In all our difficulties and anxieties, however, I never went to a
white or a black person in the town of Tuskegee for any
assistance that was in their power to render, without being
helped according to their means. More than a dozen times, when
bills figuring up into the hundreds of dollars were falling due,
I applied to the white men of Tuskegee for small loans, often
borrowing small amounts from as many as a half-dozen persons, to
meet our obligations. One thing I was determined to do from the
first, and that was to keep the credit of the school high; and
this, I think I can say without boasting, we have done all
through these years.
I shall always remember a bit of advice given me by Mr. George W.
Campbell, the white man to whom I have referred to as the one who
induced General Armstrong to send me to Tuskegee. Soon after I
entered upon the work Mr. Campbell said to me, in his fatherly
way: "Washington, always remember that credit is capital."
At one time when we were in the greatest distress for money that
we ever experienced, I placed the situation frankly before
General Armstrong. Without hesitation he gave me his personal
check for all the money which he had saved for his own use. This
was not the only time that General Armstrong helped Tuskegee in
this way.
Pages:
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168