The Colorado statesman., 1915-12-04
WHAT THE LIFE OF DR.. BOOKER
T. WASHINGTON STOOD FOR:
WHAT HIS WORKS
STAND FOR.
BY VIM. E. Miller, Class of 1907

Washington stood and stand for far
more than the general public has any
idea. | find that the people in the far
North, far Northwest, and far West
have only a faint idea of his true
worth to the colored race. | have
heard people actually brand him as a
rascal whose only ambition was to
stand high in the estimation of the
white race, disregarding altogether
the welfare of teachers and students
at his institution. l quickly remem-
bered that it was well and good to
argue with a man who knows, and
knows he knows, what he is talking
| about; but simply nonsense and
wasted time to argue with a man who
knows not, and knows not that he
knows not what he is talking about.
In my travels over the country,
both North and South, | find that the
Southern people, both colored and
white, have a higher knowledge of his
greatness, and a greater appreciation
| of his true worth. The natural rea-
| oOiAo eii iNs lieiI ny D6lllS ClOSGT TO Tie
institute they are amid his influences;
there are more students from the
South at Tuskegee than from any
other portion of the country; there is
a greater field of activity in the South
for the Tuskegee graduate and under
graduate; and all the little sub-Tus-
kegees that are scattered over the
South WELD a mighty influence for
Tuskegee Institute, the mother-school
What His Life Stood For.
DIR. Booker T. Washington was one
OF the many men of the colored race
whose life was truly worthy of emu
lating and exemplifying. The fact that
he was the first man to conceive the
colored peoples need and materialize
his conception in the form of an in
stitution for the education of heads,
hands and hearts of the black people,
make him the greatest man the race
of his works, such as branch institu.
tions, the department for the develop
ment of rural farmers (this work was
carried on very extensively in the
Southern rural districts), his organ.
ization of conferences and leagues for
the betterment of the black race made
his life one grand star whose bright
ness far exceeded the others in illumi-
nation. The fact that he was wise
enough to keep the academical course
| of tnI II 80 H.. 4.
always be possible for the poorest
and humblest of men and women to
enter the institution and work out an
education and trade without cash
renders him by far the greatest
thinker of the past and present Hav-
ing an eye single to the welfare of the
mass of the people, he would not raise
the curriculum of the institute to
college or university. Notwithstanding
the fact that he could have done so
with ease, for there were influential
minds that urged and beset him to do
so. His life as worker stood as
star, light, an example, after which
no man could feel abashed to exem-
plify
What His Works Stand For.
The purpose for the establishment
of Tuskegee Institute was: First, to
educate the head; second, the hand;
third, the heart-the head being con,
sidered the most important.
There are thousands of colored peo-
pie in the South on farms and in other
industrial walks of life who are unable
to read, write, and figure. Slavery has
deprived them, and the effects of
slavery has deprived many of their
posterity of these blessings. These
people are at the mercy of their en-
ployers. The man who employs them
has to read, write, and cipher for
them, and in nine cases out of ten he
cheats them also.
Education of the head throws
around the colored man a certain
amount of protection. 1t enables him
to do these things for himself. It
enables him to do all his. business,
such as domestic computing, CONNER
cial accounting and banking, etc.
Since education is power and wealth
is power, it affects the colored man
like it does all other men, 1t gives
him desire to acquire and own prop
erty, to build and live in finer and
better homes. 1t makes him a res1ect
full and useful citizen of and to his
community.
+ DR.. Washington's idea in teaching