The Dalles times-mountaineer. [volume] (The Dalles, Or.) 1882-1904, 1896-01-04
A COMPLETE FAILURE.
Negroes IN the West Indies
Cannot Govern Themselvez.
For Moro Than Fifty Years They Have
Enjoyed the Greatest EEee2orn, But
Have Made No Advance Social
u or Morally.


American Statistical association Fred
eric L. Hoffman gives series OF statis-
tical tables bearing upon the social and
moral development Of the negroes in
the West Indies. AS he points out to
the students OF the race problem in the
United States, the West Indies offer IN
attractive field for observation and
study, for the reason that for moro
than fifty years the negro has there en-
joyed thoss political and social oppor-
tunities whjoll It IS claimed are denied
him IN this c0trtry. Thus, says the
Boston Herald, for more than half a
century, he has had there presented
the possibilities Of progress and ad-
-vancement in civilization, and consid-
ering that in 1884 those who were in
strumental in bringing about emanci-
patton in the West Indian colonies of
Great Britain felt confident that the
change would bc OF immense benefit to
the colored people and to the world at
large, it is interesting to see how far
these hopes have been verified by ex-
perience.
Mr.. HcGman's tables include the
Leeward islands, the Barbadoes, Ber-
rnuda, the Bahamas, Trinidad, Jamai-
ca, British Honduras ana British
Guiana. He also has race tables as to
the population of Cuba and Porto Rico.
From these it appears that, while the
negro race in the West Indies does not,
on the whole, greatly increase, the
white population IS steadily diminish
ing. For example, 4 hundred years ago
- l. - T.,y
about 10 pr cent. CT the entire popula-
ton, while it is now little less than 2
per cent. In the LeewaTd islands the
white population hundred years ago
was about per cent; It is now about
per cent. In the Bar badoeS the white
population a hundred years ago was
about 20 per cent, while ut the present
time it is less than per cent. In some
of the other colonies the relative de-
cline is not so great, but the tendency
has been for the white race to disap-
pear, with the result that the colonies
have fallen more under the control OF
the negro inhabitants.
Contrasted with this change is that
presented by Cuba, where the white
population in 1879 amounted to about
80 per cent, and in 1890 to approximate
ly 70 per cent, ard Porto Rico, where
the white population in 1902 was IS per
cent, and in 1890 63 per cent. In other
words, in the two Spanish colonies
the white race, as in the United
States, has tended to increase at a
faster ratio than the colored race. This
Mr.. Hoffman holds to be due to the de-
terrnined struggle that has been main
tanned in the Spanish colonies by the
whites for political, as well as social, |
supremacy, ana rnaS unuer sucn condi-
tions race OF inferior standing is not
able to hold its own. In the British !
West Indies, on the. other hand, the
struggle is a hopeless one. and hence
no effort was made to maintain it, as
tendency passing, with all that it i'm
piled, into the hands Of the colored pop
ulation.
The result of this does not seem to |
have been specially advantageous. The
colored race has grown in the West |
Indies at rapid rate. Possibly the |
limitations of area and Industrial op- |
portunities may have something to do |
with this, but the birth rate has not |
been especially high, and, what is quite
as material a factor in determining the |
growth in numbers of a community, the
rate ofmortality has been exceptionally
high, SO that the population has tended |
in some CT the colonies to become al
most stationary. In tllc group of Lee
ward islands there are now fewer peo-
pie than there were a century ago, and |
Jamaica may be said to be about the
only island which has shown largo in
crease IN population, the number there
doubling IL less than a century. In
those instances where a contrast is per-
missible it is found that the death rate
is much larger among the colorcd in
habitants OF these colonies than it
is with the white population, a state
ment that also holds true of Cuba,
where the death rate is high with both
races, but about Is per cent. higher
with the colored than with the white
race.
Bat the worst showing made in Mr..
HoRman's tables Of statistics is found
in those which relate to The moral con-
dition of the people, for while the
statistical evidence shows that in the
matter of education there is constant
improvement, as, for example, in
Jamaica the number Of those able to
read and write over years of age has
advanced in the last thirty years from
81 to 90 per cent. OF the population,
improvement does not
appear to have taken place in the moral
condition of the people. In the Barba-
does 76 per cent. of the population is
in Jamaica II per cent. and
In Trinidad, excluding coolies from the
East Indies, nearly 50 per cent, while
in all these colonies more than 90 per
cent. of the births are Of llegitimate
children.