The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.6, page 83, Mar. 1901, U. of Illinois Press

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MARCH · ~ 90 ~ much to the negro of the South. The building is of brick, three stories high, and the mill has ~o,ooo spindles and employs 400 operatives, mainly boys and girls between lo ant! 18 years old. The first floor contains the reeling department over which Mr. I. H. Scarbough, a young German, is foreman; the second is devoted to winding and doubling, and Gertrude Hoods (colored), daughter of Bishop Hood, is in charge; and the third, weaving, with Mr. Harry Fieldhouse, an Englishman, as foreman. The mill has the appearance of a well-regulated school. The operatives are thoroughly organized and work with perfect system. I found order and neatness on every hand. The children did not seem frightened but satisfied and ambitious. None but the best class of boys and girls are employed at the silk mills. The employment of colored labor has not caused racial trouble. It takes the young negro from the streets and makes a good citizen of him and turns loose about $4,ooo a month to spend for food and clothing.'' Despite these evidences of progress, it has been said, sometimes, that negroes cannot come together and successfully unite in holding such meetings as that of the National Negro Business League, and that this is a proof of their business incapacity. I think such a meeting as that of last August disproves that theory. What gave me the most encouragement was the manly and straightforward tone used in all the papers and discussions. There were no complaints. At the next session I believe that there will be still larger numbers and stronger support. I believe that as a race we shall succeed and grow, and be a people, with our due representation in business life, right here in America. We must not be discouraged, and we must watch our opportunities and take advantage of them. There is no force on earth that can keep back a brave people that is determined to get education and property and Christian character. They never can be defeated in their progress. Gunton~s Magazine, to (Mar. agony, ~og-~g. A copy is in Con. 977, BTW Papers DLC. Actually, he was the slave of Joseph E. Davis, Jefferson Davis's brother. ~ Albreta Moore Smith, born in Chicago in 1875, graduated from Armour Institute of Technology in 1894. In 1896 she worked as a stenographer for the Afro-American National Republican Bureau. Active in women's club work, she founded the Colored Women's Business Club in Chicago and served as its president. BTW invited her to attend the first meeting of the NNBL, where she was elected one of the vice-presidents. O , - ~ _ ,' - _ _ 83