Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-03
7eslss4 q $500
WORK At 1USRtGEE
Character Building Booker T.
Washington's Keynote.
ELEVATING A RACE
FOUNDATIONS LAID FOR UPLIFT
OF FUTURE GENERATIONS.
What is Accomplished by the Farm,
Trades Schools and Academic
Institution.
ELEVATING A RACE
From the New York Evening Post.

Character building is the keynote Of the
work at Tuskegee. Although the means to
this end have been often described, the
story is never old, for the activities of the
institution are constantly expanding. So
much has been said in the public prints
about Booker T. Washington and the Tus-
kegee Institute that visitor comes here
with high expectations; but unless he looks
for plant like that at Harvard or some
or the older northern schools, he will find
that the reality far exceeds his hopes.
Or the land here. some fairly fertile and
some sandy and sterile the institute DOS
sesses about 1890 acres, practically in one
biock. On this tract the students can prac-
tice all the processes Of agriculture per-
mitted by the climate. The farm is cult
waited so as to supply the institute as fully
as possible. 1t thus feeds the students
provides them with training school. and
furnishes them a chance to earn money and
pay their way. More than this, the farm
work serves as model and Inspiration for
the whole region. The dairy, the cattle.
the poultry yards. are all inexpensively
out well constructed, an example of what
may be done with small capital but unusual
skill. At the agricultural experiment sta
ton the director and his assistants anaIyze
SOIL and give scientific instructions as to
methods of improving it by rotation Of
crops and suitable fertilizers. The idea is
to teach the negro to till his farm with az
much intelligence as is shown by the best
informed whites. north or south.
The Trades Schools.
The most interesting thing indoors is the
series of well-equipped trade shops. where
the students master the arts of printer,
carpenter, cabinet maker wood turner, saw
miller, blacksmith. wheelwright, harness
maker, carriage trimmer, painter, machin-
list, iron founder, plumber. steamftter, tin
smith, brickmaker, mason, plasterer, can
ner. electrical engineer. shoemaker and
tailor. There is also building for women's
trades. including plain sewing, dressmak-
ing, millinery, cooking, laundering, domestic
training, mattress making and basketry.
The hospital, too is training school for
nurses The school Is able practically to
live within itself. The students have put
Washington explains, skill and knowledge
are now handed down from one class to an
other, until al the present time building
of any description or size can be construct
ed wholly by Tuskegee instructors and
students. from the drawing of the plans to
the putting In of the electrical fixtures
without going of the grounds for a single
workman
1t is in these shops and on the farm that
the students are tried out If q man or
woman will stick to the work through
thick and thin, win an education by sheer
force Of muscle and BRAIN that man or
woman is almost sure to be a credit to
Tuskegee. The brickyard Is. perhaps, the
severest test of all. If boy comes, penni-
less, appealing for an education he often un-
dergoes his probation in the brfckyard. In
case he shows pluck and strength to endure
the back breaking toll in the clay pits he is
worth making something of.
Mental Training.
So much stress has been laid upon the
agricultural and Industrial training that
one fancies the school work of the ordinary
kind Is subordinated. AS a matter Of fact,
however, the instruction. so far as it goes,
is exceedingly thorough. Pupils are ex-
pected upon entrance to be able to read,
write and understand addition, subtrac-
ton, multiplication and division. The sci
ences, mathematics and the so-called En-
glish branches are carried through what
corresponds roughly to our high school
grades, but neither ancient nor modern
foreign languages have q place in the cur
riculum. In all the classes there Is a dis
tinct purpose to connect the studies with
daily pursuits; to write the English COM
positions on experiences In the shops or
on the farms; to apply the principles OF
chemistry to the problems of everyday
life, such as cooking, soap making, disin-
fecting sick room and destroying garden
pests. The excellence of the teaching must
open the eyes Of many visitors. All the
staff are negroes-some of them must have
lacked early opportunities; and yet an ex-
pert would probably confess that the teach
ing, as a whole is more skillful than that
In any public school In New York city.
Mr.. and Mrs. Washington have gathered
an unusual faculty. The instructors, what
ever the extent of their acknowledgement
some are graduates of our best northern
universities-have received severe drill
in the art of teaching. For success in ex-
position, in happy illustration, in holding
the attention Of class and in stimulating
ambition Mr.. Washington need not fear to
match them against all corners.
The night school Is intended to help those
who have little or no money A boy or girl
can work ten hours a day and then attend
night school By this process 1t is possible
to accumulate money credit on the books
of the institute and in time enter the day
school. The day scholar has less work with
his hands and more time to study. This
night school, like the brickyard, helps to
weed out the unfit. Those who can stand
ten hours in field or shop and still have
energy left for books are the kind 1t pays
to educate.
A Picked Body of Students.
Mr.. Washington feels very Justly that the
opportunities belong to those who can
profit by them. The institute contains be-
tween 1.4oO and 1.5oO pupils, and 1900 have
been turned away within a year for the
lack OF accommodations. The result is
that the students are a picked body That
gathered In the chapel; they are neat, erect,
alert, gathering of whom all friends of
Tuskegee may we'll be proud. Many have
come from the most wretched homes,
where they have been reared in filth and
ignorance. They have no family tradition
of learning virtue to spur them on; and
yet, though without ancestry, they are
knit together in strong ambition to have
record which will be an honor to the
race and an incentive to still higher effort
This is, after all, the most encouraging
thing about Tuskegee. 1t Is true that Mr.
and Mrs. Washington are people of extraor-
binary intelligence and force; they have
gathered a staff of unusually able teachers;
that they have built up great educational
plaat; end that in organizing and enerRiz-
ing vast enterprise they have shown
skill that is winning every year wider
recognition. The significant thing, how
ever. is not the brilliant achievements of
individuals or small groups but the steady
supply of colored youth who deserve the
opportunities here offered. When one looks
upon the students of Tuskegee and upon
the men and women who have attended the
recent conferences here, one realizes that
Mr.. Washington is not dreaming when he
talks of the day when his race shall be
recognized as sober, Industrious and self
respecting element in the commonwealth,
with the virtues Of a sturdy yeomanry