While he believed, theoretically, in universal, free suffrage, he very frankly admitted that the peculiar conditions existing in the South made it necessary to put restrictions upon the ballot. He was opposed, however, to any discriminations in the law; and he urged with all his power that the negro be given good educational and business advantages, so that he might fit himself for the full responsibilities and duties of life. Washington himself never had any trouble about voting. He always registered and always voted, and no one ever raised an objection to his doing so. CHAPTER XIV VISITS TO EUROPE Washington was a great traveler. He was away from his home at least half of each year and often more than that. He traveled principally in the North, making speeches and interviewing people who might help Tuskegee. While on these trips, he did most of his reading and writing. He was very fond of newspapers and magazines. When he started on a long journey, he surrounded himself with a large number of papers and magazines and books, which he thoroughly enjoyed. History was his favorite field of reading outside of newspapers and magazines. He was especially fond of biography—of reading about real men, men of action and thought and great talents. Much of his greatest inspiration as a boy came from reading the lives of great men. Lincoln was his greatest hero. He said that he had read practically every recorded word of Lincoln’s. Washington also did much of his writing on these trips. He kept his stenographer with him all the time, and, when he was not reading, he was usually dictating a speech, or a letter, or an article for a magazine. A large part of his greatest book, “Up from Slavery,” was written while he was on the train or waiting at stations between trains. It is remarkable that he should have been able to accomplish so much under such circumstances, for traveling was hard work. He often had to get up in the middle of the night to catch a train and then ride all day, often without Pullman accommodations. He said that he had slept in three different beds in one night, so broken was his rest and so often did he have to change trains in order to keep engagements. Undoubtedly it was this hard traveling that helped to break down his great strength and wear him out. [Illustration: BOOKER T. WASHINGTON, FIRST PRINCIPAL OF TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE ]