The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-04-07
THE UPLIFTING Of
THE NEGRO RACE
associated Pres. to The Evening Times.

Associated Press to The Evening Times.
Taskagee. Ala, April 5.-One
u the ablest speeches made by
the several men Of prominence gath
cred here last ewing to CELEBRATE the
anniversary OF the Tuskegee normal
was that Of Secretary of War Taft.
Mr.. Taft said in part:
Ladies and Gentlemen: This great
seat OF useful learning was founded
twenty-five years ago to elevate a
race. No topic would be appropriate
ON such an occasion as this which
did not relate to it's welfare and flu
ture. Care should be taken in dis
cussing the issues which the SUBJ
iects l propose to suggest, lest one
may uselessly stir up the embers of a
controversy that has seriously affected
the welfare of the whole south. l
shall hope to avoid this as much as
possible by dealing only with pres
ent conditions, and by not seeking to
place the blame for the evils that
have had to be met.
The thirteenth amendment, which
abolishes slavery, needs but little dis
cussion. 1t gave to the negro the
boon Of freedom, but it left four or
five million of people, not per cent
of whom could read or write, and all
of whom had been dependent upon
others. Enactment and enforcement
of this amendment was, of course, es-
sential to the progress OF the negro
1t is true that in some parts Of the
south a system of servitude for debt
has been creeping into vogue, but the
decision of your own able and up
right Judge Jones of the federal court
and of the highest tribunal of this
country. that peonage may be reached
and suppressed by the enforcement of
federal and penal statutes has made
its continuance an impossibility. The
thirteenth amendment has accom-
plished it's purpose.
1.-THE fourteenth amendment secur-
ed to the negro the equal protection
of the laws of the state in which he
lived, and due process of law in any
deprivation of his life, liberty or
property under state law. This is the
amendment which second to his
emancipation has become the most
important in his development.
With the lack of providence and
with little understanding of the rights
of property, We find the negro after
his emancipation in much the condi-
ton with respect to self-support and
self-elevation that the primeval man
was.
The people of the United States,
especially those in the north, were
keenly conscious of his helpless con-
dition. and great effort was made, not
only by the adoption of constitutional
amendments to meet and overcome
the obstacles to his progress, but also
large funds were contributed to as
sist him affirmatively on his way to
better conditions, by giving him an
opportunity for education.
But the many movements to con-
fer on the negro the higher academic
and literary education which were in
augurated, were not we'll adapted to
securing the proper foundation for
the upbuilding of the race.
when the struggle Of the negro in
the decade following the war was go
ing on. there was growing to man
hood leader of his people who saw
more clearly than the rest of his race
that the negro could be one of the
greatest factors in the development of
the whole south if only he could be
led into habits of industry and saw
ing. He knew we'll the history of the
wrongs of his race and that for
midable indictment could be framed
against the whole white race for it's
treatment of the negro. But how
would it profit the negro to dwell on
the past or to rouse again the enmi-
ties of a former era? If Hampton
school had never done anything but
graduate Booker T. Washington, it
would have justified it's existence He
saw clearly that the only hope of his
race was economic independence and
he projected in his mind the estab-
lishment OF an institution in which
there should be combined in proper
proportion the mental education and
the education Of the hand. Booker
Washington, with the three thousand
graduates of this institution who are
now spreading the lessons which they
have learned here among his people
in all parts of the south gloriously
vindicate his marvellous foresight.
1T is now the habit of many con-
templating the condition of the two
races in the southern states to shake
their heads and say that the negro
problem is far, far, from solution.
Plans have been suggested of migra-
ito" Of the negro race to some other
country where they would live and
grow up by themselves Such a sug-
gestien is most chimerical. The
negro has no desire to go and the men
OF the south would seriously object to
his going. It makes no difference how
the negro came here; it makes no
difference how impossible and objec-
donable the amalgamation Of tie two
races may be; the negroes are here
in this country, as part of our peo-
pie, and are bound to continue to be