The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-12-14
THE NEGRO'S DECLINE.
Some Testimony of u Startling Char.
acter Relative to the Vitality OF the
COlOrcd Race.


CoIorcd Race.
From the Medical Record.
The race problem i'm the south. seems
destined to be settled according to nat
ural laws unless something is done,
and done soon. to save the negro from
the results of his own vices and me-
glect of elementary hyGienic laws. The
testimony of those who have studied
| this subject is all but unanimous. and
il has received additional confirmation
through the investigations of DR.. r. II.
Johnson, of Brunswick, Ga, himself a
colUred physician. The figures which
he has gathered from a study of the
vital statistics of nearly three hundred
towns i'm the southern states show that
the death rate of negroes is double that
of writes i'm the same communities, and
not only this, but the birth rate is also
smaller among the colored than among
the white population. Furthermore,
the day of the stalwart negro is pass
ing, if not already gone. and the mem
bers of the younger generation of the
race make a poor showing, as regards
their size and physical constitution,
when compared with their grand
fathers and grandmothers.
DR.. Johnson attributes this degener-
acy of his race-rightly, we belieVe-to
the carelessness, want of forethought,
and dissipation so unfortunately char
aCteristiC of large portion of the col
Ored population in the south since the
civil war. In antebellum days" says
DIR. Johnson, the negro seemed to be
an immune to consumption, and many
great medical writer's and teachers
boast of never having seen such among
the negroes. Enforced temperate liv-
ing and sanitary precautions made the
black man a physical giant. but the
giants are disappearing, and in their
places is coming on a race of smaller
stature and decreased vitality"
IN SLAVERY DAYS.
In the days of slavery the colored
man was property and was looked after
with all the care which men are accus-
toned to give to the safe-keeping Of
their possessions. Their health was
carefully attended to by the plantation
physician, they were decently housed
well fed, forced to live temperately
and to go to bed in proper season. But
the fortunes of war, while giving them
liberty, gave them also license to in
dulge in all the enervating and physic-
ally degrading vices Of the higher race
at time when they had not learned
the necessity of self-restraint and Of
regard for the laws Of health.
That this is the true reason of the
cClored mans physical deterioration is
further shown by what Surgeon -Gener-
al Sternherg has to say, in his recently
issued annual report concerning the
health of the colorod Soldiers. Great
improvement" he says, has taken
place in the past few years in the sani-
tarY condition of the cOlored troops,
The white troOns have participated i'm
the Improvement, although their rates
have not fallen so rapidly as those of
the colorCd men. During the past year
the total hospital admission rate for
all cause among the colOred troops was
S6SSS per 1000 Of strength, as COM
pared with l13249 among the whites,
and as CCmDOred with 9l5.SS among
themselves in the urevious wear, and
/ ,@6S.64, their own annual average for
the previous decade the annual aver
age Of the white troops having been
| 1.2Si 95. The non-ehiCiency from all
causes among the colored troops dur
ing thu. wear was 25.75 per 1000 of
streneth, as compared with 3L72 among
the whita troops. The colorcd soldier
lost -&42--aays from disability during
the year; the white soldier, l2.71; and
the average time of treatment of each
case was, among the ColOrcd troops,
1884 days; among the white, 11,22 days.
The causes Of disability from which
the cClored men suffered less than the
white troops were malarial feVers, VEN
eraal diseases, alcoholism; diarrhoea,
and injuries, those from which they
suffered more were neuralgia, rheuma-
tism and myalgia, tonsiitis, collie, and
constipation conjunctivitis and pneu
mOnia."
.,. ENCOURAGEMENT.
These figures contain much to en-
courage those who have the future of
our c0lored brothers at heart and who
have locked with sorrow upon their
downward progress since the dav of
their emancipation. The figures show,
indeed, that the race is capable of re-
generation, since even now its MEM
hers living under the sanitary and
moral restraint of army discipline are
found to be superior to their white
comrades living under the same condi-
tions. The proof exists that the col
ored race may yet be brought back TO
its former sanitary condition, but the
problem remains how to lift II up
from the abyss of misery and how to
avert it's threatened extinction. Here
Is a task for the colored members OF
our profession, which they can accom-
plish FAR better than their white con-
fcres and which calls for their best
thought and self-sacrifcing devotion
Men Wanted.