Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-15
"A TUSKEGEE VISIT
How It's University Ideas Are
Made Practical.
FAR REACHING SCOPE
WHAT ONE WORTHY COUPLE HAS
ACCOMPLISHED.
Tillers and Workers on Their Own
Land in Plenty and
Peace.
FAR REACHING SCOPE

What massive project! What buildings are
these! What mighty works are done here!'
Tuskegee cannot be described 1t must be
seen to be believed and felt. The visitor
requires much reserve and selfrestraint to
suppress extravagant utterance. But when
the first heat of hasty enthusiasm dies
away, begins to reflect that Tuskegee
is not merely, not even mainly an institu-
ton, 1t is an idea, whose immediate and
far-reaching effect upon the race problem
demands the most careful and cautious re-
Election. 1t is true that the vast majority
of the American people have focused their
hope upon the Tuskegee idea as the sole
beacon light amid the surrounding gloom
careful and dispassionate analysis of all
the facts and factors leads plainly to two
conclusions, % the Tuskegee idea alone
cannot solve the race problem, and (2) the
race problem cannot be solved without the
Tuskegee idea.
1t is not however, my purpose to discuss
this famous institution. but the region
around about it. 1 utilized every oppor
tunity to study the surrounding country
by making horseback and buggy trips along
the several radii leading out of the town.
When one speaks of Tuskegee, Booker 7.
Washington and his famous Institution
springs spontaneously to the mind No
thought Is given to the town. whose Indian
name suggests its ancient origin. Tuskegee
is Tic Capital VI MdCOU County, WHICH COli-
tains four thousand white persons and
eighteen thousand negroes. 1t is the trade
center for large portion of the surround
ing population. On Saturdays it is inter-
esting to witness the incoming and outgo-
ing streams of black and parti-colored hui
manity going for and bringing home their
weekly allowance of provisions, sweetmeats
and trinkets. One may ride along the road
for miles without meeting with a white
face. The town, on Saturday. is the social
clearing house where everybody meets his
friends and acquaintance and squares the
social obligations of the week. There is
little or no work done Saturday in the
vicinage of the town. The farmer quits
the field and the mechanic his job and HES
himself to town regardless of personal OBJ
legation or pecuniary cost. Non deed. l
ain goin' work terday.- Use goin' ter town,
sure" Is the bland and chiId-like response
which meets the employers earnest and
persuasive appeal.
The town of Tuskegee is becoming more
and more an incident of the school. The
branch post office at the institution does a
larger bulk of business than the main Of
flee in town. The Tuskegee railroad has q
total trackage of five miles where it con-
meets with the main line of the Western
Alabama. which runs between Atlanta and
Montgomery. The single passenger coach
is divided into two compartments to
commodate the races. Here is a diScrim-
ination without a difference. The colored
end of the car on the outgoing run be-
comes the white end on the home bound
trip. Frequently each compartment con
tains but single passenger. The fare is 10
cents a mile. switch of more than
mile is being built. leading into the school
grounds, in order to accommodate the i'm
mense volume of travel and traffic to which
the institution gives rise.
Institute Made Town.
Had 1t not been for Tuskegee Institute
the town of Tuskegee would scarcely be
heard of beyond it's immediate environs;
t,,,t
rency and fame equal to that of any other
place in the south. The colored people are
becoming more and more a factor in the
Industrial and business life of the town.
graduate of Tuskegee Is one of the
largest grocery dealers, and owns and
lives in the house of former governor of
Alabama. In general appearance of
ternal surroundings the place is said to be
in better condition than when owned by it's
more famous occupant.
A horseback ride through the country
gives the owner splendid opportunity to
study prevailing conditions. The soil is
generally thin and well exhausted 1t al
most makes the heart bleed to see those
ing out soul and body upon a barren hill
SIDE which yielded up Its virgin strength
a half century ago. and whose top soil has
been washed away, and can be restored
only by another geologic epoch. The eco
nomic waste and destructive tendency of
slavery and ignorant labor is seen through
Out inc WHOlo sOutH NlIBlH lOIeSlS were
chased away, the top soil exhausted by a
few forced crops, and the land washed
into red gullies within a single decade.
Within the past few years southern farm
ers have been resorting to the process of
terracing, which promises to arrest this
lamentable destruction of soil.
The old plantation system round about
Tuskegee is almost entirely broken up.
The old colonial mansions, with their airy
Railways and pillared porches, are rapidly
falling into neglect and ruin. The vast
majority of negroes rent their farms, for
which they pay annual rental, ranging
from a fifth to a third of the market value
of the land. 1t is difficult for them to buy
in small tracts. as the owners do not care
to have their estates broken up into such
fragments. The renters have learned, by
long and bitter experience, the impolicy OF
improving or identifying the rented places.
Such improvements of course make the
land more attractive to other renters. and
the landlord seizes upon them as an excuse
for increasing the rental. One can tell at
glance the place of an owner from that
of q tenant. by the trees and flowers grow
ing in the front yard and by the general
neatness and convenience Of the sur
roundings.
Log Cabins Going.
The traditional log cabin will soon be a
thing of the past, and within a few years
will be as extinct as the dodo or the anti
imperialist.
An interesting experiment is taking place
in a settlement five or six miles to the west
Of Tuskegee. A land company, at the head
of which Is Mr. Robert c. Ogden. has pur-
chased a tract of some four thousand acres.
subdivided 1t into eighty-acre plats. and Is
selling to colored farmers on easy terms of
payment. The company builds neat three
and four-room cottages, which both from
appearance and convenience OF arrange
ment are models Of their kind. The local
agent and manager Is one Of Mr.. Washing
toms graduates. and the undertaking may
be called an extension Of the Tuskegee idea
This is perhaps the most wholesome and
encouraging university extension movement
in the south. The company operates a cot
ton gin, grist MILL saw mill and general
store The saw mill is in full operation
under colored workmen and management,
and everything moves with New England
hum The work is conducted with the skill,
dispatch and system Of a Yankee enter
prise.
The families are very large, the number
of children ranging from eight to twelve.
The agent informed me that any two fam
lilies could furnish children enough to MAIN
tain school. Death rate is the dreaded
monster of the city negro but has no ter
rors for the black belt. The company is
about to build central school house for its
three or four hundred children, and supply
the requisite number of teachers and ade-