To meet you under such pleasant auspices and to have the
opportunity of a personal observation of your work is indeed most
gratifying. The Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute is ideal
in its conception, and has already a large and growing reputation
in the country, and is not unknown abroad. I congratulate all who
are associated in this undertaking for the good work which it is
doing in the education of its students to lead lives of honour and
usefulness, thus exalting the race for which it was established.
Nowhere, I think, could a more delightful location have been
chosen for this unique educational experiment, which has attracted
the attention and won the support even of conservative
philanthropists in all sections of the country.
To speak of Tuskegee without paying special tribute to Booker
T. Washington's genius and perseverance would be impossible. The
inception of this noble enterprise was his, and he deserves high
credit for it. His was the enthusiasm and enterprise which made
its steady progress possible and established in the institution
its present high standard of accomplishment. He has won a worthy
reputation as one of the great leaders of his race, widely known
and much respected at home and abroad as an accomplished educator,
a great orator, and a true philanthropist.
The Hon. John D. Long, the Secretary of the Navy, said in part: —
I cannot make a speech to-day. My heart is too full — full
of hope, admiration, and pride for my countrymen of both sections
and both colours. I am filled with gratitude and admiration for
your work, and from this time forward I shall have absolute
confidence in your progress and in the solution of the problem in
which you are engaged.
The problem, I say, has been solved. A picture has been
presented to-day which should be put upon canvas with the pictures
of Washington and Lincoln, and transmitted to future time and
generations — a picture which the press of the country should
spread broadcast over the land, a most dramatic picture, and that
picture is this: The President of the United States standing on
this platform; on one side the Governor of Alabama, on the other,
completing the trinity, a representative of a race only a few
years ago in bondage, the coloured President of the Tuskegee
Normal and Industrial Institute.
God bless the President under whose majesty such a scene as
that is presented to the American people. God bless the state of
Alabama, which is showing that it can deal with this problem for
itself. God bless the orator, philanthropist, and disciple of the
Great Master — who, if he were on earth, would be doing the same
work — Booker T. Washington.
