The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1895-11-09
puR PASSING on ruN NEaRo,


nisSioW Ratio OF increase rs Compared
With tho whltoI.
Portland OrtaOainL \
The busbear OF negro domination in
tho south, once serving to alarm tlmld
soclologlsts, aud moro often serving to
justify an artificial decrease upder.
takon by his prospective victims, 10
passing away, with oIhor troubles
which were wont to move tho Fourth
OF July orator to misglying Tho negro
is not exactly decreasing In numbers,
though hia ratio OF increase Is growing
smaller, but he 10, what practically
less tapidly than tho white, and thls
difference growS apaco, The only time
in our history whGn his actual Increase
exceeded lhAtsot the white was during
slaye'Irade regime, and ended, as that
did, in 1908,
One OF the good services OF tho gov.
eTnmant census OF 1890 has been to
show this fact, Tho total white popu-
laIion in 1890 was 5i,0S3,SO0 total col
oTed, 7,47O,0i0, Tho whites had increas'
ed II, 100000, OF 26.GS per cent, while
the negroes had increased less than
100000. or 1851 per cent, Thl Is the
smallest increase tho blacks have ever
shown, from % to 81 pnr cent being
the rule during century Of consus'
taking. More noteworthy, perhaps,
than the general fact for tho country
AZ largo IL the disclosure made by tho
census that the n0gro's increase Ia loss
rapid than that OF tho white In the
southern states, whore his lecundlty
has aroused apprehension. In q
previous discussion Of tho negro prob
lem we have shown that In only two
states, South Carolina and Mississippi,
10 there any appreclRbIe majority oil
negro inhabitants, But in South Caro-
lima the maximum proportion OF negro
population was rOaChod in 1880, and has
since shown \ decline. In only two oil
tho AtatoS, Arkansas and Mississippi,
has the proportion OF black increased in
tho past ton years. The gain is incon'
siderable, however. in each case, being
10 Arkansas little more than per
cent, aud in Mississippi oleyen'tcnths
OF peT cent,
In all the border states the proper
tNuu VI HpBEu pbpulubAoh ioeShuN No
height long ago-in Maryland aud Vlr'
GINA In 1910, in Kentucky and Dela.
ware ip 1910, The decline in tho south
eru stat0a came later-ln North Caro-
lima, with South Carolina and Tonnes
SEQ, about 1850; in Alabama aud Louis
lana about 1870. Texas and Florida
have shown decreases Tor many years,
owing to immigration.
Tho negro has never been pioneer,
and lauguishes when transplanted from
his native abode. Il has been believed,
therefore, that no would DO confined to
tho "black belt" aud there would be
in the ascondRncy. so far as numbers
ia concerned. These figures show us,
however, that oven this anpposltion
must be abandoned. The negro's rate
OF increase is growing smaller. AZ 1t
Is all by natural increase" his num-
bers will soon begin to decline abso.
lutely. Relatively, no has already be-
gun TO decline rapidly, and as the ex'
treme southern states come to receive
more and more tho inauS-Ot northern
people and tho arts OF commerce and
manufacture assume greater importance
relative to agriculture, he will soon be
an unimportant element in the popu.
lation tables in the world Of labor and
politica,