ethod of Beginning a Tariff Reduction," honorable mention. (Upon the
request of the chief examiner of the United States Tariff Board this
essay was sent to that body for its use.) Besides these, Mr. Fisher
has taken several minor prizes for compositions on various subjects.

It would be difficult to say, however, whether Booker Washington
showed greater interest in the most brilliant or the most backward
students. Certain it is that the most backward students won his
special attention and encouragement.

In the early days of the school there was a student by the name of
Jailous Perdue whom Mr. Washington constantly encouraged and in whom
he never lost faith in spite of his almost total failure to master his
classroom work. Monroe N. Work, the statistician of the Institute and
the editor of "The Negro Year Book," under the title "The Man Who
Failed," has thus told Perdue's story:

"Back in the days when the cooking for students at Tuskegee was done
out of doors in pots and the principal entrance requirement was a
'desire to make something of himself' a young man, Jailous Perdue,
came to Tuskegee to get an education. He was financially poor and
intellectually dull. Examinations he could not pass. After struggling
along for several years and accumulating a lot of examination
failures, he decided to quit school, go out to work and help educate
his sisters. Although he had failed in his literary subjects, he had
nevertheless got an education in how to use his hands. He had learned
to be a carpenter. Out in the world he went and began to work at his
trade. As soon as he had earned a little money he placed three of his
sisters in school at Tuskegee, and with the help of his brother
Augustus, who had graduated some time before, supported two of them
there for three years and one for four years.

"In the meantime he had succeeded at his trade and gone into business
for himself at Montgomery, Ala., as a contractor and builder. Here
also he was successful and did thousands of dollars' worth of work. No
job was too small nor too large for him to make a bid on. If he did
not have a contract of his own he was not above working for some other
contractor, and as a result he was always busy. He has superintended
the construction of some of the largest buildings in Montgomery. Among
the buildings the erection of which he has superintended are the
Exchange Hotel, at a cost of $150,000; the First Baptist Church, at a
cost of $175,000;