I earnestly beg and urge that each convention remain in session until all differences are composed. In the event this cannot be done I hope each convention will empower a small committee or authorize some one to appoint committees that may have power in settling present difficulties so that next year there may be but one convention. It is easier now to bring about reconciliation than it will be later. It will be a calamity to the Baptist Church and to our race for the present split to continue. It will soon spread to all the Baptist churches in all the States. I would urge that each side manifest a broadliberal spirit and be willing to sacrifice something for the good of the cause. Millions of our humble people throughout the country are depending upon our leaders to settle their difficulties in a Christian spirit and they should not be disappointed. If I may be used at any time in any way my services are at your command. Have sent a similar telegram to Dr. ——.[Signed]Booker T. Washington.
I earnestly beg and urge that each convention remain in session until all differences are composed. In the event this cannot be done I hope each convention will empower a small committee or authorize some one to appoint committees that may have power in settling present difficulties so that next year there may be but one convention. It is easier now to bring about reconciliation than it will be later. It will be a calamity to the Baptist Church and to our race for the present split to continue. It will soon spread to all the Baptist churches in all the States. I would urge that each side manifest a broadliberal spirit and be willing to sacrifice something for the good of the cause. Millions of our humble people throughout the country are depending upon our leaders to settle their difficulties in a Christian spirit and they should not be disappointed. If I may be used at any time in any way my services are at your command. Have sent a similar telegram to Dr. ——.
[Signed]Booker T. Washington.
Unhappily he did not have the satisfaction of bringing the two factions together before he died, but until the last he continued his efforts in this direction.
Largely because of his intimate knowledge of the plain people Booker Washington appealed to the great of the earth. In his books, "Up from Slavery," "The Story of My Life and Work," and "My Larger Education," he tells of taking tea with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle, of his association with Presidents McKinley, Roosevelt, and Taft, of his introduction to Prince Henry of Prussia, of his dining with the King and Queen of Denmark, and of his long friendships with William H. Baldwin, Jr., Robert C. Ogden, Henry H. Rogers, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie. He was of value and interest to such people largely because of his closeness to his own people. His power to interest such people was largely because he was so close to the rank and file of his own people.
After the death of Henry H. Rogers, Mr. Washington said of him in an interview published at the time in the New YorkEvening Post: "The more experiences I have ofthe world, the more I am convinced that the only proper and the only safe way to judge any one is at first hand and by your actual experience. It seems to me that, outside of the immediate members of my family, I knew the late Henry H. Rogers during the last fifteen years as well as I could know any one. Of all the men that I have ever known intimately, no matter what their station in life, Mr. Rogers always impressed me as being among the kindest and gentlest. That was the impression he made upon me the first time I ever met him, and during the fifteen years that I knew him that impression was deepened every time I met him." (And this was Booker Washington's impression of the second greatest figure in the building up of the huge, world-powerful corporation whose methods during its period of rapid expansion had at that time been only recently described inMcClure's Magazineby Ida M. Tarbell.) "I am sure that the members of his family will forgive me for telling, now that he has laid down his great work and gone to rest, some things about him which I feel that the public should know but which he always forbade me to mention while he lived.
"The first time I ever met Mr. Rogers was in this manner: about fifteen years ago a large meeting was held in Madison Square Garden concert hall, to obtain funds for the Tuskegee Institute. Mr. Rogers attended the meeting, but came so late that, as the auditorium was crowded, he could not get a seat. He stood in the back part of the hall, however, and listened to the speaking.
"The next morning I received a telegram from him asking me to call at his office. When I entered he remarked that he had been present at the meeting the night previous, and expected the 'hat to be passed,' but as that was not done he wanted to 'chip in' something. Thereupon he handed me ten one-thousand-dollar bills for the Tuskegee Institute. In doing this he imposed only one condition, that the gift should be mentioned to no one. Later on, however, when I told him that I did not care to take so large a sum of money without some one knowing it, he consented that I tell one or two of our Trustees about the source of the gift. I cannot now recall the number of times that he has helped us, but in doing so he always insisted that his name be never used. He seemed to enjoy making gifts in currency."
In an article published inMcClure's Magazinein May, 1902, Rear-Admiral Robley D. Evans thus describes the occasion on which he presented Booker Washington to Prince Henry of Prussia: "The first request made by Prince Henry, after being received in New York, was that I should arrange to give him some of the old Southern melodies, if possible, sung by Negroes; that he was passionately fond of them, and had been all his life—not the ragtime songs, but the old Negro melodies. Several times during his trip I endeavored to carry out his wishes, with more or less success; but finally, at the Waldorf-Astoria, the Hampton singers presented themselves in one of the reception rooms and gave him a recital of Indian and Negro melodies. He was charmed. And while I was talking tohim, just after a Sioux Indian had sung a lullaby, he suddenly turned and said: 'Isn't that Booker T. Washington over there?' I recognized Washington and replied that it was, and he said: 'Evans, would you mind presenting him to me? I know how some of your people feel about Washington, but I have always had great sympathy with the African race, and I want to meet the man I regard as the leader of that race.' So I went at once to Washington and told him that the Prince wished him to be presented, and took him, myself, and presented him to the Prince. Booker Washington sat down and talked with him for fully ten minutes, and it was a most interesting conversation, one of the most interesting I ever heard in my life. The ease with which Washington conducted himself was very striking, and I only accounted for it afterward when I remembered that he had dined with the Queen of England two or three times, so that this was not a new thing for him. Indeed, Booker Washington's manner was easier than that of almost any other man I saw meet the Prince in this country. The Prince afterward referred to President Roosevelt's action in regard to Booker Washington, and applauded it very highly."
In 1911 Mr. Washington visited Denmark with the particular purpose of observing the world-famed agricultural methods of that country. While in Copenhagen he was presented to the King and Queen. This experience he described on his return to this country in an article published in the New YorkAge, the well-known Negro paper, in December of the same year. The portion of the article describing his meeting with the King and Queen reads as follows:
"Soon after I entered, the Chamberlain went in and presently returned to tell me the King would be ready to see me in about five minutes. At the end of the five minutes exactly the door was opened and I found myself in the King's chamber. I had expected to see a gorgeously fitted apartment, something to compare with what I had seen elsewhere in the palace. Imagine my surprise when I found practically nothing in the room except the King, himself. There was not a chair, a sofa, or, so far as I can recall, a single thing in the way of furniture—nothing except the King and his sword. I was surprised again, considering the formality by which he was surrounded, by the familiar and kindly manner in which the King received me, and by his excellent English. Both of us remained standing during the whole interview, which must have lasted twenty minutes. I say we remained standing, because, even had etiquette permitted it we could not have done anything else because there was nothing in the room for either of us to sit upon."I had been warned by the American Minister and Mr. Cavling, however, as to what might be the result of this interview. Among other things in regard to which I had been carefully instructed by the American Minister was I must never turn my back upon the King, that I must not lead off in any conversation, that I must let the King suggest the subjects to be discussed, and not take the initiative in raising any question for discussion. I tried to follow Minister Egan's instructions in this regard as well as I could, but I fear I was not wholly successful."I had not been talking with the King many minutes before I found that he was perfectly familiar with the work of the Tuskegee school, that he had read much that I had written, and was well acquainted with all that I was trying to do for the Negroes in the South. He referred to the fact that Denmark was interested in the colored people in their own colony in the Danish West Indies, and that both he and the Queen were anxious that something be done for the colored people in the Danish possessions similar to what we were doing at Tuskegee. He added that he hoped at some time I would find it possible to visit the Danish West Indian Islands."As I have said, I had been warned as to what might be the result of this visit to the King and that I had best be careful how I made my plans for the evening. As the interview was closing, the King took me by the hand and said, 'The Queen would be pleased to have you dine at the palace to-night,' at the same time naming the hour."The Minister had told me that this was his way of commanding persons to dine, and that an invitation given must be obeyed. Of course I was delighted to accept the invitation, though I feared it would wreck my plans for seeing the country people. The King was so kind and put me so at my ease in his presence that I fear I forgot Minister Eagan's warning not to turn my back upon him, and I must confess that I got out of the room in about the same way I usually go out of the room when I have had an audience with President Taft."Leaving the King and the palace, I found out on the street quite a group of newspaper people, most of them representing American papers, who were very anxious to know, in the usual American fashion, just what took place during the interview, how long I was with the King, what we talked about, and what not. They were especiallyanxious to know if I had been invited to the palace for dinner."
"Soon after I entered, the Chamberlain went in and presently returned to tell me the King would be ready to see me in about five minutes. At the end of the five minutes exactly the door was opened and I found myself in the King's chamber. I had expected to see a gorgeously fitted apartment, something to compare with what I had seen elsewhere in the palace. Imagine my surprise when I found practically nothing in the room except the King, himself. There was not a chair, a sofa, or, so far as I can recall, a single thing in the way of furniture—nothing except the King and his sword. I was surprised again, considering the formality by which he was surrounded, by the familiar and kindly manner in which the King received me, and by his excellent English. Both of us remained standing during the whole interview, which must have lasted twenty minutes. I say we remained standing, because, even had etiquette permitted it we could not have done anything else because there was nothing in the room for either of us to sit upon.
"I had been warned by the American Minister and Mr. Cavling, however, as to what might be the result of this interview. Among other things in regard to which I had been carefully instructed by the American Minister was I must never turn my back upon the King, that I must not lead off in any conversation, that I must let the King suggest the subjects to be discussed, and not take the initiative in raising any question for discussion. I tried to follow Minister Egan's instructions in this regard as well as I could, but I fear I was not wholly successful.
"I had not been talking with the King many minutes before I found that he was perfectly familiar with the work of the Tuskegee school, that he had read much that I had written, and was well acquainted with all that I was trying to do for the Negroes in the South. He referred to the fact that Denmark was interested in the colored people in their own colony in the Danish West Indies, and that both he and the Queen were anxious that something be done for the colored people in the Danish possessions similar to what we were doing at Tuskegee. He added that he hoped at some time I would find it possible to visit the Danish West Indian Islands.
"As I have said, I had been warned as to what might be the result of this visit to the King and that I had best be careful how I made my plans for the evening. As the interview was closing, the King took me by the hand and said, 'The Queen would be pleased to have you dine at the palace to-night,' at the same time naming the hour.
"The Minister had told me that this was his way of commanding persons to dine, and that an invitation given must be obeyed. Of course I was delighted to accept the invitation, though I feared it would wreck my plans for seeing the country people. The King was so kind and put me so at my ease in his presence that I fear I forgot Minister Eagan's warning not to turn my back upon him, and I must confess that I got out of the room in about the same way I usually go out of the room when I have had an audience with President Taft.
"Leaving the King and the palace, I found out on the street quite a group of newspaper people, most of them representing American papers, who were very anxious to know, in the usual American fashion, just what took place during the interview, how long I was with the King, what we talked about, and what not. They were especiallyanxious to know if I had been invited to the palace for dinner."
And further on he thus describes the dinner:
"The dinner was not at the palace where I was received in the morning, but at the summer palace several miles out of Copenhagen. When I reached the hotel from the country it soon dawned upon me that I was in great danger of being late. To keep a King and Queen and their guests waiting on one for dinner would of course be an outrageous offense. I dressed as hastily as I was able, but just as I was putting on the finishing touches to my costume my white tie bursted. I was in a predicament from which for a moment I saw no means of rescuing myself. I did not have time to get another tie, and of course I could not wear the black one. As well as I could, however, I put the white tie about my neck, fastened it with a pin, and earnestly prayed that it might remain in decent position until the dinner was over. Nevertheless, I trembled all through the dinner for fear that my tie might go back on me."I succeeded in reaching the summer palace about ten minutes before the time to go into the dining-room. Here again I was met by the King's Chamberlain by whom I was conveyed through a series of rooms and, finally, into the presence of the King, who, after some conversation, led me where the Queen was standing and presented me to her. The Queen received me graciously and even cordially. She spoke English perfectly, and seemed perfectly familiar with my work. I had, however, a sneaking idea that Minister Egan was responsible for a good deal of the familiarity which both the King and Queen seemed to exhibit regarding Tuskegee."As I entered the reception-room there were about twenty or twenty-five people who were to be entertained at dinner. I will not attempt to describe the elegance, not to say splendor, of everything in connection with the dinner. As I ate food for the first time in my life out of gold dishes, I could not but recall the time when as a slave boy I ate my syrup from a tin plate."I think I got through the dinner pretty well by following my usual custom, namely, of watching other people to see just what they did and what they did not do. There was one place, however, where I confess I made a failure. It is customary at the King's table, as is true at other functions in many portions of Europe, I understand, to drink a silent toast to the King. This was so new and strange to me that I decided that, since I did not understand the custom, the best thing was to frankly confess my ignorance. I reassured myself with the reflection that people will easier pardon ignorance than pretense."At a certain point during the dinner each guest is expected, it seems, to get the eye of the King and then rise and drink to the health of the King. When he rises he makes a bow to the King and the King returns the bow. Nothing is said by either the King or the guest. I think practically all the invited guests except myself went through this performance. It seemed to me a very fitting way of expressing respect for the King, as the head of a nation and as a man, and now that I know something about it, I think if I had another chance I could do myself credit in that regard."During the dinner I had the privilege of meeting a very interesting old gentleman, now some eighty years of age, the uncle of the King, Prince ——, who spoke good English. I had a very interesting conversation with him,and since returning to America I have had some correspondence with him."As I have already said, the Queen Mother of England was at this time in Copenhagen, and as I afterward learned, her sister, the Queen Mother of Russia, was also there. As both of these were in mourning on account of the recent death of King Edward, they did not appear at this dinner. I was reminded of their presence, however, when as I was leaving the King's palace after my interview in the morning, one of the marshals presented me with two autograph books, with the request that I inscribe my name in them. One of the books, as I afterward learned, belonged to the Queen Mother of England; the other belonged to the Queen Mother of Russia."
"The dinner was not at the palace where I was received in the morning, but at the summer palace several miles out of Copenhagen. When I reached the hotel from the country it soon dawned upon me that I was in great danger of being late. To keep a King and Queen and their guests waiting on one for dinner would of course be an outrageous offense. I dressed as hastily as I was able, but just as I was putting on the finishing touches to my costume my white tie bursted. I was in a predicament from which for a moment I saw no means of rescuing myself. I did not have time to get another tie, and of course I could not wear the black one. As well as I could, however, I put the white tie about my neck, fastened it with a pin, and earnestly prayed that it might remain in decent position until the dinner was over. Nevertheless, I trembled all through the dinner for fear that my tie might go back on me.
"I succeeded in reaching the summer palace about ten minutes before the time to go into the dining-room. Here again I was met by the King's Chamberlain by whom I was conveyed through a series of rooms and, finally, into the presence of the King, who, after some conversation, led me where the Queen was standing and presented me to her. The Queen received me graciously and even cordially. She spoke English perfectly, and seemed perfectly familiar with my work. I had, however, a sneaking idea that Minister Egan was responsible for a good deal of the familiarity which both the King and Queen seemed to exhibit regarding Tuskegee.
"As I entered the reception-room there were about twenty or twenty-five people who were to be entertained at dinner. I will not attempt to describe the elegance, not to say splendor, of everything in connection with the dinner. As I ate food for the first time in my life out of gold dishes, I could not but recall the time when as a slave boy I ate my syrup from a tin plate.
"I think I got through the dinner pretty well by following my usual custom, namely, of watching other people to see just what they did and what they did not do. There was one place, however, where I confess I made a failure. It is customary at the King's table, as is true at other functions in many portions of Europe, I understand, to drink a silent toast to the King. This was so new and strange to me that I decided that, since I did not understand the custom, the best thing was to frankly confess my ignorance. I reassured myself with the reflection that people will easier pardon ignorance than pretense.
"At a certain point during the dinner each guest is expected, it seems, to get the eye of the King and then rise and drink to the health of the King. When he rises he makes a bow to the King and the King returns the bow. Nothing is said by either the King or the guest. I think practically all the invited guests except myself went through this performance. It seemed to me a very fitting way of expressing respect for the King, as the head of a nation and as a man, and now that I know something about it, I think if I had another chance I could do myself credit in that regard.
"During the dinner I had the privilege of meeting a very interesting old gentleman, now some eighty years of age, the uncle of the King, Prince ——, who spoke good English. I had a very interesting conversation with him,and since returning to America I have had some correspondence with him.
"As I have already said, the Queen Mother of England was at this time in Copenhagen, and as I afterward learned, her sister, the Queen Mother of Russia, was also there. As both of these were in mourning on account of the recent death of King Edward, they did not appear at this dinner. I was reminded of their presence, however, when as I was leaving the King's palace after my interview in the morning, one of the marshals presented me with two autograph books, with the request that I inscribe my name in them. One of the books, as I afterward learned, belonged to the Queen Mother of England; the other belonged to the Queen Mother of Russia."
A mere catalogue of the principal organizations which Booker T. Washington founded for the purpose of helping his people to help themselves tells a story of constructive achievement more impressive than any amount of abstract eulogy.
The following is a list of such organizations given in chronological order with a few words of description for the purpose of identifying each:
In 1884 he founded the Teachers' Institute, consisting of summer courses, conferences, and exhibits having as their main purpose the extension of the advantages of Tuskegee Institute to the country school teachers of the surrounding country. The work of this Institute is described in the chapter: "Washington, the Educator."
In 1891 he established the Annual Tuskegee Negro Conference. He decided that the school should not only helpdirectly its own students, but should reach out and help the students' parents and the older people generally in the country districts of the State. He started by inviting the farmers and their wives in the immediate locality to spend a day at the school for the frank discussion of their material and spiritual condition to the end that the school might learn how it could best help them to help themselves. From this simple beginning the Conference has grown until it now consists of delegates from every Southern State, besides hundreds of teachers and principals of Negro schools, Northern men and women, publicists and philanthropists, newspaper and magazine writers, Southern white men and Southern white women, all interested in helping the simple black folk in their strivings to "quit libin' in de ashes," as one of them fervently expressed it. At one of these conferences an old preacher from a country district concluded an earnest prayer for the deliverance of his people from the bondage of ignorance with this startling sentence: "And now, O Lord, put dy foot down in our hearts and lif' us up!"
The year following Mr. Washington established a hospital in Greenwood village, the hamlet adjoining the Institute grounds where live most of the teachers, officers, and employees. It was at first hardly more than a dispensary, but when the Institute acquired a Resident Physician two small buildings were set aside as hospitals for men and women, respectively. Later a five-thousand-dollar building was given which served as the hospital until, in 1913, Mrs. Elizabeth A. Mason, of Boston, presented Tuskegeewith a fifty-thousand-dollar splendidly equipped modern hospital, in memory of her grandfather, John A. Andrew, the War Governor of Massachusetts. While these hospitals, from the first humble dispensary to the fine hospital of to-day, were of course primarily for the Institute they were in true Tuskegee fashion thrown open to all who needed them. And since the town of Tuskegee has no hospital they have always been freely used by outside colored people. Mr. Washington, himself, on his riding and hunting trips would from time to time find sick people whom he would have brought to the hospital for care.
The next year, 1893, he started the Minister's Night School. This is conducted by the Phelps Hall Bible Training School of the Institute. Here country ministers with large families and small means are given night courses in all the subjects likely to be of service to them from "Biblical criticism" to the "planting and cultivating of crops."
The year following Mrs. Washington began the Tuskegee Town Mothers' Meetings. Both she and Mr. Washington had long been distressed at seeing the women and young girls loafing about the streets of the town of Tuskegee when they came to town with their husbands and fathers on Saturday afternoons. Now, instead of loafing about the streets these women attend the Mothers' Meetings where Mrs. Washington and the various women teachers give them practical talks on all manner of housekeeping and family-raising problems from the making of preserves to proper parental care.
In 1895 the Building and Loan Association was established. The Institute's chief accountant is its president, and the Institute's treasurer its secretary and treasurer. This Association has enabled many scores of people to secure their own homes who without its aid could not have done so.
The next year the Town Night School was started. This school has as its purpose giving instruction to the boys and girls who have positions in the town which make it impossible for them to attend the Institute, and to the servants in the white families. This school has become one of the best and strongest forces in the life of the community. As an outgrowth of it came later the Town Library and Reading Room, for which Mr. Washington personally provided the room. There is now in this school a cooking class for girls and several industrial classes for boys. At the same time Mr. Washington established a Farmers' Institute which is described in the chapter "Washington and the Negro Farmer."
In 1898 he started a County Fair to spur the ambition of the Negro farmers of the county. This Negro County Fair under his guidance grew and flourished from year to year. The whites maintained a separate County Fair. Finally the two fairs were combined, and now one of the most flourishing County Fairs in all the South is conducted, both races supporting it by making exhibits, and sharing in the success and profits of the enterprise, as well as in its general management.
In 1900 he organized the National Negro BusinessLeague, as described in the chapter, "Washington and the Negro Business Man."
Two years later he established the Greenwood Village Improvement Association for the little community which has grown up around the school. Taxes are collected from the property holders as well as the renters for the upkeep of the roads, bridges, and fences, and a park in the centre of the village, which was introduced in emulation of the typical New England village. Just as in New England, also, this central park, or "green," is surrounded by a number of churches. An elective Board of Control presides over this village, settles disputes, and keeps the community in good repair morally and spiritually, as well as physically. On the Monday immediately following the close of a regular school term a town meeting is held at which reports are read and discussed covering every phase of the life of the community. Mr. Washington particularly enjoyed presiding at these meetings because they demonstrated what the people of his race could accomplish under a favorable and stimulating environment. He always contrived to have the meetings followed by simple refreshments and a social hour.
In 1904 he started the Rural School Improvement Campaign and the Farmers' Short Course at the Institute, both of which are described in the chapter, "Washington, the Educator." In the same year he started a systematic effort to improve the conditions in the jails and the chain gangs and for the rehabilitation of released prisoners.
The next year he founded a weekly farm paper, a circulating library, and a Ministers' Institute. The year after, 1906, the Jesup Agricultural Wagon—the agricultural school on wheels, which is described in the chapter, "Washington, the Educator"—was started. In 1907 the farmers' coöperative demonstration work, which has also been mentioned, was inaugurated. In 1910 the rural improvement speaking tours began. And finally, in 1914, he established "Baldwin Farms," the farming community for the graduates of the agricultural department of Tuskegee, which also has been previously described.
These, then, are some of the tangible means which Booker Washington developed during a period of thirty years for keeping in touch with his people and for keeping his people in touch with one another and with all the things which go to make up wholesome and useful living.
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON was a great believer in the experience meeting, and the Tuskegee Negro Conference, which he started in 1891, is nothing more nor less than an agricultural experience meeting. He placed his faith in the persuasive power of example—in the contagion of successful achievement. He once said: "One farm bought, one house built, one home sweetly and intelligently kept, one man who is the largest taxpayer or has the largest bank account, one school or church maintained, one factory running successfully, one truck garden profitably cultivated, one patient cured by a Negro doctor, one sermon well preached, one office well filled, one life cleanly lived—these will tell more in our favor than all the abstract eloquence that can be summoned to plead our cause. Our pathway must be up through the soil, up through swamps, up through forests, up through the streams, the rocks, up through commerce, education, and religion."
Nothing delighted Mr. Washington more than the successful Negro farmers who had started in life without money, friends, influence, or education—with literally nothing but their hands. At one of the Tuskegee conferences not many years ago his keen eyes spotted such a man in the audience and he called to him in his straight from the shoulder manner: "Get up and tell us what you have been doing as a farmer."
A tall, finely built, elderly man, looking almost like a Nubian giant, arose in his place, his face wreathed in smiles, and showing his white teeth as he spoke: "Doctor, I done 'tended one o' yore conferences here 'bout ten year ago. I heard you say dat a man ain't wurth nuthin' as a man or a citizen 'less he owns his home, 'least one mule, and has a bank account, an' so I made up my mind dat I warn't wuth nuthin', an' so I went home an' talked de whole matter over wid de ol' woman. We decided dat we would make a start, an' now I's proud to tell you dat I's not only got a bank account, but I's got two bank accounts, an' heah's de bank books (proudly holding on high two grimy bank books); I also own two hun'ed acres of land an' all de land is paid for. I also own two mules, an' bofe dem mules is paid for. I also own some other property, an' de ole woman an' me an' de chilluns lives in a good house an' de house is paid for. All dis come 'bout from my comin' to dis heah conference."
Another old fellow, when called upon to tell what he had accomplished, dexterously evaded the direct inquiry for some minutes, and when Mr. Washington finally succeeded in pinning him down, said: "All I's got to say, Doctah Washington, is dat dis heah conference dun woke me up an' I'll be back heah next year wid a report jist like dese oder fellers."
Mr. Washington was a great believer in his favorite animal, the pig, as a mortgage lifter and general aid to prosperity. At one of the conferences, after he had paid a particularly warm eulogy to the economic importance of the pig, an old woman got up and said: "Mr. Washington, you is got befo' you now Sister Nelson of Tallapoosa County, Alabama. All I has I owes to dis conference and one little puppy dog."
Mr. Washington challenged: "How's that?"
The old woman continued: "I got a little pig from dat little puppy dog an' I got my prosperity from dat pig!"
Mr. Washington and the whole company in amazement hung upon the old woman's words as she continued: "It was dis way: Dat little puppy dog when she growed up had some little puppies herself. One day one o' my fren's come by an' as' me for one o' dem puppies. I tol' him 'No,' I would not gib him dat puppy, but dat he had a little pig an' I would 'change a puppy for a pig. I had heard you tell ober heah so much 'bout hogs an' pigs dat I thought dis was a good chance to get started. He give me de pig an' I give him de puppy. In de course o' time dat little pig dun bring me in some mo' pigs. I sol' some an' kep' some. I had to feed de pig, so I had begun savin'. I den begun to find out dat I could git on wid less den I had ben gettin' on wid, an' so I kep' on savin' an' kep' on raisin' pigs 'til I was able to supply most o' my neighbors wid pigs, an' den I got me a cow, an den I begun to supply my neighbors wid milk, an' den I started me a little garden. Den I sol' my neighbors greens an' onions, an' so I wenton fum time to time 'til I dun paid for de lot an' de house in which I lib, an' I keeps my pigs about me an' keeps my garden goin', an' dat's why I says all I is I owes to dat little puppy dog an' to dis heah conference."
At these conferences the most elementary subjects are discussed. Booker Washington would tell and have told to these farmers matters which one would naturally assume any farmers, however ignorant, must already know. He never tried to deceive himself as to the woful ignorance of the Negro masses, and still he was never discouraged, but always said ignorance was not a hopeless handicap because it could be overcome by education. While he frankly although sadly acknowledged the lamentable ignorance of the rank and file of his race, particularly those on the soil and dependent for education upon the short-term, ill-equipped, and poorly taught rural Negro school, he as stoutly denied and constantly disproved the assertion that these ignorant masses were not capable of profiting by education. He earnestly strove and signally succeeded in attracting to these great annual agricultural conferences the most pathetically ignorant of the Negro farmers as well as the leading scientific agriculturists of the race. But he always insisted that the meetings be conducted for the benefit of the ignorant and not in the interests of the learned.
He would, for instance, tell the attendants at the conferences what to plant and when to plant it, and what live stock to keep and how to keep it. He would have printed and distributed among them a "Farmer's Calendar"which gave the months in which the various standard vegetables should be planted and what crops should be used in rotation. He constantly insisted that the Experiment Station at Tuskegee Institute, supported by the State of Alabama, should not be used for scientific experiments of interest only to experts, but should deal with the fundamental problems with which the Negro farmers of Alabama were daily confronted. The titles of some of the Experiment Station Bulletins selected at random suggest the homely and practical nature of the information disseminated. Half a dozen of them read as follows: "Possibilities of the Sweet Potato in Macon County, Alabama," "How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing It for Human Consumption," "How to Raise Pigs with Little Money," "When, What, and How to Can and Preserve Fruits and Vegetables in the Home," "Some Possibilities of the Cowpea in Macon County, Alabama," "A New and Prolific Variety of Cotton." And all of these bulletins, so many of which deal with the problems of the home, are written by an old bachelor of pure African descent, without a drop of white blood, who in himself refutes two popular fallacies: the one that bachelors cannot be skilled in domestic affairs, and the other, that pure-blooded Africans cannot achieve intellectual distinction. This man is George W. Carver, who is not only the most eminent agricultural scientist of his race in this country, but one of the most eminent of any race. His work is so well known in scientific circles in his field throughout the world that when leading European scientists visit this country, particularly the Southern States, they not infrequently go out of their way to look him up. They are usually very much surprised to find their eminent fellow-scientist a black man.
The last of these conferences over which Booker Washington presided was held at Tuskegee, January 20 and 21, 1915. A woman, the wife of a Negro farmer, was testifying when she said: "Our menfolks is foun' out dat they can't eat cotton." As the outburst of laughter which greeted this remark died down, Mr. Washington said in his incisive way: "What do you mean?" The woman replied: "I mean dat we womenfolks been tellin' our menfolks all de time dat they should raise mo to eat."
She then displayed specimens of canned fruits and told how she had put up enough of them to supply her family until summer. She told of having sold thirty-six turkeys and of selling two and three dozen eggs each week, with plenty left over for her family. She said that she and her husband had raised and sold hogs, and still had for their own use more than enough pork to last them until the next hog-killing time.
"How often do you eat chicken?" asked Dr. Washington.
"We can eat chicken every day if we want it," she replied.
When she had finished Mr. Washington explained that all this had been done on 178 acres of the poorest land in Macon County.
In his opening address at this conference Mr. Washington denounced "petty thieving, pistol-toting, crap-shooting, the patronizing of 'blind tigers,' and unnecessary lawsuits" as some of the weights and encumbrances which are keeping the Negro from running well the race which is set before him.
These are some of the basic questions which Booker Washington placed before the conference for discussion:
"How and why am I so hard hit by the present hard times?"
"What am I doing to meet present conditions?"
"How may I, after all, get some real benefit from present difficulties?"
The most spectacular feature of the exercises was the parade. It extended for almost a mile and included a score or more of floats, hundreds of men and women in appropriate costumes, and dozens of horses, mules, and other live stock.
There were a large number of colored preachers in attendance who showed that they had adopted the Washington slogan of trying to make a heaven on earth and whose testimony showed that they were now giving as much time to soil salvation as to soul salvation. One of them told of a flourishing Pig Club which he had organized among his parishioners after reading Mr. Washington's open letter, "Pigs and Education; Pigs and Debts," the circulating of which will be later described.
Old woman
This old woman was a regular attendant at the Tuskegee Negro Conference and idolizingly watched Mr. Washington during the whole four hours that he would preside over one of the Conference sessions.
After the awarding of prizes for the best floats the declarations of the conference were read by Major R.R. Moton of Hampton Institute, who then little realized that before the year was out he was to be chosen to succeed the leader of his race as the Principal of Tuskegee Institute.
The following were the especially significant paragraphs of these declarations:
"It is found that for every dollar's worth of cotton we grow, we raise only forty-nine cents' worth of all other crops. An investigation has shown that there are 20,000 farms of Negroes on which there are no cattle of any kind; 270,000 on which there are no hogs; 200,000 on which no poultry is raised; 140,000 on which no corn is grown; on 750,000 farms of Negroes no oats are grown; on 550,000 farms no sweet potatoes are grown, and on 320,000 farms of Negroes there are no gardens of any sort. These hundreds of thousands of farms without cattle, grain, or gardens are for the most part operated by tenants. In their behalf, the Tuskegee Negro Conference respectfully requests of the planters, bankers, and other representatives of the financial interests of the South that more opportunities be given Negro tenants on plantations to grow crops other than cotton."
After the regular conference the usual Conference of Workers was held. This conference is composed of people such as heads of schools and colleges, preachers, teachers, and persons generally holding responsible positions of leadership in their respective communities. These leaders discuss the larger community problems in distinction from individual problems. At this gathering, for instance, the principal of the County High School at Cottage Grove, Ala., explained how through diversified farming theparents of his students had been able to live while holding their cotton for higher prices.
Some of the principals of schools told how they had accepted cotton as payment of tuition for some of their students. Others had taken in payment barrels of syrup, sacks of corn, and hogs. All the schools reported cutting expenses, by reduction of their dietary, the salaries of teachers, or some other forms of retrenchment, meaning sacrifice for students or teachers, or both, that the work of education might continue and weather the hard times. In concluding the conference Booker Washington explained the terms of the recently enacted Smith Lever Act for Federal aid in the extension of agricultural education throughout the rural districts of the country. Thus ended the twentieth session of the great Tuskegee Negro Conference and the last session presided over by the Founder of the Conference. It was most appropriate that this, his last conference, should have so unanimously and effectively applied one of the leading tenets of Booker Washington's teaching—namely, the winning of lasting profit from the experiences of adversity.
As well as these annual Farmers' Conferences there are held at Tuskegee monthly meetings for the farmers from the locality where they display their products, tell of their successes and failures, and compare notes on their experiences all under the expert leadership, guidance, and advice of the staff of the agricultural department of the Institute. Every month, or oftener, there is an agricultural exhibit in which the best products of the various crops such as potatoes, corn, and cotton are displayed, and the methods used in their production explained by figures and graphic charts.
As early as 1895 Booker Washington started a campaign to get his people to raise more pigs. This campaign he revived at intervals, and for the last time in the fall of 1914, when the whole country and particularly the South was suffering from the first acute depression caused by the European War. In the Southern States this depression was, of course, especially acute because the European market for cotton was for the time being cut off. As one of the means to aid his people in this trying time he sent the following letter to the entire press of the South of both races:
"PIGS AND EDUCATION; PIGS AND DEBTS"To the Editor:Our race is in constant search of means with which to provide better homes, schools, colleges, and churches, and with which to pay debts. This is especially true during the hard financial conditions obtaining on account of the European War. All of this cannot be done at once, but great progress can be made by a good strong pull together in a simple, direct manner. How?There are 1,400,000 colored families who live on farms or in villages, or small towns. Of this number, at the present time, 700,000 have no pigs. I want to ask that each family raise at least one pig this fall. Where one or more pigs are already owned, I want to ask that each family raise one additional pig this fall.As soon as possible, I want to ask that this plan be followed by the organization of a Pig Club in every community where one does not already exist. I want to ask that the matter be taken up at once through families, schools, churches, and societies, Farmers' Institutes, Business Leagues, etc.The average pig is valued at about $5. If each family adds only one pig, in a few months at the present price for hogs, $10 would be added to the wealth of the owner, and $14,000,000 to the wealth of the colored people. If each family adds two pigs, it would have in a few months $20 more wealth, and $28,000,000 would be added with which to promote the welfare of the race during the money stringency created by the European War.Let us not put it off, but organize Pig Clubs everywhere. Give each boy and girl an opportunity to own and grow at least one pig.[Signed]Booker T. Washington,Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.
"PIGS AND EDUCATION; PIGS AND DEBTS"
To the Editor:
Our race is in constant search of means with which to provide better homes, schools, colleges, and churches, and with which to pay debts. This is especially true during the hard financial conditions obtaining on account of the European War. All of this cannot be done at once, but great progress can be made by a good strong pull together in a simple, direct manner. How?
There are 1,400,000 colored families who live on farms or in villages, or small towns. Of this number, at the present time, 700,000 have no pigs. I want to ask that each family raise at least one pig this fall. Where one or more pigs are already owned, I want to ask that each family raise one additional pig this fall.
As soon as possible, I want to ask that this plan be followed by the organization of a Pig Club in every community where one does not already exist. I want to ask that the matter be taken up at once through families, schools, churches, and societies, Farmers' Institutes, Business Leagues, etc.
The average pig is valued at about $5. If each family adds only one pig, in a few months at the present price for hogs, $10 would be added to the wealth of the owner, and $14,000,000 to the wealth of the colored people. If each family adds two pigs, it would have in a few months $20 more wealth, and $28,000,000 would be added with which to promote the welfare of the race during the money stringency created by the European War.
Let us not put it off, but organize Pig Clubs everywhere. Give each boy and girl an opportunity to own and grow at least one pig.
[Signed]Booker T. Washington,Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.
This letter was not only printed by most of the white papers as well as all of the Negro papers, but it was widely endorsed editorially in the white as well as the black press. Many of the newspapers for whites urged that the white farmers also follow the suggestion. The granges and farmers' institutes of both races took up the appeal and urged it upon their members. There can be no doubt that through the publication of this one brief letter, sent out at just the right psychological moment, Booker Washington materially aided the Southern farmers of both races to tide over a serious crisis and materially increased the economic wealth of the entire South. As he well knew, the people were desperate and panicky and hence ready tofollow almost any lead. In any ordinary state of the public mind such a letter could have produced nothing like such an influence. This well illustrated Booker Washington's accurate knowledge of and feeling for the psychology of the public which enabled him almost without exception to speak or remain silent at the right times.
Booker Washington was not only interested in black farmers but white farmers. He always emphasized the responsibility of the farmer as the builder of the foundations of society. He was constantly inviting the white farmers of the surrounding country to visit the school and see what was being done on the school farms and by the Experiment Station. And the white farmers availed themselves freely of this opportunity and profited by it. The school's veterinarian is probably the only one in the county, and this division was established very largely for the purpose of bringing the school and the community—both white and black—into closer relation. In dealing with farmers, even more perhaps than with other classes of people, Washington would appeal to their pride and even to their vanity. He was fond of telling them that they were the salt of the earth. One of his favorite stories was about the farmer who keeps his best potatoes for himself and his family and sends the speckled ones to town; keeps his tender young chickens and sends the old tough ones to town; keeps his rich milk and sends his skimmed milk to town. While there may never have been quite such a farmer the story had its element of truth, andhelped to make the farmer appreciate his good fortune and his importance in the scheme of things.
In 1910, when the last Federal Census was taken, 503 Negro farm owners in Macon County, Booker Washington's home county, owned 61,689 acres, or an average of more than one hundred and twenty-two and one-half acres of land per man. This is probably the largest amount of land owned by the Negroes of any county in the United States. Certainly this was true at that time. The better class of Negro farmers has greatly increased during the past thirty years until at present from 90 to 95 per cent. of the 3,800 Negro farmers in the county operate their own farms either as cash tenants or owners. The increase in the number of Negroes owning or operating farms has been an important factor in securing a better quality and variety of food. They have diversified their crops and raised a larger amount of their own food supplies, particularly meat and vegetables, and they have produced more milk, butter, and eggs. It will be seen that Booker Washington's voice when he reiterated over and over again, "The man who owns the land will own much else besides," did not fall upon deaf ears.
When Booker Washington came to Macon County and founded Tuskegee Institute, in 1881, the soil was worn out, and cotton, the chief crop, was selling for an almost constantly lowering price. Although there were few counties with a lower yield of cotton per acre, one-quarter of a bale, over 42 per cent. of the tilled land of the county was devoted exclusively to this crop. Very little machinerywas used in the farming, the antique scooter plow and hoe being the main reliance. The soil was rarely tilled more than three or four inches deep. There was, in fact, a superstition among whites as well as blacks that deep plowing was injurious to the soil. Two-horse teams were seldom used. Sub-soiling, fall plowing, fallowing, and rotation of crops were little known and less practised. The county was producing per capita per year only about five pounds of butter, four dozen eggs, and less than three chickens.
The Negroes were with few exceptions shiftless and improvident plantation laborers and renters. Of the almost 13,000 Negroes in the county not more than fifty or sixty owned land. They lived almost exclusively in one-room cabins. Sometimes in addition to the immediate family there were relatives and friends living and sleeping in this one room. The common diet of these Negroes was fat pork, corn bread, and molasses. Many meals consisted of corn bread mixed with salt water. This, then, was the raw material with which Booker Washington had to work and from which has been developed, largely through his influence, one of the most prosperous agricultural counties in the South—a county which has been heralded in the press as feeding itself because of the great abundance and variety of its products. In 1910 the per capita production for the county was: 40 gallons of milk, 11 pounds of butter, 7 dozen eggs, and 5 chickens. It must, of course, do more than this before it will actually feed itself.
Mr. Washington was constantly drumming it into theconsciousness of the Negro farmer that as long as he remained ignorant and improvident he was sure to be exploited and imposed upon. He used to illustrate this by the story of the ignorant Negro who after paying a white man fifty cents a week for six months on a five-dollar loan cheerfully remarked: "Dat Mr. —— sho is one fine gen'lman, cause he never has ast me fo' one cent ob dat principal." It may be surmised that this type of money lender is not enthusiastic over Negro education.
It is significant of the importance which Booker Washington attached to agriculture that the first great Federal official whom he invited to visit the school was the National Secretary of Agriculture. In 1897 he got the Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture in President McKinley's Cabinet, to visit Tuskegee and attend the dedication of the school's first agricultural building.
Secretary Wilson arrived at night accompanied by Dr. J.L.M. Curry, a Southerner, a leader of the educational thought of the South, and the secretary of the John F. Slater Fund Board. The students lined up on either side of the main thoroughfare through the school grounds with back of them a great gathering of the farmers from the surrounding territory and many from a distance. Each one of this great throng was given a pine torch and all these torches were simultaneously lighted as Secretary Wilson entered the school grounds. The Secretary and Doctor Curry, preceded by the Institute Band, rode between these two great masses of cheering people and flaming torches.
The next day the dedication exercises were held on a specially constructed platform piled high with the finest specimens of every product known to that section of the South. On this platform, with the Secretary and Doctor Curry, were the State Commissioner of Agriculture and several other high State officials and many other prominent white citizens. This was the formal launching of the Agricultural Department of the school. George W. Carver, the full-blooded African and eminent agricultural scientist, of whom mention has already been made, had recently been placed in charge of this department. He had come from the Agricultural Department of Iowa State College, of which Secretary Wilson had been the head.
The annual budget of this department alone is now nearly fifty thousand dollars a year, and more than a thousand acres of land are cultivated under the supervision of the agricultural staff. The modest building which Secretary Wilson helped to dedicate has long since been outgrown and the department is now housed in a large, impressive brick building known as the Millbank Agricultural Building.
Under the provisions of the Smith-Lever Act, passed by Congress in 1914 for the purpose of aiding the States in Agricultural Extension Work, Booker Washington secured for Tuskegee a portion of the funds allotted to the State of Alabama for such work. With the aid of these funds Agricultural Extension Schools have been organized. These schools are conducted in coöperation with theAgricultural Department of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute and the farm demonstration work of the United States Department of Agriculture. They are really a two days' Short Course in Agriculture carried out to the farmers on their own farms. These schools have the advantage over the Short Course given to the farmers on the Institute grounds in that they have the farmers' problems right before them, to be diagnosed and remedies applied at once. Through such schools farm instruction is being carried to the Negroes of every Black Belt County of Alabama.
T.M. Campbell of the Tuskegee Institute, the District Agent in charge of these Extension Schools for the Negro Farmers of Alabama, reports that among the subjects taught the men are home gardening, seed selection, repair of farm tools, the growing of legumes as soil builders and cover crops, best methods of fighting the boll-weevil, poultry raising, hog raising, corn raising, and pasture making. The women are instructed in sewing, cooking, washing and ironing, serving meals, making beds, and methods for destroying household pests and for the preservation of health. At all the meetings the names and addresses of those present are taken for the purpose of following them up by correspondence from the district agent's office, so that the benefits of the instruction shall not be lost from one year to another. The slogan for these Alabama schools is: "Alabama Must Feed Herself." Practically all the black farmers have shown a pathetic eagerness to learn and the white farmers and the whitedemonstration agents everywhere have heartily coöperated. Churches, schoolhouses, and courthouses have been placed at the district agent's disposal for the Extension School session. One of the most hopeful features of the experiment has been the great interest in this new and better farming aroused among the boys and girls—an interest which the ordinary rural school sadly fails even in attempting to arouse. All told throughout the State 3,872 colored people attended these schools the first year. The sessions were usually opened by a prayer offered by one of the rural preachers. In one such prayer the preacher said among other things: "O Lord, have mercy on dis removable school; may it purmernate dis whole lan' an' country!" At another meeting, after the workers had finished a session, some of the leading colored farmers were called on to speak. One of them opened his remarks with the words: "I ain't no speaker, but I jes wan' a tell you how much I done been steamilated by dis my only two days in school!"
A report of one of these schools held recently at Monroeville, Ala., reads: "Only subjects with which the rural people are directly concerned are introduced and stressed by the instructors, such as pasture making, necessary equipment for a one and two horse farm, care of farm tools, crop rotation, hog raising, care of the cow, seed selection, diversified farming, how to make homemade furniture, fighting the fly, and child welfare.
"The home economics teacher attracted the attention of all the colored farmers and also the white visitors byconstructing out of dry goods boxes an attractive and substantial dresser and washstand, completing the same before the audience, even to the staining, varnishing, hanging the mirrors and attaching the draperies." One paper, in estimating the value of these Movable Agricultural Schools said: "Given ten years of good practical agricultural instruction of the kind that was imparted to the Negro farmers, their wives and children, for the past three weeks in Wilcox, Perry, and Lowndes counties, there is no reason why every Negro farmer in the State should not only help 'Alabama feed herself,' but so increase the yield of its marketable products that the State will be able to export millions of dollars' worth of food and foodstuffs each year."
These Extension Schools are advertised by posters just like a country circus, except that the language is less grandiloquent. On the following page is a typical announcement presented in heavy black type on yellow paper.