The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1877-12-14
TIE DOOMED RACE.
5Tore Melancholy Figures Relating 10
fheDeeIine of Ihs Negro Race

I
yrore Melancholy Figures Relating 10
fheDeeIine Of she Negro Race
isii'e SOU" &Sxt
s'sz--ss SO u.s. q = - h SS+
II. v. RedfeIdss w y ne ron Chatta-
nooga to the Cincinnati Commercial:
Mr.. Beadle, Of the Gazette, writing
from Memphis, makes the discovery that
the blacks in that city are dying from
two to three times faster than the
whites, Thig : a matter I have given
much attentid No for the past five years
and the state 81 things in this regard Mr..
Beadle finds in Memphis applies to every
city in The south. At different times l
have collected statistics in Memphis,
Nashville, Charleston, Columbia, Rich
mond, ChattanOoga, Vicksburg, Atlanta,
aud Washington, and always with the
same result. The average ofblack deaths
to white, taking all these cities together,
and one year with another, with relative
population of course IS a basis-is more
than two to one, that Is the black race in
the southern cities il dying off more than
twice as fast as the white. Washington,
under the very nose Of the government,
and where there Is philanthropic effort
to teach the blacks how to live, the
black death-rate keeps up with that in
Richmond and other southern cities
where the efforts TO elevate the negro are
not conspicuous. | do not refer here to
the elevation which comes merely from
common school cducation-for nearly all
southern cities have made and are making
praiseworthy efforts in this direction
but to the elevation and benefit which
come from learning them how to care for
their bodily health.
The average negro has little more idea
of sanitary rules and the laws of health
than a horse. And they are almost as
hard to learn as so many horses. Per
haps this is a broad statement, but the
failures I have met in trying to teach
those of the race who happened to be in
my employ so simple thing as to keep
out of a cold draught when heated, Is my
excuse for an observation that may seem
extreme. I had almost as soon undertake
to persuade a negro tovote the democratic
ticket as to keep him out of draughts
/ when heated or from sitting around half
I q day with wet feet. have often seen
negroes at work upon the river loading
boat, and when through and covered
with peTspiration, lie down where the
wind would strike them freshest. An
attempt to gently remind them Of the
danger OF this is almost always met with
/ q" On, I'm hot, and want TO cool off," And
cool off they do, and the grave yard
gathers them in rapidly.
In the cities the mass of them live in
novels and in dirt and filth, with no more
sanitary knowledge or care for it than 80
many animals of lower order. Cholera,
smallpox, typhoid fever. galloping CON
sumption, and every disease that thrives
from filth, bad air, and bad food, stalk
among them and destroy them like frost
cutting green leaves in autumn In the
country there is less of this, less filth, bad
air, dampness and insufficient food, and
the problem as to the future of the race
simply is, whether the natural increase in
the country viii make up for the averages
Of death i'll the cities. think 1t will for
a time, and the race may hold its own as
10 numbers for a generation or two, but
that death will ultimately get the best
OF 1t, and kill more than are born. / also
believe it Is doomed race in America,
but the doom is a long way OF. OF one
thing you may be sure. the increase under
the slave system, amounting to about
twenty-five per cent. every ten years,
will never be seen again.
The census of 1880 will teach US num-
Der Of things as to this problem, the
main one, in fmy judgment, being that
the race is no. decreasing. It viii likely
hold its own, compared with the last
census, but The increase will be very
small, if any. We have a striking evil
deuce Of what to expect even in the cen
sus oflS7O, embracing some four years of
slavery and six of freedom. From 1850
to 1S6e the increase among the blacks was
! twenty-five per cent. From 1860 to 1870
it was only ten per cent, less than one
half! The next census will set out the
matter so that there can be no doubt
| whether the race is to increase, decrease,
or barely hol is own.
In slavers Ne master and the white
population ge-eefally had direct Pecu-
mary interest in the physical welfare of
the negro. He represented 50 much cash.
It was the masters interest to protect
tn, health of his slave, and he had the
authority to order as was best for that
interest. The result was that the blacks
of the south were actually healthier and
longer lived than the whites, and in
creased more rapidly. This last is album
dainty shown in the census reports. The
diet of the blacks was simple but nutri-
tious. The vices of fast living end
intemperance were not theirs. Now
thew are prey to all vices, without the
restraining influence of knowledge.
Whatever the crimes of slavery, it is
clear that the race does not thrive in
freedom. If the welfare of race is
marked by its increase, as some contend,
the believers in African slavery as good
thing for the African have an argument
here have heard the question put in
this shape Is it better for the negroes
that thew increase and flourish in America
as slaves, or that they die out as free
men? Is there more happiness in exist
ence as a slave, or in not existing at all ?
Nobody advocates slavery these days.
The sentiment against it is deep and
strong, even where the institution few
wears ago had flourishing existence. 1t