One of the opportunities which he most highly prized and one of his most effective means of influencing the whole body of students was through his Sunday evening talks in the Chapel. Over two thousand students, teachers, teachers' families, and townspeople would crowd into the Chapel to hear these talks. They were stenographically reported and published in the school paper. In this wayhe influenced not only the undergraduates, but a large number of graduates and others who subscribed to the paper largely for the purpose of following these talks. We here quote from a previously unpublished (except in the school paper) collection of these talks, delivered during the school term of 1913-14, under the title of "What Parents Would Like to Hear Concerning Students While at School." The first talk was called, "For Old and New Students." In it he said in part: "I suspect that each one of your parents would like to know that you are learning to read your Bible; not only to read it because you have to, but to read it every day in the year because you have learned to love the Bible; because you have learned day by day to make its teachings a part of you.... Each one of you, in beginning your school year, should have a Bible, and you should make that Bible a part of your school life, a part of your very nature, and always, no matter how busy the day may be, no matter how many mistakes, no matter how many failures you make in other directions, do not fail to find a few minutes to study or read your Bible.
"The greatest people in the world, those who are most learned; those who bear the burdens and responsibilities of the world, are persons who are not ashamed to let the world know not only that they believe in the Bible, but that they read it."
And this was the advice of a man who never preached what he did not practise and who only a few years before had been denounced by many of the preachers ofhis own race as a Godless man, building up a Godless school!
A little further on he said: "In many cases you have come from homes where there was no regular time for getting up in the morning, no regular time for eating your meals, and no regular time for going to bed.
"Now the basis of civilization is system, order, regularity. A race or an individual which has no fixed habits, no fixed place of abode, no time for going to bed, for getting up in the morning, for going to work; no arrangement, order, or system in all the ordinary business of life, such a race and such an individual are lacking in self-control, lacking in some of the fundamentals of civilization....
"If you take advantage of all these opportunities, if your minds are so disposed that you can welcome and make the most of these advantages, these habits of order and system will soon be so fixed, so ingrained, so thoroughly a part of you that you will no longer tolerate disorder anywhere, that you will not be willing to endure the old slovenly habits which so many of you brought with you when you came here."
And later, in speaking of the haphazard, slipshod, irregular meal, he said: "Instead of bringing the family together it has put them wider apart. A house in which the family table is a mere lunch-counter is not and cannot be a home."
And just before concluding this talk he said: "Now what is true of this school is true of the world at large. This is a little world of itself. It is a small sample of civilization, an experiment station, so to speak, in which we are trying to prepare you to live in a manner a little more orderly, a little more efficient, and a little more civilized than you have lived heretofore. If you are not able to live and succeed here, you will not be able to live and succeed in the world outside. If we do not want you here, if we cannot get on with you here, it will mean that the world outside will not want you, will not be able to get on with you."
Probably no educator ever kept more constantly before his own mind and before the minds of his students and teachers that the purpose of education is preparation for right living than did Booker Washington. Everything that did not make for this end he eliminated, regardless of customs and traditions, everything which did make for this end he included, equally regardless of customs and traditions.
In a talk called, "Honor Thy Father and Thy Mother," the second of this series, he made this rather touching statement: "Many of your parents are poor. Not only that, but many of them are ignorant, at least, so far as books are concerned. Notwithstanding all this, in every case they have done something for you. It may have been, in many cases I know that it has been, a very little, but out of their poverty and out of their ignorance they have done something. They have made it possible, in the majority of cases, for you to come here, and no matter how poor they are, no matter how ignorant they are, their ambition is largely centred in you."
This is one of the many statements which show that Booker Washington had no illusions as to the ignorance and poverty of the rank and file of his people, and yet with this full knowledge and realization he never became discouraged.
In another of these talks, on "The Importance of Simplicity," he said: "In many cases young men in cities do not own anything in the world except what they are carrying around on their backs. They have a few collars and a few cuffs, some bright-colored socks and neckties, and that is all; nothing would be left of the man if you were to bury these things. A few collars and cuffs, neckties, and a few pieces of cheap jewelry—that is all there is of such men."
Later in the same talk he said: "Short, simple, direct sentences indicate education, indicate culture, indicate common sense. Some people think the way for them to show their education is by using big words, elaborate sentences, and by discussing subjects which nobody on earth can understand.
"Whenever you hear a man using words or talking on a subject that you can't understand, you can be very sure that the man does not understand himself what he is trying to talk about. If a man is talking about any subject, literary or what not, of which he is really master, he will be so direct, so simple, so perfectly clear and intelligible in the discussion of that subject that the most humble person can understand what he is saying."
In a talk on "Being Polite," he said: "It is often difficult, I might better say, it is always difficult, for persons to have genuine politeness in their hearts when they live in a country that is inhabited by different races. Here in the South, and throughout this country, for that matter, we come into contact with persons of another race, persons of another color. It takes some effort, some training, and often some determination to say, in dealing with a person of another race, of another color, I will be polite; I will be kind; I will be considerate."
In a talk on "Being Economical," he said: "You will help yourself and help this school if you will say to yourself constantly: 'This is my home; this property does not belong exclusively to the Trustees, but it is mine; I am a trustee, every student is a trustee of this institution. How can I make every dollar go as far as possible? How can I help cut down expenses here?'" And later on, "I want you to get into the habit of saying: 'This institution belongs to me, belongs to my race; every dollar that is spent here is spent for my benefit and for the benefit of my race; every cent that is wasted here is my loss and the loss of all the generations that come after me.'"
In a talk on "The Use of Time," he said: "You hear people speaking sometimes about 'killing time.' No civilized man should be allowed to kill time any more than he should be allowed to destroy any of the other natural resources. When you find a man engaged in 'killing time' you will find a man who is disobeying one of the most fundamental laws of civilization. A man who habitually devotes himself to 'killing time' is a dangerouscitizen and the law against vagrancy is aimed against him."
In a talk on "Being All Right, But," he said: "You frequently hear it said of certain persons in one connection or another that 'they are all right, except,' or 'they are all right, but.' You are thinking, perhaps, of employing some one for this or that important service and among others the question is asked: 'What kind of disposition has this one or that one?' Very often you receive an answer something like this: 'They are all right, but——' That 'but' carries with it a lot of things. There are too many people in the world who are 'all right, but.' We want to get rid of just as many of these 'buts' as we can." And in concluding the same talk he said: "Think big thoughts, think about big questions, read big books, and, most of all, get into contact with the big people of your acquaintance and get out from under the control of the little people of your acquaintance. If you will do this, gradually you will find yourself better fitted for life; you will find yourself happier and better fitted to render service...."
In a talk on "The Power of Persistence," he said: "Always keep your eye on the student who seems to be dull, who is slow in his studies, who has to repeat his class, but who keeps plodding along doggedly, determinedly, until he has finished the course of study.
"Keep your eye on that student after he has gone out into the world. He has learned to endure, he has learned to stick to his job in season and out of season...."
In a talk on "Standing Still," he said: "People say of us that, as a race, we are not capable of going very far, not capable of making steady, persistent progress. We go a little way and there we stop, stand still, and stagnate.... Now one of the things which this school aims to do for you and through you is to change, as far as possible, the reputation of our people in so far as they are regarded as unprogressive, lacking in initiative and in ability to go forward unwaveringly."
The concluding talk of this series, and perhaps the strongest of them all, was entitled, "Thou Shalt Not Steal." In it he said: "I believe if you could get down into the deep, dark corners of your own hearts, and if you could get deep down into the hearts of your parents, you could find there, in both cases, a misgiving, a sense of danger, never clearly expressed but always present, a fear that some time, somewhere, trouble was in store for you and for them.
"This is so far true, in some cases of which I know, that if parents should some day learn that their children were in trouble they would not be surprised, because they have expected it, looked forward to it, and feared it; because they have known and suspected all along that you had never thoroughly learned to control yourself when dealing with other people's property...."
Later on he added: "This disposition to pilfer was, to a large extent, a part of the history of slavery. It was rare when colored people who belonged to a white family where they served as cooks, butlers, or in some other formof household service, did not feel that everything belonging to the white family belonged equally to them. Thus, when freedom came, it was difficult to get the colored cook to feel that she was a mere employee, that in the wages she received by the week or month she was being paid for her services for cooking. It was very hard to get her away from the customs and practises of slavery, especially when receiving very small wages.
"In many cases boys and girls have seen or have known that their mothers kept up this practice of pilfering from persons for whom they cooked. They have seen it going on day after day and year after year in their own homes and have observed that employers seem to expect it, wink at it, at any rate, put up with it. While they know, as their parents know, that it is wrong, they have nevertheless come to feel that it is one of the ways in which black folk and white folk get on together; one of the indirect ways, in other words, in which black people have learned to recompense themselves for disadvantages which they suffer in other directions."
In conclusion he said: "Each one of you can do something toward solving the race problem, for example, by making, each for himself, a reputation for honesty in the community in which you live. If in the part of the country where you now live members of our race have a reputation for carelessness, looseness in regard to the ownership of property, you can help to solve the race problem, and make life here in the South more comfortable for every other member of the race if you will win for yourself a reputation for downright honesty and integrity in all your dealings with your neighbors, whether they be white or black."
Mr. Washington once said, "In all my teaching I have watched carefully the influence of the toothbrush, and I am convinced that there are few single agencies of civilization that are more far-reaching." He made periodic tours of the students' rooms to find out what students if any were without toothbrushes. The possession and use of a toothbrush is one of the entrance requirements for Tuskegee. In this connection he used to tell with a chuckle the reply of the girl who in answer to his question as to whose toothbrush he found on the washstand said, "That is ours," referring to her roommate and herself.
In his tours of inspection of the students' rooms he would also inquire how many nightgowns they owned. He insisted that every student should have at least two nightgowns. He was constantly impressing upon the students that decent, respectable people do not sleep in the garments in which they work during the day. In fact, he preached the gospel of the nightgown and the toothbrush as insistently as he did the gospel of work and simplicity.
He constantly insisted that the welfare of the students should be at all times the dominant consideration in the conduct of the institution. When the teachers would sometimes complain that their welfare was not sufficiently considered he would remind them that the Institute was being conducted for the benefit of the students and thatteachers were not required except for the benefit of the students. That the students should be happy was almost a mania with him. He was constantly sending for officers and teachers to inquire as to whether the students seemed happy.
flags
The cosmopolitan character of the Tuskegee student body is shown by the fact that during the past year students have come from the foreign countries or colonies of foreign countries indicated by the various flags shown in this picture.
To the delight of the students he would occasionally call a mass-meeting where he would call upon them one by one to get up and tell him of anything that was wrong, of anything that was keeping them from being as happy as he wanted them to be. It was understood that everything that a student said in such a meeting would be regarded as a confidence and that nothing that he said would be used against him. The teachers sometimes protested against the unbridled criticism which Mr. Washington permitted in these meetings. He, however, continued them without modification, and while many of the students' complaints were grossly exaggerated their statements nevertheless led to reforms in some important particulars. The meetings undoubtedly added greatly to the contentment and happiness of the student body.
He was always trying to protect the poorer students against the danger of being embarrassed or humiliated by the more fortunate ones. In this connection he was constantly resisting the importunities of students and teachers who wanted to charge admission fees to this or that game or entertainment. When the occasion really demanded and justified an admission fee he would make secret arrangements with the management to have the poorer students admitted at his personal expense.
His willingness to hear the students' grievances was a characteristic not always appreciated by the officers and teachers. He was a firm believer in the right of petition either for a group or an individual. No matter how pressed and driven he was with business no student or group of students, and no teacher or group of teachers, was too humble or obscure in the school's life to win a personal hearing. He would without hesitation reopen and painstakingly review a case, already decided by the Executive Council, if he thought there was the slightest chance that an injustice had been done. He insisted upon giving the accused not only "a square deal," but the benefit of every doubt. On the other hand, when there was no reasonable doubt of guilt no one could be more stern and unrelenting than he in meting out justice.
Mr. Washington always encouraged and helped every ambitious student who came to Tuskegee to develop his capacities to the utmost no matter whether they were large or small. Years ago a student, William Sidney Pittman, showed a particular aptitude for carpentry and draftsmanship. After working his way through Tuskegee he was very anxious to take a course in architecture. Mr. Washington arranged to have the Institute advance him the money for a three years' course at the Drexel Institute of Philadelphia, on the understanding that he would return to Tuskegee as a teacher after his graduation and from his earnings pay back to the school all that had been advanced for his training at Drexel. Pittman's record at Drexel was wholly satisfactory. He returned to Tuskegee and repaid his loan in accordance with the agreement. He has since won the competitive award for the design of the Negro Building at the Jamestown Exposition, has built a large number of public and semi-public buildings throughout the South, including the Carnegie Library at Houston, Texas; a Pythian Temple at Dallas, Texas, where he lives, for the Negro members of the Knights of Pythias; the Collis P. Huntington Memorial Building at Tuskegee, and a number of Young Men's Christian Association buildings for colored men. In 1907 he married Mr. Washington's only daughter, Portia Marshall Washington, after her graduation from Bradford Academy, Massachusetts. He is now generally regarded as the foremost architect of his race.
Somewhat later Mr. Washington succeeded in securing some scholarships which enabled promising Tuskegee graduates to take two years of post-graduate work in teaching methods at the Teachers' College of Columbia University. These scholarships were given by John Crosby Brown, V. Everett Macy, and John D. Rockefeller, Jr. In each case these students were required to return to Tuskegee as teachers for two years—the same time as their course at Columbia. Dean Russell of the Teachers' College has testified to the earnestness and high character of these Tuskegee graduates.
As measured by the Tuskegee standard of success, which is service to others, perhaps the most successful of all Tuskegee's graduates is William H. Holtzclaw, the Principal of the Utica Normal and Industrial Institute ofMississippi. There is no school that has better emulated the best there is in Tuskegee Institute, and there is no graduate of Tuskegee that has followed more faithfully and effectively in Booker Washington's footsteps. Holtzclaw has told his own story in an admirably written and most interesting book entitled, "The Black Man's Burden." Starting in 1903 with a capital of seventy-five cents, no land and no buildings in a little one-room, ramshackle log cabin, which he did not own and in which he and his wife lived as well as taught, Holtzclaw now has an annual enrollment of nearly five hundred students and a faculty of thirty teachers. The school through its varied forms of extension work influences yearly about thirty thousand people. It owns seventeen hundred acres of land and conducts twenty different industries aside from its academic work. The buildings and property are valued at one hundred and sixty thousand dollars. It has also its own electric light plant and water-works and an endowment of over thirty-two thousand dollars. In concluding his book Mr. Holtzclaw says: "I see more clearly than ever before the great task that is before me, and I propose to continue the struggle. It is an appalling task: a State with more than a million Negroes to be educated, with half a million children of school age, 35 per cent. of whom at the present time attend no school at all (only 36 per cent. in average attendance), a State whose dual school system makes it impossible to furnish more than a mere pittance for the education of each child—yet these children must be educated, must beunfettered, set free. That freedom for which Christian men and women, North and South, have worked and prayed so long must be realized in the lives of these young people. This, then, is my task, the war that I must wage; and I propose to stay on the firing-line and fight the good fight of faith."
Another Tuskegee graduate in whom Mr. Washington was especially interested is Isaac Fisher. Fisher has been awarded the following prizes for his writings:
"What We've Learned About the Rum Question," $500; "German and American Methods of Regulating Trusts," $400 (in order to write this paper Mr. Fisher had to acquire a reading knowledge of German which he did alone and unaided in a few months' time); "Ten of the Best Reasons Why People Should Live in Missouri," $100; "A Plan to Give the South a System of Highways Suited to Its Needs," $100; "The Most Practicable Method of Beginning a Tariff Reduction," honorable mention. (Upon the request of the chief examiner of the United States Tariff Board this essay was sent to that body for its use.) Besides these, Mr. Fisher has taken several minor prizes for compositions on various subjects.
It would be difficult to say, however, whether Booker Washington showed greater interest in the most brilliant or the most backward students. Certain it is that the most backward students won his special attention and encouragement.
In the early days of the school there was a student by the name of Jailous Perdue whom Mr. Washington constantly encouraged and in whom he never lost faith in spite of his almost total failure to master his classroom work. Monroe N. Work, the statistician of the Institute and the editor of "The Negro Year Book," under the title "The Man Who Failed," has thus told Perdue's story:
"Back in the days when the cooking for students at Tuskegee was done out of doors in pots and the principal entrance requirement was a 'desire to make something of himself' a young man, Jailous Perdue, came to Tuskegee to get an education. He was financially poor and intellectually dull. Examinations he could not pass. After struggling along for several years and accumulating a lot of examination failures, he decided to quit school, go out to work and help educate his sisters. Although he had failed in his literary subjects, he had nevertheless got an education in how to use his hands. He had learned to be a carpenter. Out in the world he went and began to work at his trade. As soon as he had earned a little money he placed three of his sisters in school at Tuskegee, and with the help of his brother Augustus, who had graduated some time before, supported two of them there for three years and one for four years.
"In the meantime he had succeeded at his trade and gone into business for himself at Montgomery, Ala., as a contractor and builder. Here also he was successful and did thousands of dollars' worth of work. No job was too small nor too large for him to make a bid on. If he did not have a contract of his own he was not above working for some other contractor, and as a result he wasalways busy. He has superintended the construction of some of the largest buildings in Montgomery. Among the buildings the erection of which he has superintended are the Exchange Hotel, at a cost of $150,000; the First Baptist Church, at a cost of $175,000; the First National Bank Building, at a cost of $350,000; and the Bell Building, at a cost of $450,000. Perdue also assisted as foreman or assistant foreman in erecting many of the important buildings at Tuskegee Institute, such as the Principal's house, the chapel, the library, Rockefeller Hall, the Academic Building, and the Millbank Agricultural Building.
"It is hardly necessary to say that Mr. Perdue has accumulated property or that he owns a good home in Montgomery, for in these progressive days every black man in the South with any foresight is investing some part of his earnings in property. The most interesting and somewhat remarkable thing about the career of Perdue and the greatest measure of his success is that twenty-three years after he had left Tuskegee a literary failure he was asked to come back and become a member of the faculty as an instructor in carpentry. Thus it was that the man who failed succeeded and returned to the scene of his failure a success. Perdue was constantly encouraged by Mr. Washington. He came under the type of those who were not brilliant, but who were always in his opinion worthy of help and encouragement."
Washington A. Tate was even duller in books than Perdue. During his early years at Tuskegee he seemedunable to grasp the most rudimentary information. His native dullness was made unpleasant and aggressive by a combative disposition. He was constantly trying to prove to his exasperated teachers that he knew what he did not know. He was almost twenty-five years of age when he reached the Institute and entered the lowest primary grade. He had the greatest difficulty in passing any examinations and never succeeded in passing all that were required. Motions were constantly made and passed in faculty meetings to drop Tate, and were as constantly vetoed by Mr. Washington on the plea of giving him one more chance. Finally when Tate's time to graduate came the teachers in a body protested against giving him a diploma. Mr. Washington argued that a man who had made all the sacrifices Tate had made at his age to stay in school, a man who had worked early and late in fair weather and foul for the school, a man who had stuck to his task in the face of repeated failures and discouragements, had in him something better than the mere ability to pass examinations. Through Mr. Washington's intercession for him Tate got his diploma. The next day Mr. Washington had him employed to take charge of the school's piggery. Because of his hard, conscientious, and effective work in this capacity he was afterward recommended to the United States Department of Agriculture at Washington as the proper man to take charge of the United States demonstration work in Macon County, Ala. Tate proved to be one of the Government's most successful demonstration agents. He isnow farming successfully on his own account in an adjoining county.
Booker Washington, as previously pointed out, saw very much more clearly than most educators that education's only purpose and sole justification lies in preparation for right living. A man who has passed all manner of examinations may not be prepared to live rightly and hence may not justly claim to be educated. A man who has failed to pass examinations may be prepared for right living and hence may justly be called an educated man. In other words, Booker Washington realized that education was primarily a matter of the development of character and only secondarily a matter of the acquisition of information.
DURING recent years the expenses of Tuskegee Institute have run to between $250,000 and $300,000 a year. Of this sum Booker Washington had to raise over $100,000 annually aside from the large sums constantly demanded for new equipment such as the great central heating and power plant which was installed in 1915 at a cost of more than $245,000.
At the ceremonies commemorating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the founding of Tuskegee Institute President Charles W. Eliot of Harvard was one of the speakers. He said that one of his "first impressions of Tuskegee Institute," after just a glimpse, was "that the oldest and now largest American Institution of learning was more than 200 years arriving at the possession of much less land, fewer buildings, and a smaller quick capital than Tuskegee had come to possess in twenty-five years. That's just a fact," he said, "Harvard University was not as rich after living two hundred years among the people of Massachusetts as Tuskegee is to-day, after having lived twenty-five years among the people of Alabama. And that's the first impression that I have received here.
25th anniversary
In 1906, the Tuskegee Institute celebrated its 25th anniversary. In the group above appear such well-known American characters as Dr. William J. Schieffelin, New York; Dr. H.B. Frissell, Hampton Institute, Va.; J.G. Phelps Stokes, philanthropist, New York; Isaac N. Seligman, banker, New York; Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of theOutlook; Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Secretary General Education Board; William G. Willcox, now President of the New York Board of Education; Robert C. Ogden, philanthropist, New York; Andrew Carnegie, and Miss Clara Spence of the Spence School, with numbers of their friends.
"This evening I have received another impression from your Principal. He said that the great need of Tuskegee, to-day, was a considerable sum of money, which could be used at the discretion of the Trustees, to fill gaps, to make improvements, and to enlarge and strengthen the different branches of the institution. Now I should not find it possible to state in more precise terms the present needs of Harvard University. The needs of these two institutions, situated, to be sure, in very different communities, and founded on very different dates, are precisely the same." This comparison is the more striking when we realize that President Eliot had at the time been at the head of Harvard University for thirty years, five years longer than Tuskegee had been in existence—President Eliot of whom it was said, "When he goes to rich men they just throw up their hands and say, 'Don't shoot! How much do you want?'"
The magnitude of Booker Washington's financial task is indicated in his last annual report which he made to his Trustees in 1915. He reported:
"As of May 31st, we have received from all sources for current expenses $268,825.17; for buildings and improvements, $28,919.47; for endowment, $28,102.09; from undesignated legacies, $53,858.10, making the total receipts for the purposes named for the year $379,704.83.
"The gifts to the Endowment Fund for the year amounting to $28,102.09 now make the Fund stand at $1,970,214.17.
"The budget recommended for your consideration forthe new year calls for an expenditure for current expenses, repairs, renewals, and equipment of $291,567.92...."
Later in the report he said: "Notwithstanding the depressed financial condition of a large part of the country, I feel it would be a great mistake for us in any degree to slacken our efforts to keep the school before the public or to get funds. I believe, as Dr. H.B. Frissell, Principal of the Hampton Institute, has often expressed it, that a large part of the mission of both Hampton and Tuskegee is to keep the cause of Negro education before the country, and that the benefits coming from such efforts of publicity do not confine themselves alone to Hampton and Tuskegee, but benefit all the schools in the South. With this end in view, I very much hope that the Trustees may see their way clear to encourage and help us as far as possible in holding a number of large public meetings during the coming year." These were brave words for a dying man. Five months later he died of sheer exhaustion shortly after addressing one of these "large public meetings." They also show the breadth of his conception of his task. You will note that he points out that such publicity as he urges, "benefits all the schools in the South"—not merely the schools for Negroes, but "all the schools." It never occurred to him to limit his sense of responsibility to his own school nor even to the schools for his own race. As previously mentioned he would sometimes devote an entire public address to an appeal for more and better schools for the poor whites of the South.
Booker Washington's money-raising efforts consumedtwo-thirds of his time and perhaps even more of his strength and energy. He planned these money-raising campaigns just as carefully as a good general plans a military campaign. His last big money-raising campaign was conducted during June, 1915. He and the Trustees of the Institute had been engaged for two or three years in the effort to raise the money to complete the cost of the central power and heating plant, but nearly $100,000 of the $245,000 needed had not been raised. This burden bore heavily upon him. At last, with the approval of the Trustees, he decided to make one last herculean effort not only to raise this huge sum, but in addition, the money necessary to end the school year free of debt. For this purpose he formulated a plan of campaign by which five representatives of the school should cover the chief centres of population throughout the Northern and Middle Western States. This was the outline of the territorial assignments of the collectors:
Frank P. Chisholm: New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut—important centre—Boston.
Charles W. Wood: New York east of Syracuse, and Binghamton—important centre—New York City.
Jesse O. Thomas: New York west of Syracuse and Binghamton, Pennsylvania—important centre—Philadelphia.
John D. Stevenson: Illinois, Wisconsin—important centre—Chicago.
Clarence A. Powell: Michigan, Ohio—important centres—Detroit and Cleveland.
Each representative carried letters of introduction to leading men and women in the various centres throughout his territory. All these letters were personally signed by Mr. Washington. At the close of each day each collector telegraphed Mr. Washington at Tuskegee giving the amount of subscriptions and pledges he had secured that day. The next morning Mr. Washington wired each collector, stating the total amount of gifts and pledges secured by all five collectors. When the Trustees met in New York City, on the last Thursday of June, 1915, all but four or five thousand dollars of the over $245,000 had been raised.
The Trustees themselves made up the difference by increasing by this amount their own subscriptions. Thus was successfully concluded the last great and difficult task which Booker Washington was to be permitted to perform.
Of the hundreds of invitations to speak here, there, and everywhere which kept pouring in upon him certain ones he definitely accepted because of the money-raising opportunities either direct or indirect which they offered; others of less promise he tentatively accepted to fall back upon in case the more desirable ones for any reason miscarried. Chautauqua engagements he considered only where they provided an opportunity for direct appeal for contributions for the work, or at least the chance to distribute printed matter. Chautauqua bureaus offering him as much as half the gate receipts above $500 in addition to a guarantee of $300 a night he turned down out of hand ifthey did not include one or both of these opportunities. No matter how much money they offered he would never accept such propositions unless they carried with them some opportunity to make a direct appeal for his work. It was sometimes suggested to him that he might receive these fees personally and then turn them over to the school. This he declined to do because he was unwilling to give even the appearance of capitalizing his reputation and oratorical gifts for his personal enrichment. Booker Washington was not one of those simple-hearted individuals who are guided solely by what they deem inherently right. He always strove to avoid the appearance of evil as well as the evil itself; and, with one unhappy exception, he always succeeded. He fully realized that his conduct was under constant scrutiny by enemies in both races eager to find some pretext to drag him down. So circumspect was he in his behavior that once only between the time he became a national character in 1895 until his death twenty years later did his critics succeed in distorting any deed of his into the semblance of misconduct. The very nature of the charge in this one instance was sufficient refutation for any person acquainted in even the slightest degree with the man's life, work, or character.
The press as well as the platform he constantly used to keep his work before the public for money-raising purposes. He had as good a "nose for a story" as the best of reporters, and every story that came his way was sure to find its way into print. No matter how driven withpressing matters nor how tired he never denied himself to "the newspaper boys." He believed that the more prominence, the more "limelight," he could secure the better, provided he used it for the promotion of his work. Thus he presented the apparent anomaly of being at the same time one of the most modest and unassuming of men and also one of the greatest advertisers of his day.
As well as the general press of both races he constantly used the school press for money-raising purposes. The school paper which circulates among donors and prospective donors as well as among the students, teachers, and graduates carries in each issue brief statements of some immediate and pressing needs and the money required to satisfy them. These needs are set forth in the following manner:
"WHAT $1,700 WILL DO""For a long while an important part of our extension work and publicity work has been greatly hindered and hampered because of the lack of a new and up-to-date printing press."One thousand and seven hundred dollars will supply us with this long-felt need and greatly add to the value and influence of our work.""WHAT $3,000 WILL DO""One of our very greatest and most practical needs is a well but simply equipped Canning Factory. Three thousand dollars would help us to properly equip the Canning Factory we already have at Tuskegee. The factory will help not only in preserving large quantitiesof vegetables, fruits, berries, etc., during the summer, but at the same time could be used as a means of teaching large numbers of our girls a useful industry, and, more than that, the products could be used to sustain the institution during the winter months."We could not only use everything that might be put up in cans here at the school in feeding the students and teachers, but there is an increasing demand among the merchants of the South, in the large cities, for anything we can produce on the school grounds."We very much wish that some friend might see his way clear to give $3,000 with which to properly equip this factory."
"WHAT $1,700 WILL DO"
"For a long while an important part of our extension work and publicity work has been greatly hindered and hampered because of the lack of a new and up-to-date printing press.
"One thousand and seven hundred dollars will supply us with this long-felt need and greatly add to the value and influence of our work."
"WHAT $3,000 WILL DO"
"One of our very greatest and most practical needs is a well but simply equipped Canning Factory. Three thousand dollars would help us to properly equip the Canning Factory we already have at Tuskegee. The factory will help not only in preserving large quantitiesof vegetables, fruits, berries, etc., during the summer, but at the same time could be used as a means of teaching large numbers of our girls a useful industry, and, more than that, the products could be used to sustain the institution during the winter months.
"We could not only use everything that might be put up in cans here at the school in feeding the students and teachers, but there is an increasing demand among the merchants of the South, in the large cities, for anything we can produce on the school grounds.
"We very much wish that some friend might see his way clear to give $3,000 with which to properly equip this factory."
The need for a new laundry building with equipment, a foundry, and a veterinary hospital were similarly presented. The funds to meet each of these needs were received as a result of these appeals, and a new list of needs is now being advertised.
In concluding his annual report each year Mr. Washington would summarize the immediate needs of the institution. In his last report he thus stated them:
1. $50 a year for annual scholarships for tuition for one student, the student himself providing for his own board and other personal expenses in labor and cash.2. $1,200 for permanent scholarships.3. Money for operating expenses in any amounts, however small.4. $2,000 each for four teachers' cottages.5. $40,000 for a building for religious purposes.6. $16,000 to complete the Boys' Trades Building.7. $50,000 for a Boys' Dormitory.8. $50,000 for a Girls' Dormitory.9. An addition to our Endowment Fund of at least $3,000,000.
1. $50 a year for annual scholarships for tuition for one student, the student himself providing for his own board and other personal expenses in labor and cash.
2. $1,200 for permanent scholarships.
3. Money for operating expenses in any amounts, however small.
4. $2,000 each for four teachers' cottages.
5. $40,000 for a building for religious purposes.
6. $16,000 to complete the Boys' Trades Building.
7. $50,000 for a Boys' Dormitory.
8. $50,000 for a Girls' Dormitory.
9. An addition to our Endowment Fund of at least $3,000,000.
A few months later, as he lay dying in a New York hospital, the following letter was received for him at Tuskegee. It was at once forwarded and passed him on his last journey to his home in the South. He never saw it. The donor, a Northern friend who withholds his name, has renewed the offer to the Trustees and they have accepted it.
November 8, 1915.Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.Dear Mr. Washington: I have read your annual report and also your treasurer's report, and make you the following proposition: If you will raise enough money to pay all of your debts up to May 1, 1916, and add two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to your endowment fund, I will give you the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your building fund, to be used in building the items such as Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8, and the "Barnes, etc.," mentioned under the head of "Special Needs," and for objects of similar character. The above does not include item No. 5, "Building for religious purposes," as I am not interested in that sort of work. I shall be glad to know whether this proposition interests you.Yours very truly,—— ——.
November 8, 1915.
Dr. Booker T. Washington, Tuskegee Institute, Alabama.
Dear Mr. Washington: I have read your annual report and also your treasurer's report, and make you the following proposition: If you will raise enough money to pay all of your debts up to May 1, 1916, and add two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to your endowment fund, I will give you the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your building fund, to be used in building the items such as Nos. 4, 6, 7, 8, and the "Barnes, etc.," mentioned under the head of "Special Needs," and for objects of similar character. The above does not include item No. 5, "Building for religious purposes," as I am not interested in that sort of work. I shall be glad to know whether this proposition interests you.
Yours very truly,
—— ——.
The interest of this giver was firstarousedby his reading "Up from Slavery" when it appeared in book form in 1901. As soon as he had read the book he sent Dr. Washington a check for $10,000 for his work which he has renewed each year since until he made the above offer. "Up from Slavery" has brought more money to Tuskegee than all the other books, articles, speeches, and circulars written by Mr. Washington himself and the many others who have written or spoken about him and his work. Among its larger immediate results, aside from awakening the interest of the anonymous giver already mentioned, was its similar effect upon the late H.H. Rogers, Vice-President and active head at the time of the Standard Oil Company, and upon Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Rogers became so much interested that he not only gave large sums for the general needs of Tuskegee but eventually financed a large part of the rural school extension work, which has been described in earlier chapters, and which is now so important a part of the school's activities. Under Booker Washington's inspiration and guidance, too, Mr. Rogers later combined railroad building with race building. In building his Virginia railroad he undertook a wide-reaching work in agricultural education among the Negro farmers living within carting distance of his road. Booker Washington had demonstrated to his satisfaction that by increasing at the same time their wants and their ability to gratify their wants he would be building up business for his railroad.
Shortly after the publication in 1901 of "Up from Slavery," Frank N. Doubleday, of Doubleday, Page & Co., the publishers of the book, in playing golf with Mr. Carnegie mentioned Booker Washington and told himsomething of his life. Mr. Carnegie was interested and wanted to know more. Mr. Doubleday gave him a copy of "Up from Slavery." After reading the book he immediately got into communication with the author, told him of his interest in his life and work, and of his desire to help him. The result was that Mr. Carnegie agreed to pay for the construction and equipment of a library to be built by the students. Booker Washington, his Executive Council, and the school's architect, spent hours and hours of time in scrutinizing every detail to bring the cost down to the smallest possible figure consistent with an adequate result. The final cost to Mr. Carnegie was only $15,000. Mr. Carnegie was amazed that so large, convenient, and dignified a building could be built at so small a cost. Over and over again both to Mr. Washington and to friends of the school he expressed his surprise and pleasure at the result obtained by this relatively small expenditure. After that there was no doubt he would do more for the school. It was simply a question of how much more and what form it would take. In 1903 the following letter was received by the late William H. Baldwin, Jr., in his capacity as president of the Tuskegee Board of Trustees.