Evening star., 1902-03-06
POTTER CRITICISES TILLMAN.
Speech at a Meeting in Interest OF
Tuskegee Institute.

Bishop Potter was chairman and Booker
T. Washington the principal speaker at
meeting held at Carnegie Hall In New
York last night. in the interest OF the
Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes. The
meeting was held under the auspices OF the
Armstrong Association.
Robert C. Ogden, president of the Arm
strong Association. introduced Bishop Pot
ter, who said in part: I'VE must deal with
the black man as a problem. not In frag-
ments but as a whole. In doing this, we
must be prepared not to meet with great
deal of sympathy from certain quarters.
must confess that the first man who en-
tered my mind as 1 entered this hall was
the senior senator from South Carolina
Some time ago in Boston he delivered him
self of the strange utterances that what
these institutions at Hampton and Tuskegee
were doing was but to educate the negro
80 as to enable him to enter the trades and
crowd out the white people. This Is
', peculiar discrimination to make just as we
have begun to elevate tie coloreo men anu
women. We ought to realize that the main
thing that divides the negro from the wnlte
is the lack of culture and that by giving
him this culture we will ennoble MIN ana
raise him to a level Of intelligence and Gre
ative citizenship.
Mr. washington was introduced by Bish-
op Potter, who said that after the Presi-
dent had entertained Booker I. washington
as his guest he telegraphed him as fol-
lows:
II congratulate you upon your guest. He
was q guest at my table last winter, and
1 never entertained worthier one
Somehow or other" continued the b1sh-
op. my message became public. and since
that time have received numerous letters
from people south Of the Mason and Dixon
line entreating me not to show myself In
their neighborhood. as their citizens mad
no desire to entertain me-"
Mr.. Washington was received with great
applause.
He said. in part:
'The negro should be taught that his sal
walton is in learning to own and cultivate
intelligently and skillfully the soil. Agri-
culture will prove our salvation. and the
race should be slow to abandon the farm.
Just now large proportion of the race
needs that education which will make the
bushels of corn where only twenty five
grew before. rather than yield to tho
temptation to go to city and attempt to
live by their wits.
For $50 years the negro was worked.
What he wants to learn now Is to work.
For one to learn that work Is honorable and
to be idle Is dishonorable Is the founda-
ton Of civilization.
There are still those who doubt the prog
ress of the negro. Let me give you a few
definite facts. The official records for the
state of Georgia show that at the close of
the last year the negro owned .l41 900 acres
Of land and paid taxes. all told, upon prop
erty to the value of over $15 900 900. adding
81, 600 900 to the taxable value Of his prop
erty during the past year In Virginia the
reports are equally encouraging. Other
southern states show much growth in the
same direction.
1t is not the negro who has been prop
erly trained in hand. head and heart who
commits crimes 1t is the ignorant, shift
less negro who has no regular occupation
who has not learned to love labor and who
does not own home who Is usually the
criminal. When a man becomes the owner
Of a piece of land and decent house and
has a bank account. he becomes | notice.
at once conservative law-abiding citizen
and one who can be trusted to vote inteIU
gently for the best interest of the commu-
nifty in which he lives