The Savannah morning news., 1903-04-15

NellNGillGill ana sincerely anu CODllQtIL-
ly laboring to that end, it is folly for
us to ignore the importance of the un-
gruding cooperation on the part of the
white people of the South in this work.
Labor as we will, those who do the lift
ing of the weight must be those who
stand next to it. This cooperation
cannot be forced; nor can it be gained
by gratuitously running counter to
firmly fixed and tenaciously held
Southern ideas, or even prejudices.
by Aiding TUsISegee.
1--WE are not brought to the point
of doing or overlooking evil that good
may come when we proceed upon the
theory that before reaching the stage
where we may be directly and practi-
cally confronted with the question of
the Negroes full enjoyment of civic adj
Vantages or even of all his political
privileges, there are Immediately before
us and around us questions demanding
our immediate care, and that, in deal
ing effectively with these, we can con-
fidently rely upon the encouragement
and assistance of every thoughtful and
patriotic citizen of the land-wherever
he may live and whatever may be his
ideas or predictions concerning the
more remote phases of the negro prob
lem.
These questions that are so imme-
diately pressing have to do with the
practical education of the. negro and
especially with fitting him to compete
with his white neighbors in gaining a
decent, respectable and renumerative
livelihood. Booker Washington, in
speaking on the conditions and needs of
his race, has wisely said, 1T is at the
bottom of life we must begin and not
at the top; nor should we permit our
grievances to overShadow our oppor-
tunitics'
I'm summing up the whole matter,
there is one thing of which we can be
absolutely certain. When we aid
Tuskegee Institute and agencies like
it, striving for the mental and manual
education of the negro at the South,
we are in every point of view render
ing him the best possible service.
Whatever may be his ultimate destiny,
we are thus helping to fit him for fill
ing his place and bearing it's respon-
sibilities. We are sowing we'll in the
soil at the bottom of life the seeds of
the black mans development and use
fulness. These seeds will not die, but
will sprout and grow, and If it be
within the wise purpose of God. the
hardened surface of no 'untoward
sentiment of prejudice can prevent the
bursting forth of the blade and plant
of the negroes appointed opportunity
into the bright sunlight of a cloudless
day"
At the conclusion of his address Mr..
Cleveland introduced Edgar G. Muir
ply. who said:
II think that wise men everywhere
are recognizing in the principal of
Tuskegee one of the greatest moral as
sets in the life of our country to-day.
The South has not applauded him with
undiscriminating agreement, or with
monotonous, thoughtless, proftless ac-
claim. The South has some times
blamed him. But the South is too fair
to him and to his face to allow these
! occasions of disagreement to distort
! the broad perspective in which she has
viewed and appreciated that arduous
public service through which, for TWEEN
ty years, in cheerful patience and un.
! affected modesty, he has labored fol
the upbuilding of his humble and un.
| tutored fellows. He has greatly done
a great work in response to a great
| need.
North and South there have beer
| those who have seen peril in the ne
| gro's progress. But if the progress.
of the negro bring peril with it thai
peril is nothing in comparison will
the perils attendant on the negro's
failure"
| Lyman Abbott Speaks.
| DR.. Abbott, who followed. said tina
the South deserved great credit for tax.
ing up as it had an untried problem, il
helping the negro to help himself
| And the North" he said, has giver
| her scant credit. She has given hin
| schools that the North has refused hin
| and done many other things towards
his future that the North never thought
| Of"
DR.. Abbott next spoke of the great
| work of Booker Washington and
| praised him in the highest terms, de.
| claring he had done as much for the
white race as for the negro. His work
had really brought about the union OF
| North and South in the work that hi
had taken up as his life task.
Quoting a remark made by Henry
| Ward Beecher, to the effect that we
should make the negro worthy first
and then give him suffrage" DR.. Alb
bott said:
1--WE made the mistake of giving him
suffrage first and the unfortunate ne
| gro has had to suffer ever since. What
the negro wants is education. 1t al
| depends upon education whether the
negro will be a shackle to our feet OF
wings to our body"
w. H. baldwin, treasurer of the
| Tuskegee Institute, announced thai
soon after the meeting had begun he
had received two kilograms, one an.
nouncing a gift of $4,000 from a lady
| in Ohio, and the other a gift of 81 00(
| from a lady and gentleman in the
South. He said that $4,000 had beer
needed to pay the indebtedness of the
| institution, and that taking the gifts
into Consideration there was the small
| sum of $4,000 needed for which he
made an urgent plea as well as for a
| further endowment sum.
Booker Washington Speaks.
Mr.. Cleveland, in introducing Book
! err Washington. the last speaker OF
the evening. said:
| II have to introduce to you a man
too well known by every man in the
| United States; a man who has been
| spoken of too frequently and too fav-
orably for it to be necessary for me
| to say more than-Here is Booker T.
| Washington"
Prof. Washington then spoke as fol-
| lows:
1.-The Tuskegee Normal and Indus
trial Institute at Tuskegee, Ala, is the
outgrowth of the efforts of Gen. S. c.
| Armstrong of the Hampton Institute
| in Virginia. Gen. Armstrong was one
| of the great seers and prophets who
realized that the task of the nation
was not fulfilled when the shackles of
| physical slavery were struck from the
| limbs of the millions of slaves of the
South. He realized that 5000 900 hui
man beings stepped in ignorance,
minus experience, could be but half
| free. He foresaw that the nation must
have a new birth and new freedom,