Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1883-04-06

l0uS disposition tenuS 10 concentrate
them in the Southern States and Sec
lions, and discourages all hope of their
future distribution over the Uaion.
?. The indisputable and ineffacea-
BILE color line, that is as distinct to-
day as twenty years ago; that the
abolition of slavery could not wipe
out; that is as plainly marked and as
indelible as the Chinese line.
3. That education does not tend to
the solution of the problem; that the as
similation of the two races makes no
perceptible progress either North or
South, neither more among the edu-
Gated than among the ignorant.
We have said that the negro popuIa-
ton is increasing faster than the white
population of the South. The census
shows that in 1870 this population was
4,SSO, 900; in 1880 it had grown to 6,577,
900, an increase of So per cent. At this
rate it will double itself in less than 30
years.
During the tHmultuOus period of re-
construction it was asserted that the
colOred race was dying out in localities
that the negroes showed themselves
incapable of taking care of their chill
dren, and the deaths among them ex-
ceeded the births. The facts prove the
contrary. They are multiplying faster
than the whites. In South Carolina
they increased in the late decade from
4l5,O00 to 604, 900, being at the rate of
43 per cent; while the whites in the
same period increased from 290, 400 to
39l 900, or at the rate of only 35 pei
cent.
And it Is TO be considered, too, that
the negro increase is natural-there is
no negro immigration to this country
while q part ofthe white increase must
be created by immigration. The black
population in that State very largely
Outnumbers the white GOA, 900 to 39l,-
600. BY the end of the present decade
there will be two negroes in the State
to every white person.
How the present white asoendency,
maintained with the greatest iilliculty,
is TO be maintained in the future is
therefore a question of the most serious
nature.
The blacks outnumber the whites in
two other States, Mississippi and Louis
lana, and it is probable that by the end
ofthe present decade they will do the
same in Georgia and Alabama. In
Mississippi they increased 46 per cent
in the late decade, showing a capacity
to double in twenty-years. 1t is Curl
Gus fact that the blacks are to be found
in their greatest numbers in the allu-
vial counties along the Mississippi and
YazOo, the richest and most productive
lands of the State. In some of these
counties they outnumber the whites
3tOl.
II is useless to argue that the whites
and negroes will assimilate as the latter
LecOme educated and more respectable
in habit and character. No progress is
perceptible i'll this direction even in the
Northern States, where the blacks are
not numerous enough to be significant.
Our country absorbs and assimilates all
other races, but not the negro or China
man. There is still color line, and
always will be. Thetwo races are sep
arate and distinct; there is no blending.
In some respects they are wider apart
than they were during slavery. The
larger class is race of laborers, who,
unlike other laborers, accumulate no
property, follow no mechanical arts,
and remain strangers to proprietary
rights; the smaller class own all the
lands and nearly all the personal
wealth.
The Texas SytngS draws a gloomy
LiCture Of the condition of the cOlored
population of the South which we
would fain hope is worse than the
reality if it were not confirmed by Other
writers. 1t says:
For some years after the war hopes
were entertained by those who felt kindly
towards him, that he might become a use.
full citizsp, and that he might elevate him
self socially and politically. Nobody in
the South, Republican or Democrat con.
tinues to harbor any such idea. As neigh
bOrs, they are curse. As Christians, they
are the same African ranters and fetish
worshippers they always were. They are
too utterly lazy AMI shiftless to acquire
property, except in isolated cases. Their
cruelty and brutality, even to their own
offspring, is utterly incredible. In politics,
they have degenerated to purchassble vot-
ing cattle. Honesty and reliability are
rare among the men, aud morality still
rarer among the females"
The travelling correspondent Of the
New York Herald, Mr.. WILKINSON,
writing from Mississippi, makes these
significant observations:
added to the material troubles of the
whites is the political one, caused by the
presence of an inferior and ignorant race.
Would the difficulty be solved BY educating
negroes5 fear not. Would their capacity
for evil be increased by education2 Hard as
my declaration may sound to Northern
ears, l honestly believe that increased ca.
pacity for evil will be the only result of
educating these blacks"
The Atlanta Constitution, comment
ing on this, remarks that it sounds
hard on Southern ears. II education is
not the chief solution of the problem
thst confronts the white people of the
South, then there il no other conceivable
solution, and there is nothing ahead but
political chaos and Generalization"
Itseems like dragging up dead issues
to lie discussing the negro problem at