The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-03-18
Ea,nrnl selee tIOn Amongst ManAiud.


II Mr.. Darwin's doctrine is well founded,
the human race as at present constituted Is
the result Of long and exceedingly slow
elabOr alton. 1t resembles one of the machines
advertised as possessing all the newest aud
best improvements We, in our collective
capacity, are heirs OF all the sges from the
frat dawn Of life until now, and, until we are
In turn superseded by something better, may
Aatter ourselves that we combine In tne
highest degree practicable all reconcilaoe
good qualities. What may be the uitimste
Value OF these speculations is at present, auu
perhaps Is likely long to remain, an oP7u
question; but one application OF tne tnooiyI
amor get many others, ia OF ex'rens p,'S"1
interest. We may or may nos nave ,...'s.t he
granted that, in spite Of much wnich ul'euS
Be urged TO the contrary, we have on Ine
vboIa made distinct advance
M morality and intelligence. ~
Spite of wars and Psupsiis~
and commercial Scandals we are very supe-
Tior TO the doghesded balloons. bu. osis suo is
Mon remains, whether the same pfoo7ss 20
s,ilI At work amongst mankind. - IL IIue
tha, me races which furthest remoVeu
from the animals tend to supplant tuose Ot
diatiuctly lower typeY Is 1t prooaole that az
some distant period the world VIII oe peopled
10 oiviiized beings of European descent, and
that from them will arise still nobler race,
With larger brains, greater physical capacities,
and more highly developed social affections
Without looking to a future 30 remote that
our feeble vision can never expect to penetrate
ias deDths we may ask whether progress in
that direction is distinctly visible to the naked
ave. L. might be vain to inquire whether in
a few million years there will be race of
beings on the planet capable Of looking down
upon us as we look down upon the naked
snvsges. or even ''showing Newton as We
show an ape" but it is important to know
whether on the whole the superior races of
mankind are supplsnting those just below
Sbem in the scale, or whether some OF
the highest qualities at present developed are
likely to be absorbed in composition with
inferior races of men. Certain familiar facts
NAV be quoted in favor of the more cheerful
prospect. New Zealanders and Red Indians
are on the road to extinction, and the capacity
of the negro to survive competition with the
white man is still very doubtful problem.
The best hope held out for him is that he may
survive, free from the disadvantages of slavery,
but still at the best q serviceable and dis
tinetly inferior drudge. If We might conf
IDENTIFY apply these results to races divided by
less palpable distinctions, we shonld infer,
not only that Europeans are supplanting
savages, but that the best races of Europe
are likely to supplaut those degree or two
below them. Iu other words, of course, we
should look forward to the day when the
population of the globe would be of exolu-
sively English descent, which would be mex
pressibly cheering.
Two or three difficulties, however, have
been raised, which point to causes likely to
rstard this desirable consummation. Thus it
has been said, although statsticans do not
seem as yet to have decided the point, that the
native American is being absorbed by the
foreign immigration, and that expressly be-
cause he represents on the whole superior
type of civilization. The educated and intelli-
gent native naturally feels the inf uence of
prudential restraints. He does not marry,
nnless he has fair prospect of supporting
family. He tends more and more to approxi-
mate to the social condition illustrated in
France, where population increases so slowly
as to be all but stationary. Meanwhile the
Immigrant, with far lower standard OF COM
fort, multiplies at an unprecedented rate, and
bids fair in few generations completely to
swamp The higher type of man, and that for the
very reason that he is at lower intellectual
stage. In other words, the fact that
one part of population is less capable of
foresight and self-restraint gives it direct
advantage in the struggle for existence. 1t is
unnecessary for this purpose to ask whether
the facts are correctly stated, or whether there
may not be some other explanation at hand.
II may be said, for example, that the native
American is physically degenerate, aud is so
matio influences, or from the social habits of
the people, his constitution is not so robust as
that Of his ancestors. II may be that the race
1s undergoing slow process Of aoclimatiza-
non; and that true Interpretation of the facts
observed would be somewhat different; the
advantage would only be in the first race of
smigrants, and ultimately those who had
adapted themselves to the new soil through a
long process of modification would gain the
RupNrioritv This howaver ia a speoulatioI
for which the proper data have not as yet beer
accumulated. The difficulty suggested is the
simple one that, in certain cases, the absenc'
Of that sensibility to prudential restraint
which is the product of long-continued civil
Sation gives an advantage to the least civi
hsed part Of the community. An argument
in some respects similar is urged b.
alarmists of different class. In California
and Australia, it is said, the man of European
erigin is being ousted by the Asiatic. Th
Chinamsn is an inferior being, both PHYSICAL,
and intellectually, to his competitor. He car
do less work, and is less capable of the highe
kinds Of thought. AS, however, he can liv,
upon the bare leavings of an American o.
English lab0rer, he succeeds in insinuatin,
himself into the lower branches of labor, and
having abundance of ingenuity, industry, anC
capacity for imitation, he gradually Gusts hi
more cultivated but more expensive rival
He is already the object of bitter jealousy; an,
sensideriDg his perseverance, his powers Q
increase, and the enormous population @
which he is the representative, he is likely I
Become even more formidable in future
1he kshman swaInps the American, Irishme
and Americans alike are in danger of balm
eaten out in course of time by the semi.bs
harlan races of the East, and the world, instea
Of being Americanized, will undergo a proces
ior which similar word should, if possibl
7hcfa M