The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1914-08-27


the Tuskegee institute had narrow
and selfish ambition. wanted to lift
up the negro some how, even II had
to do it at the expense Of the whites.
Thank God that narrow selfishness has
been outgrown. and my one ambition
now IL to serve all my fellows,
whether they are black or white.
Starts Tuskegee.
ut was in 1881 that l went to Tus-
kegee. We started in q shack twelve
by fourteen feet in size, with one
teacher and thirty students. Today
sixteen hundred men and women are
enrolled, representing thirty-six states
and seventeen foreign countries or col
0nies. In all departments we have
ITO instructors and assistant instruct
ors. Our trustees own 5000 acres Of
land and ninety-seven buildings. They
have in their possession $2,00O,O0O Of
securities and $1,500,000 OF real estate.
and thank God. there 10 on the whole
thing not dollar Of mortgage or in
debtedness.
"All those who talk about thes ne
gro race must keep in mind that 1t is
still very young race. It Is raw and
inexperienced. That 10 one reason
am SO glad that am a member Of 1t
because have the privilege Of guiding
1t In its future development,
Out Of the ninety-seveh buildings
used by the Tuskegee institute. nine
ty-three have been erected by the stu
dents themselves. They cultivate a
thousand acres. Our aim Is to ground
the southern negroes In the fundamen-
tai Industries. We have found that
NV fn In
dustrious and has a Christian coarac-
iii the south and given a<square deal.
Changes Commencement
1--WE try to educate our students by
teaching them about things rather than
about books. Several years ago our
commencement exercises were stilted
and falsely dignified. / saw that was
not appropriate for our institution, SO
l had it changed. It ia now a COM
mon thing at our commencement exer-
cises to have young woman give an
exhibition of preparing dinner on the
platform, just such a dinner as might
be prepared in the homes of thousands
of farmers who witness the ceremony.
There are two advantages in com
mencement Grafton like that: One is
that the student knows what he is
talking about; the other is that the
audience knows.
what has the negro given you in
return for your investment in him
Well, he has accomplished this much
any way He has lived among you for
fifty years, the only fellow with a
dark skin you have ever let live among
you that long. The second thing is
| hat II
have accumulated property. In Ala.
bama negroes own a million and a
quarter acres of land: in Mississippi a
million and half; in the entire south
/ twenty millions.
Is Commercial Factor.
"The negro has become a great com.
mercial factor in this country. In the
south we have 10000 stores and sixty,
three banks. We have made great
progress in education. At the close
of the civil war only three per cent
Of the negroes were able to read OF
write. Today sixty-nine per cent OF
them can do that.
1--WE also have been settling this
problem of race prejudice. You must
always remember that it is only the
disgraceful things that negroes do that
get much publicity. Most of our prog
ress is silent.
"You white people often get impa
tient with us and think that the negro
is not worth saving. l want you to
remember that we have been in a
tight position. We have had to keer
our pace alongside the most aggres
siye and progressive civilization the
world has ever known. When the
American negro catches up with the
American white man nobody else will
be ahead of u.s."