Evening star., 1898-12-20
SECRETARY WILSON
He Talks of the Work Being Done at
Tuskegee.
COLORED PEOPLE SELF EDUCATORS
The Same Thing Should be Done
by Our New Island People.
THE KEY TO SUCCESS S

| Secretary Wilson has given to a repre-
sentative of The Star his observations of
| the southern trip of the President and
party. Mr.. Wilson speaks of conditions at
| Tuskegee and in the Philippines, Cuba and
! Porto Rico. He says:
| 'An interesting feature of the Presidents S
| trip to the south was the visit to Tuskegee,
where the most successful effort ever un-
| dertaken is now being made to teach the
colored people to do something somebody
| wants done. They go to the woods, bring
the lgs to the mill, saw the dimension lum-
| ber and do the carpenter work for all pur-
poses connected with the institution, in
| Guiding the making of DOORS window
| frames, sashes, blinds and everything else
! pertaining to house. They go to the clay
| bank and make brick, lay the brick, and
J really, from the inception to the finish,
| make all their own buildings. They shoe
| their own horses, make their own wagons,
| iron and paint them, make buggies and car
! riages. including the upholstering.
| The girls are taught nutrition, the place
| that each element of food has on the table,
| how to compound rationS and feed a young
| person or an old person. They are taught
| to cut. fit and make their own dresses, to
| make and trim their own bonnets They
| are getting attention not only from the col
| ored people of the south, but from the white
stitution are invited to address white audi
ences as we'll as colored matters relat
! ing to the sciences affecting agriculture.
management of the Soil.
'"The management of the soil is being
| taught by object lessons by the professor
| of agriculture there, a young man named
| Carver, who was educated at the Iowa AS-
ricultural College. He shows them how to
double the yield of their crops by cOnserv-
ing the moisture of the soil through prop
er and timely cultivation. He is giving the
| farmers of that country object lessons in
feeding the raw material of the south to
dairy cows and swine, poultry, &c.
There is great need of just such an in
sttution or several such institutions, not
fbnly in every state in the south, but in
every state in the Union. Congress in 1853
endowed an institution in each of the states
to educate the young farmer and the young
mechanic. The intention was at that time
to give the young farmer a knowledge of
| the sciences that relate to his life work.
Some of them have been more successful
| than others. All of them are doing well
| and some of them are doing remarkably
| well. Congress could not furnish teach
ers There were no teachers, because
there were no such institutions. These col
leges are doing something along that line,
but they take the student into college
course, not into a training school, They
are expected to make him scholar along
agricultural and mechanical lines. The
Tuskegce school begins further down and
prepares its own students thoroughly be-
fore they are introduced to the sciences.
4 Hint for Our New Population.
"a very interesting hint comes to the peo-
pie of the United States from Tuskegee at
the present time. We will be responsible to
the world and the Maker of the world for
10O00,0O0 of colored people in the several
islands now nder our flag. The very best
service that can be done by the United
toto iSIa a1IS- &c to tbniv
people t. work, just Booker Washington
| is teaching the cOlOred people of Tuskegee
| to work. We have not had marked success
| with the Indian. because he would not
work. We are working people ourselves.
| man has scarcely respectable standing in
| the United States who does not contribute
| by his head or his hands to the welfare of
| the republic. But the colored man will
work, and just as rapidly as the people of
| these islands can be helped in this direc-
| ton success will come to the efforts of the
United States in trying to do them good
| Just in what way Congress may deem wise
| to manage those islands no one can tell
Perhaps congressman cannot tell them
selves yet. But education toward the indus
tries is what the people of the islands are
all needing.
The scientist has scarcely turned his at
tention to any of the products of the
tropics. bacterial disease attacked coffee
trees of Java a few years ago and swept
them from the face cf the island. Had one
OF our Washington Department of Agri-
culture DdlnOlOBlSIS Deen there he could
nave stopped the thing at its inception. A
scale was destroying the orange trees along
the river Tagus in Portugal. DR.. Howard
of the Department of Agriculture intro
duced an insect that lived upon the scale
and saved the orange trees of that valley
and has received the gratitude of that peo-
pie. But nobody has made any study of
the insect pests of those islands The SOON
er the brighter people in the several is
lands have their attention turned to these
things the more easily they will be gov
erned, and the sooner they will be ready
to govern themselves substantially. 1t is
difficult to imagine progress and happiness
among any people who do not study the
soil from which they draw their susie
| nance, the relations of the plant to that
soil and the animal life that soil will sus-
tain. This is all being done at Tuskegee
1t is not being done in any one of the is
lands that are now much talked of by
the American people and much written
about by our newspaper friends and so
much agOniZed over by those who regret
that they cannot see further in the future
than their neighbCrs.
The Key to Success.
Booker Washington with his Tuskegee
school has given the key to success if
we take the hint and set agoing the infiu-
ences that will educate those people 1t is
not enough nowadays to teach a man
mathematics, philosophy and bellies lettres.
The world has surplus of people edu-
cftteu lHdt way. our country Is famous
for educated artisans. 1t is not famous for
educated tilers of the soil. Half of our
population live by tillng the soil. Nearly
all of the people of those islands must live
by tilling the soil We are now educating
in the sciences relating to agriculture
young men in half hundred Institutions
in the United States. We will have a sur
plus teaching force of that kind presently
who will be competent to man institutions,
as we did not have them forty years ago.
when Congress endowed colleges to edu-
cate toward industries