The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-05-11
NEGRO MORTALITY.

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The death rate of the colored class in till
country is causing some alarm, being statee
at figures much larger than for whites
Want Of accuracy in the census OF 1871 pre-
vents us from showing to what extent tnt
colored death rate exceeds the white, but
enough is known to establish the fact thai
the rate Of increase of the colored race has
fallen off very largely.
The slave population of 1870 was, in four.
teen States. 697,6S1. In 1900, in sixteen
States, it was 800, 35S In 1910, in nineteen
States. it was 1855, 967 In 1920, in twenty
States, it was 1888, O22. In 1880, in twenty
six States, the slaves numbered zoos, 043.
In 1910, in twenty-five States. they num-
bered 2,487, 1856. In 1850, in sixteen States,
they numbered 3,2O4,313 In 1860, in
eighteen States. they numbered 1858, 100,
and in the same year the free colored popula-
ton numbered 488,07O, making the total Of
colored 4, 442. $50. The census of 1870 gives
the total colored population of the States and
Territories of 4.8SO,OO9, an increase during
ten years, including the years of the war, of
437, 179. During the decade from 1850 to
1860 the increase in the total colored popula-
ton was .SO3062. The increase in each
preceding decade had been over twenty per
cent.
The free colored population in 1890 was
59,527; in 1900, 1Os, 1876; in 1910, 1856, 446; in
1920, 233, 634; in 1880, 319, 500; in 1910, 1885,
1893; in 1850, 434, 495; and in 1860, 48S, 070.
This steady and rapid increase in the number
of the free colored was due chiefly to the
great numbers who were emancipated by the
States before 1860 OF by individuals. No
inference can, therefore, be drawn respecting
the influences of their condition upon their
comparative longevity.
In round numbers the colored population
of the United States in 1900 was one million
Of souls. Seventy years afterwards it was
found to be nearly five times as great, OF
1880, 900. Importation ceased in 1920, but
the ratio of increase was as great after as be-
fore that date until 1850; so that the negro
population now in the United States may be
assumed to be, for the most part, the de-
scendants of the 757, 200 who were included
in the census Of 1890.
This is q more rapid growth than that
shown by any colony whose career is recorded
in history. Their progress in all essential
respects from their original condition of alb
solute barbarism to the condition Of COM
parative civilization has been equally marked.
One hundred and fifty years ago nine in ten
of the ancestors of the five millions of col
ored people who live now in this country
were barbarians, to whom all the learning,
all the science, all the inventions, all the
comforts of civilization were utterly I'm.
known They were strangers to all litera-
ture. They had no machinery. They wore
the skins of wild beasts for clothing. They
had nothing for shelter but rude huts. They
hunted and fought with clubs and stones.
They ate their game and human captives
half cooked or raw. Their idolatry was bru-
tai, cruel and obscene. Their government
was the absolute mastery Of physical prowess.
Their whole condition was intensely and ex-
clusively savage.
Without apology for the system, nor excuse
for the motive, the historian must none the |
less impute the subsequent progress of the |
negro race towards enlightenment to their |
contact with civilization. They have been
brought to wear clothes, to live in houses, to
sat cooked food, to use medicines Tools and |
implements which they could never invent
have been put into their hands, and with
hem they have been taught the discipline Of
work. The white mans law, the white mans
government and the white mans control have
Kept them from destroying one another. The
white mans medicines, the results of centu-
les Of study and discovery, have kept alive
he negroes children. It is the contact, the
estraint and the shelter of civilization which
ave produced these results. which We are
considering wholly with reference to cause
nd effect.
Since their forcible and abrupt emancipa-
ion, the negroes of this country have been
q part released from the restraints, and
hereby in part deprived of the benefits of !
utilization. Whereas they were before an
important part in the great machinery of So .
iety and production, and closely blended {
nth the personal interests Of the civilized {
,hites, partakers in large degree Of their Q
and benefciaries to great ex- /,
mt from their intelligence and experienced !
they are now released from a &
sstraint in many respects wholesome, re.
loved from direct interest in many respects q
and deprived of that superior '
which. under slavery, guided 8
lem in compulsory industry to results which Q
leir unguided labor cannot reach. i
The colored inhabitants of this country are t
ill in contact with civilization and influenced q