ind enough to send me a special request to the effect that they
wished me not to fail to register as a life voter. I do not wish
to convey the impression that all worthy colored people have been
registered in Alabama, because there have been many inexcusable and
unlawful omissions; but, with few exceptions, the 2700 who have been
registered represent the best Negroes in the state.

Though in some parts of the country he is now misunderstood, I believe
that the time is going to come when matters can be weighed soberly, and
when the whole people are going to see that president Roosevelt is, and
has been from the first, in line with this policy,--that of encouraging
the colored people who by industry and economy have won their way into
the confidence and respect of their neighbors. Both before and since
he became President I have had many conversations with him, and at all
times I have found him enthusiastic over the plan that I have described.

The growth of the race in industrial and business directions within the
last few years cannot perhaps be better illustrated than by the fact
that what is now the largest secular national organization among the
colored people is the National Negro Business League. This organization
brings together annually hundreds of men and women who have worked their
way up from the bottom to the point where they are now in some cases
bankers, merchants, manufacturers, planters, etc. The sight of this body
of men and women would surprise a large part of American citizens who do
not really know the better side of the Negro's life.

It ought to be stated frankly here that at first, and for several
years after the introduction of industrial training at such educational
centres as Hampton and Tuskegee, there was opposition from colored
people, and from portions of those Northern white people engaged in
educational and missionary work among the colored people in the South.
Most of those who manifested such opposition were actuated by the
highest and most honest motives. From the first the rank and file of the
blacks were quick to see the advantages of industrial training, as is
shown by the fact that industrial schools have always been overcrowded.
Opposition to industrial training was based largely on the old and
narrow ground that it was something that the Southern white people
favored, and therefore must be against the interests of the Negro.
Again, others opposed it because they feared that it me