The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1907-11-23


step, and long, long step.
Every graduate of an institution
of learning who. goes out into the
world has many difficulties to face.
Few have more difficulties to face
IMAM those who graduate from this
institution, You, graduates, know how
much OF hardship you had to encoun-
ter, how much you have had to draw
upon all of the courage, and faith,
and resolution, and good temper that
you had in You. I trust that each
lone Of you here will realize the pecu-
liar burden of responsibility that
rests upon him, not only as an edu-
Gated American citizen, but as an
!educated member of a race that is
struggling upward toward higher and
better things. The esteem that your
fellow-citizen bear you; the way that
they look upon you; the way in which
they feel about the effects of educa-
tion as it shows itself in you, will
in large degree measure their be-
lief in and regard for the Afro-Ameri-
can race You bear a great burden of
responsibility upon your shoulders. I
trust you will realize it, and that
help will be given to you from on
high to bear it well and worthily. T
know OF no men graduating from any
college in the United States who
have heavier load of responsibility
than you bear, and, after ALL there
| is no greater privilege given to any
man than to have such, load to
carry, if only he carries it well.
"A minister needs to remember
more than anyone else the truth of
the Biblical saying that by your fruits.
shall men know you A minister
needs to feel that it is incumbent
upon him not merely to preach a high
and yet a sane morality, but to see
that his life bears out his preaching
in every minute detail. His position
| is one of peculiar leadership, and
therefore a peculiar weight of obi
cation attaches to it. Nothing can
be more important for any people,
or any race, than to have those mem
bers of that people or race who fol-
low the profession of the ministry
so conduct themselves as to be a.
source of inspiration to their own
f1ocks, and at the same time to win
from the outside world a respect and
esteem the effects of which will be
felt not only by them, but by all their
people
81 have been struck in travelling
through the South to find how many
Afro American doctors have gone in
to other business as we'll. Very nat
urally, frequently you will find that
they own drug stores; and I was
struck by what very nice drug stores,
and how prosperous many of them
nave been. | was struck by the es-
TEEN in which they were held as
rule, by all of their neighbors, and by
the evident fact that each such Afro
American doctor who did his work
we'll exercised a very perceptible
influence in raising the standard of
citizenship Of all the Afro-American
citizens of the locality in which he re-
sided. [ do not know more effec--
tive bit of home missionary WORK
than is being done in this way"
| When the President had finished
his speech, Justice Job Barnard, presi-
dent of the board of trustees of the
university, the presiding officer, intro
duced Ambassador Bryce.
1T is not uniting" said Ambassa-
dor Bryce, that I should be present
on this occasion, representing as
do a country which has many colored
people within it's domains. We are
all fellow-workers, and should be-
sympathetic fellow-workers, in the ef-.
fort to recompense the Afro-Ameri.
can for the wrongs which have been
done to him by the white race since
that day, nearly 300 years ago, when
the first slaveship crossed the At
lantic."
The Ambassador expressed his be-.
lief that higher academic education,
as well as as Industrial training, is
needed for the Afro-American people.
Loud was the applause when, JUS
tice Barnard called on the next
speaker, Andrew Carnegie. Silencing
the audience with slight wave of
the hand, Mr.. Carnegie said that his
presence seemed to him providential,
as he was totally unaware Of the ex-
/ ercises to be held at Howard when
he came to Washington.
! "This nation never failed to solve.
any problem placed before it, he said
| land it will not fail in regard to the
| race problem. In fact, most of the
problems about which anxious politi--
cians,' he added, turning to Presi-
dent Roosevelt and bowling gracefully,
worry, solve themselves. We try to
settle problems a hundred years
ahead of us, and long before that
time the problems are gone. This
nation will be revered for solving the
problem of the Slaves that were, men
that are to be- Don't worry about
the Afro-American."
In his inaugural address, Rev. DR..
Thirkfleld said that Howard Univer-
sity opens to any man of any race the
| chance to unfold the best and divir.-
est in him, SO far as broad educational
opportunity is help to this end
Every man has in him values
above all market price," said DR..
Thirkield. This is the democratic
ideal. Democracy bears witness to
the capacity of the downmost man.
There are in American history num-
berless examples of the fact that the
common man has stored up in him
uncommon powers for highest life and
service to man. Lincoln, Grant, and
Douglass are conspicuous examples.
This is the meaning Of equality
not that every man in capacity is
the equal of every other man, or that
there is any such thing as equality of
gifts and powers, for it is a truism
that Liberty leads to- inequality
based on natural differences of capac-
lily and application among men 1t
is rather that in a democracy every
man has a right to equality Of op-
portunity, may claim equal right