Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-02-17
The Future of the Colored Race

The Future of the Colored Race.
In the Agricultural Reutero and Indus
trial Monthly for January DR.. George
Ben johnson, of Richmond, Virginia, has
an interesting article on What is to be-
come of the colored race?' DR.. john
sons article is largely statistical, but at
the outset he admits that he cannot
draw satisfactory conclusions from his
figures, because of the admitted mac
curacy of thescensus report of 1870. In
1880, the year the last census was taken,
the rate Of mortality in the whole cOun-
try was 10. 01 to the thousand. That year
the number of the whites was 43, 402, $40,
and their death rate was 14.74 to the
thousand. The number of blacks was
placed at 6,752, S13, and their death rate
at 1928 to the thousand.
The Superintendent of the Census states
that in 1870 there were 14,57S colOred peo-
pie TO every 100000 white people in the
country. and that in 1880 the proportion
stood 10, 1862 cOlOred to every 100, 900 whites.
These figures show that the blacks in
creased faster than the whites. OF course,
the vast white immigration is not to be
forgotten in considering the relative in
crease of the two races. DR.. Johnston,
however, does not regard these figures as
reliable, because, as already stated, of the
inaccuracy Of the census report, so far as
the blacks are concerned, of 1870. He evil
IDENTIFY does not think that the blacks are
increasing as fast as the whites, and to
sustain this view he produces figures from
the mOrtuary reports of the cities
of Washington, Savannah, Nashville,
Charleston and New Orleans.
In Washington the death rate of the
whites is 2O.22 to the thousand and of the
blacks 32.03.
In Nashville, the white death rate is
1913 to the thousand and the black 1856.
In Charleston, the white death rate is
2232 and the black 1921 to the thousand.
In Savannah, the white Is 1872 and black
439 to the thousand.
In New Orleans, the white is 1856 and
black 1903 to the thousand.
1t is evident, says DR.. Johnston, that in
the cities named if the two races were
left to themselves and were neither as
sisted by immigration nor depleted by
emigration, the whites would gain, par
ticularly as the number of. still births is
so much greater among the blacks than
among the whites. He also points out as
a fact that mulattoes do not increase as
fast as pure Africans, and
that quadroons and octoroons
scarcely increase at all. In Charleston
and Savannah a record Of the still births
is kept. The white population, according
to DIR. Johnston, of these two cities is
1,j09in excess of the colored, yet the num-
Der Of still births among the whites in
1882 was only 81, while among the blacks
it was 25G. The doctor pertinently asks
If i'll the face of these acknowledged facts,
it is not a reasonable inference that the
colOred race will, after awhile, disappear.
1t is true, the facts are greatly against
the blacks in the cities, but in the cities
they are crowded together in unhealthy
quarters, and Fay no attention to the laws
of health. Do they not make a far more
favorable showing in the country? Re-
liable statistics on this point would be in
teresting.