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AFTER
FIFTY YEARS
OR
THE TENTH MAN
. . . BY . . .
REV. D. E. BUTLER
Th is Little Pamphlet is a Foreword
to the above Publication—
Soon to Appear—Author
1913
Rev. Daniel E. Butler
CLERGYMAN SOCIOLOGIST AUTHOR
D EV. DANIEL EDWARD BUTLER, author of this
little pamphlet,—a "Foreword" to his book "After
Fifty Years," which is shortly to follow, was born May j
18th, 1872, in the little town of Holly Springs, Missis- |
sippi, the town of schools and sweet-water springs. j
Historical in these and the fact that the rebels had their j
barracks here during the civil war, and more, — it was j
the home of Hiram R. Revells, the Negro who was :
elected to the seat in the United States Senate, formerly i
occupied by the rebel president, Jefferson Davis. j
Mr. Butler was educated in the public schools, Mill- j
er's Institute and Rust University of Holly Springs, came J
north in 1890, and labored at various occupations, (in- j
eluding service with the Nelson Morris Packing Com¬
pany, Chicago, and as newsboy for Chicago Inter-Ocean,
which will be detailed in "After Fifty Years") till May,
1897, when he was licensed a Local Preacher in the
African Methodist Episcopal Church in the city of Elgin,
Illinois, by Rev. Geo. W. Gaines, P. E., September, 1899,
he was ordained a Deacon by Bishop B. W. Arnett, in I
Bethel Church, Chicago, and in 1901 ordained a travel- j
ing Elder by Bishop Abraham Grant, St. Stephen's j
Church, Chicago. j
Rev. Butler's pastorate, which began at Racine, Wis- j
consin, includes the leading churches of the African J
Methodist Denomination in the cities of Minneapolis,
Milwaukee, Galesburg, Illinois; Ottumwa, and Buxton, !
Iowa; and Aurora, Illinois. i
Mr. Butler owned and edited the "Northwestern j
Vine," at Minneapolis, and "The Buxton Square Deal," i
Buxton, Iowa, and published "Butler's Blue Book," a )
combination of Negro History and Personalia, which was I
favorably commented upon by the press and Historical
Societies of Wisconsin and Illinois. He is the founder of
Settlement Work among Negroes of the North, having
conducted the most complete Social Settlement at Min- |
neapolis anywhere in the country, and has been intim- j
ately and widely connected with this idea of moral and j
social redemption for a period of twelve years, also vari- j
ous educational institutions, including Western College, j
Autauga and Noxubee Industrial Schools and Wilber- 1
force University, being a Ministerial Trustee of the latter. j
He is Founder of the John Brown Assembly, a |
Negro Betterment Organization. j
Rev. Butler studied law under the direction of the j
American University, Chicago, and the Home Corres- |
pondence School, Springfield, Mass. He is a candidate
for the degree of Ph. D. and L. L. D. and for admission
to the State Bar of Illinois. —F. Gaston Hill.
N the seventh day of May, 1913,
the White Star passenger steam¬
er, Arabic, carrying the "Royal
Mail" steamed out of Boston,
bound for Liverpool, England.
Nature had done her best,
seemingly, to produce a perfect day. Her work
was flawless. Nearly a thousand persons were
aboard, en-route to almost every section of the
globe, with but one black man, and I that one.
In my imagination, I thought myself the pro¬
verbial "fly in a pan of milk." Mr. F. Gaston
Hill of Boston, an old college chum of mine, was
to have sailed with me, but the pressure of busi¬
ness deprived me of the pleasure of his com¬
pany. The entire crew were a jolly set—the
third steward, a witty old sea dog of burnt cork,
was a regular Primrose and West combined.
Among the passengers was a Boys' Scout Band
from California, on an extended European tour.
When we had gotten way out into the blue deep,
where sea and sky seemed to kiss each other
and the band began to play a Bunny Hug-Rag,
about twenty couples tripped the light fantastic
toe. I walked about on the upper deck feeling
bigger than "Teddy" Roosevelt and Booker
Washington, put together.
Everything went well for three days, with
me the center of attraction, due doubtless to my
ebony cuticle. My English cabin-boy discovered
that I possessed a propensity for tipping, and the
way he supplied my every want convinced me
that he had my goat. Suddenly, our boat stuck
her nose into a storm so intensely vicious that I
at once grew sick of the sea, and exposed my
raising. The ringing of the bell for meals, for
two days, only served to make me feel that :
"that awful day had surely come." Sick ! Why
I was chief, among the sicker sort. I was more
constant in my ebullitions than Vesuvius. For
the first time since I "got" religion, " I moaned
and groaned till 1 come through" — two days and
nights. When the Arabic showed us Castle
Rock, a wild son of Erins Isle was that happy,
he marched to the cabin deck, extended his
brave bosom to meet the music of an early
morning breeze, and in the vernacular peculiar
to the devotees of the shamrock, sang in ringing
tones that song so popular on European steam¬
ers, "Tiperary."
"It's a long, long way to Tiperary,
"But my home is there."
We cheered the old boy to the echo.
At precisely 6:30 p. m., May 15th, we an¬
chored at the floating dock in the city of Liver¬
pool, where I spent the night and greater part
of the next day, seeing all that was seeable to
me, and that I thought worth while.
Late in the afternoon, Friday, May 16th, I
reached London, England, the largest and great¬
est cosmopolitan city in the world, boasting a
population of (8,000,000) eight million human
beings, and not a single Negro church, my great
ambition was attained. I stood face to face
with the dream of my life. Let me tell you the
truth, I felt good.
I lost no time in installing myself in com¬
fortable quarters, agreeably environed, at the
Welcome Hotel, 21 Devonshire, E. C., just off
Bishop s Gate, and in close proximity to Liver¬
pool station, from whence I was to surface to
Brussells and Paris.
The moving of everything from left to right,
all vehicles and conveyances, and the realiza¬
tion that I was four thousand miles from home
made me grow dizzy, and believe me, I felt on
retiring, for many nights, that the next morning
I would wake up in Chicago, or in dear old
Buxton, Iowa. This condition may have been
born of the desire.
Aside from the customary pleasures and
benefits of a European trip, I was abroad to see
life from a different angle,—to study the moral,
social and religious life of the people as far as I
could make my way, and, advance the interest
of my race in the states.
My time and means were limited, yet, what
I saw, where I went and what 1 did could not be
told with a thousand tongues. Let me say, how¬
ever, in the language of the Good Book, that
despite London's vastness and granduer: "The
vale of Siddim is full of slime pits."
In a brief and condensed way, let me say
that, by the aid of introductory letters, my clergy
profession and personality, I was enabled to ob¬
tain many distinguished and advantageous audi¬
ences, which placed me in a splendid position
to deliver my message and gather information.
Courtesies of our Embassy, Consulate, and the
American Society were shown me, and then the
leading pastors of London. I refer to Reverend
J. E. Rattenbury, Church of the Open Door, near
Hammerstien's old theatre in King s way ; Rev.
Thos. Greer, Bishop's Gate Chapel, off Bishop s
Gate, E.C., Dr. Len G.Broughton, Christ's Church,
Westminister Bridge Road, builder of the Atlanta
Baptist Tabernacle, Atlanta, Georgia; Dr. A. C-
Dixon, at Spurgeon's old tabernacle near the
Elephant; Dr. R. J. Campbell, City Temple;
Dr. G. Campbell Morgan, Buckingham Gate
Chapel; Rev. Mr. Wakefield, near the Abbey;
and Secretary Virgo of the Y. M. C. A. in Tot-
temham Court Road. I spoke here May 25, when
there were representatives from thirty-four differ¬
ent countries, and of twenty-six races, being the
only black man and the only American; and
other persons of much dignity and grace and
kindness of spirit, including Mrs. Hugh Price
Hughes, widow of the late Dr. Hugh Price
Hughes, a great pulpiteer among London's early
Wesleyans.
Monday, June the 2nd, I was permitted to
look at, but not speak to His Majesty, the King
and his Queen, England's rulers. The occasion
was the king's birthday, and they were just
about to make their egress from Whitehall to
Buckingham Palace the King's Mansions.
Whitehall, h as an awful history, one of villainy,
bebauchery, blackness and blood, that all but
defies adequate description. It is practically the
seat of government. When the King and Queen,
dazzlingly vestured and tucked in their royal
carriage rode out of Whitehall, surrounded by
mounted guard, soldiery and police, drum beat¬
ers on horse-back and bands of music. The man-
ner in which the "small fry" paid obesaince, was
a fright.
In my book, "After Fifty Years", which will
shortly appear, and to which this little pamphlet
is but an introduction or fore-word. I shall en¬
deavor to relate to you in detail my biography
from cotton patch to college. From plow to
pulpit. From a tattered tramp to a tapestried
trans-atlantic tourist. 1 shall tell you in detail, in
reliable facts and figures the actual status of the
American Negro "After Fifty Years." His Pro¬
gress, Possessions, Problems and Possibilities.
I shall tell you in detail of my trip to Europe
and back, with my own impressions of existing
conditions there.
In order to see and know for myself, I had
to become "all things to all men." I will tell you
how I discovered that London's charity is infin¬
itely inferior to our own. About London's
churches and preachers for I spoke in the
churches and heard the preachers preach ; of
London's slums, for I went through them ; of
London's poor houses, for I visited them ; of
London's working men, and mendicants, hotels
and lodging houses, for I lodged in them ; of
her 3x6 ft., cubicles, where you are rung in
and locked in, and rung out and locked out,
for I slept in them; of her salvation army
accommodation, for I employed it ; of Lon¬
don's marks of honor, parks, places, and
buildings, for I saw and considered them;
of London's rich and poor, for I studied them;
of London's moral tide, for I watched it, sat
down all night long, and watched it ebb and
flow. I will tell you how I was buncoed at Ele-
phant's Castle, how my pocket was picked in
Petticoat Lane. I will tell you how London rails
on rag time music, and how the masses rave for
it. I will tell you how, at times, I was a prince
and again a pauper for true, feeling myself to
be, in the language of the "Water Poet,"- John
Taylor: "A Penniless Pilgrim" or a Moneyless
Perambulator. I will tell you what color Lond¬
on's color line is, and where I first saw it drawn.
I will tell you how in vain I sought for a Negro
church in this vast city of 8,000,000 people, and
mourned because I found it not.
I will tell you of life on an ocean liner. In
my book "After Fifty Years" I shall devote a
chapter to personal sketches and honorable
mention of philanthropic Anglo Saxon sympath¬
izers, who, by their words and deeds have not
alone made my labors a success including my
European trip, but enabled the American Negro
to reach the high place in the world's civilization,
facts and figures and unbiased minds so willingly
ascribe to him. They have taken a stand among
the benefactors, as against the scourgers of my
race.
I said in my address in Dr. Len G. Brought-
on's church, London, England, Sunday after¬
noon, June l£t, 1913, (my subject being "The
Tenth Man.") "There are approximately one hun¬
dred million people in America and every tenth
one is a black man. His previous condition of
servitude, and the color of his skin are the funda¬
mental causes for numerous disabling problems,
chief among which are these three: The Housing
Problem, the Labor Problem and Justice Before
the Law, and yet his progress is without prece¬
dent and his possibilities illimitable."
In my book "After Fifty Years" these prob¬
lems will be presented in the best possible lan¬
guage and in their truest possible light.
Foremost among Negroes of the nation
whose ability to discuss these subjects fully and
impartially are Hon. Geo. H. Woodson, of Iowa,
Dr. Reverdy C. Ransome of Philadelphia, Pa.,
Prof. W. E. B. Dubois of New York. On the
progress of the race, Dr. Booker T. Washington
stands alone. As to the Negro's possibilities,
Attorney Wm. R. Morris, Minneapolis, Minn.,
writes entrancingly, and is the embodiment of
optimism.
"After Fifty Years"
—Rev. D. E. Butler
1913