The New York correspondent of the Times says that on
Friday week there was a notable meeting in New York to insist that the negro should have a fair chance to prove his worth. Among the speakers were Mr. Booker Washington, Governor Hughes, Mr. Henry Watterson, and Mr. Seth Low. A sympathetic letter was read from the British Ambassador, who praised the work of the Tuskegee Institute. Mr. Watterson said of this Institute : "Ever since I went there I have been filled with hope for the negro race." The material position of the negro is improving. He pays taxes on over 070,000,000 worth of property. But Mr. Hughes remarked that the country was not a mere wealth-producing machine, and it was impossible to maintain democratic ideals for one set of people and ignore them for another. Mr. Watterson, speaking for the South, declared that all schemes of negro migration were fantastic, and that the only solution of the problem was education and the fusion of the negroes with the body of society, not as an irritant, but as a component part. Mr. Booker Washington calculated that for every pound spent in the North on the education of white children, only two shillings was spent in the South on coloured children. We are very glad to learn that the work of Mr. Booker Washing- ton in advancing the education and ideals of his own people is having a remarkable success, and that it is beginning to be recognised throughout the country.
Previous page
