The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1903-04-21
"THE NEGRO IN AFRICA AND AMERICA"

NhoO las 1CCGlIIy COul6 10 our uOGlC0.
The author is Mr.. Joseph Alexander Tillinghast,
a native of North Carolina and a graduate of
Davidson College, and the book-a cloth-bound
volume of 237 pages, published by the Macmillan
Company, New York,-retails for $1.5O.
The book is not only well-written, as we have
intimated, but is valuable in that it brings to-
gether a mass of facts that shed much light on an
important but gravely neglected aspect of the
negro problem-the hereditary influence of long
ages of African savagery on the American negro
of to-day. And as we run over the pages several
other noteworthy truths that are fully Illustrated
and enforced, stand out, striking and clear-cut.
Let us glance at a few of the authors main
points:
L. That peoples are not made or changed in a
day, but through the slow evolution of the ages.
The century or two of time which has elapsed
since the negro came to America is so brief a sea-
son compared with the long reach of aeons before
his coming that we must look to Africa if we
would find the influences which have really nodded
the character which he now has and which will be
changed but slowly by the natural and unhurried
process of evolution.
2. That evolution or natural selection in trop-
zeal Africa did not tend to bring out the sterner
qualities of manhood or to promote industrial eff
hCACAANC 40 NNN CS ~ NLAOh
sifted the Caucasian race in the Temperate Zone.
That part of Africa from which our negroes came
is tropical in climate and in products. 1t is not
necessary to work hard for food, because much
of the food is ready for use on the trees; it is
not necessary to work hard for clothes because
the warm climate demands only a minimum of
clothing.
at is obvious" says Mr.. TiIIinghast, "that in
Woz+ Afr;oo vo+,,ro1 co1oo+;OD oO,1J MOI bovo
tended to evolve great industrial capacity and
aptitude, simply because these were not necessary
to survival. Where a cold climate and a poor
natural productiveness threaten constant destruc-
ton to those who cannot or will not put forth
persistent effort, selection operates to eliminate
them, and preserve the efficient. In torrid and
b~ountiful West Africa, however. the conditions
of existence have for ages been too easy to select
the industrially efficient and reject the ineffi-
Gent"
Hence, African or negro evolution, unlike Eu-
ropean or Caucasion evolution, did not breed in
the race, generation after generation and century
after century, the qualities of perseverance and
thrift that now constitute one of the distinguish
ing traits of the white man as compared with the
negro.
3. Nor did the life and religion of the negroes
tend 20 develop moral fibre in their descendants.
That in the very nature of things it could not
have done so is shown by this paragraph in which
Mr.. Tillinghast sums up the facts which he takes
the first hundred pages of his book to prove and
illustrate:
"They dwelt in little village communities. and
had no regard for life and property outside OF
these. Even within the village they thought lit
tie of destroying the sick or useless and could not
comprehend sentiments of compassion. A large
portion of their population was enslaved. Polyg-
amy prevailed, women were bought and sold, and
chastity was valued only as a salable commodity.
D.-o.4, o,J H1;o1 ofnc+iOn with the exception OF