452 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



and that at one stajije of this development, eitlier in Europe or America, 

 lie has jjone through every stage of development that I now advocate 

 for the negro race. No race can be lifted till its mind is awakened and 

 strengthened. By the side of industrial training should always go 

 mental and moral training. But the mere pushing of abstract knowl- 

 edge into the head means little. We want more than the mere per- 

 formance of mental gymnastics. Our knowledge must be harnessed to 



the things of real life. 



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Again, it is asked, would you limit or circumscribe the mental devel- 

 opment of the negro boy? Emphatically I answer with a hundred 

 "noes." I would encourage the negro to secure all the mental strength 

 and mental culture, whether gleaned from science, mathematics, history, 

 language or literature that his pocketbook and circumstances will en- 

 able him to pay for; but I repeat with all the emphasis of my soul that 

 the greatest proportion of the mental strength of the masses will be 

 brought to bear upon the every day practical affairs of life, upon some- 

 thing that is needed to be done and something that they are permitted 

 to do in the community where they reside. 



When it comes to the professional class which the negro needs and 

 must have, I would say, give that training which will best fit them to 

 perform in the most successful manner the service which the race de- 

 mands. But would you confine the negro to industrial life, to agri- 

 culture, for example? No, but I would teach the race that here the 

 foundation must be laid, and that the very best service which anyone can 

 render to what is called the higher education is to teach the present 

 generation to provide a material or industrial foundation. 



On this industrial foundation will grow habits of thrift, the love of 

 work, economy, ownership in property, a bank account. Out of it in 

 future generations will grow classical education, professional education, 

 positions of public responsibility. Out of it will grow moral and re- 

 ligious strength. Out of it will grow that wealth which brings leisure, 

 and with it the enjoyment of literature and the fine arts. In the words 

 of the late Frederick Douglass, which I quote. ''Every blow of the 

 sledge hammer wielded by a sable arm, is a powerful blow in support 

 of .our cause. Every colored mechanic is, by virtue of circumstances, 

 an elevator of his race. Every house built by black men is a strong 

 tower against the allied hosts of prejudice. It is impossible for us to 

 attach too much importance to this aspect of the subject. Without in- 

 dustrial development there can be no wealth; without wealth there can 

 be no leisure; without leisure, no opportunity for thoughtful reflection 

 and the cultivation of the higher arts." 



I would set no limitations on the attainments of the negro in arts, 

 letters or statesmanship; but, my friends, the surest and speediest 

 way to reach these ends is by laying the foundation in the little things 

 of life that are immediately at our door. The man who has never learned 

 how to make money to pay his own debts is not the one to be intrusted 

 with the duty of making laws to pay the national debt. 



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I have read recently an account of a young colored man in the District 

 of Columbia, who graduated from college and from a school of tech- 



