Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-04-07
+.s.i
/ LITERATURE AND LIFE. j
A. j. n.


Of 31S pages, may be auoeu W .iie ioiis
LIST of American biography worth put
ting into the hands of youth. Wheh
President Roosevelt declared that ia
cob Riis was the most useful citizen in
New York he might with pertinence
have added that Booker t. Washington
is the most useful citizen of the south.
AS the one has ameliorated the conol-
lions of the white slave in New YORK,
SO the other has opened the door OF
hope and opportunity to black and
white slave alike in the south. Booker
Washington and the Tuskegee msu-
tute are probably doing more to solve
the race problem in the south than
bullets, ballots and all other forces
combined.
The book makes no pretensions to
literature. AS the author says of him.
self, he has always wanted to do things
not talk or write about them-and
this volume which originally ran thru
the Outlook is the result of odd mo-
rnents snatched from his other work
q plain, simple, direct narrative of facts
unembellished with fine rhetoric, every
page bearing the stamp of sincerity and
earnestness.
up from Slavery" is the record of
soul fired with sympathy for his race
and enthusiasm for his work, rising by
the sheer force of genius which meant
in his case, as it always does. hard
work with steady purpose in view. To
read this record of one who, starting
la OF tev.
odds than few encounter, and wins at
the age of 43 the highest success re-
sarded from whatever viewpoint, one is
forced to the conclusion that adversely
is not without it's uses in the evolution
ct character. To use the authors own
words. Success is to be measured not
so much by the position attained as by
the obstacles overcome"
More interesting than that of any
white hero in modern fiction is the real
life of this black Moses whose story
this space can barely hint at. Not even
knowing who his father was, and hav-
ing no name save the Booker" which
his mother gave him when he entered
school, he selected his own name. He
aimed high and hit the mark at Booker
Talflerro Washington
/ pass over his early boyhood spent
amid the salt and coal mines of West
Virginia; his efforts to acquire such
education as he could pick up at nights
after his ten hours toll in the mines;
his toilsome journey over the mour/-
aims to Hampton-mostly on foot-a dis
lance of500miles; his long pull at Hamp-
ton by which he paid his way thru and
later became an instructor there; his
year of study at Washington, D. c., and
graphic portrayal Of colored life during
the period of reconstruction; how at
this time the negroes fiocked into the
national capital, all bent on filling office
or finding an easy job The young men
and women entered the colored schools
with the vain hope that an education
would at once place them at the top
and enable them to live an easy life.
During his year Of study there he insti-
tuted comparison between the Hamp-
ton students with their skill and eff
cheney gained thru its Industrial system
and the colored students that left these
Washington schools where no such
training was given, and he there made
up his mind that no amount of book
learning divorced from industrial edu-
cation would prove of any practical
value to his race at least-in fact, could
only be an injury.
In speaking of the great benefits to
his life at Hampton he places first the
discipline of the industrial course. AT
Hampton l learned for the first time"
he says, what education was expected
t. do for one. Before going there had
the prevalent idea OF our race that edu-
cation meant freedom from all neces-
sity for manual labor. At Hampton
not only learned 1t was no disgrace to
labor, but learned to love labor, not
alone for it's money value. but for Ia
boris own sake, and for the self-reliance
which the ability to do something the
world wants done gives to one"
What he calls the race problem of the
south-the problem he is trying to solve
at Tuskegee-is this problem OF so edu-
eating the negro as to make him self
helpful. In speaking Of his work at
Tuskegee he says: TN our industrial
teaching we keep in mind three things:
First, that the student shall be 80 edu-
Gated that he shall be able to meet con-
ditions as they now exist in the part OF
the south where he lives-in word, be
able to do the thing which the world
wants done; second. that every student
who graduates shall have enough skill
coupled with intelligence and moral
character to enable him to make a liv-
ing for himself and others; third, to
send out every graduate feeling and
knowing that labor is dignifled and
beautiful. In addition to the agricul-
tural training given to the young men
and the training given to the girls in all
domestic employments, the girls are al
so taught gardening, fruit growing.
carrying, bee-culture and poultry
raising"
In the fall Of 1881 he began his life
work at Tuskegee with absolutely moth
ing-neither land, buildings nor tools.
He was sent there by General Arm
strong. who appeared to have full con-
fidence that Booker could do whatever
was asked of him, and his confidence
was not misplaced. The long, difficult
struggle, the gradual growth and per-
manence Of this work is interestingly
told in the remaining 200 pages of the
book, with closing statistics as follows:
Twenty years have now passed since
made the first humble effort at Tuske-
~ Jour~ no w ond nm