Newspaper Page Text
Page 6
THE MAROON TIGER
THE IMPEDIMENTS OF NEGRO BUSINESS
uring the last decade, there seems to have been
very much interest shown, and some progress
made in the business profession by Negroes.
Yet Negro business, as a whole, has not obtained
the standard which it is easily possible for it to obtain.
Since there are said to be only four basic factors
upon which all sound business rests, the impediments of
Negro business must necessarily be a deficiency in these
basic factors. These basic factors are the four busi
ness “C’s”; namely, Character, Capacity, Cooperation,
and Capital. In the light of these four basic factors let
us analyse Negro business.
By “business character” we mean the act of doing
what one promises, when he promises, and where he
promises. The character of a man is very well reflected
in his business dealings. For any business to succeed,
it must he sound. For any business to be sound, it must
rely upon sound character for its main foundation. It
is i. ually true that whenever a business fails, some-
whe 3, long before, an individual has failed, whose act
in tu n caused the collapse of the business. In our search
for t s impediments of Negro business, let us not over
look cur business character too hastily, for great nega
tive forces may rest there.
Capacity is the second basic factor of any business.
One of the great dangers of the great majority of Ne
gro young men preparing themselves for the business
profession is that many of them may find themselves
lacking in the basic factor of business capacity. By a
careful analysis of Negro business here and there, it
is clearly seen that the lack of this trait is a great
stumbling block. An individual deficient in this one
factor is destined to fail. Before one chooses the busi
ness profession he should be sure that he has the ca
pacity.
Cooperation is one of the basic factors of business
which is often omitted in the list of business C’s, yet it
is a very important one. From a sociological, ethical
or philosophical point of view, we must agree that man
obtains his highest efficiency in proportion as he co
operates with those about him. If this is true as in the
case of an individual, it holds equally true for a group
or a profession. To cooperate in business does not only
mean that the members of the group must patronize
those businesses operated by members of their group,
hut it means also that those of the group who are in
business must see to it that their customers in turn re
ceive due values and service for their money. There must
he equal cooperation shown on both sides. This factor
of business cooperation must be considered in our search
for the impediments of Negro business.
We finally consider the last basic factor of business
which is capital. An individual may have business
character, capacity, and cooperation, hut without capital
there can he no successful business. Capital is some
times looked upon as least important of all the other
factors upon the assumption that if one has the other
qualities he can easily obtain capital. Whether this
argument has very much weight or not, the fact remains
that a successful business must have capital. For the
average Negro business, the amount of capital is de
ficient. We hope that in the future, this deficiency will
be eliminated by the cooperation of members of our
group in pooling their savings for the purpose of ob
taining more capital for our business. We must not over
look the lack of capital in our search for the impedi
ments of Negro business.
For anyone to succeed in business, he must have the
four basic factors discussed above. Not one of these
factors alone is sufficient, but all of them taken collec
tively. So in the light of our argument we can trace
all the impediments of Negro business to a deficiency in
the basic factors discussed above. Let us strive to bring
ourselves and our businesses up to par in this respect
and then we can be reasonably assured that the impedi
ments of Negro business will be eliminated.
H. D. Robinson, ’31.
RELIGION IN THE NEGRO COLLEGE
RACTICALLY ALL people connected with modern
Negro colleges are quite aware of the indifferent
attitude assumed by the average college student
in relation to religion. If for nothing else than
the past constructive achievements of the church in the
individualization, socialization and rationalization of man
the Negro student should voluntarily be more receptive
toward religion than he now is. If it is true that the
decline of religion is a sure sign of the impending col
lapse of a social order, he should be of a doubly more
receptive nature.
It is obvious that a student, having been taught the
Bible literally from childhood, should question things
differently in college; that is his prerogative, but he
should think logically and radically before discarding
the old for the new. This, however, is not ordinarily
done. The average college student tries to throw the
whole religious process to the winds without any basic
defendable reason for doing so. Carpenter’s advice to
modern society in one of his greatest books is excellent
counsel for the Negro collegian—“Men need to check
themselves and ask whether they have sunk back to lower
and pagan conceptions of spiritual things and whether
they are seeking the living among the dead ; whether in
the excess of furious partisan zeal they have lost faith
in the living and personal God for whom the soul of
man cries out, who is behind the Bible, behind the serv
ices of the church, behind the sacraments, behind all
the operations of the universe and who is the energiz
ing power behind every movement for good.”
Let us cite a few of the things that the institution of
religion has done for the Negro race. Our first leaders
were ministers and due to their efforts the majority of
the schools devoted to the education of Negro youth
sprang into being. Rev. A. Clayton Powell, of New
York City, states that 90 percent of all colored busi
ness and professional men obtained their inspiration from
the pulpit. Furthermore, “all Negro publishing houses
in the United States were not only started by Negro
preachers hut are still run by them.” The Negro church
has consistently supported all movements for the fur
therance of Christian principles in American life and
deserves more credit than it has received.
It is acknowledged, hut not apologized for, that the