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:
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149