Business Life
Jones was a successful and powerful businessman as well. He was the founder and owner of People's Ice & Fuel Company, which had the distinction of being both the only black-owned and black-operated ice manufacturing company and the only black-owned and black-operated fuel company in the U.S. He also founded the Arkansas Negro Business League, an affiliate of Booker T. Washington's National Negro Business League (NNBL). Additionally, he joined the Prince Hall Masons.
During the administration of Mayor Brickhouse, the Little Rock Clearing House, composed of representatives from the ten banks of Little Rock, had declined to make a loan to the City of Little Rock. When the mayor mentioned this fact to Jones, he asked the mayor how much money the city needed. The mayor replied they needed $75,000, and Jones said, "My clients have $120,000 on deposit in the banks of Little Rock and if the Clearing House will not let you have the money, my clients will." After hearing about the conversation, the Clearing House agreed to lend the city the $75,000.
Read more about this topic: Scipio Africanus Jones
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