Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1905-11-17
FIVE - THOUSAND PEOPLE
HEARD T. WAsHNGTo MS ADDRESS AT JONES PAM
WELCOME ADDRESS DELIVER MAYOR WHITE, AND IN

snring from the heart-such is the
SIMPLE tribute | would offer to him
who is your guest and my believed
chief.
Gas the history of Booker \, ching
ton is told, as the story, Up From
Slavery" is read one can scarcely
resist the temptation to stand at at
tenion and salute the Stars and
Stripes. that emblem of opportunity
under which it has been possible for
a member of a tardy race to spring
from depths SO low to heights so sub
lime. This negro who sits here, the
knmblest exalted man II have ever
Known but whose; lfe's, story reads
lie q fairy tale, fiasshad his share OF
INhatsthe vulgar. world calls success,
and upon him has been sncwered
man "a of the empty henors Of earth
k,lt these. s,lesessases ami hpnors are
rot be- haes' llrlsue tests of greatness and it
Is sisat fiwolhsas speak In
.sseeking to- make you know&hohit is
s*Mhe Sits ia your midst gff1lilllstssitei!
,o1,@ ? not of The Booker Washington
AZ, the world knows flff41;;' But of the
Distinguished teacher as his students
hEow and love him; l would tell you
O. silent influence which proceeds
from this man, an influence at Tuske
see and exerted over the students
who have been and are being trained
there. if you please; an influence
which as long as mind remains dis
tinct from matter can never be caught
by the Associated Press and tele-
graphed saround the world, for it is
one of those things which no pen and
no tongue can accurately describe. Let
me tell the story. of that influence as
it touched my life and perhaps we
shall better understand the service
which this man is doing the whole
people. -.
prom the plantation in Louisiana
on which my parents had been .slaves
and on whose soil l had seen their
tired bodies laid to. rest. | went up to
the Tuskegee institute with bitterness
in my heart annd curses on my
tongue for the whole white race,
whom l thought it was right to hate
for the past; and nlytdream for the fp-
ture was that with the power which
trainedsmind would give me might,
as the years went on. show that race
the bitterness felt. Last December
il. Memphis. at the meeting of the
presidents of the negro land grant
colleges, Prof. Robt. Taylor. one Of
my old teachers. said 1t is sign of
encouragement to hear this man plead
for amity and peace between the
races, for as / knew Isaac Fisher in
the first years Of his school life at
iuskegee he was the most hopeless
ressiinist on all matters touching the
future relations of the whites and
blacks that we had in the school and
he hated the white people with a per
feet hatred Such were my feelings.
such was my attitude One Sunday
night, in speaking to the students, MI.
Washington let fall this statement,
I purpose that no man shall drag ME
down by making me hate him. It
was new gospel. What did it meanR
] had never before been told that no
man can hate another without degrad-
ing himself. I had never learned that
no man can be strong in mind and
heart and rise to positions Of powea,
5Nho is chained to the living body Of
death of his hatred for another man,
whether of his own Or some othes,
race. Thank Cod he used to say,
I have reached the place where can
love; whitee man as we'll as j can
saf black man, sAsf great aa kas my
confidence in him as a teacher. deep
Gown in my heart I believed that last
STAT ementff was sfalse and that no ne.
sro could truthfully make it: but pa
-t4ently he strove by -nrecept and exam
He to make us take that high ground
from which we could love all men.
earnestly he labored to make us
strong men and women, forcibly did
he impress upon us the lesson of ser
vice-of giving ones whole self for
the. good of the people who needed
it, until one day awoke to find that
my hate had been swept away like
chaff before the great winds of God,
and that | was striving to lead the
higher life to which this man was
pointing us, all as the days swent by.
What 1ief did TO change my bitter.
heart. is what he has done in thous-
ands of other cases. For five yeats
l was member of the student body
which used Ao'watch shis every action.