The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1896-07-10
THE NEGRO PROBLEM.
Booker T. Washington Tells How 1t
Can Be Solved.
The Work rlust Proceed Along Indus
trial Lines.

. the doors Sunday on the oc caslon
of the address of Booker L. Washing
ton on the Education of the Black
Man in the South" His address was
thoroughly practical one and fully
demonstrated the line of work for the
solution of the much veXed negro pro-
blem. There is nothing of the orator
ical about Mr.. Washington, but the
earnest way he has in telling his
story, so fully punctured with prac-
tical hints, at once captures the at
tention of all.
He briefly outlined his own struggle
: for an education, and his resolve that
when he got it, he would devote his
life to the lifting up of his race, and
spoke of the start which was made at
Tuskegee in 1881, and the growth
which has followed, until now they
have 800 students and some 70 or so
instructors, at total annual cost of
some $4,000. Last year they were
obliged to turn away as many students
as they accommodated. He gave a
description of the helpless condition
of the negro race as left in by the war,
and of the progress they had since
made. Said the trouble was that they
begun at the top instead of the foun-
dation. The work at Tuskegee is
thoroughly practical. Some twenty
five industries are conducted there
and the education in each is most
thorough. The basis of their work is
an industrial education. The negro
is taught how to work to the best ad
vantage, how to make use of what he
has, and how to save what he gets.
There is an impression, he said, that
the negro is lazy. This idea is OBJ
tanned from their appearance at the
railway stations, where they would
be seen loafng just as the white man
loafs at such places in the north. But
back in the country they work with
will. The main trouble with the ne
gro as a race, he said, is not that they
will not work, but that they do not
One great trouble is that they are
obliged to mortgage their crops in the
spring, and they often pay as high as
40 per cent on the money so advanced.
He thought the white man in the
north would find it extremely hard to
get ahead under such circumstances.
When the crop is harvested every
thing has been used up. Then the
negro is induced to buy all sorts of
things that he doesn't need. Religion
and a general education were all right
in their way, but they would not
solve the problem. Religion will not
/ save a man when his stomach is
empty. The work and theory at Tus-
kegee is to solve the problem along in
dustrial lines; to teach the colored
man how to do business for himself;
! to think and act for himself; to open
! the way into the higher lines of work;
! to teach him to bring the forces of
! nature to his aid as the white man
does. This is supplemented by gen.
eral education on christian basis.
Only on this basis he believed could
the problem be solved. 1t is the only
way it could be solved with any peo-
pie in such a condition. On this line
it is slowly being worked out, and in
fifty years the progress made will be
something wonderful. There is a per-
feet equality in the south in business
matters, he said, and the negro who
excels in any lineis readily patronized
by the whites. At Tuskegee no at
tention was paid 80 them when they
first opened their school. But soon it
was found that they made good brick,
did irst-class carpenter work, print
ing, etc., and the whites readily pat
ronized them and are now their best
friends.
His address was illustrated with
many stories, which kept his audience
good natured, while they most fore
IDLY brought out the points which he
wished to make. He did not blame
the southern white people for the
feeling they had exhibited; said that
they had suffered terribly from the
wrong of slavery and noted it's worst
effects since emancipation.
Mr.. Washington is now raising a
fund to build an additional building
at Tuskegee for an agricultural de-
partment to the institute. This
building will cost $4,000, of which
: $4,000 was given by wealthy gentle
man interested in the work, on con-
dition that the remaining $4,000 be
raised by the institute. Mr.. Wash
ington has raised all but 81 200 of it.
The collection last evening was S49
-Judge Mead has issued letters