emancipation which was broadened 44 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS by the aggressive administration of the Freed men's Aid Society. This forecasts a most glorious dawn in the coming era of our educa tional work. In the evolution of this educational system of the Church it is a very significant fact that this is the only point of immediate racial con tact that now remains in the racial adjustments taking place at this time in the Methodist Epis copal Church. Let us look at this fact: Two corresponding secretaries, co-ordinate in rank, exercise the administrative functions of this impv^rtant department of our Methodist ma chinery. The institutions for the black race still maintain the principle of having white teachers in the work of our schools. This is the case whether the president is black or white. The wisdom of this is indeed apparent. There are educational standards yet to be reached by these institutions, and the very best teachers,— both white and black,— should be constantly em ployed, in order that the best possible results may be obtained in breadth of scholarship, thus awakening the race to self-consciousness and strong Christian manhood. Then too, such a policy becomes the proper thing for both races in teaching the one to know the intrinsic worth and character of the other, thereby cultivating RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 45 the spirit of mutual respect the one for the other and reducing to a minimum the caste spirit along racial lines. We should never forget that it was out of the consecrated white teachers in the early history of our schools that the pres ent-day leadership among our colored com municants had its birth. Not only so, but it keeps the two races in touch regarding the principles for which the Church has stood throughout her past history. This is a point at which the black man cannot afford to take any initiative in bringing about a separation in our educational propaganda. This work demands cool heads and warm hearts, for upon it depends,— almost wholly,— the future destiny of the black man within our communion. Our more than a score of institu tions within the territorial boundaries of the old slave States must, in the light of present day movements, ever hold to the loftiest prin ciples of racial growth upon the broadest basis of humanitarianism, thereby enabling the com ing generations to catch the spirit of the new century in its struggles up the hill of racial endeavor. This becomes an absolute necessity when considered in the light of the enormous work to be accomplished in connection with the material growth of these institutions in the 46 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS matter of equipment and endowment, with ample facilities in grounds and buildings. The race needs the constant touch of our stronger white brother to carry forward this essential work of uplifting a race. Touching the matter of what these institu tions are doing from point of self-help, it is worthy of note that each one has made a most creditable record within the past quarter of a century. The patronizing territory of our in stitutions has begun to awake to the sense of duty ; and material growth in the acquisition of buildings and grounds, as well as in the local income and resources of the schools,— is at present one of the most remarkable evidences of self-support. The student body also contri butes a worthy quota to the sun total of finan cial resources, and the entire system is taking fresh courage in bringing to bear the obligation of the Church on the maintenance of this in dispensable work. In the present absence of statistical facts it is impossible to give in detail the achievements of all of our institutions in this particular, but these few instances may suffice to show the trend of material growth: Within the past sixteen years, Wiley University, at Marshall, Texas, under the efficient management of Presi- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 47 dent Dogan, has had a most phenomenal growth in buildings and equipments, and the work of expansion still goes forward. The outgrowth has been the errection of a great Central Build ing, the President's Mansion, a new Boys' Dormitory, and by the munificent gift of Mr. Carnegie, a splendid Carnegie Library now graces the large campus. Most of the work upon these buildings was done by student labor. The great Texas Conference has stood nobly by this institution, which stands in the very fore front of our educational institutions in the South, Again,— a dozen years ago President Lovinggood, backed by the West TIexas Confer ence, took charge of Sam Houston College, at Austin, Texas, and what he has accomplished in the growth of this institution reads like a fairy tale, — indeed it seems almost a miracle in educational uplift. The same is true of Phil ander Smith College, at Little Rock, Ark,, due to the aggressive work and wise management of President Cox, These cases are cited with no intention whatever to depreciate the work of other institutions, but, on the other hand, what is true of the institutions mentioned, is true in a comparative degree of the whole net work of schools fostered and maintained by the Freedmen's Aid Society, and backed by the 48 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS strong colored conferences, within whose bounds they are operated. The founders of these educational plants wrought far greater than they knew, and the centuries to come will further disclose the wisdom of their vision and the soundness of their judgment. Who to-day would dare question the wisdom of the planting of Clark University and Gam mon Theological Seminary at Atlanta, Ga., or Walden University and Meharry Medical Col lege at Nashville, Tenn,, or Claflin University at Orangeburg, or New Orleans University (my own alma mater) , at New Orleans, La,, or Mor ristown College, at Morristown, Tenn,, to say nothing of the strategic centers at which all the unm enti oned others are planted? These all stand as torch-bearers to a belated and benight ed race, and mean far more to the black popu lation than the Statue of Liberty at the entrance of New York Harbor, What a marvelous grasp upon the situation has a great leader like Dr, G, W, Hubbard, of Meharry Medical College! The medical practise of the South has been prac tically revolutionized by the creation of practi tioners of the colored race,— who all hold an undying devotion for the great man who has stood like a stone wall defending the black man, A word about our white schools in the South RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 49 would not be amiss. Upon the ground of ex pediency, the Church has adopted a new policy respecting these institutions among our white communicants. The phrase, Southern Educa tion, appended to the Freedmen's Aid Society, —as has been mentioned elsewhere,— has been cut off. This term was intended to meet an emergency in the growth and adjustment of the races within our communion, but finds no utility in the new alignment of racial conditions that at present Cbtain. Our white schools in the South have been placed under the management of the Board of Education, administered by a single white corresponding secretary. Thus two distinct educational systems are fostered by the Church,— systems necessary because of the very evolution of the problems of racial ad justment. By reason of that peculiar philosophy of racial identity and self-conscious racial in tegrity,— and particularly because of the almost insurmountable social barriers between the two races in the South,— the pupils of the black race cannot cross the scholastic threshold of the white race. We face here a condition, and not a theory, in which it takes the wisdom of the serpent and the harmlessness of the dove to bring about a peaceful solution to the problem thus presented, 50 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS With this educational propaganda, there arises a sentiment in certain sections,— based upon race prejudice on the part of State legis latures in the South,— for the enactment of measures to prohibit white teachers from teach ing in colored schools. This has been mooted from time to time and, at an unguarded mo ment of race passion, may burst into an act of legislation, thus driving the races apart at this last point of contact. This would indeed be the irony of fate, and ring out the educational death-knell of our colored institutions of strong scholastic curricula. God forbid that such an issue should ever arise for any compromise of the Church or the State on such a measure,— even in the interest of expediency,— would be a step backward from the goal of highest human destiny. Men, momentary measures, and tem porary expediencies live for to-day; fundamen tal principles live forever. The Church, being of divine origin, cannot submit to mere exigen cies and the selfish ambition of men in the pro pagation of her sacred truths, nor be governed by the passions and excitements of an abnormal racial antipathy. The entire machinery must be lubricated by the oil of altruism and Chris tian brotherhood in order that our claims may be laid to the declaration of our Divine Master, RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 51 when He said: "Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Reverting to our colored schools, closely con nected with these institutions,— another impor tant link in the chain of Christian brotherhood, —is the work of the industrial homes, fostered and maintained by the Woman's Home Mission ary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church. These homes are built in closest juxtaposition with our universities and colleges, and have deeply consecrated white women as superin tendents,— all under the general administration of black presidents of the institutions with which they are connected, at least, so far as the scholastic curriculum is concerned. These two important educational agencies form a crucial turning-point in the racial contact of our Methodism. Our black women in the South are awakening to the duty of the hour and turning their thought and attention to the importance of this work. The white woman and the blaek woman meet the demands of the occasion like beloved sisters, and the superintendents of these industrial homes love their colored girls with a devotion that is deep and spiritual in its nature. Conference societies with auxiliaries through out the confines of our Southem conferences 52 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS are being organized. These hold allegiance to the parent board, fixed within the regular ad ministration of bureaus working under the aus pices of this great benevolent movement of the Church. What does this mean? It means the growth of a new woman in the South among our colored people,— a woman that must as sume the responsibility of redeeming our darker sisters. At the last annual meeting of the So ciety,— held at Des Moines, la.,— the question of training colored girls for special work was discussed, and after careful prayer and con sideration the doors of the Lucy Webb Hayes Training School, at Washington, D. C, were throvm open for the admission of our black sisters. These saintly and elect women did not evade the issue by discussing expediency, but acted in the light of human necessity, despite race prejudice and deep caste feeling throughout the nation. This is also true in the ease of the Chicago Missionary Training School, which is under the supervision of Mrs. Lucy Rider Meyer. Personal acquaintance with Miss BeUe L. James, the corresponding secretary of this institution, impressed the writer with the fact that she is most deeply devoted to the uplift and training of the colored woman. If our col ored women are wise, they will show thems^lv^s RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 53 worthy and work with unabated zeal to keep these doors of hope open and thus vindicate the claims of our Christian womanhood to equal ity and sisterhood, rather than have segregated, exclusive black homes for black women and black girls. The wisdom of such procedure needs no further argument. Thus we have before us the broad and per manent policy for the complete development of our educational system throughout the Church. The forward movements in the endowment and equipment of our vast system of schools, both white and black, should not be checked by any short-sighted policy growing out of racial pas sions and excitements. The black race of the future must develop great scholars and writers, and this is no time to submit to any backward measures that would retard the accomplishment of this most important end. No foundation of self-complacency nor self-sufficiency can stand as a permanent basis upon which to build the superstructure of an enduring temple of civi lization. Educate, or perish. CHAPTER III OUE SOUTHERN CONPEEBNCES Side by side with our schools in the South stand the organization and work of our colored conferences. These had their origin in the Mississippi Mission Conference, which con vened in 1866, when twelve former slaves met in conference session and, under the leadership of one of the General Superintendents, laid the foundation of the Christian ministry of the Methodist Episcopal Church within the bounds of the old slave territory of the South, These early fathers and founders were men of extra ordinary natural gifts and graces; they were veritable brands plucked from the burning, men who preached a flaming gospel that lighted up the watehtowers of our Zion. These foun ders formed the nucleus around which clustered an unique leadership for the blaek man in the Church and in the Nation. In the history and growth of these confer ences we find that in membership they were at first mixed with our white brethren who came in from the North,— not as did the historic "car petbagger" in politics, but as forerunners of a new civilization that would establish the equality of the races. It was at this point of RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 55 contact with the two races in our communion that a race problem had its origin. This was perfectly natural after the schools had done their work. What our white brothers had done in the way of leadership in these conferences became the ambition and natural aspiration of our colored brothers. This of course brought about competition, which gradually developed into strife for place and preferment. In pro cess of time petitions and memorials were sent to the General Conference for separate con ferences. The plea for such a separation had its origin with the colored leaders of these mixed conferences. This was regarded by them as the nearest road to promotion, and an easy method by which to exitricate themselves from the impending contention with their white fel low-members. In one of these conferences,— presided over by Bishop Harris,— a certain prominent colored leader was so intent on removing a white brother from a position, that he unwittingly ac cused the presiding officer of "shielding" this brother. This action called forth an outburst of impassioned resentment from the bishop ; but despite this ecclesiastical storm, the colored leader carried his point, and the brother in question was deposed. Thus the race conflict 56 EACIAL ADJUSTMENTS in the Church began. As a natural consequence the Church adjusted the situation upon the ground of expediency. White presiding elders were gradually displaced, and there arose a new leadership for the race. Colored presiding el ders were appointed over districts comprising none but colored preachers. The white mem bership in the South, a mere handful at first, was organized into separate churches and con ferences, and in certain well-known instances a white presiding elder was appointed in a col ored conference over a single white congrega tion in order to meet the emergency. It may be observed that while this mode of procedure satisfied the clamor of the black man for ecclesiastical leadership, it nevertheless es tablished a precedent for the future adjustment of the races within our communion upon the basis of racial antipathy. These mixed con ferences became embarrassed in their racial re lation when it came to the election of delegates to the General Conference. Black men began to feel themselves capable of representing their conferences in the highest ecclesiastical body of the Church. This claim was just, and stood as a high compliment to the successful work of our educational institutions in the South; it also showed a worthy and laudable ambition on the RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 57 part of the black man in the Church. In all this, however, one can readily observe the dan ger of these conferences' resolving themselves into two hostile camps,— the one composed of the white leader and his followers among the older generation of men; the other, of an ag gressive younger element, with a black leader claiming the preference upon racial lines. So rife was this struggle for leadership about a generation ago,— just prior to the separation of these conferences,— that a distinguished col ored leader in one of our Southern conferences published what was at that time styled a "New Departure," which was an appeal to the col ored ministry of the South to stand and con tend for black men as leaders. This pamphlet was scattered broadcast and created no little sensation throughout the Church. Our best white friends looked upon it as an evidence of zeal for leadership and a mark of ingratitude on the part of the black man. It was but the ris ing tide of a race conflict in Methodism— a con flict that was destined to fix permanently the place ,of the two races in the ecclesiastical body politic. The die was thus cast,— the gauntlet thrown down by the colored leader, and the racial ad justment became aij absolute necessity. The 58 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS Church, though grieved at heart, met the emergency by the organization of our white work into separate churches and conferences throughout the South. This accomplished, what was at first a brotherhood, knowing no race nor color, gradually developed into a race prob lem within the Church, In the organization of this white work,— brought about by the conditions above men tioned,— the Church really set up two hostile camps in her communion and, having done so, has been forced to face new problems and new adjustments in our ecclesiastical polity. As a natural consequence we have been compelled from time to time to backslide from the funda mental basis of universal brotherhood and racial equality upon which we had stood for a hundred years. New alignments manifested themselves in our economy, and in our Method ism a system was developed that caused a cleav age between the races and widened the chasm between the black communion and the white,— identical in doctrine and polity, but dissimilar in racial characteristics. Nevertheless, our colored ministry of to-day stand ready to re ceive our white brethren into their pulpits upon terms of brotherly love and perfect equality, whereas our white breathren are embarrassed to RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 59 accord to the black brother the same courtesy, due largely to the fact that, because of the race problem, the South is intolerant of so-called social equality, and are forced to an exclusive ness that fearfully handicaps the fraternal relations of our two commun'ons. A new problem arises in the adjustment of our membership in the constant migration of the peoples upon the American territory. The Nation has now become one; the line of de markation that formerly distinguished North and South has been practically wiped off the map. The Northern cities are crowded with thousands of our Southern white population, and a steady stream of the black race is pour ing into these Northern centers. There must be fought over again the battle of racial adjust ment,— a battle that has already been fought in the South, as indicated in these pages. New problems are arising in the policy of the adjustment of the thousands of our colored membership, who are moving out of the South and are settling in the Northem cities. Method ism was quick to catch the significance of orga nizing our white work in the South, among that element of communicants who went from the North; the Church spared no sacrifice in men and means in the development of the Southern 60 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS field. There has been, however, some apparent hesitancy about organizing our colored work in the North. What is the result? This black membership is practically lost to the Methodist Episcopal Church, and largely find communion within the fold of the African Methodist Epis copal Church. What was the cause of this hes itancy? This colored membership had free ac cess to the regular membership and communion of the white branch of our church in this Nor thern section, hence there might have been an oversight of this racial stream because of this fact. But again, and this statement is made advisedly, there might have been possibly the fear on the part of the Church of transferring from the South to the North an already anoma lous racial condition in the Church, In this particular, the following observations may be made, with no reflection upon Method ism: The Church knew no color line in the Northern section of our country; as such, to organize the thousands of our colored member ship into distinct bodies in this section, would seem to be drawing the color line, hence it may be our Northern pastors and district superin tendents hesitated along this line. Then, too, it meant the appointment of an increasingly large number of colored pastors, whose mem- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 61 bership would naturally have fallen in the white conferences, within the bounds of which this work would have fallen. Again, this would have brought about mixed conferences in the North, —entirely contrary to the polity of our Church in the South ; such indeed was evidently a prob ability and no less a possibility, St, Mark's Church in New York City,— the only colored church in the New York conference,— is a fit example of this form of procedure. In the light of present-day movements and after a careful study of the work of our border conferences, it becomes very apparent that the Church was striving to meet just such an emer gency as indicated above. For the past twenty years these conferences have made most strenu ous efforts,— despite tremendous disadvantages, —to meet the needs of a widely-scattered mem bership. Certain of the districts within the bounds of our Lexington Conference cover a ter ritory comprising parts of three States, so as to gather up the fragments of our colored member ship drifting into the extreme East and Middle West of the country, St, John's Church,— in Newark, N, J., was for a number of years in the Newark Conference (white), which made the pastor a member of that conference. But re- Qcntly this church was transferred tp the Del^- 62 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS ware Conference (colored), and its struggles for existence form an important phase of the history of our colored work in the border con ferences. The present situation is now more encouraging for aggressive work, as evidenced in the most phenomenal success that marks the administration of Dr. J, R. Waters, the pres ent pastor. What is true of the present growth of this church is equally true of St. Mark's Church,— already referred to,— under the great leadership of Dr, W, H. Brooks, Here we are, then, face to face, with the growth of population, and the migration and expansion of that population into all sections of our common country; with a variable and indefinitely defined status of our colored mem bership within the communion of the Methodist Episcopal Church; with a vacillating and eva sive system of ecclesiastical polity as affecting this membership, and with new agencies aris ing both in Church and State,— all tending to make the black man a negligible quantity in those cardinal principles which stand for human solidarity. It is a time demanding the rise of a leadership which must measure our destiny, not by the subterfuges of to-day, but by the eternal verities of the great to-morrow whose unborn generations will be mightily affected by RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 63 our deeds. Olit of these conditions there must be brought to bear new forces in these con ferences for the solution of the problems of the new century. We meet the necessity of a new ministry for the practical demands of the most progressive age in human history. Our educa tional institutions, with the theological schools of the Church, are the sources from which thia new stream of thought must flow. The work of our own Gammon Theological Seminary in the South must mark the constant rise of this new ministry and revolutionize the whole personnel of our Southern conferences. Within the grasp of this situation is held the future ecclesiatical destiny of the black man in the Church. What is the outlook for these conferences? As one studies the situation it appears that there is great need for an awakening among young men for the work of the Christian min istry. The present problem in this connection is how to turn the best minds in our institutions toward this most essential calling so as to re ceive into our conferences men worthy to be come great leaders in the adjustment of our membership within the permanent structure of Methodism. No class of men can lay higher claims to our racial propaganda than the men upon whose shoulders falls tiie spiritual des- 64 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS tiny of a people ; hence no class should be better trained in all that makes for racial evolution. The work of the college and that of the univer sity must therefore necessarily precede that of the theological seminary, thus enabling this future leadership to comprehend the signifi cance of its mission in the solution of our world problems. The splendid achievements of the fathers in the organization and subsequent growth of these conferences, and the wonderful possibil ities and open doors of opportunity demonstrate the fact that the very forces at work in our modern civilization demand that the race pos sess ideal standards, and that through self-con scious racial affinity it may reach the goal of its divine destiny. CHAPTER IV OUE COLOEED LEADERSHIP By virtue of its place in the history of Methodism the black race now casts about for a sane and sober leadership to which it may look for direction and manly counsel. These leaders cannot be manufactured by any ecclesi astical political machinery, but from their very birth must possess the elements that are essen tial for the time and occasion. Let us note the evolution of this important leadership in con nection with present racial adjustment now under consideration. Conferences have been organized; pastors have been ordained and appointed; district superintendents have been placed at the head of districts ; our educational institutions, as already indicated, are in a good measure manned by colored presidents; an official organ,— edited for several quadrenniums by colored men,— has taken its place permanently among the reg ular Church journals; the secretariat of one of the great benevolent societies has a colored man, co-ordinate in rank with his white brother ; two others of our benevolent boards have for sev eral years had the black man as field agent ; our great young people 's organization has an assis- 66 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS tant general secretary for the colored confer ences ; the Board of Sunday Schools and the American Bible Society are represented worth ily by colored men as field secretaries ; the black man has been president of our only theological seminary for colored preachers; the secretary ship of the Stewart Missionary Foundation for Africa has been shared by the black man, and, in the further evolution of this leadership, a blaek man now occupies the position of Mission ary Bishop of Africa. These make up the list of acknowledged lead ers, and we have not been in any wise niggardly in our praise of these men, who stand in the front rank by virtue of official position. Not one aspersion would we cast upon this com pany, but rather let them stand for all they are worth to the race. This black leadership of the colored race now takes its rise out of the very conditions of racial evolution through which we have already passed and are now passing. They stand as the indices of our racial history,— in which volume will be written the deeds and character of a struggling people. A few obser vations upon this leadership will not be amiss at this crucial turning-point in our history. We are wont to boast of this leadership in the generous promotion of the Church. As RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 67 component parts of the great Church of our choice, all other things being equal, the black man comes to his majority in official position and responsibility by the natural sequences of ecclesiastical events. This should and must be regarded as meritorious on the part of the black contingency rather than mere concessions on the part of the Church. This whole system of officialism must be regarded as racial represen tation, and in the light and true philosophy of our ecclesiastical polity, it should be in equal proportion to our numerical strength,— a ratio of representation in all phases of administrative functions within a common communion. Of ficialism, however, may not carry with it at all times the elements of true leadership ; for many officials, in both religion and politics, may be come mere followers,— mere mouthpieces of a system already in vogue,— or advocates of worn-out principles and policies that should be abolished. It is from this viewpoint that we must consider official position in its relation to the racial adjustments now taking place in Methodism. We meet here the very crux of the argument touching the sphere and operation of our pres ent leadership. In this particular, there should be no plea made for an iconoclastic campaign of 68 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS rashness and indiscretion on the part of pub lic leaders, nor for anything that would in any way jeopardize the future growth of an unfor tunate people; but the present situation should be met with an uncompromising devotion to the loftiest principles of true racial aggression against the floodtides of popular sentiment that now sweep over the nation respecting the right ful claims of this black citizen. Destiny is with in this present leadership, and no selfish nor designing ambition should enter into the mo tives and actions of the participants in this mighty human drama. This leadership must comprehend the prob lems that enter into racial evolution; it must possess a world-vision and a firm grasp upon the great world-movements of the Christian Church as affecting the solution of these prob lems. All mere sentiment, as such, should be eliminated, for this holds no place in the pres ent ecclesiastical polity affecting the colored leader. He stands single-handed and alone in the advocacy of the tilings most vital to the heart and yearning of a loyal people,— a peo ple that cannot be deceived with impunity. Future generations will rise up and curse, or bless, the present actions of those who now shape oiir course. RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 69 In the course of its evolution this leadership was at first petted, praised, fondled, and ca joled; it was the idol of astonished multitudes, who boasted of the possibilities of a once en slaved and recently emancipated race; it was the pride of its benefactors and teachers, who gloried in its achievements. Upon the platform and in public assemblies this black leadership listened to the deafening applause of enthusias tic white audiences; it learned to play to the galleries in the ecstacies of its lofty perorations and rhetorical climaxes; its praises were sounded from pulpit and press, while white and black vied the one with the other to do honor to this new star that shone with increasing lustre in our racial constellation. That was the day of sentiment and emotion; but the nov elty passed away; the scene changed; the play ended and the curtain was drawn. New condi tions arose; the early benefactors passed off the active scene. The serious, sober thought of a leader was now required in the administra tive responsibility, involving weighty financial trusts that required initiative. There arose a new king in our ecclesiastical polity,— a king that knew not Joseph. The administration of important trusts called forth the best there was 70 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS in this leadership that was shared with our white brother. It is no act of impropriety to make further observations. It is indeed obvious to all that in the growth of our ambition for promotion there has apparently crept in a destructive tendency of ecclesiastical suicide because of this leader ship's too often turning to rend itself. Should such a spirit be cultivated, dark will be the day for the masses, who will be made the victims of the selfishness and greed of their leaders. This is not a time to foster in leaders the spirit of in tolerance toward the rising tide of an aggres sive sentiment on part of the rank and file of our membership for an untrammeled Christian manhood and for the largest and most enduring principles for racial growth in the Church and Nation. This is the sword of Damocles that now hangs over the heads of present-day leadership. May God interpose and save the race from self- destruction ! The sphere of operation of the colored leader is that of a pathfinder,— a race builder. This role does not admit of emasculation and truck ling. Such a system dwarfs its victims and causes a hypocritical spirit in our contentions for equality of opportunity in the Christian Church. It causes men to be silent, when great RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 71 racial issues demand self-assertion and aggres sive combat against the forces of racial repres sion. Our leaders must catch the spirit of old John Knox, who cried: "Give me Scotland or I die!" or that of the famous Patrick Henry, who exclaimed: "Give me liberty or give me death!" The true path of race building is that which leads along the rugged way of conflict with opposing forces, and the leader, stripped of aU selfishness, throws himself into the breach and dies, if need be, for his cause. The race is unfortunate when made the vic tim of a leadership that has become disorgan ized, credulous, jealous, suspicious, and penur ious,— a leadership that, instead of striking for our permanent and equal rights, has stopped by the wayside in fruitless contention amidst tre mendous issues, in order to dispute as to who shall be the greatest in the kingdom. That cause is already lost whose generals have left the line of battle and contend among themselves as to whose epaulet shines the brightest, or whose sword dangles the most gracefully at his side. No, no ! Victories are not won by such twaddle ; races are not grown under such conditions ; civ ilizations are not advanced by such makeshifts. This leadership has, in the next place, clam ored for recognition and representation within 72 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS the episcopacy of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The result has been a most disappoint ing blow to this leadership. The clamor had its genesis in the ranks of our colored conferences during the past quarter of a century. When this question was first mooted it took the Church somewhat by surprise. Various petitions and memorials upon this subject were sent to the General Conference from our colored annual conferences, and the discussion became heated among the leaders of these conferences. Reso lutions were put through these bodies from time to time touching the election of a bishop of Afri can descent. For there has never been a time when hope has not whispered that such leader ship was possible. The most striking and sen sational occurrence in connection with this new question before the Church was that historic little book, written about twenty years ago by Bishop Randolph S. Foster, in which he dis closed,— as he claimed,— the real heart of the Church touching such a proposition. With his characteristic candor, he somewhat blasted the future hopes of ambitious colored leaders as to the ultimate realization of such a thing in Methodism. Bishop Foster's deliverances were passed by without any published rejoinder from any quar- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 73 ter of the Church. Proposition after proposi tion was subsequently submitted for the purpose of pacifying the ambition of our brother in black. Under the excitement of the times, our colored membership stood on tiptoe, so to speak, in expectancy at every quadrennial assembling of the General Conference. The colored dele gates to this great ecclesiastical body finally put one of our most distinguished leaders in the race for the episcopacy. The General Con ference for quite four quadrenniums, gave this black candidate a handsome (so-called) "com plimentary" vote. Then followed the discus sion among our leaders as to whether or not the vote was really complimentary, or did the Church favor the election of a black man to the episcopacy. All of this sharpened tbe episcopal appetite of our colored leaders. The matter assumed a more serious aspect, and the General Conference of 1904 submitted an amendment to the Consti tution of the Church for a change in the Third Restrictive Rule of our Book of Discipline, so as to provide for the election of "Bishops for Races and Languages," restricting them to re spective episcopal jurisdiction as such. This proposition was handed down to the annual and lay electoral conferences if 1907-1908 for their 74 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS ratification,— a two-third majority vote of said conferences being necessary. After a heated ecclesiastical campaign throughout the Church, the proposition was overwhelmingly defeated. Undaunted and undismayed, however, by this declaration of the entire Church touching this proposition, the colored leaders entered an other of their foremost men in the race for the General Superintendency. He, like his col league and predecessor in the episcopal cam paign, received a respectable "complimentary" vote from the delegates to the General Con ference of 1908 at Baltimore, and, crestfallen and disappointed to a degree almost bordering on despair, he withdrew from the race in time to save his official head. Our colored leaders despite these positive pronouncements and deliverances of the Church upon this question renewed their efforts and placed a more recent candidate in the race at the General Conference of 1912. He, like the former two, received his usual meed of "com plimentary" votes, and following the inevit able and inexorable law of episcopal uncer tainty, withdrew from the contest. Thus the whole procedure in this long struggle has re duced itself in its final analysis to the mere ad vertisement of some prominent colored leader RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 75 that is seeking ecclesiastical promotion along some other line. The General Conference of 1912, endeavor ing again to satisfy the crying demands that came up from the fields for better episcopal supervision,^— demands that had been partic ularly emphasized in our colored conferences, — and urged on by our colored leaders again, sub mitted for the second time, in its closing hours, practically the same proposition of eight years before: Provision for the election of "Bishops for Races and Languages," with an additional proviso, which was to be vgted on by the annual and lay electoral conferences throughout Meth odism, at their respective sessions during 1915- 1916, just prior to the meeting of the next Gen eral Conference, and to be ratified by that body in the event that the proposition should receive the necessary two-thirds majority vote from these annual and lay electoral conferences. Such, in brief, is the history of the contention on the part of our black leaders for episcopal recognition in the Methodist Eipiscopal Church. Thus we face again a long-drawn battle at the coming quadrennium, which, in 1916, will again determine the episcopal status of the black man in the Church. It is to be hoped that the many discussion of the proposition thus sub- 76 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS mitted may all be free from passion and preju dice, and tend toward the best interests of the races within our world-communion and to the glory of God. This is no time in the history of our leadership for mere begging the question and fruitless argument for mere argument's sake. All selfishness must necessarily be elimi nated, and truth must take the ascendancy. With the foregoing observations upon our col ored leadership and the problems which now confront that leadership, I shall, in the fear of God and in the light of sober reason and open candor, consider in the following chapter the most important issue now presented to our lead ers,— the one that carries with it the most far- reaching consequences in the history of the races within the communion of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In this we may well ponder the significant poetic strains of Whittier : "Light, Freedom, Truth, be ever these our own; Light to see Truth, Freedom to make it known. Our work, God's work; our will, His will alone." CHAPTER V BISHOPS FOR RACES AND LANGUAGES Committee on Episcopacy Report No. 21. General Conference of 1912, Daily Advocate, p. 689, reads as follows: "There were submitted to the Committee on Episcopacy various memorials praying for increased and more specific supervision for peoples of various races and languages. Among these were special pleas for the election of a bishop of African descent. As it has been officially decided that it is unconstitutional to elect any one to the itinerant general superintendency of the Methodist Episcopal Church and tacitly or expressly limit his Episcopal functions or author ity to any place or to any race, therefore, the Committee on Episcopacy respectfully submit the following: "Resolved (l), That this General Conference propose the following amendments to the Constitution: "l. To strike out from the Third Restrictive Rule, Paragraph 46, Section 3, of the Discipline of 1908, all after the disjunctive "but," and insert the words, "may elect a Bishop or Bishops for work among particular races and lan guages, or for any of our foreign missions, limiting their Episcopal jurisdiction to the same respectively." So that the whole paragraph shall read: The General Conference shall not change nor alter any part or rule of our government so as to do away with Episcopacy, nor destroy the plan of our itinerant General Superintendency; but may elect a Bishop or Bishops for work among particular races and languages, or for any of our foreign missions, limiting their Episcopal jurisdiction to the same respectively. "2. Such Bishop or Bishops shall take their turn in pre siding in the General Conference, That Article VI, Para- 78 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS graph 42, Section 2, shall be amended by inserting the words, after "general superintendents," "and the Bishop or Bishops elected for work among particular races and lan guages, or for any of our foreign missions," so that the section, will read: Section 2, The General Superintendents and the Bishop or Bishops elected for work among particular races and languages or for any of our foreign missions shall preside in the General Conference in such order as they may determine; but if no Bishop be present, the General Conference shall elect one of its members to preside protempore, "Resolved (2), That should this report be adopted, the above proposed amendments to the Constitution shall be submitted to the General Conference in order to ascertain whether the legal constitutional vote of two-thirds of the members present and voting shall be given, "Resolved (3), If such should be the result, the Bishops shall be requested to submit porpositions I and 2, to be voted upon separately, to the members of the Annual Conferences, and of the Lay Electoral Conferences, which shall meet ia the years 1915 and 1916, for their adoption of the said amendments to the Constitution," Two pertinent questions may be sufficient, if answered in the light of reason and soberness, to meet the discussion upon this proposition. First: Is such legislation on part of the Church a necessity? Second: Is it wisdom on part of our colored leaders and membership to clamor for such an Episcopacy? In the first place, the Methodist Episcopal Church has become world-wide in her opera tion and has within her communion all races, RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 79 nationalities, dialects, and languages; hence, such a proposition must reasonably be discussed in terms of our world-wide Methodism, rather than upon the narrow and contracted idea of racial exclusiveness. The Itinerant General Superintendency of the Church was the loftiest conception of the Methodist fathers to meet the demands of a world-conquering Church; hence the incorporation of the Third Restrictive Rule, which stands as a Rock of Gibraltar in our Book of Discipline to protect and safeguard this lofty Episcopal System. The very wording of this Rule seems to have been the anticipation on the part of the fathers that just such a condition would arise in the impatience of succeeding generations, — an occasion when the attempt would be made to modify this General Itiner ancy in order to meet the demands of a subse quent age that would be less responsive to the high ideals of the functions of the Episcopacy as expressed in our fundamental law. But does the Church need this modification for the purpose of fulfilling her high mission among the peoples of the habitable globe? The Missionary Episcopacy,— our very first attempt at a restricted Episcopacy,— was intended at first to meet an emergency arising in Liberia, our oldest foreign mission field, planted upon 80 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS the West Coast of Africa. But what was the result? The Church soon discovered that the nineteenth century was a century of world- girdling missionary enterprise and enthusiasm ; and in the wake of this mighty world movement to extend the Kingdom of God on earth, the spiritual influences were beyond human control ; and out of this restricted exclusiveness, the di vine standard of the Cross of Jesus Christ was soon borne into India, China, Japan, Korea, Maylasia, with the march of Methodism into Europe, South America, and Mexico,— a march that culminated in the planting of Protestant ism under the very Vatican of the Pope at Rome. It is now conceded by every thoughtful ecclesiastical leader that such a restricted Epis copacy should never have obtained under our polity. While there have been some advances under this system, the cry still comes up for a broader policy of Episcopal supervision throughout the foreign fields. Who in Method ism today would deny the fact that it was a mistake on the part of Methodism to handicap so world-visioned a seer as Bishop Thoburn or so optimistic a character as Bishop Hartzell in the exercise of his Episcopal functions? Under the magic touch of ecclesiastical ex- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 81 pansion the castes in India are being broken up, and this very disintegration of racial customs and habits will bring about the Christian soli darity of India. The age-long superstitions of China are being folded up like a vesture, and a new republic has unfurled her national flag among the nations of the earth, and this ancient empire must have the spiritual touch of an un- circumscribed and unlimited episcopal super vision in order to meet the new demands of na tion-building. The fetiches of Africa are being thrown to the moles and bats, and this mighty continent, with its teeming population of black sons and daughters, needs world leaders and heaven-visioned seers for her future redemp tion. The ripe clusters in the vineyard of heathendom are now ready to be converted into the spiritual wine of vintage of the Lord. Apart from any further discussion as to the original purpose of this restricted Missionary Episcopacy, let us study the question from an other view-point. It is indeed apparent that the real tendency of the Church today is toward the unity and solidarity of our Episcopacy up on the broad basis of general itinerant leader ship and superintendency for our world fields, rather than the segregation of this episcopal leadership,— tied and handicapped among dis- 82 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS integral racial clans and classes. This is evi denced in the appointment by the General Con ference of General Superintendents to episcopal residence and supervision in our foreign fields. The Missionary Episcopacy, as such, has served its day, and Methodism is now casting about for some better method for effecting the com plete unification of the functions of her Epis copacy. Bishops Lewis and Bashford are in China ; Bishop Burt,— now succeeded by Bishop Nuelson,— led the ecclesiastical forces most suc cessfully in Eiirope; Bishop Neeley wrought well in South America, as did his successor. Bishop Bristol, and as now does Bishop Stuntz ; a General Superintendent is appointed by the Church to make the quadrennial visitation of our foreign missions in Africa and other sec tions of the non-Christian world. Thus the world-program of the Church is being carried out with the most marvelous success under the matchless leadership of our Itinerant General Superintendency. Should this ban of episcopal restriction ever be removed from the Mission ary Episcopacy, by the General Conference it should not be done by the creation of another order of sub-bishops, but rather by the promo tion to the General Superintendency of all the worthy among the Missionary Bishops. RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 83 This would establish the fact that a broad, deeply spiritual, and highly cultured leader ship is an absolute necessity for the successful propagation of the gospel by means of Meth odism, among the millions of the world's con glomerate population. In the light of such great world-movements it becomes evident that the Church must ever maintain that high stand ard of leadership that can direct the world-con quests now going forward among the multiplied millions of heathen and pagan peoples. Our foreign missionaries form the basis for the successful development of foreign races. These missionaries are in closest touch with the life and customs of the peoples who sit in darkness. The languages and dialects are readily mastered, and these immediately be come a medium of heart-to-heart communica tion between the missionary and the heathen tribe. Here is the real secret of the so-called "Race and Language" proposition, and is already being worked out in terms of our most far-reaching missionary operations. The secret of highest endeavor is herein expressed by the very life and character of these eager fighters in the far-flung battle-line of our foreign missionary propaganda. What the Church needs at this time is the consecration of 84 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS the wealth of her communion in order to de velop and train her foreign missionaries in the best preparation for service, so that they may be able to obtain a broader comprehension and more thorough mastery of the customs, habits, languages and dialects of foreign peoples, thereby enabling them to translate these into the English Language,— the language which is destined to become the spoken tongue of the habitable globe. The signs of our times all indicate that the future civilizations of the world will be directed by the English-speaking peoples. There are up ward of seven hundred millions (700,000,000) of the world's population already speaking in this tongue. Methodism,— a world-encircling religious propaganda,— must therefore adapt her ecclesiastical polity to the demands of the coming ages and adjust her communicants to the principles of universal brotherhood with unrestricted and uncircumscribed world charac ters as leaders and nation builders. This is our world-program,— a program that should be adherred to even though it calls for relentless warfare against the prostitution of this high standard to the fitful and sentimental clamor from sporadic sections of the Church that grows too often out of an inordinate ambition for RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 85 leadership under a system of segregated official ism among the races. But again, let us study briefly this proposi tion in connection with our foreign-born popu lation in the home field. The influx of popula tion causes a shudder to run through the body ecclesiastic and the body politic of the nation. Here, upon the North American section of the globe, are gathered the ends of the earth ; Scan dinavians, Swedes, Norwegians, Danes, Poles, Greeks, Italians, Germans, Chinese, Japanese, —dwellers from the four quarters of the globe. These all wait to be assimilated into the social, political, and religious compact, and trans formed into world citizenship under the ample folds of the Stars and Stripes. The Church has set about the tremendous task of evangelizing these foreigners — these strangers within our gates. The work of our Board of Home Missions and Church Extension takes in these masses; the secretaries and field agents of this great benevolent Board plead with impassioned zeal for the spread and growth of the field under their supervision, and a new day has dawned in the consolidation of our benevolence. There are mighty forces at work within the confines of the American Republic,— forces that tend to Americanize and, I may say, 86 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS Anglicize these millions of Old World popula tion. First among these forces may be men tioned the commercial life of the nation. These peoples enter at once into the marts of trade and commerce and rapidly take on the customs, habits, and language of the American, As com municants of the Methodist Episcopal Church, they soon become allied with the English-speak ing population of our great cities, which are the real centers of this foreign population. In New York City alone, there are more than seven hundred thousand (700,000) Italians, out of an estimated population of quite three millions (3,000,000) of these same people in the whole country. As above stated, the Church has un dertaken the tremendous problem of evangel ization among all the foreigners mentioned heretofore. In the city just named Bishop Luther B. Wilson has his episcopal residence, and, like a strong ecclesiastical commander, he is now directing the forces of evangelism with a master hand among this foreign-born popula tion. The spirit of Americanism is being fostered in this vast population, and the leaders in all these mighty movements for racial uplift are our General Superintendents, who, with strong pastors in these strategic centers, plead the RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 87 claims of this mixed population; and the whole system is conducted with a view to the most far- reaching consequences both for racial solidarity and national citizenship. This leadership is just as it should be ; the Church has wisely or ganized the forces to grapple most successfully with this problem that is now finding its solu tion through the commercial life of the nation. Under present conditions, no sober, thoughtful leader would claim that there is any necessity for legislation on the part of the Church look ing toward the racial episcopal supervision for this foreign population. They need the very best leadership that the Church can afford at the present stage of their racial evolution, and that leadership is rightly placed within the hands of our General Superintendents. Again, it would be practically impossible to carry out the provision of "Bishops for Lan guages." An effort of this sort would bring about a multiplicity of so-called bishops that would shock comman sense and reflect upon the intelligence of one of the greatest ecclesiastical bodies in Christendom. More than this, it would prostitute the standard of the Episco pacy and cheapen its influence in the eyes of the Christian world. To fulfill the requirements of "Bishops for Languages," would entitle every 88 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS caste in India to a bishop; every province in China, every tribe in Africa,— where there are more than three hundred distinct languages and dialects,— every distinct race or nationality, wherever found in our communion, could claim this as its legal right. Thus what is now a united and world-embracing Church would be come a multiplied number of disintegrated racial segments of our ecclesiastical body, and the death knell of Methodism as a religious world power would be sounded, and the trium phant and victorious march of one of the most dominant forces in the salvation of the world would be checked, God save the Church! In view of our world mission, the Church has a bigger business in the salvation of the world than to legislate for a Latin or a Greek or a Scandinavian civilization in her ecclesiastical polity. This would be utterly opposed to the spirit and genius of our American institutions, and out of harmony with the divine mission of Methodism in the evangelization and Christian- ization of the world races. These obsolete tongues can never be grafted upon the great tree of American civilization,— nor do these races hope for such a racial propaganda. The medium of civilization in the new world is the English language, and it is beneath the dignity RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 89 of a great religious denomination like the Meth odist Episcopal Church,— in view of her splendid achievements for more than a century, —to stop in this glorious age, and attempt to turn back the hand upon the dial of human pro gress by corrupting this great language and writing caste into her constitution. The real work at home,— as lit is in our foreign field,— is to assimilate this population into our Methodist body ecclesiastic, thus form ing one great world-conquering Church,— which was the vision of John Wesley, its founder, and the high ideal of Coke and Asbury when Ameri can Methodism was organized. This accom plished, all races and tongues should be given the best episcopal supervision that the Church can furnish, until in the evolution of these races leaders shall be produced that shall measure up to the lofty standard of our Itinerant General Superintendency, when these leaders should be allowed of their own initiative to take their regular places in the Episcopacy among their brethren for the conquest of the world. The foregoing observations bring us to the positive conclusion that such racial legislation on the part of the Methodist Episcopal Church is not a necessity. In the light of indisputable truth, "Bishops for Races and Languages," 90 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS is a misnomer and a most miserable ecclesias tical subterfuge and makeshift for fundamental principles,— a legislative stronghold behind which race prejudice hides itself in the C!hurch of God. The legal enactment of such a pro position incorporated into the Constitution of the Church would be the monumental blunder of the twentieth century, and would leave Meth odism shorn of her former power and defeated in those lofty aims for which great men have struggled throughout our ecclesiastical history. Before considering the second proposition, or query,— "Is it wisdom on the part of our colored leaders and membership to clamor for such an Episcopacy?",— I shall 'discuss in the following chapter some of the obstacles encoun tered by our Methodism in the long attempt to adjust our colored membership. Following this, the duty of that membership toward this pro position vdll be taken up and considered in the light of present agencies that are at work con tributing to the advancement of modem civiliz ation and the adjustment of the races within the citizenship of the Nation and communion of the Church, CHAPTER VI BARRIERS TO EPISCOPAL CLAIMS OF THE RACE The question may be asked: Why has the Methodist Episcopal Church failed to elect a bishop of African descent up to this time? In the consideration of this question, all the elements which are now brought into our soci ological relationships and the variant forces at work which affect the black man as a distinct race must necessarily be brought forward and taken into account. In the first place, the black man in the Methodist Episcopal Church pre sents the most peculiar and anomalous relation of all the races within our communion. ¦ Such a situation is not due to the lack of interest, in the highest sense, on part of the Church in the best Christian civilization of the black race, nor to any indifference on part of the race itself to take advantage of the opportunities for train ing and service offered by the Church in the communion of which this race has found its membership, from the time of its emancipation through fifty years of the most tremendous and significant events in the history of both the Church and the Nation. The Church began her racial program with the remnant of an enslaved and emancipated 92 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS race as soon as the shackles fell from the limbs of this oppressed people. The Church based her propaganda upon uni versal brotherhood and took a firm grasp upon the hands of this black brother in her com munion. It is but fair to say that the Methodist Episcopal Church began the elevation of the black man with as honest a purpose as ever animated the hearts of a liberty-loving people. But in this attempt there were barriers encountered over which our white friends and benefactors had to climb. The very first dif ficulty that was met in following out this prin ciple to its ultimate conclusion,— a difficulty that had great bearing upon the question under consideration, was Race Prejudice, This was actuated by previous condition of servitude, and still remains in the way of our racial adjust ment. This has been the chief barrier over which our Methodism has been struggling to climb for fifty years. A darker race within a white communion, — and that race dogged at every step of its progress,— was, by the very nature of the case, a fearful embarrassment to its friends who were struggling to lift that race into the highest Christian manhood upon terms of perfect equality. Despite the fact of these counter forces, the Church has been steadfast, RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 93 and the black man still remains loyal to his benefactors, holding for him an undying grati tude, even in these days of sharp racial conflict and repression by external forces. Let us consider soberly and candidly two principal forces that have worked mightily to hinder the Church in her highest aims and endeavors for the black man. First : The contention of the Methodist Epis copal Church South against the equality of the black race at the altars of that Church. This branch of Methodism questioned the rights and religious prerogatives of our Church to come South and errect her altar in the midst of the old slave territory, and dedicate that altar to the worship of God in racial uplift. At first there was the unsheathing of ecclesiastical swords in a long-drawn battle on the race ques tion between the communicants of these two great branches of Methodism. The editors of the leading official Church organs broke lances in the editorial arena over this burning ques tion. It is within the memory of many now living how our own Dr. David H. Moore (now bishop, then editor of the Western Christian Advocate), wielded a burning pen against Dr. Hoss (now bishop, then editor of the Nashville Christian 94 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS Advocate of the Methodist Episcopal Church South), on the race question. The sainted Dr. Arthur Edwards, of our own Northwestern Christian Advocate, also entered the combat as a veritable knight of the quill, and came to the black man's rescue. Other editors of our Church press were equally pronounced in their editorial deliverances, defending the attitude of the Methodist Episcopal Church towards her black communicants. But that day passed; denominational passion ceased; the sword was placed in its ecclesiastical scabbard ; a policy of church federation and fraternity was begun between the two branches of Methodism, and the child Organic Union had its birth. This policy placed the black man at the acute angle in the compass of racial adjustment; for as the two Churches drew closer together in the spirit of fraternity and the councils of federation, the Southern Branch had not changed one whit in its attitude on the race question. Again, as has been previously discussed in these pages, the Methodist Episcopal Church, in harmony with her broad platform and racial polity, had begun the organization and develop ment of our white work within the old slave territory of the South. This afforded an op portunity for the Methodist Episcopal Church RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 95 South to strengthen her attitude and policy on the race question. Our white membership and pastors in this section became at once embar rassed in their relation to our colored member ship and colored pastors within the same ter ritory ; and the very thing for which the Church South had so long contended was, in the final analysis, obtained in the closest affiliation with the white wing of the Methodist Episcopal Church : the social ostracism of our colored pas tors and members. This was the entering wedge that separated the black man from that close, brotherly communion which had been enjoyed in the early history of the work of our Church in the Southern States of the Re public. Thus what was at one time the boast and pride of the Church,— at the time when our colored membership in the South was regarded as the greatest asset in our missionary endeav ors at home,— became at once a race problem, which grew in alarming proportions com mensurate with the growth and expansion of our white and colored work within this terri tory. These conditions, from the very begin ning, had the deepest and most serious consider ation of the best friends of the race within the Church. 96 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS Another element that entered into the race problem,— one that had much to do with the adjustment of the black man in relation to our communion,— was the intense racial feelings throughout the Southern States, which gradu ally worked its way among the masses and in oculated the whole body politic, finally mani festing itself as a national race problem. This sentiment had its origin in the fulminations of certain southern statesmen, representing the class of calumniators in the old South that dragged this problem into politics, thus caus ing the South to become literally maddened against the black race that inhabit this Southern belt side by side with the former slaveholder and master. These statesmen began the enactment of laws in the legislatures of various Southern States,— laws that demanded the complete disfran chisement and segregation of the black race, based upon the deluded idea of social equality between the races. In politics this Southern leadership brought about State conventions that disfranchised the black man as a citizen. "Grandfather Clauses" and other subterfuges placed upon the statutes of these Southem States imposed restrictions upon the race in open violation and defiance of the amendments RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 97 to the national Constitution which guaranteed that citizenship. White "primaries" in popu lar elections drove the black race from politics and robbed it .of its just and legal franchise. A campaign of lynchings and murders began, which at first shocked the civilized world and branded the South as an "armed camp" for the destruction and repression of the black folk. Bands of white men engaged in midnight orgies and gloated over the cries and groans of their victims with a vengeance that outstrip ped the barbaric scenes of the "Dark Ages." The press in blazing headlines flaunted these outrages before the public gaze, thus creating an educative influence most pemicious to the whole population. The Federal Government looked on with complacency and apparent in difference, and excused its non-interference on the grounds of that pernicious doctrine of State sovereignty which stood as a safeguard to the South in open violation of the Constitu tion on part of the white citizenship of the South. This state of affairs was further inten sified by such publications as "The Leopard's Spots" by Dixon; "The Negro A Beast," by Carroll; "The American Negro," by Hannibal Thomas, These publications found their way into the parlors and reading-rooms of the 98 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS people. It was the most pernicious literature extant and poisoned the minds of a public al ready excited against this social pariah, which lay bleeding at the feet of the dominant race, — a race that harbored the most cruel prejudice in the annals of human history. It is too sad that this same condition obtains in a measure to-day. The white branch of our Church in the South, through all this campaign of calumny and racial passion, by force of surrounding circum stances and unholy public sentiment, has stood as silent as the Sphinx that watches with mute lips by the side of the Nile, Southern senti ment, backed by an all-pervading racial afGlnity, dominated that membership, as these terrible conditions flashed before their gaze. There was nothing above the heads of an outraged people but skies of brass, nothing beneath their feet but burning pathways. In all this racial conflict, which has not as yet subsided,— the Methodist Episcopal Church was still endeav oring with a heaven-inspired determination to find her bearings upon a stormy social sea, in order to adjust that backward and oppressed race as members and brothers within her fold. Who can wonder that Methodism faltered under RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 99 such conditions in the execution of her racial program? The foregoing is a brief record of the social storm through which the Church has had to sail in her rescue work of a shipwrecked and weather-beaten race. The problem, neverthe less, is still with us, in both the Church and the Nation, and cries out loudly at the opening of the new century for some method of permanent and final solution. These are the barriers that have stood in the way and hindered the march of Methodism along the path of final destination in the selection of one of her darker sons to highest episcopal honors. These barriers must be overthrown. There are signs of promise already radiant upon the hori zon; a new South comes on apace. This is evidenced in such epoch-making books as "The Basis of Ascendency, ' ' by Edgar Gardner Mur phy; and "The White Man's Burden," by the Reverend Dr. Riley, both Southern men. These two together with other sane and sober publi cations, characterize the spirit of the New South and forecast the dawn after a long night of darkness. Under these conditions the black man owes it to himself and to his posterity to bide God's time and give the Church ample op portunity to measure her racial standard by 100 RACIAL ADJUSTMENT'S the arm of eternal justice, and to establish it upon the fundamental principle of the Father hood of God and the universal Brotherhood of Man. A Church that fought and bled to emancipate a race from the thralldom of human slavery cannot backslide from such a glorious record and turn away from her God-appointed mission in racial uplift. The time must come in our racial evolution, and in God's own plan, when the old Church will rise to the height of her ecclesiastical power, surmount all barriers, and place a worthy black son safely within the folds of our Itinerant General Superintendency. Such is by no means an irridescent dream, but rather an actuality now being wrought out in our ecclesiastical system by the very forces of the universal law of causation. The heroic builders that laid the foundation of our racial structure were the forerunners of the glorious day when the ecclesiastical redemption of the black man in the Methodist Episcopal Church will be finally consummated. Fifty years but mark the year of jubilee, and the race must sure ly be ransomed from political, social, and re ligious ostracism in the march of Christian Civilization. God lives, and right must pre vail, though a thousand ambitious colored lead- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 101 ers should die without seizing the coveted epis copal prize. But what about this proposed legislation by the Church just at the time when all barriers are being overcome and a right solution of our problems is already apparent? It must be con ceded by all that the black race at once be comes distinct,— so far as regards any special legislation of the Church,— from all the races and nationalities within the communion of the Methodist Episcopal Church. In view of this fact, any legislation enacted by the General Conference for the adjustment of the races in relation to our Episcopacy, would, by the very nature of the case, be for the exclusive consid eration of that particular race. It is quite evi dent that in the final analysis of the whole sit uation, there are no barriers, from a racial viewpoint, for the election of any one of the various nationalities to the office of an Itinerant General Superintendent. Hence, the proposi tion reduces itself to a compromise on the race question, finding an outlet by legal restrictions, to fix the status of the black man, not within the membership, but within the Episcopacy of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It is indeed apparent to every loyal and can did Methodist Episcopalian, that such a propo- 102 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS sition is the ripe fruit of the conditions already described. In the reasonable and just consid eration of the same it may be well to ask, first of all: "How will such an act of legislation affect the membership of the race in the Church?" In other words, "Does it legislate the black man out of the Church?" There was no act of legislation nor consti tutional amendment to make him a member of the Church. Of his own free will and choice he subscribed to her polity, accepted her doctrines and discipline, and before our common altars, through a regularly ordained and appointed ministry, he was admitted as a full member of this communion. As such, he was clothed with all the rights, prerogatives, and priv ileges which constitute that membership. There are no two baptismal vows, nor two orders for admission on trial or into full membership,— the one for black and the other for white,— in our ritual. It is noteworthy that caste,— neither actual nor implied,— has never been written in the constitution. No act of legislation is required in the flexible movement of our membership in the official positions of the various departments of our Methodist machinery: exhorters are li censed and advanced to local preachers through RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 103 quarterly and district conferences ; deacons and elders are ordained by the election of annual conferences, authorized by the Church through the functions of our Episcopacy; bishops are consecrated upon the election of the General Conference made up of the accredited represen tatives of our entire membership, lay and min isterial, backed by the inherent powers within that ecclesiastical body. Thus the whole sys tem moves forward with as much accuracy and precision as the hands upon a sun-dial, or with the unerring directness of the needle to the pole. These all become the inalienable rights of every member that holds allegiance to the doctrine and discipline of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Under this ecclesiastical system what author ity has the Church to legislate for the curtail ment of a single one of these sacred rights that inhere irrevocably within the membership itself ? Upon the broad plane of legal jurisprudence, there is no authority whatever given for such procedure; the attempt is but the creation of another barrier to the rightful solution of our problems. The whole scheme savors of an unholy caste spirit, and over-anxious compro misers,— in order to meet certain emergencies growing out of impatience and over-ambition 104 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS on the one hand, and a deep anxiety to reach a hasty solution of the problems involved in a most delicate situation on the other,— offer a fallacious proposition for a restricted Episco pacy, in violation of the fundamental law gov erning the functions of this Episcopacy, hur riedly submitting the same for an amendment to the constitution, the adoption of which would rob one,— and only one,— class of our member ship of their God-given rights. The National Government, by legislative amendments to the Constitution, made the Negro an American citizen; certain state legis latures, through legislative enactments,— in violation of the national compact,— robbed him of that citizenship. The amendments to the national Constitution were adopted to raise the race from the level of the beast to the rights of citizenship and manhood, and clothe it with the franchise,— the most sacred right of a sov ereign citizen. The Methodist Episcopal Church set a standard for the Episcopacy, and clothed the race with full and unqualified mem bership and with all the possibilities for the at tainment of that high standard. Is it wisdom on the part of this same Church to adopt an amendment to the Constitution that will prac tically abrogate this right, and blot out all RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 105 the centuries of possibilities before this race? Will the Church descend from her lofty mission to the low plane of the politician, play the part of the State legislature in open violation of her own Constitution, and rob this black member of his membership as the States mentioned have robbed him of his citizenship? Such would be turning the hands upon the dial of human prog ress backward and fixing the ecclesiastical des tiny of the race upon the low plane of prejudice and race caste. We await in silent anxiety the coming verdict. This leads us in the following chapter to the full consideration of our second query as to the wisdom on part of our colored leaders and mem bership to clamor for such an Episcopacy. There are unmistakable duties incumbent upon the entire race at this time, and these shall be pointed out in the light of truth and soberness, in a spirit free from passion and racial bias, having for its motive our highest and best racial advancement and the glory of God. CHAPTER VII DUTY OP OUR COLORED LEADERS AND MEMBERSHIP Is it wisdom on part of our colored leaders and membership to clamor for such an Epis copacy under the proposed legislation in our present racial adjustment? The very first thought that comes up in answer to this im- potant query is : " Does the colored membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church need such an Episcopacy ? " In answer to this query it be comes necessary to consider how such an official position would affect not only our own member ship, but the entire race. The racial and ec clesiastical evolution of the black man under the stars and stripes has been watched with the most intense interest by the friends of the race throughout the civilized world. This has been particularly true as regards the distinctively colored religious organizations within the bounds of the American Republic. It must be conceded, first of all, that our col ored membership, up to this time, has indeed lacked that aggressive episcopal supervision and leadership which would guarantee ample opportunity for growth and expansion. Such has not been due to any fault of our General Superintendents, who, until the last General RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 107 Conference, were compelled to administer the work at so great a distance from the field of active operation. There has indeed been an in tense longing throughout our colored commun ion that the Church would in some way provide for a closer contact in this episcopal leadership, —a leadership that would enable our people to swing into line with their splendid forces and utilize the resources of the race for its material and spiritual redemption. This fact needs no discussion, for it has been the cry of the Church through her colored representatives as well as through our white friends for the past quarter of a century. But the question involved is far deeper and broader than this immediate and urgent need,— which happily has been met in a good measure by our present residential and presidential supervision. This broader phase must be un selfishly and most soberly considered, in order that we shall not commit an egregious blunder in the rightful adjustment of the race within the communion. Three hundred thousand or more souls of the black race now stand as the van guard,— as the chosen and appointed remnant in the Methodist Episcopal Church,— to vindi cate the claims of more than ten million black population to Christian manhood rights and na- 108 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS tional racial equality and justice under the American flag. This at once gives us an unique task, unlike anything committed to any other equal number of this same race upon any sec tion of the globe. It is not a mistaken notion,— nor is it an erroneous statement to make, — that our colored brethren of other denominations throughout the nation have looked with anxiety for their brothers within our communion to lead the race through the wilderness of race prejudice to the promised land of highest and noblest Christian manhood. Sueh an expectation was perfectly natural, for we have stood upon the same level with our white brethren in the Church, hence could all the better stand and contend for all of the fundamental principles in the final solution of a most vexed race problem upon the North American continent. While at times there were criticisms and taunts and jeers, mingled with misgivings from without, concerning our rela tion to the Methodist Episcopal Church, the fact, nevertheless, remains that the best and most far-seeing leadership of the distinctively colored denominations, hoped, and do still hope, for the best results in the elevation of the race through this remnant in onr Church, with her world-wide agencies for racial uplift. RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 109 These separate and outside well-wishers, felt, —and do still feel,— that the election of a black man as a General Superintendent upon the broad principle of our ecclesiastical polity would go far towards settling the status of the entire race as churchmen and citizens and would lift the race a hundred-fold through such a worthy representative. This thought was well founded, due to the fact that the General Con ference of the Methodist Episcopal Church sus tains the most commanding influence of any ecclesiastical body upon the globe. Is it not barely possible that we do not fully realize the importance of such a racial position in our im patience to reach the goal of our ambition? It cannot be denied that we are passing through one of the most,— if not the most,— important era in our racial evolution. A mistake at this point means a backward step, which may not be regained within a century and which would possibly change the whole course of the race from its divine appointment and racial destiny. The present need of our membership for episcopal representation and supervision is not commensurate at this most critical moment with the working out of a great principle under the guidance of Almighty God. Should the colored man, in the light of such tremendous conse- 110 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS quences, surrender a God-given principle for a momentary race-prejudiced policy? What will such a surrender mean? Much indeed, not only to the fraction more than a quarter of a million, but to the ten millions, and these increased at a ten-fold ratio by the coming generations, who must naturally be affected by the actions of the present leadership. Do not the signs of our times indicate that a brighter day is just about to dawn? Should not the Church set the high standard for the social, political, and religious adjustment of our world population? See her battle-line far-flung over the nations of the earth! This is God's cause, and no race nor nation can thwart His divine purposes with impunity. For the black man to clamor for legislation, either in Church or in state, — which in itself will fix his racial status upon a lower plane than that of the contemporaneous races of the world, — is to drag down from its lofty pinnacle the standard set by the builders of the world's great races and civilizations, and brand such a people as unworthy of a record in the catalog of races. The times are big with promise. A new day is manifestly upon the horizon. See the recent Southern Sociological Congress, which convened RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 111 not long since at Atlanta, Ga., in which some of the best and most representative men of the South met for the purpose of discussing the most vital subjects touching the rise of the New South. Among these subjects may be noted: "Church and Social Service," and last, but by no means least, "Race Problems." These dis cussions were dispassionately entered into by both white and black,— without any racial dis crimination whatever. The chairman of the special section on "Race Problems," was a typi cal Southerner, Dr. J. H. Dillard, of New Or leans, La. Among the press comments upon this Congress, may be noted the following from the Atlanta Independent. Among other things, this paper said: "Let me speak of one section alone, the one on Race Problems: After the very first session the note of fairness and hope was sounded so strong, that those 'who came to scoff,' as Oliver Goldsmith would say, 'remained to pray.' "One thing stands out most prominent of all, that gave most help and uplift to the workers on the field, was the broad and open stand taken by the young college professors of the South, on giving to the Negro a man's chance, and equal justice before the law. Special mention should be made of Prof. Morse of the University of South Carolina, and Prof. W. O. Scroggs, of the University of Louisiana, as taking the lead in this regard. The address of Mrs. Ham monds, of Augusta, Ga., cannot be forgotten; her words went directly to the heart, and while she spoke many eyes were filled with tears," 112 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS The above comment shows a pleasing situa tion now taking place in the very heart of the South. This historic Congress closed with the officers elected for the year being such charac ters as Gov. W. H. Mann, of Virginia, Presi dent, and Dr. John E. White, of Atlanta, Ga., Mrs. J. A. Baker, of Houston, Texas, Mr, M, E, Holderness, of Nashville, Tenn,, and Mr. J. E. McCullough, of the same city. There were thirty-one States, together with Canada, repre sented in this epoch-making Congress. What will be the future sentiment of the South, with such an organization meeting annually, no one can forecast. It is worthy of note, that the pres ent president of the Congress, is the Governor of Virginia,— the mother of Slave States; this fact alone makes it worth the while for every race leader to stop and consider. It is evident that God is organizing the forces for the solu tion of the vexed Race Problem that has har rassed the consciences of the best statesmen and ecclesiastical leaders during the past century. In the face of such movements of the twen tieth century, when the battle is almost won, is it wisdom on part of the race to surrender its manhood rights for a mere mess of pottage in the short-lived officialism after which certain race leaders clamor? In the language of an un- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 113 daunted character at a most critical moment of racial oppression: "Shall such a man as I flee?" The black man, in his advocacy of such a propo sition, stands at the parting of the ways, and virtually asks the Church to take away from him the highest and most sacred right be queathed to him as a species of the genus homo. In the light of sound reason and sober judg ment, it behooves the race to stand still and be hold the full salvation of God in our complete racial adjustment in the great Church set apart for human redemption. But some race leader may say that this argu ment is idealistic and visionary. The practical demands of humanity in the present age do not warrant such racial theories which must toe worked out in terms of the centuries. Who are the makers of history, the builders of empires, the conservators of all that is most sacred and permanent in the life and destiny of the nations? They are the idealist and world-visioned seers, that measured destiny by the unseen. Moses represented the Hebrew race type, and having caught the world-vision, deigned to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; Abraham heard God's call, and as he looked across the centuries, 114 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS he beheld his seed as the sands upon the seashore and the stars of heaven; Joseph, the dreamer, suffered imprisonment, but was con tent to bide God's time, and thereby he was fin ally exalted to the rulership of Egypt; Nehe miah, in the midst of darkness and gloom, for sook the office of cupbearer to the king, threw himself into the rehabilitation of a desolate and ruined city, and wrought out the destiny of a people with the devotion of a true leader, amidst the jeers and taunts of surrounding racial antagonism; Paul thrust the keen sword of Christian truth into the very heart of Greek Philosophy, turned the tide of the world's false conceptions of religious beliefs, and planted the Christian Church permanently upon crumbling Judaism ; Wilberforce struck for human liberty, and by his stroke the whole earth now chants a requiem over slavery and oppression, amid the mighty world march of representative democ racy ; John Agricola had poisoned the very life- blood of the Church by his pernicious doctrine but the invincible John Fletcher came upon thr scene and wrote his "Checks to Antinomian ism" which wrested religious thought from the prostitution of its high standard and electri fied the age in which Fletcher lived. The name of Columbus the dreamer is linked RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 115 indissolubly with the New World; that of Livingstone, with the unveiling of the Continent of Africa; those of John Franklin and a long line of successors, with the exploration and dis covery of the Polar regions ; the dream of world conquest was the rise and spread of the most far-reaching foreign missionary operations, and the characters connected therewith are far too numerous to mention. But far beyond all the pomp and splendor of nations, One that saw the trevail of His soul and was satisfied,— Jesus Christ, the greatest world-visioned seer of the ages,— now marches down the centuries as he goes forth to war, a kingly crown to gain. The Christian Church, purchased by His blood, must follow in the train of its Head and Founder. No other standard of racial growth can lay any claims to the present propaganda of our eccles iastical polity. The weakness and folly of human nature in its fitful moods ean never become a substitute for that fundamental doctrine of the Father hood of God and the universal Brotherhood of Man. God's program is being carried out de spite the discords of warring elements and racial differentiations; the nations of the earth are merging into the great world-movements 116 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS and blending into the harmonious strains of the Kingdom of God as it marches on apace. We need make no apology for our presence, as a race, in the conflict of humanity ; we are a part of the divine scheme in the interdependence and solidarity of races and nations, and no low- visioned, ambitious, selfish leader should be per mitted to thwart the purposes of God in the vain and fruitless attempt to crowd the work of the centuries within the circumscribed compass of a short-lived and impatient generation. What if present leadership should fail to satisfy an inordinate ambition? Christ and the Church will march onward through the coming centu ries, and right must at last prevail. Truth and justice are eternal principles. In the thickest of the battle, the smoke and dust obscure the sight of victory, but it is, nevertheless, sure to come. So, in the racial struggles among the world's population, we clearly see at evtery step of human progress the significance of the poetic sentiment: "Truth forever on the scaffold, Wrong forever on the throne; But that scaffold sways the future, And within the dim unknown Standeth God, within the shadow, Keeping watch above His own," RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 117 In the next place, we do not at this time need such an Episcopacy, for the race has not as yet tested its own highest inherent possibility. If it takes centuries to make a great towering oak that can stand and wrestle with the storms in the world's forests; much longer does it take to grow strong and permanent races. In the Museum of Natural History, in the City of New York, there is on exhibition the cross section of a great tree cut from the forests of California, and this growth shows that this solid trunk is the result of five thousand years of evolution. Such a growth stands as the marvel of the cen turies. In like manner must come the growth of the races ; but this growth can be stunted by an overgrowth of shrubs and offshoots and bas tard trees within our racial forest. Ripe and full-grown corn cannot be got by the agriculturist when the field is overrun with suckers and undergrowths from the main stalks; these must be uprooted in order that there may be a healthful growth of blade, ear, and full com in the ear. This is God's natural order, and races may well profit by the analogy. No fitful, impatient and spasmodic efforts can lift a race,— burdened with previous condition of servitude,— from the level of semi-barbarism and superstition to the lofty plane of Christian 118 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS manhood and self-conscious racial integrity. There must be the working out of all the latent and dormant possibilities within, through a process of racial evolution in order to vindicate the claims of such a race to the equality of man hood rights and prerogatives among the races of the earth. This cannot be done within the brief space of two generations, but must rather be wrought out in the regular order of things, thus enabling that race to know itself and to translate its intrinsic worth into terms of living deeds among the nations. In this particular, I would not by any means intend this to convey the thought that I speak disparagingly of the already known struggles of my own people to come to their maturity. The attempt is to show that the principle enun ciated is the only standard that will stand as an enduring foundation upon which to build our racial superstructure through all time to come. God and destiny are now thrown into the bal ances against personal ambition, selfishness, false race pride,— all actuated and prompted by a system of expediency and compromise. Woe be to that leadership,— woe be to that people,— not sufficiently wide awake to take advantage of the fleeting opportunity, arise to the duty of the hour, and to grasp the real substance of the RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 119 tremendous issues involved in present action. Another thing to be considered in connection with our present duty touching this vital issue, is how far we have the right to sanction and adopt such a policy with such invidious distinc tions between our own membership and that of the white communicants. Whatever is done fixes not only our present relation, but deter mines the destiny of our posterity within the Church. Is it not barely possible that such a procedure will cause most grievous regrets to those who shall come after us? Are we leaving room for the assertion of the manhood rights of our sons and daughters,— after having been trained in our educational institutions,— as they come to their majority in the future years? Is this much mooted and so-called suffering for episcopal supervision in any wise commensurate with the sacrifice of so great a principle? These are heart-to-heart questions to our colored leaders and membership, — questions that may well be considered and answered sob erly by individual self -consciousness upon plain duty. It is indeed apparent that in our haste for the fleeting shadow of episcopal honors we may lose sight of the real substance of true racial growth. If we are to remain in the Church, let us be men ; if we desire a larger and 120 RACIAL ADJUSOBIENTS broader freedom in ecclesiastical things, con fined to the race as such within itself, then do not burden the Church in the adoption of any class legislation and episcopal subterfuge for the purpose of serving our own race. It would be the act of true manliness,— one that would warrant the respect of our many white friends in the Church, and the abiding confidence of the race,— should our leaders boldly strike out and ask either for Autonomy or Separation from the main body, if this is the final analysis, and work out our destiny as independent men en dowed with self-conscious racial integrity. This statement is made not passionately and arro gantly, but most seriously and soberly, after deepest reflection upon a most delicate racial situation. It is the height of ecclesiastical folly to ask the Church legally to circumscribe and restrict us to our own race in order that we may remain within the communion and do the work that we are now doing with No Limitations Nor Re strictions. If we are not yet capable of manag ing the ecclesiastical life and destiny of the race upon its own inherent worth and material resources, wisdom would suggest that we cease the clamor for an emasculated and handicapped bishopric within our communion. It becomes RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 121 far better to maintain the principle and stan dard, and bring the race up to the same, than to sacrifice that principle and drag down that lofty standard in the vain hope of regaining it in the years to follow. A distinguished leader among our white friends remarked in speaking of the present situation : "No other race of the numerical strength of our black membership in our communion or in any other communion, would suffer itself to be played with concerning a most vital racial issue in the way that our colored leaders and member ship have tolerated with regard to this question of the election of a black man to the Episcopacy of the Methodist Episcopal Church." These are strong words, and it would be well for this leadership and membership to take no tice and plan wisely for future action. This is no time for hair-splitting analyses, or for beg ging the question of presiding over white con ferences and other apologetic statements touch ing the solution of the problem. It remains for the black man to throw off the mask of race- grabbing officialism and unite in one common sentiment for all that makes up the most manly and equitable adjustment of this race within our communion. CHAPTER VIII PROPOSED LEGISLATION NO SOLUTION OF PROBLEMS Taking up another phase of this subject, it may be wise to consider the situation from the viewpoint as to whether such proposed legisla tion would solve our problems. As this is the main thing sought, it is fitting that we consider it from the broadest and most candid point of view. A two-fold situation presents itself in the relation of our membership, black and white. The adoption of such a measure would set up two distinct racial episcopal supervisions, covering every part of the territory over which this entire membership is scattered : (1) A restricted Episcopacy,— legalized by special enactment of the General Conference,— for the black race, thus creating a new order of the bishopric distinct and separate from our itinerant general superintendency, I say "for the black race," upon argument already made, for it is not very likely that any white man would be elected to our colored conferences under the restricted legislation, (2) An unrestricted Episcopacy, unlimited in its supervision of both black and white con ferences; for, on the other hand, it is not at aU probable that any white man would be chosen, RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 123 —under the restricted system,— for our white conferences, 0|ur General Superintendents, ac cording to our residential and presidential pol icy, would fulfill all conditions for these white conferences in Episcopal supervision, so that there would be no necessity for the election of sub-bishops for our white contingency. Thus the one class would be forever limited in its sphere of episcopal jurisdiction, with an amendment to the fundamental law of the Church that would be binding in its operation over one and only one part of our membership, so long as that membership remained vsdthin our communion, despite the possibility of growth in numerical strength and intellectual and moral attainments. This membership would be left without any of the prerogatives and rights be yond such limitations. This would place upon the shoulders of a rising race a burden most grievous to be borne, for it is not reasonable to suppose that such an amendment to the Consti tution would ever be replaced, the argument of some to the contrary notwithstanding. At this point there is a gateway through which many escape who desire to adopt a policy for a prin ciple, making the specious and spurious argu ment,— a mere begging of the question,— that we do not need black men to preside over white 124 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS conferences. That is not the question at issue. What the black man needs to see clearly is that it will be the most embarrassing .situation in the history of the race to remain within a com munion, bound by a law that explicitly defines a segregated position among the brethren, while on the other hand, the other class above men tioned, is given all the God-given rights and privileges as members of the same Church, ex ercising the functions of office without the least handicap to its highest development under the evolution of our ecclesiastical polity and gen eral episcopal superintendency. The plea, therefore, is not for presidency over white con ferences, but the maintenance of those inalien able rights of the race as members of the human family and communicants of the Church of Christ on earth. Nothing more,— nothing less. The episcopal residences provided by the General Conference, under the new plan adopted in 1912, would, in the nature of the case, have a general superintendent and a re stricted bishop, according to his racial status, living side by side in the cities where such epis copal residences are provided within the States represented in our colored and white confer ences. This would necessarily obtain, unless the General Conference would designate different RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 125 States and cities as residential seats for the two orders of bishops,— orders that would be separ ate and distinct. But the query may be made: "Is not this true now of all colored pastors and white pastors, of colored district superinten dents and white district superintendents within the same territory? Yes, this is true; and the very truthfulness of it is the point at issue, as it affects the principle involved. But, under the present conditions, these ministers labor under no legal restrictions that declare to the one, "thus far shalt thou come and go"; but rather, all, under very delicate and peculiar racial conditions, now work silently and har moniously under that unwritten law of racial affinity for the coming of the Kingdom, which, in God's own time, shall wipe out all lines of separation in the permanent establishment of a Church that knows no North or South, no East nor West, no black nor white,— and Christ and the Church shall be all in all. If this be not the future outlook for the Church on earth, then the Bible becomes a mere fairy tale, and the re demption of humanity is a monstrous myth, with no more foundation than the mythological beliefs of antiquity. We shall really intensify racial antipathy within our communion by giving legal sanction 126 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS to race prejudice in the adoption of such a prop osition, which writes "caste" in the Constitu tion of Methodism. What about this present anomalous condition of our membership, with its racial problems in the South? The General Conference of 1912 attempted to meet the crying demand for a better episcopal supervision by the election of a sufficient number of general superintendents and the fi.xing of episcopal residences within the old slave territory: New Orleans, Atlanta, Ok lahoma City, Chattanooga, with Bishops Thir kield, Leete, Mclntyre, and Henderson as lead ers in the adjustment of the racial conditions within the limits of our conferences that com prised the white and black membership of our Methodism. There are St. Louis and Kansas City on the border, vsdth Bishops Smith and Shepard respectively as commanders . of the forces. It seems a stroke of Divine Providence that the General Conference should turn to such a policy in the midst of excited racial discus sions within that body. These men have within their supervision and jurisdiction the most important responsibilities, as well as the highest opportunities, ever given for unifying the two races in this vast Southern field. This being so, we now look to them to RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 127 play the role of true and noble humanitarians, —to measure up completely to the demands of such conditions as have fallen under their leadership. The Church has placed the burden upon their shoulders, and we look with anxiety to see them meet the issue. These residential bishops, by order of the General Conference, are so related to the work that they can by close contact, understand all the problems af fecting the growth of this membership, and adopt policies for the solution of the same. It is to be hoped that the new ecclesiastical polity thus inaugurated in our Itinerant General Superintendency may prove the highest wisdom of the Church in such episcopal supervision. What a victory for righteousness and brotherhood, if the Church had the grace to place one colored General Superintendent with in this residential section, and let him, with his white colleagues, work out the destiny of a back ward and belated race ! Such a step would be worth more to both the Church and the Negro than all of the vagaries of proposed legislation that attempt to adjust these races by segrega tion. This act could be performed without any humiliation to either race and, in the spirit of the blessed Master, would prove to the world that Methodism is able to measure up to the 128 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS New Testament standard of our holy religion. The men now guiding the wheel of our Epis copacy are called upon to look well to the ad justment of the races upon the broad basis of brotherhood neither circumscribed by any local, social, or political bias, nor influenced by un holy standards of hoary race prejudice. They are the pathfinders of human solidarity in a New South and the conservators of the funda mental principles of the Kingdom of God among men. With men of this type within the confines of our conferences for the next four quadrenniums, what marvelous changes could be wrought in the peaceful adjustment of our racial relation ships ! Black and white members could be made to feel the thrill of unity in the clearest and most complete demonstration of the truth that God hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and that He is no respecter of person or race in the econ omy of His truth and justice among the peoples of the habitable globe. Here are problems to be solved in the spirit of Him who came that they all might be one. No moment is there in this important crisis for a campaign of calumny nor for the criminations and recriminations of race leaders. The great and abiding propa- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 129 ganda for the redemption of a people so fixed within the social, political and religious com pact of the American Nation, should and must take the ascendancy of the thoughts and plans of black men and white men alike. The most important question that concerns us in the ad justment is this: If the Church should see her way clear to the elevation of a black man to this high service upon the principle herein ex pressed, could the race produce the man who is broad enough to compass the whole situation; discreet enough to comprehend the most deli cate racial problems that stand out for solution ; wise enough to act well his part, without pat ronizing or playing the sycophant, and pos sessing that depth and breadth of scholarship that would make him a commanding presence among his peers? Another phase of this present residential episcopal superintendency in the South is the benefit that will naturally be derived from it for our colored conferences, for which this supervision was particularly provided by the General Conference. In our present relation,— and as the affairs of Methodism are at present constituted,— our General Superintendents are in a better position to make pleas for our col ored work than could be made by any number of 130 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS restricted colored bishops that might be elected under the proposed legislation. This, of course, would be due to no fault of the black man, but is simply a stubborn fact that cannot be brushed aside, no matter how much we may arrogate to ourselves the sole right of black leadership. This is true first of all for the reason that the entire colored membership comprises only about one-tenth of the whole membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The other nine- tenths make up a majority, not only in numbers, but, better still, in culture, wealth and influence throughout the Church and Nation. A General Superintendent in a position so commanding has the ear of the great benevolent boards of Methodism and a firm grasp on the philan thropic spirit of the American people, and when once imbued with a deep sense of his episcopal responsibility, he can, as can no other man, stir the hearts of the Church in behalf of any cause represented under his immediate jurisdiction. It was in the light of this truth that the col ored delegates to the late General Conference turned their hearts and support to the choice of the men that now hold residential and presiden tial supervision over our entire colored mem bership and ministry. While these brothers beloved are not race representatives in the RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 131 truth of racial identity, they stand as represen tatives in that larger sphere indicated above. Not only in this material sense can this pres ent leadership benefit the race, but also at the bar of public opinion in the amelioration of the social conditions by which the blaek race is now surrounded. The argument is often made that these bishops cannot mingle as freely as they should in the domestic and social circles of the black race, by reason of the peculiar social conditions that now obtain. While this may be a fact,— and a deplorable one, — yet it argues nothing in comparison with the truth already stated, and is too often made a mere begging of the ques tion by our leaders that advocate the election of a colored bishop or bishops in the Church. The race problem in the American States must reach its final solution and complete ad justment, not by repression and segregation, not by racial amalgamation and miscegenation, but rather by uplift and helpfulness on the part of the white people of the Nation,— both North and South. This is very evident from the tendency of the times, as may be observed in the general tone of the public press in edi torial deliverances, — as well as utterances in representative denominational gatherings,— 132 RACIAL ADJUSTMENT'S touching the obligation of the Christian Church toward the race in its upward strides. Our General Superintendents in the South should be men of this broad humanitarian spirit, who, with voice and pen, vindicate the claims of their weaker brother, not,— after the manner of firebrands, but as fearless leaders in the Church of God,— until all barriers to the highest racial growth and development shall have been surmounted. Such are the men, we have every reason to believe, who have been commissioned by Methodism to establish the high standard in our racial adjustments. The results will tell mightily for peace and will be a blessing to the black race as well as to the white and will accomplish more for the former than the election of a dozen restricted bishops,— the products of false race pride and ambition on the one hand, expediency and race prejudice on the other. It is in the light of these larger possibilities that our present Negro leadership should cease to clamor for a system of inferiority in our Episcopacy, under the delusion that it will bene fit the race and result in a solution of our prob lems. It cannot, and the sooner we awake to the plain duty of the hour, cease to mistake sel fish ambition for racial uplift, and unite and RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 133 contend, with faith in God, for manhood rights, the better will be our condition within the com munion of a great Church as well as our posi tion as citizens of the American Republic, That citizenship will be sensibly affected by any legis lation on part of the Church that tends toward the legal segregation or racial proscription of the Negro, The question may be propounded: Would such proposed legislation, if enacted, inspire our colored membership to nobler endeavor and higher aspirations in the Church? This is a popular claim often reiterated by our leaders in their argument for episcopal representation. In the first place, the episcopacy thus created,— under the legal restrictions,— would in itself fix the racial standard; hence there would be no aspiration for higher attainments in Methodism. This does not by any means carry with it the idea that the race would be in any wise humil iated by having the services and episcopal su pervision of its own leaders ; for such would be preposterous on its very face; no race,— with out its full quota of acknowledged leaders,— is worthy of the name. Despite this, however, there is a higher law of human solidarity which must not be discarded in the rightful adjust- 134 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS ment of the races as correlated by ties of Church membership or national citizenship. Taking into consideration the denominational standards among the millions of our black pop ulation, it can readily be seen that these stand ards cannot bring about the solution of our complex race problem upon the highest basis of Christian manhood, A bishop in any of the distinctively colored denominations stands as the highest and best expression of Negro eccles iastical leadership; but when considered from the standpoint of the highest and noblest racial possibility in breadth and depth of scholarship through centuries of civilization and culture, no honest, sane, and candid mind among us would be so unfair as to deny that this standard is not the highest to be attained when compared with the Episcopacy as characterized by the Itinerant General Superintendency of the Meth odist Episcopal Church, No reflection is aimed at the race in this par ticular; it is simply the statement of an indis putable fact, and takes nothing whatever away from the inherent possibilities of the race. As such, then, there would be no high purpose of the race under such restrictions. Hence, it would be the greatest ecclesiastical blunder for this racial contingency in Methodism to legal- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 135 ize a standard that limits the entire race in its aspirations and ties it to itself. This is no argu ment in the least for running away from the race and desiring episcopal supervision over the white race; it is only a plea for an open door through which Negro leadership may enter into the largest service in the Kingdom of God as mankind grows into the humanities and evolves, as it must, into universal brotherhood. This is the basis of solidarity rather than the circumscribed limitations of segregation. Such is the status of the whole proposition from the unbiased view-point, when considered in the light of the highest destiny of the black race, as herein considered. This is the New Testament standard for racial spiritual evolu tion, and no power should attempt to limit the divine possibilities of a struggling people. This world must grow better; its problems must find solution within the domain of the Ultimate Rule of Right, which is nothing less than the Ultimate Rule of Reason. Earth rolls ever onward from darkness to light toward the glorious sun, perpetually vital ized by its bright rays. Mankind moves ever forward,— rises ever upward,— from ignorance to enlightenment, from chaos to order, from brutalizing competition to humanizing co- 136 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS operation, from slavery to liberty, from selfish ness to brotherhood. Already we have gone far, learned much, risen high; but there is still in the world too much hate, too much strife, too little peace, too little love, too much sorrow, not enough joy. Man is destined to be a brother,— free, happy. So it is that in our earthly pilgrimage we sigh on and pine and pine, seldom knowing what the soul craves,— only that it needs something. Our yearnings are deeper than can be expressed and are evidently yearnings for liberty; our sigh- ings are heavings of the soul for happiness; our supreme need is the brotherhood of the race that will warrant our claims to the Father hood of God, We have yet great heights to climb to reach that sublime goal; but already has that hope taken firm root in the breasts of humanity, and as the centuries speed by,— re volving and evolving,— that hope is budding and bursting into blossom and blooming into the eternal fragrance and beauty,— a bloom that will surely become the ripe fruitage of all the sufferings and endeavors of the human race throughout the years gone by. The present era brings us nearer to the day when the whole world shall blend most har moniously into an eternal brotherhood. May RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 137 the day soon dawn when we shall hear and obey the Divine summons, and, with the multiplied million songs of a redeemed humanity, we all shall share in the divinely appointed destiny of the great races of the world. CHAPTER IX OUE AFEICAN FIELD,— LIBERIA And now, what about Africa? What about Liberia in this racial adjustment of our world wide Methodism? The true history of our Liberian Methodism is but a record of the efforts of the Church to meet an emergency arising from the conditions that confronted our membership on the African Continent from the very beginning of our for eign missionary operations. It was upon the grounds of expediency that the Church conse crated Burns and Roberts as missionary bishops a fraction more than a generation after the founding of our mission by the sainted Melville B, Cox, Here, upon the great black continent of the earth, the foreign missionary propa ganda of the Church has had a varied move ment from 1833 to the present era of world- girdling missionary enterprise and awakening among the nations. Quite a quarter of a century before the founding of our missions in India and China the Church had a divine call to the Dark Con tinent. While the intention was the building of the Liberian Mission among the black pop ulation that had emigrated from the United RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 139 States to the west coast of Africa, God meant it as an open door through which should sub sequently enter the missionary agencies that would finally revolutionize the ancient customs and superstitions of these millions among the heathen tribes. The work has been slow in comparison with the fullest realization of the Church in its antic ipation of larger results during the past three- quarters of a century. This must necessarily be attributed to the fact that our whole mission ary operation in Africa has been disconnected in regular episcopal supervision and in the ac quisition of the proper Missionary forces upon the field. The work of Roberts and Burns was merely formal officialism, without any initiative of a permanent character. They formed a mere ecclesiastical interregnum in missionary opera tion and endeavor after John Seys and Dr. Goheen passed from the scene. The Church did not awake to its obligations until 1859, when Bishop Levi Scott, one of the General Superin tendents, was commissioned to inspect our Af rican missions. Quite a generation passed, and no immediate contact was had until, in 1876, Bishop Gilbert Haven was sent to look into the condition of affairs in our foreign missions in Africa. He returned and made a report that 140 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS was not very hopeful. This great man, the lover of the black man, died in 1880,— doubtless from the malady contracted in this deadly ma larial climate, more destructive at that time than at the present. Then there came a cessation of active en deavor, and the Church left this field to itself, in a sense, until 1884, when William Taylor, the modem Paul, was elected by the General Con ference Missionary Bishop of Africa. The work of Bishop Taylor took an evangelistic turn, and although he, with his great vision, planned for aggressive movements under a self-supporting policy, he was largely misunder stood by the Church, He bent his mighty ener gies for three quadrenniums to the formulating and execution of his plans, but did not have the time to see these plans materialize into any great results among the native population. The outline of his work may be seen to-day. He wrought well, but died without being satisfied for the travail of his great soul in Africa, The successor of Bishop Taylor was immedi ate and close in connection, for in 1896, Bishop Joseph C, Hartzell was elected Missionary Bishop for Africa by the General Conference, Bishop Hartzell was most peculiarly adapted to the great task, having given the flower and RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 141 strength of his young manhood for a quarter of a century to the uplift of the emancipated Negro in the Southern States of America. The grasp he had upon the Church, due to his great success in the work and administration of the Freedmen's Aid Society, warranted the wis dom of his election to this all-important field. The work of Bishop Hartzell is still within the limelight of the Church. For four quad renniums he has swept around the ecclesiastical circle, and, with the vision of a modern seer, he has watched the mighty transformations now taking place upon the Continent of Africa; he has plead faithfully and unceasinging with the Church to adjust our ecclesiastical machinery, —our men and our financial means,— to meet the new day for Africa under these great world- movements. During his incumbency he has or ganized the work in the East Central and West Central Mission Conferences, and recently, that most marvelous work in North Africa, a work that faces squarely the great Moslem Problem upon this Continent. The whole work of Bishop Hartzell,— from l896 to the present,— has been largely construc tive in its nature and administration; and as this faithful servant of the Church now rounds out his fifth quadrennium upon this battle- 142 RACIAL ADJUST1MENTS ground of modern foreign missionary opera tion, he deserves a hearty ' ' Well done ! ' ' from the Church, for distinguished and far-reaching services rendered for a full half century in the home and foreign fields. When in the wisdom of the General Conference, under the guidance of Almighty God, this faithful servant shall re tire from active service, may his worthy mantle fall upon the shoulders of a worthy successor! Despite his unbounded faith and optimistic vi sion, the Church has not yet grasped the African situation sufficiently to insure that aggressive movement for which he has hoped and prayed, in the evangelization and civilization of the African tribes. God speed the day of larger things ! In 1904, by Bishop Hartzell 's recommenda tion, the demand came to the General Confer ence at Los Angeles, Cal., for a better episcopal supervision of our African work, since the field was so large. That body, in the wisdom of its deliberations elected a Negro to the Missionary Episcopacy, as Bishop for Africa, co-ordinate in rank and administration with his white col league in the same field. This was the first time in the history of the Church that a black man had been regularly elected Missionary Bishop by the General Conference,— the cases RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 143 of Burns and Roberts being altogether of a dif ferent nature, they having been chosen by the Liberia Annual Conference, and consecrated by the General Conference. Thus a new day dawned for the black man in the Church. It was the opportunity in the life and history of the race to prove its worth and capability of one of its numbers as a world character and successful leader. The work of Bishop Scott has been up to this time an experi ment of the Church as to the capability of the Negro to meet the demands of our Missionary Episcopacy, and demonstrate to the waiting and watching world the possibilities of the black man as a leader. The peculiar conditions that surround the whole situation at the pres ent time make it very difficult indeed to give a just estimate of the black man in this particular ; the vast field is here with its tremendous prob lems, and the brief space of two quadrenniums is not sufficient to pass final judgment upon the Negro in this, new role of a leader. To say the least, the outlook up to this time has not been very encouraging. Our African field has its problems not alto gether dissimilar to those in the Home Field. Indeed, there enters into these problems, as they are related to the whole racial adjustment, 144 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS much that should demand the deepest thought and concern of our Methodism. First of all, the problem of Episcopal administration in for eign fields is one that must be squarely met and considered; this is especially true in a field like Africa, where two Missionary Bishops, —white and black,— must exercise the functions of their office in the midst of the mighty forces of racial transformations and industrial devel opment which, with the exception of Liberia, are being carried out imder the domination of European powers. Two Bishops, for the past two quadrenniums, have been exercising episcopal supervision over the work, and adjusting themselves to the situ ation as it now presents itself. From the methods of procedure it is very evident that there are racial barriers to be encountered in the general administration of the work under their jurisdiction. One Annual Conference (Liberia), and two Mission Conferences, to gether with the North African Mission and work in the Madeira Islands, are administered by these Bishops. Yet one of the strange things concerning the work is that during the whole time there has been no alternation,— with one exception, because of absence, — between the bishops in their episcopal supervision over the RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 145 conferences and missions. There seems to be an unwritten law that the black man has com pletely limited his sphere of operation to the territory within the bounds of the Liberia An nual Conference,— in fact, to the already orga nized limited work within the Republic of Li beria, while his white colleague assumes the responsibility of the rest of our African mis sions upon the whole continent. The question very naturally arises: "Why should this be? Is it the policy of the Board of Foreign Missions, under whose auspices our work is carried on? Is it the polity of the Church that such should be the case in episco pal administration upon our African field, or is it a tacit understanding between the men com missioned to the field?" For the past eight years on the field as a foreign missionary of our Board this has been a serious thought in my mind as I have watched the trend of affairs in connection with the missionary operations of the Methodist Episcopal Church upon this con tinent. Not the least reflection is meant in the foregoing observations; it is rather the plain statement of a fact in order to reach a definite conclusion touching this vital issue; for it is at this very point that the future polity of the (Church must be determined in the growth and 146 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS expansion of our missionary operations in Africa. In this important connection it might be per tinent to ask whether the Church has a policy as regards the episcopal supervision of these foreign missions? If so, what is the present status of that policy? It is very evident that it should be clearly defined, in order that the missionaries on the field may understand their own prerogatives and rights under our episco pal supervision as related to the Board of Foreign Missions. This becomes necessary be cause of the fact that very often the men and women who are doing the work may be fearfully handicapped in its extension by reason of undue limitations and restrictions brought to bear by superior episcopal authority, and what may be an inspired vision of expansion is entirely ob scured by an undefined and indeterminate epis copal policy. What should be the attiude of the Episcopal Head towards the enlargement and development of mission stations and educational institu tions planted at strategic points, under the management of well-prepared and experienced missionaries who are assigned as heads of these stations and institutions? The principle in volved would immediately suggest that such an RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 147 attitude should be that of the commander-in- chief of a great army, who watches and directs in the larger military movements, inspiring hope within the breasts of his generals, causing them to march forward with victory perched upon their banners; but if this high offi'cial de scends from his lofty military height, domi nates the camp life and assumes the duties of a private, the whole army becomes demoralized, and the commander has compassed his own defeat. The analogy is at once plain; the mission camps have been stretched ; their tents in Africa, are multiplied and the camp fires are burning amid the dews and damps of a most destructive tropical climate; we listen anxiously for the command, "Forward march!" from our su perior officer but no sound has yet been heard and many enthusiastic missionary soldiers have skulked in their tents, dismayed and discomfited as they behold the land, but have no authority to go up, take possession of it, and bring it under the banner of the King of Kings. Yes, the Church needs to define her policy in the mis sionary operations of this great land, the fringes of whose heathen garments we have barely touched. The Church has determined our limits so far 148 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS as the territory is concerned. In the chapter on "Boundaries of Foreign Conferences," the Discipline states: "Liberia Conference shall in clude the western coast of Africa north of the Equator." This includes a stretch of territory extending from the Ivory and Gold Coasts northward on the west coast to Morocco,— a region that would take in Sierra Leone, French Guinea, Gambia, Senegal,— and onward through a long stretch of French territory along the west coast. Despite this open field, Meth odism has been locked up securely for the past fourscore years, nearly within the narrow limits of the Republic of Liberia; and this work has been confined to the sea coast, leaving the great hinterlands of even Liberia untouched in our missionary operations for all these years. Whose business is this? Is it that of the Mis sionary Bishops, or that of the Board of For eign Missions, or that of the Church? Echo answers: "Whose?" What a wonder that the Church has even held on as long as she has, with so meager return for our missionary ex penditures! The vast possibilities are here; the policy of the field should be defined. Again, at the present time the whole question at issue in Africa,— outside of Liberia,— touches the racial adjustment of the Europeans in RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 149 Africa in their relation to the native tribes over which these Europeans hold protectorates in the governmental affairs of the continent. Here then the race issue takes on another phase, dif fering from that presented in other sections of the world. This requires that the Church should adopt a broad policy for the incorpora tion of these tribes into our communion upon the basis of a world-wide Methodism that takes in all races upon one common level. That is to say, it should never become the policy of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Africa to or ganize a distinctively separate European com munion, in an attempt to reach the commercial traveler and trader now found in largely in creasing numbers on this Continent. The mis sion of our Methodism in Africa is primarily to the millions of uncivilized population, and all else becomes merely incidental. A purely English, French, or Portuguese propaganda in the future growth of our work will cause the same tremendous racial problem upon the very habitat of the African as that which now taxes the time and patience and prayerful attention of the Home Church. It is true in this particu lar that Europe is in Africa; but our supreme work should be the redemption and civilization of the native sons and daughters of Africa. 150 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS And just here is a most crucial point of con tact, at which there will be required the most far-seeing episcopal leadership to meet wisely the various governmental requirements touch ing foreign missions in their protectorates and crown colonies. The work of the Church will be to mold a great European commercialism and industrialism into the religious redemption and Christian civilization of Africa. This becomes very apparent when we con sider that the various European nations hold possessions in Africa upon the following basis ; Belgium owns 800,000 square miles of territory, with 15,000,000 native population; Great Brit- ian 2,132,840 square miles with 40,000,000 native population ; France 4,300,000 square miles with 36,000,000 native population; Germany 930,000 square miles with 15,000,000 native population; Italy 591,000 square miles with 1,750,000 native population; Portugal 800,000 square miles with 9,000,000 native population, and Spain 86,000 square miles with 250,000 native population. Making a grand total area of 9,639,840 square miles of territory with a native population of 117,000,000 under the flags of the above-men tioned European nations. Thus it may at once be seen that this is no play-day nor dress parade in the missionary RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 151 operations under these world-forces. Bishop Hartzell very readily caught the significance of this basic truth and has for many years grasped the situation as best he could in the propagation of our Methodism in Africa under these various flags. He has had to deal with crowned heads and meet many requirements of the govern ments concemed with respect to our missionary operation upon this great continent. Whatever might have been the policy in tAe past of ad justing our ecclesiastical machinery to the con ditions as indicated, it was but the attempt to fashion the spiritual and moral destiny of the black population so situated. The present situ ation demands a leadership endowed with a master-passion, like that of David Livingstone, who unveiled the "Dark Continent" and be queathed it, with its multiplied millions, to the civilized world,— thus throwing open the com mercial door through which the captains of in dustry have entered and placed the whole con tinent under a reign of commercialism, out of which wUl surely come the moral, intellectual, industrial, and spiritual redemption of the heathen tribes. Present Episcopal leadership comes to this continent at a time when Africa, as a whole, is facing the most far-reaching transition period 152 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS in the history of the Hamitic race. The nations of the earth are now at work in bringing about the complete material development of the teem ing miUions of black populations upon their own native heath. Under this mighty era, God has set apart the Anglo-Saxon for the prosecu tion of this great task. Vast systems of steam navigation, raUway connections, and industrial expansions are now in operation upon a grand scale under the gaze of the civilized world; great mining corporations are exhuming the wealth of the continent,— wealth that has been buried for centuries,— and African exports are attracting the attention of our world-market. The native tribes are under the tutelage and discipline (sometimes cruel) of these command ing forces, and the march of progress may be seen on every hand; Crown Colonies and Pro tectorates make up the forms of government among the peoples of practicaUy the whole con tinent; mUUons of European wealth are being poured into these material agencies for the development of the vast resources of this mighty land; the traffic of the world now finds its way into African markets, and wonderful cable con nections, with wireless telegraphy, tie the old continent to the civilized nations ; the output of African products stands as a commercial con- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 153 necting Unk between Europe and the "Land of Ham," and the whole scene presents the most picturesque and wonderful panorama in the history of nations. Side by side, and most closely related to these great international movements upon the Afri can Continent, stands the work of the Christian Church as characterized by the missionary operations of the various denominations. In view of the great scale upon which the captains of industry are working out the material des tiny of the land, it behooves the Church to keep step with these great world movements,— move ments that tend to the redemption of Africa. It is not boastful to say that our Methodism has been set, like a watchman upon the walls, as a religious standard for the nations of the earth. Our African field is the most anomalous among the foreign missions of the Church. The duty of the followers of John Wesley to the black race must be demonstrated in the devotion with which they toil for the lands of this race. It must never be forgotten that Simon, coming out of Africa, bore the cross of our blessed Lord and Master as He tramped up calvary for human redemption. The Church cannot be re creant to her high trust to the black man. In the midst of the mad rush for territorial 154 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS expansion on the part of the great European Powers in Africa, it is altogether fitting that we should consider the place of our Liberian Methodism in its relation to the adjustments that are inevitable among the black peoples of Africa. When considered in comparison with the wonderful forces at work, as indicated above, Liberia stands as a negligible quantity and almost an inconsequential factor in African civilization. But, so far as the black man is concerned, this small territory occupies the unique postion as a gateway for missionary ag gressiveness, opening up a pathway to the great tribes of the interior. God holds in reserve this remnant of a population whose forebears were the standard-bearers of those lofty ideals of self-government. This territory,— compris ing now only about 35,000 square miles, having 2,000,000 heathen population within her hinter lands,— forms the base of operation for the ec clesiastical propaganda of the Church. In the wake of the present struggles of her people, the question can again be pressed: What should be the policy and status of an Episcopacy for our Liberian field,— more broadly, for Africa? With the movements described above, Liberia finds herself struggling for the maintenance RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 155 of her national integrity. It is a time of the most delicate diplomatic relations between the small Negro state and European Powers. By the very nature of the case, the Church must help the state; hence the best possible results cannot be accomplished by any attempt at in vidious distinctions upon the prosecution of a racial program. That is to say, no amount of special legislation by the General Conference, looking towards the limitations of our Episco pacy, can effect any good results whatever in the building of a Christian state in Liberia. The problem of our racial adjustment is a much larger one than has been thought out by those who espouse the cause for Episcopal lim itations. It does not touch simply the adjust ment of such conditions as are found in the southern section of the American Republic,— where a fraction of the race struggles for equal rights,— but it fixes a world-status for the black populations of our world-wide communion. The largest and widest scope possible to human endeavor, is the only thing worthy of consider ation in our present-day leadership. This is especially true in Methodism, with her world- program for the nations of the earth. No cir cumscribed, limited, and contracted leader needs come to Africa and hope to affect any 156 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS good for God and humanity ; the times demand that such leaders must come with a world-vi sion and be thoroughly prepared to take a hand in fashioning the destiny, — not only in Liberia, but in the entire continent, — of these mUlions in their relation to the material expansion of governments and civUizations now taking permanent shape among heathen populations. The Church must have such a leader upon the broadest basis, for the whole trend of civ ilization in the present century is in deed and truth towards the growth and development of world characters as leaders in the great world- movements, whether in poUtics or in religion. It will be the work of the ecclesiastical leader in Africa, to interpret the divine purpose in the European occupation of Africa and to work out the destiny of these belated milUons in the highest possible terms by means of the agencies now at work among this vast population. The unmistakable duty of the men commissioned by Methodism is to grasp the situation and prepare to work out God's plan for racial redemption. Liberia needs to-day Christian statesmanship; Africa weeps under the wide exploitation of her virgin soU and primitive peoples ; the waste places of our missionary endeavors for quite fourscore years must feel the touch of a master RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 157 hand, backel by the confidence of the Church. Such a program must be executed upon an Educational basis, as the very foundation of African redemption. We need here the found ing of a great institution of learning at some strategic point, with the broadest and most ample facilities and equipments in modern edu cational methods, with buildings and grounds for the purpose of combining the threefold standard, — Education, Industrialism, and Evangelism,— that' must absolutely be fostered for the perpetuity of our political and ecclesi astical institutions. Such a work becomes at once the secret of the redemptive forces that shall make this desert of heathenism to rejoice and blossom as the rose, and warrant the wisdom of our Methodism in her foreign missionary propaganda. This was the vision of the leaders who founded the University of Peking, in China,— the keen and quick perception of Bishop Thoburn when he founded the Allaha bad University in India. Methodism was born in a college, and from this beginning her missionary propaganda in foreign fields,— as well as at home,— has been first of all the founding of institutions of learn ing within the sphere of foreign missionary operations as a basis for racial redemption and 158 RACIAL ADJUSTMENT'S civilization. In the early history of our work in Liberia this was among the first efforts of the founders of our Liberian Mission. As far back as the colonial days of Liberia, before the Republic had its birth, the Methodist Episcopal Church furnished schools simultan eously with the apopointment of Christian mis sionaries. The earlier schools were naturaUy elementary in their character ; but in the course of time, as the youths advanced, opportunities were not wanting, and no necessary expenses were spared to give the youths the benefits of a higher training. Means were therefore soon provided, and a building was commenced in Monrovia, to be used as a high school, with the fond hope of some day developing into a regu lar college or university. In 1839 the Liberia Conference Seminary was set in operation, under the charge of the Rev. Jabez A. Burton, A.B., its first principal. He was assisted by Mrs. Ann Wilkins and Mrs. Eunice Moore,— two faithful white missionaries who came out as pioneers in this great work. Mr. Burton's principalship was short,— it hav ing lasted only two brief years,— but they were years of unremitting toil in the midst of the most trying circumstances followed by final success, Jle succeeded in laying at least a RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 159 foundation, upon which his successors have built and which remains to the present day. He died in August, 1841. The Seminary then successively came under the principalship of the Rev. W. B. Williams, (of the New York East Conference), Messrs. Hoyt, Gripon, Morris, and others whose names we do not have on the record. In 1846, — under the superintendency of the Rev. N. S. Bastion, who was successor to the Revs, J. B. Benham and John Seys, the prior superintendents of the Liberia Mission, a beautiful and commodious brick building, with stone foundation, was con structed. This was the largest and finest build ing in the colony, its erection having cost $10,- 000, In the month of February 1853, the Rev, James W. Horne, of the New York East Con ference, took charge of the Seminary; he was assisted by Mr. Gibson. The school, under the Reverend Mr, Horne, was thoroughly graded, and a course covering the regular college pre paratory grade was arranged and actively pur sued, Mr, Home's work was of great value to the Church and to the Republic. His name still lives and is redolent of precious memories ; and he, though dead, yet speaks in the advance ment of the educational work he so nobly fos tered. His noble, self-sacrificing labors staiid 160 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS as a living monument to abide forever. He and his faithful wife brought their work to a close in 1857. They, like their predecessors, worked well, but their labor was all too brief, for they were soon compelled to abandon the work on account of failing health. When Bishop Gilbert Haven arrived, in 1876, a day of hope dawned for our educational work. The Rev. Royal Jasper Kellogg,— a competent teacher,— was secured, and he entered upon his work in 1878. The re-opening of the Sem inary, which had been closed for several years, met with an encouraging response of one hun dred (100) pupUs. The buUding,— erected more than thirty years previous td this date,— was greatly dilapidated and worn by the rav ages of the destructive climate ; it was repaired under Mr. Kellogg 's administration, and the work of education, which had so sadly lagged, revived. Unfortunately Mr. Kellogg 's health soon faUed, and in 1880, the year of Bishop Haven's death, he returned to the United States. The school, however, under his brief adminis tration did good work, and many of the students, now active citizens, bear testimony to the popu larity and success of the institution at that time. In the year 1880,— after the departure of Mr. Kellogg for America,— Mr, R, P. HoUett took RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 161 charge, but he remained only a few years, re turning to the United States, his health seriously impaired by a trip to the Niger and Shadd Rivers, whither he had gone prospecting in what he believed a better region for more suc cessful and productive mission work. Upon the arrival of Bishop William Taylor, in 1884, our educational activity was again re vived, but it lacked that class of prepared men that had wrought so well in laying the founda tion of our work. The Rev. Daniel Ware, a member of the Liberia Annual Conference, taught a small day-school at the Seminary. He died in 1892, Bishop Taylor secured teachers from time to time, till the close of his admin istration in 1896, The school, during the period, was much reduced in numbers,— the enrollment at times being less than a dozen, and these few in the primary grade. Hon, Anthony D, Williams, A.M., of Liberia, was appointed principal February 14, 1895. He served two years only. Under his principal- ship there were improvements and some pro gress, the enrollment having averaged fifty- eight in two years,— there being sixty pupils the first year and fifty-six the next. From the beginning of the Seminary in 1839 to 1897, many excellent teachers,— whose names do not 162 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS appear in this historical sketch,— taught and rendered faithful and efficient service, thus con tributing their share to our educational work. In 1896, in the month of December, the Rev. Dr. A. P. Camphor and his wife were sent out by the Missionary Society. They came to the field early in 1897, under the supervision of Bishop J. C. Hartzell. These two M'ere new recruits from our schools in the South, and the first of the younger generation of the Negro race sent as foreign missionaries. They entered most vigorously into the reorganization and building up of an educational system at Mon rovia. The old Seminary was thoroughly re paired, the work was thoroughly organized and systematized according to modern educational methods, a regular charter for a college was obtained from the national legislature, and the name of the old Monrovia Seminary was changed to that of The College of West Africa, From 1897 to 1906 Dr. Camphor and his wife, assisted by a corps of most competent teachers, carried forward the work of education at this strategic point, and the college became a perm anent asset to our Liberian educational system. Class-rooms were formed within the walls of the old building, and facilities for carrying for ward the work were increased, with a thorough- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 163 ness that showed a master hand in this difficult work. In January, 1905, the writer, with his wife and two children, left New York City under the appointment of the Board of Foreign Mis sions,— also under the supervision of Bishop Hartzell,— and reached Monrovia on February 23, 1905, where he entered into the work of the College, then under the presidency of Dr. Cam phor. After two years Dr. Camphor retired from the foreign field, and the board of trustees of the CoUege, elected the present incumbent as president of the College, with his wife as matron and preceptress, (January, 1907). The foregoing brief statement is the histor ical sketch of the oldest educational plant in the Republic of Liberia, fostered by our great Church. The past sixteen years,— including Dr. Camphor's administration and that of the present incumbent,— have been years of con structive work in the establishment of an insti tution of learning at Monrovia,— an institution that would be a pride to our Methodism and a blessing to the Republic. Our enrollment to day stands 326, against 60 just sixteen years ago. Thus for nearly three quarters of a century the Methodist Episcopal Church has fostered 164 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS an institution of learning at Monrovia. The vision of its founders was to organize a system of schools, with the institution at Monrovia as the chief center and head of all the educational forces under the control of our Liberian Mis sion, with the president of the College exercis ing the functions of superintendent of our en tire educational system of the Church in Liberia, The results of these years of sacrifice and toil on the part of the noble band of missionaries and their immediate successors may be seen in the men of prominence, both in the Church and the state, who made the beginning of their education at this very plant in the early days of the Republic. The school occupies a place of far greater importance now than at any period of its history. The present building, erected in 1846, is completely worn and dilapi dated, and has served its day of usefulness. We need an enlarged plant with modern facilities, to meet the growing demands of our educational opportunities. The field is here before us; a new day has dawned for the Church and the Republic; the most urgent call of the Church of the twentieth century is: "Let us go up and possess the land." Our mission in particular is the development of an educational system that will be for the permanent good of RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 165 the population of Liberia, both native and civ ilized. Will our Methodism ever awake to the duty of the hour and plant here an institution in fulfillment of the world- vision of its founders, who gave their lives that the continent of Af rica might live? It stands as a disgrace and a burning shame to our great Church that such a building as we now occupy should be kept at such a momentous time in the history of our Liberian Mission. Fifty thousand dollars, expended on buildings, grounds and equipments, would be a worthy compensation for the years of our missionary struggles upon this our oldest foreign mission field. Some one is to blame for this neglect to enlarge our educational facilities. We hold the key to the situation, and unless we unlock the door, it must forever remain bolted and barred against African redemption. From careful study of our educational work for the past eight years, I am positively convinced that the Church is in duty bound to do most effective work among the America-Liberians, situated as we are, and the means should be provided to do our part at this the most psychological moment in the history of modern missions. There can be no longer the mistaken and deluded cry: "Leave the old Liberian work!" which was ad- 166 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS vocated by the Church some years ago. It is indeed apparent under existing conditions that the Americo-Liberian population must be the means of at last reaching the 2,000,000 aborig ines within the bounds of the Liberian Repub lic. In order to do this there must be awakened a deep interest in the work of education through well-equipped institutions, and hence the call of Methodism in this work, being the oldest upon the grounds. The future work of the col lege depends entirely upon the fact as to whether the Church will heed our call and some great soul rise up and place upon God's altar the necessary means for building this historic center into a lighthouse upon the west coast. The future history of the college will be written in a more glorious era than all the past and' the hurrying present. My years of service in this educational work make me feel at this time as did the Blessed Master, as he looked upon the work of human redemption and uttered the tremendously sig nificant words : ' ' The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up." So that this sketch is not only history, but,— far greater,— an appeal to our glorious Methodism to "enlarge our tents and strengthen our stakes." With thirty or more mission schools,— comprising nearly 2,000 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 167 pupils,— within the bounds of the Liberia An nual Conference, and with only one school of high grade standing at the head of these schools, it becomes the high privilege of pres ent leadership to do for Liberia what Bishops Bashford and Lewis are doing for China in her educational system. Let the Church awake to the duty of the hour, and build permanent agencies, strong in material facilities and conse crated teachers, for the spread of the King dom of God and the redemption of the race. Most closely allied with this work of evan gelism and education in its widest scope is the important work of the Christian press. There can be no doubt that the press stands among the most potent agencies for the dissemination of the best public thought in the shaping of public opinion and the crystalization of public sentiment. When Bishop Thoburn went to India he soon discovered that the work of evan gelism must be buttressed by Christian educa tion; hence the founding of the Allahabad Uni versity, under the leadership of Miss Issabella Thoburn. He again saw the necessity of some medium for the expression of thought and soon there was founded the first Christian paper, The Lucknow Witness, first published at Luck now, but subsequently carried to Calcutta, and 168 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS its name made more comprehensive by a change to The India Witness. This paper stands to day as one of the most potent factors for the redemption of India. And so the Christian press stands pre-eminently allied to the work of civilizing a backward and belated people. In the early history of our Liberian Mission there was established (in 1839) a paper known as Africa's Luminary, under the superinten dency of the Rev. John Seys, who had asso ciated with him Dr. Goheen; both were men of sterling worth. But these leaders passed off the scene, and the organ in subsequent years ceased. To show the importance of the move ment, the very first number in Volume I,— pub lished March 15, 1839,— contained the following under the head of "Prospectus": "The Board of Managers of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having at last succeeded in obtaining a printer to be connected with the Liberia Mis sion, passed the following resolutions at their meeting held in New York, November 14, 1838: " 'Resolved, that a semi-monthly or monthly paper be pub lished under the editorship and superintendence of the Rev. John Seys, aided by a committee appointed by the Liberia Annual Conference on such terms as Mr. Seys and said com mittee shall see fit to adopt. " 'Resolved, that the title of the paper be Africa's Luminary RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 169 It is also interesting to record in this con nection the first editorial that appeared in Vol. I, No. 1, The editorial reads thus: "Divine Providence having safely guided us to the scene of our labors, we this day present our subscribers, corre spondents, and readers with the first number of the Lumi nary. That this should have been accomplished in less than two months since our arrival is cause of great gratitude to that God who has hitherto so signally blessed and prospered the Liberian Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Our columns will be devoted to religious intelligence, re searches into the manners and customs of the native tribes of western Africa, some accounts of the geology, mineralogy and botany of the country, as well as its natural history, and especially the prospects and success of the Liberia Misr sion of the Methodist Episcopal Church. To this, it is con sidered, may be profitably added from time to time some account of the different colonial settlements, their climate, population, agriculture, commerce, etc. As we anticipate, with good grounds, too, that we shall have many subscribers among the citizens of Liberia, a department of our paper will be devoted to foreign intelligence, in which selected extracts from American periodicals, and works of approved character and celebrity will be published. Thus we trust a mutual interest will be felt at home and abroad. We propose to be actuated by pure catholic motives in this ad ditional auxiliary to the Mission of the Methodist Episcopal Church in Africa. "Therefore our columns will ever be opened for intelli gence respecting the prosperity of other religious societies. We intend to exclude and keep forever excluded, everything of a controversial character, and hope that this will be per fectly understood. And now we commend our Luminary to the patronage and support of our brethren and friends here and elsewhere. The quantum of light that may eman- 170 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS ate from it will greatly depend on the prayers of God's people in our behalf, as well as the aid we may receive from our correspondents. Indeed, much will depend on the latter, for the editorial cap seems to fit so awkwardly, and such is the great variety of other business which is connected with that department in the same individual, that we shall need a great deal of help to meet the wants of our brother, the printer, when the demand of 'More copy, sir!' shall be rung in our ears. "Monrovia, March 15, 1839." Thus was begun the first newspaper in our African Mission, and the oldest foreign publi cation of the Methodist Episcopal Church, The above editorial and "Prospectus" clearly indi cate the breadth and vision of these noble men, Mr. Seys and Mr. W. P. Jayne, the printer. Had they lived long enough to carry out their task, and had the Liberian Mission been given the proper supervision by the Church from the founding of the Mission to the present, the Luminary,— our first and oldest foreign mis sion paper,— would not have suffered its sun to go down, and might have occupied the same place in our African field as does The India Witness in India. But the Luminary ceased to be, and the light of the press, which might have been shed upon our African field, sank beneath the horizon of heathen darkness. After 1842 there was no further effort in this direction for quite a half century; then in the RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 171 year 1899 another attempt was made for our Mission Press, under the supervision of Bishop Joseph C. Hartzell, by the pubUcation of the New Africa. In 1904, under the editorship of Dr, A. P, Camphor, this publication had its name changed to Liberia and West Africa, and gave great promise of becoming a permanent asset in our foreign mission journalism. In cluding the time that New Africa was published, this paper here upon the field has already run through its fourteenth volume up to 1913. The scope of it is as wide and comprehensive as conceived in the thought and purpose of its founder. It could be made one of the most potent factors in moulding and fashioning the thought and destiny of our Methodism upon this continent. Its place in our Methodist litera ture should be that of a regular Advocate of the Church in Africa. The field of operation is open and cries out loudly for just such a pub lication. To this end it was pubilished and edited for seven years by Dr. Camphor, and almost the same period of time by my own hands. The importance of our Mission Press can not be overestimated in this the most important epoch in the history of our Liberian field. The work of the Mission Press should no longer be 172 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS placed upon the shoulders of the President of the College of West Africa. The Church should provide for a regular editor in addition to an expert and experienced printer, the business of the editor being to take in hand the successful management of a most worthy publication, which is growing into an official organ of our Methodism and is subsidized by the General Conference, Our splendid printing plant at this strategic center warrants such a policy here in our Liberian field. The Bishop of the field should not be called upon to enter into the detail of directing the publication of the paper as part of his administrative functions; this work should be committed to the full charge of a man chosen by the Board of Foreign Missions for the purpose. There must of necessity be built up in this mission our Church literature, a book deposi tory and all the accompaniments necessary to meet the demands of a real live foreign min istry and laity, and no better agency could be used in this particular than our Mission Press, under the supervision of a wide-awake editor and a proficient printer. This is one of the problems of this field, and the fond hope is that our future leadership may adopt these wise RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 173 means to one common end: the growth and ex pansion of our Liberian Methodism. Our Mission Press in the other section of our African field is pushing forward and claiming a place among the publications of the Church. The Inhambane Christian Advocate is destined to take its regular place among the strong ad vocates of Methodism. A recent publication, Methodism in Norih Africa, has been added to our African Mission Press through the vision of Bishop Hartzell. These papers must in the coming years all do for Africa and African civ ilization what the periodicals and magazines are doing throughout the civilized world. May the day dawn,— and that soon,— when there shall be an awakening of our Methodism to the im portance of our Mission Press throughout the foreign fields, particularly among the millions of Africa. The freedom of the Mission Press, like that of the secular, is an absolute necessity in order that the very best possible results may be ob tained. Here again is a point at which a defi nite policy needs to be outlined by the Church as to the sphere of operation in connection with the work of the press in a foreign mission field. This is especially true in a field like Liberia, where there are no newspapers, and where the 174 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS Church is so very closely allied with the govern ment. Problems that arise concerning the growth and expansion of a Negro state would naturally claim the attention of our Mission Press,— es pecially when this state is surrounded by strong European powers and the Church is interested in the possibility of the Negro as a self-govern ing race. This would call forth at regular in tervals expressions upon any vital issues affect ing the good of the state. The attitude of the Mission Press in this particular should be the adoption of such a policy as would tend to mould public sentiment upon the vital interests of the state as well as those of the Church. This, of course, is not upon the basis of med dling in partizan politics, but rather the discus sion of the basic principles underlying the evo lution of the state under primitive conditions. This becomes a most important phase of na tion building, apart from the careful attention given to our missionary operations. Problems arising in this particular must find their solu tion in the complete adjustment of the affairs of this field, under the broadest and most states manlike episcopal leadership touching the scope and work of the press. Africa must be redeemed. This redemption RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 175 must come through the widest and broadest scope given to the expression of thought from pulpit and press, from mission stations and ed ucational institutions, contributing to the larg est measure of success to be obtained in the de velopment of all the fundamental principles of racial evolution and ecclesiastical power and in fluence among her primitive peoples. No mo tive of a controversial or personal nature is herein brought forth, but simply the candid and open expression of the most vital and far-reach ing principles that now characterize the com plete success of our foreign missionary opera tions upon the outskirts of heathendom. It is an indisputable truth in the history of the Negro that the Methodist Episcopal Church has never attempted to go along the line of least resistance in the elevation of this race. On the other hand, it is also true that the Church has not measured up to her highest obligation and privilege with respect to our African field. This field, as shown from the foregoing, has been almost in an autonomous condition, and stands as a fit example of the principle of segre gation in racial adjustment and episcopal supervision. This accounts largely for the very meager results of our missionary endeavors,— especially in Liberia,— for the past three-quar- 176 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS ters of a century. It shows clearly what hap pens under a system of restricted episcopal supervision, and the non-interested attitude of our Methodism growing out of such conditions. Disconnected from the main body of the Church in itinerant general superintendency from the very founding of the mission until to day, our Liberian field,— although the oldest,— has suffered as has no other foreign mission of our great Church, Left to itself so long, there has never been any definite policy of organizing the forces for a great forward movement. If this field is to occupy any permanent place in the future economy of our foreign missionary propaganda, then the Church must put Africa on the level of all the other foreign fields and let our struggling Methodism upon this conti nent swing into line for the highest destiny of the black races within this tropical belt. The present era is the opportune time; the clock of God strikes the hour; the call is loud and clear ; for Methodism has been set the task ; the waste and desolate deserts of heathenism must "rejoice and blossom as the rose," The multiplied agencies of the present century are the resultant forces of all the centuries past now at work throughout the world for human redemption; the nations of earth are moving RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 177 upward and forward in the material develop ment of every foot of territory upon the habi table globe. Into this great world-wide awak ening the Church of God has set her watchmen upon every hill-top and has commissioned her ministers and missionaries to carry the gospel tidings to the remotest regions of the earth. All nations and races and tribes and languages, with their various tongues and dialects, are now chanting a requiem over all slavery and oppres sion and moving like a mighty army toward that one far-off divine event,— the unification and solidarity of the inhabitants of the earth. Will Africa and the Africans be less respon sive to the divine call than are the other sec tions of the globe and races of the world? The whole earth is rapidly being conquered in the favor of the backward and belated races ; clans, classes, castes and prejudices are vanishing be fore the dominant forces of eternal righteous ness as the armies of God move forward and shake the earth with their mighty tread. Bishop John W, HamUton, of the Methodist Elpiscopal Church, in discussing the principle underlying our racial adjustments, recently said : "What in this world does the colored man want with something more to perpetuate the in famy of prejudice which he has borne through 178 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS all these centuries? We are fast conquering the world in his favor; and if the colored men themselves were not so ambitious for a little tinsel of office, but would hold steady for the one thing, we would put them on the level with their brethren, where the Lord put them, and keep them there." > These are phophetic and brave words coming from a lifelong friend of the black man. Let Africa breathe forth the deepest sentiment in poetic strain: "O freedom, sweet freedom ! Freedom it is for me! Before I'd be a slave I'd be buried in my grave — And go home to my Father and be free!" CHAPTER X THE STEWART MISSIONARY FOUNDATION POR AFRICA Among the many agencies that now contrib ute to the redemption of the Dark Continent, none occupies a more important place than the movement started a few years ago, inspired by the world-vision of the Rev. William F. Stew art, who conceived the idea of laying a Foun dation for the future development of the Ameri can Negro for mission work in Afrisa. The purpose for the Foundation was stated by Mr. Stewart as follows: "My hope is that it may become a center for the diffusion of missionary intelligence, the de velopment of missionary enthusiasm, the in crease of missionary offerings, and through sanctified and trained missionaries, hasten obedience to the great commission to preach the gospel to every creature. In addition to the direct work of the recitation room, I have con templated other educating means that would reach our schools and missions and the whole membership of the Church." The above statement of the purpose of the Foundation is indeed very comprehensive and shows its author to be possessed of a world- vjsion like that which characterizes all great 180 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS leaders of men. This benevolence was placed by Mr. Stewart in connection with the work of Gammon Theological Seminary, South Atlanta, Ga. ; and the plan was the culmination of his thoughts through many years. The Foundation thus established and located, the work was im mediately put into operation by the authorities of the Seminary, the Board of Trustees having formally accepted the offer and plan at a reg ular meeting. May 10, 1894. The work began with the appointment of a field secretary,— Rev. W. W. Lucas as Field Secretary, who for several years traveled throughout our South ern Conferences, especially among our Freed men's Aid Schools, inaugurating the work by offering prizes for essays and orations on Af rica as a mission field, the obligation of the American Negro to missionary work in Africa, original missionary hymns, and topics of that nature. The work through this agency was ex tended to the churches and became the means by which many of our young people, in both school and church, became fired with the am bition for mission work in Africa, The foregoing method of operation has been carried forward by the Seminary through rep-. resentatives of the Foundation for now nearly twenty years, and great good has been accom- RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS l81 plished thereby. But at this particular time, under the universal awakening of the nations upon the continent of Africa, it should be the policy of the Foundation to enlarge the scope of this most important and providential move ment for the evangelization of Africa. One can readUy see the necessity for such a policy as the conditions are presented from actual con tact with the situation upon the foreign field, and therefore from this point of view, a few suggestions with respect to the future opera- ions of the Foundation in its relation to our Af rican field will be in order. First : The work in the home field on part of a secretary is not sufficient for the proper train ing of missionaries for Africa. While the sys tem has in it the means of placing within the grasp of our Negro young people much infor mation and of bringing about an awakening conceming foreign mission work, still there is a crying demand for an immediate touch with the active life and customs of the native tribes in Africa, in order that a regular mission train ing school might be established, as was the orig inal idea of Mr. Stewart. To carry out this plan, the Foundation should make provisions for sending some one to Africa for the express purpose of studying the best methods of con- 182 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS ducting active foreign mission work, and the dialects, habits, and customs of the native Af rican. After a few years of such preparation on the field this person should return to the home field, organize the young people, who are plan ning to take up mission work in Africa, into a great missionary training institute, which should become the very life and center for the highest development of mission workers, thus giving a greater impetus to the thought and aims of the young people at home in their real preparation for the work. Our Bands of the Friends of Africa are already organized in con nection with our institutions, and these could at once become the most active auxiliaries to the work of a great Missionary Training Institute, which would draw its pupils from these very Bands of all who feel the call to the foreign mission field. These candidates should of course complete their literary courses and take up mission studies just as ministers take theo logical courses. With such a propaganda on part of the Foun dation, there would be a great center from which our Board of Foreign Missions could ob tain missionary recruits for work in Africa. This would be a great forward movement in missionary endeavor and enthusiasm among the RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 183 Negro membership of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and would create in the race the true missionary spirit. The Foundation should, however, be separate and distinct from the work and supervision of our Gammon Theological Seminary, and should have ample buildings with modern equipments for the purpose of carrying out a regular propaganda of mission ary training. Such a suggestion may seem presumptuous in the face of the most efficient activity and plans of the authorities of the Foundation, under the far-seeing and most comprehensive administration of the Rev. D. D. Martin, the present Secretary. Nevertheless, it is indeed a truth that Mr. Gammon had a great world-vision along one line,— the training of a colored ministry, and Mr. Stewart had the same vision along another line,— the training of missionaries for our foreign field. Hence the work of Gammon Theological Seminary should not be burdened with the work of The Stewart Missionary Foundation, The dream and su preme anticipation of the one benefactor can not be fully realized by merging it into that of the other. Both stand out as mighty move ments for racial redemption. Apart from the foregoing considerations, such a policy would make the Foundation stand out 184 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS most prominently as a missionary center, and a stronger emphasis could be placed upon the entire missionary endeavor of the Methodist Episcopal Church. It would thereby become a great central source of world-wide missionary intelligence through books and magazines, to gether with curios and examples of the native arts and implements gathered from our vast missionary fields in every quarter of the globe. Students attending such an institution would at once catch the world-vision and become im bued with the missionary spirit, thus making it easier for our Board of Foreign Missions to procure the proper workers to meet the crying demands of our foreign field. Other allied forces that are at work in har mony with the plan and purpose of the Foun dation are the mission-study classes in our educational institutions, the missionary organi zation of the Sunday School, the Epworth League, together with affiliated work of the Young Men's Christian Association and Young Women's Christian Association, and all other agencies that tend toward the fostering of the work of missions among our colored young people. Here is a constructive work to be done by the successors of Mr, Stewart, who had it all within the scope of his vision. RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 185 The American Negro owes an undying obli gation to the land of his ancestors ; this obliga tion must be put upon his heart by a movement of commanding influence, and no better move ment than the Foundation can accomplish this important end. Liberia is the first open door for foreign mission work on the part of the Negro. It has been only within the past sixteen years that the first pioneers from our schools in the South reached the field and began the task of missionaries to their kith and kin across the seas. Here the black man must demonstrate his capability as a world character and as a nation builder. The possibilities are within the juris diction, and tend toward the best interests of the race, and the latent and dormant forces must be brought out by a system of training, both on the field and under the supervision of the edu cational agencies of the Church at home. The work of the Foundation,— at the present stage of our racial evolution and under the present status of this race as foreign missionaries,— must therefore be for the nearly 2,000,000 . aborigines within the boundaries of the Negro Republic upon the west coast of Africa. Of course this is the nucleus around which must gather the missionary forces that, in the coming centuries, must redeem the miUions upon the 186 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS face of a mighty continent comprising nearly 12,000,000 square miles of territory. This is a little flock to whom it is the Father's good will to give the Kingdom, It seems a strange coincidence that the Foun dation began its work in 1894 and that the first Negro missionaries sailed for Africa in 1896, —just two years afterward. Since that date there has been a steady stream flowing out from the Negro population of America toward the Dark Continent. Indeed, this presents a new phase of emigration from the United States to Liberia, The old historic Colonization Society finds no work to do under this new era in the migration of races and peoples about the globe ; better agencies bring forth a modern renais sance in missionary endeavor and enthusiasm. The earlier settlers came to Liberia as an asylum from the most grinding oppression; these latter-day immigrants have caught the spirit and genius of the new century, and, under the auspices of the great benevolences of the Church, come with the lofty motive of uplifting the oppressed and dispersing the darkness of heathenism and ancient superstitions. There can be no nobler conception of the black race, as it follows the purposes of God in its past and present history. The Foundation RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 187 has actually been laid among ten millions of the world's most advanced black population, and, under the missionary operations of a great Church, the twentieth century must witness the most marvelous things in the complete redemp tion institutions for the prosecution of the work the world. It is therefore the plain duty and high privilege of this splendid agency to put in training the very best products of our Chris- tion institutions for the prosecution of the work of racial redemption. To this end, no sugges tion should escape the notice of those now en trusted with the responsibility of carrying out the high behests of a world-benefactor in the exercise of the administrative functions of the trust thus bequeathed to them. Already the work in Africa has taken shape. Educational institutions, industrial plants, evangelistic movements, mission stations, — all cry out aloud at this time for the coming of a larger force of deeply consecrated Christian workers to grasp the situation and work out God's program, which is now being executed among, the black sons and daughters of Africa, In Liberia seven hundred acres of land in one section now wait for some master hand and world-visioned seer to plant a great industrial institution that would quicken into life the ma- 188 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS terial resources of the spot. Our only educa^ tional institution of college grade listens for the command of our benefactors in Methodism to found here a great institution of leaming that shall banish heathen darkness within a radius of two hundred miles. It stands at the most strategic point within the compass of our pres ent missionary operations. Heathen tribes along the Kroo Coast are in a state of anxiety for the gospel message, and await the coming of spirit-filled messengers from the home land to kindle the fires of evangelism under the roofs of ten thousand thatched huts. Yes, the cry is just as loud to-day as that which came to the Great Apostle to the Gentiles when he heard the voice: "Come over into Macedonia, and help us." The vision of the great founder and bene factor of this benevolence has been up to this time eclipsed by the struggles of the Church in the adjustment of racial conditions and the solution of the many problems arising there from. This comes in as a fitting corollary to the discussion upon our African field. The Foundation has not been built upon in any per manent and definite manner, by reason of the lack of that broad policy in episcopal super vision over our colored conferences; more so, RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 189 by the long neglect of general itinerant superin tendency of our African missions as herein set forth. It is quite evident that there can be no successful expansion of the work of the Foun dation in Africa except through the widest comprehension of the vision and plan of Mr. Stewart on the part of the workers upon the field. These cannot catch the full significance of this vision under a system of segregation and restriction in our ecclesiastical polity. In this new century the whole field of our missionary operations must be touched by one common impulse, with such a unity of purpose that there shall be a constant heart-beat between the forces at home and the forces in foreign lands. This must come through the class of leaders under whose supervision the work is fostered. The kingdom of Alexander the Great met final disintegration because the successors of Alexander did not possess the world-force and world- vision of this great character ; so the great movements of the Church will be checked and defeated in their onward march, unless present leadership can catch the spirit of the originators of our world movement. This has been the backset at home; this is the handicap in foreign fields. The future policy of this benevolence must be 190 RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS determined largely by the character of the epis copal supervision and leadership we shall have in Africa. If this be circumscribed and limited in its operation and jurisdiction, or confined to the Negro himself, then there can be no possible realization of the highest purposes of its founder. On the other hand, should Africa be given the broadest and best itinerant general superintendency under our system, then the work will take on new life and reach the goal of its divine achievemtents under the matchless blaze of our world-girdling Methodism. Too long have the black peoples of the world, —particularly in this land beyond the seas,— been left to themselves; the secret of the slow growth of missionary endeavor in our African field must be attributed to the fact of racial segregation. The heart of the continent has not been as yet touched by the light of civilization ; the possibilities of heathen redemption have not been tested; the Church has simply touched the hem of the garment of the heathenism that wraps this great continent in its black folds. When will Methodism catch the real significance of this Foundation for Africa? When will the black race be responsive to the clarion call that now comes from Ethiopia? When will it catch the real meaning of the tremendous racial issues RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 191 throughout the world as they flash before our wondering gaze? We stand in the midst of mighty world transformations, under the blaze of the flashlights of Anglo-Saxon civilization transmitted across the continents. The allied forces of Methodism cannot be recreant to so great a trust committed to them by the God of nations for the unification and complete redemption of the world races. This is God's day; and the nations of the earth are marching to the music of the angel's song whose notes float across the centuries in the heaven- born declaration of "On earth peace, good- will toward men!" In the wake of this most glor ious century,— which has inherited all of the splendid achievements of mankind through all the ages, — the peoples and kindred tribes of all lands must swing into line for the ushering in of the Kingdom of God in its fullest manifestation among mankind. CHAPTER XI CONCLUSION The principles enunciated in the foregoing pages are now submitted to the candid judg ment of men of all races and of all nationalities, —both within and without our communion. The author has attempted to show in an unbiased way the fundamental principles upon which our Methodism has built her mighty temple, the base of which covers the world, and under the heaven-domed canopy of which all races and nationalities and tongues are gathered. He has attemped to show that these are all cemented together by the blood-bought bonds of universal brotherhood ; that this tie guarantees to each and all the same rights and prerogatives of world citizenship and the spiritual blessings of one common communion in the Church of Jesus Christ on earth ; that our problems in racial ad justment grow out of our impatience to reach their solution without biding God's time; that racial segregation is founded on race prejudice, and is detrimental to the highest development. of the race thus discriminated against; that the black man, at this crucial point in his history, needs the constant touch of the best agencies in Church and State, under the most commanding RACIAL ADJUSTMENTS 193 and unlimited leadership, in order that the race may aspire to the noblest purposes in racial evolution ; that the Church of God cannot enact class legislation and write "caste" in her fun damental law in violation of her heaven-born commission for racial adjustment and human redemption, for such would be a denial of the Brotherhood of Man, thereby making unwar ranted our claims to the Fatherhood of God. There is a serene Providence that rules in the affairs of men. His truth is eternal ; the waste places of the earth shall becorae garden spots of Christian civilization, and all races, kin dreds, tribes, and tongues shall hear the glad tidings of the Risen Christ as He marches down the ages; our prayer, "Thy Kingdom Come," will be answered in the coming of The King dom of Man, when all nations of the earth shall bow at one common altar and merge into one Universal Brotherhood,