The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-07-29
ARE NEGROES
INCREASING?
Vital Statistics Turnout the South
Are Woefully Deficient and
Of Little Use. 81
In Charlestown, However, the Fig
ures Show a High Death Rate
Among the Blacks.

Chicago, July 29.-Raymond in a Wash
ington special to the Tribune says:
In all probability the adjustment OF the
relations between the white and black
races in America cannot be a matter or
years or even generations, but of CEN
turtles 1t is Of vast importance to the
country, therefore, to solve some OF the
temporary problems regarding the colored
race, as, for instance, whether the black
people are to go on increasing ana thus
render the situation more acute, or
whether, on the other hand, the negroes
will gradually be eliminated, either by
ordinary physical reasons or by the slow
process of amalgamation. a.
1t is a great pity that the census figures
have not attempted to draw the lines as
between the pure negro and the man or
mixed blood, but it is to be hoped the
abundant interest in the race question Will
result in more careful study OF the mix
ture between the two races in future GEN.
sus reports. The census office, however.
is now engaged in compiling an extremely
valuable bulletin which will put together
under one cover all the statistics yet OBJ
tanned from official sources regarding the
negro in the United States.
Statistics Are Lacking.
Turnout the southern states there has
been a great disregard of the important
work of keeping vital statistics and in the
country sections it is impossible to secure
anything except the widest kind Of esti-
mates. People who are we'll informed on
other subjects take it for granted that be-
cause the negro is outclass1nB the whites
in point Of numbers in specified localities,
his race Is therefore growing faster than
that of his former masters.
1t Is necessary to go to the cities for
anything like accurate figures and these
do not sustain the view that the negroes
are growing in numbers faster than the
whites.
All the southern states are peculiar
owing to the fact that there is practically
no foreign immigrat ton in that section
of the country. There are few of the
southern European immigrants, notably
the agricultural Italians, who could proba
bly, succeed In the south and make money,
but they do not like to be placed, into
direct competition with the black man
and thus far have not entered the south
in any large numbers. The result is that
the numerical returns OF the two races
are largely dependent in the south merely
upon the natural ebb and flow of humanity
caused by the inevitable processes Of birth
and death.
Mortality Is High.
It so happens that in the cttyof Charles
ton an intelligent system of vital sta
tistics has been adopted, which has di-
rect bearing upon the race question. The
figures there show that while the negro is
reproducing himself much more rapidly
than the white, he Is subjected to the
usual great law Of compensation owing to
8 the fact that his death rate Is also nearly
double that of the white man.
There is great Significance in the figures
for last year. There were then In
Charleston, according to official estimates,
24285 whites and 81, 522 colored people.
a During the year 461 whites and 1,153 col
= ored died. This establishes an extraord-
mary proposition showing that the deaths
among the white people were only one In
3 fifty two, while among the colored people
the mortality was one In tWentyseVen.
To reduce this to the ordinary system OF
7 comparison, it may be worth while stating
4: that the annual death rate among the
Il white population of Charleston during 1902
y was 1898, while among the colored people
Y the death rate rose to the discriminating
ratio of 36.49 and in some previous years
1t has been much higher.
Ignorance Responsible.
&, OF course if this death rate were al
there was to the problem, the colored people
would soon disappear and patience on the
part of the whites would solve the race
question. The negroes, not only in the
cities, but everywhere else, are notori
ously ignorant OF the most ordinary laws
of health. Negro children are born int
the world with large percentage Of NAL
formation; they are frequently grossl!
neglected, suffer a great deal from dis
ease Of the eyes. and too often fnheri
from their diseased parents ,maladle
which their forefathers never knew in tn,
tkrbaric wids of Africa. ,s..