The San Mateo item. (San Mateo City, Putnam County, Fla) 189?-19??, 1909-12-25
Observation-Disclosures
|. ktheNegro I;
Disappearing:
expert SaysRace Question
iSbeing Answered by the ;
Sword Of Death. 1
JUDGE HARRIS DICKSON,
IN HAMPTON'S MAGAzINE(


roIty years ago the negro was the
healthiest man in America. Today
he is the weakest, most predlsposed
TO disease, the man with the least
resistive power. 0Heredity and the
white mans regulations made him
what ne was in SO; heredity and the
negro mode OF life makes him what
he Is today.
Before the war the great mass OF
negroes-as they are today-were
agricultural laborers. Their masters
prescribed hours OF toll and rest,
provided homes and overlooked their
amusements. Irrespective OF any
humane motive, the masters selfish
interest demanded the best possible
care OF his property.
The planters had received from
Africa a horde OF barbarians, who
had no idea OF hygiene, sanitation
or medicine. The planter took this
stock and made a healthy race in a
new land. He located his slave quar-
tiers on the healthiest spot OF his
plantation, laid them out in the form
OF a little village, with separate
houses, yards and gardens for each
family. There was good water and
good drainage
The negro, in 1860, was a near
perfect specimen of physical man,
while "in the south today the negro
lives where he pleases, and in such
manner as suits him best. The plan
tation quarters are not laid out as
formerly, the cabins are scattered,
often without regard to sanitation
or water. No efficient supervision Is
exercised over the negro's care OF
his cabin. He is VIGOROUSLY un-
clean. His home is rarely white
washed or disinfected In the rural
districts the blacks have nothing like
the medical attention and care that
was formerly bestowed upon them
Negroes dearly love medicine; all |
kinds of herbs and teas and concoc- |
lions. They delight In dosing them
selves with patent nostrums, all man.
ner of home cures and conju-charms.
The deadliest enemy OF the negro
is tuberculosls-but it is a new en-
envy. Old-time southern physicians
are almost unanimous in the opinion
that before the war tuberculosis was
less frequent among the negroes than
the whites. Some of them mention 1t
as exceedingly rare-many insisting
that the black man was practically
to the white plague.
After the war the negro's environ
ment changed; he was free to do as
he pleased. There was an immedi-
ate increase OF all the old diseases,
the acquisition OF new ones, and a
few inventions. His birthrate drop
ped; his death rate went skyward.
The process OF deterioration began at
once.
One reason why the negro is In the
grip of death is that for the last
thirty years he has showed a ten.
iency to abandon the field and flock
70 the pavement. He can not resist
he gaslight, the brass band, and the
street faker.
In no northern community is the
negro selfsustainlng. His birth rate {
ioes not equal the death rate. and
immigration from the sQhth alone
his numbers. Every south. 1
,rn negro who goes north Is TO a
reat extent withdrawn from the re-
productive population. That is 10
iay, ne does not contribute to tho
Increase OF his race by maintaining >
birth rate in excess OF his death
ate. Shut on immigration and the
ace will ultimately vanish from the {
lorth. In New Hampshire, for 10 I