Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-01-29

!: WHAT THEY ARE
TALKING ABOUT.

# / +
THE Salvation of the Negro" was
the subject of Booker T. Washington
in a recent address:
/ The salvation of my race Will largely
rest upon It's ability and Willingness TO
secure and cultivate properly the SOIL"
said Booker T. Washington in an ad-
dress to an immense audience at the
Second Presbyterian church. Chicago.
Mr.. Washington probably has never
faced a higher class or more cultivated
assembly than he did at that time. The
church was crowded to its broad,
/ swinging doors. and before O'Clock
scores of fashionable folk had been
turned away because even the vesti-
bule was well filed. Scores-many arts
tocrats of Chicago's boulevards-stood
up during the famous colored mans
| entire speech.
/ All apparently were delighted with
the speaker. His statements concern
Ing the work at Tuskegee surprised
most of the auditors, and his assertion
that the art of agriculture is the ideal
one for the negro to take up sent many
home with new light upon the vexed
| problem of the colored mans saliva
ton. Mr.. Washington made this as
sertion in this way:
The spirit of industry Is SO strongly
| lodged in the minds and hearts of the
students that everyone upon our rolls
| pursues some branch of industry in adj
| dition to other studies. Every student
| who graduates has received such train
| ing In some branch of industry as will
enable him to earn his living.
| II wish to add thought which I have
| tried to express before, and that Is,
more and more. each year feel that ag
riculture should be made in very large
| degree the basis for our work; that the
salvation of my race will largely rest
upon it's ability and Willingness to se
cure and cultivate properly the soil.
believe that everything possible should
be done to enlarge and increase the eff
cheney of our agricultural department"
During his address the speaker told
several humorous stories, and proved an
interesting and clever lecturer. He had
not been heard by many in the audi
ence in this role, and on this account the
impression made by him was doubly
strong. Mr.. Washington asserted the
negro race is not only willing but anx-
ious to have intelligent and kindly
workers from the white people come
among them to teach them how to live
better lives. He believed in showing the
negro that in thrift and industry. COM
bined with the understanding that hap
piness is best linked to both when the
Individual grasps every opportunity to
make others happy. lies the secret of
successful labor among his people.
Among other things Mr.. Washington
said:
THE census figures for 1890 show that
the negroes owned 12073S,000 farms.
That Is, they owned % per cent of the
farm which they cultivated, and the
whites owned II per cent of the farms
which they cultivated in the United
States. The colored people own 10 per
cent Of the homes. as distinguished
from farms, In which they live, and the
whites 80 per cent. Last year the col
ored people in Georgia paid taxes upon
s14,C00.0 900 worth of property and owned
at that time 1,015,000 acres Of land.
fuence OF the educated negro.
II admit that the criminal class is
much larger than 1t should be. and in
some cities 1t is beginning to present a
rather serious problem. Two things,
however, should be kept in mind when
considering the younger generation OF
colored people First, that the transit
ton from slavery to freedom was a ire
mendous one; that the negroes idea of
freedom for generations had meant
freedom from restraint and work: that
the negro mother and father had little |
opportunity during the slavery to learn
how to train children. Secondly, the fig |
ures relating to crininality among all
races in all countries show that 1t Is the |
younger people, those between the ages
of 6and &c. that are given to crime and
idlenesA.
Notwithstanding these facts want
to present some testimony showing that |
the young educated negro is not failing
to prove his worth to the whites.
Some time ago / sent letters to about
400 white men, scattered throut the I
southern states, in which these three
questions were asked:
II. Has education made the negro
more useful citizen?
.2. Has it made him more economical
and more inclined to acquire wealth?
80. Has 1t made him more valuable
workman, especially where thought and
skill are required.
Answers came from 900 of my cor
and nine tenths of them
answered the three questions emphati-
cally In the affirmative. A few ex-
pressed doubts, but only one answered
the question with an unmodified No
In each case l was careful to ask my
to base their CORE
spondence upon the conditions existing
in their own neighborhoods."
Concerning the progress at Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial Institute the last
year, Mr.. Washington said:
During the present school year 1888
have been in attendance, and
the daily average attendance has been
/, 010. About one third have been
young women and the remainder young
men. The average has been 1Sh, and
none have been admitted under IA
years of age. unless they have had
some academic preparation. The stu
nine states and territories. and from
six foreign countries, including four
teen from Cuba and Porto Rico.
A Profitable Investment.
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