The thought of a commercial panic almost inevitably takes one's mind to Wall Street or Lombard. We have visions of stock exchanges, banks, and millionaires. But this is but the froth of panics. The real storm, the real tragedy, is spread broadcast over the land. Away back in the country are the ruined homes, the mortgages foreclosed, the hopes of whole lives blighted. Down in the Black Belt of Georgia was felt the full flat force of the blow that struck honest industry in 1892 and 1893. To cap the disturbance in other industrial conditions, down fell the price of cotton: from 112 cents a pound in 1890 to 72/3 in 1892; then, with a moment of recovery, to 61⁄2 in 1895, and, after a temporary rise, to 54 in 1898. And this was the result: owned in The total property values of the State, negro and white, felt the same heavy hand of financial depression: Dollars (millions) 425 400 Value of all prop erty 375 1895 1900 owned in air, and black Georgia grew discouraged. The poor and meaner whites along with their own distress became suddenly aware of the prosperity of their black neighbors, and it made them jealous and angry. The negroes in sudden misfortune became aware of the new slavery of debt--the croplien system-which, slowly and cunningly devised under the shadow of prejudice, now consists in carrying the mortgage system down till it includes not simply houses and lands, but vegetables, animals, and men, makes payment hard, interest enormous, and foreclosure easy. In the decade of prosperity a horde of rascals had sprung up to prey on the negroes' industry and carelessness. There were unscrupulous Jews, grasping Yankees, sons of poor whites; they sold furniture on "installments," they founded tempting "insurance" schemes, they swindled with cheap clocks and organs, and, by the aid of careless laws and the silence of the silent South, they fleeced these black lambs shamelessly, and they are still fleecing. Struggle, hesitation, and doubt has been the history of Georgia negroes in the last decade. Often I have had them come to me, saying: "But what will be the end of it all? Is there any use striving? Will these white folks ever give the colored man a chance?" Woe to the South when the negro loses hope! In this crisis the tide has already Georgia turned, but it was dangerous sailing down there near the turning-how dangerous, few knew. In 1899 cotton rose with a jump to 82, then 10 cents a pound. In the whole land industrial conditions had already improved, and in the South the gospel of work outpreached the anathema of lawlessness. The black man to-day is saving again. Indeed, perhaps, rightly interpreted, that rise and fall of values in the nineties was but the passing of an abnormal wave, like that of the seventies: 1990 What followed? What must follow but irritation and disappointment, lawlessness and oppression, lynching and crime? Much has been written on the epidemic of barbarity that has recently disgraced the South. But in no case have I seen the panic of '93 given its true weight as a cause. Alone, without a delicate problem of race adjustment, crime was inevitable. In Georgia, in the South, there was added to the distress and vice of a struggling proletariat the dawning attempt of the New South to settle the status of black men. A series of new proscriptive laws were being passed which were peculiarly galling and insulting not to the worst but to the best of the negroes. Disfranchisement and repression were in the Such have been the savings of Black Georgia. Considered in bulk and compared with the capitalization of the Steel Trust, they are modest, very modest. Yet in real value these fourteen millions mean something like $125 for each black family in Georgia-the accumulations of a generation starting with nothing. To appreciate rightly the whole meaning of this, one must consider the incomes. In the country where the crop-lien and contract-labor systems prevail, it is difficult to get at the real income. In 1898, when cotton was lowest, a group of two hundred and seventy-one black farm families, after twelve months' toil, came out at the end of the year as follows: In other words, the great mass of these people worked that year for their board and clothes. In more prosperous years they make more and spend more, for it savors of the gambler's risk and gain. In the cities and towns incomes are far better, but even here eighty per cent. of the black families have incomes under $500 per year, and over forty per cent. under $300. Expenses of living in the town are naturally higher. The incomes of those who earn less than $300 usually go like this: acres, and less than a fourth forty to one hundred acres. Half the farms are worth less than $100, and only ten per cent. are assessed $500 and more. In the towns the bulk of the property is in holdings of $100 to $500. The towns with something over one-tenth of the total negro population own one-third of the total propertya fact that shows that some beside the vagabonds are hastening to town. Outside land and homes there is little investment of savings. Two and a half millions are in mules, cattle, and stock for the farms; a half million in farming tools, and a million and a half in household furniture. $73,000 is invested in merchandise. Thus has the Georgia freedman saved. It is but a beginning, but a beginning to be proud of and to be encouraged. There is no one negro problem, and consequently no one solution. The day is dawning when this will be more widely recognized, and the man with the panacea will be publicly stamped as a quack. Among other negro problems, here is one problem of encouraging savings among men whom the Nation for centuries taught to be shiftless. A movement for penny savings banks and land and building associations is needed throughout the South, to atone for the shameful disgrace of the Freedman's Bank, and to make thrift worth while. In the beautiful new business block built by the Prudential Insurance Company in Atlanta, Ga., is a great marble corridor. Within this are two passenger elevators and a freight elevator. On the latter is this sign: "For Negroes and other large Packages." A people who in the midst of public insult and private wrong have saved fourteen millions in a generation deserve encouragement. Their blackness certainly means something—it means Pluck. I By Edward Huntting Rudd In 1883-84 the writer sat as a student in Dr. Rainy's class-room, and felt the permanent influence of his warm personal friendship. Any just estimate of this noted personality must link itself with the events of June, 1900. The writer then attended that already historic General Assembly, the last regular one convened by the Free Church of Scotland as such before its union with the United Presbyterian Church, and at this time (June, 1901) the first Assembly of the century sits as the General Assembly of the United Free Church. N one of the grammar-schools of the effect brought its own immediate Glasgow, nearly threescore years ago, benign result. It was appropriate that two boys sat as schoolmates on the the oldest minister of the Free Church same bench. On the last day of October, should present the motion for the union1900, these same two, in the full glory of the Rev. Dr. Murray Mitchell, a pretheir maturer life-work, sat together on the Disruption missionary, of whom the same platform in Scotland's chief city, each "Athenæum" once said that his was "the participants in an epoch-making event in acutest mind ever given to the service church history. One was the Rev. Dr. of the Cross in India." Of course this Alexander McLaren, of Manchester, who, motion for union was seconded by a replike many another distinguished guest on resentative of the United Presbyterian that historic occasion, preaches in a local Church. The honor was worthily bestowed center, but belongs not only to England on the oldest minister of the denominabut to the world, for his words have gone tion, Dr. Andrew Henderson, of Paisley. out to the ends of the earth. His com- Then came the moment so solemn and panion was the great ecclesiastical leader yet so significant, the culmination of years and church historian, the Rev. Principal of prayer and toil, of concession and Rainy, D.D., LL.D., of New College, diplomacy, of generous sacrifice for the Edinburgh. larger and broader work now to be accomplished. It was a scene not unlike the great event of 1843, when the participants in the organization of the Free Church included such men as Welsh, and Thomas Chalmers, James McCosh, and later Candlish and Cunningham, and Hugh Miller, Thomas Guthrie, Horatius Bonar; some of her great modern preachers like Dr. Kennedy, of Dingwall, Dr. Oswald Dykes, and Dr. Alexander Whyte, of Edinburgh; and such saintlike men as Murray McChayne, Andrew Bonar, and Robert Barbour. Surely, then, a "great cloud of witnesses " were associated with this event of mighty moment. Ross Taylor constituted with prayer the first General Assembly of the United Free Church of Scotland. It was not difficult to select a Moderator. By unanimous consent, the one great outstanding personality in the whole mighty` assemblage was Principal Robert Rainy, D.D., LL.D., the sole survivor of the original Committee on Union appointed in 1863. He has now completed his year, and preaches his sermon as retiring Moderator. Let us look for a moment at this man. A tall, commanding figure, broad-shouldered and erect, with step elastic, an eye keen and kindly but penetrating, quick to read and estimate men, a firm, strong mouth, from whose lips only words of kindness and Christian grace have fallen, a promi No city in the British Empire, and perhaps in the world, lends itself more naturally to give picturesqueness to a great popular demonstration than does Edinburgh-Auld Reekie, as some love to call it. And the Divinity Colleges of the two great Churches are located in the very center of the historic city. New College and the great Assembly Hall almost adjoin the entrance to the Castle. Here was enacted an event which will influence the whole coming century, I believe. When that vast audience of over six thousand people sang the Psalm beginning, Behold how good a thing it is, Dr. Walter nent nose and high forehead, hair whitened by the years of unusual toil and responsibility, white side-whiskers worn as the Scotch so often wear them, and with a hearty, informal, and friendly grasp of the hand and smile from a face glowing with kindly interest-this in part is the man so beloved and honored in the Land o' Cakes and Kirks. Principal Rainy is what he is because his was the heritage of great souls before him, and reference to them must explain the men of to-day. While great events need great leaders, it is also true that broad-minded and great-souled leaders bring to final issue great events. The Free Church from the time of the Disruption in 1843 has had great leaders, notably four: standing at the front was Thomas Chalmers, that mighty man of whom Dr. Stalker has said that "he had a deep and inexhaustible faith in what could be made of the common man if his nature were quickened by the touch of the Gospel, and he was affected with infinite compassion by the sight of the masses of the Scottish people in the large cities sunk in poverty, ignorance, and vice. In the prime of his life in Glasgow he attacked the problem of the churchless poor with an enthusiasm which attracted to his side the finest spirits in the population of the West; and later, in his old age, with the same unwearied courage and inventiveness, he worked out the problem in Edinburgh." This man helped give the indelible stamp to the Free Church of its tireless devotion to Home and City Missions. The Church now required a leader who would place the emphasis where it was needed in other departments, and Dr. Candlish succeeded Dr. Chalmers and developed the practical conduct of the Church's business. Dr. Buchanan was the next great leader, and then came Dr. Rainy, the one of whom Joseph Parker, of London, said that "he was raised up of God to do this holy work, which probably no other living man could do. I have seen great assemblies and great receptions, but I do not at this moment recall any reception equal to the one you have just accorded to your honorable, honored, and revered Moderator, Principal Robert Rainy." A recent writer says of him: "The greatest leader we have in Scotland, in any field of action, whose firmness and trenchancy of decision are manifest to all men. He is at the same time supreme in sympathetic understanding. Nothing is greater in him than his combination of authority and insight. We marvel at the width of his understanding. He enters into the thoughts and perplexities of the most diverse kinds of men. He has a view inside every mind, and thus can understand the difficulties and the suspicion which every new development of policy awakens. But, with all that, he is able to accept the responsibility and to take a course of his own." 66 Dr. Rainy's opening sermon as Moderator was mature, and combined statesmanlike wisdom with profound feeling. He frankly admitted that this union, great as it was, was incomplete; that without the Established Church of Scotland they could not be made perfect. He believed a larger Presbyterianism for Scotland. would come, free from the risks and temptations of a statutory connection with the State." This final completed union was both his steadfast expectation and ardent desire. It was significant, and may we not hope full of prophecy, that when Dr. Cameron Lees, the head of St. Giles Cathedral, the Westminster Abbey of the Established Church in Scotland, spoke as one who rejoiced to participate in this significant event, and, almost echoing Dr. Rainy's words, said that he did not know how the larger union might come, but God could work his own work in ways we knew not of, Dr. Lees's speech was received with evident and intense joy; for, as one put it, "whatever the difficulties, and they are many; whatever the controversies, and they cannot be avoided, there is in Scottish Christian hearts so deep a desire for union that it must one day be." Surely if the Established Church is to maintain its hold on wandering waifs of the street, it must unite, as the following will show: A minister found a lad looking into the Sunday-school window, and asked him to come in and join the Sunday-school and grow up a good man. "What sort o' Sunday-schule is't? 'Stablished?" "Yes; are you coming in?" "Na," replied the boy; "I tried the 'Stablished Kirk Sunday-schule last year, an' only got twa fardin' oranges an' a pock o' sweeties at the Christmas tree, sae I'm gaun to gie the Free Kirk a trial this year." Among the other great occasions in connection with the union there was one to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary or jubilee of New College, the Divinity Hall of the Free Church. Rainy Hall, much the same as Memorial Hall of Harvard, was formally opened, and it was made the happy occasion for reviewing the history of theologic thought and of the great men gone and still living. Addresses were made by Dr. John Watson (Ian Maclaren), Dr. James Stalker, of Glasgow, who presided, and Dr. George Adam Smith. Surely New College might well be proud to get three such sons back on so great an occasion. These three and the late Henry Drummond were all students together at New College at the same time. A great feature of the new Rainy Hall, reminding one of Memorial Hall at Harvard, is the large dininghall or Commons where the students get their dinners each day except on the Sabbath. This serves to draw the students in close fellowship and companionship. Dinner is furnished about cost price, and is the hearty meal of the day to not a few of the Scotch young divinity students. At least one and often more of the professors dine each day with their students and thus come into informal and personal touch. Those occasions were inspired by the presence of a foremost Hebrew scholar of his day, the Rev. Professor A. B. David son. Another guest of the jubilee banquet was Professor David Masson, late Professor of Belles Lettres in Edinburgh University, author of many charming books. Of Dr. Rainy, Dr. Masson said, "He is the maker of recent Scottish history. No man can be pointed to now over Scotland who, by the unanimous vote and pride of Scotland, has constituted himself so distinctly the national functionary as Dr. Rainy." The Rev. Principal Fairbairn, of Mansfield College, Oxford, brought his richly stored mind to yield of its treasures, dealing in part with the great names of the past, of whom he mentioned John Brown, of Haddington, the Erskines, Dr. Eadie, Dr. John Ker, Principal Cairns, Professors A. B. Bruce and Cunningham, and " Rabbi " Duncan and William Robertson Smith. Dr. Rainy has felt the throb and touch of these men in his years of service. Dr. Rainy recently completed thirty-nine years as occupant of the chair of Church History in New College, one of the theological seminaries of the Free Church of Scotland in Edinburgh. For twenty-five years he has been the Principal or President of the College, and completes his jubilee-fifty years as a minister of the Gospel. In 1861 he made his first great speech in the Assembly during the debate on the Australian Union; and ever since then he has been a foremost leader in debate. He is a keen observer, quiet, and at times gives the impression of being indifferent, almost as though dreaming, but in a twinkling he fires up and one can feel his eloquence. He holds himself under absolute control. His sense of humor often might arm him with sarcasm, but seldom does he use that weapon in debate. He seems incapable of unkind, cutting, or mean utterance. A recent writer explains his power to be found in his wisdom, a lofty and noble character, and the entire absence of a desire to rule. A man for a crisis-such more than once has he proven. Steady, level-headed, but persistent and persevering, yet patient, he was born to command. As a guide in theological discussions and controversies he has been an "open-eyed conservative." He respects the old yet recognizes the claim of the new. He is not in sympathy with later modifications in theology. He is concessive when wise and necessary. He believes that much so-called advance has been retrogression. He is always tolerant, and gladly recognizes the truth and piety of those who have differed from him ecclesiastically, and he has ever striven to remove all barriers. He is and has ever been a leader, because first a learner; and, best of all, the great overmastering thought of his life is that he is a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, and, at His bidding, seeking to get guidance and light from Him in every step in life. He would not be great unless he were modest, hence his brethren love the more to honor him, and he has doubtless received more honors at the hands of the Church of Christ than any man of recent years in Scotland. |