The Denver star., 1915-11-20
BY TALCOTT WILLIAMS.

! In the South-Beloved by Both Races
By TALCOTT WILLIAMS.
The auditorium to be erected al
| Hampton institute, Hampton, Va, il
memory of Robert Curtis Ogden, will
| be less the memorial Of man thar
the monument Of an epoch. In the
| light of world war, in the prcsence
of great events thick sown from the
| hand of time on the field of the pres
ent, it is plain that Mr.. Ogden aud
those who labored with him at the
opening of this century We're the in.
struments of far wider and more far.
reaching labors than they We're aware
or even those now laboring can them
selves know or perceive.
The Spanish war was much more
than conflict with a European power,
the redemption of Cuba. or the acquisi.
ton by the United States of its first
colonial and insular possessions. War
tries all and reveals all and the Span
ish war revealed the United States tC
itself General Wheeler in federal uni
form was the outward sign of the com
mon purpose of all Americans to look
forward and not back, to talk less OF
the past and act more in the present
and to decide and determine once for
all that there was nothing in any state
which was not important to every state
The hour was fit Those who Were
close to the heart and progress of uf-
fairs from the panic of 1893 to the re.
vival from 1897 to 1899 in all the
frs, .
ton, distribution and consumption
know how dire was the last decade OF
the nineteenth century for all the land
and most of all for the south. Rail
roads had gone into the hands of re
ceivers along the South Atlantic st.
on the broad uplift beyond the Appala
chians, along the gulf and in the south
west. The expectation of great min
eral and fuel development in the south
incomparably rich at these points. be
gan in 1879.
The cotton crop had grown in volume
and fallen in price. Education in all
its grades. elementary, secondary and
higher, had made great advance oy1
the past. The southern taxpayer had
accomplished n great task in the edu
CillOll Ol lllt .>eSTO ut 1ut Dubll' tex
pense. patiently bearing the burden Of
those unable to educate themselves,
but this work was unorganiZed, insult
ficiently recorded and known, unappre-
ciated by the country at large. In the
educa ton Of the white race n gap still
remained in almost every southern
state between the public school system
and higher education.
The public schools themselves had
grown. advanced. improved and multi
Piled in the period between 1863 and
the close of the century on a scale not
to be equaled III the annals Of terri.
tory as large. population Is great and
with a division as fundamental in all
the history of education. but the south
Of itself knew not its own progress.
and the educational forces of the north
were in greater ignorance. What the
south had done for itself was not
known to organized education In the
north, and what the north had done in
the south through many agencies. by
schools like that of Hampton by funds
like the Slater fund and by widespread
contributions. was not known by the
body of public sentiment in the south.
Often, because those in charge of this
work had not interinked their efforts
with local education.
The recOncilinS word was needed
and Robert e. Ogden spoke the recon
CLING word. Co-ordinatlng orgauiza-
ton was demanded. and he led the
movement which brought that n sue.
cessive conferences for education In
=
1893 and continued to the end of his
life. one city after another. one state
after another, was aroused to Il con.
sciOusnesS Of its own efforts-the wOr!;
already done, the need that remained
and the necessity for cooperation ant.
organization.
Robert G. Ogden was not himself
present at the great meeting of county
superintendents Of public education
from all over the south held just before
his death at Hampton institute to con
sider the joint problems of southern
education. Such conference at such
a place for such purpose. mnrshalinc
that great and noble army of superin
tendents. who county by county shep
herd the hardest and most difficult OF
national taskS-the education of twa
races-wouM have seemed inconreiya
BILE twenty years before. when Mr. tDc
den began bis work OF organization,
coordination and reconciliation
For this task he had every traipfD,
provided not by schools or by wisdom
and direction OF men. but by Proyi
dence. Born in 1896 in Philadelphia
and his life ending in 1913, his con
scious years bridged all the march oi
events from the period before the civi
war to the days which saw the ful
harvest north and south of the strug
gle. He had fought In the civil war
He had become n trustee OF Hampto,