The Athenaeum. (Atlanta, GA) 1898-1925, February 01, 1924, Image 18
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THE ATHENAEUM
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Editorials
WHAT DO WE GET OUT OF IT?
rpHE students of Morehouse College have on a drive for two thou-
1 sand dollars. The money is to be used in building a much need
ed library for the school. To date they have been successful in rais
ing only sixty-three dollars and, thirty-five cents-—just about enough
to buy the front door.
One department when asked to co-operate with the drive wanted
to know “What do we get out of it? Indeed Morehouse is rendering
a great service to our people in the South. It is a sad plight for'
Negroes to have as leaders! men who are immersed in emotions and
clothed in ignorance.
But let us not get a-field. There is no department at the Col
lege which would not be benefited if < privileged to frequently enjoy
“feasting at the storehouse of knowledge.” This stupendous task
must be put over. The printed page is a powerful force of enlighten
ment. There can be no intellectual tenets brought to bear which,
would alter this fact.
The occasions about us are new! Yea, new in an alarming, un
precedented degree. We are not asking for new togs for the foot
ball team, nor for our teams to invade new territory to demon
strate their prowess. Two thousand dollars would be a joke to put
over such a project, and, yet we give ourselves the pat and say we
are “earnest seekers after knowledge.” Too long have we reeled
and rocked in self praise while our teams strode giant-like through
the enemies lines, took the arts of fish and bird, and sweeping aside
the tumultous mandates of the enemy, fought through the pathless
ether into the heights of fame.
The need for a library has long been in evidence at the College.
Our teachers have, to a large extent, been handicapped and have not
been able to make assignments for extensive collateral reading.. It
is a general need, and can be shared alike by all departments. It is
the laboratory for all courses. Yet, there are students who question
the necessity of a college! library. Since human face first made its ap
pearance, and man cherished faith for a better day, at no time, through
all the weary, agonistic stretches of ignorance and barbaric strife to
ward awakening, have the College students of my race cried louder
for knowledge. Now is the time for us to struggle, struggle* keep
on struggling; and by fighting our way to the front, render this an
artistic and scientific civilization for the Negro.
Come! Morehouse men, let us huddle together. We, who are
able to make mountain tops vocal and wayside bushes significant,
must lead the way. The drive has been extended to the eleventh
day of April. Where is the- man to be found who wont give ear to
the College song, and the College slogan “All for one, and one for