Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1906-06-04
Also Addresses Students of
Hampton Institute-Dwelt Par
ticularly Upon the Develop
ment of Character, Both in Ne
gro and White Man.

PRESIDENT ana Mrs. Roosevelt ana
their party arrived from Old Point
Comfort in the Mayfiower shortly af-
ter 4:30 o'clock in the afternoon and
were taken ashore in launches. The
president was escorted to the veranda
of the administration building, from
which he made his address. Before
the address the students sang 1.-THE
Great Camp Meeting in the Promised
Land" The president applauded
heartily and shouted "More, more!"
The students in response sang 1--WE
Are Climbing Jacobs Ladder
The president spoke extemporane-
ously and with deep earnestness. He
began by saying, after the students
had given him a cordial welcome,
that they were no more anxious for
him to visit them than he was to visit
the institute. Speaking directly to
the negro students, he said:
NOW, the first thing upon which 1
wish to lay emphasis is that q school
such as this which strives to raise the
colored man and colored woman, to
make them better men and better wo-
men, better citizens, is prominently in
the interests of the white. There is
nothing that can be done better for
the white man, who is living side by
side with the colored man, than to
train that colored man up to be good
citizen. From the standpoint of the
white man. the safest and best thing
that can happen is to have the color
ed people around him become thrifty,
Industrious, homemakers and home.
keepers.
Help Him Help Himself.
"From the standpoint of the color
cd man, the only real way to help him
is to help him help himself. What
this institution does is to train young
men and women to walk by them
selves. The colored man who helps his
race most is he who helps teach the
of his race how to conduct
themselves with self-respect-hard.
working, intelligent. law-abiding citi-
zens. No race, no nationality ever
raises itself by the exhibition Of gen.
JUS in few men; what counts is
the character of the average
man and the average woman.
"You have sent out from Hampton
Institute in all something like $4,000
graduates, and, if remember rightly,
there are but two of whom you have
record as criminals, and that fact is
answer to the Hind people who say
that no good will come from educa
ting the negro. So far is that from
the truth that it may be said that the
real hope for the negro, as we'll as the
white man, is in education, if only we
the meaning of education
in its proper sense.
Develop and Own Farms.
at is often said that the true place
For the negro is. in industrial work.
That is the true place for the average
negro and it is the true place for the
average white man, and we will not
get our civilization upon proper basis
until we root out of the mind of the
average man and the average woman
of whatever color the belief that to
become poor clerk is better thing
than being first class mechanic or
drst class agricultural laborer. If
there is one thing I would especially
impress upon you, it is to advsie you
to take up the work on the farms with
the intention of owning them. Take
up agricultural work. In doing that
you will be following only what the
best, most intelligent and most advan-
ced white people are more and more
growing to do. The growth of agri-
cultural colleges and their development
has been one Of the significant features
of the education of the white man in
the states of this Union.
"Our white civilization is going to
tend more and more toward recogniz-
ing the capital part played by the
manual worker, whether in the work.
shop or on the farm. It is the work Of
the man that works with his hands
that counts in the end for the most,
provided the hand work is directed by
an intelligent brain.
Depends Upon Home Life.
1.-THE next thing is to remember
that the greatness of the nation, the
greatness and success of the people,
must always depend in the last analy-
sis on the kind of home life, on the
family life, that is to be found in the
average family group. If we have got
the right type of average family this
nation will be great, every race sue
cessful, and if we have not got the
right type of family life nothing else
can take its place. In the interest of
the colored folks see to it, you colored
men here, that you war against Grim
lnality in your own race with parti-
cular zeal, because that criminality is
in the ultimate analysis greater
danger to your race than any other
thing can be-
A. tho oouol,,sior IF tho vroci ant q