Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1912-04-12

During the meeting OF the trustee
Board OF Tuskegee Institute, at Tus'
kegee, when large number OF infiuen'
tial people of the north and west n
terested in southern education, were
present, nothing more significant wss
Aaid, as reported in The Tuskegee Sti'
dent, than the short address OF Mr..
Hruce Payne, of the Peabody Normal
college at Nashville, white institu'
tiJn which does not cater for colored
trade" who said:
IL never was quite as proud OF be-
ing a southerner as right now. nave
never been to Tuskegee before and l
cannot express to you the various and
sm,iry emotions that have come to me
in these few busy hours I have been
here.
I'VE understand something Of the IN
her,tance that is back OF us all ana IL
Is difficult to analyze it, but perhaps
one thing that you and l know most
about is the sacrifice and the suffering
and the toll that is back Of this genera
ton. In that is a spirit Of consecra'
tiou which you see in your father ana
In your mother and which have seen
in my father and my mother and
which any man of my age in the
south has seen in his father and his
mother, which we must through all
time respect. That spirit Of consecra'
ton is a fine asset to have behind one.
1t is a fine idea to live to and It takes
courage to practice it and prove the
need we have of such priceless her
ftage. 1t is a great day to live in the
south.
"I was thinking minute ago OF the
little schoolhouse which was over IN
the mountains of North Carolina
which, because it was the best, my
father sent me to; but it was so poor
ly ventilated and heated that 1t took
ten years of my life afterwards to re-
cover from the Ill effects upon my own
constitution. These poor schoolhouses
are passing away and every boy and
girl in the south is getting better
chance. I say 1t is great day to live
in the south. Even I wish I could 60
back ten years and make new start
so that might have the privileges you
are enjoying It is great day to be
true to all the good things Of your
past, of your fathers and mothers
past. 1t is a great day to sacrifice
and toll and suffer and If need be to
die for such country, for such land
as this from which you sprang."
1T is a great day to live in the
south, measuring the distance from
1865 to 1912, period of Al years, and
measuring the conditions Of both
races at the beginning and at the end
ing of that period. The white south
which had education Of hand and
head for moral restraint and civil gov
eminent and basis in financial credit
with home and church life firmly fixed
in tradition and practice, has gained
more in education and wealth in the
AZ years Of free labor and opportunity
than it enjoyed under slave labor and
restricted opportunity during the 245
years prior to 1865; but the gain OF
the black south has been vastly great
er and more creditable, as it had nc
foundation whatsoever to build upon
1t now has reduced its agony of filter
acy by quite one-half. has built itself
home and school life and credit
able labor and business position, has
laid itself a good foundation in all
these upon which 1t is industriously
and persistently building, so that the
rounded century Of freedom and oppor
tunity promises it unprecedented re
suits. If 1t but holds fast the meta
physical and cultural as it gathers the
material things of life, the martyrs OF
freedom will not have lived in vain