The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1909-09-10

Victims of Neglect They Were
General o. o. Howard, President
Taft, Col. Roosevelt, Alton u.
Parker and Gov. Wilson Are
Leading the Rescue Movement
They Ask For Volunteers Who
Will Aid in the Uplift With an
Open Purse of One Dollar or
More.
Because the long walls Of the APP
palachian ranges served as perfect
barriers against the torrents of west
bound progress following first the
stage roads and then the railroads, a
vast region of five States has been for
q century a mere social eddy In this
great, growing, expanding Nation.
Where the two Virginias, North Caro-
lima, Tennessee and Kentucky abutt
in the mountains, thousands OF fam
flies of the early pioneers settled four
or five generations back, and from
that time TO this the people have lit
orally stood still, save that during the
Civil War the presence of large bodies
OF troops in certain parts of the region
had the effect OF introducing newer
devices and methods of life. and when
peace came there remained and are to
be found there to-day.
The modern buck loading rifle
stands in the corner with the spinning
wheel and loom of Colonial days. The
t,E, IL ,Af 10 hla a hn-
cause the world has gone around
them They are no more responsible
for their ignorance and low state of
life than are the South Sea savages.
They have never had a chance.
From these people came Abraham
Lincoln, and he knew what a brave,
strong hearted people they were. He
knew that the best blood Of the pio-
neers OF the country ran In their
veins, and his great heart went out
with pity to them in their situation OF
being cut off helpless and neglected.
During the war when they were
harassed, he sent General Burnside
first and then General o. o. Howard
to break the barriers around them.
under consideration with General
Howard, selected to be the head OF
the Freedman Bureau, many plans
for the betterment of the poor whites
of the South, as well as for the care
OF the negroes.
II he had lived, the social eddy OF
ignorance would have been broken
long ago, but his life was cut short,
and before his death he left word
for General Howard to carry out his
plans.
In the midst OF thirty years OF
arduous service to the Government
General Howard has done what he
could for both blacks and whites, and
has established or assisted in estab-
fishing more than seventy schools and
colleges. One of these was Lincoln
Memorial University, in Cumberland
Gap, in the very heart of the region.
From his talks with Lincoln he knew
the great American would desire no
more fitting memorial than a truly
useful seat OF learning among the
people he loved so well.
overcome IN the very beginning be-
fore the school could be opened.
When the buildings were finally Sc
cured the money to pay for instruc-
tion was lacking, and so a system OF
allowing the boys and girls to work
on the farms, in the dairies, wood
lands, sawmills, etc, of the university
cta ~ nd tn ha mo n
everyone the school was filled up with
seven hundred eager students, nearly
all OF them working their way, paying
in corn, potatoes and produce what
they cannot pay In cash. The problem
is not to get students. That is the
problem Of every other college In the
country. The problem at Lincoln
Memorial University now is to pro-
vide room for fourteen hundred more
who are begging hopelessly for a
chance TO get an education. When
boy or girl leaves the school, he or she
is paid to return into the mountains
to teach others, and far and wide for
hundreds OF miles through the hills
the news has spread that an entrance
door into light and better things.
The privstions endured, the heart
burnings, the disaIpointmelts, the
bitter struggle with hunger and rags,
all TO get an education. Is a heart
rending story at Lincoln. General
Howard, freed from Official duties,
has appealed to the younger men Of
public affairs TO help him and they
have formed this Lincoln University
Endowment Association, at ITO
Broadway, New York, and with Gen
eral Howard as president, William
Howard Taft as vice-president, Alex
ander Webb, Jr., treasurer; Fred n.
Wilson as secretary, and among the
officers such men as Theodore Roose-
welt, Alton b. Parker, Governor Will
son, Governor Hughes, Henry Waiter
son, Geo. d. Cortelyou. Leonard
Wood. Senator Knox and james VIII