The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-03-16
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON.
CELEBR4TED NEGRO EDUCAT0R
 EfLKS TO YALE MEN.
Gave Brilliant AddEess Describing the Work of Tuskegee University Hes lieves the Race Problem VIII be solved by Industrial Education.


 An able and brilliant address by Booker T. Washington, the great negro educator, was listened to by the stu dents of Yale university last night Tn Battel chapel. During his address MT, Washington confined himself to out5 lining the work accomplished in found- ing and building up the Tuskegee unl- versity in Alabama, of which he is pres ident, and in describing its direct and practical effect in lifting the negro pop ulation of the south into condition of thrift and self-respect He is an ex- tremely vigorous and earnest speaker, and his arguments were pointed with apt and witty illustrations
 MT. Washington was educated at the Hampden institute in Virginia, where he worked his way through and there he gained the inspiration to go down among the most ignorant of his people in the black bell in Alabama. He be- gan in 1881 in a shanty with thirty stu dents, and now the institution numbers over HOO men and women. who come from twenty-seven states, from Africa, Cuba, Porto Rico and other foreign countries. The university numbers eighty-six instructors, Twenty eight different industries are taught there, and the foTty-two buildings were erect ed by the students themselves.
 My people are not yet civilized enough to be subject to nervous pros tration," said MT. Washington 'and the doctor who understands their physi- cal condition must be skilled in treating fn1yarc nd Hict11 1rha y,nn TO than diseases of the brain Just so in the matter os education, the teacher who would strike the needs of the peo- pie must at this stage train the hands Instead of the mind. Not neglecting the mind either, but make their education of an industrial nature, above all, teach them the lesson that labor by the hand is not degradation. If there has been one thing more than another that has dragged down the south, injuring the whites equally with the blacks, it is that labor has been considered degrad- ing.
 Two blessings came to the negro during his 250 years of slavery. The first Is, that through all that time the white man did business with the black man. and the second is. that it paid to make skilled mechanics of them. To-day our people have a tre- mendous advantage because in matters of business they are in level ground with white men,and can win respect ac- cording to their business abilities. Since the war the skilled laborers of slavery times have died out, and their places have been largely filled by enterprising whites from the north. It is therefore in industrial education that the saliva ton of our people lies.
 They do not need charity. Where in any part of this country on the street corners do you find a black hand stretched out asking for charity? I have been eating and working and sleeping with these people for twenty years, and what they need is teachers to instruct them in habits of thrift, how to cultivate cotton and corn, and to | build up houses and bank accounts. | One black man in each community with such an industrial education work Ing among my people and teaching them what he knows will settle the race problem In way that presidents and congresses are unable to do."