student, Isaac Fisher, president of the
Tuskegee Alumni Association, speaking for the graduates at the
memorial exercises held at Tuskegee on December 12, 1915; the other
is the tribute of one of his teachers, Clement Richardson, head of the
division of English, speaking in effect for the Tuskegee teachers in
an article published in the _Survey_ of December 4, 1915.

At this memorial meeting, after being introduced by Seth Low, Chairman
of the Board of Trustees, as the representative of the Tuskegee Alumni
Association, Mr. Fisher said:

"Mr. Chairman: The greatest citizens of this nation have paused long
enough to pay tributes of honor to the memory of Dr. Washington; and
to-night some of the world's most distinguished citizens are present
to say their words of love for the departed chieftain whose body lies
in a grave just outside of those walls. In the presence of these great
men I do not see why you have asked me, one of the least of all, to
add my simple praise.

"But I can say that no persons have sustained so great a loss as have
the members of the Tuskegee Alumni Association; and I come to bear
testimony to the depth and sincerity of their grief.

"There is a story which has not yet been told, in connection with the
spread of industrial education in the South and throughout the entire
country. I must tell that story here before I can make clear just how
great is the Alumni's loss.

"In telling of the spread of industrial education, during the past
twenty-five years, we seem not to know that the work has been
difficult and prosecuted at great sacrifice on the part of the
Tuskegee graduates who have sought to interpret Dr. Washington's
theory that economic fitness was the basis of racial growth in many
other directions.

"The people did not take kindly to this form of education, believing
that it was the same old slavery from which we have emerged under a
new name; and the Tuskegee graduates have prosecuted their work in the
face of the misrepresentations, prejudice, opposition, and ridicule of
those of their own race who could or would not understand the spirit
of industrial education--a spirit broader and finer than the phrase
suggests. More than this: in the communities where they have worked it
has been the fashion to permit our graduates to do the difficult tasks
and carry all the burdens of leadership; but if there were any honors
to be bestowed, they were given to the graduates of other schools.

"