The San Francisco call., 1898-12-19
THE PRESIDENTS WORDS
 TO THE COLORED PEOPLE

SAY AN NAH, Od.. Dec. M ne feat ure of the Presidents day was his visit to Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical College. This is an institution for col ored persons supported by the State of Georgia Its president is R. R. Wright. colored, who was recently appointed by President Mckinley as a paymaster in
 the volunteer army, with the rank of major, but who has resigned and re-
 turned to the school. There were no elaborate exercises connected with his visit The pupils were gathered in the chapel. Mir Mckinley was introduced
 by the president of the college. He said:
 Fellow citizens: I have been profoundly impressed with this scene and l have been deeply touched with the eloquent words and the exalted sentiments which have been uttered by the gentleman whom you
 delegated to speak in your behalf. It
 gives me peculiar pleasure to meet you
 and to greet YOU in this institution of learning presided over by one whom 1 have known for more than twenty years and whom I have come to admire and re-
 spect as one of the splendid leaders Of your race. 1 congratulate him and all aS- sociated with him in the good work done
 here for the eXaltatiOn of your race. congratulate all of you upon the splendid advance made by you in the last third of a century. You are all entitled to praise
 and to high commendation, which am sure you receive rom your white fellow citizens in this and every part of the country. 1 congratulate you upon
 your requirement of property. Many of your race have large properties on the tax lists in the several States, and in that way contribute approximately to the support of the Government. 1 congratu- late you upon what you have done in learning and the requirement of useful knowledge on the fact that there is not a foot of ground beneath the flag of Stars and Stripes where every boy and girl white or black, cannot have an education to fit them for the battle of life. Keep on is the word 1 would leave with you to- day. Keep on in the efforts upward but remember that in acquiring knowledge there is one thing as important as that and that is character Nothing in the whole wide world is worth so much will last so long and serve its purpose so well no one can take from you, that no one car | give to you. You must acquire it for ! yourself.
 There is another thing Do not forget l the home The home is the foundation ot good individual life and organized govern
 ment. Cultivate good homes, make then pure and sweet, elevate them and other
 good things will follow. I congratulate 1 you that this institution is not only look ing after the head, but after the hand. i congratulate you that it is not only mak. | ing orators, but good mechanics It is
 better to be a skilled mechanic than 2 | poor orator or an indifferent preacher l (Great applause.) In a word, each of yoI must want to be the best In whatevel l you undertake. Nothing in the world | commands more respect than skill anC | industry. Every avenue is open to it.
 l 'I congratulate you upon the splendiC ] yalor of your race. My friend, the Presi | dent, has made an allusion in his speecf | to what many years ago 1 said in a pub l lie address. told of a white colonel whC | had delivered the flag of our country t, 1 his black color sergeant and said to him l Sergeant, l place in your hands thi.
 sacred flag. Fight for it; yes, die for it 1 but never surrender it to the hands of ar enemy That black soldier, with lov, l of country and pride in his heart. an
 swered: I will bring the flag back. col i onel, in honor, or report to God the reasoI why. In one battle, in carrying that flas | of freedom, he was stricken down H, 1 fell with the folds of that flag wrapped about him, bathed in his blood He dit
 not bring it back, but God knew the req
 son why. He did all he could, all an,
 man could do. He gave his hearts bIoot
 for that flag. At San Juan Hill and a
 Fl Caney-but General Wheeler is here 1 Great applause) I know he can tell vol 1 better than 1 can of the splendid heroisn | of the black regiments which fought sid
 by side with the white troops on tha
 historic field. Mir. Lincoln was not ia
 from right when, speaking of the blacl l men, he said: The time will come whel
 they will help to keep the jewel of libert, l in the hands of the human race and il l a third of the century since you hay
 helped to give liberty in Cuba to an op J pressed people, l leave with you this on