The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-08-25
EVOLUTION OF TYPE IN AMERICA.
Curious Racial Phenemens which
have Taken Place in this Country.

There is hardly Il more fatuous indi-
vldual anywhere than the man with a
brand-new theory of his own conceiv-
iES. Wonderful is the ingenuity he will
practice in finding plausible evidence to
confirm his fixed idea. and marvellous
is the power his eye will acquire of
Seeing right through a very mountain
Of facts which refute 1t. Eminent men
are not eXampt from subpection to this
faulty. ~Theologians, politicians, scien-
fists, philosophers and the teacher of
rIen generally are prone to fall into it.
Professor Starr, of the University of
Chicago, is the latest notable example.
According to newspaper reports of q
lecture which he recently delivered
twice, he believes that the American
pee pie are fast developing into Indians.
He has held the theory for some time
! anC that he has now CON
filmed it by personal observation. He
examined the descendants of a small
colony of Germans who come to the
United States years ago, locating in
Pennsylvania, and found that the
fourth and fifth generations had de-
veloped marked Indian characteristics,
such as black eyes and darker colored
kiR.
THE changes noted take place in
VariaDly," said Professor Starr,
through the influence of the potent
American climate and environment"
IL this case the mountain of refuting
fSct which the theorist cannot see is
represented by the whole American race
OF tside Of the professors small colony
of Teutonic P~ennsylvanians and. posi-
bly,, a few other seeming instances.
Nor, apparently, does the worthy
scholar ga TO to obSarvp +bo+ ,J,,,Tpr tho
last four centuries there has been a GER
tain adniXture of Indian blood into
that of the white invaders of the Amer
lran continent, and that this NAV ac-
CONT, in a measure, for the traits he
has observed. No, e a professor, your
theory that the American people are
assimilating the Indian type. and will
go on approaching it more nearly. cam
11t be taken seriously. 1t is too obvi-
Gus that. wen if there We're an I'M
doCbted tendency of this kind, it could
only develop in the Wilderness and in
me primitive conditions which produced
the Indian savage, and the difference
between u civilization and those con-
Cltlons need not be insisted upon.
A distinct racial type, as marked, al
most, as that of any European people.
has certainly been evolved in he United
az "a l UcSS IIOI DtdE any DdrIlCu-
Tar resemblance to the indian type It
IS not difficult to designate an American
E1aH or woman in Europe, and Ameri-
can abroad are recognized not only on
account of their clothes and speech and
external manner, but by that something
distinctive in fact and form and tenn
peratment which We call race. 1t is
tcue that there are certain superficial
differences between Eastern and Wes-
tern American, between Northerners
and Southerners, but it is a curious
thing that. in a country of such length
II breadth and Of such diverse eli
matte conditions, in a country peopIed
by descendants of so many branches
OF the Caucasian family. a national ra-
cial type that is fairly uniform and pre-
dominant should have been produced in
d few generations, and should be able
10 assimilate to itself the vast horde of
foreign elements which is continually
beng absorbed into it.-Harper's Week.
IL