[ . . . ][¹] As Garvey's organization became more and more prominent, Negroes stopped regarding him as an object of curiosity and began admiring, complimenting and idolizing him. He made powerful and passionate appeals [to] the race pride and race consciousness of Negroes and received responses in the nature of assurances of allegiance and assistance from Africa, the West Indies, South America and almost every important city in the United States.

It was quite natural that not only men and women with a creditable record of achievement and unimpeachable integrity would be attracted to Garvey's movement, but that professional politicians and all kinds of unprincipled opportunists in quest of easy berths and financially advantageous positions would also join his organization. The latter aroused Garvey's anger and earned his vigorous and repressive antagonism. This element unintentionally gave him a pretext for becoming despotic since his arbitrary attitude could have easily been excused as being absolutely essential to protect the association from members with selfish and sinister purposes. So far as Negroes are concerned Garvey's projects are as ambitious as his propaganda is all-embracing. His aims may be briefly summarized as follows:

Prior to the Black Star Line, Garvey started the publication of the Negro World, the official organ of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League. This periodical is a weekly and has been published more than a year. During that period it has been edited by Mr. W. A. Domingo[³] from its first issue until eleven months thereafter when he was succeeded by the Rev. W. H. Ferris,[⁴] its present editor. Garvey next announced his intention of establishing a chain of restaurants, dry goods and grocery stores to be owned by his organization and to be operated by its members on the membership-co-operative mutual profit-sharing basis. Through the issuance of bonds, some of which he has since redeemed, he collected a considerable sum of money but later learned that he could not execute his plans as formulated on a loose cooperative system and was forced to have both of his organizations legally incorporated. So far, only one restaurant, located at 56 West 135th Street, has been started under a business cooperation [corporation?]. The project of the Black Star Line has seemingly delayed the execution of his plans for the operation of cooperat[iv]e stores. Despite this fact he has organized a $1,000,000 corporation known as the Negro Factories Corp., Inc.

Garvey who has at times unquestionably been "The man of the hour" among Negroes, like all human beings, has many peculiarities. Probably one may gain a fair idea of the man and his methods by taking into account the fact that his head has the shape of the German type and that his temperament and his racial philosophy are not, [words mutilated] unlike the tempera[ment] [or the?] racial philosophy of Germans. He has neither patience with, nor pity for, failures. He is always feverishly interested in results and is totally disinterested in methods. So over-anxious is he over ultimate results, that he frequently interferes prematurely and unnecessarily assists in the performance of duties allot[t]ed to others. The timeliness of his obtrusion, he justifies by alluding to the alleged disappointing failure of subordinate officials whom he has not directly supervised.

About the beginning of the Fall of 1918, Captain Joshua Cockburn arrived in the city. He was then employed by the Elder Dempster S.S. Co., a Liverpool-West Africa Line, and was on a three months vacation. Captain Cockburn took advantage of the leave granted him and stopped in New York on his way to Nassau, Bahamas, to visit his parents whom he had not seen in 23 years. He then announced that he had brought a message of hope from Africa, referred to that continent as the economic salvation of Negroes everywhere and was reported as having said that he had been commissioned by some wealthy Africans to purchase schooners for trading purposes. It was his appointment under the British crown as master of the S.S. Trojan and S.S. Baman in Nigeria, West Africa and his numerous sailings to the different ports of Africa that probably gave him the opportunity to meet and form the friendship of Africans of good financial standings. He and Mrs Cockburn left for overseas quite hurriedly and did not return to New York until late in the Spring of last year.

Despite his reported authorization to purchase ships for trading purposes, which was published in a Negro Magazine on November 1[5]th, 1918, and Garvey's plan to launch the Black Star Line, announced nearly six months later, it has been declared that it was not before his return to New York from visiting his parents that Captain Cockburn and Garvey were introduced.

The sign of interrogation and the mark of exclamation were alternately visible on the face of nearly every one of Garvey's followers when their leader announced the Black Star Line project. They cheered outwardly, perhaps from sheer force of habit, but during the intervals of speechmaking, and after the meeting was over, they openly indulged in debates as they conceived the magnitude of the task which was proposed. Those Garveyites whose eyes were befogged or who were not sufficiently farsighted to catch a faint glimpse of Garvey's vision, nevertheless, attended the meetings with accustomed regularity, cheered just as lustily, applauded thunderously and otherwise gave unmistakable signs of consistent and continued allegi[a]nce.