strial education in the solution of the race
problem, we should not expect too much from it in a short time. To the
late General S. C. Armstrong, of Hampton Institute, in Virginia,
should be given the credit, mainly, for inaugurating this system of
education. When the Hampton Institute began the systematic, industrial
training of the Negro, such training was unpopular among a large class
of colored people. Later, when the same system was started by me at
the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, in Alabama, it was still
unpopular, especially in that part of the South. But the feeling
against it has now almost disappeared in all parts of the country, so
much so that I do not consider the opposition of a few people here and
there as of material consequence. Where there is one who opposes it
there are thousands who indorse it. So far as the colored people are
concerned, I consider that the battle for this principle has been
fought and the victory won. What the colored people are anxious about
is that, with industrial education, they shall have thorough mental
and religious training, and in this they are right. For bringing about
this change in the attitude of the colored people, much credit should
be given to the John F. Slater Fund, under the wise guidance of such
men as Mr. Morris K. Jesup and Dr. J. L. M. Curry, as well as to Dr.
H. B. Frissell, of the Hampton Institute. That such institutions for
industrial training as the Hampton Institute and the Tuskegee
Institute are always crowded with the best class of Negro students
from nearly every state in the Union, and that every year they are
compelled to refuse admission to hundreds of others, for lack of room
and means, are sufficient evidence that the black race has come to
appreciate the value of industrial education. The almost pathetic
demand of the colored people for the industrial education in every
corner of the South is added evidence of the growing intelligence of
the race. In saying what I do in regard to industrial education, I do
not wish to be understood as meaning that the education of the Negro
should be confined to that kind alone, because we need men and women
well educated in other directions; but for the masses industrial
education is the supreme need. I repeat that we must not expect too
much from this training, in the redemption of a race, in the space of
a few years.

There are few institutions in the South where industrial training is
given up