Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1907-12-28
.sATuRpAY. pEoEMBER IS. 1901
WHERE rHe pRlpg COMBS IN.

WHERE THE PRIDE COMES IN.
Professor Boaz. the distinguished
authropist, In n lecture last Saturday
! before tho students and friends OF
Columbia University of New York,
supported theory which Is Irritating
! 20 the average man. Ho reiterated
with most stinging succinctness the
doctrine now generally accepted by
i his fellow specialists. that there Is no
shred of evidence warrantlng tho
pride which European people take In.
their racial superiority and purity.
Prof. Boaz said that every naughty
race, from hidalgo to Muscovltes lis
d hybrid In which scores or other ear
! ster races, themselves hybrids. have
@heep conjointly confused. Stlll moro
disastrous to this most ancient fable
of the human race. as the professor
characterized It, Is the declaration
that nobody cnn find any good evil
dence to confirm the superstition
about the higher nervous develop.
ment and mental ability of tho so
called higher and superior races. A
N Chinese peasants child. declared the
lecturer, placed early in the best
American environment holds his own
With any Yankee youngster, while the.
"hrainest" Bostonian brat transplant
{ ed to the slums OF Foo Chow would
become as great dolt as ..........
y cd opium. And--horror OF horrors
all distinguished lineages run back
to two primitive types of man, the No
groid and the Mongol
But does 1t follow from all this that
race prejudlces are wholly unjustifl-
able emotions? There Is need OF dis
tirgutshlng several feelings which
have been inexactly designated by
I! these terms. There is race pride
which Is mere ancestor worship, but
there is also tribal or national solid
arity which goes by the same name
sometimes. And again. there 1t would
BIO scientific enthusiasm. which has
repeatedly led cultured fanactics to
write thick books proving the fore.
ordained and invincil,le supremacy OF
ali people blessed with skulls of GER
tain shape, hair of certain hue and
texture, teeth of certain chemical
composition. or stomachs attuned to
certain food, This last variety of
pride. is the one that the anthropol-
ogistR are directly humbling. But their
Implication frequently is that pride in
The actual present day superiority. or
III the amanifest destiny" OF q people,
Is equally a deluslon and danger.
In 80 far as ihts leads to the theory
that every head hunting Dyak and
dsprayed Andamanese Is entitled to
the same personal respect and con-
sideration as Il cultured American.
Frenchman or Engllshman, 1t Is alb.
surd and blind.
The racial feelings of tho ordinary
tdan is aroused by the positive
achievements and the acquired pow
ers Of his blood brothers. and there
W Is no reason why 1t should be wholly
overcome by knowledge that all races
are supposed to De potentially equal.
lyS The anthropologists' discovery
ought 70 warn men against vain glory
and the oppression OF inferior people
but no trick oflogic or common sense
can make ituseful TO the man or men
who want 10 Kill national pride. On
f the contrary the Bctentific proof that
human progress depends almost en-
{ tireiy sipoa tho character Of The enyi-
oament into Which men arc put, sup
lies an argument TOR benevolent