The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1925, Page 90

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90

THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

Yes, but the power of God is still more marvelous.
This sum was collected for the Home for the
Feeble-minded at Watertown. It is the thank-

Church and School at Hamburg, Ala.

offering of the Negro Lutherans of Alabama for
the blessings of the Gospel which they have enjoyed.
This and previous sums prove that the Negro is as
willing to give as he is to receive.

During the first three months of the year our
Alabama: Christians have collected the sum of
$1,683.83. It is true, we are poor in this world’s
goods, but the Gospel of Jesus Christ opens our
meager purses as well as our hearts. To God, and
God alone, be all glory!

After months of toil and praying we have been
permitted to organize a Lutheran congregation at
Camden, Ala. May God in His mercy keep and
bless this: little flock ! R. 0. L. L.

The Negro and His Needs —a Study.

IV. THE PRESENT ECONOMIC AND INDUSTRIAL
CONDITION OF THE NEGRO.

We can imagine it to be possible that one or the
other of our readers might question the wisdom of
making such a detailed study of the Negro. Why
discuss, for example, the Negro’s intellectual capac-
ity, as was done in the last paper of this study?
Or why even take up time and space to consider the
present economic and industrial condition of the
Negro people? What bearing, if any, has this all
on our mission-work among the Negroes? Any one
who has studied Christian missions cannot but agree
with-the writer that we must know the people and
existing conditions among them: to enable us suc-
cessfully to work among them. To be sure, that

knowledge is not the means by which we bring men
to Christ, but it is certainly one of the most helpful
aids if we desire intelligently to apply the Gospel
to the conditions as they exist and to the people as
we find them. Of this there surely can be no doubt,
and for this reason we are writing these studies on
the Negro. We also feel that a review of the present
economic and industrial condition of the Negro will
serve this purpose.

The Negro’s Economic Condition in Africa.

There is no possibility of arriving at a true
estimate of the present economic and industrial con-
dition of the Negro unless we take into consideration
what his conditions were in the past, in Africa, dur-
ing the slavery days in this country, and during the
first years after his emancipation.

In his Geography and Atlas of Protestant Mis-
sions, Harlan P. Beach refers to the Negro’s eco-
nomic condition in Africa as follows: “The African
has been stigmatized as lazy and wholly irre-
sponsible. THis laziness is the legitimate result of
having nothing worth while to do. His simple
wants are easily supplied, and work under indige-
nous conditions can secure him nothing more than
is now in his possession. ‘This is not the case where
sufficient incentive for labor exists, as witness the
natives along the coast, on the great transport
routes or railways in construction, and in the far
interior, where a work like the Stevenson Road sud-
denly develops surprising trustworthiness and will-
ingness to labor.”

The Negro’s Economic Condition in Slavery.

Thus we see that even in his native land the

African evidences both fitness and inclination to
work. However, it is but natural that under like

Poor, but Rich in the Lord.