The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1903-04-21

'NOO "O@O
and many to supply companionship and service
for the departed great in the land of the dead"
4. "The drastic process of selection" brought
about by the slave trade lied to physical improve
ment alone; mental and moral qualities could not
be taken much into account"
A paragraph illustrates this fact: "To appre-
ciate the net result of this extraordinary selection,
let us imagine the entire West African population
divided into four classe, and consider each in
turn. First, those below normal, both physically
and mentally; and second, those below par phys
ically, though above it in mental force, would be
effectually eliminated. Third, those we'll above
the average, both mentally and physically, we're
apt to elude capture and become themselves the
captors. Fourth, those above the average In
physique, but ordinary or even under average in
mental force, would under the peculiar methods
of the slave trade, constitute the major portion
of the slaves successfully shipped to this. coun-
try"
5. That the negro did not deteriorate under
slavery and that those bad qualities of the blacks
usually regarded as the result of slavery are but
the surviving results of African training, the out
groupings of the mighty force of race heredity.
Again Mr.. Tillinghast's words will enforce this
truth more briefly and clearly than our own:
"The question is: Did American slavery de-
velop in the negro his Incidence, carelessness,
brutality to animals, and aptness in deception, or
did it merely fail to eradicate them? X x Every
characteristic just named we know to have been
an integral part of the West Africans nature
long before any slaves ever touched our shore.
lie was lndOlent, reckless and imprOvident, even
when he himself immediately suffered the conse-
quences and not his American master. x X x In
effect, American slavery was a vast school in which
a superior race drilled an inferior one into useful
civilized life-the motive for this astonishing en-
terprise being that all the pecuniary profits went
to the teachers"
On the whole, it seems to us that the value of
Mr.. Tillinghast's book lies in the clearness with
which he sets forth the foregoing five points so
essential to an understanding of the negro's
equipment at the time he emerged from slavery.
The third division of his book, "The Negro as a
Free Citizen" lacks the freshness, if not the
force, of the two preceding sections. The Ne
gro in West Africa" and "The Negro Under
American Slavery"
One point which Mr.. Tillinghast merely touch
es on we should like to see fully elaborated. Again
we quote his words: "Ihere is much reason to
believe that among the prominent and successful
colored people of our day, mulattOes constitute a
much larger proportion than they bear to the col
ored population as a whole. Accurate informa-
ton on this point, unfortunately, is wanting. The
general capacity of the negro race at large for
acquiring civilization is certain to be miscon-
ceIVed, 1t they are credited with the achievements
Of men who share in Caucasian heredity." This
phase of the negro problem certainly deserves
more attention than it has ever received. Booker
Washington, for example, who is now held up as
an illustration of what the negro may attain to,
is the son of a white father, and it is therefore as
reasonable, race heredity alone considered, to
credit his enterprise and ability to the white as
to the negro race.
Thus far we have been able to agree almost en-
tirely with Mr.. Tillinghast's deductions, but we
cannot bring ourselves to believe that the outlook
is so dark as to justify him in the utterly hopeless
view he takes of the Negroes future. It is but
fair, however, to give these conclusions for the
benefit of our readers.
[They are reprinted on another page of this
number of The Progressive Farmer
Tt sum up, Mr.. Tillinghast's work is peculiarly
ualnahle in that while others have considered