$43,528.77. We have added to the original plant one $10,000 dormitory, a
cottage costing $750, a barn at a cost of $2,000, and a shop building
valued at $1,000. Much has been spent in the way of repairs. We have
$1,000 invested in live stock, and more than $300 worth of farming
implements. In each of the industrial departments fairly good equipment
can be found. We have grown from a half acre of ground to more than 100
acres; from 2 horses to 43 head of live stock; from a printing-press
weighing 75 pounds to one weighing 2,500 pounds. Agriculture, carpentry,
printing, shoemaking, laundering, cooking, sewing, and basketry are
carried on successfully. The farm produces large crops of cereals,
vegetables, fruits, and raises a large share of the meat used by the
school. All the flour for the past three years came from the wheat
produced on the farm.
The growth of the school has commended itself favorably to those who
have had occasion to investigate its claims. A committee appointed to
look into the condition of the school some time ago made the following
statement: "In conclusion, your committee would say that it feels that
Messrs. Marshall and Long and their wives have made many sacrifices for
the good of the school and have shown a true missionary spirit in
carrying on the work, and their ideals and purposes are in accord with
the very best. They have borne an awkward and heavy burden in financing
the school, and your committee feels that if released from this care
their teaching-work will be much improved and become very valuable in
building up the school."
In addition to the cultivation of the home-farm of 100 acres, the
increased amount of stock makes it necessary to rent an adjacent pasture
of 80 acres, the property of two of our teachers.
I have made an effort to supplement the knowledge acquired at Tuskegee
through a school of correspondence and through the Chautauqua Reading
Circle with some degree of success.
The success of this school, in a very large measure, is due to the
consecrated effort of the members of the Friends' Freedmen's Association
of Philadelphia and the board of managers of the institution. From the
time I entered upon the work to the present, Principal Washington has
also been a constant source of help and encouragement. Five hundred
dollars given by him in the spring of 1903 was the first money toward
the erection of our new dormitory. A combination woodworking-machine is
also a result of his interest.
We have on hand an endowment fund of several thousand dollars which we
are anxious to increase. Definite plans have been made for the erection
of two new buildings. When the plans thus far mapped out are completed,
the plant, now worth $30,000, will easily have a valuation of $75,000.
THE END