The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-11-16


lnghast, NJ A. Publishers: American
Economic Association by the Mcmillan
Company, New York. Price in paper,
SIPS; in cloth. $3.50.
This lis the most exhaustive, sensible
and valuable treatment of the negro
question that has come under our obser.
walton. The author is a scholarly young
North Carolinian who has had the adj
vantage of studying the negro character
from his birth. He played with them in
his boyhood as have all Southern boys;
he knows their good qualities ana tfeir
Weaknesses. He came to the subject
with the desire to give the result of his
thoughts and impartial study.
AS a rule when it is suggested that
the negro is not fitted for suffrage, the
reply is, But he has only recently
emerged from slavery" DR.. Tillinghast
shows that for intelligent study of the
negro it is necessary, not only to go back
to slavery in America, but also to back
of slavery to West Africa, the home of
the negroes before they We're brought
to America:
Ito realize that many characteristics
of the American Negro are part of his
into the race there through long genera
tions, may perhaps strengthen the pa
thence and forbearance of those who
seek to expedite his progress. To real
ize that many faults often attributed to
the debasing effects of American slavery,
are faults which he shares with his At
rican ancestors and contemporaries, may
suggest a juster and more impartial
view OF the merits and dement's of the
economic system which crumbled as a
result of the Civil War;"
Mr.. Tillinghast, as the son of a South
ern slave holder, has written study of
the negro that is free from sectional
bias; he has reached his conclusions
from long study of the negro in West
Africa and in slavery as well as in
freedom. No one can understand the
true character Of the negro without
knowing about the negro in West Africa.
That is the mudsill upon which knowl-
edge of the race must be founded, and
yet ten thousand politicians and writer's
have declared themselves able to solve
the negro problem without even a smat-
tering of knowledge of the African an
cestry of the negro, thus wholly ignoring
the influence of heredity. Is it any Won
der that all-or nearly all-who have
professed to write or talk about the ne
groes have shown themselves to be
Guacks? And their remedies to have
wrought more harm than good to the
negroes? Mr.. Tillinghast is the first to
base his conclusions, first of all, upon a
study of West Africa and the environ
ment of the negro in his native land be-
fore he was brought in contact as slave
with the Anglo-S Saxon civilization. There
fore his study will command the attention
of thoughtful men everywhere. Here are
his conclusions:
AT the close of their experience I'M
der slavery the negroes had made,
rection of civilized life. While this was
in part founded securely upon natural
basis, ii was no doubt due in part TO an
artificial, forced development. In any
case, however, they were still far behind
their masters in every element of fitness
for highly developed social life. In view
of this it was a critical step for them
when they ceased to be slaves and be-
came direct competitors of the ADLER
white race in the struggle for life. Since
emancipation this competition has re-
lentlessly advanced
mo longer controlled by external force
the negroes have depended for genera
tion past upon their own self-command.
But from time immemorial they have
been weak in self-command, they have
been dominated by impulse, and incln-
ed to an indolent semi -nomadlc exist
ence, and they have possessed an eX-
tremely primitive code of morality. I'm
der slavery they were kept widely dis
tributed and in close contact with the
whites, so that example and discipline
could be very effective against heredi-
tary inclinations. When liberated to fol-
low their own bent, they began to CRAWL
tate together until todaythey live isolat
eel, for the most part from white society.
Thus they have lost the stimulus of ex-
ample, as we'll as the direct training and
discipline, given by the superior race.
The strain required to maintain life on
the level of the whites is driving the ne
groes to develop a society of their own,
with easier moral standards, better Mt
ted perhaps, to their peculiar tempera-
ment. This movement is symptomatic of
a dangerous weakness, while at the same
time directly contributing to aggravate
it.
According 20 the balance of the evil
denee now available. it appears that the
negroes of the younger generation are
restless, unsteady at labor, and impa-
ticnt of restraint; that they are yielding
place to the whites in many of the bet
ter paid employments, and that they arc
excessively fond of spending for display
or other economically unsound purposes.
1t also appears that in their sexual and
family relations there is increasing loose
ness and instability. Following their
strongly gregariou5 instincts, they are
rapidly developing the communal group
life afforded through church organiza-
ton, rather than the private life of the
home. Their imperfect specialization is
revealing itself in their criminalisy
which is increasing at much greater
ratio than the negro population.
Confronted by these facts, We can
hardly avoid the conclusion that the
heavy task laid upon the American Ne
gro, after liberation from slavery, has
proved too much for him, and that this
people, considered as a whole, is slowly
but surely tending to revert. Seized and