State

January 27, 1934 T H E S T A T E Everybody Agrees That C.C. SPAULDING Deserves a Lot of Credit Page Five IF you believe in the old adage that credit should be given where credit is due then— You've got to ad¬ mit that Charles Clinton Spaulding. of Durham, deserves a lot of credit. Spaulding is a Negro. One of the outstanding Negroes in the United States. He is president of an insur¬ ance company which is one of the most ably managed organizations of its kind in the country. He’s also presi¬ dent of one of the soundest banks in this state, and he’s interested in sev¬ eral other business propositions as well. A mighty fine citizen. Spaulding is the type of Negro who helps to bring about a better feeling between the two races. He’s not one of those radical, bigoted, excitable type of individuals who are to be found among both Whites and Negroes. Because of this fact, he has won for himself the respect and esteem of hun¬ dreds of prominent white citizens of North Carolina, who admire him for the splendid success he has made of his life. Spaulding was born on a farm in Columbus County, August 1, 1874. His early life was not dissimilar to that of the average Negro boy reared in the rural sections of North Caro¬ lina. When the educational possibil¬ ities of his home community were ex¬ hausted, he made his way to Durham, went to school and got himself a job as dish-washer in the old Carolina Hotel. It is rather interesting to note that while he held that job, Ottis W. Green — former mayor of Asheville and one of the leading real estate men in North Carolina — was steward at the same hotel. When Spaulding graduated from the public schools in 1898, he became manager of a colored grocery com¬ pany, which had just been organized. AND we're glad of the privilege of being able to do our shore in seeing that he gets it. His life is proof of the fact that if a man is determined to go ahead, he'll go ahead, regard¬ less of whether he's White or a Negro. It so happened that John Merrick, then a progressive barber in Durham, in conjunc¬ tion with Dr. Л. M. Moore, a practicing Negro physician in the same city, con¬ ceived the idea of es¬ tablishing a life in¬ surance company for the benefit of. and owned, manages! and operated by Negroes. The time of both be¬ ing limited, they decided to give С. C. SPAULDING, of Durham, president of the North Carolina Mutual Life Insur¬ ance Company and the Mechanics and Farmers Bank. the young groceryman — Spaulding — the job as manager. “I took it.” said Spaulding, during the course of a conversation with a representative of The State last week, “but I was something else besides man¬ ager. I was janitor, otlice-boy, local agent, bookkeeper and everything els»1. 1 1 was some job. and I didn’t have much chance to do any playing or loaf¬ ing.’’ Naturally, there was considerable skepticism about whether a Negro organization of this type could possi¬ bly succeed. There were many who were frank in declaring that it couldn’t. But it did, and today the North Carolina Mutual occupies a po¬ sition which is an everlasting tribute to the lives of Merrick, Dr. Moore and Spaulding, together with the people who are associated with them. Both Merrick and Moore arc dead. “Both of them died when they were 59 years old,” continued Spaulding. “How old are you?” lie was asked. "Fifty-nine,” he laughingly re¬ marked, “and I’m holding my breath until the first of August, at which time I’ll be sixty.” The Mechanics ami Farmers Bank was organized in 1908, and Spaulding was a director in that He became president in 1923, and has held that position ever since. During that same year, a branch bank was established in Halcigh. And here’s one banking in¬ stitution that you can investigate from now until the cows come home — you can’t worry it any. It also is interest¬ ing to note that when the opportunity came recently to purchase North Caro¬ lina state bonds, the first bank to apply for a block of these bonds was the Mechanics and Farmers. Both the Durham bank and the homo office of the insurance company are located in a six-story office build¬ ing, which is owned by the insurance concern. Before starting construction, Spaulding went to men like Eugene Newsom and other civic leaders in Durham and told them what he had in mind. “If you think there would be the ( Continued on page twenty-two )