Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1895-11-05

ders OF a negro named Booker I.
Washington, who is at the head
OF the Tuskegoo Institute, au in
dustrial school for negroes. At
the opening Of the Atlanta Fair, a
place was reserved ia the oNor-
cjses fr an address by Professor
Washington, aud he astUnished
his hearers # both races
lie told the negroes that, when
they were emaucrpatcd their .g.
norauce and ineXper.ence led them
to begin their new lif, at tho top
instead of the bottom; that they
aimed at becoming members f
the ! legislature or going to Con
grasS, instead Of trying to acquire
property or industrial skill; that
men who should have been It lrt-
ing dairy farms or truck gardens
spent their time Iu delivering
stump speeches to p'htIcd con-
ventions. These thoughts evoked
a response from all who had cone
sidered the subject. The troubl-
with the emanciplted negro was
that he was il pauper and saw no
road leading out of pauperism,
and that his attempts, which were
now and then successful, to ac-
quire the political power which |
to,lowS numbers merely had the |
effect Of Transferring the manage
ment of public affairs to the class
which was least fitted to manage |
them. The result Of the first
measures of construction was to
place the intelligence and proper
ty Of the South under the control
of those who had neither intelli-
g-nca nor property, and the con-
Sequence was and could not help !
beng failure.
Professor Washington teaches
men Of color that the road to po-
litlcal power lies through the ac
QUESTION OF material prosperity. |
To hold their own against the |
whites, the negrues must learn to !
support themselves, and to ac-
qUre property. What they want
j. not so much votes as opportu-
nifty to learn the various branches {,
of skilled labor. No race which |
produces commodities that can be
exchanged for money can be long |
deprived of political rights. The |
man Of color who makes himself "a
skilled laborer in any branch, so
that his labor is required for the
development of his country's re-
sources, cannot be disfranchised
for any length of time. Prosperi-
ty is power. When a negro has
money to lend, his right to the
suffrage will no longer be abb
ridged.
If the Southern negroes will
follow Professor Washington ad-
vice they will find the social pro-
bIem solving Itself by degrees.
Between the cultured and refined
whites of the South and a pauper
population OF ignorant blacks,
there can be no affinity nor any
association on equal terms; but
let the negroes MAKE themselves
masters of one branch of industry
after another and they will find
the gulf which divides them from
the whites gradually dim nishlng.
Miscegenahon is not among tue
things which will come, and it
will not be ,ught by the colored
race. Since the war the birth rate
among muiattoes and octoroons
has largely diminished. But this
is large world, and there is room
~ it for many races differing in
color and type and racial charact-
eristics.
The one requisite for the negro
race in this country is knowledge.
With knowledge he eau attain to
anything; without knowledge he
can never rise above the degraded
station which he occupies. 10
the end that he shall acquire
knowledge, Professor Washington,
with the aid of liberal citizens of
New England, established his
normal and industrial school at
Tuskegee, Alabama, in 1881. The
object was to educate the colored
youln along industrial, rather
than literary Ines. The first
school year began with Que teach
er and thirty pupils. The
scholastic year just ended closed
with s,xty-six teachers and 959
pupils. The institution has bOr-