The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-10
To Teach the Blacks Cleanliness. :


! For the week ending Sept. p. 1894. the
! deaths of coIored persons were at the
/ rate Of 4l28 per thousand Of cOlored popu-
lation in New Orleans. while the deaths
Of white. persons were at the rate of 1880
per thousand Of white population.
The cause Of high rates of mortality
among the blacks is very well understood
by the physicians Of the south; and the
physicians Of the north are beginning to
appreciate the facts also. For in the
north. as in the south, wherever any large
number of blacks are congregated, the
mortality statistics show that the death
rate among the blacks is much greater
than it is among the whites of the same
locality. The reason is, simply, that the
average black either knows nothing of
or cares nothing for the observance of
learned nothing in this respect in
quarter of century.
Before the war the master looked out
for the health of the slaves To take
cold-blooded view of It, it was to his pc
cuniay interest to do so. But when the
supervision of the master was removed,
the freedman dropped into the most I'M
sanitary ways. His previous training in
that line seems to have left no lasting
impression upon him. The death rate
among the blacks was so high twenty
years ago that it caused the prediction to
be made that the race would die out in a
few generations, but its great fecundity
has shown that this is not likely to oc-
cur.
Noting the high death rate among the
blacks and commenting upon it, the New
Orleans Times-Democrat suggests that a
portion of the money which is
spent on negro colleges in the
south shall be devoted to teaching
the colored race clearly habits,
the rules of health and how to make their
surroundings sanitary and comfortable.
There are over twenty colleges main
tanned in the south exclusively for the
colored people and probably $40,0OOOOO has
been given to help educate the race since
the close of the war. 1t is argued that if
a part of this money had been devoted to
teaching the black how to keep his person
and premises in a clearly condition, and
to eat proper food, and to impressing upon
him the Importance of these things, the
race would have been much further ad-
vanced both mentally and materially.
The Philadelphia Press thinks the
Times-Democrat's suggestion is a good
one, and that health missions to the
negroes" should be established in the
SOUTH In that respect there is a duty
to the negro resting upon the people of
the north. They are the self-constituted
patrons of the race. They are in a large
measure responsible for the condition of
the negro to-day. They have been rather
neglected. of their charge of late. Now
let them come forward to the aid of the
education of the negro in sanitary mat
ters. The white people of the south will
gladly cooperate with them, for humane
reasons, and for the further reason that
the health of the colored people neces-
sarily has great deal to do with the
health of the whites in the communities
in which they live.
A start might be made by adopting the
Chicago idea of putting bath tubs in the
school rooms, and teaching the school
children that cleanliness of person is
quite as desirable as a good lesson.