e, opinion, or
comments were sought on every conceivable subject both by serious and
sensible men and women and by cranks of both races. Hundreds of the
humbler people of his own race were constantly applying to him for
information and advice as to whether it would be profitable to start
this or that business venture, or whether or not it would be possible
to establish a school in this or that community, and how they should
set about it.

Booker Washington's sense of justice was unquenchable. While at
Coden-on-the-Bay, near Mobile, Ala., in September, 1915, snatching a
few days of rest and recreation as a palliative for the insidious
disease which was so soon to end his life, he was distressed by a
newspaper report of the killing of a number of Haitians by United
States Marines. He read the report in a Mobile paper late one
afternoon on his return from a fishing trip. He went to bed but could
not sleep. The misfortunes of the turbulent little black republic
seethed through his mind. Early in the morning, while his companions
were still sleeping, he awakened the inevitable stenographer and
dictated an article counselling patience in dealing with the
unfortunate little country. This article, dictated by a dying man on
the impulse of the moment, briefly recites the history of Haiti from
the period over a hundred years ago when the people of the island
wrested their liberty from France under the leadership of Toussaint
L'Ouverture, up to the present time. He then says in part:

"Associated Press dispatches a few days ago stated that forty or fifty
Haitians had been killed on Haytian soil in one day by American
marines and a number of marines wounded. To every black man in the
United States this dispatch brought a feeling of disappointment and
sorrow. While, as I have stated, the United States, under the
circumstances, was compelled to take notice of conditions in Haiti and
is being compelled to control matters, largely because of the fault of
the Haitians, I had hoped that the United States would be patient in
dealing with the Haitian Government and people. The United States has
been patient with Germany. It has been patient in the Philippines. It
has been exceedingly patient in dealing with Mexico. I hope this
country will be equally patient and more than patient in dealing with
Haiti--a weaker and more unfortunate country!

"I very much wish that it might have been possible for the United
States to have taken a little