racted people confident, and an humble people
to thrill with pride in itself and in its best men and women. Thus it is
that Tuskegee Institute has never been satisfied with being merely a
school, concerned wholly with its recitations and training in shop and
field. Every student who carries a diploma from these grounds is urged
not to hang that diploma on the wall as an ornament, as an evidence of
individual superiority, but to make it mean something constructive and
life-giving to every one in the community where he must live and work.

The young men and women who are trained for mission work in foreign
countries are not more carefully trained in the spirit of consecration
than are these young men and women trained at Tuskegee for the work of
creating better economic and social conditions among their own people.
It is not necessary to state here what has already been accomplished in
many parts of the South by Tuskegee graduates. The selected examples set
forth in this book are evidence enough. It is sufficient to say that the
Tuskegee Institute is determined to become more and more a distinctive
influence among the regenerative agencies that are gradually bringing
order out of chaos, and justice, peace, and happiness out of the
wretched disorders of a painful past. It is easy to trace the influence
of such well-established institutions as Harvard and Yale in the
progressive life of the American people. The sons of Harvard and Yale
almost dominate civilization in America. In another sense, it is
possible for Tuskegee to have a like influence in the many things that
must be accomplished in the South, before love and justice shall
supplant race prejudice and race antagonism.

This reaching out helpfully in all directions where help is needed is
the distinguishing feature of Tuskegee. This race-loving spirit gives it
a largeness of view and purpose that saves both its teachers and pupils
from being narrow and self-centered. Take from Tuskegee all this "vision
splendid," and it will at once shrink into common-place insignificance.
"Set your ideals high," says the distinguished man who here is Principal
as he was founder, "and in your efforts to reach them you become strong
for greater things." It is but truth to say that no institution in all
the land, whether for white or black education, stands for higher and
more generous ideals.

Unless the young man who goes away from Tuskegee as blacksmith,
carpenter, printer, or as