Warren sheaf., 1903-06-11

you gentlemen of the Board of Ed
ucatlon, our parents and brothers
and sisters who have given us en-
couragement to accomplish what we
had undertaken, the alumni, fellow
students and our friends who have
watched our careers with keen
interest. =.
Your presence here is an indica-
tion of great interest in your public
school system and in the education
OF the coming generation. You
have always shown this interest in
school projects by your generous
patronage and kindly sympathy,
On this occasion we wish to show
our appreciation of your efforts in
our behalf in having afforded us
such excellent instructors and to
prove to you our efforts have
not been in vain. But although we
have gained the second step we have
but laid a firm foundation for the
third and our work in Life.
Again, we bid you welcome.
The RACE PROBLEM.
Nearly three hundred years ago
the first slave was brought toAmer-
ica, loaded with chains, and for over
two hundred years he endured the
cross of servitude. When Lincoln
struck the shackles from four million
slaves they were legally independ-
ent, but still bound by fetters of
ignorance and superstition.
Ever since the Civil War the Race
Problem has been the subject of
much discussion, andat no time since
that has it's solution seemed nearer
than to-day.
The hopefulness of the situation
lies in the fact that the North and
South understand each other better.
In solving the problem the follow
ing conclusion must be dealt with.
Eight millions of colored people
are here to remain. To deport
them would be impossible as well
as disastrous to. the South. To
absorb them by intermarriag with
the Anglo-Saxon race is not advis-
able. They are not dying off, and
will not thus disappear. They
cannot again be made slaves, and no
one wishes to reduce them. -.~~ !
What remains? Only two alterna-
tives. Give them the besteducation
they are capable of receiving or
leave them to degenerate.
The colored race, educated, will
add to the wealth and happiness of
the South. If left uneducated they
will degenerate and become a aburden
to the nation. If we were to aban-
don the education of the negro it
would be not only public calamity
but public dishonor.
Slavery was abolished against the
will of the South, but she at once
began to see what could be done for
their education. Every Southern
state now has public school sys-
tenn, and the provision for the one
race is equal to that for the other.
More schools, such as the Tuske-
gee Normal and the Pain and Hamp-
ton Institutes, ought to be estab-
lished, to insure supply of skilled
colered workmen. Graduates from
these schools have shown remarka-
BILE progress, and are demonstrating
that they are capable of managing
large establishments with as much
ability as their white neighbors.
Thanks to such wise whites as
Gen. Armstrong, Gov. Aycock, of
North Carolina, and Gov. Montague,
of Virginia, and such negroes as
Booker T. Washington, the North
and South are coming to recognize
that the Race Problem is national
problem, and must be solved by the
Northerner and Southerner with the
Southerner as leader; also, that the
solution of this problem has already
begun and is we'll on it's way to ac-
complishment. II
The Advantages of a High
School Education.
FRANK KENDALL.