s
in Negro neighborhoods.

6. There has been no case of segregation of Negroes in the United
States that has not widened the breach between the two races. Wherever
a form of segregation exists it will be found that it has been
administered in such a way as to embitter the Negro and harm more or
less the moral fibre of the white man. That the Negro does not express
this constant sense of wrong is no proof that he does not feel it.

"It seems to me that the reasons given above, if carefully considered,
should serve to prevent further passage of such segregation ordinances
as have been adopted in Norfolk, Richmond, Louisville, Baltimore, and
one or two cities in South Carolina.

"Finally, as I have said in another place, as white and black learn
daily to adjust, in a spirit of justice and fair play, these interests
which are individual and racial, and to see and feel the importance of
those fundamental interests which are common, so will both races grow
and prosper. In the long run, no individual and no race can succeed
which sets itself at war against the common good; for in the gain or
loss of one race all the rest have equal claim."

In concluding his Muskogee speech he said: "If there are those who are
inclined to be discouraged concerning racial conditions in this
country we have but to turn our minds in the direction of the
deplorable conditions in Europe, growing largely out of racial
bitterness and friction. When we contrast what has taken place there
with the peaceful manner in which black people and white people are
living together in this country, notwithstanding now and then there
are evidences of injustice and friction, which should always be
condemned, we have the greatest cause for thanksgiving. Perhaps
nowhere else in the world can be found so many white people living
side by side with so many of dark skin in so much of peace and harmony
as in the United States."

This concluding observation was particularly characteristic of him.
Somewhere, or somehow, he always turned to account all significant
events for weal or woe from the most trivial personal happenings to
the titanic world war.

Like all great leaders, Booker Washington did the bulk of his work
quietly in his own office and not on dramatic historic occasions
before great audiences. He received every day, for instance, a huge
and varied mail which required not only industry to handle, but much
judgment, patience, and tact to dispose of wisely