Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-02-24


quantities, that homes were being i'm
proved. and that schools were being made
better.
Booker Washington's Address.
In little opening address to the confer
ence. Washington struck the keynote Of the
day by saying:
when a race owns land and has a bank
account these possessions indicate that that
| race has learned to make sacrifices, that 1t
| has learned to lock ahead and plan for
| the future.
Amy black man who is worth his salt
| can build a decent home-can raise a re-
| spectacle family-can secure all Of the
| work that he wishes-can educate his chill
dren-can have freedom of-Teligious wor-
| ship-can secure and maintain the respect
and confidence of his neighbors, of both
races. But we must not be satisfied with
what we have achieved in the past. We
| must continue to go forward. Our progress
| in the future must be more satisfactory
| than heretofore.
I'm the first place we must decide where
we are to live; then we must decide as to
whether We will take advantage of every
opportunity tl.at is open to US. 1t Is i'm
portant that all members of our race learn
! to save their money and cease scattering
] it to the winds as they have done In SO
many cases. buying whisky, cheap jewelry
and other gewgaws. We must not stop at
that. We must learn more and more to in
vest our money in property, deposit 1t In
a bank and have something always laid by
for rainy day.
Must Learn to Draw Line.
More and more as a race of people we
must learn to draw the line between the
moral and the immoral; between the good
and bad: and we must set the standard Of
life among our own people high, and let
them understand that we feel ourselves
q oh ad to DC fa with i51arS
nails. We must use our influence wherever
possible to get rid Of the large idle class
that hang about the street corners and
dens of misery in our large cities.''
In reference to rural conditions in the
south, he said:
while we must not fail to look condi-
lions in the face whether favorable or dis
couraging, at the same time We should
not permit the bad to overshadow the en-
couraging and the helpful While we hear
much Of racial disturbances which unfortu-
nately occur in many portions of the south
and elsewhere, We are not as likely TO hear
SO much of those communities where there
Ia no racial friction. We should not over
look the fact that while there is racial dis
turbance In one community in ninety
nine others no such conditions prevail.
I'VE are making progress as a race, ire
mendous progress-educationally morally,
spiritually and materially. The negro since
he became free has acquired ownership of
land equal to the combined territory of
Holland and belgium
LAS we grow materially. let us seek with
all our might to turn material possessions
into the highest moral mental and religious
usefulness"
Got Down to Business
After that opening speech the conference
got right down to business in getting facts
from all over the south. A Mr.. Stamp,
from one of the counties of Georgia, report
ed that friendly relations existed between
the whites and the blacks in his neighbour
hood and that nearly all of the colored men
were out of debt. He started to sit down
after that statement, but only half sue
ceeded, because Mr.. Washington brought
him to- his feet with question and some
thing like this dialogue ensued:
Washington-"Do you own your homer
stamp-"No. but am going to-
Northumberland"
Stamp-'I am already making arrange
ments."
Washington-"How much do you pay
your Minister"
Stamp-"$S5
Washington-"$S5 a month";"
Stamp-"No, a year"
Washington-''Thats absurd. How can
you expect to keep q good man who will
live among you, preach among you, and,
more than that, work among you for that
money!
stamp-"well, sir. it is ali he asks"
Washington-"Well. maybe it is all he is
worth, but you ought to have q man who
is worth more and to whom you pay more"
As to the Schools.
Then the questions proceeded to the
schools. the conditions Of the houses and
other matters, and before Mr.. Stamp sat
down he had been turned inside out so far
as Information was concerned.
A Mr. Knight from Lowndes county, Ala
bama, said that the race was making prog
ress In his section.
How do you know it? How can you
prove it?' Mr.. Washington wanted to know.
well, they are buying land Ten fami-
Hes have bought land since last year and
there are only few one-room cabins left"
Mr. knight proceeded then to tell about
how many people had money in the bank
and how many had mortgages on their
property.
Another speaker was asked before he
could get very far in his report whether
his own house was whitewashed, and when
he confessed that it was not, Washington
wanted to know why it wasn't. The answer
that none of the houses in the neighbor-
hood we're whitewashed didn't seem to
satisfy the presiding officer, and before the
delegate sat down he had promised to go
back home and whitewa:L his own house
and try to get all his neighbors to do the
same for theirs. This man reported that
all the people in his neighborhood who
sent their children to school contributed so
much a month to keep the school open for
full seven months term. In answer to
the question as to how much the minister
was paid he said that he did not know.
that they agreed to pay him $500, but he
didn't know how much he really got.
Built Two School Houses.
MIR. MCGOWAN reported from Coffee
county that he had personally gotten the
money and built two school houses himself,
and that the neighborhood. in order to
keep the schools open longer than the regu-
lar term. had rented land and put In a
crop to raise money for the purpose Last
year they had cleared $gS by that means.
Mr.. Washington wanted to know, If there
were other places where that method was