Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-03-09
Representatives on Stand.

representatives on stand.
On the speakers stand last night, beside
a number of we'll known negro educators
were Representative Campbell of Kansas
and Representative keifer of Ohio
President Taft was introduced by Will
liam T. Vernon, register of the United
States Treasury who declared that If
ever the country had need of men the
President had merely to call on the ne
groes and million would rush to an
swer the call.
The President said, in part:
First. want to congratulate Wilber-
force University on having the influence
to bring together so large and so intelli-
gent audience. l am sure it augurs
we'll for the cause which President Scar
borough is pressing. OF course, when
see him in a week or two, 1 will ask him
to put it down in figures. and perhaps
then he will think he will have to call
pose.
But what l am anxious to do is to tes-
tify by my presence to the deep interest
l take in. the progress of that institution
of learning. which for fifty years has
been in my native state. and has been
full of usefulness for the race and for
the country.
Confession is good for the soul-and 1
have to say that l reached my interest
in the education of the negro through the
responsibilities that were thrust on me
with reference to the education of another
race. 1t isn't until you have RESPONSE
biities-until you have to d. something
affirmative-that you look into a question
with a seriousness that makes you a bit
thorough: and when l went to the Phil
tppines, with a population of S.OO,OOO,
and with only per cent speaking Span
ish. thus indicating the proportion of the
people that had any education at all, l
began to meet problem with reference
to education that gave me an interest in
every other problem of the kind in the
world, and when l returned from there
with an emphasis that 1 didn't before
understand, and gave me an interest in
1t that l never before had.
Kinds of Education.
"Of course. the first feeling that one
has with reference to the Education of
the negro is that education THAT 1t is pos
sible to bring to all colored men and
women, and, of course, the only educa-
ton that you can bring to all colored
men and women-as, indeed, the only edu-
cation that you can bring to all white
men and women-is primary education,
with Industrial education added. AS you
study the problem, and the Importance of
that industrial education forces itself on
you, you forget for the time that any sig
nif1cance is to be given to secondary and
fall frequently into the error of saying
that money spent in university education
Is wasted; that the negroes who are edu-
Gated at universities. who are engaged in
studying Greek and Latin. and who are
preparing themselves in an academic
way, are making an error.
You yield to such aphoriSmS DR..
Wiley has used with respect to woman's
education-that 1t is better for woman
to learn how to cook than to learn calcu-
Ing Ruf there iS nothing unite mis-
leading as an epigram.
Must Have Leaders.
THE negro race is a great and grow
ing race-,OO0,OOO when the war closed;
10000, 900 today-a race with whose his
tory the United States has been bound,
and with whose progress and improve
ment this country must always be bound
and united. While the white race and
the negro race live contentedy together
in this country, they must have among
the negro race leaders. They must have
highly educated class from which those
leaders are to be drawn. The negro race
Is race peculiarly susceptible to the
teaching from the pulpit, and nothing can
do more to secure their uplift than the
thorough classical and higher education
of their preachers. If you are going to
spread industrial and primary and sec
ondary education among the negroes gen.
orally, you must DO IL through competent
teachers. and those teachers can be OBJ
tanned only by receiving the best educa-
ton that the country can afford
Another path along which the negro
race must laboriously mount upward is
the path toward hygiene and the guard
ing against the ravages of disease, which
has brought about such loss and suffer-
ing to the entire race all over the coun-
try. And that can be accomplished only
by having among the negroes competent
physicians competent surgeons, compe-
tent nurses and competent leaders of the
people in this regard, to teach them how
TO live. And those physicians have got
to receive the highest education, both
ACCIDENTALLY and medically. if they are
to serve their highest purpos"
More Money Needed.
Now, / am entirely agreed that it is
wise to teach those who farm as much
as possible about the farm, but what 1
want to call your attention to is that the
amount Of money that is devoted to the
higher education of the negro, as COM
pared with the 100000 negroes in this
country, is not enough. if you are to di-
vide 1t up among that 10.O0O,OOO, to make
any great amount per capita. President
Scarborough can tell you / went over the
figures once or twice. and instead of be-
ing enough to indicate waste there is an
indication that there is not near enough
money to even educate the leaders of the
race that the race must have IL 1t is go
ing on to progress as 1T Is. Therefore,
whenever hear OF movement toward