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MR. EMMETT J. SCOTT.

Mr. Emmett J. Scott occupies a most unique place in the history
of this country. He is one of the foremost men of the nation and
one of the great leaders of the Negro Race in this country. He has
been in the public's eye for over twenty years, and by a peculiar
combination of genius and common sense, supplemented by intel-
lectual training, travel and contact, has won for himself fame and
renown. He is, perhaps, the best known man in the country to-
day, and has the confidence of his own as well as of the other race.
He has held many prominent places upon influential committees,
and has been upon many confidential errands for the welfare of
his people. Besides being the Secretary of Tuskegee, the now fa-
mous institution founded by the late Booker T. Washington, he is
also Secretary of the Negro National Business League, one of the
most influential groups of colored people in the country. He was
the only colored member of the American Commission sent by
President Taft to the Republic of Liberia for the purpose of in-
vestigating conditions in that Republic. The Commission was es-
corted by a squadron of war ships. Their report opened a new day
for the Liberian Republic, which would have brought forth abund-
ant fruits but for the present war, which has paralyzed Liberian
commerce and depleted her treasury. Last year, Mr. Scott was
signally honored by the Honorable Newton D. Baker, Secretary of
War, who called him to be his special assistant in the War Depart-
ment. This position placed upon the shoulders of Mr. Scott the
responsibility of representing the colored people in the War De-
partment during the period cf the present struggle. The prevail-
ing sentiment, among all classes of the people is that a better and
a more suitable man could not have been found for the place.