The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-11-03
WASH|NTON TO
n, {. NEGROES
Train Yourselves to be Good
Workmen His Keynote.
THREE THOUSAND LISTEN
Educational Day Of Negro Fair--8ig Process
sion and RevieW---A Number of
Prominent White Folks
Went Out.

Booker T. Washington, of Tuskegee,
was the GROWING feature of tho negro
fair yesterday, educational day. He spoke
in Exhibition Hall to a crowd OF nearly
three thousand people, of whom some 80
OF 200 were white folks. Among these
latter were several of the ministers o.
the city, leading educators, lawyers, ply
~sIcians, business men, and a number CT
ladies.
The well known negro spoke for an hour
and a quarter, amid hearty, almost tu-
multuous applause from his colored
hearers, who packed the western end Of
the hall usually devoted to the exhibits
OF farm machinery and buggies and car
r.ages. The entire space IN front OF the
speakers stand, which was at the north
ern side of the building, was packed clear
through the southern doors, and on both
sides every available space was occupied.
The speech was an intensely practical
one, appealing directly 10 the common
sense of his hearers. The language wes
clear, simple and direct. The man spoke
as from the heart. His delivery was
good, his fund of humor ample. and
his anecdotes apt and we'll told.
He arrived in the city by the early
train yesterday morning, and was enter
tanned by Ed. Johnson, OF this city. Al
about 1880 he was escorted TO the
grounds by the chief marshal and aides
OF the Fair, the officers of the a~ssocia-
ton. and a long procession composed OF
college Students, school children, and SC
~cieties. headed by the Now Bern Band.
Arrived at the grounds, Booker Wash
ington reviewed the parade and then all
went into the hall, where the program
OF the day was proceeded with. There
were several speakers to preceoe the ora
tor of the day, and it was nearly two
O'Clock before Booker T. Washington arose
on the PLATFORM.
He is light IN color, nearly as light as
the quadroon, wears no beard or any
kind, HAIR cropped close, has the broad,
Tat nose OF the African, a large pronst-
nent mouth, with lips not as thick as
the usual negro type, head and face large
and massive. For the rest he is rather
below medium height, but heavily and
strongly built. Altogether the general as
pect of the man IS that Of strength rather
than ntellectuality
Tn keynote of his whole address was:
The negro must be trained to make :
good workman.
In the course of his opening remarks.
the speaker said, talking of The grea'
question of solving the negro problem
that he remembered some years ago Wnen
600 negroes sailed from Savannah, Ga.
to settle in Liberia. Here, thought some
was a solution at last. But they 1orgct
that on that very morning before break
fast 500 more negroes were born. (Laugt-
ter and applause). Then 1t had been sug-
gested that a certain territory be Sc
apart for the negroes. The trouble aboU
that was that they would have to buili
a wall around that territory to keep the
negroes in, and five walls to keep the
white race out. The white man had al
ways gone where the negro was. They
were content in Africa, but the whit;
man went there, and there was a Negro
problem. He had been asked to go t;
South Africa and look into the conultiol
Of the negro race there. The white ma
las gone there, and immediately there
was a negro problem.
A friend had said to him a short time
ago that the negro race would be absorp".
gradually by the WHITE race. But he hat
noticed thai wherever there was a drol
Of negro blood in a man ne was a negro
1t took one hundred per cent OF Anglo
Saxon blood to make a white man, d.
one per cent of negro blood makes a blacl
man. SO the black race would seem t
be the stronger of the NO..
Their others had said that medical sta
ti,tics showed that the negro race wa
gradually passing away, and that afte
a lapse of time there would be no negr
problem to solve. But historical facts
with their story of rapid increase, max
any such solution as that impossible. TT
black was not going to just lie down an
die politely, and SO end all the troubl
and dispute.
No, we might just as we'll lace IL
facts as they are, and make up on
minds to the inevitable fact that tn
two races were going to stay here sid
by side, and that the black race ntls
work out it's Industrial salvation, OF els
sink into hopeless inferiority in all III
trades and lines of work. The right kin
Of education was what was needed 10
the negro, the kind of education tha
would teach him to work we'll and cor
mand good wages, to do well somethin
that people wanted done.
And the most hopeful line of work f
the negro seemed to be IN farming. BIZ
IL most OF the school books, what do W
see? A picture of the great suspensio
bridge spanning the East River betwee
New York and Brooklyn. And never
picture of a tree or a domestic animal {
any of the things that a large portion :,
the school children Will be called upo
to deal with in after life. No Wonds
the boy longs for the city, and grows
dislike the farm work that he has n;
been taught to carry on intelligently
that he can make a good living out of
and once in the big city, he inds himse
III competition with the trained viii
man. The chances are that, untrafri
himself, he will find it next to impossib
to make a living, and will join the gre;
army Of those who live by their wits.
AS it is. it is in the country tn;
we find the best class Of negroes, L
most thrifty ones. The worst class
found IN the towns, as a general thin
In agriculture lies the negro's be
chance III this day. And in agricultur
as well as in the trades, he must
taught SO that he can compete with II
best labor. The speaker compared t