The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-03-06
BOOKER'SI IDEAS BEST
PRINCIPAL OF TUsKEEGEE's AID
DRESS IN NEW YORK.
NEGRO MUST LEARN TO WORK.
AGRICULTURE THE THING FOR
HIM TO STICK TO.

Educated without Regard to Col
or, Said Prof. Wasbington-His
Remarks Notably Free from Amy
Taint of Malice Towards the
Southern Whites, and showed "a
Better Knowledge of the Question
Than Bishop Potter, who Intro
duced Him.
New York. March 5.-Bishop Potter
was chairman, and Booker 7. Wash
ington the principal speaker at a meet
ing held tonight at Carnegie Hall in
the interest of the Hampton and Tus-
kegee institutes. The meeting was held
under the auspices of the Armstrong
Association.
Robert c. Ogden, president of the
Armstrong Association. introduced Mr..
Potter, who said in part:
I'VE must deal with the black man
as problem, not in fragments, but as
a whole. In doing this we must be
prepared not to meet with a great deal
of sympathy from certain quarters.
must confess that the first man who
entered my mind as 1 entered this hall
was the senior senator from South
Carolina. Some time ago in Boston
he delivered himself of the strange
utterances that what the in
situations at Hampton and
Tuskagee were doing was but to
educate the negro so as to enable him
to enter the trades and crowd out the
white people. This is a peculiar dis
| elimination to make just as we have
begun to elevate the colored men and
women. We ought to realize that the
main thing that divides the negro
from the white is the lack of culture,
and that by giving him this culture,
we viii ennobe him and raise him to
a level of intelligence and creative
citizenship
II. Is. Frissel, principal of the
Hampton Institute, followed with a
few words about the work of the in
sttute.
ROchester's Lively Reception.
Booker r. Washington was intro
duced by Bishop Potter who said that
after the President had entertained
Booker 7. Washington as his guest ne
telegraphed him as follows:
Il congratulate YOU upon your guest.
| He was guest at my table last VIM
| ter. and l never entertained worthier
one"
Somehow or other" continued the
Bishop, my message became public
and since that time / have received
numerous letters from people south of
the Mason and Dixon line, en-
treating me not to show myself
in their neighbood, as their
citizens had no desire to entertain me-"
Prof. Washington was received with
! great applause.
Booker Washington's Address.
Robert c. Ogden closed the meeting
| with an address in which he warmly
! eulogized Gen. Arms trong, who found
| ed the Hampton Institute.
! Prof Washington said:
IF we would discuss what is known
as the race question with any degree of
| benefit we must reach the point where
we can so far rid ourselves of sec
| tional and racial prejudice, that we
can in a large degree place ourselves
| in the position of the Southern white
man and at the same time put our
selves in the place of the negro. Moth
| ing will be gained for either race or
for any section of our country by Bit
! ter attacks and criticisms.
For $50 years the negro was worked.
| What he wants to learn now is to work.
There is a vast difference between
working and being worked. For one TO
learn that work is honorable and to be
/ idle is dishonorable, is at the founda-'
| ton of civilization.
at is not the, negro who has been
| properly trained in hand, head and
! heart who commits crime. 1t is the
| ignorant shiftless negro who has no
regular occupation, who has not learn
| ed to love labor and who does not own
a home who is usually the criminal.
| When a man becomes the owner of a
| piece of land and a decent house and
| has a bank account he becomes, / no
| tice, at once a conservative, law abid-
| ing citizen and who can be trusted to
vote intelligently for the best inter-
| ests of the community in which he
lives.
Must stick to Agriculture.
with the negro, as with every
weak and inexperienced race, il is inn
portant that he be taught that his sal
walton is in learning to own and Gull
| tivate iptelligently and skilfully the
soil. To the negro just now this is the
wheat, all else the chaff. Agriculture
will prove our salvation and the race
should be slow to abandon the farm.
lust now a large proportion of the
race needs that education which will
make the youth return to the farm
where only rs grew before,
rather than yield to the
temptation to go to a city and attempt
to live by their wits. Those who
would help save my race should use
their influence to keep the negro out
of the large cities, and especially the
cities of the North. These are some of
the lessons that Hampton and Tuske-
gee Institute are constantly teaching
THE time has come when we must
see to it that all the people in the
South have the fullest opportunities for
the very best education. All must be
educated without regard to color Out
of her poverty the South has done
we'll. but the tremendous demands upon
her for the education of the two races
should enlist your hearty interest and
support. Providing for education in
| the South is not a matter of giving
aims or mere philanthropy; 1t is a
| matter of business that concerns the
| whole country"