a.; J.G. Phelps Stokes, philanthropist, New York;
Isaac N. Seligman, banker, New York; Dr. Lyman Abbott, editor of the
_Outlook_; Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Secretary General Education Board;
William G. Willcox, now President of the New York Board of Education;
Robert C. Ogden, philanthropist, New York; Andrew Carnegie, and Miss
Clara Spence of the Spence School, with numbers of their friends.]

"This evening I have received another impression from your Principal.
He said that the great need of Tuskegee, to-day, was a considerable
sum of money, which could be used at the discretion of the Trustees,
to fill gaps, to make improvements, and to enlarge and strengthen the
different branches of the institution. Now I should not find it
possible to state in more precise terms the present needs of Harvard
University. The needs of these two institutions, situated, to be sure,
in very different communities, and founded on very different dates,
are precisely the same." This comparison is the more striking when we
realize that President Eliot had at the time been at the head of
Harvard University for thirty years, five years longer than Tuskegee
had been in existence--President Eliot of whom it was said, "When he
goes to rich men they just throw up their hands and say, 'Don't shoot!
How much do you want?'"

The magnitude of Booker Washington's financial task is indicated in
his last annual report which he made to his Trustees in 1915. He
reported:

"As of May 31st, we have received from all sources for current
expenses $268,825.17; for buildings and improvements, $28,919.47; for
endowment, $28,102.09; from undesignated legacies, $53,858.10, making
the total receipts for the purposes named for the year $379,704.83.

"The gifts to the Endowment Fund for the year amounting to $28,102.09
now make the Fund stand at $1,970,214.17.

"The budget recommended for your consideration for the new year calls
for an expenditure for current expenses, repairs, renewals, and
equipment of $291,567.92...."

Later in the report he said: "Notwithstanding the depressed financial
condition of a large part of the country, I feel it would be a great
mistake for us in any degree to slacken our efforts to keep the school
before the public or to get funds. I believe, as Dr. H.B. Frissell,
Principal of the Hampton Institute, has often expressed it, that a
large part of the mission of both Hampton and Tuskegee is to keep the
cause of Negro education before the