active part in all of
the trades, competitions, industries and occupations of life. Again,
he is learning, slowly perhaps, but surely, that he must outgrow the
weakness and confusion resulting from distracted purposes; that he
must have one aim, and be one thing all the time. He must stop doing
things in a slipshod and half-way manner and become more thorough. He
must put the force of a strong character and a determined will power
into whatever he undertakes, and he must stop stumbling and falling
over impediments, especially of his own placing.

The Negro is, however, affected by nothing now which education and
personal endeavor will not in time remove. For example, we take the
liberty to refer to our honored President, Booker T. Washington, who
about forty-two years ago was born a slave in Virginia. At an early
age he began the battle for himself untutored and untrained in all the
ways of life. What he has since accomplished is a sufficient answer to
those who claim that the Negro is void of any capacity for doing
business, and that his offspring has no chance to rise in the world.
For twenty years Booker T. Washington has not only been president of a
great industrial institution, but has had very largely the
acquisition, management, investment and expenditure of its finances.
In recent years there has scarcely been a month in which he has not
been offered positions in important and influential business
enterprises, as well as in the affairs of government. His career is
evidence that there is plenty of room at the top for Negro boys who
have sense enough to rise to the level of their opportunities. The
lack is not so much of opportunities as of men. It is a fact which
cannot be gainsaid that success still is, and most likely always will
be, a question determined very largely by the individual. For the man
or woman who has made thorough preparation and is willing to do hard
work a place will always be waiting, irrespective of race or color.

The tone of this convention clearly indicates that the Negro will
succeed as a business man in proportion as he learns that manhood and
womanhood are qualities of his own making, and that no external force
can either give or take them away. It demonstrates that intelligence,
punctuality, industry and integrity are the conquering forces in the
business and commercial world, as well as in all the affairs of human
life. Permit me, in closing, to quote the language of President
McKin