New Iberia enterprise and independent observer. (New Iberia, La.) 1902-1944, 1913-11-29
WHAT l AM TRYING TO DO.
By DR.. Booker 7. Washington, in the
Worlds Work Magazine, New York
City, November, Io13-Explains the
TuskeGse Idea-Writes Of Racial Re-
iatiensAtYs in the South.

DR.. Booker T. Washington, Principal
of the Tuskegee Institute, writes spe-
cial article, what l am Trying to Do"
for the November issue of the Worlds
Work, New York City; a series of twelve
articles under this title have been pub
lished in the Worlds Work during the
past twelve months.
The contributors to the series so far
have represented every phase of business
and educational life-captains of Indus
try and leaders of one kind and another
in every field of activity. The World s
Work is quite the most representative
business magazine published in this
country and surveys the whole field of
progress from one end of the earth to
the other.
In the particular article here referred
to- DR.. Washington summarizes his life
work at Tuskegee Institute, explaining
in detail Just what he has been trying
to do in helping to bring about the
sent progress of the Negro people in
the United States. The whole scheme
of what has come to be known as the
"Tuskegee Idea" is exemplified and ex-
planned so that one can get pretty good
idea of the work being accomplished
through. Tuskegee Institute.
With particular reference to the mat
ter IF racial relationships in the South,
DR.. Washington writes:
"Another thing that have tried to
do has been to bring the white people
in the Southern States and throughout
the country into what seems to me q
proper and practical attitude toward the
Negro in his efforts to go forward and
make progress. I am seeking to do this
not only in the interest of my race, but
also in the interest of the white race.
"There are in the Southern States
nine million Negroes There are three
million Negro children of school age.
Fifty-three per cent. or more than half
never go to school. Many of these Ne
gro children, particularly in the coun-
try districts, are in school only from
three to four months of the year. !
am trying toSget the white people to
see that, both from an economic point
of view and as matter of justice and
fair play these conditions must be
changed. I am trying to get the white
people to see that sending ignorant Ne
groes to jails and penitentiaries, putting
them in the chain gang, hanging and
lynching them does not civilize, but on
the contrary, though it brutalizes the
Negro, it at the same time blunts and
dulls the conscience of the white man.
II want the white people to see tina,
it is unfair to expect black man who
goes to school only three months in the
year to produce as much on the farm
as white man who has been in school
eight or nine months in the year; tina,
it is unjust to let the Negro remain
igorant, with nothing between him and
the temptation to fill his body with
whiskey and cocaine and then to expect
him, in his igorance, to be able to know
the law and be able to exercise that de-
gree of self-control which shall enable
him to keep it.
"Still another thing that am tryine
to get the people of the whole country
to realize is that the education of tn;
Negro should be considered not as mat.
ter of charity, but as matter of busi.
ness, that, like any other business, should
be thoroughly studied, organized, ant
systematized. The money that has al!
ready been spent by states, institutions
and individuals would have done vastly
more good if there had been, years ago