The Grit-advocate., 1905-10-27
NEGRO ADVANCEMENT,
Address Of President Roosevelt at Tus
keQee Institute.

Address Of President Roosevelt at Tus-
keoee Institute.
birmingham, Ala-President Roose.
veil concluded strenuous day in Ala
bama by two hours visit to Bir-
mingham. where his reception. in keep
Ing with those given him at Mont
gomery and Tuskegee, was hearty and
soul-stirring. His day began at Z
O'Clock. when the special train left
Montgomery for Tuskegee Visits to
the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute and to the Methodist Female
than two hours, and the noon hour had
JUS arrived when the executive
stepped from his car in Montgomery
Here he spoke TO a great throng
under the shadow of the confederacys
mrs capital and was on his way again
sharply at 2 o'clock A few minutes
before ) the President was the guest OF
Birmingham. and until his train left
at 6:45 p. m., on the night run to
Lit lie Rock, the President was cheered
at every turn
AT Tuskegee the President said:
TO the white population as well as
the black it Is OF the utmost import
ance that the negro must be encour-
aged to make himself citizen of the
his hest type of usefulness. 1t is to the
int crest of the white people that this
policy be conscientiously pursued, and
to the interest of the colored people
that they clearly realize that they have
opportunities for economic develop
sment here in the South not offered
els where.
Hence the work of the Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial Institute is Il
matter of the highest practical import
ance to both the white man and the
black man. and well worth the support
of both races. alike in the South and
tho North. Your 1900 students are not
only being educated in head and heart,
but also trained to individual efficiency,
for from the beginning Tuskegee has
placed especial emphasis upon the
training of men and women in agricul-
ture, mechanics and household duties.
Training in these three funda-
mental directions does not embrace all
tina the negro or any other race needs,
but il does cover in very large de-
gre the field in which the negro can
at present do most for himself and be
mos helpful to his white neighbors.
Every black man who leaves this insti-
tute better able to do mechanical or in
dusrrial work, adds by so much to the
wealth of the whole community and
benefits all people in the community.
The professional and mercantile
avenues to success are overcrOwded.
For the present the best chance of sue
cess awaits the intelligent worker at
suae mechanical trade, or on a farm;
for this man will almost certainly
achieve Industrial independence.
II am pleased, but not in the least
surprised to learn that many among
The women trained at Tuskegee find
immediate employment as leaders and
workers among their own people, and
hat their services are generally sought
by white people for various kinds of in
dustrial work, the demand being much
greater than the supply.
Viewed from any angle, Ignorance
is the costliest crop that can be raised
in this Union Every dollar put into
the education of either white man Oh
black man, in head, in hands and in
heart, yields rich dividends to the en-
tire community.
In the interest of humanity, OF
Justice and of selfprotection, every
white man in America, no matter
where he lives, should try to help the
negro to help himself.
1t is in the interest and for the pro
lection of the white man to see that
the negro is educated.
1T is not only the duty of the white
man, but it is to his interest to see
that the negro is protected in property.
in life and in all his legal rights.
Every time law is broken every
moral tone of his life lowered. Law.
lessness in the United States is not
confined to any one section; lynchins
is not confined to any one section: and
there is perhaps no body Of American
citizens who have deserved so well of
the entire American people as the
public men, the publicists, the clergy.
men. the countless thousands OF high
minded private citizens who have done
such heroic work in the South in arOus-
ing public opinion against lawlessness
in all its forms and especially against
lynching. I very earnestly hope that
their example will count in the North
as we'll as in the South, for there are
just as great evils to be warred against
in one region of our country as in an
other. though they are not in all places
the same evils"
hAN NHhroArro