The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-11-25
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON
HIS ELo0UENrADDRESS 1T UNITED
 CHURCH LAST EVENING.

Industrial school at Hampton, Va.--Pur-
 pose of the Tuskegee sohooI--reaches
 That Laboris Not DeGrading--Mr. Wash
 ington's Views on the Recent south Caro-
 lima Measures Disadvantages and Ad-
 vantages Received From Slavery.
 Not for many years has so large congregation assembled in United church as was present last evening to hear Booker T. Washington, principal Of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute of Tuskegee, Ala. speak.
 MT, Washington is the gentleman whose address on the negro question at the Atlanta exposition attracted such widespread interest and admiration not long ago. The church last evening was literally packed, Every available seat in the house was filled and also the available standing room, 1,500 is a con- Servative estimate of the number pres ent. MT. Washington spoke substan- tially as follows:
 T was born slave on a plantation in Virginia in 1857 or 1858, think. My first memory of life is that of one room log cabin with dirt floor and hole in the center that served as a winter home for sweet potatoes and wrapped in 8 few rags on this dirt floor l spent my nights and clad in a single garment about the plantation I spent my days.
 'The morning of freedom came and though a child 1 recall vividly my ap- pearance with that of forty or fifty slaves before the veranda of the Big House to hear read the documents that made us men instead of property. With the long prayed for freedom in actual possession, each started out into the world to find new friends and new homes. My mother decided to locate | In West Virginia, and after many days and nights of weary travel we found ourselves among the salt furnaces and coal mines of West Virginia. Soon af- ter reaching West Virginia I begun work in the coal mines for the sup port of my mother While doing this I heard in some way do not remem- Der now, of General Armstrong's school at Hampton, Virginia. I heard at the same time, which impressed me most | that it was school where poor boy could work for his education, so far as his board was concerned
 As soon as I heard of Hampton I made up my mind that in some way I was going to find ny way to that in stitution. began at once to save every nickel I could get hold of At length l with my own savings and a little help from my brother and mother I started for Hampton, although at that time I hardly knew where Hampton was or how much 1t would cost to reach the school After walking portion of the distance, travelling in stage coach and cars the remainder of the journey I at 1 length found myself in the city of Rich- mond, Va. I also found myself without money, friends or a place to stay all night, The last cent of my money had been expended. After walking about the city till near midnight and had grown almost discouraged and quite exhausted, I crawled under sidewalk and slept that night. The next morn- l ing as good fortune would have it l found myself very near ship that was unloading pig iron. I applied to the captain for work and he gave it and I worked on this ship by day and slept under the sidewalk by night till I had earned money enough to continue my way to Hampton, where I soon ar rived with surplus of fifty cents in my pocket. I at once found General Armstrong and told him what I had come for and what my condition was In his great hearty way he said that If I was worth anything he would give me a chance to wCtk my way through that institution.
 At Hampton I found buildings, in. structors, industries provided by the generous, in other words the chance for me to work for my education while at Hampton resolved if God permitted me to finish the course of study would enter the far south, the Black belt ot the Gulf states and give my life in pro. viding as best l could the same kind ot chance for self help for the youth oi my race that I found ready for me wher I went to Hampton and so in 1881 I Jeff Hampton and started the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in 2 small church and shanty with one teacher and thirty students. Since ther the institution at Tuskegee has grad ually grown till we have connected with the institution sixty-nine instruc tors and eight hundred young men anG women, representing nineteen states and if I add the families of our instruc tors We have on our grounds constantly population of about one thousand souls. These students are about equally divided between the sexes and theil average age is eighteen and one-halt years.
 "In planning the course of training at Tuskegee we have steadily tried tC keep in view our condition and oul needs rather than pattern our course of study directly after that of people whose opportunities of civilization have been far different and far superior tt ours.
 '"The great need at present is to reaci and stimulate the masses and uniVersa industrialism needs to be emphasized rather than individual scholasticism'
 At Tuskegee our course of study cor responds much to high school course il the north, leaving out all work in for |