The morning journal-courier., 1908-09-14
MIR. BATTLES TALK President of Okolona Institute Spoke at Trinity Church
 Last Night,
gEEDs OF THE COLLEGE
What Struggles Have Resulted In Ac. complishlng--Appeal for
 Funds.


 Episcopal church last night President
 Wallace A, Battle, of the Okolona In- 1ustrlal college In Okolona, Miss, was the preacher, and he gave an inter- csting account of the work being ac- complshed at the institution, He spoke, in part, as follows.
 ''Six years ago l went to Mississippi and started the Okolona Industrial college under the shade of locust trees. There was one old building, constructed by slave labor, surviving all It's neighbors, After a few days work which turned the rain out of that dear little building we used 1t for dormltory, shop. laundry, cooking and
 lining room, Our untutored walters could easily understand our bill of fare for the two meals. which was corn bread and molasses for break fast, and molasses and corn bread for supper.
 "l cannot bear to tell you at this
 hour our struggles from that condition
 until there were fifteen teachers for
 300 students from half dozen states,
 and a property valuation of A0,OOO,
 IL was two years ago when that con
 dltion obtained and when In a terrible
 fire and storm three of the main
 buildings were destroyed. While
 crawling out of the ashes the school
 has been all the time taking on a
 more substantial form of growth The
 property value to-day Is s65,000.
 Every building is insured and also
 protected by our own independent
 system of waterworks. At Okolona
 we have always believed equally In
 precipitation and inspiration; thus
 from the products of the farm and
 shops, together with the tuition, we
 are to-day absolutely self-supporting
 in current expenses
 Two of the new buildings which
 are now about completed stand bare without equipment: and have come to New Haven to ask you to help us equip them Mir Carnegie gave s6,500 on condition that no debt shall be left from the buildings The deficit Is s5.5O0 for light heat. seating and bathtubs. Four hundred young men , and women await my return with this equipment as school cannot open this fall until the buildings are fur ished.
 The fact that l must come away | from Mississippi 10 appeal to you for this little equpment-epuipmen which directly helps the one million black people In that state-equlpment which actually costs less than little automobile or little fashionable dog | that produces nothing of wealth for l the landis sufficient to emphasize the . abnormal condition over which we as a race have no controlt
 For more than year I have been contending that all that Is left the negro race In the United States Is an eloquent appeal to your sense of hon- or, justice and benevolence and that if We fail in that our position as a race will be even lower than that of serfdom.
 "l am ready to admit frankly that we have too many shftless, insolent. criminal negroes. hence the need for \ rigid training of the young But of our ten million negroes you cannot | find a half dozen to-day. convicted of l any crime whatsoever, holding dplo- ' mas from any of our reputable
 schools But what of the three mill | lion who are totally illlterate? "In this connection I beg to remind | you that Just forty-three years ago l Al. t., Il. f.,. , negro to he found studying book of ] any sort met with a more direct, and sometimes q more severe, punishment l than the present day crime for mur- Il der in the state of Connecticut Ac- Il ton and reaction are equal, and so, II II for 200 years it was crime for the N negro to study, for the next 200 years " it should be a crime not to provide means and compel him to go tc M school
 M "In Mississippi there are million M negroes, i9 per cent. of whom are H. literate. While the negroes are ont H and one-half times as many as tho v whites, the school attendance Is & tt ii. and tho number of teachers em. = ployed to in favor of the whites
 Nor would I here lay an undue charge '' to the whites. since they pay ten times
 as much In taxation as the blacks
 The truth Is, the state is not yet abl' n to adequately care for It's dense negro D population. In Connecticut you spent g annually s17.5S toward the training 7, of your future citizens, while Missis
 sippi spends only s16S toward that o
 it's black citizens. And vet, m!
 friends, Connecticut is educating chil v dren who are, from the standpoint 0 V. education, 1000 years ahead of tn u negro children of the black belt
 Surely then, there will be nor
 than moral response in the littl ,e equipment which we so much need t Ia carry on the great work which vol 's yourselves have so nobly begun in tn f. south"