The news & observer., 1905-10-25

ucIllS anu ldCully nave UeeH dl WOTh
for several weeks. This parade was
headed by an institute band, led by
Bandmaster Ebert B. Williams, OF
the Ninth United States Cavalry, who
had been detailed to Tuskegee by the
War Department. Then came 1900
students of the school in two divis-
ions; the young men uniformed in
blue suits with brass buttons, white
gloves and cadets caps. The young
women wearing blue dresses trimmed
with red braid and wearing blue straw
braid hats followed. each bearing a
stalk of sugar cane topped with cot
ton boil all raised in the schools ag-
ricultural experiment station.
Introduced by Booker Washington.
After the parade exercises were
held in the chapel. Booker T. Wash
ngton presented the President in the
following words:
I'm presenting our guest to the
students, teachers and citizens, l must
not omit to express the gratitude felt
by the people of the TuSkegee In
stitute by the people of both races in
this section of Alabama for the honor
which has been conferred upon them.
AS the chief magistrate of our be-
loved republic of S0,000,000 people
deemed it good and wise to include
Tuskeegee Institute in his trip through
the South and spend a few hours see
ing the work we are doing here, 1t
brings to the heart of every man and
woman of our race in this country, a
degree of encouragement and inSpira-
ton which 1t is impossible for any
American citizen, not of our race, fully
to appreciate
Address to Negro Students.
Before beginning his speech, the
President said he had no idea that he
would be so deeply impressed and so
deeply pleased aS he had been.
"While | have always stood for this
institution" he continued now that
have seen it and realize as L had
never realized by the description OF
it. all it means. l will stand for it
more than ever"
To the white population as we'll
as to the black, it is of the utmost inn
portance that the negro be encouraged
to make himself citizen of the high
est type of usefulness. 1t is to the in
terest 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 de-
velopment here in the South not now
offered elsewhere. Within the last
of the South have increased so ire
nendously that there is scarcity of
labor almost everywhere; so that it
is the part Of wisdom for all who
wish the prosperity of the South to
help the negro to become in the high
est degree useful to himself, and there
fore to the community in which he
lives. The South has always depend
ed, and now depends, chiefly upon her
lott he, o.
fore in view of the scarcity not only
of common labor but of skilled labor,
lit becomes doubly important to train
every available man to be of the ut
most use by developing his fntelli-
gence, his skill and his capacity for
conspicuous effort. Hence the work
of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
institute is matter of the highest
practical Importance to both the white
man and the black man, and well
worth the support of both races alike
in the South and in the North.
Your fifteen hundred students are
not only being educated IN head and
heart but also trained to industrial et-
ficiency, for from the beginning IuS-
kegee has placed especial emphasis
upon the training of men and women
in agriculture, mechanics and house
hold duties. Training in these three
fundamental directions does not en-
brace all that the negro or any other
race needs but it does cover in very
large degree the field in which the
negro can at present do most for him
self and be most helpful to his white
neighbors Every black man who
leaves this institute better able to DO
mechanical or industrial 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 success awaits the intelll-
gent worker at some mechanical trade
or on a farm; for this man will al
most certainly achieve industrial in
dependence.
White Mans Duty and Interest.
In the interest of humanity, of JUS
tice, and of self-protection every white
man in America, no matter where he
lives, should try to help the negro to
help himself II is in the interest and
for the protection, of the white man
to see that the negro is educated. 1t
IS not Cnly 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
a law is broken every individual in
the community mas the IllOTdl tome VI
his life lowered. LawleSsness in the
United States is not confined to any
one section; lynching is not confined
to any one section; and there is per-
haps no body of American citizens
who have deserved so well of the en-
tire American people as the public
men. the publicists, the clergymen,
the countless thousands of high mind
ed private citizens who have done
such heroic work in the South in
arousing public opinion against law
lessness in all it's forms, and especially
against lynchng. l 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 another And when any
body of men in any communi< stands
bravely for what is right these men
not merely serve useful purpose IN
doing the particular task to which
tbev SET themselves but give a lift to