The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-11-06

sus Figures of 1870 Are Wrong
Ratio of Blacks to Whites Has
Steadily Decreased-NeErO Bound
to Go Down Before the Onward
March of Caucasian.
Memphis Commercial Appeal
To a large number of people in the
United States the assertion that the ne
gro race here is on the road to extinc-
ton will provoke derison as well as
arouse Indignation. But no amount Of
interest, real or simulated in the dark
skinned people can stay the onward
march Of dissolution. The power that
destroys nations may be as silent as
night, as slow as the transformation
from the golden age to that of iron, but
1t is stronger than the strength of Titans
and deadlier than the shadowy pestilence
that sows destruction in tropic cltmes.
Sentiment In vain essays to check It.
Poetry pleaded for star-eyed Greece and
majestic Rome, but it awaited not The
glory of Israel departed and her seed
was blown upon the world The empire
OF Alexander survives only in books. The
spectral ruins of the Alhambra tell the
story of civilization that is dead Thus
with all their stately life, their pomps
OF power, their gorgeous ceremonials and
their political splendors, peoples and en-
pires, creeds and civilizations have Joined
the phantasmal procession which passes
forever to the inane. Just as no amount
of external glory can destroy the hidden
uncleanness so no human power can I'M
SOW the seeds of decay
And If such stable things can pass
away, why should not an inferior people
die national death? Certainly in view
or all that has been written and said
about the danger of negro domination
and the negro as g. problem, the impor-
lance OF ascertaining, as far as is posi-
BILE, the probable permanence of the ne
groid type is apparent Some time ago
there appeared in one of the magazines
a startling paper designed to show that
II the present ratio Of increase should
continue the South would in fifty wears
De dominated by the negro, and it would
De out question Of time before his nu-
merical majority would be so great that
ne would control the nation. Dim WIS.,
ions of negro in the presidential chair
surrounded by negro cabinet, sending
messages to negro congress, were sug-
gested by the article.
BASED ON WRONG STATISTICS
But this grim specter of negro domino
ton was not hard to run to cover It
was porn OF comparison of the census
of 1880 with that of 1870 A superficial in
Vestleator round that the negro popula-
tloh mad increased from 4,SS63S6 in 1870
TO ooH,4S7 In 1880, or, in other words.
ABOUT "a per cent, while the whites had
increased only about 16 per cent. and so
ne sounded the alarm to the world On
the race 1t was most startling. but the
answer to his proposition was very sim
PIE. The negro census of 1870 was wrone
Gen. Walker, superintendent Of census
himself declared the statistics wera
worthless. And yet neither he nor his
supordinates were to blame; the trouble
lay with the negroes themselves Tn
slavery Gays the owners gave in the
huHloer OF their slaves; no appeal was
made directly to the negroes. 81 thev
knew nothing Of the methods In 1870
"hen the census taker went his rounds
tio VISITED CABINS as we'll as mansions and
CONSERVATION was the result The ne
groes, with their emancina ttor ca ,.aoo,,+11,
accomplished, were suspicious Of every
change, dreading lest It be a move ~
b return them to slavery. This countino
OF thelr number had a queer loolr 70
them; they were mistrustful Of the trne
result and SO they hindered the .offc,o1
Al Oh possible ways; they dreaded him
SoItu': MN ana gave him false statistics,
oeLeVlng they were protecting thorn.
serves against maltreatment. Sonoa -
the subterfuges used were lud}crors
some of them pathetic. O''
Inc result was very imperfect cansrs
~ ooes not stand to reason that froro
4eOo 10 1880 the negroes increased Al ner
eee "Mie the white population Of the
siave states had Increased 40 Der cent
curing the same period, for those stetas
were almost entirely out of the IocoIo
OF immigration and had passed through
pEoody war, which had claimed thou
SANDS or white victims. This was the ev-
pIahauon or the census of 1870, and the
person VINO cares to investigate for him
SELF Will lind 1t correct. A glance AT the
/ census statistics of former years shows
that in 1900 the negro was approxinataIIy
one-fifth of the population Of +ha TTnitaS
states, that in 1920 he was one-sixth In
1860 one-seventh, in 1890 one-eighth These
ngures do not necessarily mean that the
negro was decreasing in that exact pro-
portion. for they take no account of
white immigration. But they demon
strate the fact, and most conclusively.
that the ratio of negroes to whites has
steadily decreased from various causes,
and it is evident that as long as this de-
crease continues negro domination is q
mere ignis fatuus
WHAT THE FIGURES SHOW.
Statistics are dry things, but they are
often the proof of an argument so let us
he prosy for awhile and look over some
figures From 1900 to 1910 the negroes in
the United States increased 81 SO per cent.
from 1910 to 1920, 2S58 per cent from
1920 to 1880, 31.44 per cent; from 1880 to
$780, % Al per cent; from 1910 to 1850, 26 so
per cent; from 1850 to 1860, 80 per cent;
from 1860 to 1870, per cent; from 1870 to
1850, "a per cent 1t will be observed
that since the beginning of the century
there has been a steady increase of the
percentage of increase, except from 1920
to $780, and from 1910 to 1850 and from
1870 to 1850. The increase from 1910 to 1850
is accounted for by the admission of Tex
as after the Mexican war. The increase
from 1870 to 1880 is readily explained by
the fact that by that time the negroes
were accustomed to their new state of
being and were not afraid of the census
taker. AS a consequence the unregistered
negroes of 1870 helped to swell the appar-
emily enlarged census Of 1880. But the
total increase from 1860 to 1880 was Al
per cent or 20.5 per cent for each census
term of years, which demonstrates the
gradual decrease.
And now let US turn back to the history
of the race and trace If possible the
causes of this decadence The later eth
biologists have come to the belief that
there were but three extreme types of
ha