cause. Every colored mechanic is by virtue of circumstances an elevator of
his race. Every house built by a black man 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 industrial 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 limits to the attainments of the Negro in arts, in letters
or statesmanship, but I believe the surest way to reach those ends is by
laying the foundation in the little things of life that lie immediately
about one's door. I plead for industrial education and development for the
Negro not because I want to cramp him, but because I want to free him. I
want to see him enter the all-powerful business and commercial world.

It was such combined mental, moral and industrial education which the late
General Armstrong set out to give at the Hampton Institute when he
established that school thirty years ago. The Hampton Institute has
continued along the lines laid down by its great founder, and now each
year an increasing number of similar schools are being established in the
South, for the people of both races.

Early in the history of the Tuskegee Institute we began to combine
industrial training with mental and moral culture. Our first efforts were
in the direction of agriculture, and we began teaching this with no
appliances except one hoe and a blind mule. From this small beginning we
have grown until now the Institute owns two thousand acres of land, eight
hundred of which are cultivated each year by the young men of the school.
We began teaching wheelwrighting and blacksmithing in a small way to the
men, and laundry work, cooking and sewing and housekeeping to the young