A belief in contributing to his community
As Spaulding remembers some of the officers of North Carolina Mutual, he shares his belief that people are measured by what they contribute to their society, not what they take from it.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Asa T. Spaulding, April 13, 1979. Interview C-0013-1. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
- WALTER WEARE:
-
When you came to Durham, you came under the tutelage of people who would
reinforce this, perhaps. Is that true or not? C.C. Spaulding, Dr. Moore,
especially. And that raises an interesting question about Durham, this
notion that Durham was special, a middle class here that was different
than say, a middle class in Harlem, or a middle class in Atlanta.
- ASA T. SPAULDING:
-
It's been historically true that the major officers, and not
only them but the clerical staffof North Carolina Mutual, have all been
church-going people, have taken leading roles in church life. That
doesn't mean that they lived a perfect life; nobody does. But
they had an ideal; they had a goal; they had a certain sense of values.
The frailities of human nature are just such that even if you try to
take biblical characters. Paul said, ‘Behold when I would do
good, evil is ever present.’ He was always having to fight
it, have a struggle. Anyone has a struggle, because there are so many
temptations. And you take people who get themselves involved
financially, and bind themselves in the of the law. Just like the
president of this bank up here, Northwestern. And just like Smith Bagley
now, the Reynolds family. Greed doesn't pay. And I have said
over and over again, in my scale of values, a
man's true worth to society is better measured by the
contributions he makes to it than by what he takes from it. Because you
can't take it with you.
- WALTER WEARE:
-
And these values were here when you came in to Durham, were they not? As
you travelled and say, went to Memphis, an important town for black
insurance, did you see a different life style there among the so-called
$ack middle class?
- ASA T. SPAULDING:
-
Uh huh. Well then, North Carolina Mutual has always said, it was not
organized to try to make millionaires, it was organized to be of service
to its people. That's why it was organized as a mutual
company, rather than stock. Go to Memphis, those are stock companies. It
was suggested to the officers years ago to convert North Carolina Mutual
into a stock company and make a million. They'd have no part
of it.