NOTES AND ABSTRACTS 28 1
ago, when the new civil law code, which has been in force since January I, 1900, was before the Reichstag. for consideration, the imperial chancellor gave the promise that the legal prohibition in various states which forbade political associations to federate a prohibition which had its origin in the time of the foundation of the empire, and had long been obsolete should at that date be suspended. It was three and a half years before the chancellor could fulfill his promise. Only at the last hour, three weeks before the civil code went into effect, the promise was kept and the prohibition of federation was abandoned. , Now, therefore, the political associations within the entire empire can enter into union with each other. For the trade unions, which desire to be merely non-political societies, this has no immediate significance. Indi- rectly, however, they have been freed from a great menace. Because of the flexible interpretations of the word " political " it was in the power of any court, if it were so disposed, to regard the workingmen's association as a political society, to inquire whether it at any time had been connected with another society, even by so trifling a bond as a single letter written from one to the other, and thereupon to dissolve it. This danger, which perpetually confronted the labor unions, is now removed; but no positive gain has been made by the new law. MAX MAURENBRECHER, PH.D., Berlin.
The Spirit of Tuskegee. Foremost among the qualities that need to be learned by American youth are self-respect and self-help. The power of the United States to make of itself what it is was developed from these very qualities. Success- full pioneering of every sort must be conducted by those essentially equal. Rank and rabble, lord and laborer, could not have transformed the wilderness west of the colo- nies which had newly become states.
Agriculture in its best form, manufactures, and mining have been developed by ambitious, self-respecting citizens. In older communities there comes gradually a sepa- ration of classes, and those of wealth have opportunities lacking to those of less means. Unless, then, we lazily accept the tendency toward the situation in Europe, where it is well-nigh impossible to climb from a lower cliss to a higher, there must be means provided for those of little or no property to acquire habits of thrift and chances to develop self-respect where self-respect is at a premium. The public schools are intended to do this. Whether they do or not is aside from the present purpose, but certain it is that in localities where public schools are few, or, for local or other reasons, inferior or incapable of accomplishing all that is necessary, an instru- mentality like the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute seems to be the ideal.
In March of the present year I was fortunate enough to be able to pay a visit of two days' duration to this remarkable institution. With preconceptions in its favor I found far more in spirit and reality than I had anticipated. I do not wish to repeat the facts and statistics of the growth of the school ; these are easily obtained ; nor is it necessary to speak of the ability of Mr. Booker Washington, for he is already a national character, whom everyone has heard or ought to hear. Few speakers on the lecture platform can command or hold larger audiences. Indeed, so great has been the demand upon him by bureaus and lecture associations that his whole time would be taken if he would consent.
All this is a result, not a cause, of usefulness, power, and discernment in dealing with the negro problem in the South. It is unnecessary to speak of Tuskegee in its material equipment and marvelous growth. This topic has already been abundantly treated in comparatively recent periodical literature. But there is an inner life, a spirit or soul, in the institution which was apparent to me, and which seems to be as supe- rior in significance to the number of buildings and pupils as mental and spiritual development is to length of leg and avoirdupois.
One begins to feel the influence and breathe the air of Tuskegee when he leaves the train at Chehaw, six miles from the school. By " Tuskegee " the world no longer means the pretty little Alabama village of that name, though it still exists, greatly modified by the proximity of its colossally grown appendage which has absorbed the name and made it great.
Tuskegee is the one institution of note where all every teacher, pupil, and employe" are of the colored race, and therefore is the one place which can show bet- ter than any other what is possible for the race. Other institutions are large, pros- perous, and useful, but white men and women are concerned in their management, and
