The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-12-19
M'KINLEY TO THE NEGROES
ADDRESSES THE STUDENTS OF THE
 GEORGIA COLLEGE.
Conrratulates Them On the Splendid Advance Made in the Last Third of Century-Charges Them to "Aeep oh -rhe Value of Good Character and the Cultivation of Good Homes.

-rhe Value of Good Character and
 the Cultivation of Good Homes.
 Savannah, Ga. Dec. 1S-The feature of the presidents day was his visit to the Georgia Agricultural and Mechani- cal college. This is an institution for colored persons, supported by the state of Georgia. Its president is R. k. Wright, colored, who was recently ap- pointed by President Mckinley a pay master in the volunteer army, with the rank of major, but who has resigned and returned to the school. There were no elaborate exercises connected with the visit. The pupils were gath cred in the chapel. MT Mckinley was introduced by the president of the col lege. He said:
 Fellow Citizens-I have been pro- foundly impressed with this scene and I have been deeply touched with the eloquent words and the exalted sentiments which have been ut tered by the gentleman whom you dele gated to speak in your behalf It gives me peculiar pleasure to meet you and to meet you in this institution of learn | ing presided over by one whom I have | known for more than twenty years and whom I have come to admire and re- spect as one of the splendid leaders of l your race. I congratulate him and all associated with him in the good work done here for the exaltation Of your race I congratulate all of you on the splendid advance made by you in the titled to all praise and to high commen- dation which l am sure you receive from your white fellow citizens in this and every part of the country. I con- 1 gratulate you upon your requirement l of property. Many of your race have l large properties on the tax lists in the 1 several states and in that way contrib 1 ute to the support of the government. | 1 congratulate you on 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 I battle of life. Keep on Is the word would leave with you to-day. Keep on in the efforts upward. but remember that in acquiring knowledge there Is | thinO oS ipoy nrta tLot 4 that is character. Nothing in the whole wide world is worth so much will last so long and serve it's possessor so well as good character. It is some thing that no one can take from you
 that no one can give to you. You must acquire it for yourselves.
 There is another thing, do not for get the home. The hc1ne is the founda- tion of good individual life and of good government. Cultivate good homes
 make them pure and sweet, elevate
 them and other good things will fol
 low I congratulate. you that this in
 stitution is not only looking after the
 head but after the hand. I congratu l late you that it is not only making
 good orators, but good mechanics. |
 is better to be a skilled mechanic thar
 a poor orator or an indifferent preach
 CT.
 In word, each of you must want tt
 be the best in whatever you undertake
 Nothing in the world commands nor respect than skill and industry. Every
 avenue is open to it. I congratulat you upon the splendid valor of you
 race. My friends, the president ha
 made an allusion in his speech to whicl many years ago I made in a publi address. I told of white colonel wh had delivered the flag of our country t his black color sergeant and said t . him: Sergeant I place in your hand
 this sacred flag. Fight for it; yes, di
 for it, but never surrender it to tn
 hands of an enemy" That black sol dier with love of country and pride |
 his heart answered.; T will bring thi flag back, colonel, in honor, colonel, o
 report to God the reason why" | : one battle in carrying the flag to free ) dom, he was stricken down. He fe l with the folds of that flag wrappe about him, bathed in his blood. He di
 not bring it back, but God knew tn reason why. He did all he could; a any man could. He gave his heart :, blood for that flag. At San Juan Hi t and at Fl Clancy, but General Wheele 5 is here (Great applause) I know
 can tell you better than I can of tn
 splendid heroism of the black regi
 ments which fought side by side wit the white troops on that historic fielt
 MT. Lincoln was not far from shol when, speaking of the black men h said: 'The time will come when the l will help to keep the jewel of libert in the hands of the human race" an e in third of a century since you hay e helped to give liberty in Cuba to an or t pressed people. I leave with you tn
 one word, Keep on. You will solv
 your own problem. Be patient; be pro
 gressive; be honest, be Godfearini and you will win for no effort fails tha
 has a stout, honest, earnest heart bt
 hind it"
 l Secretary Gage also spoke. He sai e that he had not fully realized until thi n trip south that there was any sue Q thing as a negro problem and that , was of such widespread proportion - What he had seen, however, had oper
 ed his eyes. There was such a prol
 lem and it was very serious on
 However the information derived him at Tuskegee and this school whic he was addressing, had led him to b