New-York tribune., 1902-03-16
EDUCATION OF THE NEGRO.
BOOKER r WASHINGTON ADDRESSES
POLITICAL EDUCATION LEAGUE.

Booker T. Washington spoke on THE Education
OF the Negro" before the League for Political Edu-
cation in the theatre of the Berkeley Lyceum
yesterday
When l contemplate the figures representing the
1S5O0,000 people with dark skins under the jursdc
tion of the United States this country. Porto
Rico the Philippine and Hawaiian Islands. l trem-
bic for the status OF the white people" said Mr..
Washington. 1T looks If the Anglo Saxon
might be lost among such throng when it takes
100 per cent of Anglo-SaXon blood to make white
man and only per cent of negro blood to make
black man
In Mr.. Washingtons opinion all theories of emf
grafton and colonization may well be discarded
For forty years there have been people who have
contended that the negro cannot exist in
freedom: but stubborn facts show that the four
million freemen at the close of the civil War have
increased in numbers, until present there
nine million people of African descent in the United
States. According to the prophecies in certain
quarters the race should have died out but it has
decided not to die. Time has proved that whether
in slavery freedom the black is able TO look
the white man in the face, to increase in numbers.
and TO get something from the white man AT every
point of contact. Critics have said that the negro
is not wise brave the Indian, but while
ii Is true that the Indian never allowed himself to
be enslaved. the went into slavery piece of
property and came. ont of il an American citizen.
He went into slavery pagan and came out of it,
in most cases. Christian. He went into slavery
very often in chains and without language. He
came out of it with the Bible, the spelling book and
the shovel. hoe and trowe in his hand.
The fact is" said Mr. Washington, neither
slavery freedom. ignorance nor learning. will
serve rid this country Of the influence for good
evil Of the people OF my race What is needed
to work the problem with justice to both races
is patience, forbearance and wisdom"
The negro race is here to stay said Mr.. Wash
ington. In Illustration the statement he told the
story of "A yellow mule whose had deter
mined To kill it by neglect. He tried starving but
the mule wouldn't starve. He gave IL water.
but it resisted thirst and lived When turned into
a field she would not disappear. he had hoped,
but "A well in the middle of the field tripped old
Jennie and she fell into it, Then her master
opportunity to rid himself Of her. He called the
family. and. armed with shovels. they proceeded to
bury the animal I'm the hole. But fast the
earth fell on her head she shook her ears free from
it and trampled 1t under her feet. and this went
until the long ears Of the yellow mule. the
prise of her owner. appeared above the surface of
the ground and at she stood beside him
the turf Then her master decided TO build her
decent stable and feed and groom and treat her
a decent mule deserved Mr. Washington charged
his hearers to treat the people of his race hon
estly and seriously an American citizen de-
serves.
Mr.. Washington considered the negro problem
the most difficult of solution and the most stu
pendous question before this country. lie reminded
his hearers that the negro did not force himself
upon the white in the beginning, that while
the white came to these shares in 49, against
the protest OF the leading American citizens. the
black man came by a very special and emphatic in
vitation.
Mr. Washington sent of the TuskeSee in
structors last summer. to investigate the erial
educational moral and religious condition Of two
small townships in Alabama. In one Of the towns
there had been little educational advantages for
the colored population IN me oingr tor Ten Years
teacher In the first. the negroes were living in