The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-03-27
THE AFRICANS.


Club held at GAINESVILLE, Wisconsin,
Professor Jerome Dowd, resident
lecturer on sociology in the university
of Michigan made an interesting adj
dress on the negro problem"
He said that whenever the Ameri-
can people come to know the real
nature and condition OF the dark
races of the earth and TO be guided
in dealing with them by the dis
passionate and united scholarship of
the civilized world, there can be no
dispute as to the best governmental
policy for Porto Rico, the PHILIPPINES
or South Carolina.
"Races of men like races OF animals
have Unborn traits which are the pro-
duct of many centuries and which
only many centuries can change. The
Jew, the Italian and the Teuton
differ as distinctly today as they did
ten centuries ago. The dark races
having had the most unbroken ex-
change of heredity are the most per-
sistent i'll their race charactertics.
"Let us inquire what are the 8en-
eral characteristics of the negro
First, he is indolent. He has an ex-
plosive temper, and lacks self-control.
In the midst of the most fcrtil" -c:r;ors
he suffers famine. This is because he
has not the foresight nor disposition
to provide for the future. Pressed
by hunger the tribes prey On one
another often resorting to cannibal-
ism. The sexual restraint is slight,
and the youth of the child receives
no training. Theft is universal
trait.
'These people being brought to
America and being subjected to the
rigid discipline ofslavery, were forced
to abandon many of their savage
practices. They became industrious,
submissive to command and adopted
the outward form of our religion.
The master, having an economic in
terest in his slave, watched so care
fully over his health that in many of
the Southern States the death rate
of the negro was below that of the
white up to 1865. The close con-
tact of the white man developed in
the negro a sympathetic disposition
which became almost a universal
characteristic. While petty theft per-
sisted throughout slavery, crimes Of
blood were uncommon. These modi-
fcations in the negroes life were
arti6cially produced-the inevitable
outcome of the self.interest of the
white man, and they effected no per
manent change in the negro snaturc.
"Whcn the restraints of the master
were thrown off, it was natural that |
the savage nature should have q
strong tendency to reassert itself.
Neglect of families, the little regard |
for the vows of marriage were most
apparent. The restraint Of law has |
not had the same effect upon the
negro that the admonition of his
master produced, and today meln-
bers of the race constitute by far the
larger class of our criminals" Pro-
lessor Dowd then went on to cite the
negro in individual sections and !
showed that the race today instead of |,
improving is rapidly retrograding.
"But the question is what should |
be done with reference to the condi-
tions | have described. According |
to the unanimous testimony OF the |
scholars who have investigated the |
subject, the dark races are not yet |
fit for free institutions and can be !
only qualified for them by slow
evolution process. In the South, the
white man has learned from bitter
experience that the black man is not |
yet prepared for the responsibility OF
citizenship, so if we aim at the vel
fare of the negro and not the perse- |
cution of the white man we should |
give our sanction to a suffrage linlita-
ton applicable to both races alike,
which excludes the riftraft and most !
degraded classes of negroes from
participation in politics.
"The ballot has been n deadly
poison to the vast majority of the
race and has done more to accom-
plish their ruin than all other causes
combined. 1t has only widened the
breach between the whites and the
blacks, and rendered itimpossiblef for
the negro to assimilate the white
mans virtues.
"Let me assure you that the South
ern people have no war to wage
against the respectable class of
negroes. A helping hand is extended
to all who aspire to any moral, in