Colored girls and boys' inspiring United States history / and a heart to heart talk about white folks

IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The first Colored person to graduate from a Northern white college was John Brown Russworm, who graduated from Bowdoin in 1826. Aside from holding for years the world recognition and honor of being both the greatest scholastic and athletic university in America, Harvard University is also known throughout the Eastern and Western Hemispheres as practicing the truest and highest standards of broad-minded, one-hundred percent Americanism toward its Colored students of any similar white institution in America. As a result of such brotherhood feelings existing there between the two races, more Negroes on an average enter and graduate from the different departments of Harvard than from any other great Northern white college. Its front doors (as well as back doors) are always standing ajar with latch strings hanging on the outside for the unembarrassed entrance of any worthy applicant whether he be rich or poor, white or black. And when a Colored student at Harvard joins his white school chums in singing their college song—“Fair Harvard,” he sings it with the same fullness and pathos in heart, the same peacefulness and contentment in mind and the same truthfulness and sincerity in words that he hopes when he enters the world to be able to sing in every country, over which floats the “Red White and Blue”—“My Country ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty”—letting his voice come to its fullest accent and climaxing crescendo on the word—LIBERTY.

Other leading white universities or colleges having encouraged and welcomed Colored students to study in and graduate from their class room, as well as to play and star on their varsity teams are as follows:

Amherst, Mass., Bates, Maine, Brown, R. I., California, Cal., Carnegie, Pa., Chicago, Ill., Cincinnati, O.; Clark, Mass., Colby, Me., Columbia, N. Y., Cornell, N. Y., Dartmouth, N. H., Dubuque, Ia., Illinois, Ill., Indiana, Ind., Kansas, Kan., Lafayette, Pa., (and the racial broad-mindedness, human brotherhood and one-hundred percent Americanism sentiment relative to the Negro at Lehigh University, Pa., as a student, is becoming so pronounced there as to indicate that Lehigh may eventually join these other white schools with her sister Lafayette in having Colored American citizens to study and recite in her class rooms) Massachusetts, Mass., Michigan, Mich,. New York, N. Y., Northwestern, Ill., Ohio State, O., Pennsylvania, Pa., Pittsburgh, Pa., Radcliffe, Mass., Rutgers, N. J., Smith, Mass., Syracuse, N. Y., Temple, Pa., Tufts, Mass., Washington & Jefferson; Wellesley, Williams, Mass., Wisconsin, Wis., Yale, Conn.

Some of the Negro universities and colleges that are preparing young men and women of the Race to enter the different fields of professionalism for the betterment and uplift of themselves and their people are named below as follows:

Allen Univ., Columbia, S. C.; Arkansas Bapt. Col., Little Rock, Ark.; Altanta Bapt. Col., Atlanta Univ., Atlanta, Ga.; Barber Memorial Seminary, (women) Anniston, Ala.; Benedict Col., Columbia S. C.; Biddle Univ., Charlotte, N. C.; Claflin, Col., Orangeburg, S. C.; Clarke Univ., Atlanta, Ga.; Edward Waters Col., Jacksonville, Fla.; Fisk Univ., Nashville, Tenn.; Hartshorn Col., (women) Richmond, Va.; Howard Univ., Washington, D.C.; Jackson Col., Jackson, Miss.; Knoxville Col.; Knoxville, Tenn.; Lane Col.; Jackson, Tenn.; Lincoln Univ., Lincoln, Pa.; Livingston Col., Salisbury, N. C.; Mary Allen Seminary, (women) Crockett, Texas; Mary Holmes Seminary, (women) West Point, Miss.; Meherry Univ., Nashville, Tenn.; Miles Memorial Col., Birmingham, Ala.; Morehouse Col., Atlanta, Ga.; Morgan Col., Baltimore, Md.; Morris Brown Univ., Atlanta, Ga.; National Training School, Durham, N. C.; National Training School, (women) Washington, D.C.; Paine Univ., Augusta, Ga.; Paul Quinn Col., Waco, Tex.; Payne Univ., Selma, Ala.; Philander Smith Col., Little Rock, Ark.; Roger Williams Univ., Nashville, Tenn.; Rust Univ., Holley Springs, Miss.; Selma Univ., Selma, Ala.; Scotia Seminary, (women) Concord, N. C.; Shaw Univ., Raleigh, N. C.; Geo. R. Smith Col., Sedalia, Mo., Spellman Seminary, (women) Atlanta, Ga.; Shorter Col., Little Rock, Ark.; State Normal Col., Normal, Ala.; Straight Col., New Orleans, La.; Southern Univ., Baton Rouge, La.; Talladega Col., Talledega, Ala.; Touguloo Univ., Touguloo, Miss.; Virginia Union Univ., Richmond, Va.; Western Univ., Quindaro, Kan.; Wilberforce Univ., Wilberforce, O.; West Va. Collegiate Inst., Institute, West Va.; Wiley Col., Marshall, Tex. (extracts from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, pgs. 303-4-5).

Some of the foremost Colored leaders in higher education as well as among the most noted scholars of today are: H. S. Blackiston, Institute, W. Va., St. Elmo Brady, Washington, D.C., John W. Davis, Institute, W. Va., John A. Gregg, Wilberforce, O., G. E. Haynes, Washington D.C., John Hope, Atlanta, Ga., Elmer S. Imes, New York City, E. E. Just, Washington, D.C. Clement Richardson, Jefferson City, Mo., L. J. Rowan, Alcorn, Miss., W. S. Scarborough, Wilberforce, O., J. B. Simpson, Richmond, Va., C. H. Turner, St. Louis, Mo., N. B. Young, Tallahassee, Fla., R. C. Woods, Lynchburg, Va., C. G. Woodson, Washington, D.C., R. R. Wright, Jr., Phila., Pa.

Whenever a Colored person makes a phenomenal advancement in any special and worthy field of progress, some jealous enemy of the race silently creeps out at once, loads his donkey cart full of smoked glasses, leather glasses, sun glasses, eye glasses, spy glasses, magnifying glasses, old ladies’ spectacles, microscopes, telescopes, X-Rays, etc., etc., etc., and scoots around examining even the very breath the unsuspecting Colored person leaves upon the air. If the surmised results of that examination and the color of the victim’s skin in any way suggests that he has one drop of Caucasian blood in him; then the credit for all the success he has attained is given to the white race—just as a little patch of white hair on the forehead of an otherwise jet black horse is the cause of that black horse winning a race.

Allowing such enemies of Negroes to retain their foolish beliefs rather than waste valuable time trying to convince them they’re wrong, the writer, for the benefit of well-meaning but easily influenced white people who might be led astray by the above foolish beliefs, picks out just one from among scores of full-blooded Negroes of highest attainments in different fields. This selected and highly gifted Negro scholar is Dr. W. S. Scarborough, A. M., LL. D., Ph. D. about whom there has never been the slightest question regarding his not being a genuine Negro. He was for many years president of Wilberforce University and is a member of at least seven national and international educational societies the majority to which no other Negro belongs. At this writing Dr. Scarborough has just sailed for Europe where he will represent America in several international meetings of educational societies. He is the author of a Greek Grammar and several other original works in Greek.

Talented high school Colored youths who wish to go to college, but hesitate to go as high as possible in education for fear of their learned colored complexions displeasing other races, should remember that:

The highest thing in the world (the sky) is Colored, and who is not at all times over-joyed in spirits and much benefited in hopefulness when seeing blue patches of the elevated sky after it has been hidden for several days behind clouds that may even be of snowy whiteness?

IN THE SCIENCES

Mat Henson

In order to further inspire Negro youths who plan to make this particular professional line their work, the writer will cite an incident that fully proves Dr. Just’s recognition and valuation in the world of science. During the summer of 1920, the highest scientific organ in the United States, The National Academy of Sciences, provided a grant to Dr. Just, through Howard University, to cover research work in the field of physiology. As this is the first grant of its kind not only to a Negro but to a member of any race, it further proves that hard study and sweaty work, bull dog grit and grip to never loose your hold, mule stubborness to brace your hind feet in holding your grounds and at the same time flopping your ears to all discouraging sounds, taking tortoise steps slow but always forward, while keeping an eagle eye on some chosen lofty peak, will finally result in any Colored person, although prejudiced handicapped, reaching the highest point in any noble calling.

Aside from the University of Chicago honoring him with the degree of Ph. D. in 1907, the world’s greatest scientists in America and Europe have weighed and found the full value of Dr. Chas. H. Turner as a Biologist of the first order in the special fields of neurology and comparative psychology.

Here and abroad scientific students and teachers alike constantly turn for information and references to his writings on the habits and manner of the Burrowing and Honey Bees, the Common Roach, the Mason Wasp, the Ant and several other species of larger sized and more advanced insect vertebrates. Some other of his research articles that have appeared in some of the best magazines of science are Morphology of the Nervous System of the Genus Cypris; Ecological Notes on the Cladocrea and Copspoda of Augusta; the Mushroom Bodies of the Crawfish, Morphology of the Avian Brain and other subjects along these lines. (Extracts from Southern Workman, July 1920 issue, pgs. 324-26).

Negro boys who read these pages will notice that just as it is the colored bees that are willing to drudge day after day in gathering and laying aside bits by bits of the sweetest thing on earth (honey) for future use; so has Dr. Turner (like all present and future youths must do if they wish to gain success in any calling) been willing to patiently and tirelessly plod ahead gathering and adding little by little of the greatest thing on earth (knowledge) to his store of wisdom. Today his research stack has piled up into such a vast heap that he is now able to scatter it into scientific pastures in such aways as to be of the most fertilizing values therein for the enriching of future young minds and for the growing of reputation and fame for himself.

The most original and beneficial researches and discoveries in the American Negro field of chemistry have been made by Prof. G. E. Carver, Director of Agricultural Research in Chemistry at Tuskegee Institute, Tuskegee, Ala. Chief among his twenty and more discovered chemical products that are today being used as practical farm and household necessites are as follows: dressing for canvass shoes, made from Macon County clays; dyes made from dandelion, black oak, wood ashes, sweet gum, willow, swamp-maple, sweet potatoes, pomegranate, peanuts, sage, orange, muscatine grape, onions, velvet beans and tomato vines; cotton-stalk fibre for rope, cordage, mats and carpets; furniture stains made from native clays and vegetables; feathers for millinery purposes, secured from native wild and barn-yard fowls; laundry blues, 20 varieties; okra fibre for paper, rope, cordage, strawboard, matting and carpet; poplar bark for artificial ribbon; Tonic stock feed, made of snap corn, velvet beans, cotton-seed meal, and china berries, containing protein, 14.5 per cent., fats, 4.5;, crude fibre 12, and carbohydrates 52; Ultramarine Dyes, made from Macon County clays and used for cotton, wool, silk, and leather; White and Color Washes, made from clays; Wistaria for basketry work. One of his chemical products that attracted the widest attention was Prof. Carver’s Sweet Potatoes Flour that was successfully used during the World War by the Tuskegee Institute (which has a population around two thousand students and instructors) as a substitute for wheat flour. (Ref. Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, p. 42).

Quite a number of Colored men and women have graduated in chemistry and physics with high honors from some of the leading universities in America, and are today holding responsible and high salaried positions either as professors in colleges or as consulting chemists in private commercial corporations. Among such professors in colleges are St. Elmo Brady and E. Chandler who have attracted unusual attention to their chemical experiments and for their accurate conclusions have received their Ph. D. degrees from the University of Illinois. Dr. Brady is author of a book on chemistry.

For the past twenty-five years a Colored man by the name of O. W. Collins has been employed by the R. W. Hunt Bureau of Inspection, said to be the largest engineering corporation in America. Mr. Collins is an analytical and consulting chemist for that corporation.

Harry Keelan, a Harvard graduate, during the World War resigned a $300 a month position as consulting chemist in a New York white firm, in order to join some other Colored men in organizing a company for the manufacture of dyes. In this industry he was ably assisted by E. L. Davidson, another Harvard graduate, and the quality of their dyes was of such high grade and standard that their firm was unable to fill the rush orders for their products.

Miss Deborah Henderson graduated from the Central High School, Detroit, Mich., attending the Oberlin College where her scholastic achievements won her the much coveted “key”. Then entering the University of Chicago she attended there until her graduation as a ranking bacteriologist and chemical technician, as well as serving during her senior year as president of the Alpha Kappa Sorority. Miss Henderson is only one among numerous Colored women who have successfully invaded the highest chemical fields. After reaching that stage of advancement, they have experimentally as well as theoretically peeped and peered into many scientific secret lanes and avenues until they learned much of the hidden and inexhaustive mysteries therein. And with the proper encouragements, facilities and surroundings, it is not impossible for some American Colored women scientist some day becoming a second Madame Curie by finally discovering and giving to the world another hidden force of the elements, like Radium, that will greatly benefit humanity and add much to the store of man’s scientific knowledge.

The following quotation is part of an article that appeared in the April 9, 1921 issue of the Chicago Defender:

“In the various fields of learning the race has wrought and has its representatives; but not until now have we had a graduate doctor of metaphysics. The pioneer in this instance is Dr. Adene C. E. Minott, founder and head of the Clio School of Mental Sciences, Inc., 3543 State street, this city.

“While yet a girl in her teens, Miss Minott showed exceptional ability. She graduated first in her class from Grammar School No. 80, New York City, and won the prize for general excellence from her teacher, Miss Mary E. Eaton. Miss Minott then entered the Girl’s Technical High School of that city and, after receiving necessary academic counts, entered the Mac Donnall College of Phrenology and Psychology, Washington, D.C. Because she was a Race woman, she was not permitted to study with the regular classes, but forced to take the course by private instruction. Despite this disadvantage, Miss Minott completed the studies in one-half the regular time, graduated with honors and received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy.

“Returning to New York City, she next forced admittance into the world-famed American Institute of Anthropology, perfecting herself as a teacher in five branches of anthropology, as follows: Phrenology, physiognomy, practical psychology, physiology and anatomy of the brain. When she graduated from this institution, as a mark of distinction for an excellent record, she was presented with a membership medal and received the degree of Fellow of the American Institute of Anthropology, this making her the only Race woman in the United States to graduate from this institution or holding such a degree.

“Two years ago Prof. Minott began an intensive course in metaphysics and business psychology at the College of Metaphysics, St. Louis, Mo. She completed the courses and took the midwinter examinations recently, passing with honors and receiving the title and degree of Doctor of Metaphysics, being the first again of the Race to receive that degree in this country.

“The first years of Dr. Minott’s practice were confined to an exclusive clientele among the whites of New York City. Five years ago, however, she was prevailed upon to establish a branch of the Clio School of Mental Sciences in Chicago, and to centralize her efforts somewhat upon the developing and improving of her own people. This she did, and her efforts have met with enviable success and gratifying appreciation.”

Miss Minott’s unusually successful career proves that a Colored girl has the same brain power to reach the mental heights a white girl is able to attain, even when that Colored girl is given only half the encouragement, half the privileges and half access to the proper environments. It is true that all Colored girls cannot soar as high in education as Miss Minott, but all Colored girls can improve themselves from day to day if they will only decide to study. A cook can elevate herself to a hairdresser; a chambermaid can elevate herself to a dressmaker; a waitress can elevate herself to a stenographer and typewriter; a factory girl can elevate herself to a bookkeeper and a child’s nurse can elevate herself to a school teacher. But such girls cannot reach such successes if they go to ball rooms and cabarets to elevate their skirts instead of going to night schools to elevate their minds. It all depends upon each girl herself whether she will do drudgery work all her life or whether she will do it a few years as a stepping stone while she is preparing herself for something higher.

Colored cooks, waitresses, etc., who think it is no use to develop their minds, or study for more education just because they are Colored and will not get a chance to use such education, should remember that:

They would never have grape fruits, oranges or bananas to prepare and serve if those fruits refused to grow and develop because of their yellow skins; they would never have coffee to serve if it had refused to grow because it is brown; they would never have steak to broil and serve if yellow alderney or black holstein cattle had refused to develop from calves to cows because of their colors. Thus, if fruits, vegetables and dumb animals keep right on growing and developing into their fullest bloom of power and usefulness regardless of their colors; why should not Colored girls, who have brains to think, hands to work and God to guide them in right, do the same?

IN MEDICINE.

The Medicine Man

Dr. Daniel H. Williams of Chicago, Ill., not only is spoken of as being in the front rank of the foremost physicians and surgeons of the Negro race but he is also classed with the first medical men of any race or nation. He is the founder of the celebrated Provident Hospital and Training School of Chicago and was Surgeon-in-Chief of the famous Freedman’s Hospital, Washington, D.C., under President Cleveland’s administration. His medical ability became so widely known that he has been called to nearly every important part of the United States for consultation. His skill in being the first surgeon to make a successful operation on the human heart has won him world-wide reputation. As a result of his deep medical studies and most delicate surgical operations he has been honored with the first Negro membership in the American College of Surgeons.

Dr. Algernon B. Jackson, Phila., Pa., has the distinction of receiving a Fellowship in the American College of Physicians, as a result of his great all-around medical skill and especially his first discovery of a cure for articular rheumatism. He is Head of the Mercy Hospital, which is one of the most practically and beautifully located Colored institutions of its kind not only in Philadelphia but in the United States. The results of Dr. Jackson’s medical experiments and discoveries have been published in leading medical journals and have won a name for him here and abroad.

Aside from teaching as a professor in one of the leading white medical schools in Boston, Mass., Dr. S. C. Fuller, a Neuropathologist of nationwide fame, is also serving as a member on the medical staff of the Massachusetts Hospital (white) for the insane. In this capacity he has from time to time made some very valuable discoveries and suggestions that have been accepted and put into practical and beneficial uses for the treatment and care of the insane.

The honor of being the first Colored physician to be accepted as an interne in the Bellevue Hospital, a New York City white institution of world-wide renown, rests upon the capable shoulders of Dr. U. G. Vincent. A few years ago he graduated with such high honors from the University of Pa., that he was not compelled (as is usually the case) to take the interne entrance examination when admitted to the Bellevue Hospital.

Dr. Louis T. Wright, of Atlanta, Ga., now of New York, graduated from Harvard University among the brainiest men of his class. As a young physician both in age and practice, he is making wonderful strides along medical paths and has already discovered a new method of vaccination that has been tested and used by the United States Government.

On account of some extra special and greatly beneficial medical efforts having been spent in their unusually successful careers, the following names have been handed to the writer as belonging to a few of the Colored physicians who are recognized as standing among the very highest in their profession. E. A. Balloch, Washington, D.C., H. R. Butler, Atlanta, Ga., J. E. Cannady, Charleston, W. Va., A. M. Curtis, Washington, D.C., U. G. Dailey, Chicago, Ill., J. J. France, Portsmouth, Va., S. A. Furniss, Indianapolis, Ind., J. H. Hale, Nashville, Tenn., Geo. C. Hall., Chicago, Ill., J. A. Kenney, Tuskegee, Ala., N. F. Mossell, Phila., Pa., H. M. Murray, Wilmington, Del., W. L. Perry, St. Louis, Mo., C. V. Roman, Nashville, Tenn., E. P. Roberts, New York City, N. Y., H. A. Royster, Raleigh N. C., York Russell, New York City, N. Y., W. A. Warfield, Washington, D.C., and A. Wilberforce Williams, Chicago, Ill.

As the result of often handicapped and hurried researches in the hundred or more following named cities, the writer was only able to secure the few names listed below from among the thousands of doctors unlocated but who are just as skilled in the healing powers and just as learned in the medical science whereever they may be practicing:

Hospitals and Nurses

Although American Negroes own and conduct over one hundred modernly equipped hospitals, even that number of buildings does not afford space enough to properly house the three thousand Colored graduate nurses now practicing in the United States, should all those angels of mercy at the same time apply for accommodations in the above institutions.

The writer regrets that as hard and patiently as he researched he was unable to secure a list of names of the Colored women doctors who are to-day practicing medicine in the United States. It, therefore, affords him great pleasure, at the very last moment on the eve of this publication coming from the press, to be able to rush in his book from the September 24, 1921, issue of the Chicago Defender, the following article regarding the distinguished abilities and works of one of the numerous Negro women physicians to-day following their profession in America:

IN DENTISTRY

The Toothache Man.

Among the five hundred or more Colored dentists in America, who are today practicing in offices furnished with their own surgical instruments as well as gas, electrical and other modern appliances, Drs. Chas. E. Bentley, Chicago, Ill., and Chas. H. Roberts, New York City, according to competent judges are considered two of the most prominent and best all-round authorities in their profession. And in nearly every other large city there are similar expert and successful dentists, a list of whom the writer was unable to get. (extracts from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, pgs. 422-23-24).

IN INVENTIONS

New Ideas—new Things.

“William B. Purvis, of Philadelphia, has inventions covering a variety of subjects, but directed mainly along a single line of experiment and improvement. He began in 1912, the invention of machines for making paper bags, and his improvements in this line of machinery are covered by a dozen patents. Some half dozen other patents granted Mr. Purvis, include three patents on electric railways, one on a fountain pen, another on a magnetic car-balancing device, and still another for a cutter for roll holders.”

“Joseph Hunter Dickinson, of New Jersey, specializes in the line of musical instruments, particularly playing the piano. He began more than fifteen years ago to invent devices for automatically playing the piano. He is at present in the employ of a large piano factory. His various inventions in piano-player mechanism are adopted in the construction of some of the finest piano-players on the market. He has more than a dozen patents to his credit already, and is still devoting his energies to that line of inventions.”

“Frank J. Ferrell, of New York, has obtained about a dozen patents for his inventions, the larger number of them being for improvement in valves for steam engines.”

“Benjamin F. Jackson, of Massachusetts, is the inventor of a dozen different improvements in heating and lighting devices, including a controller for a trolley wheel.”

“Charles V. Richey, of Washington, D.C., has obtained about a dozen patents on his inventions, the last of which was a most ingenius device for registering the calls on a telephone and detecting the unauthorized use of that instrument.”

“The late Granville T. Woods, of New York, and his brother, Lyates took out some fifty or more patents. Wood’s inventions principally relate to electrical subjects, such as telegraph and telephone instruments, electrical railways and general systems of electrical control. Several are on devices for transmitting telegraphic messages between moving trains. According to Patent Office Records, several of Woods’ patents have for valuable considerations been assigned to the foremost electrical corporations, such as the General Electric Company, of New York, and the American Bell Telephone Company, of New York. Mr. Woods’ inventive faculty also worked along other lines. He devised an incubator, a complicated amusement device, a steam boiler furnace and a mechanical brake.”

“John Ernest Matzeliger, born Dutch Guiana, 1852, died, Lynn, Massachusetts, 1889. He is the inventor of the first machine that performed automatically all the operations involved in attaching soles to shoes. This wonderful achievement marked the beginning of a distinct revolution in the art of making shoes by machinery. Matzeliger realized this, and attempted to capitalize it by organizing a stock company to market his invention; but his plans were frustrated through failing health and lack of business experience and shortly thereafter he died. The patent and much of the stock of the company organized by Matzeliger was bought up. The purchase laid the foundation for the organization of the United Shoe Machinery Company the largest and richest corporation of the kind in the world.”

“During 1917-1918, Negroes made a large number of inventions. Many of these related to the war. Charles Stevenson of Amarillo, Texas, invented a glass war bomb. It was reported that L. A. Hayden, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina, invented an airship stableizer which was adopted by the British Government and that he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the British aviation corps. Julius Hart of Columbus, Georgia, invented three war bombs which were reported to be of great military value and that for one the War Department gave him $15,000. Wm. D. Polite, of Charlotte, North Carolina, has patented an anti-aircraft gun.”

“Jacob W. F. Berry of Decatur, Alabama, invented an electrically driven submarine. H. A. Cooper of Sabetha, Kansas, invented a submarine detector. Henry Grady of Westbourne, Tennessee, has had patented a Torpedo-Catcher and a Mine Destroyer.”

“The ‘national safety helmet’ or hood, invented by Garrett A. Morgan of Cleveland, is reported to have been used by the United States and the Allies to combat poisonous gases and as a safety device on Submarines. The ‘Safety Hood and Smoke Protector’ was originally invented for firemen.

“In addition to seven American patents on this device, Mr. Morgan holds patents for Canada, England, Germany and other countries. This invention received a gold medal prize from the American Museum of safety and the first grand prize at the second Inter-National Convention of Safety and Sanitation which was held at New York City. In 1914, the Inter-National Fire chief’s Association in session in New Orleans, voted Mr. Morgan a gold honorary membership badge. ‘The safety hood’ is manufactured by the Safety Device Company of which Mr. Morgan is the general manager. As a protection for firemen, it is in use in a large number of cities.”

“H. C. Webb of Bradentown, Florida, is the inventor of the Webb Palmetto Grubbing Machine, which removes the stumps from 5 to 10 acres of land per day.”

C. J. Perry, of Cincinnati, O., has invented a hydro-carbon device that saves 10 to 20 percent of coal fuel and also consumes 85 percent of the smoke. This invention is now in use on the Milwaukee Railroad and in the Metropole Hotel in Chicago, Ill. C. H. Jackson has invented a diving outfit with which the world record for deep-sea diving has been broken. Miss Alice H. Parker, of Washington, D.C., has received a patent on a heating furnace. Wm. Solder, Boston, Mass., has been given a patent on a cooking stove and water heater combined.

“The largest number of patents received on inventions, by a Negro, was by Elijah McCoy, of Detroit, Michigan. McCoy obtained his first patent in July, 1872, and his last one in 1917. During this period of forty years he invented one thing after another and has some fifty-eight patents to his credit. His inventions cover a wide range of subjects, but relate particularly to the lubricating of machinery. He was a pioneer in the art of steadily supplying oil to machinery in intermittent drops from a cup so as to avoid the necessity for stopping the machine to oil it. McCoy’s lubricating cup was famous thirty years ago as a necessary equipment for all-up-to-date machinery.” (quotations from Work’s Negro Year Book, 1918-1919 edition, pgs. 5-6-7-8-341-2-3-4)

IN POETRY

The Poets