History of the Negro Race in America Volume II Part 86

GENTLEMEN.--It has pleased G.o.d to grant me prosperity in my business, and to put it into my power to apply to charitable uses a sum of money so considerable as to require the counsel of wise men for the administration of it.

It is my desire at this time to appropriate to such uses the sum of one million of dollars ($1,000,000 00); and I hereby invite you to procure a charter of incorporation under which a charitable fund may be held exempt from taxation, and under which you shall organize; and I intend that the corporation, as soon as formed, shall receive this sum in trust to apply the income of it according to the instructions contained in this letter.

The general object which I desire to have exclusively pursued, is the uplifting of the lately emanc.i.p.ated population of the Southern States, and their posterity, by conferring on them the blessings of Christian education. The disabilities formerly suffered by these people, and their singular patience and fidelity in the great crisis of the nation, establish a just claim on the sympathy and good will of humane and patriotic men. I cannot but feel the compa.s.sion that is due in view of their prevailing ignorance which exists by no fault of their own.

But it is not only for their own sake, but also for the safety of our common country, in which they have been invested with equal political rights, that I am desirous to aid in providing them with the means of such education as shall tend to make them good men and good citizens--education in which the instruction of the mind in the common branches of secular learning shall be a.s.sociated with training in just notions of duty toward G.o.d and man, in the light of the Holy Scriptures.

The means to be used in the prosecution of the general object above described, I leave to the discretion of the corporation; only indicating, as lines of operation adapted to the present condition of things, the training of teachers from among the people requiring to be taught, if, in the opinion of the corporation, by such limited selection the purposes of the trust can be best accomplished; and the encouragement of such inst.i.tutions as are most effectually useful in promoting this training of teachers.

I am well aware that the work herein proposed is nothing new or untried. And it is no small part of my satisfaction in taking this share in it, that I hereby a.s.sociate myself with some of the n.o.blest enterprises of charity and humanity, and may hope to encourage the prayers and toils of faithful men and women who have labored and are still laboring in this cause.

I wish the corporation which you are invited to const.i.tute, to consist at no time of more than twelve members, nor of less than nine members for a longer time than may be required for the convenient filling of vacancies, which I desire to be filled by the corporation, and, when found practicable, at its next meeting after the vacancy may occur.

I designate as the first President of the corporation the Honorable RUTHERFORD B. HAYES, of Ohio. I desire that it may have power to provide from the income of the fund, among other things, for expenses incurred by members in the fulfilment of this trust, and for the expenses of such officers and agents as it may appoint, and generally to do all such acts as may be necessary for carrying out the purposes of this trust. I desire, if it may be, that the corporation may have full liberty to invest its funds according to its own best discretion, without reference to, or restriction by, any laws or rules, legal or equitable, of any nature, regulating the mode of investment of trust funds; only I wish that neither princ.i.p.al nor income be expended in land or buildings, for any other purpose than that of safe and productive investment for income. And I hereby discharge the corporation, and its individual members, so far as it is in my power so to do, of all responsibility, except for the faithful administration of this trust, according to their own honest understanding and best judgment. In particular, also, I wish to relieve them of any pretended claim on the part of any person, party, sect, inst.i.tution, or locality, to benefactions from this fund, that may be put forward on any ground whatever; as I wish every expenditure to be determined solely by the convictions of the corporation itself as to the most useful disposition of its gifts.

I desire that the doings of the corporation each year be printed and sent to each of the State Libraries in the United States, and to the Library of Congress.

In case the capital of the Fund should become impaired, I desire that a part of the income, not greater than one half, be invested, from year to year, until the capital be restored to its original amount.

I purposely leave to the corporation the largest liberty of making such changes in the methods of applying the income of the Fund as shall seem from time to time best adapted to accomplish the general object herein defined. But being warned by the history of such endowments that they sometimes tend to discourage rather than promote effort and self-reliance on the part of beneficiaries, or to inure to the advancement of learning instead of the dissemination of it; or to become a convenience to the rich instead of a help to those who need help, I solemnly charge my Trustees to use their best wisdom in preventing any such defeat of the spirit of this trust; so that my gift may continue to future generations to be a blessing to the poor.

If at any time after the lapse of thirty-three years from the date of this foundation it shall appear to the judgment of three fourths of the members of this corporation that, by reason of a change in social conditions, or by reason of adequate and equitable public provision for education, or by any other sufficient reason, there is no further serious need of this Fund in the form in which it is at first inst.i.tuted, I authorize the corporation to apply the capital of the Fund to the establishment of foundations subsidiary to then already existing inst.i.tutions of higher education, in such wise as to make the educational advantages of such inst.i.tutions more freely accessible to poor students of the colored race.

It is my wish that this trust be administered in no partisan, sectional, or sectarian spirit, but in the interest of a generous patriotism and an enlightened Christian faith; and that the corporation about to be formed, may continue to be const.i.tuted of men distinguished either by honorable success in business, or by services to literature, education, religion, or the State.

I am encouraged to the execution in this charitable foundation of a long-cherished purpose, by the eminent wisdom and success that has marked the conduct of the Peabody Education Fund in a field of operation not remote from that contemplated by this trust. I shall commit it to your hands, deeply conscious how insufficient is our best forecast to provide for the future that is known only to G.o.d; but humbly hoping that the administration of it may be so guided by divine wisdom, as to be, in its turn, an encouragement to philanthropic enterprise on the part of others, and an enduring means of good to our beloved country and to our fellow-men.

I have the honor to be, Gentlemen, your friend and fellow-citizen, JOHN F. SLATER.

NORWICH, CONN., March 4, 1882.

_And whereas_, said memorialists have further represented that they are ready to accept said trust and receive and administer said Fund, provided a charter of incorporation is granted by this State, as indicated in said letter;

_Now, therefore_, for the purpose of giving full effect to the charitable intentions declared in said letter;

_The people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and a.s.sembly, do enact as follows:_

SEC. 1. Rutherford B. Hayes, Morrison R. Waite, William E. Dodge, Phillips Brooks, Daniel C. Gilman, John A. Stewart. Alfred H.

Colquitt, Morris K. Jesup, James P. Boyce, and William A. Slater, are hereby created a body politic and corporate by the name of THE TRUSTEES OF THE JOHN F. SLATER FUND, and by that name shall have perpetual succession; said original corporators electing their a.s.sociates and successors, from time to time, so that the whole number of corporators may be kept at not less than nine nor more than twelve.

Said corporation may hold and manage, invest and re-invest all property which may be given or transferred to it for the charitable purposes indicated in said letter, and shall, in so doing, and in appropriating the income accruing therefrom, conform to and be governed by the directions in said letter contained; and such property and all investments and re-investments thereof, excepting real estate, shall, while owned by said corporation and held for the purposes of said trust, be exempt from taxation of any and every nature.

SEC. 2 Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, shall be the first President of the corporation, and it may elect such other officers and hold such meetings, whether within or without this State, from time to time, as its by-laws may authorize or prescribe.

SEC. 3. Said corporation shall annually file with the Librarian of this State a printed report of its doings during the preceding year.

SEC. 4. This act shall take effect immediately.

COLORED EMPLOYeS IN WAs.h.i.+NGTON.

There are six hundred and twenty persons of color employed in the different departments of the Government at Was.h.i.+ngton, D. C., distributed as follows:

War Department 44 Treasury Department 342 Department of Justice 7 Department of State 20 Navy Department 40 Department of the Interior 106 men, 7 women Post-Office Department 54 ---- Total 620

NEWSPAPERS CONDUCTED BY COLORED MEN.

ALABAMA.

MOBILE.-_The Mobile Gazette_; Phillip Joseph, Editor; $2.00 per year; office No. 36 Conti Street.

HUNTSVILLE.-_Huntsville Gazette_;----, Editor; $1.50 per year; Sat.u.r.days.

ARKANSAS.

HELENA.-_Golden Epoch_; H. W. Stewart. LITTLE ROCK.--_Arkansas Mansion_; Henry Simkens, Editor; $1.50 a year.

CALIFORNIA.

SAN FRANCISCO.--_The Elevator_, Phillip A. Bell, Editor.

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON CITY.--_People's Advocate_, established in 1876; J. W.

Cromwell, Editor; C. A. Lemar, Manager; $1.50 a year.

WAs.h.i.+NGTON CITY.--_The Bee_; W. C. Chase, Editor; C. C. Stewart, Business Manager; $2.00 per year; Sat.u.r.days; office, No. 1107 I Street, N. W.

FLORIDA.

PENSACOLA.--_The Journal of Progress_; Matthews & Davidson, Editors and Proprietors; $2.00; Sat.u.r.days.

KEY WEST.--_Key West News_; J. Willis Menard, Editor; weekly; five columns; price, $1.50 per annum.

GEORGIA.

ATLANTA.--_Weekly Defiance_; W. H. Burnett, Editor.

AUGUSTA.--_The People's Defense_; Smith, Nelson, & Co., Proprietors.