230 The Farm Boy's Interest in the Business 



mechanical and industrial colleges bear witness of 

 this fact. The American Negro, ever a faithful 

 laborer, is now being taught in such institutions as 

 Tuskegee and Hampton, not only to perform some 

 honest work well but also to plan and prepare for a 

 business of his own. 



The son of the southern planter is becoming more 

 and more imbued with the new spirit of efficiency 

 through personal industry. On this matter a mem- 

 ber of the faculty of the Louisiana Agricultural and 

 Mechanical College says : "It is a mistake to think 

 that the best of the country youth of the south are 

 continuing in the old-fashioned ideal of becoming 

 mere gentlemen of culture and leisure. In 1910 there 

 were nearly 50,000 boys living in a dozen of the 

 southern states, who astonished the entire country 

 with their achievements in corn-raising. They 

 ranged in age from fifteen to eighteen years. At the 

 national exhibit held in Columbus, Ohio, one hundred 

 of them showed an average yield of 134 bushels of 

 corn to the acre. This corn-growing practice is under 

 the direction of the national government, and is more 

 than a big, exciting contest, it is a splendid course in 

 rural home education. 



"We have at this college hundreds of young men 

 from the plantations and they are intensely interested 

 in working out the industrial problems that pertain 

 to their own home affairs. I have been surprised at 

 their eagerness to get into the soil and to do the me- 



