The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-08-23
DECLINE IN CoLoRED POPULATION.

rlldD> lIt IubSl ltludl hdUI6 utNtIOp-
ment If the recent census is the confrma-
ton of the proposition that the black race
is diminishing relatively to the white. The
total colOred population of the United
States is about 1900. GOO, which shows an in
crease of 1879 during the decade 1SS0-9O,
while the increase of the total population Of
the country is 4.S6 per cent This is a con-
tradiction of those who held that in free
dom, the negroes would increase so rapidly
as to elbow the whites out of the Southern
States. Instead of doing so it appears that,
except in some of the cotton States, the
whites are elbOwing the blacks out. This
proceeds not from diminished births Of the
colored race, but from an increased death
rate, In New Orleans in 1S79-S0 the total death
rate was 25.5, but among the blacks 1T was
3G. In Baltimore the death rate among the
whites was %. 6, among the blacks 1868. In
81. Louis the death rate among the whites
was 1919, among the blacks 1871. 1t is be-
lleved that the proportions are about the
same in the country districts.
1t thus appears that. as with the Indian
tribes. civilization is unfavorable to the ex-
pansion of the negro race. This is not
uniform rule. In Jamaica and Barbados
the negro has increased in numbers under
emancipation more rapidly than the white
man. 1t would, therefore, be incorrect 10
lay down the broad proposition that in the
tropics the ease with which the necesSaries
of life are obtained promotes habits of idle
ness and dissipation, which check the growth
of population. The cause of the relative
decline of the American negro must be
sought elsewhere. 1t is not easy to Say
where it is to be found.
1t must not be forgotten that the negro
problem in the United States has not yet
been solved. Ii is in process of solution,
but only the first steps have been accom-
plisied. The abolition of slavery only
measurably altered the relative attitude of
the two races. They remained as before,
face to face, Jointly occupying the same ter
ritory and drawing their subsistence from
the same pursuits. In name the negro is no
longer slave. But in fact he is still the
newer of wood and the drawer of water for
the dominant race. He has never taken
place among the employer class. He still
works for others; the only change from the
old regime is that he now gets his wages
himself, whereas formerly his master got
them. In no part of the South has lie
emerged from the wage-earning class. Nor
has he, as a rule been able to avail himself
OF the political rights which were conferred
upon him by constitutional amendment. In
parts of the South, as in Texas. he votes
pretty regularly; but generally, by tacit un-
derstanding. he abStains from the polls and
remains political zero.
The difficulty of the problem is increased
by the fact that the negro will not bear
transportation. Vast sums of money have
been spent in the last half century in pro-
viding a new home for the negroes in
Liberia, but the number of colored men who
have ayailed themselves OF the opportunity
has been rdicuiOusly small. From time TO
time attempts are made to found colored
colonies in the North. a few years ago
quite number of negroes were transplanted
to Kansas. Few Of them stayed there.
Every now and then some one who is unac-
quainted with the idiosyncraces of the race
propose to import negro labor into Califor-
MIA, and once or twice the experiment has
been tried. 1t always fails. The distin-
gushing characteristic of the negro is n
love for his home and his birth place. Moth
ing will induce him TO leave them perma-
nently. The few men of color whom one
meets at the North always seem out of
place; their heart remains in the South and
their aim in life is generally to get back as
soon as they can.
The revelations of the census give a con.
tradictiOn to the theory which was enter
tanned by many after the war that as freed.
men the negroes would multiply so rapidly
in some of the Southern States that white
men would have to leave them. 1t used to
be said that the blacks in Mississippi and
South Carolina would use their numerical
superiority to convert these States into con-
tinental duplicates Of Hayti, and that Ala
bama, Florida and Georgia would soon be
able to follow their example. It seems that
there is no danger of anything of the kind.
The whites already far outnumber the
blacks IN Alabama, and there is no chance
Of political power passing out of their hands.
The more immediate problem of the day is,
How long will the South continue to pro-
duce crops of 100000 bales of cotton if the
negro race should begin to seriously decline
in AlAnra