The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1909-05-27
So Says President in Com
mencement Address at
Howard University.
LAYS CORNERSTONE
OF NEW LIBRARY
Does Not Favor College Training
Of All Members of the
Race.

That the negro race holds its future
in its own hands and that its uplift and
progress will be achieved only through
industry and zeal. was the message
President Taft carried to the Howard
University graduates at the commence
nent exercises of that institution.
He made an extended address on the
possibilities of the future of the colored
man, but he was careful to make plain
his point that the race should not at
tempt to have all its members uni
versity men. And in this, he said. il
was like the white race. Every race.
/ he asserted. depended for its welfare
and strength and growth upon the
masses Of mechanics and manual labor
ers as we'll as uDon the university stu
dents who are its leaders.
This address was delivered yesterday
afternoon in Rankin Chapel, there being
present Secretary of the Interior Ball
! niger, Commissioner Macfarland, Presi-
dent Thirkield, of the university, and
many other well-known men, The
| speech was punctuated with much ap-
/ plause, and, when the President dis
tributed the diplomas to the graduates,
I ire enthusiasm of the spectators knew
no bounds.
/ After the address. the President
marched in the rain to the site of the
/ cornerstone of the new Carnegie library
donated to the university, and he and
| Mr.. BalIinger used the trowel and the
mortar in placing the stone. He then
| congratulated the institution on having
! the prospect of soon owning a good IL
brary.
In his speech, Mr.. Taft said, in part:
Payment of Debt
This institution here IS the partial
repayment of a debt-only partiai-to a
/ race to which a Government and the
/ people of the United States are eternaily
/ indebted. They brought that race into
/ this country against its will They
are planted here irretrievably- They
/ first put it in bondage and then they
| kept IL in the ignorance that that bond
| age seemed 10 make necessary under
/ the system then in vogue Then they
/ freed il and put upon II the RESPONSE
/ bility of citizenship Now. some sort
| of obligation follows that chain Of facts
/ with reference to the people who are re-
| sponsible for what that Government did.
! The obligation would be clearer, or
rather the method of its discharge
/ would be easier, were il not for our
| constitutional system which throws gen
I
! education and leaves 10 the General
/ Government only certain limited juris-
/ dictOn with respect TO the people.
However. so far as the District of
/ Columbia is concerned. and the estab-
/ lishment of Institutions of learning in
/ this District, we are free from any en-
! baTTassmen with respect 70 the carry
/ ing out of the obligation, and IL IS fit
| ting that the Government Of the United
I States should assume the obligation Of
/ the esta blishment and mainte nance OF
/ a fi-st-class university Tor the euuea ton
/ of cGIOred men. I am far from saying
and / wish TO put INFO this caVeat in
| advance, in order not 10 be met by an
| argument which has weight but ha
not weight when improperly used-th&
I the colored race today all of them
would be better off If they all had
/ university education.
Makes Meaning Clear.
| "I think they would be in q very bad
way If they he d, because they would not
know how to use it, and they would not
/ find means of using it. No race would
be better of if they were all educated
as university men. The great body Of
/ the colored race, as the great body Of
the white race, must depend for their
/ livelihood upon their manual labor. skill
/ ed or unskilled. or upon some occupation
4 Ehich requires less education than that
which is conferred by university, and
{
| of il is 10 put a lot Of men into life
/ who do not find occupations which are
suited to their taste, and to make them
/ unhappy and really not ut for the life
which is before them.
Not Necessary.
ION the other hand. that admission is
far from a concession that 1t is not
necessary for the success of the colored
race that there be among them leaders
Of that race fitted by university educa-
ton for that leadership. There is lot
any Iik eIihood. with Difference 10 persons
who occupy a different position, that
/ either IN the generosity Of the general
/ government or in the generosity of in
dividuals who found colored colleges
and universities, there is 10 be much of
/ an opportunity given as is likely to lead
too many colored men to acquire univer-
sity education as compared with the
number of colored men that there are
in the community, and especially south
! OF Mason and DiXOn's line.
! THE opportunity that there is for
educated cOlored men to aid their race
/ in the struggle before them for eco
nomlc success and the maintenance OF
themselves as worthy and valuable
members Of the community, the OppOr-
tunfty that there is for university men
I among cOlOred men to assist in that
movement, I say, is very great, indeed.
Laws of Hygiene.
Through the South one of the things
that is essential is the cultivation Of
greater sanitation and greater attention
to the laws OF hygiene among the col
ored race. What they need in the South
is a great many more physicians CT
thsir own color and race to tell them
how TO live and TO enable them to re-
cover when they are subject 10 the
. eli q vsgr