Booker T. Washington Part 17

In concluding his annual report each year Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton would summarize the immediate needs of the inst.i.tution. In his last report he thus stated them:

1. $50 a year for annual scholars.h.i.+ps for tuition for one student, the student himself providing for his own board and other personal expenses in labor and cash.

2. $1,200 for permanent scholars.h.i.+ps.

3. Money for operating expenses in any amounts, however small.

4. $2,000 each for four teachers' cottages.

5. $40,000 for a building for religious purposes.

6. $16,000 to complete the Boys' Trades Building.

7. $50,000 for a Boys' Dormitory.

8. $50,000 for a Girls' Dormitory.

9. An addition to our Endowment Fund of at least $3,000,000.

A few months later, as he lay dying in a New York hospital, the following letter was received for him at Tuskegee. It was at once forwarded and pa.s.sed him on his last journey to his home in the South.

He never saw it. The donor, a Northern friend who withholds his name, has renewed the offer to the Trustees and they have accepted it.

_November 8, 1915._

_Dr. Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton, Tuskegee Inst.i.tute, Alabama._

DEAR MR. WAs.h.i.+NGTON: I have read your annual report and also your treasurer's report, and make you the following proposition: If you will raise enough money to pay all of your debts up to May 1, 1916, and add two hundred and fifty thousand dollars to your endowment fund, I will give you the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars for your building fund, to be used in building the items such as Nos.

4, 6, 7, 8, and the "Barnes, etc.," mentioned under the head of "Special Needs," and for objects of similar character.

The above does not include item No. 5, "Building for religious purposes," as I am not interested in that sort of work. I shall be glad to know whether this proposition interests you.

Yours very truly,

The interest of this giver was first _aroused_ by his reading "Up from Slavery" when it appeared in book form in 1901. As soon as he had read the book he sent Dr. Was.h.i.+ngton a check for $10,000 for his work which he has renewed each year since until he made the above offer.

"Up from Slavery" has brought more money to Tuskegee than all the other books, articles, speeches, and circulars written by Mr.

Was.h.i.+ngton himself and the many others who have written or spoken about him and his work. Among its larger immediate results, aside from awakening the interest of the anonymous giver already mentioned, was its similar effect upon the late H.H. Rogers, Vice-President and active head at the time of the Standard Oil Company, and upon Andrew Carnegie. Mr. Rogers became so much interested that he not only gave large sums for the general needs of Tuskegee but eventually financed a large part of the rural school extension work, which has been described in earlier chapters, and which is now so important a part of the school's activities. Under Booker Was.h.i.+ngton's inspiration and guidance, too, Mr. Rogers later combined railroad building with race building. In building his Virginia railroad he undertook a wide-reaching work in agricultural education among the Negro farmers living within carting distance of his road. Booker Was.h.i.+ngton had demonstrated to his satisfaction that by increasing at the same time their wants and their ability to gratify their wants he would be building up business for his railroad.

Shortly after the publication in 1901 of "Up from Slavery," Frank N.

Doubleday, of Doubleday, Page & Co., the publishers of the book, in playing golf with Mr. Carnegie mentioned Booker Was.h.i.+ngton and told him something of his life. Mr. Carnegie was interested and wanted to know more. Mr. Doubleday gave him a copy of "Up from Slavery." After reading the book he immediately got into communication with the author, told him of his interest in his life and work, and of his desire to help him. The result was that Mr. Carnegie agreed to pay for the construction and equipment of a library to be built by the students. Booker Was.h.i.+ngton, his Executive Council, and the school's architect, spent hours and hours of time in scrutinizing every detail to bring the cost down to the smallest possible figure consistent with an adequate result. The final cost to Mr. Carnegie was only $15,000.

Mr. Carnegie was amazed that so large, convenient, and dignified a building could be built at so small a cost. Over and over again both to Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton and to friends of the school he expressed his surprise and pleasure at the result obtained by this relatively small expenditure. After that there was no doubt he would do more for the school. It was simply a question of how much more and what form it would take. In 1903 the following letter was received by the late William H. Baldwin, Jr., in his capacity as president of the Tuskegee Board of Trustees.

_Andrew Carnegie_ _2 East 91st Street, New York_

_New York, April 17, 1903._

MY DEAR MR. BALDWIN: I have instructed Mr. Franks, Secretary, to deliver to you as Trustee of Tuskegee $600,000 of 5 per cent. U.S. Steel Company bonds to complete the Endowment Fund as per circular.

One condition only--the revenue of one hundred and fifty thousand of these bonds is to be subject to Booker Was.h.i.+ngton's order to be used by him first for his wants and those of his family during his life or the life of his widow--if any surplus is left he can use it for Tuskegee. I wish that great and good man to be free from pecuniary cares that he may devote himself wholly to his great Mission.

To me he seems one of the foremost of living men because his work is unique. The Modern Moses, who leads his race and lifts it through Education to even better and higher things than a land overflowing with milk and honey--History is to know two Was.h.i.+ngtons, one white, the other black, both Fathers of their people. I am satisfied that the serious race question of the South is to be solved wisely only by following Booker Was.h.i.+ngton's policy which he seems to have been specially born--a slave among slaves--to establish, and even in his own day, greatly to advance.

So glad to be able to a.s.sist this good work in which you and others are engaged.

Yours truly,

(Signed) ANDREW CARNEGIE.

_To Mr. Wm. H. Baldwin, Jr., New York City, N.Y._

This great gift delighted Booker Was.h.i.+ngton not only for what it meant directly to his work, but because it so strikingly ill.u.s.trated a truth which he had long and insistently impressed upon his staff and his students: namely, that if every dollar contributed were made to do the work of two, more dollars would be forthcoming from the same source.

The two events upon which Booker Was.h.i.+ngton's popular fame chiefly rests are his speech before the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Ga., in 1895, and the publication of "Up from Slavery" five years later. Since "Up from Slavery" played so great a part in aiding its author to secure funds for his work it seems appropriate to give here some account of how it came to be written, how it was written, and how it was received.

In the year 1900 the editors of the _Outlook_ decided to ill.u.s.trate in the concrete the opportunities of America by getting some of the Americans of greatest achievement to tell how they had risen by their own efforts from the very depths of untoward circ.u.mstances. For this purpose they selected Jacob A. Riis and Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton. After much hesitancy on his part and urgency on theirs Booker Was.h.i.+ngton finally agreed to write the story of his life for serial publication in the _Outlook_. His hesitancy was due merely to the fact that he could not believe that the events of his life would be of any interest to the public. So convinced was he in this belief that he had the greatest difficulty in starting to write even after he had agreed to do so. Finally, after a particularly urgent letter from the editors, he stole some hours from his absorbing and exacting duties at Tuskegee to write the first chapter. After these efforts had been typewritten by his stenographer they produced only three and one-half pages--an amount of copy discouragingly inadequate for the first installment.

He mailed the material, however, with a line of apology for its inadequacy and promising to send more the next day. On receipt of this scant initial copy the editors wrote him a letter of congratulation and approval which greatly encouraged him, in spite of his heavy and unrelenting administrative duties, to push ahead with new courage.

Notwithstanding, however, the best intentions on the part of the writer and the most patiently insistent reminders on the part of the editors there were many and wide gaps in the supposedly consecutive series of chapters before the story was finally finished. Much of the story he dragged from his tired brain, and jotted down on odds and ends of paper on trains, while waiting in railway stations, in hotels, and in ten and fifteen minute intervals s.n.a.t.c.hed from overburdened days in his office. The fact that it was a physical impossibility to give adequate time and attention to so important a piece of work distressed him and made him feel even more apologetic about the product.

The enthusiastic reception of his story by the editors and later by the public was accordingly particularly surprising and gratifying to him. After its serial publication he was soon almost overwhelmed with congratulatory letters and laudatory reviews. Julian Ralph in the New York _Mail_ and _Express_ wrote in part:

"It does not matter if the reader feels a prejudice against the Negro, or if he be a Negrophile, or if he has never cared one way or the other whether the Negro does or does not exist. Whatever be his feelings, 'Up from Slavery' is as remarkable as the most important book ever written by an American. That book is 'Uncle Tom's Cabin.'

Booker Was.h.i.+ngton's story is its echo and its ant.i.thesis. 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' was the wail of a fettered, hope-forsaken race. 'Up from Slavery' is the triumphant cry of the same race, led by its Moses upon a trail which leads to an intelligent use of the freedom that came to it as an almost direct result of Mrs. Stowe's revolutionary novel. 'Up from Slavery' and 'Uncle Tom's Cabin' are inseparably linked in the history of our relations with our dark-skinned fellow-citizen. One book begins precisely where the other left off."

William Dean Howells in the _North American Review_ said of it: "...

What strikes you first and last is his constant common sense. He has lived heroic poetry, and he can, therefore, afford to talk simple prose.... The mild might of his adroit, his subtle statesmans.h.i.+p (in the highest sense it is not less than statesmans.h.i.+p, and involves a more Philippine problem in our midst), is the only agency to which it can yield...."

Among the congratulatory letters came one from Athens, Greece, signed "Bob Burdette, Mrs. Burdette, and the children" which greatly amused and delighted Mr. Was.h.i.+ngton. It reads, paraphrasing the pa.s.sage in the book where he tells of the insistent stranger who unerringly seeks him out when he tries to get a little quiet and rest on a train, "'Is not this Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton? We wish to introduce ourselves.' You see, you can't escape it. We read that sentence, and shouted with delight over it, in Damascus. I was going to write--'far-away Damascus'--but no place is far away now. Damascus is very near to Tuskegee, in fact, only six or seven thousand years older, and not more than fifty thousand years behind. It must have had a good start, too, for Abraham went there or sent there to get that wise and tactful 'steward of his house,' Eliezir. But Damascus has always remained in the same place, whereas Tuskegee has been marching on by leaps and bounds. But you are a busy man--we have heard that, even in this land.

And I can see you reading this letter five lines at a time. No use sitting next the window, piling your hand-baggage up in the seat, and pulling your hat over your eyes, is there? No, for we come along just the same, sit on the arm of the seat, touch your elbow, and--'Is not this Booker T. Was.h.i.+ngton?' We have been travelling for a year. The _Outlook_ has followed us week by week. And week by week we have reached out to clasp your hand, and have knelt to thank G.o.d for the story of your life--for its inspiration, its hopefulness, its trust, its fidelity to duty and purpose. Such a wonderful story, told in the elegance of simplicity that only a great heart can feel and write. We paused again and again to say 'G.o.d bless him.' And now we send you our hand clasp and message--'G.o.d bless him and all of his.' There, now!

You may pile up your baggage a little higher--pull your hat down over your eyes a little farther--and pretend to sleep a little harder. We will leave you. But not in peace. More likely in pieces. For I see other people, crowding in from the other car, with their glittering eyes gimleted upon you."

Barret Wendell, Professor of English at Harvard University, wrote him: "Will you allow me to express the pleasure which your book, 'Up from Slavery,' has given me? For about twenty years a teacher of English, and mostly of English composition, I have become perhaps a judge as to matters of style. Certainly I have grown less and less patient of all writing which is not simple and efficient; and more and more to believe in a style which does its work with a simple, manly distinctness. It is hard to remember when a book, casually taken up, has proved, in this respect, so satisfactory as yours. No style could be more simple, more un.o.btrusive; yet few styles which I know seem, to me more laden--as distinguished from overburdened--with meaning. On almost any of your pages you say as much again as most men would say in the s.p.a.ce; yet you say it so simply and easily that one has no effort in reading. One is simply surprised at the quiet power which can so make words do their work."

Thus was received the simple narrative of his life up to this time as hastily written down in odd moments s.n.a.t.c.hed from his already overcrowded days. In this country alone more than 110,000 copies of the book have since been sold. It has been translated into French, Spanish, German, Hindustani, and Braille.

Booker Was.h.i.+ngton's philosophy as to money raising after a generation of constant and successful experience was summed up in this statement which he made in "Up from Slavery": "My experience in getting money for Tuskegee has taught me to have no patience with those people who are always condemning the rich because they are rich, because they do not give more to objects of charity. In the first place, those who are guilty of such sweeping criticisms do not know how many people would be made poor, and how much suffering would result, if wealthy people were to part all at once with any large proportion of their wealth in a way to disorganize and cripple great business enterprises. Then very few people have any idea of the large number of applications for help that rich people are constantly being flooded with. I know wealthy people who receive as many as twenty calls a day for help. More than once, when I have gone into offices of rich men, I have found half a dozen persons waiting to see them, and all come for the same purpose, that of securing money. And all these calls in person, to say nothing of the applications received through the mails. Very few people have any idea of the amount of money given away by persons who never permit their names to be known. I have often heard persons condemned for not giving away money, who, to my own knowledge, were giving away thousands of dollars every year so quietly that the world knew nothing about it.... Although it has been my privilege to be the medium through which a good many hundred thousand dollars have been received for the work at Tuskegee, I have always avoided what the world calls 'begging.' My experience and observation have convinced me that persistent asking outright for money from the rich does not, as a rule, secure help. I have usually proceeded on the principle that persons who possess sense enough to earn money have sense enough to know how to give it away, and that the mere making known of the facts regarding the work of the graduates has been more effective than outright begging. I think that the presentation of facts, on a high, dignified plane, is all the begging that most rich people care for."

Although this favorable estimate of the money-giving rich was based upon many years of successful experience it must not be supposed that Booker Was.h.i.+ngton did not have his share of rebuffs and discouragements. In fact, scarcely a day went by that he did not receive some such disheartening rebuff as the following note from a man who had for several years contributed a small sum each year to Tuskegee Inst.i.tute:

----, _May 10, 1913._

_Mr. Warren Logan, Treasurer, Tuskegee Inst.i.tute, Tuskegee, Ala._

DEAR SIR: I enclose my check for ten dollars in reply to President Was.h.i.+ngton's appeal of the 6th inst.

I do not understand why such an appeal should be necessary after the large gifts by Mr. Kennedy and others. The Indians have received much less than the Negroes in money and care, yet they beg less, and are more ready to imitate the whites in being self-reliant. All over the North I find the Negroes despised by the whites for their laziness and disposition to be dependent.

Very truly,