"When Terry reached the point where he was earning $25 a week his wife was earning $9 as matron in the Brockton railway station, and they both saved their money. Meanwhile Terry had begun to buy and sell real estate in a small way. One day he sold a house and lot upon which he cleared as commission $100.
"'That seemed to settle the question of my future,' said Mr. Terry. 'I decided to go into the real estate business.'
"He added that at the present time his gross income from his houses was between $6,000 and $7,000 per month. Altogether, including several store buildings and two apartment houses containing fifty-four suites of rooms, Mr. Terry owns 222 buildings in Brockton. One of these buildings is leased by the United States Government for the use of the post-office; another is rented for a public library and reading-room by the city.
"I should not, perhaps, have dared to make this statement if I had not confirmed the truth of Mr. Terry's statement by independent inquiry. In a recent letter from Secretary White, of the Brockton Young Men's Christian Association, he says: 'Some weeks ago I wrote you relative to our mutual friend (Watt Terry's) business, but now I want to enclose a clipping from the tax list which you will see is positive evidence that the time the taxes were recorded he was carrying well on to $300,000 and I know that his purchase of $120,000 occurred since that time. It is certainly a most wonderful development within a few years.'
"I ought to add that during all the time that Mr. Terry has been in Brockton he has been connected with the Young Men's Christian Association, and not long ago he contributed $1,000 toward the support of that institution.
"Many persons will, perhaps, feel that money which is acquired in this rapid way is likely to do the person who obtains it as much harm as it does good. I confess that it seems to me that the same amount of money acquired more slowly would mean more to the man who gained it. On the whole, however, the Negro race has not reached the point where it has been troubled by the number of its millionaires. And if getting slowly and laboriously is a good discipline, the Negro has almost a surplus of that kind of blessing. I ought to add, also, in justice to Mr. Terry, that from all I can learn, his rapid rise has neither injured his character nor destroyed his good sense. I suspect that the effort to keep all those houses rented and the effort to pay interest on his mortgages has had a tendency to make him humble."
Although Watt Terry's success is, of course, phenomenal he is only one of the many notably successful Negro business men who have told their stories at meetings of the National Negro Business League. Neither is Mr. Terry the only Negro who has made a big success in real estate. At the meeting of the league already described, held in Boston in 1915, Mr. Washington introduced Philip A. Payton, Jr., of New York City; E.C. Brown, of Philadelphia, Pa.; and Watt Terry, of Brockton, Mass.; as the three largest real estate operators of the Negro race. Philip A. Payton, Jr., was the pioneer in opening the Harlem district in New York City to settlement by Negroes, who had formerly been excluded from all decent portions of the city and obliged to live on San Juan Hill and in other sections of unsavory reputation. E.C. Brown made money in real estate in Newport News and Norfolk, Va., and headed movements for the establishment of Negro banks in both of these cities. Afterward he moved to Philadelphia, where he has opened a bank, and also conducts a real estate business on Broad Street—the only Negro, it is said, who conducts a large business enterprise on this important thoroughfare. At the same meeting it was brought out that a Negro by the name of Phillip J. Allston was chemist for the Potter Chemical Company, having risen from bottle-washer to that responsible post. The story of J.S. Trower, caterer, of Philadelphia, showed that he was frequently engaged for the most important functions in the city and had been regularly employed by the Cramps Company, shipbuilders, to take charge of the catering in connection with the ceremonies accompanying the launching of new ships for the Navy. Mrs. Bell Davis of Indianapolis, Ind., has become equally successful as a caterer. When the National Negro Business League met in Indianapolis it was she who served the annual banquet. Booker Washington took the greatest satisfaction in disclosing her achievements to the Negro people who had previously known little or nothing about her. He thus introduced her at a meeting of the League, "Mrs. Bell Davis, a widow, the celebrated caterer of Indianapolis, Ind., who has served banquets and receptions in honor of Presidents and Vice-Presidents of the United States, who owns a stock of Haviland china, linen, and silverware valued at thousands of dollars, all unencumbered, furnishes another illustration of what heights can be attained in the commercial world by strenuous effort and making use of every little opportunity which presents itself. Mrs. Davis' humble beginnings, hardships encountered, and success achieved would make three chapters of a most interesting biography."
Among the men spoken of by Booker Washington at the Philadelphia meeting of the Business League was Heman E. Perry, the founder of the first and only old line legal reserve life insurance company operated by and for Negroes. In his efforts to raise the $100,000 initial capital required by the law of his State—Georgia—Mr. Perry had tramped all over the United States at least three times. Finally, having tried every conceivable source without securing the required amount, he returned to all the subscribers of capital stock the money they had paid in plus 4 per cent. interest. This action so inspired the confidence of the subscribers that almost without exception they not only returned the money, but subscribed for additional stock with the result that the initial capital stock was oversubscribed. When examined by the State Insurance Department three years after it opened business this company was found to have a gross income of almost $77,000 and admitted assets of almost $160,000. Each subsequent examination by the State Department has showed a healthy growth, low mortality, good judgment in the selection of risks, prompt payment of claims, careful management, and a sound financial condition. By means of this company, known as the Standard Life Insurance Company, life insurance may be had by any Negro under the same conditions, with the same degree of security, and at the same rates as a white man.
Among the other notably successful Negro business men who have told their stories at meetings of the league are the following: Victor H. Tulane, of Montgomery, Ala., whose story of small beginnings and present success stirred his fellows at a meeting of the league. Mr. Tulane entered the grocery business twenty-five years ago, a business that any ambitious man of his race may enter, requiring small capital but unlimited patience and close attention to business. He now owns considerable property, and is a factor in all matters that concern his race in Montgomery, being regarded by white and colored citizens alike as Montgomery's first colored citizen. Mr. Tulane says: "Twenty-five years ago I was a renter; to-day I am landlord of not a few tenants. Twenty-five years ago my stock represented less than a hundred dollars; at the present time it values several thousands. Twenty-five years ago I had but one helper—a small boy; to-day I employ on an average of seven assistants the year round, excluding my wife and self. Twenty-five years ago I bought lard in five-pound quantities; to-day I purchase by the barrel. Twenty-five years ago I bought salt in ten-cent quantities; at present I buy it in ton lots. Twenty-three years ago I was unable to secure credit to the amount of three dollars, but since that period the very house that then refused me has credited me at one time with several hundred times this amount, and to-day it is not, how much do you owe?—but, how much do you want? Twenty years ago my business barely required the service of one horse and wagon; at present it demands the use of several. Twenty years ago I did an annual business of something less than a thousand dollars; during several years since that time the value of my business has exceeded $40,000 per year." It is Mr. Tulane's boast that he has not been denied credit during his business career except the one time mentioned above, and that he has never been threatened or sued in connection with the collection of a debt.
Another man's story that came out at the meeting of the National Negro Business League is the story of Charles H. Anderson, a wholesale and retail fish and oyster dealer. He conducts a fish, oyster, and game business in Jacksonville, Fla., which supplies the largest hotels and many of Jacksonville's richest white families. He is also interested in a fish and oyster packing business on the Florida coast, and is the cashier of the colored bank at Jacksonville. A speaker at the league meeting held in the John Wanamaker store, Philadelphia, in August, 1913, referred to Mr. Anderson as follows: "The first time I saw this gentleman was fourteen years ago, when he was standing up behind a white sheet that had a round hole cut in it, bravely negotiating his head and face as a target; he was working for a man who was running one of those games known as: 'Every-time-you-hit-the-nigger's-head-you-get-a-fine-cigar!' (Uproarious laughter.) There I found him fourteen years ago, posing as a target, and for the magnificent sum of five cents anybody could have secured the privilege of throwing three balls at his face. (Prolonged laughter and applause as Mr. Anderson stepped forward and was introduced to Hon. John Wanamaker, who warmly shook his hand.) To-day this young man is one of the most competent and one of the most prosperous business men of our race, regardless of section, North, South, East, or West. (Hearty applause.) Recently he was offered $18,000 for one piece of property which he owns in Jacksonville, Fla., and if he would sell out to me to-day all of his real estate and other holdings and equities, I would be willing to give him my check for $75,000."