The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.5, page 277, Dec. 1899, U. of Illinois Press

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DECEMBER 1 899 good American citizens, though such a training must necessarily be a matter of time. We have one Porto Rican who was quite savage when he first came to Tuskegee. He carried a knife with him, and he had a way of becoming very angry, raging about and flourishing his knife. He attempted to vent his rage upon one of our boys whereupon the young American took the knife from him and gave him a good thrashing. From that time on the Porto Rican changed his methods. He learned to control himself, and is now one of the quietest boys in the school.'' ENCOURAGING CHANGE PERCEPTIBLE ''How about your work in the South, Mr. Washington? Can you see any material change in the condition of the negro as a result of it?'' ''There is a considerable change in Alabama,'' was the reply. ''We can see the change in the character of the applications for admission to the school. At first many of those who sent their children were anxious to have them taught books, and expressly said that they did not want them to be taught to work. They had the idea that they should be educated only for medicine, the law or the ministry. This is all changed. The students now enter with the idea of learning to work, and the boy lost caste who refused to work. We have already educated about three thousand students, and these are now scattered all over the South.'' ''How about the negroes generally? Are they growing better?'' ''I think so,'' said Mr. Washington. ''They have learned that the road to advancement is along the line of industrial and personal success and not wholly along the lines of political working. They see that their future depends upon themselves. They are striving to better their conditions, and many of them are doing so. I believe this race problem will work itself out just in proportion as the black man, by reason of his skill, intelligence and character, can show himself the equal of the white man, or can produce what the white man wants. As our people accumulate property, you will find that they will be respected. The negro who has $~o,ooo to lend will not want for friends and customers among his white neighbors. The black man that spends $~o,ooo a year in freight charges can secure first-class accommodations in a railroad car, or the company will put on a Pullman palace car for him. It is the same with other 277