Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-21
A STARTLING THEORY.
Both Americas to Relapse Into a
Stale Of Dense SaVagery
THROUGH FAILURE OF RESOURCES.
Plain Evidences of Decay Already Visible
in This Country.
THE. CAUCA1IAN'S FATE IS SEALED
rFRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENCE !

IFRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20-Otis Mason, of
the Bureau of Ethnology Of the National
Museum, has evolved theory that the re-.
sources of the Western Hemisphere will in
a comparatively short time be exhausted as
a support for civilized man, and that North
and South America will be depopulated, ex-
cept by savages of very low order OF hu-
manity. Prof. Mason said to-day:
In order that this may be understood, it is
first necessary to explain that this western part
of the world, known as North and South
America, is from the scientific point of view an
inferior continent, as compared with the land
masses of the other hemiSpheres By that is
meant that while superior to Europe, Asia or
Africa. in point of vegetable productiveness, it
is less adapted for the support of animal life.
fo show that this is So make a little COMPARE
for yourself between the beasts of this
hemisphere and those of the other. The ele-
phant Of the Old World is represented here by
the tapir.
Some Striking Contrasts Shown.
What we have as a substitute for the camel
is the llama, which is just big enough and
strong enough to carry what would be load
for a man. The lion and tiger of Asia and
Africa are represented on this side of the earth
by what are little more than big cats. But to
arrive at the most marked exhibition of this
contrast you cannot do better than consider the
monkeys, which are most highly developed of
all beats, approaching very nearly TO man.
What is there to be found in the Americas to
correspond with the anthrOpoid apes of the old
world? The gorilla. which uses CLUB, the
chimpanzee, which IS easily taught to wait upon
the table and to perform other domestic duties,
and the ourang, which presents so many like
nesses to the human being. are represented on
this side of the world by miserable little mon
keys with tails.
Thus it is that this part of the earth is termed
an inferior continent. because it is not able to
produce OF support such high Developments Of
animal life are found in the other part.
Civilized man exists here to-day not as
natural product, but as an Importation
The Vegetable and Mineral Kingdoms.
Prof Mason then, in elaborate detail, de-
scribed the lapse of wheat-farming in one
State after another, until the field has been
transported to the Dakotas and the very
verge of the great desert: the rapid ex-
haustion of the soil and of the minerals; the
tremendous drain in every way upon re-
sources, which. newly-developed as they
are, must be nearly exhausted even within
the next century; the ruinous cost of pro-
ducing and transporting articles necessary
to civilized life. He then concluded his re-
markable forecast as follows:
To put it plainly. the so-called American o.
people have camped over this continent re.
| gardless of their future. They have delved
| into the soil, chopped into the mountains and
used up the land until there stares them in the
| face the almost immediate prospect of starva-
| tion. As for the State of Nevada, we L ave not
| been there % years and its resources have been
exhausted. In other words, 1t will almost i'm
| mediately be unable to support population.
| The people who inhabit 1t are obliged TO go be-
| cause they can no longer make their living
| there, and it is simply question of short
| time when 1t will become dead State and so
| lapse into the condition of Territory as im-
possible to revive into the living condition of a
| State as if it were district on the moon.
| The White Man Must Go.
The painful reflection incidental to the sub.
| ject that other States. if not all of them are
| destined sooner or later to follow Nevada's ex.
| ample. The population on this continent cam
| not necessarily survive the means of subsist-
ence afforded it by the country. If what
| science says is true. the white man has got to
go. There has been talk to the effect that the
| Chinese must vanish, but it must be confessed
| that they are very much better adapted to con-
| tinue existence on this hemisphere than our
| selves, for the obvious reason that they will
survive us here and that they Will continue in
| their own manner the civilization which we
have made attempt to start
| But the Caucasian, if the scientific men are
to be believed. will not be able to support exist.
| ence on this hemisphere after the capital in
| the way of agricultural and mineral resources,
| has been exhausted, as it must be soon. He
| will disappear. The natural question IS by what
\ process? 1t IS very evident. When a superior
| race becomes poor and thereby unable to main
tain its superiority. it lapses into the condition
| of ''poor white" If you will Journey through
| the South and take notice of the manner in
which such conditions as those have become
| operative. you will perceive that the Caucasian
| does in this way become thriftless, incapable
| of exertion and eventually approaching in type
| to the savage.
/ State After State Will Decay.
In other words. he loses his status in the scale
of creation. Through the progressive exhaus-
tion of the resources of the country, State after
| State will necessarily become uninhabitable,
| because it will be incapable of supporting
| population. Thus will come about the depOpu-
| lation of one State after another-Of course by
| a slow process through many years-and thero
| will be presented the remarkable phenomenon
| of the dropping from the Union of these States
| successfully, because they have come to be no
longer entitled TO representation under the
! law, by Senators and Representatives.
| Nevads:will simply be the first State to sue
| cumb to the operation of this inevitable law.
| The outlook is melancholy. That is not to be
| denied. 1t is not pleasant to consider the
| frame of mind of the last civilized man on this
| continent few centuries hence, standing on
! a sand hill, where once the maize luxuriously
grew, and shedding a silent tear of affection on
| the past of a continent which is given up to
| savagery everymore. LIGHTNER.