The business having increased to such an extent during the first three years, it was decided to increase the capital stock and incorporate the company. Accordingly the corporation was formed May 1, 1892, under the name of The Webb-Jameson Co. The capital stock was $3,000, fully paid. The stockholders consisted of C. A. Webb, Walter Jameson, Samuel Smith and Mrs. Ida M. Bryant. At the first meeting of the stockholders, officers were elected as follows: C. A. Webb, President; Walter Jameson, Vice-President; Samuel Smith, Superintendent, and Mrs. I. M. Bryant, Secretary and Treasurer, with the same officers as directors. The business has gone on adjusting itself to the conditions of the times, but never losing ground, not even in the trying times of 1893-4, from which the country has not even yet fully recovered. Notwithstanding the increased competition which each year brings forth, The Webb-Jameson Company maintains their position in the lead. The entire business operated under the management of C. A. Webb amounts to from twenty to twenty-five thousand dollars per year. This volume of business necessitates the employing of twenty-five to thirty clerks and workmen, and six teams to prosecute the work, and during the busy season more are required. The expenses of the company in wages, the purchase of new and improved tools, repairs, taxes, advertising and insurance, amount to several thousand dollars per year--all of which goes to show that they are doing business according to the methods approved by the best and most conservative business men of the opposite race. Much more might be said of the business of The Webb-Jameson Company, but be it said to their credit that many who seek business relations with them are surprised to meet colored men. So great is their surprise, they often make the ludicrous statement, "I thought Mr. Webb was a white man," and frequently add, "Well, who is Mr. Jameson?" thereby showing that the general idea, without positive knowledge, is that The Webb-Jameson Company is conducted by white instead of colored men. Besides the business already mentioned, Mr. Webb is president of a building and loan association, conducted entirely by colored men and patronized entirely by the colored people. This enterprise thus far has been very successful. CHAPTER XX. WALTER P. HALL. I met Mr. Walter P. Hall for the first time in 1892, when giving my first course of Illustrated Lectures on "Race Progress" in Philadelphia.