The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-08-16
is THE NEGRO RACE
DYING OUT IN CITIES?
Government Comparative Statistics Would Seem
To Show 1t Is.

, Of births 1895. Among the negro pop
uiation there were 1870 deaths and l.
430 births making the excess of deaths
! $40. In Buffalo there were 1927 births
and 5,157 deaths among the white pop
ulation, making the excess of births
| 4070. Among the negro population
| there were 90 births and 50 deaths. max
| ing the excess of deaths 81. In CHI
! caeo there were 43,0 9S births and 1883
| deaths in the white population, making
! the excess of births 1856 Among the
! cOlored population there were 3S9 births
! and 679 deaths, making the excess of
! deaths 290.
| In St. Louis there were 1850 births
and 10,32O deaths among the white pop
! ulation. making the excess of births
| 2640. Among the colored population
there were 594 births and 1855 deaths,
making the excess of deaths Sol. In
| New Orleans there were 1924 births
among the white population, and 4,977
deaths, making the excess of births
2f7. Among the colored population
! there were 1735 births and 1910 deaths,
making the excess of deaths 1875.
Same Proportion in other cities.
About the same proportions were
shown in the other cities, but the above
examples are sufficient to demonstrate
that If the births among the negro
population of the registration cities are
recorded with any approximate degree
of accuracy the colored population in
those cities is not increasing through
the birth rate.
Some interesting light is thrown on
this subject by the percentages of in
crease for the various elements of
the population shown by the census
reports. 1t is shown that while the
rate of increase for the entire popu-
lation from 1890 to 1900 was 207 per
cent, that for the negro population
was but Is per cent. If a mparison
is made for the decade from 1880 to
1890 the result is still more striking.
For that decade the increase of the
total population was reported to be
24.9 per cent, while the increase of
the negro population was reported to
be but 1876 per cent.
1t is unfortunate that the census
figures of population for 1890 cannot be
accepted with as much confidence as
those for 1900 An analysis of the
figures for 1890 and comparisons with
1880 and 1900 throw grave doubts on
the accuracy of the figures for 1890
There is little doubt that some of
the Southern states were not credited
with all of the population that they
contained in 1890, and careful study
OF the figures seems to show that in
many of them the negro population
was reported at considerably less than
the true figures. If this is true the
result would be that the increase in
the negro population from 1880 to 1890
was really larger than 1875 per cent.
and, consequently the increase from
1890 to 1890 was smaller than Is per
cent.
An interesting side light could be
thrown upon the general question of
the Increase in the negro population,
II relldbIe statistics were obtainable as
TO the nrnbers Of full blooded negroes
and the numbers of mulattoes. An at
tempt was made, in the census of 1890
to classify the negroes in proportion
10 the purity of their blood, but the
results obtained We're so unsatisfac-
tory that nothing of the kind was done
When the last census was taken.
About ten years ago Prof. Bloom-
held of Johns Hopkins University
wrote remarkable series of articles
IN which he discussed the race cues
ton from the standpoint of a naturalist
ana anthropologist and reached the
conclusion that the percentage of fuIl-
Diooded negroes were gradually de-
creasing. Prof. Bloomfield believed
that the Darwinian law of natural Sc
lectlon was working in the negro race.
ana that in accordance Herewith there
was a constant tendency on the mart
OF both men and women to mate with
those OF lighter color than themselves
as ldt as there may be fresh infusions
VI WnIte Dlood into the race, tn bleach
lnB out process would be accelerI,tad
put, of course, it would require MANY
centuries to so far eliminate the ne
gro blood as to make the rare &C a
whole lose the distinctive characteris~
tics of the negro.