arge had received any manual training, besides
the acquaintance with the crudest agricultural labor. He replied:
'Perhaps about one per cent.' He added: 'No; much less than that. We
have here at present only one mechanic; that is, there is one man who
claims to be a house painter.'

"'Have you any shoemakers?'

"'Never have had a shoemaker.'

"'Have you any tailors?'

"'Never have had a tailor.'

"'Any printers?'

"'Never have had a printer.'

"'Any carpenters?'

"'Never have had a carpenter. There is not a man in this prison that
could saw to a straight line.'"

Now, these facts seem to show that manual training is almost as good a
preventive for criminality as vaccination is for smallpox.

We can best judge further of the value of industrial and academic
education by using a few statistics bearing upon the state of
Virginia, where graduates from the Hampton Institute and other schools
have gone in large numbers and have had an opportunity, in point of
time, to make their influence apparent upon the Negro population.
These statistics, based on census reports, were compiled mainly by
persons connected with the Hampton Negro Conference:

"Taking taxation as a basis, the colored people of the State of
Virginia contributed, in 1898, directly to the expenses of the State
government, the sum of $9,576.76, and for schools $3,239.41 from their
personal property, a total of $12,816.17; while, from their real
estate, for the purpose of the commonwealth there was paid by them
$34,303.53, and for schools $11,457.22, or a total of $45,760.75--a
grand total of $58,576.92.

"The report for the same year shows them to own 987,118 acres of land,
valued at $3,800,459, improved by buildings valued at $2,056,490, a
total of $5,856,949. In the towns and cities, they own lots assessed
at $2,154,331, improved by buildings valued at $3,400,636, a total of
$5,554,976 for town property, and a grand total of $11,411,916 of
their property of all kinds in the commonwealth. A comparative
statement of different years would doubtless show a general upward
tendency.

"The counties of Accomac, Essex, King and Queen, Middlesex, Mathews,
Northampton, Northumberland, Richmond, Westmoreland, Gloucester,
Princess Anne and Lancaster, all agricultural, show an aggregate of
114,197 acres held by Negroes in 1897, the last year accounted for in
official reports, against 108,824 held the previous year, an increase
of 5,379, or nearly five per c