Evening journal., 1912-02-24
By
"HOLLAND''

Norwich, where he made his home
for more than 40 years or until his
death, in 1884.
Two years before that event occur
red. it was announced throughout the
country that John #. Slater had given
a fund of one million dollarA for the
purpose of providing an income which
could be used in assisting in the edu-
cation of the negroes Of the south
This fund was put by it's donor under
the control Of board of trustees OF
whom ex-President Rutherford b
Hayes was the chairman; and so care
fully did the trustees invest the fund
that in the course OF some 10 or II
years it had reached the sum total OF
S1,50O,O00. Today-in this period OF
lavish giving--the John +. Slater fund
remains one of Americas great phil
anthropic organizations for the pro-
motion of education. At the time it was
founded the immensity OF the fund so
impressed the people generally that
Congress gave Mr. Slater its vote OF
thanks and caused a gold medal to be
struck in commemoration Of the bene-
ficence.
John l.. Slater was apparently
man of cold heart. man who seem
ingly lived a selfish life said to me
his close personal friend and legal
adviser for years, the late Col. John
T. Watt, who represented the eastern
district of Connecticut in Congress for
IA years. Therefore, when announce
ment was made that he had set apart a
fund Of one million dollars to be used
for the education Of the freedmen OF
the south. most of the people who
knew him wondered long how he had
brought himself to be so generous.
They did not know, as / did, that John
+. Slater was in reality very warm
hearted and generous man-that his
apparent coldness of heart was the
outward result of the many insidious
attempts on the part of various per-
sons to secure for themselves under
false pretsnses some portion of the
Slater millions And he had a deep
sense of his obligations towards his
fellow men.
"He himself told me that the John
r. Slater fund was the result Of his
lifetime recognition Of his familys
long standing Indebtedness not only
10 the cotton planters, but to the cot
ton pickers of the south But for the
great development of the cotton-groW-
ing industry in the south, he declared
the Slater manufacturing enterprises
would have been carried on only in a
small way How to repay the indebted
ness, in part at least, was a problem
that long occupied his mind He was
one of the north who believed that a
serious mistake had been made in re-
construction times in granting suf-
frage to the negroes; he held that they
were not prepared to exercise the
privilege wisely II seemed to him,
as he thought upon this subject, that
the future of the negroes depended
upon education. He knew that the
south was poor and unable to provide
adequate educational facilities for the
education of the blacks and so at last
the idea came to him that he could be
of great service to the country, and at
the same time pay off a part Of the
debt his family owed the south, il he
set apart large amount of money the
income of which would be devoted to
aiding the negroes in acquiring an
education. He spent several years in
working out the plan of the fund and
when it was fully worked out the an
nouncement Of its establishment al
once followed
Copyright, 1912, by e = Edwards
All rights reserved.)