The Colorado statesman., 1912-08-03

OF life without further apprenticeship
and with o confidence born of train.
Ing that insists upon the practical ap
plication Of the theories taught in the
school room.
'The late DR.. Mayo paid high
tribute to the kind of education
which they have received here,
when he said: Don't believe any man
who tells you that this great move
ment of Industrial education is only
clever device of your enemies to crowd
down the colored man to the condition
of European peasantry. only another
name for the old-time chattel slavery.
So far from this 1t is the science OF
sciences, the supreme art of fine art
the science of putting the trained
mind and the consecrated manhood
into the body, so that all labor may be
exalted to a mental and moral disci
pline and the mighty saying of the
great Apostle be verified, Know ye not
that you are the temple of God, and
the spirit of God dwelleth in you?
'And these graduates are fortunate,
too, in having had for so long time
the exceptional privilege of listening
to the words of wisdom which have
fallen from the lips of Tuskegee's
great principal.
1T was Mark Hopkins, the renown.
ed president of Williams college, who
his times as an educator that 1t was
said. If Mark Hopkins were on one end
of log, and student on the other
that log would be a university. And so
it may be said of the great teacher
and leader of men, Booker T. Wash
ington, that wherever he is present
and speaks, that place is the best OF
schools.
Il hope that the young men and
women who are going out from this
institution into the world as teachers
and artisans will appreciate the fact
that they are to be the leaders of their
people in the communities in which
they locate. And as such leaders
they will render their followers the
great service If they will recognize and
tell them of their defects as well as
, sing their praises when they merit
them. Men cannot be helped by mere
adulation. Nations and races can
only be great in proportion as they
play the parts well in the movements
of the age.
For nearly 80 years the negro, as
free agent, has been in touch with
one of the worlds most intense and
highly developed civilizations. And
in spite of the keen and almost bru
tai competition in the industrial field
he has been able to lay substantial
/ foundation on which to build the struc
ture by which he is to be judged in
the future as a real and positive force
in American life. On account of his
racial identity, the struggle for him
is just a little harder than it is for
the other man. But our faith looks
up when we call to mind the fact that
the laws which determine the desti.
MES of races are impartial and eternal.
| If the negro is true to himself, faith
| full to his obligations, and appreciative
of the grandeur of his opportunities,
he will some day take a worthy and
permanent place in the higher region
of American life
Young men and young women,
knowledge is power and so is wealth.
And no race, whatever it's color may
be, whatever its condition in the past
has been, that possesses these two
powerful elements of civilization, can
long be kept from Gods final day of
light. Let the words of that great phil
osepher, Frederick Douglass, sing deep
into your hearts: Take courage
from the example of all the re-
ligious denominations, said he,
that have sprung up since the
days of Martin Luther Each in it's turn
has been oppressed and prosecuted.
Yet all In turn have conquered the
| prejudice and hate of their surround.
| ings. Greatness does not come to any
people on flowery beds of ease. We
must fight to win the prize. No peo-
pie to whom libery is given can hold
it so firmly or wear it so grandly as
those who wrench their liberty from
the iron hand of the tyrant. The hard,
| ships and dangers involved in the
struggle give strength and toughness
to the character, and enables 1t to
stand firm in storm as well as in sun
| shine
MY young friends, your day has
| dawned. your sun has risen, and there
| is nothing more certain than when the
morning sun has once appeared above
the horizon 1t keeps its course on to
the fulness Of MONDAY"