Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1911-01-03
BuJUDCE HARRIS DICKSON

S was the white mans work, not tn
j. Negroes as later events prove.
This is not intended to defend O.
ldeal'ze slavery Far from it. Blu
the regular. well-governed life PROVED
ideal in building up a race of strone
parents and healthy children. The
undeniable fact is that the negro ir
1900 was near-perfect specimen OF
physical man; and that is the poin,
from which I wish to start.
In the South to-day the negro lives
where he pleases. and in such manner
as suits him best. The plantation
quarters are not laid out as formerly,
the cabins are scattered, often with
out regard to sanitation or water.
No efficient supervision is exercised
over the negro's care of his cabin. He
is VIGOROUSLY unclean. His home is
rarely whitewashed 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;
II kinds Of YARDS and teas and concoc-
tons. They delight in dosing them
selves with patent nostruns. all man.
ner OF home cures. and conju charms.
Tuberculosis New Enemy.
Perhaps the deadliest enemy of tho
negro is tubereulosis-but it is a new
enemy. Old-time Southern physician,
are almost unanimous in the opinion
that before the war tuberculosis was
less frequent among the negroes than
the whites. Some of them mention il
as exceedingly rare-many INSISTING
that the black man was practically i'm
mune to the white plague. Consump-
ton in Africa is not common But af-
ter the infection was carried there bv
slave traders and colonists, the negro
In his native climate developed a
greater tendency than the whites to
contract disease. and It was far more
fatal.
AS late as 1890 a prominent Gin
cinnati physician reported a case of
"undoubted consumption" in a negro
with "unmistakable evidence of the
disease" This, in a black, was so
uncommon as to excite curiosity and
comment. This immunity enjoyed by
the slave marked the triumph of n.y.
gienic regulations prescribed by their
masters. But a terrible change has
come over the free man.
The city of Charleston, South Caro-
lima, has preserved its vital statistics
Tor many years. These show a death
rate from consumption before the war
about equal for white and blacksmith
a steady parallel decrease from 1879.
Since the war the white death rate has
decreased by 134 while the negro rate
has increased 234 per 10000. One
went down while the other went up.
The hand of the master has relaxed.
Negro mortality from this cause is
now greatly in excess Of the whites.
The march Of medical science has
steadily decreased the white death
rate, but can do nothing for the negro,
because the negro will do nothing for
himsslf. The death rste of the black
man advances by progression, greater
each year a. tho old blood dies out
and the younger geaerstion Is less
able to resist disease. If the sallop-
ing consumption is not CHECKED, that
alone may bury the negro problem IN
many million graves. The highest
authorities say that this factor alone
will seal the doom Of the race, unless
something be done. One prominent
Southern physician states that he has
known Of bit . solitary instance
where . negro he been cured, because
sasey Win not follow Instructions or
persist in treatment.
At the outbreak Of the Civil War
Of negroes were examined
for army service. Competent sur
esoss Enthusiastically pronounced
Absa squel n not svpsrtos, 70 white
assa, ssd sspoFtsl tsbereulohs very
M sasgug Msn. Yst, according to
n~v a1nl0n1fnn v1ohR ~ a1x4 jous