on credit; and that in all their business relations of recent years they had proved themselves just as reliable and prompt as the white people in the same county, or anywhere in the State. This statement so interested me that I resolved to see this community for myself at the very first possible opportunity, because I had always been anxious to see just what progress in self-government any large number of people of my race could make when left absolutely to themselves and given the advantage of the climate and location that the average white man in America possesses.

In connection with what I am going to say it should be kept in mind that the unit of government in Michigan, as in Massachusetts, is the township-that is, each township has practically complete self-government. Besides this it is entitled to at least one representative on the Board of County Commissioners which controls the affairs of the county.

When I visited Calvin township recently I found that it contained a population of

759 negroes and 512 whites. In addition to these, a large negro population had overflowed into the adjoining township of Porter, and to some extent into all but two of the towns in the county. The county seat of Cass County is Cassopolis. The nearest boundary line of Calvin township is about six miles from Cassopolis.

As I drove, in company with the Hon. L. B. Des Voignes, the probate judge of the county, Mr. Max Bennett Thrasher, a newspaper writer, and Mr. Jesse W. Madrey, the latter one of the most prosperous colored farmers in the county, from Cassopolis in the direction of Calvin township, we soon began going through well-cultivated farms and past comfortable-looking farm-houses. The farms, for the most part, in their general appearance compared favorably with the average farms we saw in Michigan. Many of the houses were large, attractive, and well built. The yards were made beautiful with grass, shrubbery, and flowers. The barns, stock, poultry, and other

farm attachments were in keeping with everything else that we saw. In our drive of nearly ten hours, in which we covered thirty miles of territory, through Calvin township and a part of Porter, the adjoining township, we saw little to indicate that we were in a negro town except the color of the faces of the people.

They were up to the average of their white neighbors. There are perhaps few townships in the South among the agricultural classes that would compare favorably with this one.

In a few cases it was interesting to see standing on the same premises the small cabin in which the people began life years ago, and then to see near it a modern frame cottage containing six or seven rooms. To me it was interesting and encouraging to note to what an extent these people "lived at home," that is, produced what they consumed. My visit

took me through the community during the harvesting season, and at that time most of the farmers were engaged in threshing wheat and oats. On one farm we saw a large, modern steam thresher at work. Around it were employed some twenty men. This complicated piece of machinery was being operated wholly by negroes, and, what was more interesting, was owned by a negro by the name of Henry L. Archer. Henry L. Archer. Mr. Archer not only threshed grain for the negro farmers in his township, but for the white farmers as well.

In speaking of the extent to which these people "keep themselves," I want to say that their home-raised and home-cured pork was, without any reservation, the best I ever tasted. I was particularly struck with this when visiting the home of Mr. Allen, of Porter township, the negro stock-raiser and stock-trader. "Bill" Allen has as

high standing for probity and shrewdness among the people in the Chicago stockyards as the average white man. His many well-filled barns and the large number of valuable horses, cows, pigs, and sheep he owns were among the most interesting sights that I saw.

William Allen was born in Logan County, Ohio, but his parents were free colored people from North Carolina. To speak in more detail about Mr. Allen, I found that he owns seven hundred acres of land, and that the taxes which he paid last year in the two townships of Calvin and Porter amounted to $191. When I visited his farm, he had fifty head of cattle, ten horses, three hundred sheep, and twenty-five hogs. All of his property is paid for. Mr. Allen is one of the few men I have heard of as resigning a political office. He was a Justice of the Peace for eighteen years, and resigned because it took too much of his time away from his farm.

It was rather remarkable to learn that Samuel Hawkes, a fine specimen of the race, pays the largest tax of any one, white or black, in the township of Calvin. His tax this year was $154.36. In addition to this, Mr. Hawkes paid over $50

taxes on property which is in his charge as an administrator. He owns about five hundred acres of land, free of encumbrance. He is highly spoken of by every one whom I saw, of both races, including the county officials and the cashier of the bank at Cassopolis, who said his credit. was good at that institution. I was told on good authority that Mr. Hawkes is worth $50,000. He has perhaps learned the lesson that not a few white people have learned-not to give in all of their property for the purpose of taxation.

Samuel Hawkes was born in Nottaway County, Virginia, in 1828. In 1837 he moved to Jackson County, Ohio, and remained there until he came to Calvin in 1853. He is entirely a self-made man, beginning work for himself at the age of sixteen, cutting cordwood. He had saved up enough money so that when he came to Calvin in 1853 he was able to buy the eighty acres of land on which he still lives, paying for it $800 in, as he expresses it, "gold and silver." He then went back to Ohio and worked there six years longer before he came to Calvin to live permanently on his farm. For the last quarter of a century Mr. Hawkes has devoted himself to the general manage

ment of his property, loaning money, and dealing in real estate.

Cornelius Lawson, the Supervisor for Calvin, is a native of North Carolina, whose parents moved to Cass County after an intermediate residence of some years in Indiana. He has lived in Calvin since 1853. He was elected a Justice of the Peace in 1878, and retained the office until the present year. In 1899 he was elected Supervisor, and has been reelected every year since. Mr. Lawson is a farmer, and lives about a mile from "The Corner "the official center of Calvin. He is the first colored man to be elected to the County Board of Supervisors.

It would be difficult for me to give a better idea of the industry and prosperity of these people than can be obtained from reading the following extract from a letter which I received not long after my visit to Cass County. The letter is from one of the most reliable colored men in the county, and, I ought to add, was written with no thought that it was to be published:

Cassopolis, Michigan, November 3, 1902.

Mr. Booker T. Washington:

Dear Friend-I will impose upon your precious time only long enough for you to read this, as no answer is necessary.

I wanted to tell you that I thrashed those stacks of grain that you saw when at our place. Mr. Archer did the thrashing in one day-944 bushe's of oats and 884 bushels of wheat. I paid him $41.44. On the 29th I shipped a carload of hogs and sheep of my own raising to Chicago. I received $707.30 for the same. I have 167 sheep left and about 80 head of hogs; this includes all sizes.

Your humble servant.

J. W. MADREY.

I found that there was another colored man in the township, Mr. C. W. Bunn, who owns two sawmills and much other real estate. He is said to be worth $50,000.

In several cases I noticed that the carpets on the floors of the homes of the people were of the home-made kind, but they were handsome and substantial. A considerable number of the colored people in Calvin township own their homes, and many of those who are renting are doing so from negro landowners. In a few cases white people in the county are renting property owned by negroes.

There are, I believe, eight schools in Calvin, four of them taught by colored teachers. Not only are the teachers colored, but the schools are controlled by negro school officials for the most part.

As we drove through the township I found a copy of the following notice posted:

ANNUAL SCHOOL MEETING
State of Michigan

NOTICE is hereby given to the qualified Voters of School District No. 8 of the Town

ship of Calvin that the Annual Meeting of said District will be held at the Schoolhouse on Monday evening, the 1st day of September, A. D. 1902, at 8 o'clock, for the Election of School District Officers, and for the transaction of such other business as shall lawfully come before it.

Dated this 25th day of August, 1902.

C. F. NORTHROP, Director.

Mr. C. F. Northrop is a negro. So far as I could judge by the appearance of the teachers and the school buildings, they compared favorably with others in that part of the State. In addition to the negro teachers and ministers, there are two negro physicians in the township.

One question that is often debated is as to the ability of the negro for self-government from a political point of view, and I was extremely anxious to get information on this. In Calvin township in 1900 there were 759 negroes and 512 whites. I made diligent inquiry to ascertain if there was any friction between the two races, and could find no evidence that there was. Judge Des Voignes and other county officers informed me that there were no reports of cheating at the ballot-boxes, and that the affairs of the township were conducted as well politically as any in the county. For some years, the Judge said, it had been the boast of the negro tax collector of Calvin that he was one of the first collectors to secure and pay into the county treasury all of the township taxes. On one recent occasion it was said that when another town was trying to beat Calvin in this, and the Calvin tax-gatherer's report was delayed, largely through the tardiness of one negro taxpayer, whose tax was only three dollars, rather than have Calvin lose its reputation for promptness a number of the publicspirited negroes "chipped in" and paid the tax of the delinquent.

Each township in the county is entitled to one representative on the County Board of Commissioners which has the control of the affairs of the entire county. The representative of Calvin is a black man, and I was told by several white people of the county that the negro Commissioner