The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-02-28

CdIl llI6 VII. IL Is, IllIcSNit etiN N'NNJ
each and every one of US, north ana
south, to aid him according to our
means, that his field of usefulness
among the ten million of his race In TINS
country may be extended; that the CIV
ilization he is carrying to all parts OF
the Black Belt may not be engulted py
the increase of their numbers pefofe IL
can reach them. He educates humble
apostles to the black man and woman,
bringing the economical foundations OF
civilized life--a knowledge of agricul-
ture, first of all, principles of economy
and thrift, the science Of housekeeping
and the mysteries of the trades.
Millions have been spent in the last
thirty years on the education Of the ne
gro, and much of them has been wasted.
He must be a husbandman, mechanic,
a tradesman before he can give protlta-
bic employment to the physician ana
the lawyer; the need of the professions
I will follow But for many years we
taught him Greek and Latin, modern
languages, 'ologies" of all kinds--every-
thing but the things that are of practi-
cal help to him. 1t was to remedy these
1 conditions that Mr.. washington founded
1 Tuskegee Institute. Agriculture is
taught there brlcklaying and all the
1 trades, domestic economy, also, and
4 dressmaking-,in short, the foundations
upon which the higher culture rests.
! Thrift, especially, is taught there, that
| its principles may be carried into the
cabins of the ignorant negroes.
Mr.. Washington explains the ma
chinery and aims of his institution in
This book on 1.-THE Future of the Ameri-
| can Negro recently published, which
| covers, however, as its name implies,
wider field. For the condition of the
negro Is closely entwined with the po-
litical and material advance of the
whites of this country, which is as
strong as its weakest link.
I'm the southern part of the United
States" says Mr.. Washington, there
are twenty-five millions Of people who
are bound to the fifty millions of the
north by ties which neither can tear
asunder if they would. The most intel
ligent in a New York community has
his intelligence darkened by the ignor-
ance of fellow citizen in the Missis-
sippi bottoms. The most wealthy In
New York city would be more wealthy
but for the poverty Of a fellow being in
the Carolina rice swanps. The most
moral and religious men in Massachu-
sets have their religion and morality
modified by the degradation of the man
in the south whose religion is mere
matter Of form or of emotionalism.
The vote of the man In Maine that is
cast for the highest and purest form OF
government is largely neutralized by
the vote of the man in Louisiana whose
ballad is stolen or cast in ignorance.
Therefore, when the south is ignorant
the north is Ignorant when the south is
poor the north is poor; when the south
commits crime the nation commits
crime. For the citizens Of the north
there is no escape; they must help
raise the character Of the civilization in
the south, or tleirs will be lowered
No member Of the white race in any
part of the country can harm the weak
est Or meanest member of the black
race without the proudest and bluest
blood Of the nation being degraded"
And a little, further on, referring to
the differing theories as to the Negroes
future propoundfd from time to time,
he says: t@3
huCN lildt WlAtLlleI tIt AlC5lcCn al Y
increasing or decreasing, whether they
are growing better or worse, whether
they are valuable or valueless, that a
few years ago some fourteen Of them
were brought into this country, and
that now thosei fourteen are nearly ten
millions. l know that, whether in
slavery or freedom, they have always
been loyal to the. stars and stripes, that
no school-housel has been opened for |
them that has not been filed, that the
two million ballots that they have the !
right to cast are as potent for veal or /,
woe as an equal number cast by the |
wisest and most influential men in |
America. I know that wherever negro |
life touches the life of the nation it |
helps or it hinders, that wherever the |
life of the white race touches the black |
it makes 1t stronger or weaker Fur |
Their, I know that almost every other !
race that has tried to look the white |
man in the face has disappeared. I |
know, despite all the conflicting opin-
ions, and with a full knowledge of all |
the negroes weaknesses, that only a
few centuries ago they went into slave
ry in this country pagans, that they
SdiiiS out Nlll lollnlio, Hwy WGiil iiSo
slavery as SO much property, they came
out American citizens; they went into
slavery without a language, they came I
out speaking the proud Anglo-Saxon
tongue; they went into slavery with the
chains clanking about their wrists, they
came out with the American ballots in
their hands,
This is the critical point in the histo-
ry of the negro in this country. He
came out of slavery the skilled work.
man of the south, its carpenter, black
smith and bricklayer, it's wheelwright,
cook and nurse. His masters had
taught him trades, which helped him in
earning a livelihood. But to-day all
this practical knowledge, as well as his
skill in agriculture, has been lost,
through variety of reasons which Mr..
Washington sets forth. To him liberty
meant license; he had learned TO asso-
ciate it, through the examples of his
with idleness. Self-respect
was bound up in his untutored MIND
with silk hat, patent leather boots, a
cane and a cigar: labor he believed to
oe degrading, and he had no leaders ex-
3ept had ones to teach BIN. Thus he
lost the all-important place he held in
he industrial life of the south, and
sank to the position from which Mr.