The Denver star., 1914-09-12
RooseveIt's Brazil Article Pro-
vokes Lively Discussion.
MULA110Es ARE INCREASING
Speculation as to the Future Status Of
the Race as to Color Viewed From
Many Ansles-Uneonseious Assimi-
iation by the Whites Believed to Be
Multiplying.
sy RALPH W. TYLER.

By RALPH W. TYLER.
Washington.-The article by Colonel
Roosevelt a short time since referring
to the race absorption process going
on in Brazil attracts attention to the
possible absorption by the whites OF
the Negro in the United States. As
things are drifting at the present time
there is but one alternative for the
Negro In this country-viz. either re
moval by absorption. or becoming
separate and distinct race in all things
The farseeing craftsmanship Of DR..
Booker T. Washington doubtless be
came cognizant of possible race
separation nearly twenty years ago.
| and his I'm all things that are purely
social we can be as separate as the
| fingers. yet one as the hand in all
things essential to mutual progress"
uttered in his address at the Atlanta
exposition in 1895. in the light Of ac-
cumulative evidence showing the trend
Of the separation movement, appears
to have been prophetic. And his ear
nest efforts to prepare his people for
an economic independence seems to
confirm the statement that his wise
| craftsmanship foresaw and foresees
| possible separation into distinct races
| in all things.
The fact. however. that DR.. Wash
| ington's father was a white man and
] his mother Il cOIored woman shows
| that the absorption process In this
country is not OF recent beginning and
that the whites. not the Negro, prior to
the abolition of slavery. paved the way
for the admixture Of races.
Were it not for bis fecundity the time
when the Negro shall have become ex
tinct might be prophesied with rea-
Sonable accuracy. so high is his death
| rate in cities. The Indian is no longer a
serious problem because rapid extinc
tion by death Is proving the solution.
But while the Negroes death rate is
high his birth rate is relatively higher
The death rate of the Negro is highest
in the congested cities, buf less than
one-third of the negro population 10 in
| the cities. Two-thir1s is a rural popu-
lation. the death rate Of which is prac-
| tically normal.
In the congested cities the death
rate Of the Negro. as compared with
the rate for the whites. is as 10 to &,
and the birth rate among Negroes. as
compared with the birth rate among
whites. native whites. is as 10 to "A.
BY far the larger per cent of white
births is among the foreign born
whites. and the heavy immigration OF
foreign whites each year. which favor
n ct. Las
assures white supremacy In this coun-
! try.
The per cent increase Of whites in
this country from 1900 to 1910 was
:2,22.3. and the per cent increase of the
Negro for the same period was 1l.2
The per cent increase Of foreign born
whites in this country from 1900 to
1910 was 3O7. S.4 per cent greater
than the total white increase.
When ii is considered that the 22.3
per cent increase Of the total white
population over that reported for the
decade preceding was swelled by the
arrival of nearly three million i'm
migrants 1t will be seen that the per
, for the same period. and which was
| due exclusively to births among native
Negroes. is relatively higher than that
OF the native whites. The Negro prob
lem. therefore. will hardly be solved
as is the Indian problem. by extinction
by death. Absorption is unlikely TO
prove a solution in the very near fu
ture. aud yet absorption is playing n
much greater part in the solution of
the Negro problem than is generally
known.
For instance. in this city. which has
the largest Negro population of any in
the United States. the mulattoes In
creased nearly 30 per cent The close
student Of the race problem knows that
each generation Of muiattoes more
searly approach the point where they
can cross the boundary line and be
come uncharted by their color. lost
among those of the dominant race
Every close student Of the race Is
aware Of the fact that large per cent
Of the Negroes collnted as mulattoes
are today in all large cities safely
passing" occasionally or permanent
~. as whites and enjoying the result
ant unrestricted rights and privileges
enjoyed by pure whites. They occupy.
undiscovered. choice seats at theaters
whose practice IL to segreSnt tie the race
in the balcony and gallery or exclude
them; they dine at fashionable cafes
whose practice h not to serve Negroes,
and they are guests at hotels whose
rule Ia to refuse Recommendations to
Negroes
Even In the south they frequently
ride In security on railroad coaches
and In street cars reserved Tor whites
exclusively. dine Mt southern cafes ex
elusive for whites and rest on downy
beds at white hotels from Cincinnati