l school, something like Cooper Institute, situated
between New York and Philadelphia, where Colored boys and girls could
learn the trades that race prejudice denies them now, would be the
grandest institution of modern times. It matters not how many million
dollars are given toward the education of the Negro; so long as he is
deprived of the privilege of learning and plying the trades and
mechanic arts his education will injure rather than help him.[120] We
would rather see a Negro boy build an engine than take the highest
prize in Yale or Harvard.

It is quite difficult to get at a clear idea of what has been done in
the Northern States toward the education of the Colored people. In
nearly all the States on the borders of the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers "Colored schools" still exist; and in many instances are kept
alive through the spirit of the self-seeking of a few Colored persons
who draw salaries in lieu of their continuance. They should be
abolished, and will be, as surely as heat follows light and the rising
of the sun. In the New England, Middle, and extreme Western States,
with the exception of Kansas, separate schools do not exist. The doors
of all colleges, founded and conducted by the white people in the
North, are open to the Colored people who desire to avail themselves
of an academic education. At the present time there are one hundred
and sixty-nine Colored students in seventy white colleges in the
Northern States; and the presidents say they are doing well.

_The Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned Lands_ was
established in the spring of 1865 to meet the state of affairs
incident upon the closing scenes of the great civil war. The Act
creating the Bureau was approved and became a law on the 3d of March,
1865. The Bureau was to be under the management of the War Department,
and its officers were liable for the property placed in their hands
under the revised regulations of the army. In May, 1865, the following
order was issued from the War Department appointing Major-Gen. O. O.
Howard Commissioner of the Bureau:

"[GENERAL ORDERS NO. 91.]

"WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE, }
"WASHINGTON, May 12, 1865. }

"Order Organizing Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen, and Abandoned
"Lands.

"I. By the direction of the President, Major General O. O. Howard
is assig