“Forward to the land!” In thundering tones did this command and entreaty ring out through the Academy of Music to the thousands of Negroes who had assembled to hear Booker T. Washington deliver his annual address to the league. There are some 200,000,000 acres of unused and unoccupied land in this country. Will the American Negro, especially the city Negro, acquire his share through hard work and thrift? Will young Negroes quit the poolrooms with their debasing effects and march into usefulness and comfort on the land? Will the Negro seek the signs of civilization--the automobile and the dress suit--and miss civilization as it is represented in the home and the bank account? Will the Negro forego some pleasures today so as to enjoy richer treasures tomorrow? Will the Negro allow others to think and plan for him instead of thinking and planning for himself? These vital questions of business and of life itself were put squarely to the thoughtful Negroes who had come great distances at their own expense and in many cases at considerable sacrifice of time and money. They also reached some of the city Negroes who had come out of mere curiosity to hear Mr. Washington urge a return to the Negro’s richest opportunity--the land. Mr. Washington is far-sighted enough, however, to see the need of better Negro business enterprises. There is, indeed, according to his opinion, room in this country, without conflicting with the interests of white people, for 900,000 more Negro farms; 1,000 sawmills; 1,000 brickyards; 4,000 grocery stores; 2,000 dry goods stores; 1,500 shoe stores; 1,500 millinery shops; 1,000 drug stores and 90 banks. Successful “demonstrations”--human interest stories--were a conspicuous feature of the sessions. The organization of a $100,000 old-line legal-reserve insurance company by Negroes, headed by H. T. Perry, and its heroic struggle during five years to secure the paid-in capital, was told simply and dramatically by H. H. Pace. It shows what can be done in the South. Perry’s experience in Atlanta should put fresh courage into the hearts of ambitious Negroes who really want to give their people better stores, better banks, better insurance companies, better hotels, and better country life. The story of Perry’s defeat in collecting the paid-in capital, required by the Georgia law for the starting of the Standard Life Insurance Company of Atlanta, followed by his victory, through hard work and faith, emphasizes the importance of teaching men to act co-operatively when they wish to do big things. This story will long be remembered by the delegates and their friends, for it contains real “education for life, in life and by life,” as Dr. Wallace Buttrick has phrased the thought--the underlying aim of Hampton and Tuskegee.