The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1923, Page 82

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82

both languages, read these verses in both, also when
about to make an investment and making your will.”

We cannot pass on without quoting from a letter
written by the pastor of Mr. Durr, who so liberally
remembered the Chapel Fund of our Negro Mission
with the sum of $3,830.70 at a time when the need
for chapels and schools is so very great: “Of the
late Mr. Durr I can tell you that he was a princely
fellow, so kind, so gentle and humble, that certainly
of him could be said what Fitz-Greene Halleck
wrote of his friend James Rodman Drake: ‘None
knew thee but to love thee, None named thee but
to praise.’ The love of his Savior inspired his
action. He died a young man, thirty-six years of
age, of cancer of the throat on January 11, 1923.
He suffered terribly, but very patiently. He lies

_buried near Victor, Iowa, beside. his young wife,
who was taken from him four years before during
the influenza epidemic.” —

May many others follow in the footsteps of this
young Christian brother to the glory of God and
for the welfare of souls bought with the precious
blood of the Savior!

Another member of Pastor Uhlig’s congregation,
Fr. R., recently contributed the sum of $50 for the
Negro Chapel Fund. May God richly bless the kind

- donor here in time and hereafter in eternity! — ~

We wish to take this occasion of erecting another
monument of gratitude in these columns to a sainted
sister who kindly remembered the cause of Negro
Missions in her testament. From Logansport, Ind.,
Pastor E. H. Reuter writes: “Just sent a draft to
our District treasurer, Mr. Paul EB. Wolf, for $500,
left for mission-work by a good Christian lady, Mrs.
Caroline Strauch, who recently died. The deceased
was a member of our St. James’s Congregation.
She was a regular attendant at public worship and
a constant reader of our church-papers, also of the
Missionstaube and the ProNrER. She had a heart
for the good work our Synod is doing among the
Negroes and was distressed when the work was re-
tarded on account of lack of funds. The sum of
$500 was distributed as follows: For building
chapels among the Negroes, $300; for the General
Church Extension Fund, $100; for the Pension
Fund, $100. May God bless the gift and those
who will receive it, as He has already blessed the
giver !”

“Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord
from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they

‘may rest from their labors; and their works do
follow them.” F. J. L.

‘of the ‘peak’ weeks.

The Lutheran Pioneer.

53,000 Negroes in Detroit.

Three years ago Detroit had a Colored popula-
tion of 40,000; to-day the Negro population of this
city is 53,000. Because of this large influx of
Colored people our pastors and members have for
some time considered the need of a Colored mission,
partly to take care of the Colored Lutherans who
have moved there from the South and partly to
gather in some of the thousands of unchurched
Negroes that have made Detroit their home. Four
years ago, upon the occasion of the convention of
the Synodical Conference, it was decided to open
a mission in the growing “Automobile City,” but
circumstances prevented the plan from being carried
out. However, the good people of Detroit have not
given up the idea and are still convinced that some-
thing ought to be done, as may be seen from the
following paragraphs which appeared “in a recent
number of the Detroit Walther Leaguer: —

53,000 Negroes in Detroit and no Negro Lu-
theran church! Why not? Have we been too busy
establishing white missions, so that the Colored
people were forgotten? How can we forget them?
They are at our very. doors and are taking over
entire sections of the city.

“Ten years ago the Negro population of Detroit
was only 5,740; to-day it is 53,000, or about five
per cent. of the entire population. In these ten
years the population of the city doubled while the
Colored population increased more than nine
times. It is estimated that about 5,500 Negroes
have come to the city in the first six months of this
year, as high as 600 and 700 coming in during some
Some of the families consist
of seven and eight children besides the parents.
Between 1910 and 1920 Detroit had the largest per
cent. of increase in Negro population of any city
in the country with the exception of Gary, Ind.,
whose total population, white and Colored, is 55,378,
where, on account of the gigantic steel industry, the
Negroes increased 1,000 per cent.

“There are three large Negro sections in Detroit.
The largest may be called the down-town central
section, beginning at Jefferson Ave., east of Wood-

"ward Ave., and extending to the Boulevard on the

north. The second is the Hamtramck section,
though the larger part is in Detroit. The third
section is between W. Warren and Tireman avenues.
Besides these three large sections there are a num-~
ber of small ones and no Lutheran church.