The tribune independent of Michigan., 1935-08-03

part OF these thngs); yet I can tru-
ly say that the span Of my life
covered hese great transformation
My seventy two years of life may
be taken as a yardstick to measure
the progress Of the Negro race
from Emancipation until now: 1
came TO notice things at the flag
end OF reconsruction: I have
known and In measure have
ouched and been touched by the
great men and measures who have
shaped the destiny OF the Negro
race: ! have seen the political ex-
pertinent reach It's height under
Douglass and Langston: Pinch
back and Bruce: have seen II fade
almost to nullty; and then again
takek new spurt under DePriest
and Mitchell: have seen the reli-
gous life OF the race reach the
point OF highest hope and expecta-
ton In the great A: M: q: church
under Payne: ayman and Brown
and then to decline on lower level
Of moral and spiritual energy and
enterprise: ] have seen the eduoa-
tional life OF the race bouyant with
the hope Of salvation through
learning; and then to taper down
to hundreds and thousands OF col
lege bred men and women who are
seemingly satisfied to get a place
on the white mans payroll: ! have
watched the agtative organizations
from the Afro-Amercan League;
the Niagara Movement; the Equal
Rights League to the National As
sociation for the Advancement. OF
Colored People; they have all ris-
en-; flourished and faded: except
the last mentioned which Is still
functioning: have seen business
organizations flourish for a season
like a green bay tree; and then
wither at the top for want OF
depth OF earth:
I have always ma attained some
ar; of distance from these
movements: have mixed with ac-
tion only 10 limi' ID degree: |
have incurred :he reputation Of not
being willing TO take sides In is
sues and controversies to which
the race Is so readily proned: My
intellectual sanity saves me from
such futile partizanship: ! watched
the fury that ragged for two decades
between the advocaes OF higher and
industrial education; but became
the blind partizan in neither: From
the start undo a just apraisment
OF the value of both: ! realized
their relative Importance and COM
parative impotence: remember
thirty years ago speaking In Bos-
ton and presenting two briefs;
one for the higher education and
|one for the industrial education as
Icontributive factors in the solu-
tion Of the race problem: Of
course; | was branded as a COM
Ipromiser and trammer: At thai
Itime Booker T: Washington and
wv: r: b: Dubois were the irre-
concilable antagonist: / stood mid
way between the two a;ppreciat-
ing the merits of both and their
deficiencies Twenty five years
tier; both schools have come TO
my platform: DR.: Dubois Is deliv-
ering the graduating addess at
Howard University several years
ago acknowledged the failure OF both
the higher and industrial educa-
ton as solvent for the race prob
lem: In my Founders Day address
at Tuskegee last April | stood pre-
cisely where l did thirty years aso
and watched the storms goraging
by: During the past forty years
since l began TO comment on pub
lie life ] have engendered much
ccrbity and some BITTERNESS but !
have no enemies: l feel ike Ebert
Hubbard my enemies are my
friends who misunderstood me- l
have never hated and do not nov
hafa a Qfp Qta ipdividnal xuh0 hoe