The bulletin of Atlanta University, 1905 no. 154

              NUMBER   154                                     ATLANTA, GEORGIA                                       APRIL,   1905 For statement of the work of Atlanta University see last page. The Tenth Atlanta Conference It is intended this year to recognize the ten years of research by the Atlanta Conference, by taking a review of the work of those years. The subject will therefore be, Methods and Results. Among those who will speak are Prof. Walter Willcox of Cornell University, and Miss Frances Keller and Miss Mary Ovington of New York City. A more complete announcement will be made in our next issue. Dedication of Oglethorpe School Breaking of Ground for New Library These two exercises were combined into one, and held in the Ware Memorial Chapel on the afternoon of Wednesday, March the eighth. President Bum-stead, in his introductory remarks, gave a sketch of the growth of the Institution in respect to its buildings, and read letters of regret from a number of friends who were unable to accept our invitation to be present. Prof. Webster outlined the growth of our normal work, Miss Thomas spoke of the history and meaning of practice schools, Miss Ware described Froebel and his work, and Prof. Chase gave a sketch of the history of our library. President George Sale of the Atlanta Baptist College, Principal W. B. Matthews of this city and Rev. J. E. Smith of Chattanooga also spoke. One of the most interesting features of the exercises in the chapel was the singing by the children of the first grade and kindergarten of the Oglethorpe School, who were present and who marched upon the platform with their flag. There was also good singing by our school. We then adjourned, marching in double file to the site of the Carnegie library building, where, after prayer by President Bumstead, the ground was broken by him, followed by other members of the faculty. Adjourning then to the Oglethorpe School, Professor Adams offered the prayer of dedication, which was followed by the singing of the doxology. The building was then inspected by visiting-friends,   who   were   present   in   large numbers, and many of whom had not had the opportunity previously of examining it. All in all, the exercise was one of the red letter days in our school history. The Fisk=Atlanta Debate This took place in our chapel March 10, and was of the greatest interest. And, aside from its intrinsic merit and success, it was especially noteworthy as a pioneer debate in Southern institutions of this character. The greatest care was taken in all of the arrangements, which were wholly satisfactory to both parties. And the debate itself was conducted upon a dignified plane, as would be expected from the character of the competing institutions. Atlanta had the affirmative of the question, Resolved, That the United States should acquire no Territory without the Intention of eventually giving it Statehood. Our representatives were T. K. Gibson ('05) and A. T. Walden ('07), with A. W. Ricks ('07) as alternate. The Fisk representatives were L. M. Johnson ('05) and Pratt Thomas ('07), with H. E. Macbeth ('05) as alternate. Rev. William H. Weaver, D. D., pastor of the Radcliffe Presbyterian church in this city, presided; and the judges were President George Sale of the Atlanta Baptist College, Rev. Dr. J. W. E. Bow-en, editor of the Voice of the Negro, and Dr. William F. Penn of Atlanta. Each team had its points of superiority : the affirmative, in its systematic presentation of argument, and in form as speakers; the negative, in volume of argument and in power of rebuttal. The decision of the judges, by a vote of two to one, was in favor of Atlanta. The chapel was tastefully decorated with the national colors, and the colors of the two institutions. The orchestra added to the pleasure of the occasion by their selections at the beginning, and during the deliberations of  the  judges. A large audience was present, and the receipts in money were somewhat in excess of the expenses. We hope that this beginning will be followed by other debates, thus giving to the students of these institutions an interesting goal in the work of their debating societies, and carefully arranged public examples of first class debate. The Fourteenth Tuskegee Conference The fourteenth annual conference at Tuskegee is now a matter of history. To those of us who had been privileged to attend earlier conferences, and who were present at this conference, it seemed as though this, the latest in the series, was the most unique. The elements of interest at the conferenco are many. There is Tuskegee Institute itself, with its thousand or more students; there are the night gatherings in the chapel where this great body of students gather to listen to words of wisdom and good will from visitors; there is the chorus singing of the "old time" songs, in themselves an inspiration; there are the farmers who gather for the Farmers' Conference, and who seem to be a changing and developing body from year to year; and then there is the presiding officer of the conference, who seems to know everyone, and who by a subtle instinct seems to know when a delegate from the plantations has no more to say, or who senses that the audience wishes that a certain delegate be not called down just yet; and lastly, there is the body of workers in attendance, the educators who gather from all the important educational centers for the training of colored youth, and who come to exchange ideas and to build up aspiration. Looking back over the conference at two months' distance from the event, two lines of information and suggestion stand out in my mind as the points in the conference which were emphasized. The one was the present-day attitude of the Southern white people toward the Negro public schools, an attitude which appears to be very marked in Alabama, and which makes one realize that the interests of the Negro in educational lines cannot yet be left in the hands of the whites. And the other bears upon an apparent change being shown toward colored labor in this section. It was this latter which was the hopeful note of the conference. Having prepared an account of the conference for The Scroll, I quote the following bearing upon this point : The lesson of solidarity of interest with the white people came up in an interesting and hopeful fashion, as shown at least in some lo- Continued In page 3.