Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-06-29
WASHINGTON DAY AT
cHAuTAuoUA.
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them by mail and telegraph. Those
seeking the labor of our students
were practically all southern white
people. In the majority of cases, the
students were sought for labor which
required not only skill. but high de-
gree of intelligence. One manufactur-
ing firm in Birmingham keeps stand
ing order with us to the effect that it
will employ every man that we rec
ommend. 1t is safe to say that If the
number Of students leaving the school
for vacation had been twice as large,
each one would have still found work
of some kind.
Investigation shows still further,
that our students command an aver
age wage that Is three times as large
as that which they earned before re-
ceiving any training at the Tuskegee
institute. That is, expressed in dol !
lars and cents, the southern white
people place three times as much
value upon the services of an edu-
Gated negro as they place upon the
services of an uneducated one.
Education Has Paid.
Further in South Africa, there are
five millions of black people who have
never been brought, through school,
and other agencies, into contact with
a higher civilization, in way to have
their minds or their ambitions awak-
ened. AS a result, the industries of
South Africa languish and refuse to
prosper for lack of labor. The native
black man refuses to work because he
has been neglected. He has few
wants and little ambition, and his
crude and few wants may be satisfied
by laboring one or two days out of the
seven. In the southern part of the
United States there are more than
eight millions of my race, who, by con-
tact with the whites, and by education
in the home, in school and church,
have had their minds awakened and
strengthened-have thus had their
wants increased and multiplied many
times. Hence, instead of a people in
idleness, we have In the south a peo-
pie who are anxious to work because
they want education for their children,
they want land, and houses and
churches, books and papers, Looked at
then, from the most materialistic and
selfish point of view, it has paid to
awaken the negro's mind and there
should be no limit placed upon the de-
velopment of that mind From the
most selfish point of view, then, the
education of the negro has paid
Sympathy Between Races.
we are to live in the south. and
sympathy between the races is vital.
We must convince the southern white
people of the value of educating the
negro, and this we are doing according
to the testimony of the southern peo-
pie themselves. $50
Let us now take the negro in Vir-
ginia for example; he began life forty
years ago in complete poverty, scarce
ly owning clothing or days food.
Right here, lay emphasis upon the
conditions in Virginia for the reason
that the Hampton institute is located
In that state, and is the oldest and
mostly widely known of all curl
schools. From an economic point of
view, what has been accomplished for
Virginia alone largely through the ex-
ample and work Of the graduates of
Hampton and other large schools in
that state? HI
Are Property Owners.
The reports of the state auditor
show that the negro today owns att
least one twenty-sixth of the total real
estate in that commonwealth, exclu-
sive OF his holdings in towns and cities
and that in the countries east of the
Blue Ridge mountains he owns one
sixteenth. In Middlesex county he
owns one-sixth in Honover one-fourth
In Georgia the official records show
that largely through the influence of
ndy1rQtnH 4
lanta schools and others, the negro
owns over 100000 acres of land and
added last year, $1,526,00O to their tar,
able property, making the total
amount upon which they pay taxes in
that state alone, $16,70O,OOO. From
nothing to $16,O00,OO0 in one state in
forty years does not seem to prove
that education is hurting the race
very much. = -
But in spite Of the poverty of the
southern states and other obstacles,
the negro is not ashamed of his rec
ord of forty years of freedom.
After years Of civilization and op-
portunity in Italy, SO per cent of the
population are illiterate. In Spain 4S
per cent; in Russia Is per cent; in the
average South American country, 81
per cent; while after forty years Of
freedom and opportunity the Ameri-
can negro has only A per cent OF IL
literacy to his debt.
Il have thus compared the progress
OF my race not with the highest civil
liked nations for the reasons that in
passing Judgment the world too often
forgets that, either consciously or
otherwise, because of our geographic
cal and physical proximity to the
American white man, we are being
compared with the very highest civil
cation that exists.
Finally, there should be no dis
guising the fact that there are anxious
days for my race and serious effort is
ahead, but never for moment do II
doubt our ultimate triumph. Freedom
can never be given. 1t must be pur-
chased"
Saxaphone Quartet.
Owing to the inclement weather,