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diff --git a/35099.txt b/35099.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a3dc0a8 --- /dev/null +++ b/35099.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6231 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Color Line, by William Benjamin Smith + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Color Line + A Brief in Behalf of the Unborn + +Author: William Benjamin Smith + +Release Date: January 28, 2011 [EBook #35099] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COLOR LINE *** + + + + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +THE COLOR LINE + + +A Brief + +IN BEHALF OF THE UNBORN + + + +BY + +WILLIAM BENJAMIN SMITH + + + +_Consider the End_ + + SOLON + + +NEW YORK +McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. +MCMV + +_Copyright, 1905, by_ +McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. +_Published February, 1905, N_ + + + + +_To_ + +John Henry Neville + +_in_ + +_Admiration and Gratitude_ + + + + +Transcriber's Note: Superscripted characters are indicated by being +preceded by a carat, such as z^r. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + +CHAPTER ONE 3 + THE INDIVIDUAL? OR THE RACE? + +CHAPTER TWO 29 + IS THE NEGRO INFERIOR? + +CHAPTER THREE 75 + NURTURE? OR NATURE? + +CHAPTER FOUR 111 + PLEA AND COUNTERPLEA + +CHAPTER FIVE 158 + A DIP INTO THE FUTURE + +CHAPTER SIX 193 + THE ARGUMENT FROM NUMBERS + + + + +FOREWORD + + +The following pages attempt a discussion of the most important question +that is likely to engage the attention of the American People for many +years and even generations to come. Compared with the vital matter of +pure Blood, all other matters, as of tariff, of currency, of subsidies, +of civil service, of labour and capital, of education, of forestry, of +science and art, and even of religion, sink into insignificance. For, +to judge by the past, there is scarcely any conceivable educational or +scientific or governmental or social or religious polity under which +the pure strain of Caucasian blood might not live and thrive and +achieve great things for History and Humanity; on the other hand, there +is no reason to believe that any kind or degree of institutional +excellence could permanently stay the race decadence that would follow +surely in the wake of any considerable contamination of that blood by +the blood of Africa. + +It is this supreme and all-overshadowing importance of the interests at +stake that must justify the earnestness and the minuteness with which +the matter has been treated. The writer does not deny that he feels +profoundly and intensely on the subject; otherwise, he would certainly +never thus have turned aside from studies far more congenial and +fascinating. But he has not allowed his feelings or any sentimental +considerations whatever to warp his judgment. It has been his effort to +make the whole discussion purely scientific, an ethnological inquiry, +undisturbed by any partisan or political influence. He has had to guard +himself especially against the emotion of sympathy, of pity for the +unfortunate race, "the man of yesterday," which the unfeeling process +of Nature demands in sacrifice on the altar of the evolution of +Humanity. + +It may be well to indicate at the outset the general movement of +thought through this volume: + +Chapter One in its title strikes the keynote. In the following pages +the main issue is stated, the position of the South is defined, and her +lines of defence are indicated. But there is no attempt to justify the +fundamental assumption in the Southern argument. + +In Chapter Two this shortcoming is made good. The assumed inferiority +of both the Negro and the Negroid is argued at length, and proved by a +great variety of considerations. + +In Chapter Three the notion that this inferiority, now demonstrated, is +after all merely cultural and removable by Education or other +extra-organic means, is considered minutely and refuted in every detail +and under all disguises. + +In Chapter Four the powerful and authoritative plea of Dr. Boas, for +the "primitives," is subjected to a searching analysis, with the +decisive result that, in spite of himself, this eminent anthropologist, +while denying everything as a whole, affirms everything in detail that +is maintained in the preceding chapters. Inasmuch as the Address of +this savant may be regarded as the _ne plus ultra_ of pro-African +pleading, both in earnestness and in learning, it has seemed that no +treatment of the subject would be complete that did not refute it +thoroughly--"so fight I as one not beating the air." To do this was not +possible without quoting extensively, which is the less to be regretted +as the Address has been too little read. + +In Chapter Five the obvious and instant question is met. What then is +to become of the Black Man? The answer is rendered in general terms and +is supported by the remarkable testimony of the distinguished +statistician, Professor Willcox. But only general sociologic moments +are regarded, and the statistical argument in detail is held in +reserve. + +In Chapter Six this omission is fully supplied. The Growth rate, the +Birth rate, the Death rate, the Crime rate, and the Anthropometry of +the Negro are discussed minutely from every point of view, and the +positions of the preceding chapters are bulwarked and buttressed +unassailably. + +It has been the one aim of the writer, who is perfectly convinced in +his own mind, to convince the reader. To this end no pains have been +spared and no drudgery avoided. Since it appeared necessary to regard +the matter from various nearly related points of view, under only +slightly divergent angles, it has happened that the same argumentative +materials have come to hand more than once in almost equivalent forms. +But in this there is no disadvantage; factors of such sovereign potence +do not suffer from repetition. The whole discussion is biological in +its bearing and turns about a few pivotal points; and these deserve to +be stressed by every device of emphasis. "For twice indeed, yea thrice, +they say, it is good to repeat and review the good." + +There remain yet certain important political and economical and even +juridical aspects of the subject, concerning which the writer has not +neglected to gather relevant material of evidence; but any adequate +discussion would carry the reader too far afield and would mar the +unity of the work as it now stands. Accordingly these aspects are left +unregarded. + +The writer fancies one may forecast the only reply likely to be brought +forward under even a thin guise of plausibility. It will be said, as it +is said, that the much-dreaded contamination of blood is the merest +bugaboo. But nay! it is a tremendous and instant peril, against which +eternal vigilance is the only safeguard, in whose presence it is vain +and fatuous to cry "peace, peace" when there is no peace, a peril whose +menace is sharpened by well-meant efforts at humanity and generosity, +by seemingly just demands for social equality masquerading as "equal +opportunity." The one adequate definition of this "equal opportunity" +has been bravely given by that most able and eloquent Negroid, Prof. +William H. Councill: "Will the White man permit the Negro to have an +equal part in the industrial, political, social and civil advantages of +the United States? This, as I understand it, is the problem." All this +is quite beyond question to the mind that cherishes no illusions and +insistently beholds things as they are. Neither is it less sure that +even the Southern conscience needs quickening at this vital point. The +writer has been appalled at the cool indifference with which +amalgamation is contemplated as necessary and inevitable by certain +highly intelligent philanthropists in the Southland. The matter is +delicate and difficult to argue, and in the body of the book it has +perhaps been stressed too lightly; but the danger signals are clearly +discernible, even as they were to Prof. E. D. Cope, and it is madness +not to heed them. If the race barrier be removed, and the individual +standard of personal excellence be established, the twilight of this +century will gather upon a nation hopelessly sinking in the mire of +Mongrelism. + +It can hardly be hoped that any reader will be satisfied with the +glimpse here disclosed of the future. Certainly not the Negro, nor his +apologists; nor even such as sympathize most fully with the writer. The +solemn secular processes, to which the solution of the problem is +relegated, are so very leisurely in their working, closing down upon +their final result with the deliberation of a glacier, or like some +slowly convergent infinite series. But Nature is once for all thus +leaden-footed, and it is extremely difficult to quicken her pace. + +We have bestowed merely a glance upon the scheme of Deportation, which +is alas! not now a question of practical statesmanship, though it may +indeed become one sooner than we think. + +However, the outlook is not hopeless to him who has a sense of the +world to come, who lives in his race, who feels the solidarity of its +present with its future as well as with its past. "Of men that are +just, the true saviour is Time." Besides, it seems not at all strange +that a disease, chronic through centuries, should require centuries for +its cure, that the multiplied echoes of the curse of African slavery +should go sounding on, even to the years of many generations. + + W. B. S. + _Tulane University, + 25th October, 1904._ + + + + +THE COLOR LINE + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +THE INDIVIDUAL? OR THE RACE? + + _Let not man join together + What God hath put asunder._ + + +In the controversy precipitated by the luncheon at the White House, and +embittered by more recent procedures, the attitude of the South +presents an element of the pathetic. The great world is apparently +hopelessly against her. Three-fourths of the virtue, culture, and +intelligence of the United States seems to view her with pitying scorn; +the old mother, England, has no word of sympathy, but applauds the +conduct that her daughter reprehends; the continent of Europe looks on +with amused perplexity, as unable even to comprehend her position, so +childish and absurd. Worst of all, she herself appears to have no +far-reaching voice. However ably or earnestly her daily journals may +plead her cause, their circle of readers rarely extends far beyond her +own borders: she seems to be talking to herself or raving in a dream. + +Under such conditions, why not appeal to her generous foes, to the +Northern Press, to lend the mighty resonance of their own voice to the +proclamation of the Southern plea? "_Their_ tone has gone out through +all the earth, and their words to the end of the world." But the +demands on their space are overwhelming; they hesitate before an +article of more than fifteen pages, and they would not needlessly wound +the sensibilities of their readers. No! The Southern plea, if it is to +be made effective, must be presented in a book. + +The present writer professes neither authority nor special fitness to +speak for the South. No one but himself knows that he is framing or +intends to frame this defense; but the situation appeals to him +powerfully, and it is so transparent and so easily understood of any +one here in the midst that he cannot believe he commits any sensible +error in his statement of the case. + +To begin, then, it is essential to any proper conduct of the discussion +that the point at issue be clearly defined, and that all false issues +be excluded rigorously and in terms. Unless we widely err, much current +argumentation, especially at the North, is perverted by the fatal +fallacy of mistaken aim. On the other hand, we shall not be at any +pains to defend or excuse intemperance in the language of Southern +writers or speakers; on this head we have no dispute with any one but +are willing to admit, whether true or false, whatever may be charged. + +What, then, is the real point at issue, and what does the South stand +for in this contention--stand alone, friendless, despised, with the +head and heart, the brain and brawn, the wealth and culture of the +civilized world arrayed almost solidly against her? The answer is +simple: She stands for _blood_, for the "_continuous germ-plasma_" _of +the Caucasian Race_. + +The South cares nothing, in themselves, for the personal friendships or +appreciations of high-placed dignitaries and men of light and leading. +She must concede to such and to all Northerners' and to all Europeans +the abstract right to choose their associates and table company as they +please. What she does maintain is, that _in the South_ the colour line +must be drawn firmly, unflinchingly--without deviation or interruption +of any kind whatever. + +It may be too much to affirm that in all extra-social matters--in +politics, in business, in literature, in science, in art, everywhere +but in society--even the best sentiment or practice of the South is +eager to give the Negro strict justice, or ample scope, or free +opportunity. Southerners are merely human; and there is, perhaps, no +great historical example of an inferior race or class treated with all +proper consideration by the superior. Certainly our Northern friends +will hardly maintain that recent disclosures clearly show that their +ruling corporate powers are humane, or generous, or even barely just +towards the poor and humble, in their administration of the important +industrial trusts which God has so wisely placed in their hands. They +are giants, and it is the nature of giants to press hard. At this +point, then, the South is or should be open to conviction. It is the +part of statesmanship, as well as of humanity, continuously to adjust +the relations of classes--much more so of races--so that the largest +interests involved may be sacredly conserved and at the least possible +sacrifice of any smaller interest that may conflict. More can hardly be +expected in a world whose law is strife. Tried by this standard, it is +very doubtful whether the South falls even one notch below the average +set everywhere by the example of the ruling class. If she does, then +let her bear the blame, with neither excuse nor extenuation for her +shortcomings. But in the matter of social separation we can and we will +make no concessions whatever. Neither dare we tolerate any violations +of our fundamental principle among ourselves; nor dare we sit calmly by +and behold its violation by others, when that violation imperils our +own supreme interests and renders more difficult the maintenance of our +own position. Here, then, is laid bare the nerve of the whole matter: +_Is the South justified in this absolute denial of social equality to +the Negro, no matter what his virtues or abilities or accomplishments?_ + +We affirm, then, that the South is entirely right in thus keeping open +at all times, at all hazards, and at all sacrifices an impassable +social chasm between Black and White. This she _must_ do in behalf of +her blood, her essence, of the stock of her Caucasian Race. To the +writer the correctness of this thesis seems as clear as the sun--so +evident as almost to forestall argument; nor can he quite comprehend +the frame of mind that can seriously dispute it. But let us look at it +closely. Is there any doubt whatever as to the alternative? If we sit +with Negroes at our tables, if we entertain them as our guests and +social equals, if we disregard the colour line in all other relations, +is it possible to maintain it fixedly in the sexual relation, in the +marriage of our sons and daughters, in the propagation of our species? +Unquestionably, No! It is certain as the rising of tomorrow's sun, +that, once the middle wall of social partition broken down, the +mingling of the tides of life would begin instantly and proceed +steadily. Of course, it would be gradual, but none the less sure, none +the less irresistible. It would make itself felt at first most strongly +in the lower strata of the white population; but it would soon invade +the middle and menace insidiously the very uppermost. Many bright +Mulattoes would ambitiously woo, and not a few would win, well-bred +women disappointed in love or goaded by impulse or weary of the stern +struggle for existence. _As a race, the Southern Caucasian would be +irreversibly doomed._ For no possible check could be given to this +process once established. Remove the barrier between two streams +flowing side by side--immediately they begin to mingle their molecules; +in vain you attempt to replace it. Not even ten legions of Clerk +Maxwell's demons could ever sift them out and restore the streams to +their original purity. The moment the bar of absolute separation is +thrown down in the South, that moment the bloom of her spirit is +blighted forever, the promise of her destiny is annulled, the proud +fabric of her future slips into dust and ashes. No other conceivable +disaster that might befall the South could, for an instant, compare +with such miscegenation within her borders. Flood and fire, fever and +famine and the sword--even ignorance, indolence, and carpet-baggery--she +may endure and conquer while her blood remains pure; but once taint the +well-spring of her life, and all is lost--even honour itself. It is +this immediate jewel of her soul that the South watches with such a +dragon eye, that she guards with more than vestal vigilance, with a +circle of perpetual fire. The blood thereof is the life thereof; he who +would defile it would stab her in her heart of heart, and she springs +to repulse him with the fiercest instinct of self-preservation. It may +not be that she is distinctly conscious of the immeasurable interests +at stake or of the real grounds of her roused antagonism; but the +instinct itself is none the less just and true and the natural bulwark +of her life. + +To set forth great things by small, we may take the instinct of the +family, with its imperious and uncompromising demand for absolute +female chastity. It is not here, in any controlling measure, a question +of individual morality. We make no such absolute demand upon men. We +regret, we condemn, we may infinitely deplore sexual irregularity in +son, or brother, or husband, or father, or friend, but we do not +ostracize;--we may forgive, we may honour, we may even glorify the +offender in spite of his offense. But for the female dissolute there is +no forgiveness, however we may extra-socially pity or even admire. A +double standard--an abomination! But while none may approve, yet every +one admits and applies it--for reasons deeper than our conscious logic, +and irresistible. For the offense of the man is individual and limited, +while that of the woman is general, and strikes mortally at the +existence of the family itself. + +Now the idea of the race is far more sacred than that of the family. It +is, in fact, _the most sacred thing_ on earth; and he who offends +against it is an apostate from his kind and mounts the apex of +sacrilege. + +At this point we hear some one exclaim, "Not so fast! To sit at table, +to mingle freely in society with certain persons, does not imply you +would marry them." Certainly not, in every case. We may recognize +socially those whom we personally abhor. This matters not, however; for +wherever social commingling is admitted, there _the possibility of +intermarriage must be also admitted_. It becomes a mere question of +personal preference, of like and dislike. Now, there is no accounting +for tastes. It is ridiculous to suppose that no Negroes would prove +attractive to any whites. The _possible_ would become actual--as +certainly as you will throw double-double sixes, if only you keep on +throwing. To be sure, where the number of Negroes is almost vanishingly +small, as in the North and in Europe, there the chances of such +mesalliances are proportionally divided; some may even count them +negligible. But in the South, where in many districts the Black +outnumbers the White, they would be multiplied immensely, and crosses +would follow with increasing frequency. + +It is only the sense of blood superiority, the pride of race, that has +hitherto protected the white labourer. Break this down or abate it, and +he sinks swiftly to the level of the mongrel. Laugh as you will at the +haughtiness of the ignorant Southerner, at his scorn of the Negro, +perhaps his superior, it is this very race self-respect that is the +rock of his salvation. As Bernhard Moses points out, it was _because_ +the Anglo-Saxon so cherished this feeling that he refused to amalgamate +with the Indians--a proud and in some ways superior race--but drove +them relentlessly, and often, it may be, unrighteously before him into +the sea. It was just _because_ the Spaniard, though otherwise proud +enough, did not cherish this feeling, that he did amalgamate with the +victims of his greed and descend into hopeless depths of hybridization. +So far, then, from doing aught to weaken this sentiment, we should do +our utmost to strengthen it; we should studiously avoid offending it. +But social equality must deadly wound it and hence drag miscegenation +and all South America in its train. + +But some may deny that the mongrelization of the Southern people would +offend the race notion--would corrupt or degrade the Southern stock of +humanity. If so, then such a one has yet to learn the largest-writ +lessons of history and the most impressive doctrines of biological +science. That the Negro is markedly inferior to the Caucasian is proved +both craniologically and by six thousand years of planet-wide +experimentation; and that the commingling of inferior with superior +must lower the higher is just as certain as that the half-sum of two +and six is only four.[1] + + [1] For detailed proof of these propositions, see the following + chapters. + +If accepted science teaches anything at all, it teaches that the +heights of being in civilized man have been reached along one path and +one only--the path of _Selection_, of the preservation of favoured +individuals and of favoured races. The deadly enemy of the whole +process of uplifting, of the _Drang nach oben_, of the course of +history itself, is _pammixia_. Only give it play, and it would +inevitably level all life into one undistinguished heap. Now, +amalgamation of Black and White is only a special case of _pammixia_. +The hope of the human lies in the superhuman; and the possibility of +the superhuman is given in selection, in natural and rational +selection, among the children that are to be, of the parents of the men +to come. The notion of social racial equality is thus seen to be +abhorrent alike to instinct and to reason; for it flies in the face of +the process of the suns, it runs counter to the methods of the mind of +God. + +It is idle to talk of education and civilization and the like as +corrective or compensative agencies.[2] All are weak and beggarly as +over against the almightiness of heredity, the omniprepotence of the +transmitted germ-plasma. Let this be amerced of its ancient rights, let +it be shorn in some measure of its exceeding weight of ancestral glory, +let it be soiled in its millennial purity and integrity, and nothing +shall ever restore it; neither wealth, nor culture, nor science, nor +art, nor morality, nor religion--not even Christianity itself. Here and +there these may redeem some happy spontaneous variation, some lucky +freak of nature; but nothing more--they can never redeem the race. If +this be not true, then history and biology are alike false; then Darwin +and Spencer, Haeckel and Weismann, Mendel and Pearson, have lived and +laboured in vain. + + [2] For minuter treatment of this point, see the following + chapters. + +Equally futile is the reply, so often made by our opponents, that +miscegenation has already progressed far in the Southland, as witness +millions of Mulattoes. Certainly; but do not such objectors know in +their hearts that their reply is no answer, but is utterly irrelevant? +We admit and deplore the fact that unchastity has poured a broad stream +of white blood into black veins; but we deny, and perhaps no one will +affirm, that it has poured even the slenderest appreciable rill of +Negro blood into the veins of the Whites. We have no excuse whatever to +make for these masculine incontinences; we abhor them as disgraceful +and almost bestial. But, however degrading and even unnatural, they in +nowise, not even in the slightest conceivable degree, defile the +Southern Caucasian blood. That blood to-day is absolutely pure; and it +is the inflexible resolution of the South to preserve that purity, no +matter how dear the cost. We repeat, then, it is not a question of +individual morality, nor even of self-respect. He who commerces with a +negress debases himself and dishonours his body, the temple of the +Spirit; but he does not impair, in anywise, the dignity or integrity of +his race; he may sin against himself and others, and even against his +God, but not against the germ-plasma of his kind. + +Does some one reply that some Negroes are better than some Whites, +physically, mentally, morally? We do not deny it; but this fact, again, +is without pertinence. It may very well be that some dogs are superior +to some men. It is absurd to suppose that only the elect of the Blacks +would unite with only the non-elect of the Whites. Once started, the +_pammixia_ would spread through all classes of society and contaminate +possibly or actually all. Even a little leaven may leaven the whole +lump. + +Far more than this, however, even if only very superior Negroes formed +unions with non-superior Whites, the case would not be altered; for it +is a grievous error to suppose that the child is born of its proximate +parents only; it is born of all its ancestry; it is the child of its +race. The eternal past lays hand upon it and upon all its descendants. +However weak the White, behind him stands Europe; however strong the +Black, behind him lies Africa. + +Preposterous, indeed, is this doctrine that _personal excellence is +the true standard_, and that only such Negroes as attain a certain +grade of merit should or would be admitted to social equality. A +favourite evasion! _The Independent_, _The Nation_, _The +Outlook_, the whole North--all point admiringly to Mr. Washington, +and exclaim: "But only see what a noble man he is--so much better than +his would-be superiors!" So, too, a distinguished clergyman, when asked +whether he would let his daughter marry a Negro, replied: "We wish our +daughters to marry Christian gentlemen." Let, then, the major premise +be, "All Christian gentlemen are to be admitted to social equality;" +and add, if you will, any desired degree of refinement or education or +intellectual prowess as a condition. Does not every one see that any +such test would be wholly impracticable and nugatory? If Mr. Washington +be the social equal of Roosevelt and Eliot and Hadley, how many others +will be the social equals of the next circle, and the next, and the +next, in the long descent from the White House and Harvard to the miner +and the rag-picker? And shall we trust the hot, unreasoning blood of +youth to lay virtues and qualities so evenly in the balance and decide +just when some "olive-coloured suitor" is enough a "Christian +gentleman" to claim the hand of some simple-hearted milk-maid or some +school-ma'am "past her bloom"? The notion is too ridiculous for +refutation. If the best Negro in the land is the social equal of the +best Caucasian, then it will be hard to prove that the lowest White is +higher than the lowest Black; the principle of division is lost, and +complete social equality is established. We seem to have read somewhere +that, when the two ends of one straight segment coincide with the two +ends of another, the segments coincide throughout their whole extent. + +But even suppose that only the lower strata of Whites mingle with the +upper strata of Negroes, the result would be more slowly, but not the +less surely, fatal. The interpenetration in our democratic society is +too thorough. Here and there the Four Hundred may isolate themselves, +but only for a time and imperfectly. Who knows when the scion of a +millionaire may turn into a motorman, or the son of a peasant hew his +way to the Capitol? Let the mongrel poison assail the humbler walks of +life, and it will spread like a bubonic plague through the higher. The +standing of the South would be lost irretrievably. Though her blood +might still flow pure in myriad veins, yet who could prove it? The +world would turn away from her, and point back the finger of suspicion, +and whisper "Unclean!" + +Just here we must insist that the South, in this tremendous battle for +the race, is fighting not for herself only, but for her sister North as +well. It is a great mistake to imagine that one can be smutched and the +other remain immaculate. Up from the Gulf regions the foul contagion +would let fly its germs beyond the lakes and mountains. The floods of +life mingle their waters over all our land. Generations might pass +before the darkening tinge could be seen distinctly above the Ohio, but +it would be only a question of time. The South alone would suffer total +eclipse, but the dread penumbra would deepen insensibly over all the +continent. + +Well, then, the determination and attitude of the South are just and +holy and good, and we may now advance to another question. Granted the +completest social separation in the South, where the danger is instant +and fearful, is it also right or demanded in the North, where the +danger is distant or wholly unreal? Why not social separation and the +race standard in the South, but social equality and the standard of +personal merit in the North? We apprehend that such will be the +position of many fair-minded men at the North, and perhaps we may hope +for no greater concession. Such a compromise, if carried out to the +letter and its purpose and spirit everywhere boldly proclaimed and +distinctly understood, might indeed be accepted as a _modus vivendi_. +If the Northern Press and Pulpit should speak on this wise: "You +Southerners mistake us entirely. We recoil with your own horror from +the idea of a hybridized Dixie; God forbid that you should 'herd with +narrow foreheads, vacant of our glorious gains'! We too eschew the +notion of race equality. We do not practise, we do not preach it. We +applaud your inflexible resolution to keep the Caucasian blood +uncorrupt and consecrated to the highest ideals of humanity. Only, we +would generously remember high achievements and reward exceptional +merit with recognition, but always without will or desire to disturb +your social order or to debase the coin of your White civilization. We +hold out no false hopes, we encourage no vain ambitions, we flatter no +absurd conceits, we sow no seeds of discontent or discord." If such +notes rang out from the moulders and wielders of the Northern mind, the +South would rejoice with joy unspeakable. She might then pass by +unnoticed what now excites her protest. But alas! such notes are +rarely, if ever, heard. Instead, it is constantly reiterated that the +South is the victim of "unreasoning prejudice," that she is old-fogy, +antiquated, ignorant, and without liberalizing experience of the larger +world. Her plea for race integrity is thrust aside as not worth hearing +or is answered at best with fine scorn and lofty contempt. From such +Northern utterances it seems impossible to draw any conclusion but that +very many would be quite willing to see perfect equality of the races +established _in the South_, even with its inevitable corollary of +mongrelization.[3] It is this painful consciousness, that the central +dogma of her civilization finds apparently so little favour beyond the +Potomac, that so alarms the South and makes her so supersensitive as to +Northern practice. Examples, otherwise trifling, acquire deep interest +when set to illustrate some vital principle. + + [3] For documentary proof that the utmost extreme of + miscegenation has been zealously preached, and on + quasi-scientific grounds, see _infra_, pp. 71, 72, 126-9. + +To the North, so superior in all the tokens of development, the world +looks for the pattern. Her conduct counts as the model. The Negroes +themselves cannot be expected to distinguish between the Northerner +North and the Northerner South, nor to reflect that the wise man howls +with the wolves, and very naturally feel themselves the victims of +gross injustice. + +And herein lies the profound and disastrous significance of the +Washington incident and its fellows. They are open proclamations from +the housetops of society that the South is radically wrong, that no +racial distinctions are valid in social life, that only personal +qualities are to be regarded. The necessary inference is the perfect +social equality of the races, _as races_, the abolition of the colour +line in society, in the family, in the home. The unescapable result +would be the mongrelization of the South and her reduction below the +level of Mexico and Central America.[4] + + [4] As to the natural effect of such propaganda on the Negroes + themselves, let the present epidemic of crime and lynching bear + witness. + +Our opponents, however, are not yet left without rejoinder. They will +and do affirm that all such incidents are only trivial, that the noisy +protest of the South is a mere "tempest in a teapot." In a certain +sense this is true. The precedent at the White House has found and will +find no acceptance in the Southland. Not one door of equality will be +loosened in its closure, but the bolts will be fastened firmer, the +gates will be guarded more narrowly. However, it is equally true that +the South could not overlook such an incident in such a quarter. The +treasure she has to keep is beyond rubies; the watchmen on her towers +must neither slumber nor sleep. She is safe, but only because of, and +not in default of, unresting vigilance. + +We congratulate our friends in the North that they can play with fire +without fear of burns; that they can wine and dine amiable and +interesting Negroes as rare birds of passage, with no thought of +ulterior consequences--at least, to themselves. Their wealth, their +power, their culture, their grandeur, but more than all else, their +excessive preponderance in numbers, preclude the thought that in many +generations their blood could be perceptibly tinged with tides from +Africa. With us of the South, alas! the whole situation is quite +another. They may safely smile at such an incident as an empty +scabbard; but to us it is a drawn dagger. + +But the question still remains: Why does the South, if she be right in +this matter, find the virtue and intelligence of the world arrayed +against her? We answer, the overmass of adverse authority is indeed +immense, but it is weightless. The testimony of the North and of Europe +is hardly more relevant than would be that of the Martians. For in +neither has the race question yet presented itself as a serious +practical matter; for them the Black Peril has no existence. Hence +their treatment of the subject is merely academic and sentimental. They +have generous ethical ideas, respectable but well-worn and overworked +maxims, high humanitarian principles; and these they ride horseback. +For them the Negro is a black swan, a curious and interesting specimen +in natural history; and they have no hesitance in extending their +sympathy, their hospitality, and their cooeperation. They remember that +God "hath made of one (blood) all nations of men for to dwell on the +face of the earth," but forget that the author of this noble sentiment +was not an ethnologist; they pity "the nation's ward" as the victim of +centuries of oppression, and to the eyes of their faith the mount of +his transfiguration gleams close at hand. But the practical problem +never confronts them in its unrelieved difficulties and dangers. The +possibility of blood contamination is not suggested to them, or at +least it never comes home to them; and they yield freely to their +philanthropic impulses, not thinking whither these would lead them, not +seeing the end from the beginning. Southern hearts are not less +benevolent than Northern, but Southern eyes are of necessity in this +matter wide open, while most others are shut. + +But once let Northern and European eyes catch a clear glimpse of the +actual peril of the situation; once let the problem step forth before +them in a definite concrete form and call for immediate solution; once +let the sharp question pierce the national heart, "Shall I or shall I +not blend my Caucasian, world-ruling, world-conquering blood with the +servile strain of Africa?" and can there be any doubt of the answer? +The race instinct is now slumbering in the North and Europe, and not +strangely, for there is nothing to keep it awake; but it is not +extinct, it exists and is ready to spring up on occasion into fierce +and resistless activity. Of this fact our treatment of the Chinese has +already furnished a striking illustration. We tolerated and even petted +these industrious Orientals--certainly greatly the Negro's superior--so +long as they were few in number and in no way embarrassing. But at the +first suggestion that they might come in droves and derange our labour +system or alter the type of our civilization, there burst forth all +over the North a vehement protest, "in might as a flame of fire," that +swept everything before it and hurled back the Chinaman into the ocean +and barred our ports unyieldingly against him. The case against Chinese +immigration was not one-hundredth so strong as against the social +equality of the Negro; in fact, there was much to be said against our +restrictive legislation, and much was said both ably and eloquently. +But the strongest arguments could not make themselves heard; the race +instinct, that instinct preservative of all instincts, was infinitely +stronger, and easily triumphed. Let us not forget, either, the recent +incidents at Northwestern University and elsewhere, which show clearly +that the "prejudice," if you please so to call it, against the Negro is +hardly less strong, when aroused, even now in Chicago than in New +Orleans. + +But some one may say, if all this be true, if the race instinct of the +Anglo-Saxon is really so mighty and imperious, then there is no danger +that it will not assert itself, if need be; and why all this pother +about it? We answer, there is really no danger while the instinct is +aroused, and therefore, but only therefore, the South is safe. What we +deprecate is the systematic warfare that is waged in some quarters +against this instinct as a mere unenlightened "prejudice" whereof we +should be ashamed--the attempt to battle it down or else to drug it to +sleep in the name of morality or religion or higher humanity. When our +Northern brothers, by precept and by example, throw the whole weight of +their immense authority in favour of a practice that would be ruinous +to the South, are they walking according to love? + +We do not deny that there may be cases that move our sympathy; that +appeal strongly to our sense of fair play, of right between man and +man. In and of itself, it may sound strange and unjust and even foolish +to deny to Booker Washington a seat at the table of a white man, even +should he be distinctly Mr. Washington's inferior. But the matter must +not be decided in and of itself--no man either lives for himself or +dies for himself. It must be judged in its larger bearings, by its +universal interests, where it lays hold upon the ages, under the aspect +of eternity. We refuse to let the case rest in the low and narrow +category of _Duty to the Individual_; we range it where it belongs, in +the higher and broader category of _Obligation to the Race_. + +And this conducts us to a final remark. Even at the risk of a _sus +Minervam_ we venture to correct a great journal, _The Outlook_, in +one of its statements. It assures its readers that the recent criticism +does not represent the real South of intelligence, generosity, and true +breeding, but is a survival in a few persons, who have not had +opportunities of large contact with the world--of an antiquated and +incomprehensible prejudice. Such words are doubtless well-meant; but +they are ill-meaning, and if we understand them at all, they invert the +facts of the case. We have some acquaintance with some of the best +elements of the Southern society, some of the best representatives in +nearly all the walks of Southern life. We believe the virtue and +intelligence of "the real South" are eminently conservative, earnestly +deprecate intemperance in language, and are sworn enemies to sectional +animosity. Perhaps, in their zeal to cultivate the friendliest +relations with their Northern brethren, they may guard their +expressions too carefully and repress their true feelings. But he who +supposes that the South will ever waver a hair's breadth from her +position of uncompromising hostility to any and every form of social +equality between the races, deceives himself only less than that other +who mistakes her race instinct, the palladium of her future, for an +ignorant prejudice and who fails to perceive that her resolution to +maintain White racial supremacy within her borders is deepest-rooted +and most immutable precisely where her civic virtue, her intelligence, +and her refinement are at their highest and best. + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +IS THE NEGRO INFERIOR? + + _All flesh is not the same flesh;_ + + * * * * + + _Star differeth from star in glory._ + + I. Cor. XV. 39, 41 + + +In the foregoing discussion, it did not seem well to interrupt the +current of thought by any proof of the assumed inferiority of the +Negro, or of the degeneracy induced by the intermixture of types too +widely diverse. + +Yet these assumptions are, indeed, the two hinges of the whole +controversy. Once conceded the racial inferiority of the Black and the +half-way nature of the half-breed, and the general contention of the +South is proved, her general attitude justified. It is not strange, +then, that the doughtiest champions of equality, in their very latest +deliverances, find no choice left them but to deny that the Negro is an +inferior or a backward race. + +Such, by way of high example, are two world-renowned metropolitan +journals, whose general excellence and powerful influence for good in +our civic life cannot be disputed, but whose intense straining for +Justice and Equity in the present has utterly blinded them no less to +obvious facts and principles of science than to the highest and holiest +rights of humanity in the future. The one, in speaking of racial +"inferiors," incloses the word in contemptuous guillemets and declares +that when Mr. Darwin says: "Some of them--for instance, the negro and +the European--are so distinct that, if specimens had been brought to a +naturalist without any further information, they would undoubtedly have +been considered by him as good and true species," he "raises no +question of superior or inferior;" and it adds, "Nature knows no +forward or backward races, fauna or flora"--an oracle whose real +meaning can only be guessed at. + +The other is more specific. It maintains: "Physically, the negro is +equal to the Caucasian. He is as tall and as strong. He has all the +physical basis and all the brain capacity necessary for the development +of intellectual power.... No evidence has yet been adduced which proves +that the Negro is physically, intellectually, essentially, necessarily +an inferior race." ... "The assumption that the Caucasian is an +essentially superior race ... is provincial, unintelligent and +unchristian." + +When we first meet with such denials, we are almost dumbfounded; we rub +our eyes and exclaim with Truthful James: + + _Do I sleep? Do I dream? + Do I wonder and doubt? + Are things what they seem? + Or is visions about? + Is our civilization a failure? + Or is the Caucasian played out?_ + +But on recovery from the shock, the shining pageant of all the ages +begins to file interminably before the imagination. The triumphs of the +Indo-European and Semitic races, the stories of Babylon and Nineveh, of +Thebes and Memphis, of Rome and Athens and Jerusalem, of Delhi and of +Bagdad, of the Pyramids and of the Parthenon--the radiant names of +Hammurabi and Zarathustra and Moses and the Buddha and Mohammed, of +Homer and Plato and Phidias and Socrates and Pindar and Pythagoras, and +the mightiest Julius, and the imperial philosophers, and their peers +without number, the endless creations of art and science and religion +and law and literature and every other form of activity, the +full-voiced choir of all the Muses, the majestic morality, the +hundred-handed philosophy, the manifold wisdom of civilization--all of +this infinite cloud of witnesses gather swarming upon us from the whole +firmanent of the past and proclaim with pentecostal tongue the glory +and supremacy of Caucasian man. It seems impossible to represent in +human speech, or by any symbols intelligible to the human mind, the +variety and immensity of this consentient testimony of all historic +time and place. Not to be overwhelmed and overawed, much more +convinced, by such a prodigious spectacle of evidence, is to gaze at +midnoon into the heavens and cry out, "Where is the sun?" For over +against all these transcendent achievements, what has the West African +to set? What art? What science? What religion? What morality? What +philosophy? What history? What even one single aspect of civilization +or culture or higher humanity? It would seem to be an insult to the +reader's intelligence, if we should prolong the comparison. + +Now can all this be accidental? Has it just happened that, in all +quarters of the world and under all climatic and topographic +conditions, East and West, North and South, beneath the tropics and +within the frozen circles, by the sea and amid the mountains, in snow, +in sand, in forest--that everywhere and everywhen the Caucasian has +manifested the same all-conquering, overmastering qualities--not always +good or kind or just, but always strong, always striving, always +victorious? And that never, and nowhere, and under no circumstances, +has the Black man displayed any such capacities as could bring him for +a moment into consideration as the White man's equal? We answer, there +can be no possibility of mistake. The achievement of the race, its +total history both in time and in space, is the best possible index to +its powers and potencies. Against this witness of history, even if +other indications did plead, they would plead in vain. Even were the +brain of the Negro as large as an elephant's, it would matter not. Says +Hegel, "Nations are what their deeds are;" and with greater justice we +may affirm that _the race is what its life is and has been_. + +It is noteworthy that while the one knight-errant boldly declares that, +"Nature knows no forward or backward races," the other more cautiously +avoids the term "backward" and denies only inferiority for the Negro. +Perhaps one might admit that he is backward and demand for him time and +opportunity. However, the distinction is not really pertinent to the +issue. As well say the monkey is not inferior, but only backward. It is +only a difference of degree--a very great difference, to be sure, but +it is idle to say, "Give the Negro time." He has already had time, as +much time as the Europeans--thousands and ten thousands of years. And +what opportunity has failed him? The power that uplifted Aryan and +Semite did not come from without, but from within. No mortal civilized +him; he civilized himself. It was the wing of his own spirit that bore +him aloft. If the African has equal native might of mind, why has he +not wrought out his own civilization and peopled his continent with the +monuments of his genius? Or if the material was all there, ready to be +ignited, needing only the incensive spark, why has it never, in +hundreds of years, caught fire from the blazing torch of Europe? Why +has century-long contact with other civilizations never enkindled the +feeblest flame? For it is well known that intercourse with foreigners +has in no degree elevated or improved the West African, but on the +contrary has proved his curse and his doom. (See Ratzel, _The History +of Mankind_, III., pp. 99-100, 102-103, 120, 134.) Moreover, it +seems doubtful whether nearly forty[5] years of persistent and +consecrated efforts at education, with the expenditure of hundreds of +millions, have revealed yet in ten millions of Afro-Americans a single +example of originative ability of notably high order. (Bright +Mulattoes, like familiar instances, count little in this argument. It +is well known (Mendel's Law) that offspring[6] do not exactly divide +the qualities of parents, but often veer in this respect or in that far +over to one side or to the other. Besides, the abilities of such men +are apt to loom up unduly large in the popular imagination. We all +wonder at a dancing bear, not because he dances well, but because he +dances at all.) + + [5] Many more in Massachusetts; yet hear the reluctant admission + of the Negro's ardent friend, Dr. Henry M. Field: "The whole race + (in Massachusetts) has remained on one dead level of mediocrity." + ("Sunny Skies and Dark Shadows," p. 144). Statistics, however, + tell a story far less favourable still. See _infra_, pp. 249f. + + [6] The following example, in itself not uninteresting, has + fallen under our own observations: At Columbia, Mo., in a + well-known and highly reputed family, the father exemplifies the + brunette and the mother the blonde type, each in its extremest + form; the son repeats the father, and a daughter the mother, + exactly; the other daughter is an exquisite chataine, the mean of + her parents. Compare Mendel's formula for the transmission of + parental qualities, which DeVries has now made famous. + +Perhaps one of the most unerring indications of the native capacities +and tendencies of a race is to be found in its ethnic religion, its +mythology, its childlike, untutored attitude towards the riddles of the +universe. For there can be but little or no question of outside +influence or unequal opportunity. The sun, the moon, the stars, the +firmament, the ocean, the plains, the mountains, the forests, the +rivers, the seasons, eclipses and precessions, day and night, morning +and evening, fire and frost, ice and vapour, wind and cloud, thunder +and lightning, life and death, health and disease, dreams and +shadows--all these multiform materials of construction have offered +themselves in practically equivalent quantity and quality to the +phantasy of every race and every age. The reactions have varied widely, +and have boldly characterized the genius of each people. Tell me of +their gods, and I will tell you of the worshippers. Tried by this +standard, the case seems decided, even before it reaches the threshold +of the court. For, putting aside the sublime and awful monotheism of +the Hebrew, can any one for an instant set in line the august and +imposing, if overgrown and superluxuriant, mythology of India, the +stern and severe and tremendous religions of the Nile and the +Euphrates, the sad and solemn but high-hearted and deep-thoughted +musings of Scandinavia and Teuton-land, the infinitely varied and +infinitely beautiful mythopoeia of Hellas, or even the colorless but +sharp-lined abstractions of Italy, with the degraded fetichism, the +stock-and stone-service of the Niger and the Congo? + +What we may call the historical argument, just presented, finds strong +and decisive confirmation, even though it needs none, in the +craniology, the physiognomy, and the general anatomy of the Negro.[7] +Take him at his very best--does any one believe that the Olympian Zeus, +an Apollo Belvedere, a Melian Venus, a Capitoline Juno, a Hermes of +Praxiteles, or a Sistine Madonna could ever by any possibility have +emerged from the most fertile fancy of an "Old Master" of the Congo? +Perfect his type as you will, even as you perfect the type of a flower +or a bird, does not the Sudanese remain at immense remove from the +European? Of course, it is always possible to contend that beauty is +only subjective, any way, that the hair and brow and nose and lips and +jaw and ear of the West African would be just as beautiful as those of +the Greek or Anglo-American, if we only thought so. But being what we +are, we cannot think so now and still less the further we advance in +organic development. Moreover, with equal reason we might say that the +tiger-lily was as beautiful as the rose, the hippopotamus as pretty as +the squirrel; nay more, we might abolish all distinctions of quality, +and identify each pair of contradictories. + + [7] For the details of this argument, see _infra_, pp. 46f. _et + passim_. + +Does some one say that physical beauty is a poor, inferior thing at +best--that beauty of soul is alone sufficient and only desirable? We +deny it outright. Beauty of form and colour has its own high and +inalienable and indefectible rights, its own profound significance for +the history alike of nature and of man. Even if the intermingling of +bloods wrought no other wrong than the degradation of bodily beauty, +the coarsening of feature and blurring of coloration, it would still be +an unspeakable outrage, to be deprecated and prevented by all means in +our power. Moreover, we hold that every such degeneration of facial +type will drag along with it inevitably a corresponding declension of +spirit. Criminology is confident in its claim of some deep-seated, +however obscure, relation between aberrations from the physical and +from the mental norm. Though there may be many illustrious exceptions, +which our defective knowledge cannot explain, yet the broad general +principle may still be maintained: + + _For of the soule the bodie forme doth take; + For soule is forme, and doth the bodie make._ + +Any general declination from type in the one, while it may not cause, +will yet infallibly argue a corresponding declination from type in the +other. + +It is futile to reply that our own ancestors and the ancestors of the +Greeks and all other historical peoples were once savages--were once +not even men, and hardly manlike. Very true; but why stop here? Why not +boldly urge that Plato might have traced back his lineage to an +amoeba,--yea, to star-dust and curdling ether? True, perhaps; but +what of it? We may be cousins to the worm, at the billionth remove; but +we are not brothers. We grant the abstract possibility that the bee or +the ant may harbour in itself higher potentialities for development +than even man himself. We even think it wholesome to bear this thought +in mind. Nevertheless, such may-be's lie infinitely beyond the range of +the practical vision; they cannot enter into our calculations of +futurity. So, too, we grant that, in the centuries of milleniums to +come, it is possible that the Negro's nature may receive some +surpassing uplift: he may sprout eagle pinions, and far outfly the +wildest dreams of Caucasian fancy. But such possibilities are +altogether too remote for our reckoning now; they are decimals in the +hundredth place. We may and we must neglect them, as we neglect the +likelihood of a concussion of our planet with some extinct vagrant sun. +We must act in the living present, and at present there rolls between +the historical development of the black and the white species an +impassable river of ten thousand years. Possibly the former might catch +up in the course of ages, if only the latter stood still. But will they +stand still? Can they afford to wait? Is there not every reason to hope +that they will forge steadily ahead and widen still more and more the +interval between? Is not such the obvious teaching of history? Does not +the tree of life bud and bloom and put forth new boughs at the top? For +our part, we believe in the Overman, Him who is to come--not, however, +from the lower, but from the higher, humanity. Such, at least, seems of +necessity our working hypothesis. + +It would be unfair, however, to close this part of the discussion +without noticing what our adversaries have been able to produce contra. + +In _The Souls of Black Folk_, Prof. W. E. B. Dubois, of Atlanta, Ga., +tells the tale, and it could not be better told, of the contributions +made by the Negro to the civilization of our Union: + +"Your country? How came it yours? Before the Pilgrims landed we were +here. Here we have brought our three gifts and mingled them with yours: +a gift of story and song--soft, stirring melody in an ill-harmonized +and unmelodious land; the gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the +wilderness, conquer the soil, and lay the foundations of this vast +economic empire two hundred years earlier that your weak hands could +have done it; the third, a gift of the Spirit" (p. 262). The second of +these "gifts" we dismiss at once; the Negro's labour was not voluntary, +and was not a "gift" in any sense.[8] As well say the mule made "gift +of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilderness." As to the "Spirit," +Prof. Dubois means that the spectacle of African slavery aroused the +"Spirit" in the people of our land, particularly in the +Abolitionists--"out of the nation's heart we have called all that was +best to throttle and subdue all that was worst" (p. 263). Queer "gift", +indeed! By the same token, the poverty, the distress, the injustice, +the iniquity, the intemperance, even the crime--all that mar our +civilization have been making it "the gift of the Spirit;" for have +they not aroused our sense of right and duty and devotion to the good +of others? Have they not called out of the nation's heart all that was +best to throttle and subdue all that was worst? The gift of song, of +the plaintive Negro melody--we freely allow it. How much of the same +is really the product of the Negro soul seems to be a question by no +means easy to answer. But let us allow the Negroid the benefit of the +doubt and accord him the fullest credit. We are not musician enough +to appraise this "gift" properly, nor yet to reckon its possible +significance for the future of American music. But at the very most, it +seems to us that this worth and this significance cannot be very high; +especially since a whole generation has come and gone without any sign +of larger development, but instead, Dubois himself being witness, with +many signs of corruption and degradation. Even then, according to the +rating of the chief of Negroids, their contribution to our civilization +has been quite inconsiderable. + + [8] Even as a contribution, this labour was never necessary, and + is notoriously becoming more and more dispensable, even where it + is not already turning into an impediment. + + * * * * * + +(N.B.--It is not, however, the sociologist of Atlanta, but the seer of +Concord, who has recognized most distinctly and celebrated with +proudest pomp of mixed metaphor the clairvoyance and spiritual +superiority of the tropical. + + _Dove beneath the vulture's beak._ + +In the oft quoted "Voluntaries" we read: + + _He has avenues to God + Hid from men of Northern brain, + Far beholding, without cloud, + What these with slowest steps attain._ + +Inasmuch, however, as these "avenues" of the far-sighted African are +nothing but the blind alleys of Voodooism and devil worship, it may be +just as well that they remain "hid" from the slow-paced European.) + + * * * * * + +In the _Booklovers' Magazine_ for July, 1903, the same writer returns +to this subject in an article on "_Possibilities of the Negro--The +Advance Guard of the Race._" The conspicuous position and, the full +illustrations given this paper show clearly at what a positive +advantage the Black man stands in the world of literature--simply +because he is black. We happen to know that the article has made some +impression. Ten names are presented of Negroids that have done +respectable work in various fields of intellectual labour. If Mr. +Washington is easily the Herakles in this latter-day crew of Argo, Dr. +Dubois, who has mustered them, is himself certainly Jason, the +eleventh. But of these eleven we may at once dismiss eight, for their +abundant white blood is apparent in their pictures and is not denied. +Only the other three are claimed as "black"; pure black is not said, +perhaps is not meant. These seem to be the electrician, the +mathematician, the poet. For none of these can be claimed any very high +order of merit; the light by which they shine conspicuous among their +fellows would not illustrate them very especially among the Whites. +That such abilities should occasionally show themselves, even in a +quite inferior race, ought surely to be expected and to arouse the +wonder of no one. The really significant thing is that eight out of +eleven of these champions are confessedly of mixed blood; only 27 per +cent. are "black." But these "Blacks" form 80 per cent. of the total +Negroid population. Hence, in proportion to numbers, it appears that +the Mulattoes are represented nearly eleven times as often as the +"Blacks." In the face of such a fact,[9] it seems vain to deny that the +mixed blood is notably more intelligent than the pure black; the +necessary inference is that the white blood with which it was mixed is +far more intelligent still. + + [9] Established in the most conclusive fashion by the patriotic + and scholarly Crogman's "Progress of a Race" (1902). On glancing + through the long gallery of notable Negroids therein assembled, + one perceives instantly that the Mulatto is greatly predominant. + +The reader may naturally ask, Why devote space to such trivial +arguments as those quoted, since they tell plainly, where they tell at +all, against and not for the cause they would support? We answer, that +our treatment must be thorough, if it be worth anything; that we desire +to represent our opponents at their very best, and as far as possible +in their own words; and that the weakness of their position is most +clearly seen in their own efforts at defence. + +The details of the anatomical argument, which Darwin said would +undoubtedly lead the naturalist to classify Negro and European as +distinct species, are matters of readily accessible knowledge. They +have been presented frequently and with telling force. That in +particular the cranial, the facial, and the appendicular skeletons of +the dolichocephalic West African (the purest, the lowest, and the +prevalent type on the plantation) deviate sensibly from the highest +human towards the quadrumanal stamp, has been the common observation of +naturalists from Blumenbach to Ratzel; nor can this have escaped the +notice of intelligent and unbiased laymen. + +Nevertheless, it may be well to record the authoritative statement made +by A. H. Keane, professor of Hindustani, University College, London, in +the article "Negro," in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. XVII.[10] + + [10] For a fuller statement of some particulars, see Chapter + Four. + +"But wherever found in a comparatively pure state, as on the coast of +Guinea (here apparently is to be met the most pronounced Negro type +proper yet discovered), in the Gaboon, along the lower Zambesi, and in +the Benua and Shari basins, the African aborigines present almost a +greater uniformity of physical and moral type than any of the other +great divisions of mankind. By the nearly unanimous consent of +anthropologists this type occupies at the same time the lowest position +in the evolutionary scale, thus affording the best material for the +comparative study of the highest anthropoids and the human species. The +chief points in which the Negro either approaches the _Quadrumana_ or +differs most from his congeners are: + + (1) The abnormal length of the arm, which in the erect position +sometimes reaches the knee-pan, and which on an average exceeds that of +the Caucasian by about 2 inches. + + (2) Prognathism, or projection of the jaws (index number of facial +angle about 70, as compared with the Caucasian 82). + + (3) Weight of brain, as indicating cranial capacity, 35 ounces (highest +gorilla 20, average European 45). + + (4) Full black eye, with black iris and yellowish sclerotic coat, a +very marked feature. + + (5) Short flat snub nose, deeply depressed at the base or frontal +suture, broad at extremity, with dilated nostrils and concave ridge. + + (6) Thick protruding lips, plainly showing the inner red surface. + + (7) Very large zygomatic arches--high and prominent cheek bones. + + (8) Exceedingly thick cranium, enabling the Negro to butt with the head +and resist blows which would inevitably break any ordinary European's +skull. + + (9) Correspondingly weak lower limbs, terminating in a broad flat foot +with low instep, divergent and somewhat prehensile great toe, and heel +projecting backwards ("lark heel"). + +(10) Complexion deep brown or blackish, and in some cases even +distinctly black, due not to any special pigment, as is often supposed, +but merely to the greater abundance of the coloring matter in the +Malphigian mucous membrane between the inner or true skin and the +epidermis or scarf skin. + +(11) Short, black hair, eccentrically elliptical or almost flat in +section, and distinctly woolly, not merely frizzly, as Prichard +supposed on insufficient evidence. + +(12) Thick epidermis, cool, soft, and velvety to the touch, mostly +hairless, and emitting a peculiar rancid odor, compared by Pruner Bey +to that of the buck goat.[11] + + [11] This misfortune should, of itself, be sufficient to settle + the question of social intercourse. The emanation is from certain + overabundant sudorific glands. + +(13) Frame of medium height, thrown somewhat out of the perpendicular +by the shape of the pelvis, the spine, the backward projection of the +head, and the whole anatomical structure. + +(14) The cranial sutures, which close much earlier in the Negro than in +the other races. To this premature ossification of the skull, +preventing all further development of the brain, many pathologists have +attributed the inherent mental inferiority of the blacks, an +inferiority which is even more marked than their physical differences. +Nearly all observers admit that the Negro child is on the whole quite +as intelligent as those of other human varieties, but that on arriving +at puberty all further progress seems to be arrested. No one has more +carefully studied this point than Filippo Manetta, who, during a long +residence on the plantations of the Southern States of America noted +that 'the Negro children were sharp, intelligent, and full of vivacity, +but on approaching the adult period a gradual change set in. The +intellect seemed to become clouded, animation giving place to a sort of +lethargy, briskness yielding to indolence. We necessarily suppose that +the development of the Negro and White proceeds on different lines. +While with the latter the volume of the brain grows with the expansion +of the brain-pan, in the former the growth of the brain is on the +contrary arrested by the premature closing of the cranial sutures and +lateral pressure of the frontal bone.'" (_La Razza Negra nel suo stato +selvaggio e nella sua duplice condizione di emancipata e di schiava_, +Torino, 1864, p. 20). + +This last point is one of such supreme importance that it seems well to +strengthen it by additional testimony. Says the renowned Cesare +Lombroso, in his "_L'Uomo Bianco e L'Uomo di Colore_" (1892), p. 28: +"The development of the African baby is altogether different from ours. +In its first days it does not show the dark color of the adult; the +sutures of the head, which with us close up only late in life, with it +ossify speedily, as in idiots and monkeys, and the anterior sooner than +the posterior. Also its face becomes projecting and prognathous only +after the first dentition; and only after the thirteenth year its head +is seen to grow longer and its skin to grow darker. The same may be +said of the mental (_morale_) development; for the Negro, precisely +like the monkey, shows himself very intelligent up to puberty; but at +that epoch, when our intellect spreads its wings for more daring +flights, he stops and turns backward..." This profoundly significant +arrest of development in the Negro is equally observable in school and +out of it. Among many witnesses, hear one of the most unexceptionable, +J. M. McGovern, in a symposium in the _Arena_ (Vol. 21, p. 439): "My +experience has shown me that, while at the start a negro child often +shows ability quite equal to that of a white child at the same age, yet +if the two children, one white and one coloured, each of average +intelligence, are kept in the same class, in a short period the white +child far outstrips the negro--at least in all those studies where +diligent application and depth of thought are necessary for success." +This testimony seems particularly valuable, since it is based solely on +"experience" and is plainly independent of any doctrine concerning +cranial sutures. + +In the work already cited, Lombroso mentions several other minute yet +important particulars in which the Negro anatomy diverges from the +Caucasian toward the simian, but sufficient have been adduced. It may +be replied that each and every one of these divergences may be found +here and there among Caucasians. This is true, but the reply is no +answer. All sorts of reversions to lower type are to be met with in +higher species, but this by no means negatives the fact that some +species are more and some are less developed. The well-formed type +still exists in spite of the occasional malformations. Besides, it is +not the presence of any single indication on which our argument is +grounded, but the simultaneous presence of a great number of +indications. It is these in their entirety that distinguish the Negro +so notably, and remove him toward the anthropoids; and over against +this fact the occasional aberrations among the Whites have no +argumentative weight whatever. + +That the Afro-Americans are by no means racially identical, though +racially related, is a fact well known, but worth recalling. Some are +racially very distinctly superior to others, even as were their +ancestors in the African fatherland. On this point we submit the highly +intelligent and unprejudiced testimony of Nathaniel Southgate Shaler, +the well-known professor of geology in Harvard University. In the +_Popular Science Monthly_ (Vol. 57), he attempts a classification of +the Southern Blacks. First come those of the "Guinea type"--the purest +Negro--who are "distinctly of a low type," and who number one-half of +all. Those of the Zulu type are much higher, and number perhaps five +per cent. of all. The Arab Negro, found in Virginia, is of a finer and +more delicate mould, and numbers (say) one per cent. The Red Negroes, +the Bongos and Mittus mentioned by Schweinfurth as "red-brown," like +their native soil (_Heart of Africa_, Vol. I., p. 261), are Albinoidal, +and number perhaps one per cent. The rest are of mixed types. The +Guinea "folk are of essentially limited intelligence;" the Zulus are +fit for anything that ordinary men of our own race can do; the Arabs +are more educable, but of a sombre disposition; the red are inferior. +The Mulattoes are of feeble vitality, rarely surviving beyond middle +age. Professor Shaler's father, an able physician, had never seen a +half-breed more than sixty years old. As the reputation of the Mulatto +is generally bad, perhaps unjustly, "we may welcome the fact that this +mixed stock is likely to disappear" (pp. 33-38). In a later article in +the same volume, Professor Shaler contributes some valuable thoughts +and estimates. Thus: "The simple yet valuable lessons of the +soil-tiller they have had. For the greater number of their race, +particularly those of the Guinea type, this grade of employment is as +high as they may be expected to attain" (p. 148). "I feel safe in +saying, from the basis of personal experience with the negroes, that +somewhere near one-third of them are fit to be trained for mechanical +employment of a fairly high grade" (p. 149). We do not see how it is +possible to call in question either the competence or the +fair-mindedness of this distinguished observer. It is worthy of special +attention that he attests both the hopeless inferiority of the (pure +Negro) Guinea type and at the same time its decisive numerical +preponderance. The real question before us, then, concerns not so much +the Negro in general, of whom there are notably superior varieties, as +the very lowest Negro that West Africa has yet produced. + +Here, then, we let the anatomical argument rest for the present. A +minuter treatment will be found in a more appropriate connection in a +following chapter. + +It is a favourite subterfuge of the champions of the Black man to +ascribe his unamiable characteristics of mind and temper, if not of +body, to the centuries of enslavement, debasement, and even persecution +that he has passed on this continent. Now we have no apology whatever +to offer for the "institution" of African slavery. We recoiled from it +instinctively at the dawn of consciousness, and we regard it now as an +unmitigated curse to the people that practise it. But we must not leave +unexposed the gross error in the defence just mentioned. These +centuries have indeed been centuries of enslavement, but certainly not +of debasement nor any form of retrogression. For slavery is and has +been, from time immemorial, practically universal in the fatherland of +the Negro--slavery more cruel and degrading and inhuman than is known +elsewhere on the globe. We enter into no details, unwilling to make our +pages needlessly repulsive. In fact, the training of servitude in the +South has worked mightily for the Negro's advancement--not unlike the +domestication of the lower animals. Any who will read the descriptions +of travellers, or the pages of Lombroso--_L'Uomo Bianco e L'Uomo di +Colore_--must admit that the humanizing of the African in the South has +proceeded surprisingly far. However elementary and contradictory may be +his notion and his practice of morality now, on his native heath he has +practically no morality at all. "It is more correct to say of the Negro +that he is non-moral than immoral. All the social institutions are at +the same low level, and throughout the historic period seem to have +made no perceptible advance, except under the stimulus of foreign (in +recent times notably of Mohammedan) influences.... Slavery continues +everywhere to prevail ... cannibalism is practiced ... human flesh +appears to be sold in the open marketplace" (Keane). All this talk, +then, of the Negro's degradation, wrought by his American slavery, is +the absolute inversion of the truth. + +But if the Black man has advanced so remarkably in Southern slavery, +may we not expect him to advance still more remarkably, especially now +that he is a free man? At first blush, this expectation may seem +plausible; but a very little reflection and observation must show its +vanity. The first sharp breath of winter lends a keen edge to the +appetite; the continued cold does not make it keener and keener. The +fagged-out man of business or leader of society retires to some cool +and quiet health resort and reacts almost instantly. In a week he gains +ten pounds, in two weeks fifteen, in a month twenty; but it would be a +great mistake to suppose that this rate of gain could be maintained for +any considerable time. The natural effect of the changed and improved +conditions is soon exhausted, the limits set in the constitution of the +subject are soon reached. So, too, in the domestication of plants and +animals. A marvellous superficial alteration may be speedily brought +about, but the bound is close at hand and is approached with rapidly +decreasing velocity that soon becomes hardly perceptible. By no such +means is any steady progress possible. + +Precisely so in the domestication, education, civilization of the lower +races. These latter do undoubtedly possess undeveloped potentialities; +they are capable of better things. The immediate result of subjecting +them to new conditions that stimulate their powers may often be highly +gratifying. But herein lies no promise whatever of any progressive +amelioration. The boundaries are near by; nor can they be overstepped +by any such extra-organic agencies. Moreover, it must not be forgotten +that, in perhaps every such case, there is some sacrifice--it may be a +fatal sacrifice--of the native vigour of the primitive stock. + +This reflection is completely confirmed by the actual example of the +Negro in a state of freedom. Unless all the statistical indications be +grossly misleading, the movement of the Afro-American average in the +last generation has been down and not up, backward and not forward.[12] +Especially the physical decline has been measurable and ominous. In +Haiti the same experiment has been carried much further, and with +results proportionately more disastrous. A hundred years of internecine +strife have witnessed nothing but a slow reversion to barbarism. The +interest on the public debt remains unpaid, agriculture is most +primitive, manufactures languish, the industries for which the island +was once famous are dead or dying, the beautiful French language is +Africanized into a structureless patois.[13] + + [12] See _infra_, Chapter Six. + + [13] Thus, the proverb: Un sac qui est vide ne peut pas rester + debout, becomes: Sac qui vide pas connait ete debout. + +Here, too, is the natural place for one of the most plausible and at +the same time most sophistical arguments yet advanced for the essential +comparability, if not the perfect equality, of the White and the +Black--an argument frequent on the lips of the most conspicuous leader +of his people, namely: that the Negro, and only the Negro, has been +able to maintain himself against or in presence of the aggressive +Anglo-Saxon (we do not pretend to reproduce his words, not having them +at hand, but we do not misrepresent his idea). However, the Negro has +not maintained himself _against_, but only with and _for_, the +Anglo-Saxon. A century long the Blacks did greatly flourish, because +they were greatly cherished, in the South, despite occasional cruelty, +which rarely or never hindered development. Fatuously enough, the +Whites fancied it to their own interest to warm up the Blacks into +the most vigorous life. The ante-bellum slaves were, perhaps, the +best-nurtured labouring population to be found anywhere in the history +of mankind. Moreover, their stock was actually strengthened by +artificial selection. No wonder, then, that the Black man more than +maintained himself under conditions that were racially so extremely +favourable. Of course, little credit or none at all goes to the +humanity of the slaveholder. The best that could be said would be that +he displayed a semi-enlightened selfishness. He considered his slaves + + _Something better than his dog, a little dearer than his horse._ + +It is, indeed, a wide-spread paradox of civilization, that the +possessors exhibit far deeper wisdom in the treatment of their +possessions than in the treatment of themselves. They choose food for +their children less rationally than for their cows. A royal weakling +was gazing admiringly at a lordly bull, and exclaimed: "What a +magnificent specimen he is!" "Yes," replied the bull, "if your +ancestors had been selected as carefully as mine, you would be a +magnificent specimen, too." + +There are yet other considerations, as the linguistic, of much weight, +but of subtile or else of delicate nature, into which at present we +forbear to enter. However, one further reflection of a very general +nature must not be omitted. The diversities of type found even among +Europeans, still more among other Caucasians, are remarkable and +universally recognized. Norwegian and Italian, Russian and Spaniard, +Cretan and Scot, can hardly be confounded, not to contrast Dane and +Hindu, Teuton and Arab, Irishman and Jew. These diversities affect not +merely or mainly the body, but still more the mind, all its products +and institutions. Moreover, they are very persistent, maintaining and +asserting themselves in scarcely diminished force from generation to +generation, sometimes even under levelling conditions of highly +composite intermixture. "We have seen how tenaciously they have clung +to the type of their ancestors throughout all the vicissitudes of ages" +(_Ripley_, Pop. Sci. Mon., March, 1898, p. 608). + +The thread of national character, though interlaced and interwoven with +bewildering perplexity, is found to stretch itself unbroken through the +ages. In continuous illustration of this truth we may cite the great +work of Lapouge, _L'Aryen_, and the researches of the school he so +brilliantly represents. Furthermore, these differences are not merely +sidewise, right and left, this way and that, in the same plane of +quality. They are at least three-dimensional; they are up and down, +higher and lower. The one race is distinctly superior, the other +inferior, in some given particular. While all branches of this great +family are very highly endowed, yet they are by no means equally +endowed. Each has its points of excellence, but these points are not +the same in number or importance. Even among these members of the same +family, there is by no means equality; there are favourites of nature. +Now even the protagonist of the Black man does not controvert Mr. +Darwin, does not deny that the distinction between Negro and European +is apparently great enough to mark off two species; it merely says the +distinction is not of superior and inferior. But how can this be? Will +any one deny that the Greek was measurably superior to the Mede in a +host of important particulars? That he has excelled all other sons of +men in certain respects? That he has fallen markedly below the Jew and +the German in others? If, then, distinctions of inferior and superior +do undoubtedly obtain between stems so closely knit physiologically and +genetically, with what show of reason can it be held that varieties, +like Negro and European, distinct enough for "true and good species," +are yet not to be distinguished as inferior and superior? In what +respect, pray then, are they distinguishable? Possibly some one may say +that black, as a color for man, is neither better nor worse than +white--we doubt it, but let it pass; that a broad, flat nose and thick, +everted lips are neither inferior nor superior to the straight, +clean-cut nose and lips curved like the bow of Phoebus. But even if +we do not dispute about such tastes, the list of such regards is a very +short one, and when we come to the profounder mental, moral, and social +differences, we can find no other terms than greater and less to +describe the relative endowments of the widely sundered races. The one +breed of dogs does not differ from the other merely in length of hair +or shape of head and face; it is superior or inferior in size, +strength, courage, agility, endurance, ferocity, fidelity, docility, +intelligence. Can we say less, must we not say more, of the varieties +of men? We should really like to know, if the Greeks were neither +superior nor inferior to the Bushmen, what was the real distinction +between them? + +Once again, if millennial contact and intermingling of such near +affinities as Teuton and Alpine Kelt have not availed to efface their +distinguishing features, either of body or of mind--if the wonted +ancestral fires still live in the remote descendants--how can we hope +for aught else from the mixture of European and African? Will not the +slumberous apathy in which the Dark Continent broods away its aeons +surely fall upon the people that drink its blood into their own veins? +Not to anticipate such a result is to scorn analogy, to despise +science, to defy history. + +We now come to the second question: _Will intermingling with inferiors +really lower the superior stock?_ It seems very hard to believe that +any sober-minded man can long hesitate to answer, Yes. Does any breeder +of horses or cattle or dogs or pigeons, or any cultivator of grains or +flowers, or any student of heredity in either plants or animals, +entertain any doubt whatever? We trow not. We need not, however, appeal +to general principles, or to common sense, or to universal observation +of the lower planes of life. The mingling of races is no new thing on +our planet; it has been widely diffused, and the results are matters of +record. We shall content ourselves with citing a single authority, than +whom there is none higher--whom not even the most suspicious will +suspect of Southern ignorance and prejudice. We allude to the +distinguished author of "The American Commonwealth," and the +"Assimilation of Races in the United States." + +In his Romanes Lecture of June 7, 1902, on "The Relations of the +Advanced and the Backward Races of Mankind," Mr. Bryce says (p. 24): +"Where two races are physiologically near to one another, the result of +intermixture is good. Where they are remote, it is less satisfactory, +by which I mean not only that it is below the level of the higher +stock, but that it is not generally and evidently better than the lower +stock.... But the mixture of whites and negroes, or of whites and +Hindus, or of the American aborigines and negroes, seldom shows good +results. The hybrid stocks, if not inferior in physical strength to +either of those whence they spring, are apparently less persistent, and +might--so at least some observers hold--die out if they did not marry +back into one or other of the parent races. Usually, of course, they +marry back into the lower." (_N.B._ Mr. Bryce, it appears, is so +"provincial, unintelligent and unchristian" as to assume that the +Whites are superior--a higher stock, and the Negroes inferior--a lower +stock!) Again, p. 26: "... the two general conclusions which the facts +so far as known suggest are these: that races of marked physical +dissimilarity do not tend to intermarry, and that when and so far as +they do, the average offspring is apt to be physically inferior to the +average of either parent stock, and probably more beneath the average +mental level of the superior than above the average mental level of the +inferior." Again, p. 35: "Should this view be correct, it dissuades any +attempt to mix races so diverse as are the white European and the +negroes." And on p. 36: "The matter ought to be regarded from the side +neither of the white nor of the black, but of the future of mankind at +large. Now for the future of mankind nothing is more vital than that +some races should be maintained at the highest level of efficiency, +because the work they can do for thought and art and letters, for +scientific discovery, and for raising the standard of conduct, will +determine the general progress of humanity. If therefore we were to +suppose the blood of the races which are now most advanced to be +diluted, so to speak, by that of the most backward, not only would more +be lost to the former than would be gained to the latter, but there +would be a loss, possibly an irreparable loss, to the world at large." +Lastly, p. 39: "The moral to be drawn from the case of the Southern +States seems to be that you must not, however excellent your intentions +and however admirable your sentiments, legislate in the teeth of +facts.... Nevertheless, the general opinion of dispassionate men has +come to deem the action taken in A.D. 1870 a mistake." + +Now, we are quite willing to concede that possibly, even probably, +there are exceptions to the general conclusions of this eminently +fair-minded investigator. We feel sure there are many cases in which +the Mulatto is raised distinctly above his coal-black parent; we +believe there are some cases, relatively rare, absolutely frequent, in +which he rises measurably above the median line, towards his white +parent. The law of Mendel, or any other plausible law of inheritance, +would lead us to expect such a result. And yet, the extreme difficulty +of organic ascent, whether of the individual or of the race, as +compared with the fatal facility of descent, prepares us to expect, in +general terms, precisely what Mr. Bryce affirms. It is so easy to fall +ill! It is so hard to get well! In any case, that the average of +cross-breeding between widely separate races, like Black and White, +rises above the mid-line or approaches the superior, is a proposition +that runs squarely against all evidence and all reason, nor will +anything but invincible prepossession maintain it. + +True it is, that a great authority, a stalwart champion of the Black +man, whose attention we had called to these extracts, declares in reply +that he is "not at all affected by Mr. Bryce's statements." He thinks +we have here, in the United States, a much broader basis of induction +than the Englishman has (as if Mr. Bryce, the author of "Assimilation +of Races in the United States" [1892], of all men, could neglect or +ignore this important example!); he has in mind a case of triple +mixture, reaching back several generations, yet the family are vigorous +and of excellent character; and he refers to thousands of Mulattoes +that are perfect physically--all of which may be true and yet not +enlightening. We sometimes meet with not uncultured persons who are +firmly persuaded that the moon controls the weather. Tell them that the +most minute and accurate observations, extending through half a century +and designed to test the matter, have failed to reveal any connection +between the weather and the moon's phases; point out to them the +insuperable obstacles in the way of their opinion--and they reply that +they are "not at all affected by your statements", that they and their +ancestors have observed for generations that changes in the weather +coincide accurately with changes in the moon, that the broadest +induction in their own neighbourhood shows clearly that beans will not +flourish if planted in the dark of the moon, and that it would be +madness to plant potatoes in the light. If any other facts or +observations seem not to conform to this theory--why, so much the worse +for them! + +The general inferiority of the mixed stock has passed into a proverb +even in Africa, where it is said: "A god created the whites; I know not +who created the blacks; certainly a devil created the mongrels." So +reports Livingstone (quoted by Lombroso), and adds that he had seen but +one Portuguese Mestizo of robust health. In Brazil it is held that the +mingling of Indian with Latin blood has not produced evil results,[14] +but everywhere else such remote crossings have been more or less +disastrous. Strikingly is this the case with the Zambos--the mixture of +Indian and Negro; they are mainly degenerates and degraded. Thus E. G. +Squier, writing of Honduras in the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. XII., +says: "A small part of the coast, above Cape Gracias, is occupied by +the Sambos, a mixed race of Indians and Negroes, which, however, is +fast disappearing." In Mexico, Central and South America, the +half-breeds are everywhere stationary or declining. In India the +Eurasians (20,000 in Calcutta) "touch a level of degradation which is +far lower than any reached by the pure heathen about them. They inherit +defects more conspicuously than virtues from both races from which they +spring" (Pop. Sci. Mon., Nov., 1892). In Japan the inferior Ainos are +passing away before the superior Japanese. The hybrids are never +healthy or vigorous, and vanish with the third or fourth generation. +Here, in the United States, the testimony is all against the Mulatto. +In a report of the Provost-Marshal General, the opinions of physicians +stand eleven to one against the Mulatto as "scrofulous and +consumptive," "degenerated physically," and the one favourable +judgement reposes on only two instances. The anthropometry of the +Mulatto is decidedly against him. His average lung capacity, the most +significant of measurements, was found by Gould to be only 158.9 cubic +inches against 163.5 for the pure Black, and 184.7 for the White. His +respiration rate was equally unfavourable, being 19 per minute against +17.7 for the pure Black, and 16.4 for the White. We refer, also, to the +testimony of Dr. Shaler (p. 52), that he had never known a Mulatto to +pass threescore. The writer remembers the first use he ever heard of +the word "cachectic;" his father spoke of it as a term generally +applicable to Mulattoes. + + [14] But Lapouge (_L'Aryen_): "That immense realm reverting + to barbarism." + +From the convergence of all such testimony, which may be multiplied +indefinitely, there seems no escape whatever. We must concede, with +Lombroso: "It is impossible to contemplate these facts without +admitting that marriages between some human races are much less fertile +and happy than between others;" and especially unfortunate are those +between such extremes as Whites and Negroes. When such anthropologists +as Waitz, Serres, Deschamps, Bodichon, anticipate a millennium from +universal miscegenation, it is only sentimentalism or else +forgetfulness of the distinction drawn so properly by Topinard +(Elements d'Anthropologie generale, 1885) between the intermingling of +nearly related and of distantly related races. In the first case the +result is, in general, certainly good; in the latter, it is quite as +certainly bad. + +But let us now, merely for the moment and for the sake of argument, +admit that both our premises are in doubt; that, perhaps, after all the +Negro is not inferior organically--mentally, morally, or physically--to +the Caucasian, and that interfertility might, perhaps, work no +deterioration; would the case be essentially altered? Assuredly not. +For even then the most extreme negrophilist must still admit that there +is, at least, a reasonable doubt; even if the Negro be not proved +inferior, yet he is certainly not proved equal, and there is a large +body of at least apparent evidence against him; even if it be not +certain that miscegenation would work deterioration, it is at least +very possible and seemingly probable. Who, then, would have the +foolhardihood to make this experiment of race amalgamation--an +experiment which, once made, is made forever; whose consequences could +never be undone--when there is at least and at the very lowest an +undeniable possibility, not to say certainty, that those consequences +would be disastrous in the extreme? Can we imagine a more wanton folly? +Would such an experiment beseem any other place so well as the +madhouse? + +But some one will say that we are fighting "bogies"; that no one in the +North, much less in the South, desires any such amalgamation. Do not +believe it! The intense, the supreme yearning of large bodies of +Negroes is for social recognition among the Whites--more especially for +intermarriage with their haughty, old-time despisers. Who does not know +this, simply does not understand the dominant facts of Southern +life.[15] True, there may be no longer anyone in the North that openly +advocates miscegenation--no one that would welcome or even tolerate it +in his family, though we remember to have read years ago a distinct +declaration, by no mean authority, that it might be a positive +advantage to pour the strong, rich blood of the Black man into the +languid veins of the Southern Whites! However, granted that all would +NOW[16] disavow such a sentiment--and let us accept the disavowal +unreservedly--the fact remains that the highest authorities in the +North, the factors that form public opinion and guide legislation, have +never yet to our knowledge raised their voices against miscegenation in +the South. What means this expressive silence? In this momentous, +all-overshadowing controversy, there is no middle ground. He that is +not against amalgamation is for it. Who so does not oppose must _ipso +facto_ favour it. Only ciphers are neither plus nor minus. + + [15] Nor do we see how any one can blame them. Especially the + intelligent Mulatto recognizes, and justly, that social equality, + with its necessary corollary, intermarriage, is the key of the + whole position. Without it, he sees clearly that his race is + doomed. From his point of view, the denial of such equality + appears as a colossal injustice, an immeasurable wrong. And + unless he be racially inferior, he is incontrovertibly right. + + [16] We are not willing to deface these pages with passages + quoted in proof of the fact that miscegenation has been advocated + openly and repeatedly in the highest quarters, and doubtless in + all good faith and good will. But he who has any doubt on this + point may consult the _Edinburgh Review_ of 1827, pp. 390-394; + Lyell's "Second Visit to the United States," 1849, Vol. II., p. + 216; The Fourth of July Speech of Mr. Wendell Phillips (1863); + the speeches of Mr. Theodore Tilton, sometime editor of _The + Independent_; but especially the collection of pamphlets entitled + "Miscegenation," by D. G. Croly and others (1864), wherein "not + only the propriety, but the necessity, of the marriage of Black + and White" is argued passionately. Abominable as such doctrines + may sound, they flow inevitably from the principles even at this + date commonly accepted in both Englands, and they can be proved + _wrong_ only by proving that our present contentions are _right_. + +Moreover, we affirm that he who denies our two cardinal theses, who +denies the racial inferiority of the Negro, and the racial +deterioration of the Mulatto, must consistently hold that +mongrelization of the South is positively desirable; and we should +esteem him not the less, but the more, for boldly defending it.[17] For +if such miscegenation involves no declination from the Caucasian +standard, then there is no reason whatever against it. On the other +hand, there are strong reasons that favour it (as Bryce himself admits, +p. 27, it "has two great merits"); in particular, it would bring about +speedily and permanently a settlement of the race question, and a +settlement far more amicable than is otherwise possible. There is no +escape from this conclusion; and no disclaimer, however honest, can be +adequate. The inference of approval, from non-hostility to +miscegenation, is immediate and unavoidable; and we may justly hold our +opponents to the logical consequence of their teachings, however +earnestly they may reject it. + + [17] Mongrelization of the world has, in fact, been ably and + honestly, however mistakenly, championed on quasi-scientific + grounds by distinguished ethnologists--a grave error in science, + but no moral reproach. With such must be ranged the mighty + journal that "stands alone in its field," exponent of the highest + civic life yet unfolded on this continent. In the edition of Dec. + 26th, 1895, in commenting upon a conservative letter from + Clinton, Iowa, the Editor remarks: "The laws forbidding honorable + intermarriage between the two races are the guarantee of the + perpetuation of this savage atrocity [lynching]; their abolition, + the first step on the part of the whites towards its + disappearance." Language could hardly be more explicit. Of + course, such "abolition" would be tantamount to official + invitation to such "honorable intermarriage"; otherwise it would + be nugatory: he who throws wide open his gates, thereby bids come + in. + +Herewith, then, for the present, we sheathe the sword for lack of +argument; for it seems scarcely worth while to point out that when we +demonstrate the racial inferiority of the Negroids, and insist upon the +necessity of an impassable social chasm, we by no means excuse or +extenuate any form of cruelty or injustice or oppression or +inconsideration, political or other. Replies to our arguments are not +pertinent when they fail to note this distinction, even though they may +quote passages from the "Apostle of Heredity," written nearly a +generation before his call to that apostolate. The humane man resents +the maltreatment of inferiors no less quickly because he recognizes +their inferiority; it is they that especially move his compassion. The +ancient Hindu knew and felt this when he wrote: "He who needlessly +tramples upon a worm in his path, that soul is darkly alienate from +God." + +This remark conducts us very near to certain semi-political phases of +the matter; which, however, we leave to the politician, the pulpit, and +the press. These are careful and troubled about many things; but there +is one thing needful--that the rights of the generations unborn be +guarded, that the Caucasian race integrity be preserved. + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +NURTURE? OR NATURE? + + _The que still hangs behind him._ + + CHAMISSO + + +In the foregoing chapter we have propounded and answered the question +as to the native inferiority of the Black race; and now the query +arises, What more? Have we not already said that such is the end of the +matter? But the subject is of transcendent importance, and we must not +disguise from the reader that the considerations thus far adduced may +not yet be admitted as perfectly conclusive by a certain highly +intelligent class of thinkers. There is, namely, a very respectable +school of anthropologists who will take nothing for granted and are +disposed to call in question the most plausible assumptions and leave +us no ground to stand on but what has been won by the severest logic. +We can the less afford to pass by the contentions of these savants, +since we think their principles are in the main correct, and we are in +active sympathy with their general methods. In the present case, to be +sure, we hold that they have not proved faithful to the pure reason, +and that their skepticism will be found destitute of any sufficient +warrant. + +What, then, are the scruples of these critics? What niceties of +demonstration, may they still insist, have passed unobserved? We shall +use their own words as nearly as may be--the words of a "specially +competent anthropologist." + +(1) It is denied that any inference lies, in any particular case, from +the brain to the mind. "No principle applicable to individuals can be +laid down. Inspection of a brain, no matter how minute, will not permit +a legitimate inference as to the intellectual status of the owner." +This must be granted without reserve. + +(2) Even in dealing with large groups, as of a thousand men, with +brains averaging fifty-three and forty-six ounces, respectively, with +corresponding physical proportions, "it is possible, but by no means +certain, that the average mental capacity of the former would surpass +that of the latter. But even such an inference would be based upon very +scanty evidence." It seems plain that the word "possible" is here put +incautiously for "probable." Otherwise the sentence is empty of +meaning. As so corrected, it must stand. The only difference of opinion +that could arise would concern the degree of probability. If we have +read the evidence nearly aright, that degree would be very high, but it +could not rise to certainty. To this extremely important matter we +shall return at the proper place. + +(3) With respect to "complexity of structure," which is supposed to +condition or to indicate mental development, there is declared to be a +"lack of any definite and certain knowledge as to the fundamental +facts." This, also, seems true. + +Quantitative information is wanting, but qualitative is at hand. We +have no definite and certain knowledge as to the significance of the +gyri and sulci in the brain; but this does not invalidate the general +proposition that relates them _in some way_ with mental power. The +brain of a Helmholtz would almost certainly be deeply carved; the brain +of an imbecile would almost certainly be uncommonly smooth. Between +these extremes there lie relations infinite in variety and impossible +to grade, so crossed and intercrossed are they with other elements. +Nevertheless, the two opposite poles remain fixed, and the general +indications of convolutions and of smoothness, other things being +equal, cannot be mistaken. + +(4) As to skull capacity, there are many difficulties in the way, and +"the value of this evidence has come to be regarded as less than it was +once considered to be, but still to a certain extent significant. In a +general way it may be said to bear out the observations on the actual +brains." We do not see how it could well be expected to do much more. +Here, then, are three indicia--weight of brain, complexity of its +structure, capacity of skull--each related directly, though +indeterminately, to power of mind. If we call them _x_, _y_, _z_, then +we may say, with some approach to truth, that mental strength depends +upon their product, each taken with an unknown exponent, thus: _x^p +y^q z^r_. This expression, to be sure, is not adequate; there are +yet other factors, it may be many, as the post-pubertal extension of +structural elements, and therewith of physiological connections, which +we have no means of measuring or observing. But the real significance +of these three is not, indeed cannot be, doubted. Thus, Manouvrier +determined the skull capacity of thirty-two distinguished men to +average 1663 cc., or 103 cc. above the general mean of 1560 cc.--an +excess of nearly 7 per cent. Again, the mean weight of brain of +thirty-four such men reached 1533 grammes--an excess of 163 over the +average (1370), or almost exactly 12 per cent. No amount of reasonable +allowance can rob these results of their import. It is no answer to say +that the cranial capacity of forty-one murderers averaged 1593 cc., or +33 cc. (about two per cent.) above the mean. We see no reason why a +murderer might not have more than ordinary intelligence, though many be +degenerates; it is not at all unlikely that his central nervous system +or some part of it should be highly developed. Unless we err widely, +not a few of the greatest characters of history have been great +criminals. + +(5) What conclusions are recommended by "all these facts and factors"? +"Truly, the results are meager. We are probably justified in saying +that, anatomically, the brains of negroid races are somewhat less +developed than those of Europeans." But it is held that "a little +reflection shows the comparative insignificance of the distinction.... +The most that can be said is that the European series will show more +very large brains than the negroid, and the negroid series more very +small brains than the Europeans." Precisely! And it is just this excess +of "very large brains," or at least of its general correlate, very +large minds, that has the profoundest "significance" for civilization, +for all that is great and glorious in history and in humanity. Not only +must we, in accordance with the law of Deviation from the Average, +interpret this excess of "very large brains" as implying a higher +general level, but the meaning and value of these exceptions are +incalculable.[18] Who can estimate the import of the one brain in a +million, when it is the brain of Moses or Mohammed, of Aristotle or +Archimedes, of Vergil or Galilei, of Leibnitz or Voltaire, of Darwin or +Washington? Such brains are the foci of the orbits of history; such men +blaze out the pathways for the feet of their kind. Without them we +wander round and round, lost in the erroneous wood. The race that can +produce such "very large brains" is the race of advancement and +culture; they shine like stars in the firmament of history, and the +multitudes steer their courses thereby. It is these exceptions that +mark out the line between progress and stagnation, between civilization +and barbarism; a race that is deficient in such exceptions is a race +already condemned. + + [18] See _infra_, p. 100. + +It is altogether vain to interpose that this acknowledged anatomical +defect is, after all, only slight. The difference between the brains of +a fish-monger and of a Socrates may be only slight--an ounce or so in +the scale, a line or so in depth of convolution; yet it corresponds to +the interval between mediety and the vertex of genius. Such differences +are vanishingly small, or inexpressibly great, according to the origin +of reckoning. And herewith we uncover the fallacy that lies so snugly +hidden away in the phrase "comparative insignificance." Undoubtedly! If +we reckon from the amoeba, the witling seems scarcely distinguishable +from the wit; but if we reckon from the average of humanity, they start +asunder like the poles. The summits of the Himalayas are only some four +or five miles above the valley of the Ganges; estimated from the centre +of the earth, this difference is little more than one-thousandth of the +whole--a difference hardly appreciable to the eye, even when armed with +a microscope; and yet it means the difference between the impenetrable +jungle and the inaccessible minarets of the roof of the world. The +difference between some "Rafael" and some imitation may be very slight +and escape the uncritical eye, and yet make out the distinction between +a masterpiece and a daub. Illustrations abound. It is a multitude of +trifles that constitutes perfection; but perfection is not a trifle. +That the recognized and constated superiority of the European brain is +slight, by no means implies that the "mental expression" of this +superiority may not be illimitably grand. + +Since the question of brain-weights is extremely important, it does not +seem fair to the reader to furnish him only vague, general statements. +Accordingly, we here submit something more definite, even though it +appear like a long parenthesis inserted in the body of our discourse. + +From the autopsies of 405 Whites, Blacks, and intermediates, made by +Surgeon Ira Russell, the following conclusions have been drawn by Dr. +Sanford B. Hunt, surgeon of United States Volunteers in the Civil War: +"(1) The standard weight of the negro brain is over five ounces less +than that of the white. (2) Slight intermixture of white blood +diminishes the negro brain from its normal standard, but when the +infusion of white blood amounts to one-half (mulatto), it determines a +positive increase in the negro brain, which, in the quadroon, is only +three ounces below the white standard. (3) The percentage of +exceptionally small brains is largest among negroes having but a small +proportion of white blood." Of these 405, there were 141 Blacks, and +only twenty-four Whites; the others were mixed. We may omit these +latter, and may substitute the results of 278 other autopsies of +Whites, and form this table: + + 55- 50- 45- 40- 35- + Average Max. Min. 60 oz. 60 55 50 45 40 35 + + 141 B. 46.96 56 35-3/4 0 5 42 51 38 3 -- + 24 W. 52.06 64 44-1/2 1 4 11 7 -- -- -- + 278 W. 49.05 65 34 7 28 99 97 39 7 1 + +Here we observe: Dr. Hunt's (1) does not seem warranted; the number +(24) of White brains weighed seems too small. But the weights of the +278 Whites show that the smaller weight of the Negro brain is a fact. +More extensive observation shows that the Black average is about four +ounces below the White. The absence of very large brains among the +Blacks comes out most distinctly. There were no Black brains weighing +over fifty-six ounces, only five weighing so much as fifty-five; +whereas, eight White brains weighed over sixty ounces, and forty +weighed over fifty-five. Likewise of the twenty-four Whites, only one +fell under forty-five ounces, but forty-one of the 141 Blacks; also, +only forty-seven of the 278 Whites; it is plain, then, that large +brains predominate among the Whites and small ones among the Blacks. + +This, however, is not nearly all the evidence on this question. In the +course of an elaborate article in the _Philosophical Transactions_ +for 1868, pp. 505 sqq., Dr. J. Barnard Davis makes this remark: "As a +general conclusion, without analyzing the results of Tiedemann's +gaugings of negro skulls, it may be unhesitatingly asserted that the +brain-weight of negroes is positively below that of Europeans" (p. +522). "The general mean of our African races, as deduced from 113 +skulls, 53 of men and 60 of women, a tolerably equal proportion, is +43.89 ounces, or 1244 grams. This is 3.23 ounces, or ninety-one grams, +less than our European general mean" (p. 523). He also finds the mean +internal capacity of 393 European skulls to be 92.3 cubic inches, and +113 African skulls to be 86.9 cubic inches--a defect of nearly 7 per +cent. Morton found the average capacity of 62 native African skulls to +be 83 cubic inches, and of 12 Afro-American skulls to be 82 cubic +inches. + +More recently (1880), Dr. Bischoff has published at Bonn a very +thorough work on "Das Hirngewicht des Menschen," in which the present +subject is handled minutely and very temperately. We translate some of +his remarkably sane and judicial conclusions: "From all of this it +follows that we are by no means justified in affirming outright the +proposition that brain-weight and spiritual capacity and achievement +keep equal pace and that a large and heavy brain of itself betokens a +man highly endowed in both respects, a small and light brain a man +niggardly equipped. But just as little justified would be the +conclusions that size and weight of brain stand in no connection with +spiritual gifts and accomplishments. Rather must we be convinced that +both factors, brain-weight and spiritual capacity and achievement, are +magnitudes too complex for their parallelism to appear to be proved so +simply, although the same (parallelism) is none the less present" (p. +142). + +The following seems to have been written with some foreboding of the +more recent anthropology that "minimizes this difference" between +European and Negroid, and regards "the mental gap as more apparent than +real, and due rather to experience and training than to innate +factors." + +"The capacity for spiritual achievement is, I believe, as regards both +magnitude and variety, always innate, a gift of Nature, and expressed +in the magnitude and weight of the brain and the development of the +convolutions, either in the whole or in the single parts. In it, aside +from morbid alterations, the individual can bring about no change, +neither by addition nor by subtraction. But the degree and the kind of +the development of this endowment (_Ausbildung dieser Anlage_) depends +on a thousand other conditions, partly quite beyond the insight and +will of the individual--partly, however, subject thereto. All that we +call education, culture, social position, example, and, on the part of +the individual, good-will, industry, zeal, etc., work for the +development of the endowment, and the achievement depends thereon. +Endowment, as already said, is unalterable; but the degree of the +development and achievement may vary a thousandfold" (p. 165). + +On p. 169, Bischoff starts the interesting query, whether any +enhancement of the endowment (_Steigerung der Anlage_) in general or in +particular directions, through increase of the brain, in general or in +particular parts, be actual or possible in the course of time, along +the path of culture (_auf dem Wege der Zuchtung_). Broca thought that +he had observed a change in the skull capacity of Parisians, in the +lapse of centuries; but his results (thinks Bischoff) are very far from +being sure. Thus far there is no proof of any such possibility. But +even if this latter were conceded, Bischoff adds, the actuality of such +a change would by no means follow. So great is the present endowment +that all progress that can thus far be proved, may be explained through +the development of this endowment, and such will, doubtless, for a +long time yet, be the case as regards both the individual and the +generations (p. 170). We may add that Bischoff has no doubt whatever +either of the lesser brain-weight or of the lower mental capacity of +the African Negro. + +When, now, we ask what is the real significance of these weights, we +are fortunately able to refer to the tables of Dr. H. Matiegka, given +in Part I. of his researches "_Ueber das Hirngewicht, die Schaedelkapacitaet +und die Kopfform, sowie deren Beziehungen zur psychischen Thaetigkeit +des Menschen_" (_Sitzb. d. koen. boehm. Ges. d. Wiss. 1902_). He has +arranged 235 brain-weights in six groups, according to occupation, +proceeding from the lowest labourers at odd jobs, who could not learn a +trade or find steady employment, up to men of notable intellectual +power. Here is the table, showing the number in each group and the +average weight of brain: + + 14 Day-labourers 1410.0 grams + 34 Labourers 1433.5 " + 14 Porters, watchmen, etc. 1435.7 " + 123 Mechanics, workers at trades, etc. 1449.6 " + 28 Business men, teachers, clerks, professional + musicians, photographers, etc. 1468.5 " + 22 College-bred scholars, physicians, etc. 1500.0 " + ------ + 235 Average of all 1451.5 grams + or 51.20 oz. + +Here we observe that the excess of this average over that of the 141 +Blacks is 4.24 ounces. Also we remark that the average of the lowest of +Matiegka's groups, the shiftless and incompetent, is nearly 48.61 +ounces, which is much above the average (46.96) yielded by Dr. +Russell's 141 measurements of pure Blacks. Look at it another way. The +defect of the day-labourer's brain, as compared with the scholar's, in +Matiegka's groups, is precisely six per cent. Even if the average white +brain weighed only fifty ounces, a defect of six per cent. would reduce +it only to forty-seven ounces, which is still above the average of the +Blacks. This latter, then, falls appreciably below the lowest white +standard. + +Once more, we now come to see clearly the immense significance of the +admittedly "somewhat less developed Negroid brain." The famous lines of +Browning seem to have been written especially for this occasion: + + _Oh, the little more, and how much it is! + And the little less, and what worlds away!_ + +The difference between the averages of the highest and the lowest of +the Matiegka groups is only six per cent.; and yet how infinite its +moment for humanity and civilization! The difference meanwhile between +the general averages of the White and the Black is little if any less +than eight per cent. (52-48 = 4, that is, 1-13 or 7.7 per cent.). Who, +then, can compute its import for the history of the race? + +To be sure, it is easy to pooh-pooh the Bohemian's measurements and to +scout his averages as reckoned from too scanty material. Nor would we +attach to them any undue importance. We have never denied that there +are many disturbing factors. Nevertheless, the general indication seems +altogether unmistakable. Nothing can disguise or deeply obscure the +broad patent fact that all the meridians of evidence converge towards +one and the same pole, namely: _The average Negroid brain is sensibly +inferior to the average Caucasian; and even a slight defect or excess +in average is correlated with the profoundest meaning for culture and +for civilization._ + +What must be said, then, of such as proclaim: "This fable [of Negroid +inferiority] has been repeated and gladly believed.... But there is +absolutely no physiological basis for it so far as the best studies of +brain structure go.... The arrogance of Anglo-Saxon and Caucasian +supremacy must find its justification, if anywhere, in the bare will +and brute power to have it so, rather than in any conclusions of +science"? 'The Apostle' has already shaped the answer: "I bear them +witness that they have a zeal for _man_, but not according to +knowledge." + +(6) As "minimizing this difference still further," it is observed that +"the Eskimo even shows a brain weight and development well above the +average of whites. Here again, however, the material is too scanty to +permit of generalization." Altogether "too scanty," it would seem. +Hardly half a dozen such brains (we speak under correction) have been +weighed or examined. Besides, no one would maintain that weight alone +is sufficient. That large brains generally go with great minds by no +means implies the converse, that great minds generally go with large +brains. If the Eskimo brain be really heavier than the European, which +is by no means proved, and yet the Eskimo mind inferior, the meaning is +that in some other unknown respect of organization the Eskimo brain +falls so far behind the European as more than to overbalance its excess +of weight. Such a state of case is no way improbable. + +(7) "If we admit a real difference between the brains of Europeans and +negroes," it is still impossible to grade the intermediate races +satisfactorily. But this means nothing more than that numerous factors, +known and unknown, enter into the final product in some complex fashion +not yet understood. It is very far from meaning that the obvious +factors, constated and admitted, have not the general significance +commonly claimed. + +Such are the anatomical concessions that this school of anthropologists +feel themselves called upon to make. The reader must observe that, +however much one may "minimize," it remains at the last impossible to +evaporate the solid central fact that the "Negroid brain is somewhat +less developed than the European." In this fundamental indication all +the facts, so far as known, concur. But this is the very core of the +whole controversy. What more do we ask? What more do we need? We have +never been unduly prodigal of intensive adverbs; we have never asserted +that "other races are so naturally and essentially inferior in their +brain structure that they can never be expected to equal the white race +nor to be competent for self-government." For "who can so forecast the +years?" Not we, certainly, who are neither a prophet nor the son of a +prophet, nor a dealer in any such indefinitely remote futures. Our +contention was and is and will be that now and here, nay more, that +everywhere on the face of the earth and everywhen within recorded time, +the Negro has shown himself in every definable respect incomparably +inferior culturally to the Caucasian; hence it is concluded _prima +facie_, since culture is "mental expression," that the Negro is +mentally inferior to the Caucasian, and always has been so within +historic, and even far back prehistoric, time. It is this +historico-cultural argument that has been advanced to the forefront; +and against it, where is there found, in the preceding hostile summary +of anatomical facts, even the feeblest countervail? Indeed, the harmony +of history and anatomy seems perfect; if neither proves or necessitates +the other, yet indubitably each is about what might be expected from +the other. Not one scientific fact has ever yet been adduced to weaken +their mutual support. + +It is precisely here, however, that another most important phase of the +matter comes to light. The ingenious humanitarian fancies that he can +turn the edge of the foregoing arguments completely. It was Theodor +Waitz who, in his "Anthropology" (London, 1863), suggested that the +relation between human culture and human faculty might be the inverse +of what was commonly conceived. Instead of the culture resulting from +the faculty, it might be the faculty that resulted from the culture. +Accordingly, we should not say that the Greek civilization with its +language, its art, its science, its philosophy, its eloquence, its +literature, its civil and military life, was the outgrowth of the Greek +genius, the native faculty of the Hellenic race, but rather that this +genius, this spiritual faculty, this unrivalled intellectual-artistic +endowment of the Greeks, was the continuous resultant at each moment in +the history of the race of the collective culture-experiences through +which, up to that moment, it had passed. We have tried conscientiously +to state this doctrine, that race endowment is the reaction from race +culture-experience, as forcibly and as plausibly as possible; but we +cannot hope to have redeemed it from patent absurdity. Surely there was +never a plainer case of the cart before the horse. No one denies or +forgets that training and discipline do quicken and sharpen the +intellectual faculties; they enable a man to make the most of himself, +to realize his possibilities, to develop himself to the utmost. The +power to solve a problem in algebra or geometry is the result, in part, +of the previous training in those subjects. Here is the very partial +and most familiar truth that lies hid away in Waitz's stupendous error. +But was the ability to understand algebra and geometry given by the +actual study of the same, given step by step? By no means. The +knowledge necessary to understand the successive propositions does +indeed grow thus step by step, but not the power. Open the book at the +middle; there you may find a theorem whose proof you readily +understand, because it implies very little previous knowledge. Newton +at first thought Euclid's Elements a "light book," because it offered +him no difficulty. But if you meet with some unfamiliar affirmation, +then comes the question, why? The answer is found in some theorem +already proved. Turn back to it; perhaps the proof involves some still +more fundamental property, and again you ask, why? Again you must recur +to some earlier theorem; and so on, until all your "whys" are answered +with all possible clearness in irreducible axioms or postulates. He who +has the mental ability will find this method of learning a theorem +entirely practicable, and it may sometimes be found highly instructive. +But it excludes all question of gradual growth of mental power through +the successive "stages of culture" itself. + +Consider, again, this most frequent observation. A boy will distinguish +himself greatly in the high school, and perhaps in the first half of +his college course. He seizes with avidity upon the elementary notions +of mathematics, for instance; he revels in problems and "originals." +But on approaching the steeper ascents, he finds his steps falter and +his senses reel. The subtler theories and processes more and more elude +his grasp; the more highly developed concepts become more and more +unmanageable. Let him be never so thoroughly familiar with the +mid-regions, the heights remain forever inaccessible. In such a case +the honest teacher and the honest student will both admit that further +pursuit would be well-nigh profitless; while something may still be +learned in a way, yet real mastery is out of the question, and original +work as impossible as flight to the moon. The limits of native power +have been reached, and all attempts to transcend them are idle. + +In music, in plastic art, in literature, in all higher forms of mental +activity, even in the professions and in business, the same state of +case is present. The mere technique may indeed be learned step by step, +and it is by no means profitless or unimportant. But not all the +"stages of culture" conceivable could ever arm the most persistent +student with "faculty" to produce the Appassionata, or the Last +Judgement, or Hamlet, or even a Wall Street corner in stocks. On the +other hand, the inborn "faculty" speeds swiftly and easily through all +such preparatory "stages of culture," or even flanks them altogether, +boldly breaking new paths through unexplored regions. Nor needs it that +these preliminaries should have been traversed by the ancestors of the +richly endowed, who may have had no artistic or scientific experience +whatever. At every point, then, this Waitzian notion of "faculty," as +the efflux of culture, is seen to be an extreme distortion of the +truth. + +The later disciples have slightly modified the earlier view, but retain +the essence. Thus it is said that "the mind of man manifests itself in +different ways in different groups." Psychologically and sociologically +the racial problem rests upon the explanation of these differences of +mental manifestation. Two lines of reasoning are open. The differences +depend either upon inherent differences of mental capacity or are due +to influences of environment, using the word in its broadest sense. +Either the savage represents a lower stage of mental development than +his civilized relative or he does not. The answer to the question +presented is not easy ... it is interesting to note that the trend of +authoritative opinion is distinctly in the direction of minimizing the +degree of difference of mental capacity between savage and civilized +man and regarding the mental gap as more apparent than real and due +rather to experience and training than to innate factors. To paraphrase +a recent writer, "it is rather a question of mental contents than of +mental capacities." Such is the latest statement of this school. + +The most dangerous errors are those that contain a certain element of +truth. The present is a case in point. Let it be noted, then, that the +alternatives mentioned above are not alternatives at all; they are not +mutually exclusive, but quite consistent and perhaps always +co-existent. The "two lines of reasoning" do not intersect, but are +parallel. The "differences depend," not "either ... or," but _both_ +"upon inherent differences of mental capacity" _and_ "are due to +influences of environment." The twain have undoubtedly acted and +reacted upon each other. The divine law, to him that hath shall be +given, from him that hath not shall be taken away, has found here the +widest application. The process of evolving a civilization or a human +type is a most complex one, and we by no means exclude or "minimize" +the objective factors when we frankly recognize the subjective ones. +Here lies the primal error of the prevalent humanitarianism. It +perceives that education is much; it rashly concludes that education +is all. But the homeliest wisdom knows far better. + + _It is not all in training up + A child against its will: + To silver scour a pewter cup,-- + It will be pewter still._ + +No, a thousand times no! Environment is not all nor nearly all--nay, +not nearly half. Says Lombroso: "The action of climate and circumstance +is very slight by the side of heredity" (_op. cit._, p. 88). Saith +Heraclitus, "Much learning does not teach to have mind"; saith Pindar, +"His art is true who by nature hath knowledge," and he scorns the crows +that have but learned. Let the outer impact be what it will, it is the +"inherent" qualities that determine the response. Sing out the natural +C; among a score of tuning-forks only one will reply. Nay more; +different constitutions may make exactly opposite replies: "the roar of +the lion scatters the sheep, but gathers the jackals"; the prayer of +Clarence but hardens the heart of the first murderer, though it softens +the soul of the second. All this, one would think, a child might +understand. Nature blazons it on every leaf and every star, and +proclaims it with a million tongues; but overhumane doctrinaires will +neither see nor hear anything that impugns their sacrosanct dogma, that +"all men are created equal". "The trend of authoritative opinion" +insists on "minimizing the degree of difference of mental capacity" and +regarding the mental gap as more apparent than real and due rather to +experience and training than to innate factors--whereat the current +philanthropy claps its hands and cries, "Eureka! Come, now! Let us +train and experience the Negro and close up the mental gap in a jiffy"! +But will some manufacturer or wholesale importer of "authoritative +opinions" kindly inform us what "mental gap" has ever been closed up by +"experience and training"? + +Great, indeed, is the potence of "environment"; greater, by far, the +potence of heredity. Fortunately we are not left quite in the dark as +to their relative importance. In discussing "race suicide" an eminent +scholar, who is always sage and sagacious, save only when _celeri +saucius Africo_, declares: "That those who are intellectually the +best in each generation should leave the fewest descendants is a +serious thing; for all the recent work in anthropology teaches the +importance of heredity, and tends to prove Galton's theory that genius +is inherited." From a study of the one thousand most eminent men of +history, but for whom "the world would have made little progress in +learning, invention or wealth," Processor Cattell concludes that +"heredity, including in that term both stability and variability of +stock, is more potent than social tradition or physical environment." +From a study of European royal genealogies, it is deduced by Dr. F. A. +Woods, of Harvard, that "heredity has exercised in mental life a factor +not far from nine-tenths, while from the moral side something over +one-half." + +Without placing implicit faith in such numerical estimates, and without +pausing to inquire how one might best "exercise a factor", the reader +will note the admitted dominance of heredity over all other forces. It +will be observed that the deductions of Dr. Woods refer to the "mental +life" and the "moral side" in general, and not merely to extraordinary +manifestations or "genius," as in "Galton's theory". Surely there is +little enough of the latter to be found in "all the royal families of +Europe", and quite sufficient of something else. Besides, it seems +clear that if genius be inherited, if marked deviations from the +average in this direction or in that be transmitted, then _a +fortiori_ must also the general average character be itself in +detail determined by inheritance. For every example of "inherited +genius" there lie close at hand, under common and immediate +observation, a thousand examples of inheritance of qualities physical, +mental, and moral that fall within the bounds of the normal. Such +qualities have beneath them a far solider substructure of age, a far +more settled and less mutable organic habit of centuries, than do the +new growths, the spontaneous mutations, that we call genius, or any +marked eccentricity. If, then, the latter be inherited, far more so the +former. And such is precisely the foundation on which the whole fabric +of the foregoing argument has been reared. + +Let the reader observe that the question, the only real question, +regards the "mental gap" between the Negro and the Caucasian, for which +we dare not substitute "between savage and civilized man". This matter +is entirely another and entirely irrelevant. The "difference of mental +capacity" between the savage Greek and the civilized Egyptian was +indeed great, but was in favour of the savage youth and against the +civilized ancient. So, too, the savage Teuton fully equalled or +excelled in mental capacity his civilized Italian foeman. The defects +of these savages were cultural, not mental proper, and culture was +enough speedily to supply them. But where, we ask again, have real +"mental gaps" been filled up by culture? Where have racial +characteristics been transformed or abolished? Have equal opportunities +raised the 150,000 Negroes in Pennsylvania to the white level? Or the +100,000 in New York? Or those in New England? Or in Chatham, Ontario? +Or in Paris? When Greek culture led captive the Roman captor, did it +arm him with Greek genius? Did it close up the "mental gap"? When the +bow of Hellenic science fell into the hands of the Arab, was he quite +able to bend it? + +We recall our anthropologic and ethnologic disputants to the ridge of +war, and ask, Do they really believe that the difference between the +Niger and the Euphrates was one of "experience and training"? If so, +pray tell us how many more years had the Sumerians lived seventy +centuries ago than the citizens of Dahomey up to now? Did the former +enjoy, like the latter, a contact for centuries with American +missionaries and European civilization? And whence came the "experience +and training" of Hammurabi and Sin-mubalit and their ancestors? Who +trained their trainers? If indeed "it is a question of mental contents +rather than of mental capacities," whence, we insist, came those +"mental contents"? Did they fall out of the sky into the empty skulls +of Nineveh? Why, then, did this meteoric shower powder Mesopotamia so +densely and sprinkle a dust so impalpable over the Sudan? "Mental +contents rather than mental capacities"? True, the word "capacities" is +unluckily chosen; "faculties" would have been better, but, even as it +stands, there was never a more manifest inversion of the truth. We have +taught for a score of years and every year we see more clearly that the +teacher is helpful mainly to the favoured few that do not need him. We +appeal to the whole tribe of teachers, from Dan to Beersheba--what one +has ever supplied "mental contents" in the absence of "mental +capacities"? This is preeminently the age of education. Its agencies +are all-embracing and bewildering in their complexity and universality. +Everything is taught and everything is studied in the most +thoroughgoing fashion, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop on the +wall. If it be merely or mainly a question of "experience and training" +and "mental contents," surely we have distanced our ancestors +immensely;--we are altogether "out of sight". Genius should run riot on +our streets. Homers, Platos and Euclids, Caesars, Shakesperes and +Newtons, Goethes and Kants, Pascals, Dantes and Titians, should be as +plenty as blackberries. And yet such is not very notably the case. +There is still some room at the top. The supply of abilities of the +very highest order is nowhere markedly in excess of the demand. + +Will anyone contend that "experience and training" and subcranial +injection of "mental contents" have ever been able to close up the +"mental gap" between individuals of the same race, or even of the same +family? Why, then, imagine that they may close up the far wider gap +between individuals of different races--between the races themselves? +This doctrine of the all-sufficiency of "experience and training" and +"mental contents" assumes, in fact, the proportions of an overgrown +ironical joke and would grace the vacuous columns of _Judge_ far better +than the sober-minded pages of Anthropology. As a child we have +sometimes wondered why the eagle should so far outfly the +turkey-gobbler; it seems the mystery is now clearly resolved--the +eagle has doubtless had more "experience and training". + +We sometimes see it attempted to strengthen the plea for the essential +equality of the Negro by reference to the Japanese, who are declared +not inferior, though "they would have been called an inferior, a +hopelessly submerged race, half a century ago. But they have made a +sudden change. This has been no slow Darwinian development, but a _per +saltum_ evolution of a new intellectual type--if we may not rather call +it a spring blossoming out of ages of winter. There is now every +appearance that a similar efflorescence is coming with the negro +race--only they have begun with utter ignorance and slavery, and have +more to learn, and find less encouragement". Now, in this notion of +"efflorescence" there is an element of truth. There _are_ bloom-periods +in the life of the race, as of trees and of men. We speak of the +Periclean, the Augustan, the Elizabethan age. "For greater dooms do +greater doles obtain,"[19] was said in the ancient mystery. "Spirits +are not finely touch'd but to fine issues". Extraordinary junctures and +crises in the life of the individual and of the race may rouse +slumbering powers into vehement activity. But that such admitted facts +will bear the weight of inference thrown upon them, we must stoutly +deny. The thorn and the thistle may indeed bloom and fructify, but they +will not bear grapes or figs. They will bring forth fruit after their +kind. Greeks were Greeks before Marathon or Salamis, before even Homer +or Agamemnon. Witness the outburst of Arabic genius after Mohammed! Yet +Bagdad and Granada could never become like unto Athens or Alexandria. +But why multiply illustrations? Efflorescence is one thing, +transmutation is another. "We seem to see such a paroxysmal impulse now +taking possession of the negro race in this country"! We gravely doubt +this "sudden start upward"; we strongly suspect things are not what +they seem. We label all such statements "important, _if true_".[20] + + [19] Hippolytus, _Philosophoumena_, V. 8. + + [20] That they are a total inversion of the truth is proved + elaborately in Chapter Five. + +The illustration from the Orient will not serve its purpose. We by no +means admit that Japan does yet "take a front rank among the strong and +intellectual nations of the world". One swallow does not make it +spring. We are used to parallels between Sophocles and Ibsen. A Harvard +junior declared Demosthenes to be the Edward Everett of Greece. But in +any case it is not true that "they have made a sudden change". It was +only gross ignorance that would have called them "hopelessly submerged +half a century ago". They were then, even as they are now and as they +were hundreds of years before, an artistic, ingenious, enterprising +people, with a well-developed culture--language, literature, religion, +social and civic and military life.[21] Contact with Western +civilization has indeed aroused them and spurred their ambition, and +turned their ancient powers into modern channels; but we can by no +means say it has really augmented those powers or begotten any new +ones. It is far from clear that this contact will prove ultimately +beneficial. The Oriental grain is not improved to every eye by a cheap +veneering of Occidental science and commercialism. We have read of a +boy who was gilded from head to foot, to represent an angel at a church +festival. The experiment was eminently successful: it turned him not +only into an apparent angel, but also into a real one. A similar result +may be anticipated as the ultimate issue of all attempts, however +well-meant, to engraft alien civilization upon the really backward +races of mankind. They will finally be civilized off the face of the +earth, or at least from all regions habitable and healthful for the +civilizing race. + + [21] Day teaches day. Until very recently our meagre information + touching Japanese brain weight did not extend beyond the 130 + examples reported by Doenitz (1874), Taguchi (1881), Suzuki + (1892), of which the average was about 1,350 grams. Now, however, + in the _Medical Journal_, Tokio, XXII, Nos. 1, 2, 8, 1903, and + in_ Neurologia_, I, No. 5, 1903, Prof. K. Taguchi publishes + measurements of 597 subjects; 421 males, 176 females. Of these, + 374 adult males yielded an average of 1,367 grams, between the + extremes 1,063 and 1,790; 150 adult females, an average of 1,214 + grams, ranging from 961 to 1,432. Per centimetre of stature the + brain weight of the Japanese is almost exactly the same as that + of the Germans (Bischoff, Marchand), Russians (Giltscnenko), + Czechs (Matiegka), of the same height. "To recapitulate, the + brain of the Japanese grows more slowly during infancy and early + youth than it does in the European. In the adult the brain-weight + compares favorably with that of Europeans of similar stature, and + it may be shown to be superior in this respect to other races of + the same general stature." (E. A. Spitzka in _Science_, Sept. 18, + 1903, p. 371-373). + + Even then if the Japanese should outstrip all rivals, it would in + no degree shake the arguments or conclusions of this volume, nor + ground the least hope for the African; for neither historically + nor (still less) anatomically is there any parallelism between + the two races. + +It seems to be of interest, however, and the dictate of fairness, to +recall that, according to a very high and recent, though perhaps not +infallible, authority (Professor Ripley), the roots of the great +European race-tree are two:[22] the broad-headed Kelt from Asia and the +long-headed Teuton from Africa. If so, then this latter stock, though +now the fairest among the sons of men, + + _Then, sad relief, from the bleak shore that hears + The German Ocean roar, deep blooming, strong, + And yellow-haired the blue-eyed Saxon came--_ + +was once the very darkest! What combined agencies, as of climate and +selection, have wrought out this marvellous depigmentation, we need not +here inquire. Suffice it that, on the one hand, this fact, if it be a +fact,--_non nobis est componere tantas lites_--would seem to ground the +bare possibility that even now such combined agencies might in the same +lapse of time bring about a similar transfiguration of the West +African. And this we readily grant--if the physiologic nature of the +Negro be as plastic now as it was a hundred thousand years ago--which +we cannot disprove, but which we have no right to assume. Be this as it +may, we have never denied this or any other abstract possibility of +negritic evolution. We merely maintain that probability is the guide of +life, and that there is no appreciable probability of any such +evolution. + + [22] To be sure, Prof. Ripley speaks repeatedly of three races + (see Pop. Sc. Mon. LI, p. 202): Teutonic, Alpine, Mediterranean; + but both the first and the last are long-faced and long-headed, + and he regards the two as having a common origin, "a dolichocephalic + Africanoid type in the stone age" (LII, p. 314). "It is highly + probable that the Teutonic race of northern Europe is merely a + variety of this primitive, long-headed type of the stone age, + both its distinctive blondness and its remarkable stature having + been acquired in the relative isolation of Scandinavia through + the modifying influences of environment, and of natural + selection" (LII, p. 312), "The European races" are thought, "as + intermediate between the extreme primary types of the Asiatic and + the negro races respectively" (LII, p. 306).--But the Chinese are + long-heads.--Sharply opposed to Ripley's and commanding wider + scientific assent, is the view of Lapouge, set forth in + _L'Aryen_. + +On the other hand, if the bright-haired children of the snow and foam +be really sprung from such sable prognathous ancestors, then their +divergence from the ancestral type most certainly began untold +millenniums ago, and the present organic departure from that type is +measured, as it were, by the measureless chasm of years that divides +them from their African forebears. Now, if nature and the tide of time +have spent such centuries of centuries in chiseling out this chasm, how +infinitely preposterous to suppose that man can close it up in a +generation with the filmy webs of common culture and social equality +and civil rights and partisan legislation and caricatured religion and +the political spoils of the country post-office! As well expect to rise +from the floor to the roof without ever traversing the intervening +space. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +PLEA AND COUNTERPLEA + + _Who aught adjudges ere both sides are heard, + Just though his judgement, is himself unjust._ + + SENECA + + +By far the ablest plea yet made for the "backward races" is to be found +in the address of Dr. Franz Boas on Human Faculty as Determined by +Race, published (at least, printed) in the Proceedings of the American +Association for the Advancement of Science, 1894. This distinguished +anthropologist, now of Columbia University, New York City, speaks from +the pinnacles of science, and his words must not go unregarded. We +shall notice every salient point in his twenty-six pages, and shall +quote him verbatim as far as possible. Such a formal defence seems to +call for an equally formal rejoinder. + +He objects to the argument from the superiority of the White +civilization to the superiority of the White race as involving two +errors: (_a_) "the achievement and the aptitude for an achievement have +been confounded", (_b_) "every deviation from the white type is +considered a characteristic feature of a lower type" (p. 302). It is +declared that "these two errors underlie our judgments of races;" but +why and whether they are really errors, or in what measure, here at +least no attempt is made to show. This will not do. Such plausible +assumptions are neither disproved nor discredited by merely labeling +them "errors." However, there follows: "It might be objected that +although achievement is not necessarily a measure of aptitude, it seems +admissible to judge the one by the other" (pp. 302-3). But why +"objected"? Has any reason been opposed against which one could +"object"? None whatever. We do object very seriously to the implication +that already there has been advanced some argument. The word "objected" +should be changed to "argued." + +Hear now the answer to this "objection." "It seems desirable to enter +into these questions somewhat fully. Let our mind go back a few +thousand years until it reaches the time when the civilizations of +eastern and of western Asia were in their infancy. As time passed on, +these civilizations were transferred from one people to another, some +of those who had represented the highest type of culture sinking back +into obscurity, while others took their places. During the dawn of +history, we see civilization clinging to certain districts, in which it +is taken up now by one people, now by the other. In the numerous +conflicts of these times the more civilized people were often +vanquished. The conqueror, however, learned the arts of life from the +conquered and carried on the work of civilization. Thus the centres of +civilization were shifting to and fro over a limited area and progress +was slow and often interrupted. At the same period the ancestors of the +races, who are now among the most highly civilized, were in no [?] way +superior to primitive man as we find him now in regions that have not +come into contact with modern civilization. + +Was the culture attained by the ancient civilized people of such +character as to allow us to claim for them a genius superior to that of +any other race?" + +Such is not the question; it is not about "any other race," but about +the present backward races--African especially and Australian. It +should have been said, "Was Greek civilization such as to indicate that +the Athenian was superior to the Senegambian or the Hottentot?" Will +any one hesitate for an answer? + +"First of all, we must bear in mind that none of these civilizations +was the product of the genius of a single people." + +Here the cards are conveniently shuffled and the terms changed from +"race" to "people." The question, however, is not about "peoples" +proper, but about "races." While notable differences hold among +"peoples" of the same "race," yet the one race it is, the Caucasian, +that is held to be superior. This one race has produced all the +civilizations in question; the Mongol comes next, at a far remove. And +of Caucasians, the Aryan shines like the moon amid the stars. + +"Ideas and inventions were carried from one to the other; and, although +intercommunication was slow, each people which participated in the +ancient civilization added to the culture of the others. Proofs without +number have been forth-coming which show that ideas have been +disseminated as long as people have come into contact with each other +and that neither race nor language nor distance limits their diffusion. +As all have worked together in the development of the ancient +civilizations, we must bow to the genius of all, whatever race they may +represent: Hamitic, Semitic, Aryan or Mongol." + +But to all in equal measure? Or to some in far higher measure? That is +the question. We must not think of the Senate, where all states vote +alike; but of the House of Representatives, where "Little Rhody" +vanishes by the side of New York or Texas. Even if all races did +contribute to the sum total, which is far from true, there is an +immense difference between contributions that may vary from a penny to +a pound. The English language "bows to the genius" of all, from the +Teuton to the Mongol; but the former element is vital, the latter is +inappreciable. + +We have quoted these paragraphs in full and for several reasons: We +would represent our opponent as correctly as possible; they are a fair +sample of his argumentation; and, especially, as argument they are to +us incomprehensible--hence we would not attempt to condense them. +Possibly our readers may understand them better. So far as we can make +out, the savant has deceived himself by conjuring with the words +"people" and "race." The question was, whether the Caucasian, "the +white race," the great civilization-building race, in any or in all of +its "peoples," is superior to the "races" African, Australian, and the +like, that have produced no civilizations? If not, "why, then, did the +white race alone develop a civilization which is sweeping the whole +world, etc.?" To this, his own question, these paragraphs contain no +element of answer, much less answer itself. They seem to forget all +about "races," and turn aside to slightly varying "peoples" of the same +"white race." They ask (in effect): Does the civilization of the Greek +indicate that he was superior to the West African? And they reply (in +effect) that the Hellenic culture was very composite--part Doric, part +AEolic, part Ionian, with a sprinkling from the Nile and the Euphrates. +Surely this is not argument; it is hardly the simulacrum of argument. +Such a mingling of bloods of varying virtues and tendencies is now +actually going on in our midst; but they are all of the same "white +race," neither physiologically nor psychologically very far apart; and +such a mingling may very well make for higher evolution. When it is +affirmed that our "ancestors" "were in no way superior to Hottentots +and Guinea Negroes" (the long phrase is a mere euphemism) "at the same +period," "during the dawn of history," we protest earnestly. The +affirmation assumes everything in dispute. The evidence is all against +it. Their language, their mythology, the fact that they were of the +White race which "did alone develop a civilization," the fact that they +took fire immediately when touched by the torch of culture, their +bodies and particularly their skulls--all cry aloud against this +complacent assumption. More than a "few thousand years" ago the +Sumerians had observed the precession of the equinoxes; at "the dawn of +history" in Germany, Augustus cried vainly to Varus, "Give me back my +legions." Arminius in no way superior to a Sudanese! The Babylonian +legislators and astronomers "in no way superior" to the cannibals of +the Niger! + +"Did no other races develop a culture of equal value?" (p. 304). He +shrinks from a positive yea or nay, but holds "that the civilizations +of ancient Peru and of Central America may well be compared with the +ancient civilization of the Old World," "that the general status of +their culture was nearly equally high." Herewith this great savant +seems to place himself beyond the pale of argument. Does any one +believe that Greek or Roman civilization would have gone down without a +blow at the mere breath of Pizarro or Cortes? And where are the +Peruvian or Aztec Homer and Thales, Apelles and Euclid, Cicero, Vergil, +and Trajan? On this there is no need to dwell longer. + +"What then is the difference between the civilization of the Old World +and that of the New World? It is only a difference in time. The one +reached a certain stage three thousand or four thousand years sooner +than the other" (p. 304). + +This is mere assertion. There is not the shadow of evidence that the +Peruvian or Mexican would ever have approached the Greco-Roman +civilization, either in four thousand or in forty thousand years. What +has been done in the last four hundred years, under the stimulus of +Spanish contact? We cannot have the slightest interest, logical, +sentimental, or other, in depreciating or in anywise underrating the +New World civilizations. For how could it possibly affect the question +of Caucasian and Negro, even if it were found that the bud of Cuzco and +Anahuac was fairer than the flower of Rome or Athens? And why might it +not have been? We are very far from regarding either Aristides or +Marcus Aurelius as perfect. It is only as a mere matter of fact that we +call the American superiority or equality so seriously in question. +Admire as you will, appraise as high as you will, the art and the +astronomy of Tezcuco, the social organization, the agriculture, and the +engineering of the _amautas_, it seems impossible even for the +enthusiasm of a Carli, combined with the race pride of an Ixtlilxochitl +and a Garcilaso, to discover in the culture of the Yncas or of the +Aztecs or even of the Toltecs any principle or augury of progress. To +us it is difficult in the extreme to detect any hope of higher +development where despotism was absolute, where free agency was +outlawed, and where the object of war was to procure human sacrifices. +We hold that by every token these civilizations had culminated, that +they were already as elaborated and petrified as the Chinese, and that +the centuries to come would have witnessed no marked advance, but +rather a retrogression. It should be added that the physical +inferiority of these peoples was notable. The Peruvian and Aztec +stature ranged from five feet to five and one-half feet. Now this is +very close to the border line of the Dwarfs--who, according to Sir +William Flower, include such races as do not exceed five feet three +inches. The Ynca skull is better than others of South America, yet it +has but a low facial angle. + +Dr. Boas thinks four thousand years but a trifle in the history of a +race--but a watch in the night. Perhaps it is. He thinks the mere fact +that a race is forty centuries behind does not argue that it is less +gifted. May be not. We have often wondered whether the bee might not +yet overtake the man. Theoretically all forms of life are still in the +race, which cannot end while the planet is habitable. Practically, +however, four thousand years is eternity. A race that is more than a +hundred generations behind is not worth considering. The reflections in +the paragraph under consideration all strike wide of the mark. + +It is next urged (p. 304) "that civilization originated among few of +its [the White race's] members," and "that the cognate tribes" might +not have developed so swiftly but for help from the others. True, the +Germans (_e.g._) profited greatly from contact with Greco-Romans, +but for whom they might now be savages. But they profited because they +were of the same stock; they were of nature to profit. The Greek +applied the torch, but the German material was inflammable; else it +would never have burned. When the same torch has been applied to other +materials, they have not caught fire. + +The next paragraph (p. 305) itself raises these questions: "But why did +these tribes so easily assimilate the culture that was offered them, +while at present we see primitive people dwindle away and become +degraded before the approach of civilization, instead of being elevated +by it? Is not this a proof of a higher organization of the inhabitants +of Europe?" We have just rendered answer simple, natural, satisfactory. +But none such can be accepted! "I believe the reasons for this fact are +not far to seek and do not necessarily lie in a greater ability of the +races of Europe and Asia. First of all, these people were alike in +appearance to civilized man of their times." + +What perverse ingenuity! Likeness in _appearance_ was a reason, but +likeness in _reality_--in blood, in brain, in nature, in origin--this +was no reason! Penny wise, pound foolish. Now the fact is that the +likeness in reality was far stronger than in appearance. + +"Therefore the fundamental difficulty for the rise of primitive people, +namely, that an individual which has risen to the level of the higher +civilization is still looked upon as belonging to an inferior race, did +not prevail." + +Here again there is quietly assumed everything in dispute. We deny +outright that such is "the fundamental difficulty." In a measure it has +no existence at all, annulled by the prevalent doctrine of the equality +of all men. In wide circles these superior "primitives" (_i.e._, +Negroes) are petted and flattered and extraordinarily favoured. No +proof of the assertion in question is so much as hinted. + +"Thus it was possible that, in the colonies of ancient times, society +could grow by accretion from among the more primitive people. +Furthermore, the devastating influences of diseases which nowadays +begin to ravage the inhabitants of territories newly opened to the +whites were not so strong on account of the permanent contiguity of the +people of the Old World who were always in contact with each other and +therefore subject to the same influences. The invasion of America and +Polynesia, on the other hand, was accompanied by the introduction of +new diseases among the natives of these countries. The suffering and +devastation wrought by epidemics which followed the discovery are too +well known to be described in full." + +True, but most inadequate; for why did not the contact with the new +peoples affect the invaders as well as the invaded with new diseases? +Especially, why did these invaders not yield to the new local or +climatic distempers to which the invaded had long since become +measurably immune? The near-lying fact that the invaders were stronger, +more viable, more resistant to disease, in every way more vigorous--the +very fact that made them invaders--this all-important fact has been +entirely overlooked. + +"In addition to this it may be said that the contrast between the +culture represented by the modern white and that of primitive man is +far more fundamental than that between the ancients and the people with +whom they come in contact. Particularly, the methods of manufacture +have developed so enormously that the industries of the primitive +peoples of our times are exterminated by the cheapness and large +quantity of the products imported by the white trader; because +primitive man is unable to compete with the power of production of the +machines of the whites, while in olden times the superior hand product +rivalled with a hand product of a lower type." + +To what uses may not the doctrine of Protection be turned! For a +generation we were taught that it was necessary to protect by a high +tariff the machine products of the United States against the +competition of the hand products of the Old World; now we are told that +not only has the competition of the machine products "exterminated" the +hand industries, but it has even prevented the "primitive" from +learning the new "methods of manufacture" and so becoming civilized and +saving himself from extermination! The reader may be safely left to +perceive the irrelevance and the emptiness of such "may-be-saids." Let +him further reflect that the great bulk of this extermination, begun in +America nearly four hundred years ago, was accomplished in three +hundred years, before the modern era of machine products. To attribute +the disappearance of the Indian to the overthrow of his industries by +the competition of cheap calicoes and wooden nutmegs sounds more like +jest than earnest. Why, the curiosity of the "invaders" actually +supplied and still supplies a new market for the aboriginal wares. + +The next remark, "that in several regions, particularly in America and +in parts of Siberia, the primitive tribes are swamped by the numbers of +the immigrating race," seems hardly worth quoting in full. But from all +of this it is concluded (p. 306) "that the conditions for assimilation +in ancient Europe were much more favorable" than where modern +civilization has overtaken the "primitives," and that therefore there +is no "need to assume that the ancient Europeans were more gifted than +other races" that disappear before modern civilization. The reader must +see that, even if there were granted everything claimed for these +reasons, the question as to the _fact_ of European superiority would +not be touched. + +For corroboration, appeal is made (p. 306) to the Arabs and the +Sudanese. In the second half of the eighth century, the Sudan was +invaded by "Hamitic tribes" and "Mohammedanism." "Large empires" came +and went "in struggles with neighboring states," and "a relatively high +degree of culture has been attained." The invaders intermarried with +the natives, and the mixed races, some of which are almost purely +negro, have risen high above the level of other African negroes." We +submit that such "corroboration" is little stronger than weakness +itself. "Relatively high culture" is too vague a term to argue with, +and a thousand years of such history "of north Africa" is not worth a +brief generation of European history. If the infusion of "Hamitic" +blood and civilization has appreciably helped the Sudanese, we are not +surprised; but who will infer from that fact that these infusers are +_not_ superior? + +"Why, then, have the Mohammedans been able to civilize these tribes and +to raise them to nearly the same standard which they had attained, +while the whites have not been capable of influencing the negro in +Africa to any considerable extent?" Mark you, the word "nearly"--a +bridge broad enough to span the straits of Gibraltar, the chasm between +Bagdad or Granada and Dahomey, between Averroes and the Mad Mullah. +Some would, perhaps, hold that in the United States the Negro has +attained "nearly" to the Caucasian level. But since it was at best only +"nearly" and not quite, it follows that the mixture of Hamite and Negro +did, after all, work a debasement of the former. And how was this +possible, if the latter was not inferior? + +"Evidently, on account of the different method of introduction of +culture. While the Mohammedans influence the people in the same manner +in which the ancients civilized the tribes of Europe, the whites send +only the products of their manufactures and a few of their +representatives into the negro country. A real amalgamation between the +higher types of the whites and the negroes has never taken place. The +amalgamation of the negroes by the Mohammedans is facilitated +particularly by the institution of polygamy, the conquerors taking +native wives and raising their children as members of their own +family." + +Such is the programme for "influencing" the Negro! Such is the way to +introduce "culture," whereby, in a thousand years, the "mixed race" may +"nearly" attain the present Caucasian standard! That is, the only +successful "method of introduction of culture" is to introduce blood, +to introduce a new stock, a new germinal principle. Then comes a race +of mongrels, of average mental powers higher than the lower breed, with +exceptions little lower than the higher. Since the _forms_ of +civilization are easily imposed on inferior breeds, the resulting +mongrels do what one may be pleased to call "nearly attaining" to the +standard of the higher. Bear witness the West Indies, and Mexico, and +Central and South America. What interest has any one in contesting such +statements? To our mind they give away the case entirely; out of their +own mouths such speakers are unappealably condemned. Bornu[23] and +Haiti may have attractions for some; but for us, none whatever. + + [23] The semi-civilization of this "empire," which never gave any + promise of history, culminated centuries ago; in more recent + years its descent has been rapid. Concerning Haiti, see _supra_, + p. 57. In a recent number of _The Ethical Record_, Dr. B. returns + with ardour to this subject, repeating his earlier statements, + without, however, any significant additions. + +"When, finally, we consider the inferior position held by the negro +race of the United States, who are in the closest contact with modern +civilization, we must not forget that the old race-feeling of the +inferiority of the colored race is as potent as ever and is a +formidable obstacle to its advance and progress, notwithstanding that +schools and universities are open to them. We might rather wonder how +much has been accomplished in a short period against heavy odds. It is +hardly possible to say what would become of the negro if he were able +to live with the whites on absolutely equal terms" (p. 307). + +Such is the pathetic plea for the ABSOLUTE EQUALITY in our American +life of Black and White. We do not deny that there is a certain force +in such words. To us the Negro seems handicapped with an undeniable +inferiority, which, particularly in the commercial world, accumulates +rapidly against him, as it were, at compound interest. And this is the +seventh seal of his doom. But in science, in literature, in art, he +receives all encouragement; his work is at an absurd premium. Take one +illustration, _instar omnium_. In the advertisement of "Volumes by Paul +Lawrence Dunbar," in "The Uncalled," his own publishers speak thus: "A +poet who starts out by being handicapped by excessive praise suffers +from it for a long time.... Just because he [Dunbar] happened to be a +Negro, a vast amount of adulation was heaped upon him." Precisely the +opposite of the picture drawn above! Compare, also, the history of the +Negroes of Chatham, Ontario, and of other such early colonies. That +they no longer meet with such extraordinary favour in the North is +largely due to the fact that they have uniformly, when in numbers, +sadly disappointed the hopes of their benefactors and well-wishers. It +seems plain, moreover, that a really strong and highly endowed blood +would triumph with equal ease over excessive favour and over unjust +disfavour. Would any such discrimination keep down the Anglo-Saxon? +Would he not "make by force his merit known"? And have twenty centuries +of race prejudice and outrageous persecution availed to repress or +depress the all-victorious sons of Israel? The generous explanation +just offered must be rejected as utterly inadequate. + +Hence it is concluded (p. 307) that "no great weight can be attributed +to the earlier rise of civilization in the Old World which is +satisfactorily explained as a chance. In short, historical events +appear to have been much more potent in leading races to civilization +than their faculty, and it follows that achievements of races do not +warrant us to assume that one race is more highly gifted than the +other." + +We submit that there has not been offered, for these conclusions, any +semblance of proof whatever. Let our readers judge;--we have quoted +very fully. Notice, moreover, the phrase "earlier rise of civilization +in the Old World." But who knows that it rose earlier in the Old World? +Or who cares? Who argues therefrom? The point is, that it rose higher, +immeasurably higher, in the Old World; but this, the kernel, is not +mentioned. All this was mere "chance"! Yes, perhaps; in the same sense +that the higher rise of the Himalayas than of the Andes was mere +"chance"; that the richer fauna and flora of the Old World were mere +"chance"; that the greater energy and stature and cranial capacity of +the Aryan were mere "chance"; in the same sense that everything in +Euclidean space is a mere "chance". In order to justify any assertion, +it will suffice to enlarge sufficiently the meaning of your terms. But +we do not think that the cause of truth is prospered by such methods. + +Some one may ask, however, is there not some grain of correctness in +this contention that capacity cannot always be measured by achievement? +We grant it cheerfully, and we applaud our opponent and his school for +calling this connection in question, and bidding the current assumption +answer for itself. We, too, would "test all things," but we would also +"hold fast the good." The savant has been unscientific in his +procedure; he has gone too far; he has thrown out the baby with the +bath. He has neglected the central principles of the doctrine of +probability. If there be two members of two families, and one succeeds +greatly in life, along this path and that, while the other fails here, +there, everywhere, we are strongly tempted to ascribe higher faculty to +the one than to the other. Yet we may very well be wrong. The latter +might put up a plausible defence. He might reason as this school has +done. He might say that the game was called too soon, that various +circumstances continually favoured his rival, that in a perfectly fair +field he would have shown himself at least equal. All, then, that we +could say would be, that the Inverse Probability was somewhat against +him. His failure is a fact: it may have been due to lower faculty, it +may have been due to something else; but it stands against him, and it +raises a certain probability of inferiority. No such failure stands +against the other. No such probability of inferior faculty is +suggested, though it remains barely possible that he was really +inferior. + +But now, suppose there are a million or a trillion in each of the two +families; and of these the one trillion attain varying but splendid +success along every line of endeavour, while the other trillion fail, +more or less completely, along the same lines. What, then, shall we +say? What, then, must we say? Unhesitatingly, that there must have been +a very decided difference of average faculty. While we might admit the +measurable possibility that chance and time and circumstance played a +conspicuous and even a determining part in the fortunes of the one +pair, yet we could by no means admit the like for any great number of +pairs; and when the number of pairs becomes enormously great, the +possibility in question becomes vanishingly small--too small to be +dealt with in any system of our thought. Here is the given effect: +success of the one class, failure of the other. What the cause? Is it +mainly, at least, an (average) uniform difference of faculty? This +cause is simple and intelligible and self-repeating; if it worked in +one case, it would work in all cases and explain everything as easily +as any one thing. But the other cause, the conspiracy of chance and +time and circumstance, is not self-repeating, and however great the +likelihood of a single such chance combination, the likelihood of +innumerable such repetitions is inexpressibly small--on the same +principle that the chance of throwing heads once is one-half, but the +chance of throwing them consecutively twice is only one-fourth, and +thrice is only one-eighth, and so on. We need not parade here the +mathematical formulae for the reckoning of the so-called inverse +probability of each of these two hypotheses. Common sense tells us at +once that the difference of faculty is practically certain, the +chance-effect or coincidence-effect is practically impossible. + +Now, such is the case really presented. On the one side, the +generations of generations of Caucasians; all have distinguished +themselves by high and varied achievements along every line of activity +yet opened up to man. On the other hand, the primitives--the backward +races of Australia, particularly of Africa; they seem scarcely yet +quite conscious. Not one has done anything historical. The failure is +complete and universal. That this uniform and immense diversity is a +mere accident, the age-long result of a fortuitous concourse of +circumstances, or ascriptible to any such trivialities as those +enumerated, is almost incalculably improbable, except we expand the +term accident to include the laws of gravitation and the conservation +of energy. We might as well say that the different behaviours of two +bodies of oxygen and hydrogen were to be "explained as a chance," and +did not argue any greater mass in the average molecule of the former. + +This conclusion would hold, even if the higher faculty of the Caucasian +were antecedently extremely improbable; the _a priori_ unlikelihood +would become _a posteriori_, in view of the facts of history, a +practical certainty. However, the case is immeasurably stronger. For a +difference in faculty, not merely in kind, but also in degree of +faculty, is not only not improbable _a priori_--it is probable almost +to certainty. All nature around us is one endless spectacle of such +diversities. Equality is absolutely unknown. This observation is +altogether too trite to dwell on. Will any one deny that the degrees of +faculty are often inexpressibly apart in members of the same family? +Did any amount of opportunity serve to raise any other member of the +Bonaparte family quite to the level of the first Napoleon? If, then, +such inherent disparities in individuals be undeniable, is parity among +tribes or races to be expected? Is it not, in fact, antecedently +incredible? To us it seems no more unlikely that one race should be +superior to another than that one man should be taller, or one mountain +range higher, or one ocean deeper, than another. The question of +equality or inequality between two races of men is a mere question of +present facts, to be settled without any bias, now and here, precisely +as you would settle the like question between the Numidian lion and the +Colorado cougar. And when some one pleads for the backward "primitives" +that they need only a little more time, a few millenniums, we answer +once more: Very possibly; but time may be all that the jaguar needs to +surpass the tiger, or the ant to rival the eagle. + +So much, then, for the historical argument. As already brought forward +in our Chapter Two, it is shaken by the scruples presented even as an +oak is shaken by a zephyr. + +Let us now pass to the anatomical argument (p. 308). "There is no doubt +that great differences exist in the physical characteristics of the +races of man." But these cannot, of themselves, decide the question of +superiority. While skin, hair, lips, and nose "distinguish the African +negro clearly," yet Americans (aboriginal) have occasionally skin, +lips, nose, but not hair, mistakable "for those of a negro." In +general, variations in any race over-lap variations in another, showing +that "existing differences are not fundamental" (whatever that may +mean). It is held that the varying proportions of the body may be +rather cultural than racial, like the differences between wild and +domesticated animals (Fritsch). "The differences which cannot be +explained by functional causes are few in number and they are not of +such a character as to stamp one race as lower than the other." +Conceded. But notice here the logical process. Whatever _can_ be +explained functionally "must" be explained functionally; a functional +cause that is _possible_ is held to be _ipso facto_ certain; racial +causes are antecedently so extremely improbable as to be admissible +only under extreme compulsion. Now this is altogether vicious. The case +is just the reverse. It is the functional causes that are pressed into +service, that remain mere possibilities. Even at the utmost they refuse +to explain all the differences. Some "few" are admitted to be racial. +But, as some are certainly racial, then all or at least most may be +racial, the invocation of supposed functional causes becomes +unnecessary, and the cultural explanation improbable. We may apply the +razor of Occam: _Entia non multiplicanda sunt praeter necessitatem._ + +We pass now to theromorphisms among the lower races (p. 310). For +example, in man the temporal and frontal bones are separated by the +sphenoid and parietal, but in the ape the temporal encroaches on the +second pair and meets the frontal. This simian formation is found +occasionally among all races, but "more frequently among primitive +people." However, it is thought "probably" due to "malnutrition in +early infancy," and to be no indication of closer kinship to the ape. + +There follow (p. 310) some half dozen other variations, long thought to +be characteristic, that "occur all over the world,"--"but the degree of +variability is not everywhere the same." "Presumably such variations" +"have not yet" "become stable," but are "still in process of +evolution." "It might seem," then, that the races in which they "are +more stable" are "more highly organized." It is said that "this would +refer, however, only to such features as are not caused by the +influence of environment." Moreover, "it may be that the greater +variability of certain races, in regard to these phenomena, is not an +expression of a lower degree of development of the whole group, but of +the presence of a great number of members of a family which possessed +the peculiar character". + +It is needless to contest or criticise such ingenious maybes. It is +enough to note, once again, the logic. It is not denied that _prima +facie_ all these phenomena suggest and indicate lower development; +it is merely sought to avert the indication by devising an hypothesis +to account for each fact some other way. In place of the one +supposition of lower development, there is put a whole series of +independent suppositions. In order to avail for the purpose, all of +these must hit true at the same time; if each were as likely as not, +having a probability of one-half, the chance that five such shall hit +true simultaneously is only the fifth power of one-half--that is, one +thirty-second. This rapid diminution of the chance of all being correct +is wholly overlooked in such argumentation. + +Regard is now turned (p. 311) upon the cranial features: "While the +consideration of the characters treated heretofore has not given any +conclusive evidence of the superiority of certain races, the study of +the form and size of the head seems to promise better results." + +Note here the word "conclusive"; clearly, it is admitted that these +characters furnish some evidence of the "superiority" claimed, but +denied that it is "conclusive." But who ever held that such evidence +was "conclusive"? There is no single variety of evidence in the case +that is or can be "conclusive." The evidence is cumulative its +conclusiveness is found in its mass, in the concurrence of all its +disconnected indications. This is the decisive aspect of the whole +matter, and of this there is betrayed no consciousness. + +Relatively "to the skull, the face of the negro is larger than that of +the American, whose face is, in turn, larger than that of the white. +The lower portion of the face assumes larger dimensions. The alveolar +arch is pushed forward and thus gains an appearance which reminds us of +the higher apes. There is no denying that this feature is a most +constant character of the black races and that it represents a type +slightly nearer the animal than the European type. The same may be said +of the broadness and flatness of the nose of the negro and of the +Mongol; but here again we must call to mind that prognathism and low, +broad noses are not entirely absent among the white races [neither are +idiots and all sorts of reversions to older types], although the more +strongly developed forms which are found among the negroes do not +occur. The variations belonging to both races overlap. We find here at +least a few indications which tend to show that the white race differs +more from the higher apes than [does] the negro. But does this +anatomical difference prove that their mental capacity is lower than +that of the white? The probability that this may be the case is +suggested by the anatomical facts, but they by themselves are no proof +that this is the case." + +True; but they are not "by themselves." They are in goodly company with +a long series of facts already mentioned, with a still longer series +immediately to come, and with a wholly overwhelming confirmative +history of ten thousand years. It is idle, then, to say "they by +themselves are no proof." The question is, Are they, in their own +anatomical and historical connection, any proof? It is impossible not +to answer, Yes. They are the very strongest proof. + +Promising "to revert to this subject later on," the savant passes over +(p. 312) to the important matter of arrested development. Among such +phenomena may be noted that the noses of children are more alike than +those of adults. The Mongol nose changes less during adolescence than +the White. According to Quatrefages, the Negro basin differs less from +foetal forms and resembles more the ape form than that of other races. +All of which points to relative lowness of developmental type. "On the +other hand, the face of the negro child is less prognathous than that +of the adult. In this case we find that the more energetic development +tends to produce a type which is apparently lower than that of the +white. We may even go a step farther and say that the ontogenetic +development of the higher apes and of man is such that the young forms +are more alike than the old ones. While in man the face develops +moderately only, it grows considerably among the apes. The earlier +arrest in this case is, therefore, an indication of higher type. Thus +it will be seen that it is not the earlier arrest alone which +determines the place of a race, but the direction of this development." +Hence he refuses to draw a conclusion against the Mongol, but says +nothing more of the Negro. The argument of Dr. Boas, at this point, +seems strangely vague and irresolute. It seems hardly possible to join +direct issue. But this fact appears noteworthy: The ape face grows more +than the human; also the Negro face grows decidedly more than the +White--at least relatively to the head, since the adult is more +prognathous than the child; this "more energetic development" relates, +then, the Negro to the ape more nearly than the White man. + +The general reply that is made (p. 313) to the argument from arrested +development is that the female sex is in all proportions more like the +child than the male, "but who would explain this earlier arrest of +development of women as mark of a lower type?" We let this go for what +it is worth, merely remarking that it is thoroughly invalidated by the +remark on page 315 (quoted at p. 144). + +With page 313 we pass to the question of the length of time during +which certain organs grow, especially the brain. "If we could prove +that the brain of certain races ceases to develop at an earlier period +than that of others, the inference of the inferiority of race would +seem highly probable." Now, this is precisely what many naturalists of +the first rank affirm is the case with the Negro. But it is here +declared, "At the present time no satisfactory basis for such +comparisons exists." Possibly;--we recognize the difficulties of the +case: still, the returns thus far received, so far as they indicate +anything at all, do indicate a much shorter period of development for +the Negro (see p. 147). + +The next question (p. 314) is the crucial one of brain-weights--"the +one anatomical feature which bears directly upon the question at issue. +It would seem that the greater the central nervous system, the higher +the faculty of the race and the greater its aptitude to mental +achievements.... There are sufficient data available to establish +beyond a doubt the fact that the brain-weight of the whites is larger +than of most other races, particularly larger than that of the negroes. +That of the white male is about 1370 grammes. The investigations of +cranial capacities are quite in accord with these results. According to +Topinard, the capacity of the skull of males of the neolithic period of +Europe is about 1560 cc.; that of modern Europeans is the same; of the +Mongoloid race 1510 cc.; of African negroes 1405 cc., and of negroes of +the Pacific ocean 1460 cc. Here we have, therefore, a decided +difference in favor of the white race. These differences cannot be +explained as the effect of difference in stature, the negroes being at +least as tall as the Europeans." + +"In interpreting these facts, we must ask, Does the increase in the +size of the brain prove an increase in faculty? This would seem highly +probable and facts may be adduced which speak in favor of this +assumption." A number of these, familiar enough, are mentioned, and +there follows: "While the force of these arguments must be admitted, a +number of restricting facts must be enumerated. The most important +among these is the difference in the brain-weight between men and +women. When men and women of the same stature are compared it is found +that the brain of the woman is much lighter than that of the man. +Nevertheless, the faculty of woman is undoubtedly just as high as that +of man. This is therefore a case in which smaller brain-weight is +accompanied throughout by equal faculty. We conclude from this fact +that it is not impossible that the smaller brains of males of other +races should not (_sic_) do the same work that is done by the larger +brain of the white race. But this comparison is not quite on equal +terms, as we may assume that there is a certain structural difference +between male and female which causes the difference in size between the +sexes, so that comparison between male and female is not the same as a +comparison between male and male. We will also remember that, although +the brains of eminent men are, on the average, larger than those of the +average individual, there are some small brains included in their +number." We observe that, the sentence "But this comparison ..." (p. +315) so restricts the foregoing "most important restriction" as to +deprive it of all the force it might otherwise have with some. As to +eminent men having small brains, to be sure; but eminent men may have +small minds also; very extraordinary special endowment does not by any +means imply general endowment; not every genius is a good "all-around" +man; even as physically some are strong in arm but weak in legs, strong +in the chest but weak in the back, and so on. Besides, no one has ever +held that mind-power is merely a matter of brain-weight. We hold only +that, other things being equal, brain-weight is a fair index of +mind-power. Perhaps in no two cases are the other things equal; but in +the average of a large number of cases these inequalities are smoothed +out; hence it is that we may rely upon the average with no little +confidence. + +"Notwithstanding these restrictions, the increase of the size of the +brain in the higher animals, and the lack of development in +microcephalic individuals are fundamental facts which make it more than +probable that increased size of the brain causes increased faculty, +although the relation is not quite as immediate as is often assumed." + +We ask no greater concession. + +It is next contended (p. 316) "that the average sizes of the brain of +the White are numerously represented among other races". Middle-sized +capacities (1450 to 1650 cc.) are found in 55 per cent. of Europeans, +and in 58 per cent. of Africans and Melanesians; also 50 per cent. of +Whites rise above 1550 (the mid-line), 27 per cent. of Africans, 32 per +cent. of Melanesians. "We might, therefore, anticipate a lack of men of +high genius, but should not anticipate any great lack of faculty among +the great mass of negroes living among whites and enjoying the +advantages of the leadership of the best men of that race." + +These words seem to surrender everything. They admit a sensible +inferiority of the Negro. This defect may be slight as expressed in +ounces, and yet, as measured by achievement, it may be inexpressibly +great. Nay, more! The admission goes much further still. The +"anticipation" of no "great lack of faculty" is wholly unwarranted. We +have no right to assume that medium skull-capacities among Africans +imply the same medium faculties as would the same capacities among +Europeans. By no means! Not unless the average brain-texture of the +former be as fine-grained and highly organized as of the latter. But +this is very improbable. With the difference in quantity will most +likely be linked a far more significant difference in quality. So much +is, in fact, admitted in the next paragraph, which merits special +attention. This, however, is hardly the correct standpoint, as mental +ability certainly does not depend upon the size of the brain alone. The +proper point of view of the question is brought out most clearly by Dr. +H. H. Donaldson whose opinion I will quote. He says, "I consider the +significance of the encephalon to depend upon the number and size of +the cells composing it. In the negroes and lower races generally, the +number of cells is probably less than in the white. This is mainly an +inference from the total weight of the encephalon. Equally important +are the final stages in the enlargement of the structural elements, +stages which apparently have the result of bringing a larger number of +elements into physiological connections by means of a very slight +quantitative extension of their branches. Changes, which moreover can +be followed, say in the cortex of the brain of the white in individuals +thirty or more years of age (_sic_). When we compare the capacity +for education between the lower and higher races, we find that the +great point of divergence is at adolescence and the inference is fairly +good that we shall not find in the brains of the lower races the +post-pubertal growth in the cortex to which I have just alluded. As to +the sculpturing of the brain surface by gyri and sulci we still lack +any good racial characters." + +We have no occasion to take the slightest exception to this statement +of Professor Donaldson's. But we are at a loss to perceive any support +it gives to the general contention of this address, which, indeed, it +seems to overturn completely. Observe especially that Donaldson +recognizes unequivocally "the great point of divergence at adolescence" +"in the capacity for education, between the lower and higher races." We +may be allowed to add some later remarks of the Chicago authority, +culled from his "The Growth of the Brain" (1895), which also fully +sustain, incidentally, the theses of our earlier chapters. + +"Statistically the results are satisfactory" (p. 114), being said of a +table showing the inferior brain-weights of inferior races, indicates +that Professor Donaldson recognizes that inferiority unreservedly. + +"On neurological grounds, therefore, nurture is to be considered of +much less importance than nature, and in that sense the capacities we +most admire in persons worthy of remark are certainly inborn rather +than made" (p. 344). + +"Size, therefore, has a meaning; but it is by no means entitled to +dominate the whole interpretation of the central system" (p. 352). + +"No amount of education will cause enlargement or organization where +the rough materials, the cells, are wanting; and, on the other hand, +where these materials are present, they will in some degree become +evident, whether purposely educated or not" (p. 355). + +"Races which have progressed farthest in civilization are also those +which possess a large brain-weight; but the converse of this +proposition is by no means true, for the tables also show that there +are races possessed of a large brain-weight and yet uncivilized" (p. +359). + +Having now reviewed all pertinent anatomical differences, Dr. Boas +declares (p. 317): "Our conclusion is, that there are differences +between the physical characters of races which make it probable that +there may be differences in faculty. No unquestionable fact, however, +has been found yet which would prove beyond a doubt that it will be +impossible for certain races to attain a higher civilization." + +This conclusion is drawn so mildly that it seems hard to quarrel with +it. But we must observe that it is not exactly a question of "higher +civilization," but of the highest, as high as the Caucasian has +attained or can attain: no one doubts that the Guinea Negro may be +improved--he has been improved right here in the United States; the +question is, can he keep pace with the White man? and everything thus +far suggests, and almost compels, the answer, No! Again, it is not +precisely a question of "impossibility" but of "improbability." All +things are possible with God and even to the thought of man; but for +the practical reason, the improbability here admitted is controlling. +Once more, it is not by any means a matter of one "unquestionable +fact;" such a single decisive indicium is nowhere easy to find and can +seldom be demanded; it is the consensus of all the indications that is +practically conclusive, and it is this consensus that has been so +unfortunately disregarded. + +The remaining ten pages of this address are devoted to "the +psychological characteristics of primitive people." "This investigation +is extremely difficult and unpromising"; nor do we think there can be +much profit in following it up closely, since hardly anywhere is the +ground traversed solid beneath the feet. The method employed is a +continuation of that with which we are already familiar. One by one are +taken up the counts of the indictment brought against the primitive +mind by ethnologists, such as Wuttke, Klemm, Eichthal, De Gobineau, +Nott and Gliddon. Thus, Wuttke and Klemm characterize the civilized +races as active, all others as passive, and refer even American +civilization to contact with some earlier form. Eichthal thinks of +society as an organism, the White race representing the male, the Black +the female, principle. De Gobineau designates the Yellow as the male, +the Black as the female element, and admits only the White as noble and +gifted. Nott and Gliddon ascribe only animal instincts to the lower +races, but the civilizing instinct to the White only. All such +schematism seems to us highly unscientific and is justly rejected. +Tylor and Spencer analyze the primitive mind ingeniously, but do not +assume that it is racially determined, though something of the kind +seems implied in evolution. Waitz alone meets with sanction in +declaring: "According to the current opinion the stage of culture of a +people or of an individual is largely or exclusively a product of his +faculty. We maintain that the reverse is at least just as true. The +faculty of man does not designate anything but how much and what he is +able to achieve in the immediate future and depends upon the stages of +culture through which he has passed and the one he has reached." This +is declared to be "the true point of view" and to be "expressed most +happily." To us it seems far out of focus and expressed about as +emptily and unhappily as possible. Certainly it is not the clearest +thinking that regards a proposition and its "reverse" as "at least just +as true." Remembering that _faculty_ is related to _facio_, we accept +the statement as to what it "designates;" but to say that it "depends +upon the stages of culture through which he has passed and the one he +has reached," is like saying that a youth's mathematical faculty +depends upon the fact that he "has passed through" the Freshman, +Sophomore, and Junior "stages of culture" and "has reached" the Senior. +He may do this with the genius of Gauss, or he may do it in a +perfunctory manner, without the ability to grasp and master such +elementary notions as derivative and integral. If Waitz should now +reply that such a youth has not really "passed through these stages," +then we answer that he thereby assigns a new meaning to the phrase and +evacuates his words of all definite import. In common parlance, the +mathematical faculty of Gauss, his power to do in the immediate future, +was amazing in his childhood, before he reached any notable "stages of +culture" in mathematics. Still more striking is the case of Pascal. We +do not deny that there may be some occult sense in which Waitz's words +are true; but it is scarcely worth guessing at and, when divined, it +will hardly add much to the clear deliverances of Bischoff, Donaldson, +and others.[24] + + [24] See _supra_ pp. 92-96. + +The address before us now examines (p. 319) some of the "mental +qualities" held to be "racial characteristics" of the "primitives," and +rejects them one by one as "not proven." Such are "impulsiveness," +"inability of concentration," "lack of originality." In our judgement, +the most important of all instincts of civilization is the speculative, +the pure-scientific, the impulse to know simply for the sake of +knowing--most splendidly present in the Greek and the Teuton. It seems +hard to believe, and certainly there is not a scintilla of evidence, +that any such is a native quality of the Negro or Australian mind. But +in these pages we find no firm basis for contention; the facts are not +yet definitely ascertained. Enough that, if along these lines no case +is made out against the primitive--and we have carefully refrained from +trying to make out any--yet avowedly no case is made out for him; and +the evidence, as far as it goes, is certainly not in his favour. + +In conclusion, page 324 raises the important question whether "the +faculty of man has been improved by civilization, and particularly, if +that of primitive races may be improved by this agency." Civilization +and domestication cause analogous anatomical changes, and it is likely +that "mental changes" "go hand in hand with them." But no more. + +No "progressive changes of the human organism," "particularly no +advance in the size or complexity of the structure of the central +nervous system caused by the cumulative influences of civilization can +be proved." There are considerable psychic changes consequent on +domestication and civilization; but these are due to environment. Any +changes progressive or transmissible by heredity seem doubtful. None of +this do we contest. On "relapses," we need not pause. + +Hear, then, the conclusion of the whole matter (p. 326): "The +anatomical evidence is such, that we may expect to find the races not +equally gifted. While we have no right to consider one more ape-like +than the other, the differences are such that some have probably +greater mental vigour than others. The variations are, however, such +that we may expect many individuals of all races to be equally gifted, +while the number of men and women of higher ability will differ." + +This states the case as favourably as possible for the "primitives," +and, as we think for reasons already assigned (p. 146), far too +favourably. Nevertheless, we accept it precisely as presented; for the +logical purposes of this book, the concession of Negro inferiority here +made is absolutely sufficient. + +"We did not find proof of cumulative increase of faculty caused by +civilization." + +Accordingly, the Negro being concededly inferior to the White, there is +no hope of raising him to the White level by education or +civilization--precisely our fundamental contention. + +Finally, "the average faculty of the white race is found to the same +degree in a large proportion of individuals of all other races, and +although it is probable that some of these races may not produce as +large a proportion of great men as our own race, there is no reason to +suppose that they are unable to reach the level of civilization +represented by the bulk of our own people" (p. 327). + +To us, these closing words read very much like a plea of confession and +avoidance. It is admitted that the Negro is inferior to the Caucasian, +that the summits of genius he will rarely, if ever, reach; but from the +fact that many Negro brains equal many Caucasian brains in weight (p. +146), the same is inferred of "the average faculty." Hereby, as already +pointed out, there is overlooked the all-important qualification that +it is not a mere matter of weight, as well as the highly approved +quotation from Donaldson, as to post-adolescent development (p. 147). +The inference, then, is illegitimate that "they," _i.e._, "the large +proportion" with "the average faculty" (or rather, average +brain-weight) of the Caucasian, may "reach the level of civilization +represented by the bulk of our own people." Moreover, it takes no +account of those not included in this "large proportion," who are not a +few. But the language is too vague to combat. We do not know what +significance, relative or absolute, is attached to the group of great +men, nor what is thought of the civilization of the bulk of our own +people. Perhaps it is held, with D'Annunzio, that the hands of the +peasant are "fit to clean out a stable, but not to raise in a +legislative assembly." In any case, it is enough to remember that even +the admittedly higher Caucasian average is none too high, that it needs +heightening, that it cannot stand the least lowering, and to recall the +lines of Browning already quoted (p. 88). Moreover, this is an age of +intense competition daily intensified. The margin is so small that the +least difference becomes important and even decisive. A very slight +discrimination in freight rates may turn the tides of commerce this way +or that and make or unmake a metropolis. Is it not clear, then, that in +the keen competition of races the conceded inferiority of the Black +must turn the scale against him more and more and doom him finally to +defeat and disappearance beyond the reach of even the longest-armed +philanthropy? + +While then we greatly admire the testing, probing spirit of Dr. Boas, +and thank him heartily for his broad-minded plea for the "primitives," +we are unable to find in any of his pages anything but strong +confirmations of the theses of our earlier chapters. + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +A DIP INTO THE FUTURE + + _And the individual withers, + And the world is more and more._ + + TENNYSON + + +The reader may find the foregoing discussion convincing; we think the +unprejudiced reader will almost surely find it so, and yet he may not +find it satisfactory. For he may urge that no solution has been +propounded or foreshadowed for the problem, and that it is by no means +enough merely to know what the problem is--its dangers, its +difficulties, and its terrible threat. This objection is perfectly +just. Up to this moment our sole concern has been to establish +unshakably firm the central position, of the supreme and +all-overshadowing importance of preserving the American-Caucasian blood +pure and untainted and dedicated to the development of the highest +humanity. But this accomplished, we have no disposition to shirk +another task, to avoid another question, however delicate, +disagreeable, or depressing. This question is: What has the future in +store for the Negro? If social equality must be resolutely denied him +forever, if he is to be treated as an outcast and a pariah because of +his race and the weight of inheritance which he can never shake off +from his shoulders, what hope remains? Where are the blessings of +freedom? Is, then, emancipation but an apple of Sodom, turning to ashes +on his lips? These are fearful questions, but we must not quail before +them; we must confront them firmly, calmly, with eyes wide open to all +the facts in the case, and with ears unclosed to all the teachings of +history. + +In the light of the foregoing, it is vain to appeal to Education. We +know that many noble and excellent spirits expect wonders from this +potent agency. As an educator ourself, we can have no interest or +motive in unduly distrusting or minimizing its capabilities. The work +that education may accomplish is undoubtedly great; and in spite of +many discouraging disappointments, the task of educating the Negro will +assuredly be bravely performed, in larger and larger measure, for all +generations to come. + +But it is a colossal error to suppose that race improvement, in the +strictest sense of the term, can be wrought by education.[25] The reason +is simple and easily understood: Race-improvement is organic; education +is extraorganic. Any change or amelioration that affects the race, the +stock, the blood, must be inherited; but education is not inherited, it +is not inheritable. It must be renewed generation after generation in +each individual. The Sisyphus-stone of culture is rolled with infinite +toil up the steep ascent by the fathers; it thunders instantly back, +and must be rolled up again with equal agony and bloody sweat by their +children. All must start at the same centre of ignorance, and beat out +a long and arduous path to the ever-widening circumference of the +farthest knowledge. The son of the learned and the son of the unlearned +have equal chance side by side in the race for learning. If the +children of the cultured acquire more readily than their fellows, it is +not because they have inherited parental culture, but only the +inherited parental capacity for culture; not because their parents knew +more, but because they had more inborn power to know. Had circumstances +doomed the savant to ignorance, his children would not have suffered in +their ability to learn. Nay more, if devotion to intellectual pursuits +has any influence at all on the native quality of offspring, as it may +possibly have in extreme cases, it would seem to be more probably +hurtful than helpful; for, by impairing nutrition of the germinal +cells, excessive intellectual activity may induce impotence and +sterility; and the fecundity of the very highly cultured seems to have +suffered measurably in Europe, if not in the United States.[26] + + [25] To this truth, see various testimonies, pp. 149, 154, _et + passim_. + + [26] "The tendency of human multiplication is such that the most + highly cultured families tend to disappear ... Educational + influences ... are superficial as compared to Hereditary causes." + + Franz Boas, Pro. Am. Ass. for the Adv. of Science, 1894, p. 325. + +These propositions lie beyond possible contradiction. We need not raise +the question of the general Weismannian theory of heredity; but we must +recognize, as wholly undeniable, that the characters and qualities +acquired by education are not in any degree inherited. The testimony +of every-day observation is, on this point, so unanimous and so +overwhelming that further insistence would seem superfluous. We may +refer however, to the broad, patent, universally recognized fact that +centuries of culture and most careful training have never been known +to improve the breed, the stock, the inherent quality of any race of +men or plants or domestic animals. Wherever any of these have been +organically modified, it has been by other agencies, more especially by +some form of natural or artificial selection. While the extra-organic +development of civilization has gone on and still goes on, and +apparently will go on apace indefinitely, under the guidance of science +and invention, there is no evidence of any organic improvement in man +in thousands of years, since the working of natural selection ceased to +be progressive. The Mesopotamian of to-day is surely not the superior +of his sculptured ancestors who observed and measured the precession of +the equinoxes nearly 6,000 years ago. The Jew of to-day can boast +nothing above the authors of the Psalms, and of Job, and of the +prophecies of Isaiah. The modern Greek may or may not have _descended_ +from Homer or Pericles; but, surely, he has not _ascended_ very far. It +is needless to multiply illustrations. We believe firmly in the +mutability of species; but the phenomenon of the permanence, even of +sub-species and varieties, is far more universal and impressive. + +Education, then, can do much; but its mission is to the present--it +cannot stamp itself upon the future. The limits of its efficiency, +though absolutely wide, are relatively narrow and are speedily reached. +It plays with man the function of care and training, of cultivation and +domestication, with the lower animals and with the products of the +soil. By diligent tillage, by the spade, the hoe, the plough, by +irrigation and fertilization, the planter may greatly increase the +yield of his field or his orchard and even refine, in a measure, the +quality of his fruit or his grain. By feeding, grooming, and the like, +the horse-dealer may much improve the appearance and serviceability of +his horses and may even add no little to their health, vigour, and +value. It would be insanity in these men to neglect or despise such +artificial helps and to trust their crops and their stock to grow and +to take care of themselves. The farmer and the stockman know very well +that only by the highest cultivation and the most watchful attention +can they secure the best results in field or fold and maintain +themselves in competition with wide-awake neighbours. + +But they also know, not less certainly, that the maximal results of +such instrumentalities are not far away but are hemmed within a very +finite circle. Care and culture soon do their best and attain at least +practically their _ne plus ultra_. For any progressive improvement, +whether in animal or in plant, the agriculturist knows that he must +look to the seed. This he must select with the utmost skill and +caution--if he would even maintain the level of excellence already +reached, if he would not have the "stock" lapse back to an ancient +inferior average. + +All this doctrine, which every one admits so instantly and unhesitatingly +in its application to wheat, corn, and cotton; potatoes, apples, and +oranges; grapes and melons; sheep, cattle, swine, and horses; bees, +birds, and fishes--all holds with full force and with inconceivable +significance when applied to men. Education is of exceeding importance. +People that neglect it thereby doom themselves to hopeless +subordination; they drop out of the race for the prizes of life; they +surrender unconditionally to their rivals and commercial foes. Training +and culture of the highest type are necessary to secure the realization +of potentialities, to make the very best of the material offered at +hand; necessary, not only now and here, but everywhere and all the +time. Any neglect or indifference at this point must prove fatal. The +husbandman dares not deprive his corn of a single "ploughing," or leave +his herd one night unprotected from the wolf and the cold. + +But it is the sheerest folly to expect of education the impossible--to +dream that it can affect the blood, or transmute racial qualities, or +smooth down the inequalities between individuals of the same breed, +much less between the breeds themselves. Why, if education could lift +the Negro to the Caucasian level, to what, pray, in the meantime would +it lift the Caucasian himself? We repeat, and the repetition cannot be +made too emphatic, there is no hope whatever of any organic +improvement, of any race betterment of the Negro, from any or from all +extra-organic agencies of education or religion or civilization. Let +us, then, educate the negro, to make him a more useful and productive, +a law-abiding and happier member of the community; but let us not hope +too much from this education, if we would not be bitterly disappointed. + +Immediately after the Civil War, in the halcyon days of reconstruction, +the higher education was administered copiously to the Negro, in the +honest belief that it was the catholicon for his ills; and universities +for the Coloured man sprang up thick about us. Here, in New Orleans, +there are at least three. A sadder and at the same time a more +ludicrous sight we have never beheld than on the occasion of a call +upon the President of one of these _soi-disant_ universities. We waited +in the ante-room for the dismissal of his class in psychology. At last +the bell tapped, and half a dozen Mulatto women, the whole class, +emerged from the lecture-room of this distinguished scholar, whose name +was not unknown in Europe. With a look of infinite despair, which not +even his mistaken enthusiasm for humanity could quite chase away, the +heavy-hearted lecturer followed and proceeded to conduct us through the +building to his own residence. We passed through but one room where +class exercises were in progress. An olive-coloured young man was at +the board, trying to explain to a Mulatto woman, the only member of the +class, the mysterious nature of a perpendicular. He appeared very +earnest in his exposition, but unable to awaken any answering +intelligence. To us, it seemed that the force of folly could no further +go; and our commiseration for the highly cultured theologian, since +released from his labours, who had so utterly forgotten the famous +prohibition near the close of the Sermon on the Mount, was and remains +even to this day painfully intense. + +We hear less nowadays of the saving efficacy of Greek, Latin, and the +Calculus,[27] but all the more of the imperative necessity for +industrial training--the idea which Mr. Washington has championed so +vigorously and to which Mr. Carnegie has lent the sanction of his +munificence. Undoubtedly this notion, if not far wiser, is at least far +more practicable. While the higher culture at "coloured universities," +in the vast majority of cases, merely spoils a plough-hand or +house-maid, industrial training, like that given at Tuskegee, may very +reasonably be expected to raise sensibly the productive efficiency of +the Negro, and to elevate the general standard of his life through the +formation of valuable habits of manual dexterity, of accuracy, of +conscientiousness, and of thrift--not to mention occasional great gain +in scientific equipment, or even some artistic awakening. One cannot +deny, then, that Mr. Washington has undertaken a great and beneficent +work for his race--one in which some measurable success may reasonably +be hoped for. + + [27] But the Boston Negroid still swears by the classics and + logarithms, and regards the recent change of front as little less + than a betrayal and surrender. Similarly, but with recognition of + the merits of Mr. Washington's idea, Dubois, in his _The Souls of + Black Folk_, and the sympathetic reviewer in _The Nation_. In + this controversy we think that Dubois and Washington are both + right and both wrong; but the higher and deeper right, as well as + wrong, belongs to the former. + +But our sympathy with such rational and well-directed efforts must not +blind us to near-lying limitations, which no might of man can possibly +remove. Let it be said, then, boldly that the Negro will not enter +generally or in great numbers into the field of skilled labour--neither +in the North nor in the South. It is, of course, not unattended with +danger to venture into the realm of prophecy, but in this case the +bases of prediction seem particularly broad and solid. We all know that +skilled labour is daily growing more and more thoroughly organized. +Rightly or wrongly, for weal or for woe, it regards capital, especially +combined and organized capital, if not as its enemy, at least as its +exploiter, prepared at every instant to make the very most of it--to +assail it at any and every exposed point, to throttle it by any and +every means, and to reduce it to serfdom. As over against the might of +accumulated millions, the labourer cannot fail to perceive his utter +impotence--he is not even a drop of a bucket. It is only in great +numbers, in compact and readily wielded organizations, that the +individual workman can count for anything whatever--can find any hope +of escape from the veriest servitude. It is idle to suppose that, in +many years to come, capital will not continue to mass itself into +formidable aggregations, or that labour will cease to array itself in +firmer and firmer unions and associations for self-protection and for +maintenance or elevation of the standard of life, the minimum of +subsistence. + +Now, to such federations of labour, to such combinations for the +commonweal, involving, as they so often do, the most determined +self-renunciation, the most heroic self-sacrifice, even the Caucasian +nature is by no means full-grown, and the Negroid is altogether +unequal. There is not the slightest probability that the great labour +organizations would, in general, think of admitting to their membership +an element of such notable weakness as the Negro would certainly be. +Such would be the case, even if other considerations were absent. But +they are present. As inferiors, accustomed to a lower standard of life +and more pliant to the demands of employers, the Negroes would present +the same problem and the same menace as the Chinese--only in a more +aggravated form. In their admission in large numbers to the ranks of +skilled labour, this latter could not fail to see a terrible and +instant threat of reduced wages, of lowered life, of baser thraldom. +Race prejudice, if you call it so, would blaze out immediately, and +with irresistible violence. It makes not the slightest difference +whether labour would be right or wrong, justified or unjustified; it +would be the instinct of self-preservation fanned suddenly into +vehement flame, and nothing could withstand it. As an example in point, +take the violent opposition offered a few years ago by the miners of +Illinois to the importation of Negro labourers; take the recent +practically total expulsion of Negroes, many of them peaceable and +unoffending, from various towns, districts, and counties in +Pennsylvania, Indiana, Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, and elsewhere. +Consider all this as unreasonable, as outrageous--it matters not; it +shows the temper of the American-Caucasian labourer, which will hardly +tolerate the competition of his equals, and certainly not of any form +of labour lower than his own. And in defence of what he regards as the +most important and most sacred of all his rights, he will not hesitate +for an instant at the adoption of means.[28] + + [28] Hear the testimony of the ablest of Negroids, Professor W. + E. B. Dubois, in his admirable sociologic study, "The + Philadelphia Negro": + + "How now has this exclusion been maintained? In some cases by the + actual inclusion of the word 'white' among qualifications for + entrance into certain trade unions. More often, however, by + leaving the matter of color entirely to local bodies, who make no + general rule, but invariably fail to admit a colored applicant + except under pressing circumstances. This is the most workable + system and is adopted by nearly all trade unions" (p. 128). "To + repeat, then, the real motives back of this exclusion are plain: + A large part is simple race prejudice, always strong in working + classes and intensified by the peculiar history of the Negro in + this country. Another part, and possibly a more potent part, is + the natural spirit of monopoly and the desire to keep up wages + ... Moreover, in this there is one thoroughly justifiable + consideration that plays a great part: namely, the Negroes are + used to low wages--can live on them, and consequently would fight + less fiercely than most whites against reduction" (p. 129).... + "The Negroes of the city who have trades either give them up and + hire out as waiters and laborers, or they become job workmen and + floating hands, catching a bit of carpentering here or a little + brickwork or plastering there at reduced wages" (p. 130). It is + needless to accumulate such depositions. + +Accordingly, we may confidently affirm that the experiment of Mr. +Washington and his Northern multi-millionaire admirers, to solve the +race problem by making of the Negro a skilled labourer, may indeed be +magnificent, but, in any large measure, it cannot succeed. If at any +time it seemed to promise any very wide success, it would rouse a race +animosity, North and South, the like of which we have not yet beheld. + +What fields of employment, then, remain open to the Negroid? We answer: +Those he has thus far occupied, where there is no great organized +competition of the Whites. The plantation and the countless forms of +personal and occasional service are undoubtedly the regions where his +abilities may be most naturally and most profitably employed. There, +too, his better qualities, his endowments both of mind and of body, +find fullest and most useful play. Small farming and retail dealing he +may also do successfully; he may teach his kind, he may preach and +plead and prescribe and publish for them. Superior artisans will show +themselves here and there, and occasionally abilities of still higher +order will crop out, especially among Mulattoes. If they will, these +can find ample scope for their powers within the ranks of their own +people. _Spartam tuam exorna_ will, in all such cases, be the +counsel of friendly wisdom. Vain and foolish for even the superior +Negroid to try to take the kingdom of heaven by force, to conquer a +position among the Whites commensurate with his abilities as a Black. +Better a big frog in a small puddle than a small frog in a big puddle. +In general, whatever tends towards the sharp demarcation of the two +races, towards the accurate delimitation of their spheres of activity +and influence, will unquestionably make for peace, for prosperity, for +mutual understanding, and for general contentment. On the other hand, +every attempt to blur these boundaries, to wipe out natural +distinctions, to mix immiscibles, must always issue in confusion, +discord, failure, reciprocal injury, and final ruin. + +We think that universal history attests the correctness of this +observation. Wherever border lines have been closely drawn and +distinctly recognized, whether between species or races, nations or +tribes, castes, classes, or individuals, there have been found at least +comparative quiet, harmony, mutual regard, and even happiness. But +ill-defined borders have been everywhere and everywhen the fruitful +source of strife, destruction, and misery. It was with a just feeling +for this great truth that the profound Gnostic, Basilides, declared +that in "the restoration of all things," at "the consummation of the +aeons," every element would seek its own place and there abide forever, +and not as if fishes were trying to pasture with sheep upon the +mountains. A kindred sense of the fitness of things is revealed here in +the South (and also in the North), where one will often hear it said +that "I like a Negro--in his place." This does not mean, at least it +need not mean, any harshness or over-haughtiness on the part of the +speaker. We have often heard it on the lips of the kindest-hearted, the +most humane in their treatment of the Negro. It is a just recognition +of a patent, unmistakable, and incontrovertible fact, which no humanity +can amend and no sophistry can disguise. The same feeling is frequently +met with among sober-minded Blacks, who, much to one's surprise +sometimes, are found to resent the ambitious attempts of their fellows, +generally Mulattoes, to rise above their own race and align themselves +with the Whites. We affirm then that drawing the colour line, firm and +fast, between the races, first of all in social relations, and then by +degrees in occupations also, is a natural process and a rational +procedure, which makes equally for the welfare of both. + +That this process will actually go on, though with many interruptions +and much opposition, we cannot doubt. The latter will be due in the +main to aspiring Mulattoes, to purblind philanthropists, and to +designing politicians--all three the real enemies of the Negro and the +disturbers of his peace. + +In spite of them, however, the process will go on, and we shall see +whether the Negro be able to maintain himself in the presence of the +Caucasian, though in an inferior place, playing a subordinate role, +within a protected but contracted sphere of activity. Certainly not a +brilliant future that opens before him, at the very best. Even the +highest success might seem humble enough, but is it sure that even such +a lowly victory awaits him? + +Here, again, prophecy would seem to be hazardous, but we cannot fail to +notice and to record some significant tokens. Of these, one of the most +notable is the marked tendency of the Negroes to herd together in the +cities. It is well known that the problem of securing labour in the +country is becoming increasingly difficult. Many plantations have, in +fact, been abandoned for no other reason than that labourers could not +be found to cultivate them. Italians and other Europeans are +immigrating thither, and the question is eagerly debated whether they +will fill acceptably the gap left by the departing Negroes. Whether +this tide cityward, which is actually decimating some sections of the +Black Belt, will turn and roll back, we may not guess; but it seems +unlikely. To all appearances the Negroes will stream steadily towards +the towns, and gather more and more densely in certain localities.[29] + + [29] "Fully ninety-four per cent. have struggled for land and + failed, and half of them sit in hopeless serfdom. For these there + is one other avenue of escape towards which they have turned in + increasing numbers, namely, migration to town ... this is a part + of the rush to town." Dubois, _The Souls of Black Folk_, p. 162. + "The crop-lien system which is depopulating the fields of the + South is not simply the result of shiftlessness on the part of + Negroes" (p. 170). Here, again, evidence may be supplied in any + measure desired. From the census reports it appears that in the + North the same tendency is quite as strong, if not even stronger. + +But this tendency deals them _death_. The mortality among the coloured +population of our cities is frightful. The gravest maladies establish +themselves among these unsanitated throngs and rage with ruinous +virulence. In ante-bellum days pulmonary tuberculosis was infrequent +among the plantation Blacks of the South; now it lashes them with a +scourge of desolation, and pneumonia even more ruthlessly. Typhoid +fever also ravages their ranks with fury. Still worse, contagious +diseases are fearfully prevalent. Among a populace to which chastity +and continence are terms almost unknown and meaningless, these must +diffuse and propagate themselves like an epidemic, they must lower the +general vitality, and still more directly the virility and fecundity. +Hitherto, the rate of multiplication has been in a measure maintained +by a high birth rate in the face of a fearful mortality. But this +cannot last. The plain indications now are that the birth rate is +falling and must fall, while the death rate rises with the steady +influx into the towns, the abandonment of the simple and healthful +modes of country life for the vice and diseases of the village.[30] +Even at best, the city is an ulcer on the face of the earth, a +maelstrom, a minotaur devouring the yearly tribute of the strength and +beauty of the land.[31] But for the Negro, it stands ready with +two-handed engine of death. + + [30] For a minute study of birth and death rates, see _infra_, + pp. 225-49. + + [31] To be sure, this charge holds in only very modified degree + of the modern sanitated city. + +Moreover, the gloomy hopelessness of the situation must become apparent +as the decades glide by. The Negro must feel that competition is +becoming sharper, that his territory is becoming narrower and narrower, +that twentieth-century citizenship is, like the Gospel commandment, +made for those who can receive it, that he is unequal to the load cast +upon him, that he is sinking beneath the burden of an honour unto which +he was not born. Herewith the joyousness of life must depart, the +old-time buoyancy of the race give place to a deepening despond.[32] As +the generations pass on, the Negro will be hemmed every way within +straiter and straiter limits, his numbers will decrease, his digit will +move further to the right in the great sum of humanity--slowly, +silently, steadily he will be driven to the wall. Possibly he may +emigrate in large numbers to some tropical clime which nature has +forbidden to the Caucasian. This would indeed be the happiest possible +solution for the South, and he would be a courageous seer who would +declare that this century will not see a large exodus of Negroes from +the Gulf region. But we do not believe that such emigration will go +northward. Our Northern friends have no more affection or use for the +Negro than have we. They love to pet him and let their benevolence play +about him--this so long as they can patronize him, can "offer him +financial assistance," and "stick a diamond pin in his coat," and lay +at his feet "the Presidency of Haiti as soon as it is conquered by an +expedition now under preparation." Besides, his vote is a very +important weight to throw into the scale in cases of doubtful +elections. But once let the Blacks turn their faces northward in great +numbers, let them begin to swarm by myriads, and derange the labour +conditions, and drag down the scale of wages, and oust the Whites from +their places--then philanthropy will be thrown to the winds, and the +arm of the government at Washington will not be strong enough or long +enough to guard these wards of the nation from violence and persecution +and outrage.[33] + + [32] What a note of infinite melancholy sounds through "The Souls + of Black Folk," the finest product of the Mulatto mind. In his + "The College-bred Negro," the same author, Dubois, has put the + question as to the future of his race to hundreds of these + representative Negroes and recorded their answers. It is easy to + perceive that the hopefulness of the majority is quite + artificial, based on some religious faith or moral trust, and + that the really weighty answers are given by the hopeless + minority. + + [33] Events in the North, still fresh in the mind of the reader, + illustrate these statements profusely. That the Negro is steadily + losing ground industrially as well as otherwise, is witnessed + unequivocally in the most diverse quarters. Thus Dubois, "The + Philadelphia Negro," p. 43: "It cannot be denied that the main + results of the development of the Philadelphia Negro since the + war have on the whole disappointed his well-wishers.... Not only + do they feel that there is a lack of positive results, but the + relative advance compared with the period just before the war is + slow, if not an actual retrogression; an abnormal and growing + amount of crime and poverty can justly be charged to the Negro; + he is not a large taxpayer, holds no conspicuous place in the + business world or the world of letters, and _even as a workingman + seems to be losing ground_." So, too, in Chicago: "There are a + few in the trades, as carpenters, painters, etc., _but these are + decreasing_.... There is a large class of unemployed Negroes in + the city, numbering several hundreds. Could a careful census of + this class be taken, it would no doubt be found to reach into + thousands." Monro N. Work, in _American Journal of Sociol._, Vol. + 6, p. 206. Everywhere throughout the South this expulsive process + has already proceeded far and stiff proceeds apace. In the + foregoing, the italics are ours. + +If the Blacks should occupy and settle, should colonize, some outlying +tropical region,[34] and should there start out on their own path of +development, it is interesting, though not so important, to ask, What +would be their probable future? We answer, though we build no argument +whatever on this answer, that the experiment would most likely be a +repetition of Haiti; removed from the sustaining atmosphere of European +civilization, the Negro would most probably sink back into barbarism. +If there be anything in the history either of man or of nature that +would lead us to anticipate some other result, we know not what it is. + + [34] The late Professor E. D. Cope recommended the deportation of + the Negro. + +At this point our forecast has become so sombre that the optimistic +reader may grow impatient with such pessimism, and may at least demand +some confirmation of our vaticinations. The fact is that we have long +hesitated to make public our convictions, since the role of Cassandra +has few attractions, and it is only an after-thought to print them in +this volume, though they were indicated, many months ago, in _The +Nation_ of March 5, 1903. However, to enhearten us, within the last +week we have lighted upon the corroborative testimony of perhaps the +highest authority in the United States--a scholar whose opportunities +for forming a judgement are certainly unsurpassed, if indeed +equaled--whose abilities are not questioned, and whose freedom from +prejudice is absolute. In a notable address delivered May 10, 1900, at +the First Annual Conference held at Montgomery, Ala., under the +auspices of the Southern Society for the promotion of the study of race +conditions and problems in the South, Professor W. F. Willcox, of +Cornell University, Chief Statistician of the United States Census +Office at Washington, a "New Englander by birth and ancestry," declared +that he could "not read the evidence as Dr. Curry apparently does," +"Races, like nations, exist to serve humanity, and come and go in the +long run according as they meet or fail to meet this test." "These +diverse races of men may be roughly graded according to their value to +humanity and their ability to improve. In any effort so to arrange +them, the least serviceable and least progressive people are found to +be those whose habitat secured the greatest isolation, freedom from +competition and lack of incentive to improvement. Such peoples were +found especially in the islands of the ocean, in the continent of +Australia, in America, and in Africa." Nevertheless, Africa seems to +have been the scene of most extraordinary mingling of bloods--a battle +ground of widely diverse tribes;[35] in spite of this the African still +belongs to "the least serviceable and least progressive people." "Those +two backward races, viz., the Negro and the Malay." "When higher and +lower races meet and interpenetrate, only two permanent solutions have +thus far been recorded in history. Either the lower race has +disappeared, or the two have fused, and in the case of especial moment +to us all, and to the future of this country, I cannot believe that +looking down through the centuries any other permanent solution than +one of these two can be found. During the period of slavery the Negro +race in the United States was protected from competition with the +Whites, somewhat as it would have been by local isolation, or somewhat +as domesticated animals are protected from the dangers nature throws +about them. Only since emancipation has genuine competition between the +races in this country existed, and during the early years after the +Civil War the conditions were such as to favor the Negro race and to +handicap the whites." "Notwithstanding the fact that the Negroes were +aided and the whites downcast during these dark years, the white +population has grown with great and increasing rapidity." "The +conditions to which the white race is subject will probably never again +be so unfortunate, the conditions to which the Negro race is subject +will not soon, if ever, be so favorable as during the years after the +Civil War." Yet notice some of the changes that have occurred during the +thirty years from 1860 to 1890, brief span as this is in the life of a +race. + + [35] Witness Schweinfurth, one of the carefulest observers and + highest authorities: "If we could at once grasp and set before + our minds facts that are known (whether as regards language, + race, culture, history, or development) of that vast region of + the world which is comprehended in the name of Africa, we should + have before us the witness of an intermingling of races which is + beyond all precedent. And yet, bewildering as the prospect would + appear, it remains a fact not to be gainsaid, that it is + impossible for any one to survey the country as a whole without + perceiving that, high above the multiplication of individual + differences, there is throned a principle of unity (he refers to + the autochthonous black stock), which embraces well-nigh all the + population" (_Heart of Africa_, Vol. I., p. 313). + +"The black belt may be defined as those counties in which the Negro +population outnumbered the white. In Maryland in 1860 there were five +such counties, and in 1890 only two. In Virginia there were forty-three +and in 1890 only thirty-three. In North Carolina there were nineteen +and in 1890 only sixteen. The group of adjoining counties in +southeastern Maryland, eastern Virginia and northeast North Carolina, +which formed the most northerly outpost of the black belt in 1860, has +decreased in thirty years from sixty-two counties to forty-six, or +almost exactly one-fourth. In 1860 Kentucky had one county belonging to +the black belt, while in 1890 it had none. In 1860 northern Alabama had +two counties belonging to the black belt, but in 1890 both of these had +disappeared from the map. In the cotton-growing regions of the more +southerly States there has been an increase of the counties belonging +to the black belt, but not enough entirely to offset these changes. It +seems that locally the Negroes have begun to yield ground to the whites +in the regions most favorable to the latter, and that such a change is +likely to continue. + +"I have no time to go into the complex statistical evidence bearing +upon the vitality of the Negro race, and its power to meet successfully +the increasing industrial competition, to which it must be exposed, as +these States fill with people, as cities spring up and prosper, and as +industry, trade and agriculture become diversified and more complex. +The balance of the evidence, however, seems to me to indicate for the +future a continuance of changes already begun, viz., a decrease in the +Negro birth-rate decidedly more rapid than the actual present or +probable future decrease in the death-rate. This would result obviously +in a slackening rate of increase, and then in a stationary condition, +followed by slow numerical retrogression. If this anticipation should +be realized, the Negroes will continue to become, as they are now +becoming, a steadily smaller proportion of the population. + +"The final outcome, though its realization may be postponed for +centuries, will be, I believe, that the race will follow the fate of +the Indians, that the great majority will disappear before the whites, +and that the remnant found capable of elevation to the level of the +white man's civilization will ultimately be merged and lost in the +lower classes of the whites, leaving almost no trace to mark their +former existence. + +"Where such a lower people has disappeared, the causes of their death +have been mainly disease, vice and profound discouragement. It seems to +me clear that each one of these causes is affecting the Negro race far +more deeply and unfavorably at the present time than it was at the date +of their emancipation. The medical evidence available points to the +conclusion that they are more than ever afflicted with the scourges of +disease, such as typhoid fever and consumption, and with the physical +ills entailed by sexual vice. I have argued elsewhere to show that both +in the North and in the South crime among the Negroes is rapidly +increasing. Whether the race as a whole is as happy, as joyous, as +confident of the future, or thoughtless of it, as it was before the +war, you, my hearers, know far better than I. I can only say that in my +studies I have found not one expression of dissent from the opinion +that the joyous buoyancy of the race is passing away; that they feel +upon them a burden of responsibility to which they are unequal; that +the lower classes of Negroes are resentful, and that the better classes +[are] not certain or sanguine of the outcome. If this judgment be true, +I can only say that it is perhaps the most fatal source of race as of +national decay and death." + +The foregoing excerpts seem to us to be the weightiest words of +authority on this subject that have fallen under our notice. They +deserve to be stamped in letters of gold on the walls of the Public +Library in Boston and over the pulpit of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, +on the lintels of the White House, and on the title-page of all future +editions of _The Independent_ and _The Nation_. Of course, the superior +culture and intelligence of our opponents may easily snuff out all +_our_ arguments with a sneer at our straitened and archaic +provincialism;--so be it: we deserve no better fate, having been born +South of Mason and Dixon's line, most imprudently. But what, pray, if +they deign to flutter through this volume, what will they do with this +utterance of the Puritan _pur sang_, the Chief Statistician? Can they +afford to dismiss it as that of "another good man gone wrong." + +If then the Afro-American race stands even now at the entrance of the +Valley of the Shadow of Death, what shall we say, what shall we do? +Shall we weep and wail and gnash our teeth? Shall we lift up the trump +of indignation against such red-handed iniquity? Shall we cry out to +Heaven and to Congress against the crime of the centuries? We think +that a much calmer and milder mood may well become us before such a +thanatopsis. Why should the spectacle of a racial diminuendo so arouse +or revolt us? Surely it is something neither unique nor uncommon. All +that breathe will share their destiny. It is appointed unto men once to +die. If it were the highest form of human life, we might be concerned +or even confounded. But such it is not; on the contrary, it is one of +the very lowest, that has hitherto enacted and promises hereafter to +enact only unhistorical history. "The old order changeth, yielding +place to new." The recession, the evanescence, of the Negro before the +Caucasian is only one example among millions of the process of nature. +The ministry of death is not maleficent; says the Cabbala, "The Lord +said unto the Angel of Death, Behold I have made thee cosmocrator." In +the upward mounting of the forms of life, there are no other +stepping-stones than their own dead selves. The vision, then, of a race +vanishing before its superior is not at all dispiriting, but inspiring +rather. It is but a part of the increasing purpose of the ages, a +forward creeping of the eternal dawn. + +The doom that awaits the Negro has been prepared in like measure for +all inferior races. Except where they are bulwarked by the climate, +they must be drowned by the mounting wave of their superior rivals. To +the clear, cold eye of science, the plight of these backward peoples +appears practically hopeless. They have neither part nor parcel in the +future history of man; they are rejected as dross from its +thrice-heated furnace. + +This may sound harsh and unfeeling, but in reality it is not so. We do +not mean that the inferior should be treated unjustly, unkindly, +inhumanly. Far from it. Let equity be dealt with an even hand. We have +never given either voice or vote for any form of injustice, however +specious, or plausible, or grandfatherly. The processes we have in view +lie deeper than any legislation; they are inwoven in the living garment +of the Godhead. + +But may we not check or arrest them? May not the strong Caucasian lend +a helping hand to his weaker African brother and lift him up, and the +two walk along hand in hand through the centuries? This is a very +idyllic picture. "Behold, how good and how pleasant for brethren to +dwell together in unity." But a moment's reflection must show how +inadequate and unreal this dew of Hermon. It is not hard for altruism +to run suicidally mad, if one lets go the check-rein of egoism. The +first and highest and unescapable duty of a race is to its self--to +realize its own personality, to put forth all its powers and potencies, +to unfold the full flower of its own being. It must neither be unjust +nor ungenerous in its treatment of others, but neither must it attempt +self-immolation--especially, as that sacrifice would be idle and +unanswered. The most, the best that one race can effect for another is +merely some extra-organic amelioration of condition. The organic +destiny of that other, written in blood and bone and cell and plasma, +lies beyond the reach of the helping hand. We must dismiss, then, this +vision of a higher race stooping down with arms of love and lifting up +the lower to its altitude, as merely a pious imagination. The higher +race may indeed stoop down; it has often done so; but never to rise +again; instantly there falls upon it the Davidic curse: "Bow down their +back alway." + +The fate that awaits the backward race in the presence of the advanced +should appear more vividly, one would think, to no other eyes than to +those of New England. "Across the ocean came a pilgrim bark, bearing +the seeds of life and of death. The former were sown for you; the +latter sprang up in the path of the simple native." Nor in this process +of extermination, in these "centuries of dishonour," has it really been +a question of fairness or unfairness, of righteousness or +unrighteousness. No kind or degree of gentleness or justice could have +long delayed the departure of the Indian. When North-Europeans landed +on his shores, for him the clock of destiny had struck. While we may +properly applaud or condemn individual and communal acts by standards +of individual or communal ethics, it is not possible to judge the race +by any such feeble sense. Nature is neither moral nor immoral, but +supermoral. Her aeonian processes are not to be measured by our rules +nor defined by our categories; they tower above good and bad; they +reach beyond right and wrong. Should Roman legions have conquered +Greece and girdled the Mediterranean with her civilization? Ought +Babylonian empire to have lifted up its lion wings over Western Asia? +We perceive at once the emptiness of such questions. + +But even if it were possible for us to turn back the tide of time, to +stay or slacken the rolling of the wheel of birth, would it be well or +wise to do so? We venture to question it most seriously. There is a +personal and even a social morality that may easily become racially +immoral. There are diseases whose evolutionary function is to weed out +the weak, and so preserve the future for the strong. The sufferers +cannot be treated with too careful attention, too loving gentleness, +too tender sympathy. It is the glory of our humanity to cherish these +frail flowers, to water them with dew, to shield them from the sun, and +not to suffer even the winds of summer to visit them too roughly. But +not to gather from them the seed for generations to come! Let theirs be +the present, but not the future. He who should discover some serum and +apply it greatly to prolong their lives and give them equal chance with +the vigorous in the matter of offspring, whatever thanks he might win +from individuals or the community, would deserve and receive the +execration of his race as its deadliest and most insidious foe. So, +too, we hold it to be certain that all forms of humanitarianism that +tend to give the organically inferior an equal chance with the superior +in the propagation of the species, are radically mistaken; to the +individual and to society they would sacrifice the race. Their error +may be very amiable, but it is none the less mortal. The hope of +humanity lies not in strengthening the weak, but in perfecting the +strong. + +Herewith, then, we close this discussion. The mistake of our opponents +is here exposed in its deepest root, its inmost core. It is seen to be +a mistake in philosophy, in cosmology, in the scientific interpretation +of the process of nature. But what a weird light is now cast upon the +War between the States, its cause, and its ultimate result! Aside from +questions of political theory, the North sought to free the Negro, the +South to hold him in bondage. As a slave he had led a protected, indeed +a hothouse, existence and had flourished marvellously. His high-hearted +champions shed torrents of blood and treasure to shatter the walls of +his prison-house, to dispel the pent-up, stifling gloom of his dungeon, +and to pour in upon him the free air and light of heaven. But the sun +of liberty is no sooner arisen with burning breath than, lo! smitten by +the breeze and the beam, he withers and dies! + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +THE ARGUMENT FROM NUMBERS + + _Of all these things the judge is Time._ + + ARISTOTLE + + +In the foregoing chapters it is only by way of exception that there has +been made any formal use of statistical data, or any reference to +scientific authorities;--in fact, there has been a studied avoidance of +the sympathetic literature of the subject. But it seems wise and, above +all, just to the reader, to guard well every salient position, to throw +round every argumentative assertion a bulwark of mathematical +evidence--a task that presents little difficulty, since in general the +facts in the case are well ascertained and the testimony unanimous. At +only a few points, and those of rather minor importance, do the +depositions go wide apart. In casting up these circumvallations, we +shall be at pains to cite only witnesses against whom no exceptions can +lie; many very valuable ones shall be excluded, merely for geographical +reasons; we do not ask the reader to heed even a scientific word that +might be tinged with prejudice. + +Next to the United States Census Reports, which must of course be our +main source, we shall use, in discussing anthropometry, the great work +of Frederick L. Hoffman, F. S. S., statistician to the Prudential +Insurance Company of America, entitled "Race Traits and Tendencies of +the American Negro," published as Vol. XI., Nos. 1, 2, and 3, of the +publications of the American Economic Association, by the Macmillan +Company, August, 1896,--the result of ten years' careful +investigation--a book almost beyond praise. Among his more recent +supplementary studies may be mentioned his "Race and Mortality," +October, 1902. + +The author is a German and without race prejudice. For him the problem +of race pathology exists as a purely practical one: At what rates can +the Negro be insured? No emotion can enter here; it is a mere question +of dollars and cents, and for insurance companies a vital one. To our +opponents, his judgements may sometimes sound harsh; but they are +scarcely harsher than the facts, which he seldom forces, but interprets +fairly. His conclusions have, of course, been passionately assailed, as +by Professor Kelly Miller; but in no important particulars have they +been seriously shaken. + +In the following statistical tables, we shall frequently use the +_myriad_ as the unit. Thereby the data are made easier to understand +and to remember; there is a great economy of space and of attention, +and no appreciable sacrifice of accuracy. For in case of such immense +numbers it is idle to hope for correctness in the fourth figure; errors +will almost surely reach up into the thousands, if not above. Besides, +we shall use these data for purely argumentative purposes, and no +argument is in the least affected by a change in the thousands. Thus, +the population of New Orleans is given at 287,104. No one can deny that +it may have been nearer 286,000 or 288,000. We shall indicate it by +twenty-nine (myriads), by which we mean merely that it is between +285,000 and 295,000. So, when we speak of a mortality of 234, we mean +234 yearly per myriad. So we shall put a recent death-rate of Chicago +at 145 (per 10,000) rather than at 14.49 (per 1,000). The last digit +can lay no claim to correctness. + + +INCREASE OF THE NEGRO POPULATION + +The grand totals of the population in the Continental United States, as +given by the census reports, are: + + W. N. W. N. W. N. + + 1900 6,681 883 (Gains, per 1000) + 1,171 135 212 180 + + 1890 5,510 749 + 1,170 91 267 138 + + 1880 4,340 658 + 981 170 292 349 + + 1870 3,359 488 + 667 44 248 99 + + 1860 2,693 444 + 737 80 377 221 + + 1850 1,955 364 + +It needs no ghost from the tomb to tell us that some of these census +returns are wrong, and widely wrong. An increase of 221 per thousand +during a decade (1850-60) of universal and extraordinary prosperity, +under singularly favourable conditions, seems every way likely and +calls for no remark. But the following decade (1860-70), while it +wrought ruin upon the Whites, brought freedom to the Blacks and in no +way worked them any hardship. That their rate of increase should have +fallen off from 221 to ninety-nine seems, then, quite incredible. +Again, the next decade (1870-80) marked the end of the riot of +Africanism in the South, and its second half saw white supremacy +restored and the Blacks forcibly repressed. On the whole, then, it +could hardly have been so favourable to the Negroes as the preceding, +and yet their numbers leap up nearly two millions, at the astounding +rate of 349 per thousand. Their conditions were certainly no worse +during the next decade (1880-90), yet they grow only half as much, and +at a rate little over one-third as fast--only 138 per thousand. There +is no visible sign of improvement in conditions during the next decade, +yet they multiply measurably faster--at the rate of 180 per thousand. +When the results for 1880 were announced, it was felt that the game was +lost for the white man. Accordingly, in 1883, Professor C. A. Gardiner, +of Brooklyn, N.Y., could forecast that in thirty years the Southern +Negro would outstrip the Southern White in wealth, intelligence, and +numbers, and within a century would absorb that White completely!--a +prediction only less buoyant and highly coloured than Gen. Pope's of +July 14, 1867, that "five years will have transferred intelligence and +education, so far as the masses are concerned, to the colored people of +this district" (Alabama, Georgia, Florida). At such a rate the Negroes +in 1900 would have numbered about fourteen millions, and in 1910 about +twenty millions, in 1920 nearly thirty millions; in 1950 they would +have surpassed eighty millions, the present population of our Union, +and in 1990 they would have reached 320 millions. So that the +practically complete Africanization of the United States would be only +a question of this century. The census of 1890 showed an immense +falling off in this rate (from 349 to 138) and so allayed such fears. +The last census shows, apparently, a slight rise in the Negro increase +(from 138 to 180)--which, however, remains notably behind that of the +Whites (212), by about 15 per cent. + +However, since these returns involve manifest absurdities, it is hard +to ground any argument upon them. Presumably, the last census is more +nearly correct. It is generally admitted that the census of 1870 was +grossly defective. In our judgement, both those of 1880 and especially +of 1890 were far below the mark; but it would be hard to prove this +rigorously. It seems that the rate from 1850 to 1860 is, on its face, +the most reasonable. As the Negroes were then slaves, their numbers +were very probably returned correctly by the owners. As there was no +motive against and every motive for their rapid multiplication, and as +their death rate was certainly much lower than after emancipation, it +seems certain that 221 per thousand (say 22 per cent.) represents their +maximum natural increase per decade. This would have given about 542 +myriads for 1870, about 661 for 1880, about 806 for 1890, about 980 for +1900. This would indicate, then, that the census of 1880 is also nearly +correct, while that of 1870 is most sadly defective, and that of 1890 +seriously so. Still, this latter can hardly have erred by fifty +myriads--perhaps by twenty or thirty; so that the number in 1890 should +possibly be 770 myriads. In that case, the numbers since 1850 would be +given, nearly enough for memory, by the _hundred thousand_, thus: + + 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 + + 44 55 66 77 88, instead of + 44 49 66 75 88 + +Of course, these numbers are not exact; but they are, on the average, +more nearly so than those of the census reports given in the line +below, which disprove themselves. + +At any rate, the Negro numbers have been nearly doubled in forty years. +This is an average rate of almost exactly 20 per cent. per decade. +Since the earlier rate was certainly more than twenty, the latter must +have been certainly less; in fact, even according to the census, there +is a falling off from 221 to 180, and this latter figure should +probably be reduced to 160. It _must_ be reduced, unless the census of +1890 was as perfect as that of 1900, which is most unlikely. While we +consider positively necessary some such amendment of the census returns +as we have suggested, yet we ground no argument thereon; we rest on the +certainty that the rate of increase of the Negro has fallen off at +least 16 per cent. since the days of his slavery. His absolute increase +has been about maintained, so that the next census (1910) will give +him, perhaps, slightly under ten millions. + +Meantime the total white population has advanced from 1,955 to 6,681 +myriads; or, since 1860, from 2,692 to 6,681--not quite two and +one-half times. But we must remember the desolating war that ravaged +the North, and particularly the South, of its Caucasian bloom for four +years, and left the latter utterly prostrate. This is shown in the +fearful descent in gain from 377 to 248. The gain in that decade should +have been about 900 instead of 667, which would have given the Whites +about 8,100 myriads in 1900--almost exactly tripling the return of +1860. By natural increase, then, the white population about triples +itself in forty years, while the black about doubles. Hence, the latter +must form an ever-diminishing fraction of the whole population. In +fact, the number of Negroes per thousand of the whole population, since +1790, is as follows: + + 1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 + + 193 189 190 184 182 168 157 141 127 131 119 116 + +We have seen that the estimate for 1870 is certainly much too low, as +also extremely probably that for 1890. In any case, it is hereby proved +that the black is rapidly falling in ratio to the white population. +Such a descent, pursued for a few centuries, would bring it to +comparative insignificance. + +To be sure, it must not be forgotten that the White increase is due +largely to immigration. But there seems to be no reason why this +immigration should not be continued indefinitely; at present it is +particularly heavy and will weigh very perceptibly in the census of +1910. + +Again, it must not be disguised that the birth rate among the older New +England stock of native white Americans has fallen lamentably low--even +beneath the point of bare race maintenance. A thousand such couples +rear only about 950 couples. This race decay seems, surely, the most +alarming symptom in our national life--a tendency which it seems +exceedingly hard to combat. However, there are yet vigorous and +prolific Caucasian tribes in great abundance on the face of the earth; +and if the native white American prefers to die out, why, let him +die--no one can help it. The white foreigner will certainly step in and +fill his place more virilely, if not more worthily. There is nothing, +then, in this phenomenon, humiliating though it is, to shake the +conclusions already stated. + +But an even more interesting matter than the relation of the Negro to +the Union at large is his relation to special sections. The grand +divisions in the census reports are North Atlantic, South Atlantic, +North Central, South Central, and Western. In only two of these, the +South Atlantic and the South Central, is the Negro really a problem. In +the others, he is a vanishing quantity. Thus, in the North Atlantic and +the North Central, his myriads are only: + + 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 + + North Atlantic 15 16 18 23 27 39 + North Central 14 18 27 39 43 50 + +This increase has been rapid--much more rapid than elsewhere; but he +remains, and must always remain, insignificant. The increase has been +due to immigration, for it is conceded that his natural rate of +increase in the North will not even maintain his numbers. Left to +himself there, he would certainly die out. This immigration will +certainly continue and will actually contribute to the destruction of +the race, as it were by steadily lopping off the extreme boughs of the +tree. + +Of the West, nothing need be said. For the South Atlantic and South +Central, the record is as follows: + + 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 + + S. A., W. 282 331 364 466 560 671 + N. 186 206 222 294 326 373 + + S. C., W. 281 373 423 590 749 982 + N. 149 204 220[36] 301 350[37] 419 + + [36] More probably 260. + + [37] More probably 365. + +Here we perceive, at once, that the situation on the Atlantic is +unequivocal. The Black tinge is fading away; that population has +exactly doubled itself only in fifty years, while in the South Central +it has doubled in forty years. Compare now the White record in the same +(South Atlantic) regions. Owing to the Civil War, the growth during the +decade 1860-70 was under thirty-five myriads--less than half of the +normal growth; nevertheless, the White population has more than doubled +itself in thirty-five years, from 1865 to 1900. In 1850 there were 397 +Blacks to every thousand, in 1900 only 356. The next half century will +see a still further reduction. The White increase, in the last decade, +was 20 per cent.; the Black was only 14. + +Coming to the South Central, we find the case equally clear. Here +again, the civil strife amerced the Whites of at least half a decade; +the increase from 1860 to 1870 was only fifty myriads, whereas it +should have been over 100, since it was ninety-two from 1850 to 1860. +Nevertheless, we find that the White number has doubled in twenty-five +years (from 1875 to 1900), but the black in forty (from 1860 to 1900). +From 1850 to 1860 the Black gain was over 40 per cent., the White was +under 34 per cent.; but, for the last decade (1890 to 1900), the Black +gain was 20 per cent., the White about 30 per cent. In the whole half +century, the Blacks have gained 181 per cent.; but the Whites, in spite +of their numerous losses in four years' war, have gained over 249 per +cent. In 1850, of every thousand, 347 were Black; but, in 1900, only +299. + +It is demonstrated, then, that in these two focal regions of African +strength not only is that strength relatively decreasing, but it is +decreasing faster and faster. The hour cometh when neither by the ocean +nor by the gulf will it signify more than it does now in Philadelphia +or New York. + +If now we turn to the statistics of the states, we shall, of course, +find this general average result unevenly distributed. Only the states +included in the following table can have any interest for us: + + 1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 + + Alabama {W. 43 53 52 66 83 100 + {N. 35 44 48 60 69 83 + + Arkansas {W. 16 32 36 59 82 94 + {N. 5 11 12 21 31 37 + + Dist. of Columbia {W. 3.8 6.1 8.8 12 15 19 + {N. 1.4 1.4 4.3 6 8 9 + + Florida {W. 4.7 7.8 9.6 14 22 30 + {N. 4.0 6.3 9.2 13 17 23 + + Georgia {W. 52 59 64 82 98 118 + {N. 38 47 55 73 86 103 + + Kentucky {W. 76 92 110 138 159 186 + {N. 22 24 22 27 27 28 + + Louisiana {W. 26 36 36 45 56 73 + {N. 26 35 36 48 56 65 + + Maryland {W. 42 52 61 72 83 95 + {N. 17 17 18 21 22 24 + + Mississippi {W. 30 36 38 48 54 64 + {N. 31 44 44 65 74 91 + + Missouri {W. 59 106 160 202 253 294 + {N. 9 12 12 15 15 16 + + North Carolina {W. 55 63 68 87 106 126 + {N. 32 36 39 53 56 62 + + South Carolina {W. 27 29 29 39 46 56 + {N. 39 41 42 60 69 78 + + Tennessee {W. 76 83 94 114 134 154 + {N. 25 28 32 40 43 48 + + Texas {W. 15 42 56 120 175 243 + {N. 6 18 25 39 49 62 + + Virginia {W. 89 105 114 147 175 211 + {N. 53 55 53 66 67 70 + +In spite of the fact that the gross defects of the ninth enumeration +(1870), and in less degree of the eleventh (1890), greatly obscure +these figures, their import and their implications are entirely +unmistakable. Three movements deserve especial notice: the movement in +the first decade, in the last decade, and during the whole half +century. Looking then at Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Virginia, we +see that the Negro has increased in numbers in fifty years by only 29 +per cent., 42 per cent., 79 per cent., 34 per cent. The general +conditions have been certainly not unfavourable, and there has been no +immigration that could appreciably affect these percentages. Meantime +the Whites have risen in numbers by 145 per cent., 128 per cent., 397 +per cent., 136 per cent.--aided, except in Missouri, not very greatly +by immigration. That they are crowding out the Blacks very rapidly, is +too plain for argument. + +But not only is the Negro yielding--he is yielding faster and faster. +In the first decade (1850-60) his gains were 7 per cent. (not quite), 4 +per cent., 32 per cent., 4 per cent.; whereas in twenty years +(1880-1900), the gains have been only 5 per cent., 12 per cent., 11 per +cent., 7 per cent. The total percentage of gain has been actually less +in the two decades than in the one. In these states, then, the doom of +the Black is sealed. + +In Louisiana, the course of fate is not less sure. In 1850 the Blacks +were slightly preponderant--262,271 against 255,491; in 1870, "by +reason of slaughterous war," they had increased their lead decidedly, +and very greatly in 1880 (483,655 against 454,954); but in 1900 they +have fallen far behind--only 650,804 against 729,612. Of this state, +then, the redemption is sure and in rapid progress. + +Not less manifest is the bleaching of North Carolina. There the +coloured population has not doubled itself in fifty years, whereas the +White has far more than doubled and, but for the plague of war, would +certainly have trebled itself. In the first decade (1850-1860), the +Whites and Blacks increased each by not quite 15 per cent.; but in the +double decade (1880-1900) the Whites increased by 46 per cent., the +Blacks by not quite 18 per cent. + +There is quite a similar tale to be told of Tennessee. The great empire +of Texas shows a much better record; there the Negro has, indeed, +ten-folded himself--largely, of course, by immigration; but the Whites +have been multiplied by nearly sixteen. In the first decade the Whites +increased by 173 per cent., the Blacks by 312 per cent.; in the last +decade the former increased by 39 per cent., the latter by little over +27 per cent. Surely, ambiguity here is quite out of the question. + +South Carolina has long had the unenviable distinction of being by far +the darkest state in the Union. In 1850 the ratio was twenty-seven to +thirty-nine. She suffered ruinously for her secession folly, and for +nearly twenty years her White population was practically stationary; in +1870 she had only twenty-nine myriads, and even in 1880 only +thirty-nine against sixty of Blacks. But, at last, the tide has begun +to turn. The introduction of manufactures promises redemption to the +Palmetto State. From 1880 to 1900 the Negroes increased by nearly 30 +per cent., but the Whites by 43 per cent. The hue of the state is now +almost precisely the same as at the firing on Fort Sumter; she has at +last made good the losses of the war. + +Georgia is the watermelon paradise of the Black folk. In the first +decade they gained greatly on the Whites, advancing their ratio from +thirty-eight to fifty-two up to forty-seven to fifty-nine; they still +further increased their gain in the next twenty years, till in 1880 the +ratio stood seventy-three to eighty-two. But this was the high-water +mark; since then it has sunk back slightly to 103 to 118; the Whites +are now gaining slowly. This \example is very instructive and very +encouraging; for it shows that even a steady gain of the Black over the +White continued through a whole generation may yet be turned into a +loss in the next generation. + +A similar case is presented by Alabama. Here the Negro's increase in +the first decade was 27 per cent., the Caucasian's only 23 per cent. +The state suffered frightfully during the war, and in 1870 the White +population had actually fallen from 526,271 (in 1860) back to 521,384. +The Black population was then returned at 475,510, but it was almost +certainly over 500,000; for in the preceding decade it rose from +345,109 to 437,770; it must (in 1870) have exceeded or at least +equalled the White. But now the Caucasian begins once more to +demonstrate his superior life-powers; in the next three decades he +nearly doubles his numbers (521,384 to 1,001,152), while the Negro +rises only to 827,307. With the establishment of industries in iron, +the triumph of the White in Alabama has been assured. + +There remain only Arkansas, Florida, and Mississippi. In the hot and +moist alluvial lands of these states, the Negro seems likely to make +his most stubborn stand against the encroachment of the Caucasian. In +these three, he is still multiplying faster than his competitors; in +one he is already far ahead in numbers. Must he not, then, ultimately +make them completely his own? At first sight it would seem we should +answer yes, but closer inspection reveals tendencies that must finally +reverse the present conditions. In Arkansas, the White rate has gained +rapidly on the Black. In 1850-60 these rates were: White 100 per cent., +Black 133 per cent.--one-third more; but in 1890-1900, White 15.4, +Negro 18.7, and for the double decade, 1880-1900, they were: White 59, +Negro 74. From having been one-third greater, the Negro rate has become +about one-fifth greater. + +In Florida and Mississippi, the complexion, though still very dusky, is +lighter than half a century ago. In the former, the white excess in +1880 was hardly thirteen per hundred Negroes; in 1900 it had risen to +twenty-nine. In the great cotton state, the darkest spot on the +continent, the Blacks have long been in a seemingly hopeless majority. +This amounted to 15,000 in 1850; in 1860 it had risen to 84,000; in +1900 to 266,000. During the last decade the Black increase per thousand +was 222, the White only 177. So the situation would seem to be growing +steadily worse. However, there is still a ray of hope. The Blacks are +still gaining, but at a decreasing rate. From 1850 to 1860 their gain +per thousand was 408, but from 1880 to 1900 it was hardly 396; they +gained not nearly half so fast. Meantime, the White gain from 1850 to +1860 was only 196 per thousand, whereas from 1880 to 1900 it was 337; +while the Black gain fell from 408 to 396, the White rose from 196 to +337. At this rate the White must surely overtake and pass the Black, +and another half century will almost certainly see the white numbers +greatly preponderant. + +The case of Mississippi is especially interesting as showing the +prospect of the Blacks at its brightest and of the Whites at its +darkest. This state has no large city, but few towns of moderate size, +and no manufactures. It is almost exclusively agricultural. Here, then, +the conditions that make for the Whites are at their worst; those that +make for the Blacks are at their best. Here, if anywhere on our +continent, the odds are all for the Negro; and yet, even here, he makes +a losing fight--he still has the advantage, but it is slipping from his +hands. + +We can think of only one objection likely to be raised against the +foregoing statistical argument. Some one may say that we have made too +little use of the decade 1890-1900, but have preferred the score of +years 1880-1900. It is true that the last decade (1890-1900) shows +better for the Negro than the preceding (1880-90)--which, indeed, +indicated his over-rapid decadence throughout the South. But it seems +hardly possible that this showing should not be deceptive. For there is +not a single known circumstance that favoured him in his last decade +rather than in the preceding. The explanation seems very simple; the +coloured returns of the eleventh census were incomplete--not nearly so +incomplete as those of the ninth, yet enough so in comparison with the +tenth and the twelfth to make the showing for 1880 to 1890 too bad, and +for 1890 to 1900 too good. The census reports of the Black population +for 1850 and 1860 seem to have been substantially correct; for 1870, +extremely incomplete; for 1880, greatly better; for 1890, not nearly so +good; for 1900, much better again. For 1870 this is now conceded. Thus, +in Mississippi the coloured population increased from 1850 to 1860 by +126,000; from 1870 to 1880 by 206,090; but from 1860 to 1870 by only +6,797 (impossible!). In Kentucky it actually lost (1860-70) 13,957, but +gained (1870-80) 49,241; and once more lost (1880-90) 3,380. So, in +South Carolina, the Negro gain was (1870-80) nearly 190,000, but +(1860-70) only 3,500. So, in Missouri, a gain of 28,463 (1850-60) and +of 27,279 (1870-80), but (1860-70) a loss of 432. + +The indications of imperfection in the census of 1890 seem clear, +though not so glaring as in that of 1870. Such, for instance, are the +actual decreases in the Negro population of Kentucky and Missouri, and +the extremely small gains (1880-90) of 5,500 (Maryland), 5,000 +(Missouri), 4,000 (Virginia), against gains (1890-1900) of 19,500 +(Maryland), 11,000 (Missouri), 25,000 (Virginia). Other imperfections, +not so glaring, but quite as unmistakable, a careful eye may detect +only too frequently. Thus, consider the following returns per 1,000,000 +for the census years-- + + 1860 1870 1880 1890 + + Insane 765 971 1,833 1,697 + Feeble-minded 602 636 1,533 1,526 + Deaf and Dumb 408 420 675 659 + Blind 403 527 976 805 + +In all these classes a steady increase up to 1880, then a sudden +falling off in 1890. + +Once more, the death rate in the non-registration area in 1880 was +13.42 per thousand; in 1880 it was only 10.79. Such an improvement in +health, especially in districts mainly rural, is quite incredible. The +fact is that for many purposes of comparison the eleventh census is +unavailable--a fact that greatly strengthens many of our contentions. + +On its face, it is quite too improbable that the Blacks should gain +only 138 per thousand in the decennium 1880-90 and then, without any +assignable cause, leap to 180 per thousand for the next decennium +(1890-1900). Only two things could bring this about--increase of birth +rate, decrease of death rate. The former is quite inexplicable and +incredible; the latter is contradicted by the facts of the case. It +would mean a fall of four in the annual mortality per thousand, and +there has been nothing of the kind. + +The defect in enumeration, certainly so great in 1870 and almost +certainly present in less degree in 1890, is very easy to understand +and antecedently probable. For the prejudice against "numbering the +people" has been strong since the days of David and of Judas of +Galilee, and the Negro flees from the census-taker as from a +tax-gatherer, or vaccinator, or even a kodak fiend. + +Be this as it may, it is generally admitted that, in all arguments from +statistics, the larger the numbers and the longer the space of time, +the more trustworthy the indications; in any case then we are more than +justified in taking the double decennium (1880-1900) in comparison with +the first decade (1850-60); since the census of 1870 is admittedly +grossly in error, no other basis of comparison nearly so trustworthy is +present. + +Herewith then we close the argument. It seems hardly necessary to add +that the higher percentage of Negro gain in the North Atlantic and +North Central States signifies nothing except that small numbers have +been greatly swollen by immigration. It is well known that in these +regions the Negro, unfed by immigration, tends swiftly to extinction. +Viewed thus from what point of the compass you will, the general +movement of the life of the continent is towards the elimination of the +African element. We admit that figures may be made to lie, but we have +subjected them to no captious cross-examination; we have let them speak +for themselves; we have neither forcibly repressed nor forcibly +extorted any testimony; their voluntary witness is singularly +consistent and unequivocal and wholly irresistible. + + +ANTHROPOMETRY + +It has been proved by the foregoing statistical study, varied in every +way and taking every significant fact into consideration, that the +Negro is everywhere in the United States yielding and making place for +the Caucasian. We might, indeed, have anticipated that such a result +would follow infallibly upon exposing the two races to open +competition. For the Negro has never voluntarily extended himself +beyond his African home; he has never eagerly sought out new habitats, +nor readily adapted himself to new environments; whereas the Caucasian +has traversed and colonized the earth from the equator to either pole; +he has plumbed every abyss; he has scaled every height; he has spied +out every secret place: for him no sea has been too wide, no plains too +broad, no mountains too high, no sands too hot, no snow too cold, no +jungles too dark and deadly. He pits himself against Nature, he forges +for himself Achillean armour, he grasps the shield, he shakes the +spear, and rushes joyfully to the encounter. Nothing of all this, +nothing in any way like aught of this, has the Negro ever done; naught, +in our judgement, will he ever do. The massive facts, then, of the +geographical distribution of the races give token unmistakable that, in +any collision within any but the tropical regions, the Negro must go +down before the Caucasian. + +This superior vigour, this aggressive vitality need not reveal itself +to any mass-measurements; it might hide away in the cells and the +finest tissue; it might be not anatomic, but histotomic only. The +distinguished surgeon, Dr. Rudolph Matas, as the result of wide +observation and careful inquiry, declares that pathological-anatomical +peculiarities of the Negro are not recognizable chirurgically; Black +and White are sensibly the same. + +Nevertheless, broad distinctions are actually present and come to light +wherever extensive observations have been made. It is jauntily declared +by a great protagonist of the Black man that "physically, he is the +equal of the white man; he is as tall and as strong," and such is +perhaps the general opinion. There is a fine irony, however, in the +fact that precisely these moments in which his equality is so +incautiously affirmed are the ones in which he is distinctly inferior. +He is in truth neither so tall nor so strong, though vertical inch for +inch he is somewhat heavier. It seems needless to copy down table after +table to prove these statements. We quote the words of Hoffman, summing +up extensive comparisons: "The average stature of the negro is less +than that of the white, and the difference, though slight, prevails at +all ages." From Gould's "Military Statistics," pp. 461-465, we learn as +distinctly as we can learn any such facts, that the Negro is not so +strong as the Caucasian; that the mean lifting strength of the Black is +very markedly below that of the White at all ages above seventeen, with +the exceptions of thirty-one to thirty-four, where the Black excess is +nearly five pounds, and of forty-five to forty-nine, where the Black +average is 328.7, the White only 325.7--a Black excess of three pounds. +Under seventeen the White average is only 250.4, the Black +258.9--another Black excess of 8.5, very considerable and noteworthy, +and for seventeen the Black excess is 295-292.8 = 3.2. For all other +ages, the White excesses are as follows: + + 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 + + 26.8 23.6 15 10 13.7 23.6 8.6 15.6 24.1 + + + 27 28 29 30 35-39 40-44 50- + + 6.9 13.5 9 1.4 26.8 10.4 24.2 + +Hence, it appears that up to seventeen the Negro is on the average +stronger than the White; he is also stronger in the cases measured from +thirty-one to thirty-four and from forty-five to forty-nine, though his +advantage is not great; but everywhere else he is markedly not so +strong. Of course, it is easy to except to such statistics--to say that +the averages are untrustworthy; but it would be very strange if so many +distinct and independent indications were all wrong. As the lowest age +for soldiers is hardly below sixteen, we see that the Black excels, and +only slightly, in only twelve years, the White in twenty-three years up +to fifty and in all above, and on the whole very considerably, his +excess rising twice to 26.8. The indication, then, is of a more +tropical nature in the Black; he attains his maximum sooner, but he +maintains it not so long nor so high; and this might certainly have +been expected. + +Similar is the indication of the respiration. In full vigour the +average respiration per minute of Whites, Blacks, Mulattoes are 16.44, +17.75, 19.01; while with impaired vigour the average rates are for +Whites 16.84, for Blacks and Mulattoes 20.71. Here this excessive +frequency is found at every age, both in health and still more in +disease, both for Blacks and still more for Mulattoes. It seems +impossible, then, that the indications should be erroneous. On the +other hand, the pulse of the White, in vigour and in ailment, is faster +than the full Black's, but slower than the Mulatto's; Whites 74.84, +77.21; Blacks 74.02, 76.91; Mulattoes 76.97, 83.12. Here the +differences are too slight for emphasis, and we do not know that there +is any advantage in a somewhat slower pulse. But what is the meaning of +the quicker respiration? It means the decidedly lower lung capacity of +the Black. Since the Black weighs more per inch of height than the +White, we are prepared to find his chest measurements greater after +respiration. These measurements confirm each other. Of 315,620 White +soldiers the average girth of chest was 33.42 inches, but of 25,828 +coloured soldiers it was 33.69; and this difference in favour of the +Blacks maintained itself for all statures. However, the lung capacity +or mobility of chest (_i.e._ the difference between the girth at forced +inspiration and forced expiration) is greater in the Whites; in 6,359 +Whites the average was 3.24; in 377 Negroes it was 3.23. This +difference is too small to be worth noting, but mark you! in the +under-weights (100 to 120 pounds) the mobility was far greater in the +Blacks (3.33 against 3.15), also in the overweights (180 and more) +(3.38 against 3.27); but in the normal weights (120 to 180) it +everywhere favoured the Whites. Moreover, these Whites were about an +inch taller than the Blacks (67.30 against 66.39) at all ages; their +chest girth was nearly half an inch less (32.49 against 32.84), and yet +their lung capacity was greater. The indication of stronger lungs seems +unmistakable. + +At this point it seems necessary to point out that in this extremely +important matter of chest mobility, the Negro is not maintaining +himself but is perceptibly declining. In 1861-65 the excess favoured +the Whites for the ages thirty to thirty-nine, and under twenty; for +all other ages it favoured the Blacks, who fell behind only .01 on the +general average (3.24 and 3.23). But in 1892-94 it favours the Whites +at all ages; and the White excess has increased to .35 (2.93 and 2.58). +(Reports of Provost-Marshal General, Vol. I., and of Surgeon General of +U.S.A., 1893-95.) The indication is not in itself infallible, but it +has great significance in connection with other corroborative evidence. + +Lung capacity is not chest mobility, but the two are closely related. +Gould's measurements indicate a very decidedly smaller number of cubic +inches of air in case of the Negro, and this for all heights and +weights. The White excess increases steadily from eight cubic inches +(for under-heights, sixty inches) up to fifteen and one-half cubic +inches for over-heights (seventy-one inches), but falls back to +fourteen and one-half for six-footers. On the other hand, this White +excess falls from twenty-five and one-half cubic inches for narrow +chests (30 inches) down to two cubic inches for large girths (40 +inches); but its uniform presence shows that the excess is a fact, +whatever may be the varying size of the fact. Here again the indication +is unambiguous that the Negro is short-winded, weak-lunged as compared +with his White rival. + +This indication is immensely strengthened by combination with another +exceedingly important fact. It has been said that the Negro is stouter +than the White, at all ages and all statures, weighing more per inch of +height. Now this extra weight per vertical inch is considered of all +outward signs the best for lung strength and lung soundness. "Are you +gaining in weight?" is the all-important question that the physician +asks of his tuberculotic patient. The Negro has (or had) here very much +outwardly in his favour; the lower height, the heavier build, the +greater girth of chest; so important is the single item of weight that +it is held on the basis of the broadest induction that even a very +slight overplus in heaviness may suffice to counteract effectively a +hereditary disposition towards tubercle, while actuaries are agreed +that slightness in proportion to age and height greatly determines +susceptibility to consumption. + +And yet, in spite of all, he is the peculiar victim of tuberculosis, +which attacks him not only with great and increasing frequency, but +with especial malignance. Of his enormous death rate from lung +affections, we have yet to speak. Here we would merely point out the +obvious conclusion, that histologically the Negro thus appears inferior +to the White man; not only do his tissues offer ready lodgement to the +invading bacillus, but they offer far less stubborn and protracted +resistance to such inroads when once in progress. + +At this point, it seems well to quote the conclusions of Hoffman (pp. +170-171): + +"First. The average weight of the colored male of military age, and of +colored male and female children, is greater than that of whites of the +same classes. This excess in weight prevails irrespective of age, +stature, or circumference of the chest. + +"Second. Already quoted. (p 217). + +"Third. The greater weight and smaller stature of the negro as compared +with the white are found to prevail practically the same to-day as +thirty years ago. The race has therefore undergone no decided change in +respect to these conditions of bodily structure. + +"Fourth. The average girth of chest of the negro male of thirty years +ago was slightly greater than that of the white, but at the present +time the chest expansion of the colored male is less than that of the +white. This decrease in the size of the living thorax in part explains +the increase in the mortality from consumption and respiratory +diseases. + +"Fifth. The capacity of the lungs of the negro is considerably below +that of the white. This fact coupled with the smaller weight of the +lungs (4 oz.) is without question another powerful factor in the great +mortality from diseases of the lungs. + +"Sixth. The mean frequency of respiration is greater in the negro than +in the white. As accelerated respiration indicates a tendency towards +disease, the fact just stated fully supports those regarding inferior +vital capacity and lesser degree of mobility of the chest. + +"Seventh. The mean lifting strength of the white is in excess of that +of the negro. The prevailing opinion that the negro is on the whole +more capable of enduring physical exercise is therefore disproved." +[H.'s "therefore" is quite unwarranted. There is no such necessary +connection between strength to lift and strength to endure. However, +his conclusion, although illogical, is nevertheless correct, as appears +plainly from a large body of other evidence.] "This fully agrees with +the facts regarding excessive mortality, which in itself is proof" [or +at least indication] "of a lesser degree of physical strength. + +"Eighth. The power of vision of the negro is inferior to that of the +white, but he is less liable to diseases of the eye, especially color +blindness." + +In the light of these "conclusions," which accord so perfectly with the +great facts of geographical distribution, how is it possible to speak +of the Negro as physically equal to the Caucasian? + +But not only is this comparative structural weakness clearly indicated, +but it is becoming more and more apparent. The marked apparent decline +in the chest expansion between 1863 and 1894 (from 3.23 to 2.58), the +increasing mortality, the decreasing immunity, the vague but unvarying +testimony of general observation--all tell one and the same unambiguous +story. + + +VIABILITY. + +It has been well said by Professor Willcox that the three great causes +of race extinction are disease, vice, and profound discouragement. Are +these formidable three at work against the American Negroid? It is +mainly a matter of statistical evidence. We have indeed few statistics +of discouragement, but of vice and disease they greatly abound. Of all +statistics those of mortality and vitality are perhaps the most +important, the most trustworthy, the most significant, the most +suggestive, and the most weirdly fascinating. They fill two gigantic +volumes of the twelfth census report, and to them we appeal in the +prosecution of our inquiry. + +Unfortunately these reports, as wholly trustworthy, do not cover the +whole of the United States, but only a very wide registration area, +including about 38 per cent. of the total population and about 86.7 per +cent. of the urban population. For the rest only an inference, checked +on this side and on that, is allowed. However, the general result is +affected very little by this undetermined element; and our arguments +and conclusions, since they deal with only the large features in the +case, are not affected at all. + +The first great fact that meets us, is this: The average death-rate of +the Negro is not far from double that of the White. For the year 1890 +the rates per myriad were: White 196, Coloured 299--a coloured excess +of 55 per cent.; for the year 1900 they were: Whites 178, Coloured +296[38]--a coloured excess of 66 per cent. The rates were almost exactly +as five to three! Not only then is the Black dying faster than the +White, but his rate exceeds the White rate more and more, having gained +14 per cent. in ten years. The White rate has fallen very +markedly--eighteen per myriad in these ten years; the Negro, only three +per myriad. Were the whole population considered, it is doubtful +whether his rate has fallen at all. Indeed, in cities not in the +registration states his rate has actually risen perceptibly, from 309 +to 313, whereas the White rate has meanwhile fallen from 189 to 175. + + [38] These are the "uncorrected rates" in the registration area. + The rates corrected--on the basis of age distribution--are still + far more ominous for the Negro. They are, in the entire + registration area: for native Whites having one or both parents + foreign, 187; for native Whites having both parents native, 166; + for Negroids, 347. + + "One is warranted, then, in saying that according to the best + evidence obtainable the death rate of the negroes in the + registration area is nearly double that of the whites in the same + area." + + "On these assumptions the computed death rate of the non-Caucasians + in 1890 was 34.4 and in 1900, 34.2; of the whites in 1890, 19.5, + and in 1900, 17.4. It seems not improbable that these figures + may be trusted so far as they indicate that there has been a + decline in the death rate of each race during the last ten + years, that the decline among the negroes has been less rapid + than that among the whites, and that the death rate of the + negroes at the present time is about, but not quite, twice that + of the white race." Census _Bulletin 8, Negroes in the United + States_, p. 66a. + + But as the death rate of the Negroes in 1890 was reckoned on a + return of population almost certainly considerably too low, that + rate was itself too high; the proper correction would probably + bring the rate in 1890 even below that of 1900. + +When now we consider the causes of this astonishing mortality, its +significance seems greatly enhanced. It was long believed, with more or +less reason, that the Negro enjoyed a certain at least partial immunity +from some of the most formidable diseases that assail the Caucasian. He +was thought less exposed to consumption and malaria, far less to cancer +and nervous disorders. But now listen to the tale of the census! In +scarlet fever and diphtheria and cancer, the Caucasian still asserts +his sad preeminence; his rates per myriad are 120, 459, 667, against +the Negro's 26, 320, 480. But in all the others, he is far outstripped. +Thus, the rates per million, for Whites and Blacks, are: consumption, +1735 and 4854; pneumonia, 1848 and 3553; diseases of the nervous +system, 2137 and 3080; of the urinary system, 998 and 1573; heart +diseases and dropsy, 1374 and 2211; typhoid fever, 324 and 675; +malarial fever, 65 and 632! We note here especially the fearful +prevalence of consumption, an almost infallible index of failing +vitality. Still more astonishing is the mortality from nerve-diseases, +where we should least expect them--a most interesting side-light on the +question of "discouragement." Equally instructive are the numbers 998 +and 1573; the sad tale they tell is confirmed by such facts as these: +the deaths (in 1900) from diseases affecting female organs of +generation were: Whites 2661, Coloured 592. From affections concerned +with pregnancy they were: Whites 7816, Coloured 1883. Remember that the +former outnumber the latter nearly eight to one; and you perceive that +the Coloured death-rate is nearly double the White. Add to the +foregoing that the deaths from venereal diseases were: Whites 1030, +Coloured 561. At the White rate, this latter should have been 135 +only--an excess of 316 per cent.; the Black death rate is over four +times as great as the White. All this indicates the destructive +prevalence, among the Blacks, of these race-ruining maladies from which +they were so long supposed to be comparatively exempt. We observe also +that cancer is rapidly marching to the front among the plagues of the +Negro--indeed, it already attacks the womb of the Black more frequently +than that of the White. Any one of these indications, or any two, or +perhaps three, might be misleading; but not the general consensus of +all. If evidence has any value at all, there can be no doubt whatever +that these figures indicate both a low viability in the Black man and +the appalling prevalence of the most race-destructive disorders. + +We would not disguise the fact that the last census, while in general +so exceedingly gloomy in its omens for the Negro, is yet traversed here +and there by some brighter ray. Thus, the city death rate from +consumption fell from 6,001 in 1890 to 4,710 in 1900, and the rural +from 3,652 to 3,227; especially the first comparison seems very +encouraging. But we must remember that in that decade science and art +vied in desperate struggle against that disease, which could hardly +fail to produce at least temporary notable results, especially in the +earlier years of life, where the principal gain was made. During the +same period the White urban rate fell from 2,851 to 1,978, or 31 per +cent. against the Negro 21.5 per cent.; and the White rural rate from +1,777 to 1,316 or 26 per cent. against the Negro loss of 12 per cent. +Meanwhile, also, the White rate for pneumonia has perceptibly fallen +everywhere, while the Negro rate has scarcely changed in town (3,469 +against 3,480) and has actually risen decidedly in the country (1,767 +against 1,583), and in the registration area from 279 to 349! + +There is no escape, then, from our conclusion. It is vain to allege +excessive infant mortality, unhygienic conditions, and the like as +explanations. The huge death rate faces the observer along the whole +line and under all circumstances. Thus in the registration area, for +1900, the Negro rate for the various ages showed the following excesses +over the White rate: + + Ages 0-4 5-14 15-24 25-34 35-44 45-64 65- + + Excess (per cent.) 137 139 164 96 89 71 26 + +While these excesses are greatest up to manhood, they remain very great +even up to old age. The relative importance of infant mortality among +the Negroes is commonly much exaggerated. In 1900 the number of deaths +under five years, per 10,000 deaths at all ages, was: Whites, 3,022; +Negroes, 3,422--a comparative excess of only about 13 per cent. It is +from 10 to 25 that the Negro offers relatively the richest field to +disease and death. The lowered death-rate observed in the cities is +referable almost wholly to the earliest years. Thus, in New Orleans, +the rates for White and Black for the triennium 1899-1901, as compared +with 1889-1891, showed the following gains (unmarked) and losses +(marked -) per myriad: + + Ages 0-4 5-9 10-19 20-29 30-49 50-69 70- + + White -172 -9 -1 -9 -26 -48 -69 + Coloured -109 2 26 62 22 57 -635 + +Here the mortality (per 10,000 Whites) has decreased slightly along the +whole line; among the Blacks it has decreased at the ends, but has +increased everywhere else--a result extremely significant. Similarly +for Washington and Charleston. Once more, the statistics of hospitals, +as the Johns Hopkins (Baltimore) and the Charity (New Orleans), show an +average death rate of the Blacks nearly double that of the Whites, +except in surgical cases. Here the general conditions are practically +the same for both races, the duration of treatment averages the same, +and the far greater mortality is virtually decisive for the far less +vitality of the Negro race. + +The very strongest corroboration of our contention is furnished by +Surgeon-General O'Reilly in his recent report for the fiscal year, +ending June 30, 1903. The death rates of White and Coloured soldiers +were 144 and 241 per myriad, respectively, almost exactly in the ratio +of three to five--a coloured excess of over 67 per cent. Here the life +conditions were sensibly the same; the far higher vitality of the +Caucasian appears in the boldest relief. + +The question of increase, already discussed, is very intimately +connected with the death rate, but equally so with the far less +accurately known birth rate; in fact, the rate of growth in numbers is +the difference of these two. Evidently, a very high death rate may +consist with a rapid increase in numbers, if only the birth rate be +high enough; on the other hand, even a high birth rate would bring +about little increase, if the death rate should be inordinately high. +No one seriously questions the great mortality among the Negroes; but +their champions think and hope that this may be made good by extreme +fertility. Let us see what this latter would have to be. Since the +former is nearly 300 per myriad, in order to maintain the very low rate +of growth of 100 per myriad, the latter would have to reach 400. Is +this rate a fact? And, if so, is it likely to continue to be a fact? We +shall summon all the evidence accessible, both direct and indirect. +While nothing like minute exactness is at present attainable, the +general purport of the testimony can not, it seems, be mistaken. + +The birth and death rates for certain European countries, for the last +decade, are as follows (per myriad): + + England Scotland Ireland Denmark Norway Sweden + and W. + + Births 301 307 230 303 304 272 + Deaths 184 188 181 177 165 164 + Increase 117 119 49 126 139 108 + + Austria Hungary Ger. Prussia Netherl'd. Belgium + Emp. + + Births 372 405 362 368 327 289 + Deaths 271 303 225 221 186 192 + Increase 101 102 137 147 141 97 + + France Italy Switzerland + + Births 222 355 277 + Deaths 216 246 190 + Increase 6 109 87 + +In Eastern Europe, says Rubin, the birth rate varied from 450 to 470 +for a century (1800 to 1900); but in Western Europe, since 1870, it +fell from 342 to 313 (1900). + +The determination of this rate in the United States cannot be made with +certainty or confidence, owing to the imperfection of the data. Our +census reports yield such results as these for the last decade, for the +whole United States, according to the analyses of the census: + +Average annual excess of births per myriad, 177; average annual number +of deaths per myriad, 174; hence, average annual number of births per +myriad, 351. + +On this result we may perhaps rely so far as to say that the rate lies +somewhere between 330 and 370. + +Similar analysis yields the following average annual excess of births +for native Whites, foreign Whites, and the Coloured (_i.e._ practically +Negroes) in the United States, and in the four grand divisions: +Northeastern, Central and Northern, Southern, and Western. + + N.W. F W. C. + + United States 195 365 178 + Northeastern 38 396 101 + Central and Northern 200 360 102 + Southern 241 274 191 + Western 259 403 2 + +Here the more rapid multiplication of the Caucasian is indicated under +all conditions, with the single startling exception of New England. In +the West, the Coloured are mostly Indians. + +Not less impressive are these same excesses arranged by States: + + Ala. Ark. Del. D.C. Fla. Ga. Ky. La. Md. Miss. N.C. S.C. + + N.W. 276 297 103 132 288 234 209 358 168 258 193 178 + F.W. 306 317 310 194 497 240 152 112 175 225 104 110 + C. 249 233 73 107 245 225 83 215 92 264 138 167 + + Tenn. Tex. Va. W.Va. Ill. Ind. Ia. Kan. Mich. Minn. Mo. Neb. + + N.W. 173 387 75 339 228 163 298 216 193 400 263 222 + F.W. 230 532 106 252 439 194 310 300 401 534 171 437 + C. 136 310 74 196 168 142 62 202 150 26 90 -43 + + N.J. N.D. O. Pa. S.D. Wis. Conn. Me. Mass. N.H. N.Y. R.I. Vt. + + N.W. 139 353 129 140 299 412 -18 -42 38 -104 89 ... -88 + F.W. 398 921 219 368 528 345 425 474 456 585 366 462 232 + C. 136 -230 120 138 -241 -146 89 125 174 -150 88 60 184 + +To be sure, these results are greatly complicated and deeply obscured +by immigration and emigration. None of them state the case correctly; +but they can not all err the same way, and collectively they exhibit +clearly that the Negro is losing ground everywhere in the race for +numbers. But these rates furnish us no independent evidence concerning +the birth rate. Such, however, we find in the number of births in the +census years 1890 and 1900. The returns are certainly incorrect, +certainly incomplete; they yield a mean birth rate of only 272--surely +too small, leaving a deficiency of 79 or of 28-1/2 per cent. That the +enumeration of births should be defective is not at all surprising; but +there is no reason to suppose the returns for 1890 less imperfect, and +a comparison of the two cannot fail to be instructive: + + U.S. N.E. C.& N. S.W. Conn. Me. Mass. N.H. N.Y. R.I. + 1900 272 238 259 315 240 211 240 213 242 243 + 1890 269 221 268 301 213 176 215 180 233 223 + + Vt. Ind. Ill. Ia. Kan. Mich. Minn. Mo. Neb. N.J. + 1900 213 249 255 258 258 243 287 260 272 258 + 1890 183 254 278 263 285 249 302 290 299 253 + + N.D. O. Pa. S.D. Wis. Al. Ark. Del. D.C. Fla. + 1900 336 231 269 308 274 321 324 247 203 309 + 1890 365 242 258 318 271 306 343 250 233 287 + + Ga. Ky. La. Md. Miss. N.C. Okl. S.C. Tenn. Tex. + 1900 321 306 305 263 312 337 337 343 307 329 + 1890 306 296 298 260 303 301 221 313 308 316 + + + Va. W.Va. Ariz. Cal. Col. Ida. Mt. Nev. N.M. Or. + 1900 303 332 269 183 239 304 244 189 336 204 + 1890 272 307 172 196 256 266 218 155 330 226 + + Ut. Wash. Wy. + 1900 352 220 242 + 1890 312 238 217 + +These data are inexact; they are bound up with the errors of +enumeration, particularly in 1890, but they confirm in general the high +fecundity of the American Caucasian everywhere, save in the Northeast. +The high rate indicated in the South cannot be due to the Negro. In +West Virginia the coloured element is insignificant, yet the return is +very large--332; in Kentucky the Negro hardly holds his own in numbers, +yet the whole birth rate is 306. In the Carolinas the native Whites +have far outrun the Blacks in increase, and the birth numbers are +337,343; whence it seems clear that nothing points to a Negro rate +higher than 351--higher than the general average for the Union. But is +the Black rate really so high? Despite the prevailing crude opinion, we +feel sure that it is sensibly lower and is steadily falling. There is +nothing in the history of the Negro to suggest great fecundity. He has +never populated his fatherland densely and poured over into the +territory of his neighbours. In the West Indies, where birth tables +have been kept with some care, there is no token of great fertility. In +Alabama, the records since 1888 point to a birth rate among Whites +thrice as high, among Blacks only twice as high, as the death rate. In +1890 the births recorded were: Whites 13,631; Blacks 9,955--the highest +in six years but one (9,961 in 1893). In this year the populations were +as 100 to 83, but the births as 100 to 73. You say that the Black +births were not all recorded. Very true, but neither were the White. +The excess of deficiency in the Blacks must have been 14 per cent. of +the whole, in order to make their rate equal to the Whites'. Maybe +these records are not worth the paper they were written on; but can the +same be said of the New England records? In Rhode Island, from 1861 to +1893, the _excess_ of _deaths_ over _births_, among the Negroes, was +18; in Connecticut from 1881 to 1893 the same excess was 272; in +Massachusetts in 1888 it was 68. "... we must conclude, however +reluctantly (sic!), that the race is not self-sustaining in this +latitude" (Dr. Fisher, Registrar of Vital Statistics, Rhode Island, +quoted by Hoffman). Similarly Dr. Snow, Registrar of Providence; +similarly Appolino, Registrar of Boston (both quoted by Hoffman). We +could go on massing such evidence, but it may all be scouted as +irrelevant, since the question is not about the Negro in the North, but +in the South. However, it is precisely in the North, especially the +Northeast, that his numbers are increasing, of course by immigration, +faster and faster; if, then, he "is doomed to extinction" there, his +numbers elsewhere must suffer corresponding depletion. + +There is yet another and more satisfactory way of attacking this +problem of the birth rate--not a direct, but an indirect one. Says the +great statistician, Marcus Rubin, in his paper on "Population and Birth +Rate," read before the British Association at Bradford, September, +1900: "Quite generally it may be remarked that a large birth rate will +crowd the age-groups corresponding to childhood comparatively to what +would result from a small birth rate. It is also clear that, when the +adults produce a numerous offspring, the latter will, other things +being equal, constitute a larger proportion of the whole population +than if it were less numerous." + +Rubin has Denmark in mind, and western Europe;--he is not dreaming of +the Gulf States. Let us apply this common-sense principle to the case +in hand. Here is a table of the per thousands of the population at +various ages, native White and Black. We take the native White, since +immigrants are generally of full age, and we are now concerned with the +general fertility of Caucasian natives and not of foreigners; of the +latter, it is confessedly very high. + + 1880 1890 1900 + + Under 1 year N.W. 33 30 30 + N. 34 23 28 + + From 1 to 4 years N.W. 123 112 110 + N. 131 111 109 + + From 5 to 9 years N.W. 144 136 133 + N. 154 145 136 + + Total under 10 years N.W. 300 278 273 + N. 319 284 273 + +Here the situation is revealed with great clearness. We see that both +in White and in Black the race is aging; extreme youth is becoming less +and less conspicuous. But the diversities are broadly marked. In babes, +the Blacks fall behind by two per thousand of their total; in children +from one to four years, they again fall behind, but only one per +thousand; in children from five to nine they excel by three per +thousand; in the grand total of children under ten, they exactly equal +the native Whites. This record of itself clearly indicates a failing +fecundity in the Blacks; the younger, the fewer, comparatively. + +Still more clearly is this seen, on comparing the earlier record of +1880. Then the Black youth surpassed the White relatively at all +ages--by one, by eight, by ten, and in the grand total by nineteen. All +this superiority has been lost in twenty years. It seems hard to +imagine a more impressive record. High mortality among infants will not +explain this, especially it will not explain the loss in the score of +years, nor the relative scarcity of the very young.[39] + + [39] "The number of negro, Indian, and Mongolian children under 5 + years of age to each 1,000 women 15 to 44 years of age was 759 in + 1880 and 585 in 1900, showing a decrease of 174 [23 per cent.!] + in twenty years. The number in 1880 was 173 greater, and in 1900, + 77 greater than the corresponding number for the whites." Census + _Bulletin 8, Negroes in the United States_, p. 14a. + +But another fact is illuminative. The chief statistician, William C. +Hunt, remarks (Population, Part II., p. lviii.): "The decrease in the +relative proportion of children among the negro element is due for the +most part to the greater infant mortality of the negro race as compared +with the native white population, although it may be due in part to +_the decrease in the proportion of negro women who are or have been +married, for each age-group_ except that from 15 to 19 years, as shown +by the statistics of conjugal condition for 1890 and 1900." We have +just observed that the first explanation does not explain. "Greater +infant mortality" might cause a smaller "relative proportion of +children among the Negro element," both in 1880 and in 1900; but it +could not cause a "decrease in the relative proportion" from 1890 to +1900, unless that mortality was not only great, but actually becoming +greater. But such is not the fact; if it were, it would mean ruin to +the Negro race. On the contrary, it is precisely in these years of +infancy that the mortality has been reduced. Nor could even a huge +mortality, extending up to the tenth year, of itself bring about the +relatively small number of babes under one year. It is the second fact, +which we have italicized, that throws light on the situation. Except +very young girls, whose marriages are largely transient or nominal, the +Negro women are beginning to shun marriage. This is a part of the +general moral and social declension, which no unbiased observer of the +race can fail to notice. Here are the numbers per thousand, male and +female, of the single and married and widowed, of those over fifteen +years of age, in 1890 and 1900: + + 1900 1890 1900 1890 + + Single (M) 392 398 Single (F) 299 300 + Married (M) 540 555 Married (F) 537 546 + Widowed (M) 58 43 Widowed (F) 154 147 + +And for native Whites: + + Single (M) 397 401 Single (F) 310 306 + Married (M) 549 554 Married (F) 577 582 + Widowed (M) 45 40 Widowed (F) 106 107 + +The fall from 546 to 537 is not large--only 9; but it must be increased +by the increase 7 of those returning themselves as "widows," of which +the number, 154, is excessive, and by the excess (3) of divorcees, +making altogether an increase of about 2 per cent. of the female +population, who decline to produce their kind legitimately. It is +impossible to interpret this otherwise than as a sign of moral and +social deterioration, which Nature cannot fail to punish promptly by a +diminishing birth rate. + +It is also seen that the White ratio of the married women has fallen +slightly, from 582 to 577--about half as fast as the Black, the number +of the single increasing from 306 to 310. Undoubtedly, the growing +determination of the White woman to be a man--to compete with a man in +all forms of activity--has sensibly reduced the marriage rate, and +therewith the birth rate of the Caucasian, and will yet further reduce +it--a result we must deplore; but there is here no sign of deterioration, +as in case of the Black woman. In her case it _is_ attested freely by +the more respectable Negroes themselves. Ask such a one to recommend +some "nice coloured girl" as a domestic, and she will probably reply +frankly that she knows of none, that they are altogether become +unprofitable, that they are scandalously and outrageously unchaste, +that there is none that doeth good--no, not one. At this point we speak +from personal knowledge. In such statements, there is no doubt +considerable exaggeration; but they are largely and increasingly +correct. Even Professor Dubois, the ablest of Afro-Americans, confesses +that about one-fifth of the Negro families belong to the lowest +class--"below the line of respectability, living in loose sexual +relationship," and so on. "Laziness and promiscuous sexual intercourse +are their besetting sins." He is reporting on the Negroes of Farmville, +Va. (Department of Labour Bulletin, January, 1898, p. 37.) + +Much somberer colours must be used in depicting the conditions in +larger towns. He found about 15 per cent. belonging to the higher +class--a percentage that wider investigation would hardly maintain. In +another connection the same stern prophet declares: "Unless we conquer +our present vices, they will conquer us. We are diseased; we are +developing criminal tendencies, and an alarmingly large percentage of +our men and women are sexually impure." + +Entirely confirmatory of our contentions are the results of the +intensive studies of Professor Dubois. Thus he finds that the average +Negro family in Philadelphia numbers 3.18, but little more than one +child to the couple. The Mongrel record is even worse. Of thirty-three +families (four White husbands, twenty-nine White wives), the average +size was 2.9; there seem to have been thirty-five children in all. This +painstaking sociologist admits: (1) "That a tendency to much later +marriage than under the slave system is revolutionizing the Negro +family and incidentally leading to much irregularity." (2) "There is, +nevertheless, still the temptation for young men and women under forty +to enter into matrimony before their economical condition warrants it." +(3) "Among persons over forty, there is a marked tendency towards +single life." (4) "The very large number of widowed and separated +points to grave physical, economical, and moral disorder" (_op. cit._, +p. 70). + +Among college-bred Negroes, presumably by far the best class, Dubois +finds 491 couples represented by 1,081 children, of whom 877 survive, +982 by 887. This number may yet be increased somewhat by more births; +but it will also be decreased by deaths of the young, so that the total +of the next propagative generation will very improbably reach the +number of the parents, 982. + +Once more, consider this table of the percentages in families of one, +two to six, seven to ten, eleven and more in the United States in +general, and in the Negro population of a number of cities, as Atlanta, +Nashville, Cambridge: + + 1 2 to 6 7 to 10 11 and more + + U.S. 3.63 73.33 20.97 2.07 + N. 4.75 79.85 15.22 .18 + +It is seen that the small families (Negro) greatly preponderate. Of the +79.85 per cent., nearly one-fourth (19.17 per cent.) were families of +only two (_op. cit._, p. 167). + +"_For several decades to come, the average size of the Negro family +will decrease until economic well-being can keep pace with the demands +of a rising standard of living_" (_op. cit._, p. 166). We have +italicized this sentence, for it pronounces the doom of the Negro. + +As the standard of living rises, as competition sharpens, his economic +"well-being" will find it harder and harder to "keep pace," his family +will shrink more and more, his race will dwindle faster and faster into +insignificance. + +A striking corroboration of our results surprises the reader of +Professor C. H. Crogman's work, "The Remarkable Advancement of the +Afro-American," at Chapter XIII, on "Mortality." Therein Professor +Harris, of Fisk University, reports an intensive study of the Nashville +Negro, whose circumstances are at least comparatively favourable. In +145 families he found 649 persons, an average of not quite 4-1/2; +hence, he yields the contention that the Negro is "prolific." "The +excessive mortality" he found "due largely and perhaps altogether, to +constitutional diseases." "Pulmonary consumption is the 'destroying +angel.'" "Thirteen suffer from scrofula." "More white people die from +contagious diseases and local diseases than colored; while more colored +people die from constitutional diseases than white." The "crimes of +mothers," he found "also a fruitful reason of the slow rate of increase +in the colored population. This state of affairs is not confined to +Nashville. It is true of nearly all our large Southern cities; and +whether we like it or not, the hard fact remains that the enormous +death rate among us, together with our small birth rate, is one of the +signs of the times that, unless our home life be radically changed, the +Negro problem in America may be ultimately solved by the extinction of +the Negro." And more to the same effect. + +Such is the state of case, as attested by a professor in the best-known +coloured university, among a populace that have dwelt for a whole +generation in the shadow of this noted seminary. House-to-house +investigation tells everywhere the same story. Thus, in 1901, as +appears from the "concrete study" embodied in the Master's Dissertation +of William Wilson Elwang, there were 34 births in a Negro population of +1,916 (Columbia, Mo.)--17 per thousand against a death rate of 24 per +thousand. The small family average was almost precisely the same as in +Nashville. There were only 161 children under 6 years of age, and 60 +married couples were childless! The interpretation has already been +suggested in the foregoing quotations. + +From all of this it is clear, not only that the coloured birth rate is +low and is falling, but why it is low, and why it is falling. It is +almost impossible that it should long remain so much as thirty-five per +thousand per annum, or even thirty-four or thirty-three. It seems +certainly descending towards thirty--that is, 300 births per myriad +yearly. But the present death rate is 296 per myriad; it fell only +three, from 299 to 296, in the decade from 1890 to 1900; it actually +rose from 308 to 313 in the cities of the non-registration area. Thus +it appears certain that the birth and death rates of the Negro cannot +continue very far apart, that they are steadily approaching, and that +without some strange reversal of present tendencies, the birth rate +must ere long fall below the death rate in all but a very few +districts, and at no distant period even in them. In all likelihood +these tendencies will be rather strengthened than weakened with +advancing years, and there are those now living who will actually see +the Afro-American moving rapidly towards extinction. But even at the +present rate, he must shrink swiftly in importance; for the census +analyst admits that even in the registration area the death rate of the +Negro is about ten per thousand greater than that of the foreign White, +and about thirteen per thousand greater than that of the native White. +Since his birth rate can hardly, in the extremest cases, exceed the +native White's, much less the foreigner's, it follows that both must +gain and are gaining on him, at least ten per thousand yearly. Regard +it, then, as you will, there is no escape from our general conclusion, +which faces us from the whole circle of statistical fact. + + +RECORD OF CRIME + +We pass now, formally, to the second grand cause of the Negro's race +declension--namely, his vice. The general fact is a matter of the most +common observation, but it is also witnessed unimpeachably by the +records of the courts. Here is how the case stands in the census of +1890. The White population was then almost exactly seven and one-half +times the Black. The prisoners in the United States, June 1, 1890 were: +Whites 57,310, Blacks 24,277. In proportion to numbers, the Black +prisoners should have been 7,642, but they were more than thrice as +many; the Black appears more than thrice as criminal as the White. +This, however, is not nearly the whole truth. The list of Caucasian +crimes swells chiefly in the Northeast, where foreigners most and +Negroes least abound. In the various grand divisions of the country, +the record comes out far more clearly. Thus, in the North Atlantic, +there were in prison: Whites 26,182, Blacks 2,037. Out of every myriad +of population there were 155 Blacks; out of every myriad of prisoners +there were 722 Blacks; his prison rate was nearly five times as high as +the Caucasian--this, too, in a region of urban population, largely +immigrant. In the North Central there were 2,738 Black prisoners and +17,027 White; the Negro furnished not 2 per cent. of the population, +but nearly 14 per cent. of the crime; he was more than seven times as +criminal as the White. + +In the South Atlantic States, he furnished 8,863 prisoners against +2,544 Whites; not 37 per cent. of the population, but over 77 per cent. +of the trespass; proportionally, he offended almost six times as often +as the Whites. In the South Central the prison record stood: Whites +5,604, Blacks 10,381; the populations are as 6,828 to 3,171; the Black +appears nearly four times as criminal as the White. + +It is often urged that the comparative criminality of the Negro in the +South is exaggerated. The White transgressor has friends, money, and +social position and manages to evade the law; the Negro is poor, +friendless, and outcast and falls an easy victim. In a measure, this +may be true--we are ashamed to confess; but it cannot alter the general +fact, only its degree. On the other hand, very many offences of Black +against Black must go unchallenged by the law, both from apathy and +from fear. These two considerations, very likely, about balance each +other. It is thoroughly decisive, however, that the Negro appears a +greater criminal in the North and East, where there is no prejudice +against him than in the South, where the prejudice is supposed to be so +strong. If we compare the states, we may see this even more clearly. In +Massachusetts, the prisoners were: Whites 5,157, Blacks 161. Since the +latter formed not 1 per cent. of the population, their criminality +appears over three times as great as the White; yet they are, +presumably, the very elect of the race--the best Negroes in the world. +In New York, there were 10,745 White prisoners and 723 Black; but the +latter numbered only 117 per myriad; hence, their criminality was six +times as great as the White. In Pennsylvania there were 5,749 White +prisoners and 738 Black; but the latter formed little over 2 per cent. +of the population; hence, again, their criminality was six times that +of the White. In West Virginia there were 320 Whites in prisons and 130 +Blacks; these latter formed not 5 per cent. of the population; they +were seven times as criminal as the White. Washington City is the Mecca +of the Negro; there, if anywhere on earth, he should show himself at +his best. What is the prison record? Whites 138, Blacks 358; yet he +numbers only 328 per thousand--he is more than five times as criminal +as the Whites. In Ohio there were 481 Black prisoners, representing +only 247 per myriad of the population, and 2,415 Whites; again, an +eightfold criminality. In Michigan there is no prejudice against the +Negro, but rather for him, and how stands the court record? He numbers +only 73 per myriad of the population, yet he furnishes 141 prisoners +against 1,998 Whites--this time a criminality tenfold! In the South his +record is seemingly better. In Louisiana the Blacks numbered one-half, +but the population of the prisons was 367 Whites, 1,238 Blacks; the +latter were not quite fourfold criminal. In Alabama the +population-ratio was 5,516 to 4,484, but the prison-ratio was 422 to +2,096. On dividing the former by the latter, we find the crime-ratio of +six to one. In Mississippi, the population-ratio was 4,342 to 5,658; +the prison-ratio was 119 to 1,058; their quotient, the crime-ratio, was +over six to one. + +In Virginia the ratio is over six, in South Carolina under six, in +Indiana nearly five, in Georgia over eight, in Illinois nearly nine. + +Thus it appears that the Negro everywhere, many times oftener than the +White man, falls into prison; but in the North still oftener than in +the South, and not only is he relatively more frequently criminal in +the North--he is absolutely so. For, to judge from the court records, +the South is in general more law-abiding than the North. + +It may be useful here to give a table of the criminality of the five +grand divisions in the census years 1880 and 1890, giving the number of +prisoners per million of population, with the increase of each division +in ten years; + + 1890 1880 Increase + + United States 1,315 1,169 146 + North Atlantic 1,624 1,425 199 + South Atlantic 1,288 1,043 245 + North Central 888 862 26 + South Central 1,466 1,250 216 + Western 2,221 2,199 22 + +Here the great North Central appears by far most law-abiding. The +reason is, the criminality is raised by foreigners in the East, by the +Negro in the South, by the adventurer in the West. On comparing the +total number of prisoners North and South with the total populations, +we find that there were in the South about six prisoners per myriad of +Whites, and twenty-nine prisoners per myriad of Blacks; whereas in the +North were twelve prisoners per myriad Whites, and sixty-nine prisoners +per myriad Blacks. On going from South to North, we find the prison +numbers exactly doubled among the Whites, but much more than doubled +among the Blacks. + +But our tables can teach us still more. The increase from 1880 to 1890 +is worth attention. In the West and the North Central region, it was +only slight--twenty-two and twenty-six per million; but both in the +South Central and the South Atlantic, it was very great--216 and 245 +per million. To whom was it due? To the Black, or to the White? In part +to both, but far more to the former. The White increase was only seven +per cent., the Black was twenty-seven per cent. Worse than this, +however, in the North the White increase was hardly five per cent., but +the Black increase was thirty-five per cent.--whence it appears that in +criminality the Negro, especially the educated Northern Negro, is +striding forward in seven-league boots. + +Closely akin to this latter fact is still another--the still higher +criminality of the Mulatto. In the whole United States, the pure Blacks +outnumber the mixed breeds about six to one; in the North Atlantic +division, about twenty to six, or three to one; in the South Atlantic, +nearly seven to one; in the North Central, over two to one; in the +South Central, about six to one; in the West, under two to one. Now we +have already seen that precisely where the Mulattoes most abound, the +Negro is most criminal. Still more definitely, we have these facts of +the eleventh census (1890). Of Blacks there were in city prisons 898 +pure, 170 mixed--five to one; in workhouses, 1,004 pure, 333 +mixed--three to one; in juvenile reformatories, 1,418 pure, 512 +mixed--three to one; leased out (not in penitentiaries), 1,700 pure, +295 mixed--five to one; altogether, in penitentiaries 10,884 pure, +3,383 mixed--only three to one; whence, it appears, that the pure Black +exceeds the Mulatto more in numbers than in criminals--that is, the +Mulatto is the greater offender. This result accords with the African +proverb quoted by Livingstone: "A god made the white; who made the +black I know not; but surely the devil made the mongrel." + +The champions of the oppressed will have much to say in avoidance of +the foregoing--nothing, however, that is both forceful and relevant. +They may urge that the offences of the Negro are mainly trivial, that +he is not to be judged too harshly for his penchant towards henroosts; +that such a little thing as a chicken must not be allowed to separate +him from civilization and Christianity. But the facts look the other +way. The great crimes are the ones that swell his list; his slight +offences are mainly against his own kith and kin, and very frequently +go unpunished. The court records, as in Alabama,[40] show that he +aspires to the heights of felony. He is murderous, he excels in arson, +he forges with a will. Of the crime of all crimes he enjoys almost the +proud monopoly, and he plies it in spite of the swiftest, surest, +savagest of all possible penalties. His defenders have here excogitated +a most ingenious plea. This crime against woman is not a reversion to +barbarism; it is not a yielding to ungovernable and brutal lust--oh, +no! It is, they say, a deep-studied revenge; it is an attack by the +oppressed on the race of the oppressor. In the person of his victim, +the Black avenger would hurl defiance and desecration at the whole +tribe of his persecutors. We are not concerned to refute such nonsense. +He that can find satisfaction in thus swapping off bestiality for +diabolism, let him find it. We merely note, in passing, that the North +has recently shown itself as little tolerant as the South of such +assaults on the integrity of the race. To be sure, there are many +crimes, and many of appalling proportions, from which the Negro does +greatly abstain. He does not corrupt legislatures, he does not thwart +justice, he does not evade the Constitution, he does not defy the acts +of Congress, he does not frame tariff schedules, he does not assume +divine vice-gerency, he does not water stock and crush competition and +servilize millions, he does not even buy and sell franchises, nor +divide rake-offs, nor stuff ballot boxes, nor muzzle the press, nor +indulge in other such venialities. But is there any one that does not +know the reason? The Negro is not equal to these iniquities. There fail +him both ability and opportunity. But if any one doubts for an instant +that, according to the measure of his might, he has improved and will +improve whatever stray chance may fall in his way, in fashion that +would even make St. Louis blush, we would respectfully recommend to +such a Nathanael a study of Presidential nominating conventions or any +faithful history of Reconstruction. + + [40] Here is the penitentiary record for 1900: + + Whites. Negroes. + + Convicts 253 2,147 + ----- ----- + For Homicide 59 366 + " Rape 3 41 + " Arson 3 38 + " Forgery 7 42 + " Burglary 34 432 + ----- ----- + " Major offences 106 919 + ----- ----- + Population per felon 3,270 317 + +But has not the last decade abated the "criminal tendencies" which +Professor Dubois so deplores? _On the contrary._ Complete reports have +not yet been issued, but the general facts lie open to view. The annual +summaries of the Chicago _Tribune_ show that the Negro maintains his +lead easily. In 1902, there were judicial hangings 144: Negroes 85, +Whites 56, Indians 2, Chinaman 1; for murder 133, for rape 9; South +101, North 43. There were lynchings, 96: Negroes 86, Whites 9, Indian +1; for murder 41, rape 30; South 87, North 9. The number of lynchings +has, indeed, steadily decreased from 235 in 1892 to 96 in 1902--and not +strangely. Atrocious as such forms of rudimentary justice undoubtedly +are, and severely reprehensible, to be condemned always and without any +reserve, it cannot be denied that they have a certain rough and +horrible virtue. Great is the insult they wreak on the majesty of the +law and brutalizing must be their effect upon human nature, yet they do +strike a salutary terror into hearts which the slow and uncertain steps +of the courts could hardly daunt. In witness stands the fact that +lynch-lightning seldom strikes twice in the same district or community. +Such frightful incidents tend to repeat themselves at wide intervals, +both of time and of place. + +Finally, the whole family of facts here assembled, especially those +that establish the greater and faster growing criminality of the +Northern Negro, show clearly that education is not the cure for his +ills. Generation after generation of coddling and sympathy in the North +has not effaced a single racial trait nor raised by a single notch the +average character, moral or mental or physical, of hundreds of +thousands of the pick of their race. Nearly forty years of devoted and +enthusiastic effort to elevate and educate the Southern Negro lie +stretched out behind us in a dead level of failure. We grant freely and +gladly that there are exceptions, rare and remarkable enough. But that +the average of the Negro, both moral and physical, has fallen and is +falling measurably under all endeavours to lift him up, is a fact that +shines out clear in the light of the foregoing statistics. + +But not only is it a fact--it is precisely what might have been +expected. A culture, a civilization, to be helpful and healthful, must +proceed from within and not from without. It must be an internal +evolution, not an external imposition. The impulse may, indeed, be +given by contact; it may proceed from another; but it must strike upon +a nature prepared, responsive, and kindred. It must release energies +and potencies already present and in high tension--it cannot create +them; it may be an occasion, it cannot be a cause. You may ignite a +match by friction, but not a piece of chalk. + +The civilization of any people is the slow and toilsome growth of +centuries, an unfolding of the people's spirit itself. Its virtue, its +essence lies in this very fact. How then shall such a product be +imposed upon an alien and inferior race? They cannot receive it; they +can put it on only as an outer garment; it can never become truly +theirs, the efflorescence of their own souls. Moreover, in such foreign +vesture they are clumsy and constrained; they cut but a sorry and even +ridiculous figure, like David in the armour of Saul. Well for them if +it prove not to be a shirt of Nessus. + +These propositions we make no attempt to argue formally, for that would +be remote from our present purpose. We rest our case on the facts and +figures already submitted. But we must observe, in conclusion, that the +doctrine just enounced is by no means a novelty. Nearly two thousand +years ago, "The Apostle" addressing the Corinthians declared: "Even so +the things of God none knoweth, save the Spirit of God.... Now a man of +soul receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are +foolishness unto him; and he can not know them, because they are +spiritually discerned." + + +THE END + + +THE McCLURE PRESS, NEW YORK + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Color Line, by William Benjamin Smith + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE COLOR LINE *** + +***** This file should be named 35099.txt or 35099.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/5/0/9/35099/ + +Produced by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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