The next mail brought back the following reply: "I will be very
glad to pay the bills for the library building as they are incurred,
to the extent of twenty thousand dollars, and I am glad of this
opportunity to show the interest I have in your noble work."
I have found that strict business methods go a long way in
securing the interest of rich people. It has been my constant aim at
Tuskegee to carry out, in our financial and other operations, such
business methods as would be approved of by any New York banking
house.
I have spoken of several large gifts to the school; but by far the
greater proportion of the money that has built up the institution has
come in the form of small donations from persons of moderate means.
It is upon these small gifts, which carry with them the interest of
hundreds of donors, that any philanthropic work must depend largely
for its support. In my efforts to get money I have often been
surprised at the patience and deep interest of the ministers, who are
besieged on every hand and at all hours of the day for help. If no
other consideration had convinced me of the value of the Christian
life, the Christlike work which the Church of all denominations in
America has done during the last thirty-five years for the elevation
of the black man would have made me a Christian. In a large degree it
has been the pennies, the nickels, and the dimes which have come from
the Sunday-schools, the Christian Endeavour societies, and the
missionary societies, as well as from the church proper, that have
helped to elevate the Negro at so rapid a rate.
This speaking of small gifts reminds me to say that very few
Tuskegee graduates fail to send us an annual contribution. These
contributions range from twenty-five cents up to ten dollars.
Soon after beginning our third year's work we were surprised to
receive money from three special sources, and up to the present time
we have continued to receive help from them. First, the State
Legislature of Alabama increased its annual appropriation from two
thousand dollars to three thousand dollars; I might add that still
later it increased this sum to four thousand five hundred dollars a
year. The effort to secure this increase was led by the Hon. M.F.
Foster, the member of the Legislature from Tuskegee. Second, we
received one thousand dollars from the John F. Slater Fund. Our work
seemed to please the trustees of this fund, as they soon began
increasing their annual grant. This has been added to from time to
time until at present we receive eleven thousand dollars annually from
the Fund. The other help to which I have referred came in the shape
of an allowance from the Peabody Fund. This was at first five hundred
dollars, but it has since been increased to fifteen hundred dollars.
The effort to secure help from the Slater and Peabody Funds
brought me into contact with two rare men — men who have had much to
do in shaping the policy for the education of the Negro. I refer to
the Hon. J.L.M. Curry, of Washington, who is the general agent for
these two funds, and Mr. Morris K. Jessup, of New York. Dr. Curry is
a native of the South, an ex-Confederate soldier, yet I do not believe
there is any man in the country who is more deeply interest in the
highest welfare of the Negro than Dr. Curry, or one who is more free
from race prejudice. He enjoys the unique distinction of possessing
to an equal degree of confidence of the black man and the Southern
white man. I shall never forget the first time I met him. It was in
Richmond, Va., where he was then living. I had heard much about him.
When I first went into his presence, trembling because of my youth and
inexperience, he took me by the hand so cordially, and spoke such
encouraging words, and gave me such helpful advice regarding the
proper course to pursue, that I came to know him then, as I have known
him ever since, as a high example of one who is constantly and
unselfishly at work for the betterment of humanity.
Mr. Morris K. Jessup, the treasurer of the Slater Fund, I refer to
because I know of no man of wealth and large and complication business
responsibilities who gives not only money but his time and thought to
the subject of the proper method of elevating the Negro to the extent
that is true of Mr. Jessup. It is very largely through this effort
and influence that during the last few years the subject of industrial
education has assumed the importance that it has, and been placed on
its present footing.
