The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1909-12-28
STEELE ON NEGRO PROBLEM.

MY NddfleS otGlItS. HOT uAE4ioWi
J in Keokuk. has recently made known
his views on a number OF American
social problems, including the ques-
/ ton what we shall do with the negro.
I He takes the position at the outset
that We may as well make up our
minds that the American negro will
never go to Liberia for the purpose
Of forming a Negro Republic He is
here to stay. Mr. Steizle recalls that
he came in the first instance. not be-
cause he wanted to come. but because
he was compelled to make his home in
America. Its a pathetic story
he says,-''this story of the imported
African who now furnishes about one
seventh Of our entire population 9th
er races OF immigrants. by contact
with our institutions, have been civ
ilized. The negro has been only do
mesticated. Why this is so is thus
explained:
The very qualities of manliness
and intelligence which are essential
for citizenship in a democracy were
Systematically expunged from the
negro race through 200 years of slav-
cry. The stronger. independent type
was practically eliminated. 1t is true
that the negro's present condition Is
not altogether the result of his slav-
cry to the white man. Back of this
slavery are centuries of barbarous ex-
istence. the influences of which are
still being felt.~ Not many centuries
ago, the negro was brother to the
beast in the jungles of Africa It can
not be expected that the negro viii
leap from this degradation to a posi-
ton of equality with the white race
in the short space of couple of hun
dTed years. 1t took the white man
much longer than this to acquire his
present supremacy"
The negroes are crowding into the
cities From figures cited by Mr..
Stelzle it appears that in Chicago.
from 1880 to 1900. the white popula-
ton increased three-fold, while the
colored population increased five-fold
In Philadelphia, during the same
period, the white population increased
4 50 per cent. while the colored popu-
lation increased 100 per cent In the
{ thirty-eight largest cities of the coun-
try, the negro population In ten years
1 increased 50 per cent, while the white
population, including foreign imrnigra-
ton. increased only SO per cent-ttis
in spite of the fact that the negro
/ population has not kept pace with the
native white population throughout
the United States. AS to the relation
of the two races in this country Mr..
StelzIe says:
The negro and the white race es-
Pecially in the south, are in many
/ ways indissolubly linked together In
many respects, the welfare of one de
ponds upon the welfare of the other
The low standard of living among the
negroes keeps down the wages of the
; whites. If the negro is content to live
u in a miserable hut. dress in rags, sub
! sist on the poorest kind of food, the
wages of the white man. engaged ii
the same kind of work, will be con
stantly pressed toward the same lov
level. The higher the standard of 1iv
ing among the negroes the higher vii
be the standard Of the white people il
the same occupation and in the sam,
4 bSilibolys H lt1t . LEHuCDCE
toward criminality, there is eonstan
!. Indictment to criminal tendencies ii
, the white man. Crimes committed 81
, one race provoke crimes on the par
of the other II the negro is disease.
1t will be difficult to prevent tn
I spread of the contagion among tn
white people. According to the las
! census, for portion of the norther
states, for every 1000 white childre
. under FIVE years Of age, there wer
49.7 deaths in one year. and for ever
! 1000 colored children under Ave year
: of age, there were 1875 deaths. a
{ excess of negro infant mortality {
4 1877 per cent. The census also report
= that negro deaths in cities owing t
? tuberculosis are proportionately q
times as many as white deaths. Will
deaths owing to pneumonia are 80 pc
cent greater In leading souther
r. city, whore mortality statistics
q negroes We're compiled before the wa
: II has been shown that from 1922 (
q 184S, the colored death-rate from COZ
;, sumption was trife less than th
white. but since 1865, the white mo
7 tally from that cause has decrease
e SO per cent, while the negro mortalii
n has increased 10 per cent The deaf
d rates from consumption in Charlie
+. ton in 1900 were 1888 for 100 on
whites and $40 for 100000 negroe
y. an excess of 241 per cent
~ According to the authority hel
4 quoted it is largely due to the iinmo
r. atty of the negro that the death-rat
rs of his race is 50 great but it is co
a. ceded without question that his igno
AZ ance has very much to do with
~ Surely. here is race which mu
~ have the attention Of our America
citizenship. because the destini
&c of the white man and the black ms
e. are linked up forever declares M
st Stelzle IF the black man goes dow
81 the white man is bound to go dow
re with him"
N The remedy for the situation. N
~ Stelzle points out, is not to be foul
70 no in the so-called higher education. ,
ne be sure, it is necessary to have /
7 gro doctors and preachers and la
nj yers, as well 80 negro teachers. but
BE- is far more essential to have neg
IS carpenters and blacksmiths a
is Is plumbers and machinists. 1t is or
10 as the negro can hold his own in i