Evening star., 1898-12-20
DOING A GREAT WORK
Washington's Industrial School
at Tuskegee, Ala.
FOR THE ELEVATION OF THE NEGRO
Floats Representing the Methods
Employed in Teaching,
FACTS ABOUT THE SCHOOL
FACTS ABOUT THE SCHOOL
Special From STAFF Correspondent.

| antly surprised at what they saw way down
| in this remote town of the south. If phi
| lanthropists of the north only knew the
| struggles being made here thousands of
| dollars would quickly fill the Golfers of the
| IuSkegee Institute treasury. The insti-
| tute grows greater and more useful each
| day, more because of the genius of the
| negro at its head than by reason of the
| financial help it is receiving. Booker Wash
| ington received enough praise here from
| the President and cabinet officers to turn
| the head of the average man, but it was
| simply pleasing to the greatest of negroes
| in that it was likely to add to the further
greatness of his institution and rebound
to the good of the negro.
Alongside the modern educated negro, as
seen in the institute, is still to be found the
| old-time negro, happy and contented in the
| life which he has lived so long. He rode
along iii the procession here as full of con-
tentment as If he could speak seven lam
guages and had an income of thousands.
| He hurrahed merely because this was a
great day and he was one of the throag.
| He rode his bOny horse or mule, and his un-
kempt gray hair and ragged garments
never gave him thought. But the young
and ambitious negro is taught a lesson by
| this spectacle. His ambition is Whetted and
| the desire for learning and an improved
| state seiZeS him all the more strongly
when he looked at the happy-go-lucky eX-
hlbition OF the ante-bellum citizen and of
| the young but careless negro of today.
Ihese thoughts were in Secretary Long
mind when he said that the negro problem
was being solved here and would soon be
| solved when other such institutions make
their appearance throughout the country.
What Washington Teaches.
Washington does not teach his negro
boys and girls that an education will give
| them living in the world. He teaches
them that a good trade, combined with an
education, will furnish them with liveli-
hoods and contentment The boys gradu-
ate in the classics, and at the same time
become cabinet makers, machiniSts, timers,
blackSmlthS, farmers, etc. The girls get
liberal education and become nurses, cooks,
dreSsmakers, milliners, etc. They are not
exactly taught not to marry, but they
! quickly acquire the thought of independ-
ence and are in no hurry to marry. The
negro nurses turned out here are sought
for all over the south. Two floats in the
procession gave an indication of this max
ing of a colored nurse. One float repre-
sented an old-time negro woman, untidily
clad and lacking in knowledge of what to
do The other represented the modern
nurse as turned out at Tuskegee. Lying
in bed was a patient. Standing over him
was a tidy, sympathetic nurse. She had
placed a thermometer in his mouth held
one hand on his pulse and with the other
timed the action of the thermometer.
at the exhibits of horticulture and agri-
culture. Fruit growing and scientific cul
tivation of the land are the essential fea-
lures of the work here. The products of
the school farm, which supplies the greater
part of the food for the students. were
hbited in float The southern raZor-back
hog was shown in a float, and in contrast
the fat, blooded animals grown by the
school.
Booker Washington furnished me some
thing about the history of the school, He
said
History of the School.
"The institution was started seventeen
years ago with one teacher and thirty pu-
pills, in rented shanty church. According
to the last report of the principal. the at
tendance last year was 1,047 stufents-712
boys and 335 girls. These students came
from twenty-four states and territories
Nearly the same number are in attendance
at this time December 15), representing
the same number of states and territories,
and, besides, Cuba. Porto Rico, England.
Africa and Jamaica. Nearly all of these
students board and sleep the school
grounds. In all the departments of the
school, academic industrial and religious,
eighty-five officers and teachers are en-
ployed. Counting teachers and students
there is upon the school grounds a popula-
ton of 200 persons. The industrial train
ing is given in twenty-six different indus
trial divisions In connection with the aCl-
demic and religious training. Three hun
dred and siXty-nine students have received
diplomas and certificates from the academ-
ic, industrial and Bible training depart
ments of the school These graduates are
seeking to do a work similar to Tuskegee in
twenty-five of the states of the Union. A
recent accounting discloses the fact that
nearly 2,ioO persons, or thereabouts who
have attended Tuskegee during the years of
its history, without graduating, are at work
in many sections doing an excellent work.
in addition to the 1863 graduates to which
reference has been made. The work done
by these men and women among the great
masses of the negroes whom Tuskegee can
not directly influence is the answer to any
question as to the worth of the work done
by it, and the cost of maintaining the ax-
tensive departments of the institution.
Valuation of the Property.
THE valuation of all property of the in
stitution is about $500 900. Instead of one
building, as at first, the school now owns
forty-two, counting the large and small,
nearly all built by student labor. Two thou
sand two hundred and sixty-seven acres of
land are owned by the school, of which
number about 500 are cultivated; on the
two farms conducted by the school are 525
head of live stock, including horses mules
COWS, oxen, sheep and hogs The two most
recent buildings completed by the students
are the new chapel, where the President
Will speak, and the Slater-ArmSt strong me-
mortal agricultural building. In this build
Ing departments of horticulture stockrais-
ing, truck gardening, carrying and practical
farming are conducted The director of his
department Is a graduate of the Iowa State
Agricultural College, formerly presided
over by the present Secretary of Agricul-
ture, James Wilson. An experiment sta
tfon is conducted in connection with this
department. Several very valuable bulle-
tins have been published from this expert |
ment station.
THE chapel in which the President spoke
was constructed almost entirely by the stu
dents of the institution. All of the plans
yyG fr1yy W IA fv, Al,n
the division of architectural and mechan-
ical drawing. He is a graduate of the Mas
sachusetts School of Technology. The !, 200
600 bricks in the structure were made by the |
students learning the trade of brickmaking:
the entire mason work was done by stu
dents pursuing the course in masonry; all
of the lumber in the building was cut at
the saw mill on the grounds; the painting
was done by students of this division; the
steam plant for heating purposes was in