New-York tribune., 1903-04-25
MR. oARNEGIE's GIFT TO TUsKEGEE.

No one Of Mr.. Carnegie's many benefactons
has been more timely or has set a better ex-
ample than his gift of S600,000 TO Tuskegee
Institute. He has extended helping hand not
merely to a worthy institution, not merely to a
struggling race, but to the whole nation, ana
more than the nation, for the problem Of deal
ing with the backward races and with the back
ward groups of the dominant race in accord
ance with the dictates Of humanity and the
necessities Of civilization is q world problem.
The work that is being done for Industrial
education in the South offers the best promise
of the advancement of the negro to the status
of prosperous, intelligent and respected citizen
ship which, for his sake and his white neigh
bors' sake, he should be brought as soon as pos
sible to occupy. The same work is needed for
the ignorant and poverty stricken white chill
dren of the South England and Germany are
already studying the method with a view to
helping the native races In their colonies and
making the relation Of Europe with Asia and
Africa that OF well adapted teaching rather than
the traditional one of exploiting; and it is by no
means certain that this same Industrial educa-
ton may not, with our crowding population, be-
come before long the necessity of our common
school system and the salvation of our coming
generation of boys and girls who, under mod
ern competition, are fated to earn their own
living with their own hands
Too many of them who everybody knows
must face that necessity grow up If they
were to belong to leisure class were to
make living in professions for which they
have neither the intellectual capacity nor the
time necessary for preparation. Persons who
ought to be excellent and respected handcrafts-
men are made into inefficient and unhappy
headcraftsmen; and this TO a considerable de-
gree is due to the lack of early training which
makes industry attractive Boys and girls grow
up In the country who think they are bettering
themselves by becoming humdrum clerks and
half competent typewriters in the towns be-
cause they have not been taught the possibiH
ties Of doing at home what they really have
talents for. If they could learn as the negroes
at Tuskegee and Hampton and Talladega and
other places are learning, that their happiness
and their duty were to be found at their own
doors in doing everyday tasks better than
others do Them half our labor problems would
be solved, much overcrowding and many life
failures prevented, and the whole tone of our
civilization raised.
The institutions for cOlored people in the
South have been pioneers in movement of
general Importance, and they rightly interest
philanthropists and patriots all over the coun-
Try. Mr.. Carnegie sees In Tuskegee a strategic
point which must be held and strengthened by
the grand army Of civilization. 1t is not merely
the question Of doing justice to the negro and
helping him to his rights important as that is
but of proclaiming the dignity Of labor and
teaching every man TO do excellently the duty
that lies nearest him as the sure step TO
larger life The work done at Tuskegee is done
over again In every county Of the South where
Tuskegee students put its training in practice
and teach their neighbOrs the more excellent
way" The $4,000 spent there annually does
more for law, order and prosperity than mill
ion dollars spent on bounties and police forces.
Hitherto Mr.. Washington has had to spend
much Of his time going about the country TO
collect $4,000 year when he is needed at
Tuskegee. Mr.. Carnege's 100000 VIII bring
in $4,000 toward that sum, and IT seems as II
other patriots ought to complete the needed en-
dowment so that this great uplifter of his race
may give his energies TO his true vocation, as
untroubled by grinding financial anxieties for