The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1897-04-20
TUESDAY, APRIL 20, 1897.
AN NORTHERN STATISTICIAN ON
THE NEGRO RACE.

~
ton. The author is Frederick l.. Hoff-
man, F. s.. S., a northern man We sup
pose, by name. His theory is that
fnally-when not intimated-the negro
race in this country Will become ex-
tinct. The New York Evening Post
says that he has collected statistics
relating to the moral, mental, physical
and material condition of the negro. If
the accuracy of these figures shall
stand the test Of criticism and i~nvesti-
cation, portions of the book will re-
main useful for purposes Of reference"
We do not believe in his theory. The
negroes are extremely prolific and
while the death rate is very high, the
birth rate is higher. The negroes have
increased in numbers since they were
freed although they show physical de-
generacy and doubtless moral decline.
Mr.. Hoffman thinks that freeing the
negroes was to their "undoing." Many
close observers in the south nave long
thought that. The doctors who prac-
tice in the cities and towns, and the
heads of hospitals n asylums all Deal
witness to that fact-morala and physi-
cal decay. Mr.. Hoffman must be per-
mitted to have an expression of Opin-
ion which is the purpose of this edito-
rial. He says this:
Nothing is more clearly shown from
this investigation than that the south
ern black man at the time of emanci-
patton was healthy in body and cheer
ful in mind. He neither suffered inor-
dinately from disease nor from impair
ed bodily vigOr. His industrial capaCi-
ties as a laDorer were not of a low or
der, nor was the condition of servitude
such as to produce in him morbid con
ditions favorable to mental disease,
suicide, or intemperance. What are the
conditions thirty years after? The
pages Of this work give but one answer
an answer which is a most severe
condemnation of modern attempts of
superior races to lift inferior races to
their own elevated p~ositiOn-an answer
so full OF meaning that it would seem
criminal indifference on the part of a
civilized people to ignore it. In the
plain language of the facts brought to-
gether. the colored race is shown to be
on the downward grade, tending to-
wards d condition IN which matters
will be worse than they are now, when
disease will be more destructive, vital
resistance still lower, when the num-
Der Of births will fall below the deaths,
dI1u III ShlIlltllo1l " IhC ioNS
take place"
This comes from a northern writer
who is p~ainstaking, labOrious n seeks
TO be exact. Is he correct in his state
ment? If his gathered statistics can
be fully trusted he will be justified, at
least to a very great extent, in his
theory OF final extinction. We believe
that the negro race 50 lonS as they
live under a white mans government,
and come in contact With a higher civ
ilization thar they will ever attain to,
will be saved from entire destruction. If
isolated, sent off to themselves in three
or four states, or shipped to Africa,
they might return to the life of the
natives of the Dark Continent, but
they might not necessarily die out.
We said at the start that the negroes
suffered from excessive mortality, es-
pecially in towns and cities. The
health reports in all the southern cities
show this beyond any doubt. But still
the negro increase in 1SS0-9O was 1875
per cent, While the whites was but
l4.6. The increase of the negroes was
greater here thar the increase was in
Germany where they are all whites.
The increase there was 1872 and in
France for ten years but is, while
last year there was a positive loss of
1900.
Mr.. Hoffman thinks Sambo fails of
duty in citizenship, and is a tremen-
.dOuS success as a tax paying "Shirk-
err In Virginia, he says the negro is
-~ +ar lol-1~ Az
1t may be added, in North Carolina.
But his figures as to Virginia do not
sustain his contention. The Evening
Post examines many of the authors
figures and thinks they are not to he
relied upon. What Mr.. Hoffman will
say in reply we canno anticipate. 1t
is very certain that since the freeing
of the negroes in North Carolina they
have been heavy delinquents in paying
poll taxes. We suppose it is so in most
o. all of the states south of us.
That the negroes since freed have
rushed to the towns is known to all
southern men. There are three times
as many compared with the total ur-
ban population as there We're in slav-
cry days. In 1890. in Wilmington, there
We're over II, 900, we believe in 20, 900
total. In 1860, We doubt if there were
one-third as many negroes as whites.
But we have not the figures by US.
The New York paper quoted from
does not believe that facts show a
greater increase of population in towns
and cities now than whites. We think
that may be so. The great rush to the
1owns was during the first decade after
the war
That the negroes now do not increase
in towns more rapidly han whites is
shown by the Evening Post in this
wise:
Using the figures he uses, without