Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1895-07-09
4 RACE OF pelMITlvE Mem.

mitted that he could be ssconvertedn;
II was demonstrated, In individual cases,
that he could be educated. But could
he be civilized? 10 our observation, the
process Of civilization Il very slow one
In race. II must pass through num-
Der Of long stages Of development, and
the process connot be fastened by arti-
fetal means. In our day we have seen q
number Of races brought Into sudden
contact with civilization shrivel and
shrink away before 1t to the point Of
disappearance. The physical develop
ment seemed to be arrested, and the
moral nature to be set from savage
non-moral condition Into an immoral
condition. We have, In our day, q be-
lief 10 the omnlpotent power Of educa-
ton, of the beneficent effect of the hot
house system applied to barbarians, or
seml-barbarians. When we come In con-
tact with race like that In the Sand
wich Islands, or In Tahiti, or the Afri-
cans, we fancy that all we need to do Is
to teach them our knowledge In order
to put them at once 10 the line of ciyiliz-
ed people. Il seems to us that by this
forcing process we can cut short the
slow natural phases Of development.
And We are surprised when the race thus
being operated on does not respond TO
and, In fact, finds civilization fatal to
It's life.
We 20 upon the assumption that every
race is capable Of as high civilization
as we have attained, and that II Is only
question of means and time-that Is,
that nature has no failures 10 Its plan,
and is not satisfied, In many instances,
with very limited development. The
careful and intimate study OF the hairy
Ainoo, on the japanese Island OF Iezo,
made recently by Mr.. A. II. Savage
Lsndor-the grandson Of Walter Savage
Landor-throws some light upon this
subject. The Ainoo were once supposed
to be the aboriginal Japanese, for they
overran the Islands; but they are dis.
tinct and, so far rs We know, unique
race. They are wholly savage, but gen.
tie savages, like the more amiable of the
wild animals, aud as filthy In theiI
habits as animals usually are not. They
are ideally near the conception Of oui
suppositious ancestors, whose habit:
were chiefly srboreal. They are cover
cd with hair like monkeys; but they AT,
distinctly human, and not monkeys
They have no social organization, nj
laws, no religion, though many OF tn,
supers'iiions which are common IL
civilized communities, meagre vocabu
larry, and no written language. They
show susceptibility to kindness, anc
form attachments as animals do. Herr
Is no case Of degeneration. They have
never been civilized; they have never
been la any higher intellectual or mora
condition than they are now, and the,
never can be civilized. They are IL
process Of slow extinction In contact
with the japanese. There Is much evi
dence to show that here Is a race as nea
primeval conditions AS any we have
found, who ages ago advanced In Ger
tain stage and there stopped. The ad
vance that they have made Is that they
wear clothes In the winter weather, thu
they dwell in huts, that certain com
munities adhere together, that they In
tefmarry In the community, and tina
there IL certain sketchy outline o
family life. II one could say that thel
live without crime, IL would be because
they live without law. The monkey ha
the advantage Of them In having n tai
and a mischicvous and malignant dispo
sition. But hairy and savage as th'
Ainoo Is. he Is just as far from monkc!
ms Is "A Frenchman ora Senator OF th
United States. Even to the capacity o
being insane, he Is distinctly a human
being, and yet apparently the end OF
chain Of development, incapable OF eve
going a step further. He seems 10 hsv
been preceded in Yezo by race Of pi
dwellers, savagcs Who lived in pits ex
cavated Ia the ground, In the bottom o
which fires were built, and which were
probably rooted over in inclemen
weather. These would seem to be
lower order Of beings than cave jewellers
Have we, in them, another race that wa
only capable of certain degree Of de
velopment; and must these perish with
out handing anything on or contributin,
anything 10 the progress OF the human
race? We never can tell. They INA,
have been cut oil in their experiment b,
too early a contact with a higher grad
OF development. 1t Is possible that tia
North American Indian would hav,
grown into civiliz alton In time, IL he Ia,
not been prematurely discovered, ant
confronted with ouI whitening influence
Ii Is possible that Africa, which has 81
many distinct types, might have evolved
something worthy In long cycles OF time
But We shall never know. In applying
our civilization to Africa We probabi.
doom all the tribes. We shall get thei
lands, and We shall try to speedily edu
cate them out Of existence.
Dudley Warner In Harper's Magazine.