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38 CHAPTER THREE WEBBER’S ENTRANCE TO THE POLITICAL ARENA, 1919–21 Several reasons combine to make it likely that the common demand for a measure of representative government will in the long run prove irresistible. The wave of democratic sentiment has been powerfully stimulated by the War. Education is rapidly spreading, and tending to produce coloured and black intelligentsia, of which the members are quick to absorb elements of knowledge requisite for entry into learned professions, and return from travel abroad with minds emancipated and enlarged, ready to devote time and energy to propaganda among their own people. —E. F. L. WOODS, “Visit to the West Indies and British Guiana,” 1922 I do not desire to say much about the [election] struggle, but if one thing is patent, I have always fought for the black man’s place in the sun both in and out of columns of the Daily Chronicle. —A. R. F. WEBBER, Daily Chronicle, 1921 THOSE THAT BE IN BONDAGE AND GLINTS FROM AN ANVIL established Webber as a literary light in his society and made him more respectable to the business community. Up until then, Webber saw himself as a litterateur, as he defined himself in “How I Won My Election” in 1921.1 Additionally, there is every indication that Webber had risen in the estimation of the dominant commercial group since he became the secretary of the Colonization Committee, a group that concerned itself with the colony’s irrigation and drainage problems. At the very least, his association with the planters and the commercial class gave him an intimate knowledge of the workings of the society’s business elite, and this positioned him to understand how that sector functioned and what was important to them. However, he was becoming a bit restless serving in the business community since he had seen himself primarily as a litterateur. In 1919 he was appointed editor of the Daily Chronicle, succeeding C. W. Marchant, and served in that capacity until 1925, when the newspaper went into ENTRANCE TO THE POLITICAL ARENA, 1919–21 39 liquidation. Such a position conferred immense influence upon Webber and, to a greater degree, brought him closer to the politics of the community. The local press was perhaps the most important instrument of political advocacy and information in the community. As one reader of the Daily Chronicle noted on October 6, 1921, “The masses looked largely to the press for political guidance.” In addition to being editor for the Daily Chronicle, Webber became the secretary of the British Guiana Sugar Planters’ Association, publicity secretary of the Georgetown Chamber of Commerce, and editor of the latter’s official journal. It is safe to say that at that moment of his career, Webber was close to and apparently courted the favor of the members of the commercial class. According to Harold Lutchman, Webber also secured a concession from the Crown to explore for oil in the country.2 A very good example of Webber’s support for and service to the commercial class manifested itself during the controversy that arose around the passage of the Shop Assistant’s Hours Bill in 1921. This bill allowed shops to open at 7:30 a.m. rather than 7 a.m., a measure that cut into the time that the workers would have to serve the commercial class and certainly gave them more time to spend with their families. In his capacity as publicity secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, Webber was selected to a committee that was responsible for sending a letter to the governor to withhold his assent to the bill until the chamber had time to study it. It is likely that his advocacy of the Chamber of Commerce’s interest must have conflicted with his feelings for working people. However, as we follow Webber’s career, we begin to detect the ambivalence that characterizes individuals from his strata: his uncertainty as to which class he really ought to serve. Looking at the example that his uncle had set, he could not have been entirely happy in his position . By the middle of the year, he began to change his tune and started to support the interests of working people. Even as a spokesperson for the Chamber of Commerce, Webber continued his activities in the community and subsequently offered himself for elections. On Friday, February 24, 1921, he attended a meeting of the (Wesleyan) East Indian Young Men’s Society (EIYMS), where he delivered an address...

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