In the ordinary sense, neither General Armstrong nor Booker Washington would have been put down as a statesman; but, of course, each had his own individual sentiments as a citizen of the Republic. Thus each was well aware that both the North and the South had to deal with a population problem of an exceptionally difficult kind. The North had an unceasing tide of foreign immigration; the South had its Black Belt and a negro population, which appeared to be competent to double itself in course of a generation. General Armstrong was as large-hearted a friend of the coloured race as could have been found, and he appears to have protested against "either coddling the blacks or hampering the whites" on the part of the North. In an article inThe International Monthlyon the Southern question, Mr Edward P. Clark tells us that General Armstrong "opposed alike Federal Election Laws, designed and administered in the interest of the blacks, and Federal Education Laws, appropriating money for the South in the same interest. He urged that a negro could never become an ordinary citizen until he should cease to be the 'ward of the nation.'" Booker Washington appears to hold views on this matterwhich essentially are in close agreement with the policy of his late master.E.g.:—
"General Armstrong did not regard it as a serious misfortune for the negro that he was discouraged and even prevented from voting. He condemned unfair methods, but he believed that the cure of such methods might and should be left to local public sentiment. Mr Washington opposes unjust race legislation, like the recent proposition in Georgia to disfranchise the black man, as a black man; but he does not urge the negroes in his own State of Alabama to make voting the chief end of life. The keynote of the advice given by both of these leaders to the negro always has been to make himself a good citizen, worthy to share in the government of town, State and Republic, and trust to his white neighbour to recognise his right to such share when that time should come. 'Be a voter, and then think about being a man'; that was long the only watchword of the Northern Republican politician for the negro. 'Be a man, and then think about being a voter'; such is the message to him from the Armstrongs and the Washingtons."
Mr Clark adds this cheerful note:—
"It is easy enough to make a catalogue of outrage and injustice upon the Southern blacks, so long and gloomy as to justify a feeling of profound discouragement regarding the future. The most hopeful feature of the situation is the fact that those friends and champions of the negro who have studied the question most carefully upon the spot, have grown more confident all the time that ultimately things would work out right. General Armstrong died fullof faith in the future. Mr Washington grows more hopeful every year. Outsiders may well feel that there is no occasion for despair when the voice of cheer is heard from the very heart of the Black Belt."
We learn from an article by Mr Pitt Dillingham, inThe Outlookof New York (April 12, 1902), that Booker Washington is a trustee of the Calhoun Coloured School in Lowndes County, a part of the Black Belt in Alabama, where the negroes greatly outnumber the whites. The school may possibly take its name from the family of John Caldwell Calhoun (1782-1850), a well-remembered statesman of the Republic, who was Vice-President 1825-1832; an uncompromising defender of slavery, and propounder of the political doctrine of Nullification—the rejection of any State of any Act which was judged to be unconstitutional. The students in the Calhoun School receive just such an industrial education as would be given at Hampton or Tuskegee; but to us the institution is the more noteworthy because it has become identified with a kind of land-movement, which may have the most far-reaching consequences, so far as the coloured race is concerned. Practically, the school is an illustration of the way in which those who have been trained at Hampton, or under Booker Washington at Tuskegee, in turn become teachers and leaders to their own people. Mr Dillingham remarks:—
"The two young women from New England—one from Boston, one from New Haven—Hampton teachers who first rang a school-bell ten years ago on the old Shelby plantation in Lowndes County,simply desired to get into the Black Belt, to identify themselves with a community of cotton-raisers as neighbours, to know the people at first hand, and then to meet the human need about them in any way possible; above all, helping the people to help themselves ... in the Black Belt of Alabama, a county containing the largest proportion of blacks to whites. The average ratio for the seventeen counties in Alabama's cotton-belt is less than three to one. In Lowndes County in 1892 the ratio was seven to one—28,000 to 4000. This meant maximum conditions of ignorance and poverty—a county likely to be Africanised if it could not be Americanised."
The school at Calhoun had 300 students, and its land extended over 100 acres. As there were such great opportunities, if the right means were taken to secure them, the teachers were moved by a desire to provide openings for their students in the county instead of their being obliged to seek uncertain employment in the distance. Why not buy land and divide it into small holdings, which even negroes could purchase for their own? That would be to show practical sympathy with the native sentiment—"I always did want to own something that wouldn't die; your mule, he'll die, but the land is gwine to live."
That idea gained favour; it was strictly in accordance with the negro's economic programme; and thus, when a plantation of nearly 1100 acres was purchased and was divided into over twenty farms, the enterprise was well in hand. In time other estates were purchased; the movement, which is favoured by the whites and ex-planters, is soextremely popular with the blacks that "one man recently sent five cents ten miles by a friend to go towards his farm!" As might be expected, all this has not been carried out without there being some failure and discouragement, but, on the whole, the movement has realised the hopes of its promoters. Mr Dillingham adds:—
"On the economic side, Calhoun's scheme means buying a plantation at wholesale price, and breaking up the plantation into small farms, by a group of men who make advance payments and then finish buying by paying rent for a term of years. The fifty-acre farm means a basis for a new agriculture or intensive farming, also sharp, individual responsibility of buyer, plus family life and labour and friendly co-operation of a neighbourhood. The plantation, with its 'quarters' and renters and croppers, who 'stay' to make and pick crops, but have no home—the plantation, the old, before-the-war, economic unit, is transformed into an American neighbourhood of farms and homes, within sound of church and bell. This is the light set on the hill."
This is how the work, commenced at Hampton and Tuskegee, can develop or expand; and, while benefiting the State, is also found to bring the white people and the coloured race into friendly contact, the former doing what lies in their power to advance the cause. Thriving neighbourhoods of coloured people promise to come into existence, for "the South is not shutting the industrial door, or the educational door, or the church or the house door on the negro."
There are doubtless persons in the Republic whoare disposed to think that, so far as education is concerned, Nashville, the capital and largest town of Tennessee, is the paradise of the negroes. The place is famous for its schools, churches and colleges, Fisk College and some others ranking as universities. The coloured race are in the minority. The fact tends to promote their own peace and happiness, that they are not overmuch fascinated by politics; and, according to common report, the coloured people in the town are more eager than others to obtain an education. Three great colleges, one named after Roger Williams, have been founded for their special benefit. A certain small proportion of negroes may advance to higher scholarship, but the main part do not get beyond what used to be called grammar-learning; while it is a most happy thing, both for whites and blacks, that the industrial programme of General Armstrong and Booker Washington is in large measure carried out. As a writer in theCentury Magazineremarks:—
"All boarding pupils are required to devote an hour a day to such forms of labour as may be required of them, and the cleanest school building I ever saw is Livingstone Hall of Fisk University, which is kept clean by the pupils. A certain number of young men at Fisk learn printing every year, and others will henceforth learn carpentry and other useful handicrafts; while the young women are taught nursing the sick and the rules of hygiene, cooking, dressmaking and plain sewing. The course of industrial training in Central Tennessee College and Roger Williams University is about the same."
The majority of those who are thus educatedbecome teachers of their own people, and in this service there are plenty of openings for them. The negroes seem to be as amenable to the civilising influences of education as any race with whom they might be compared, and in Nashville they are peculiarly fortunate in their teachers. You may meet with thriving negro business men whose honesty and tact are much commended by the whites. They see that the acquisition of property gives them a good standing in the world, so that they may sometimes need a little wholesome advice to check their excessive eagerness to become rich. Then the character of their well-furnished and comfortable houses shows how completely they have been raised from the squalid one-room life of their former cabins. "These well-kept houses," says one who visited a number of them in the town for purposes of inspection, "are not only the best proof of the progress in civilisation of the negro race, but they are also the best security for the welfare of the whites in property and in morals, and I have never had so much hope for the future of this region as since I learned these things. Granted that these may be the picked few, it is most hopeful that there is a picked few, whose example will inspire others to lift themselves up." In proportion as they advance they show commendable enthusiasm for embarking in philanthropic enterprise. Thus, as a writer in theCentury Magazinetells us:—
"The only negro church publishing-house in the world" is located at Nashville, a large building five storeys high. "It was purchased with the contributions of the children of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. A home for aged and indigentnegroes is the latest enterprise, while a shop for teaching mechanical trades was opened.... The number of church societies is, of course, legion."
All this shows how far-reaching was the influence of such institutes as Tuskegee and Hampton, when their methods were thus copied. To come back to Booker Washington's own work, however, we find that at the end of fourteen years the two old buildings in which he had commenced in 1881 had given place to forty buildings on an estate of two thousand acres. At that time there were rented fifteen cottages not on the school estate, while many of the teachers had houses of their own. The annual cost was then under £15,000, the number of persons to be supported exceeding a thousand. It is not often that the students are able to pay wholly for their board; and at the time in question less than £2000 in the year was received under this head. Various funds, including a grant from the State, supplied near £2000 annually. The cost of each student is £10 a year, board being paid for partly in money and partly in labour. £40 suffices one to complete the four years' course, while a sum of £200 provides a permanent scholarship. A carpenter, a bricklayer, or a blacksmith must, under all circumstances, pass some part of each day in the school. The aim is to have all well taught, and to inspire a laudable ambition, hoping to excel and to succeed by hard work, perseverance and honest, upright lives. The training is also partly religious, for to come short of that would not yield satisfaction to the negro. The following from the article by Mr Speed, already referred to, gives a word-pictureof what takes place on a high public day at Tuskegee, when friends from far and near assemble to see and hear what is being done not only in the schools, but by those who also represent the thirty or more industries which are carried on:—
"At the commencement, held at the end of May, the exercises included not only music and speaking, but an exhibition of the handiwork of the pupils, who were called on to show how each kind of work was done. One showed the method of putting tires on a buggy, another the construction of a house, another the pinning of the same, and still another the painting of the structure; the girls showed the process of ironing a shirt, of cleaning and lighting a lamp, of making bread, cake and pie, of cutting and fitting a dress, and so on. Other boys illustrated wheelwrighting, bricklaying, plastering, mattress-making, printing, and various agricultural processes. To the crowds of interested negroes at this commencement this seemed something worth while, because it was practical and within the range of their own experience and attainment.... Among all the educational efforts among the negroes there is probably none more interesting, wise or successful than this work of Mr Washington's at Tuskegee."
To understand what progress has been made, we have to contrast the present outlook with that of forty years ago, when negroes were considered to be incapable of living as free people with credit to themselves, and when certain States actually had laws prohibiting their being set free.
While the now great institution at Tuskegee continued to grow and to increase in popularity both with the North and the South, there seemed to be no reason for departure in any measure from the course marked out by General Armstrong. The number as well as the need of the negroes was so great that preparatory classes, similar to those which had succeeded so well at Hampton, were arranged for, and candidates eagerly came forward for admission—young people whose mettle was sufficiently well tested by their having to get through a long, hard day's work before they could enjoy the privilege and luxury of some hours of teaching in the night school. This kind of service has grown, and at the present time there are probably not far short of 500 pupils in its classes. Of course many advance from this stage to get admitted to the day school of the Institute.
All along Booker Washington has been subjected to the temptation to excel in public speaking, but he has indulged in this only so far as the practice would advance his work. He began to make his mark when he gave an address before the Educational Association at Madison, the capital of Wisconsin, and theseat of a university. Whenever he spoke the founder of Tuskegee Institute was recognised as a gifted, natural orator; and his most famous address, and one which was destined to have most far-reaching consequences, while it added to the popularity of the man and his work, was one which he gave in the autumn of 1895 at a Cotton States Exhibition, which was also to some extent international.
This great show was held at Atlanta, the capital of Georgia, a great railway centre, and a place of much trade and manufacture. It has also a university for coloured students. The crowded assembly on such an occasion was largely representative of the most influential people among the whites both in the North and the South, as well as those of the negro race. It was an exciting time, and quidnuncs of all parties were eagerly anticipating what the dark-skinned professor would say. Of course the note he struck was one which tended to the doing away of racial differences. All along Booker Washington has been honest in his convictions and in his manner of giving utterance to them. Where wrong is seen to exist he is brave enough to speak of it. He has even been so honestly outspoken in regard to the shortcomings of his own people as to earn their resentment, until it was found that what was said was true, and was no symptom of want of sympathy. Those who listened to the address at Atlanta would be impressed with his profound sympathy with his own coloured race, with the high value he set upon their possible achievements, and with his passionate representations of the interests which the white and coloured race had in common, each being thusdependent on the other. The address was the chief thing which took place in connection with the Exhibition, and Booker Washington received an autograph letter from President Cleveland thanking him for having said what he did. A few passages fromThe World'saccount of what actually occurred may best enable us to realise the scene:—
"While President Cleveland was waiting at Grey Gables to send the electric spark that started the machinery of the Atlanta Exposition, a negro Moses stood before a great audience of white people and delivered an oration that marks a new epoch in the history of the South.... When Professor Booker T. Washington ... stood on the platform of the auditorium, with the sun shining over the heads of his auditors into his eyes, and his whole face lit up with the fire of prophecy, Clark Howell, the successor of Henry Grady, said to me, 'That man's speech is the beginning of a moral revolution in America. It is the first time that a negro has made a speech in the South on any important occasion before an audience composed of white men and women.' It electrified the audience, and the response was as if it had come from the throat of a whirlwind.... All this time the eyes of the thousands present looked straight at the negro orator. A strange thing was to happen. A black man was to speak for his people, and with none to interrupt him. As Professor Washington strode to the edge of the stage, the low, descending sun shot fiery rays through the windows into his face. A great shout greeted him. He turned his head to avoid the blinding light, and moved about the platform for relief. Then he turnedhis wonderful countenance without a blink of the eyelids and began to speak. There was a remarkable figure—tall, bony, straight as a Sioux chief, high forehead, straight nose, heavy jaws, and strong, determined mouth, with big, white teeth, piercing eyes and a commanding manner. The sinews stood out on his bronzed neck, and his muscular right arm swung high in the air, with a lead pencil grasped in the clenched fist. His big feet were planted squarely, with the heels together and the toes turned out. His voice rang out clear and true, and he paused impressively as he made each point. Within ten minutes the multitude was in an uproar of enthusiasm—handkerchiefs were waved, canes were flourished, hats were tossed in the air. The fairest women in Georgia stood up and cheered. It was as if the orator had bewitched them. And when he held his dusky hand high above his head, with the fingers stretched wide apart, and said to the white people of the South on behalf of his race, 'In all things that are purely social we can be separate as the fingers, yet one as the hand in all things essential to mutual progress,' the great wave of applause dashed itself against the walls, and the whole audience was on its feet in a delirium of applause, and I thought that moment of the night when Henry Grady stood among the curling wreaths of tobacco smoke in Delmonico's banquet-hall and said, 'I am a Cavalier among Roundheads.'... A ragged, ebony giant, squatted on the floor in one of the aisles, watched the orator with burning eyes and tremulous face until the supreme hour of applause came, and then the tears ran down hisface. Most of the negroes in the audience were crying, perhaps without knowing just why."
Another notable occasion occurred in the year of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, when Booker Washington spoke at Boston in connection with the dedication of a monument erected to the memory of Colonel Robert Gould Shaw—1837-1863—who was killed at Fort Wagner while in command of the first coloured regiment which had been mustered to serve with the Northern Army. A Boston paper said:—
"The scene was full of historic beauty and deep significance. Rows and rows of people who are rarely seen at any public function, whole families of those who are certain to be out of town on a holiday, crowded the place to overflowing. The city was at her birthrightfêtein the persons of hundreds of her best citizens, men and women whose names and lives stand for the virtues that make for honourable, civic pride."
Some other similar scenes might be referred to; but in a general way Booker Washington does not value opportunities for platform service unless they tend to advance the cause of his great work at Tuskegee. Nor can this be wondered at when it is found that such service alone necessitates his being away from home during six months in each year. He married Miss Davidson, to whose efforts the Institute owed so much in its early days—in 1885; but this second Mrs Washington died about four years later, leaving two sons. The third wife of the Principal—married in 1893—was a Miss Murray, who was trained at Fisk University.
The later developments of the work in its manydepartments at Tuskegee can best be realised by reference to certain recent numbers of the Institute's monthly paper, theSouthern Letter.
We find that the school post-office is now recognised as part of the postal system of the country, and is responsible to the Government. A savings bank has been founded on the grounds to encourage thrift habits by receiving savings from teachers, students and coloured people living in the vicinity. This year a kindergarten teacher was to carry on a class in the new training school buildings. Last year (1901) agriculture was made a special feature; 4000 peach trees were planted, making a total of 5000 of this kind on the farm. "The students are not only taught how to plant and care for these trees, but are taught the principles of fruit-growing in all respects at the same time." There are fourteen young women in this division, and, like the others, they divide their time between the college classes and the farm:—
"They are ranked in their labour as they are in their recitations in the class-rooms. In the dairy they are not only getting instruction in theory, but are actually assisting in the care and use of the utensils, in which 120 gallons of milk are handled, twelve gallons of cream are ripened, and fifty pounds of butter are made each day. They are also making a comprehensive study of milk and its constituents, weeds and their harmful effects upon dairy products, general sanitation of dairy barns, the drawing of plans, etc. In the poultry division the young women put theory into practice by having individual responsibilities in the care of over 300 fowls. In this way they get actual experience in the sanitation of poultryhouses, the care of runs and all the apparatus used, egg-testing, the use of insecticides, and the prevention and cure of fowl diseases. The increasing interest in fruit-growing all over the South makes it easy to interest the young women in horticulture. The school orchard of 5000 trees makes it possible to lay great stress on the practical side of fruit growing. Special attention is given to the quality and quantity of peaches, pears, apples and plums, figs, grapes and strawberries that can be grown in a home orchard. In the division of floriculture and landscape gardening a study of our common-door yards and the laying out and beautifying of same is required. The young women assist in the care of the school grounds by helping to trim and shape beds and borders and take care of shrubbery and flowers. One of the things the young women are very proud of is their market garden. They have helped to plan, and have done all the work in it this year (1901) except the ploughing. They have planned, laid out, prepared and planted their seed beds. They have also planned and constructed a cold frame-house, doing all the carpentry work themselves. They are required to keep an itemised account of the expenses incurred in raising and amounts realised from the sale of all vegetables. Although the young women have only been in this department two years, many good reports have come to us from communities where they have carried their improved ideas of these various lines of agriculture. To fully understand the need of this work, one must travel through the country districts and towns of the Southern States."
A Tuskegee negro Conference is held annually, andthis year (1902) it assembled on February 19 and following day. Encouraging news from the distance is continually coming to hand. Thus, two graduates will be reported as getting on well in a town of Georgia. Then news comes to hand (December 1901) that the Tuskegee stall at the Charleston Exhibition attracted unusual attention. Even the Dark Continent itself comes in for some share of attention; for "we hear very encouraging reports from our students who went to West Africa to introduce the raising of cotton under the auspices of the German Government." We find Mrs Washington attending the meeting of the Coloured Women's Federation of Clubs at Vicksburg early in 1902, and no doubt she carried some rays of sunshine with her. The work, as a whole, is on a religious basis; and this fact is emphasised by such an announcement as that at Tuskegee "the Week of Prayer was observed with great profit and interest." It is important also to learn that the Nurse Training Department at Tuskegee is attracting more students than ever. It appears that both young men as well as young women are trained for this service; and a letter from one of the former, written in March 1902, from a town in Alabama, shows how former students become pioneers in the great work of uplifting their own race:—
"I am now at this place, and am Principal of a school which opened December 9 last year. We have bought and paid for fifteen acres of land, on which a two-storey building now stands. A part of the glass windows needed we have been able to put in. We are now preparing to build a dormitory onour grounds for our students next term. We shall be glad to have you send anything you can in the way of reading matter. We are trying to establish a library for the people of this community."
In some instances, as, for example, in Nashville, to which reference has been made, negroes are becoming prosperous men of business. In his monthly newspaper for February 1902, Booker Washington gave the picture of a large house of business owned by a coloured trader, and remarked:—
"While there are not many coloured people perhaps, as yet, who own such valuable pieces of property in the South, still there are many who are very fast approaching the point Mr —— has reached. Mr —— is not only a successful business man, having the respect and confidence of both races in Nashville, but he and his wife are leaders in religious and charitable work in the city of Nashville, and their home is a constant resort for those who represent all that is best and purest in the life of the negro race."
The following extract from a letter to Booker Washington from a white gentleman in the South (December 16, 1901), shows in what light even ex-planters themselves and their associates regard the work in progress:—
"Being more and more impressed with the importance of the favourable opportunity offered in this community for the educational uplift of your people, I am again prompted to write you and more fully explain the situation and the need of help to accomplish this important work. This community is densely populated with negroes—more than ten to one white person. The white people are moving tothe towns. Thirty white persons in less than two years—none coming in—and negroes occupying the premises vacated. The few white people here are anxious to see the negro educated up to a higher standard of citizenship in morality, thrift and economy, as well as intellectual advancement. The negro school building is under way, but they have not the means to finish it, and nothing with which to furnish it, nor sufficient means to pay the teachers necessary for the school. I know of no community where the needed funds would be more appreciated or could possibly do more good for advancing the negroes' interest along educational lines."
Thus, no one can foresee whereunto the ever-developing work at Tuskegee may extend. The graduates, who are constantly going forth, become teachers and leaders among their own people; but, large as it is, the number trained is still too few.
In the summer of the year 1899 Mr and Mrs Booker Washington had a sum of money given them by a number of friends, which was to be spent in making a tour in Europe. The travellers, after a prosperous voyage, landed at Antwerp and, after seeing something of Holland and France, came to England, where they were entertained by a number of friends.
On Monday, July 3, Dr and Mrs Brooke Herford gave a reception to meet Mr and Mrs Booker Washington, which took place at Essex Hall, Essex Street, Strand, and after this reception a meeting, at which a number of well-known and distinguished persons were present, also took place, and at which Mr J. H. Choate, the United States Ambassador, presided. The many who attended, and the quality of a large number, gave significance to this meeting, and testified in no equivocal manner to the esteem in which Booker Washington and his work were held in Great Britain. The following summary of the American Ambassador's speech on this occasion was given inThe Times:—
"The Chairman expressed the pleasure which hefelt at having been asked to preside and to introduce to the meeting his friend, Mr Booker T. Washington. There were 10,000,000 coloured persons in the United States living side by side with some 60,000,000 of whites. The freedom of which the negroes had been deprived for more than 200 years had been restored to them, but the question was how best they could be enabled to take advantage of it. The blacks were an interesting race. Fidelity was their great characteristic. During the Civil War, when the South was stripped of every man and almost every boy to sustain their cause in arms, the women and children were left in the sole care, he might say, of these slaves, and no instance of violence or outrage that he had been able to learn was ever reported. He thought it would be admitted, therefore, that on that occasion they amply manifested their loyalty and fidelity to their masters. The black people had done much for themselves. About one-tenth of the men had acquired some portion of land, and they had made a certain advance. Mr Washington was a pupil of the late General Armstrong, who devoted many years of his life to the establishment and maintenance of the leading school at Hampton, Virginia. Mr Washington had qualified himself to follow in Armstrong's path. He also had founded a school, or training college, at Tuskegee, Alabama, where the pupils were not only given a primary education, but were afforded the means of earning a livelihood. There were now 1100 pupils in the school. About half the number of those who passed through it went out as teachers to spread the light and the knowledge they had acquired there among their own race, andthe other half were put into a position to support themselves by manual trades. The Government of the United States thought well of the work. It gave the school a grant of 25,000 acres of land in Alabama only last year. The State of Alabama, in which it was placed, gave it an annual donation. In addition it derived something from the funds left by the great philanthropist, George Peabody, and from another fund founded by an American philanthropist. The remainder of the sum needed for carrying on the work—some £15,000 a year—was derived from voluntary contributions, which were stimulated by the appeals made by Mr Washington, whom he regarded as the leader of his race in America."
There were no long speeches at this reception and after meeting. Booker Washington himself was brief in his speech while describing the condition and outlook of the coloured race in the United States. He said:—
"Immediately after receiving their freedom the negroes, for the most part, got into debt, and they had not been able to free themselves to the present day. In many places it was found that as many as three-fourths of the coloured people were in debt, living on mortgaged land, and in many cases under agreements to pay interest on their indebtedness ranging between fifteen and forty per cent. The work of improving their condition was far from hopeless, and he was far from being discouraged. If his people got no other good out of slavery they got the habit of work. But they did not know how to utilise the results of their labour; the greatest injury which slavery wrought upon them was to deprive them of executivepower, of the sense of independence. They required education and training, and this was gradually being provided. Starting in 1881 in the little town of Tuskegee with one teacher and thirty students, they had progressed until in the present day they had built up an institution which had connected with it over a thousand men and women. They had some eighty-six instructors, and in all that they did they tried to make a careful and honest study of the condition of the negroes and to advance their material and moral welfare. Industrial education was a vital power in helping to lift his people out of their present state. Twenty-six different industries were taught, and every student had to learn some trade or other in addition to the studies of the class-room. The coloured students came from upwards of twenty States and territories, and the labour which they performed had an economic value to the institution itself. There were thirty-eight buildings upon the grounds of the college, including a chapel having seating capacity for 2500 persons, built by the students themselves. The value of the entire property was about $300,000. Seeing that one-third of the population of the South was of the negro race, he held that no enterprise seeking the material, civil or moral welfare of America could disregard this element of the population and reach the highest good."
Mr Bryce, M.P., also gave a brief speech, and showed that he was in agreement with what the founder of the institution of Tuskegee had said in reference to the importance of basing the progress of the negroes on an industrial training:—
"Having made two or three visits to the South he had got an impression of the extreme complexity and difficulty of the problem which Mr Washington was so nobly striving to solve. It was no wonder that it should be difficult, seeing that the whites had such a long start of the coloured people in civilisation. He believed that the general sentiment of white people was one of friendliness and a desire to help the negroes. The exercise of political rights and the attainment to equal citizenship must depend upon the quality of the people who exercised those rights, and the best thing the coloured people could do, therefore, was to endeavour to attain material prosperity by making themselves capable of prosecuting these trades and occupations which they began to learn in the days of slavery, and which now, after waiting for twenty years, they had begun to see were necessary to their well-being."
At the present time the institution at Tuskegee represents a value of £100,000, if we include the endowment fund; and the annual cost of training 1100 or more students is not less than £16,000. The work continues to expand, as must ever be the case with all healthy enterprises of the kind. Perhaps the most hopeful symptom of all is the sanguine enthusiasm of Booker Washington himself, who, happily for himself and for those whom he seeks to benefit, is, and must ever be, an optimist. He believes that his race has a future, and that it is capable of being so uplifted as to become a benefit to the world. We must all allow that the right means are being used to bring about this new reformation; but, at the same time, we need not close our eyes to the factthat there are observers and even well-wishers of the coloured people who are not so hopeful. By way of giving what may be regarded as the more pessimistic view, take the following passage from an article in theDaily Mailof October 23, 1901:—
"Frederick Douglass was an honoured guest in hundreds of Northern homes; his career as United States senator was marked with every token of respect and admiration, and many others like him were expected to appear. But in the forty years since the war the North has become more conservative in this respect, although it has been untiring in its efforts to foster the negro's education, to direct his energy wisely, and to make him capable of enjoying the liberties of the American Republic. In the South there may still be oppression to-day and the restriction of the negro's constitutional rights, but such a charge has never been made against the North, even by the black man's most prejudiced apostles. If the North refuses to-day to grant social equality to the negro, the reasons are that it is considered not only impossible to accomplish, but dangerous even to attempt. It is considered impossible because the feeling has deepened instead of being dispelled since the war, that the negro is greatly inferior by nature and will never be otherwise. In his forty years of freedom he has advanced more in crime and lawlessness, according to statistics, than he has in education or development. Taking the blacks and mulattos together they form sixteen per cent. of the entire population, and furnish thirty per cent. of the penitentiary convicts. Crimes against the person especially constitute a menace from thenegro almost unknown before the war, and Frederick Douglass said, shortly before he died, 'It throws over every coloured man a mantle of odium, and sets upon him a mark for popular hatred more distressing than the mark set upon the first murderer. It has cooled our friends and fired our enemies.' The race has, as a matter of fact, shown almost no power to fight its own battles, and its problems hang like a weight of lead around the neck of the American people, a weight growing heavier and causing more hopelessness as the years go on."
If the above is not actually too dark a picture, the evil is certainly one which a great Republic need not regard as an evil incapable of correction. Booker Washington himself is not so sanguine as to ignore difficulties; he foresees clearly enough that the earlier half of this present century must needs be a time of much rough pioneering service on the part of those who are the most earnest friends of the negro race. As lookers-on from afar on the European side of the broad Atlantic, we are able to descry many reassuring signs. Both in the North and the South, Booker Washington has met with abundance of sympathy, and a good deal of honest, practical help. When Harvard University bestowed on him the degree of Master of Arts, he was the first negro who had ever received that distinction. That good Christian man and enlightened politician, the late President M'Kinley, paid a visit to Tuskegee at the end of 1899, and on behalf of the nation he was thankful for what was being done. His successor, President Roosevelt, entertained Booker Washington at dinner at the White House, thus showing thathe was of the same mind as his predecessor. Thus the great work goes on from the beginning to the end of each year, the aim of the continued and far-reaching effort being to bring two races together, one being able to help the other because both have interests in common.
TRANSCRIBERS' NOTESGeneral: Corrections to punctuation and formatting have not been individually documentedPage 21: Nothwithstanding corrected to NotwithstandingPage 39: Removed duplicate asPage 50: every-day standardised to everyday
General: Corrections to punctuation and formatting have not been individually documented
Page 21: Nothwithstanding corrected to Notwithstanding
Page 39: Removed duplicate as
Page 50: every-day standardised to everyday