Evening star., 1928-11-01
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

F., According to this modern scientific
| theory the yellow race began not in
| Asia, but in the belt running from
| England to Java, whence 1t migrated
| to cover Asia, spending centuries in
| Southern Asia, where 1t acquired the
| darkened skin. Up to the period of the
Renaissance in Europe the Chinese had
made quite as much progress in learn
| ing, in science and in art as had the
Europeans. So the japanese, cousins"
of the Chinese, have demonstrated by
their marvellous progress from semi
| barbarism to their present state-all
| within three quarters OF century
proving that there Is no racial differ
ences in ability between the Orient and
| the Occident. For thousand years,
during the middle ages, Europe was
| just as unprogressive as China has
been in more modern times. While Eu-
rope was dormant China invented gum
powder in 1850, which woke Europe out
of its chival~y and feudalism.
The year following the. discovery OF
| America, the Turks captured Constan-
| tinople and overthrew the Eastern
Roman Empire, scattering the scholars
who had congregated in that metropolis
| upon the Black Sea, so that they mi
grated Westward carrying with them
ancient literature and bringing to
Europe a revival of learning. Thus 1t
| progress have hot been confined to the
white race, nor to the seats Of learning
| in Europe or America.
While there have been educated
negroes and men of other colors, only
| the yellow race has shown real interest
and ability in higher learning Chinese
| and Japanese students in American coll
| leges have shown themselves not one
whit behind the white students in
ability.
X X X
BY the Army tests-the Stanford
| revision of the Binet-Simon tests
negroes we're found to have an average
mental age of 1887 years" as contrast
ed with the whites average age of 1909
| years." yet the present writer knew of
| Central African jungles, who was edu-
Gated in America, in class of 100 white
4 children, and when the class graduated
| from high school, the African ranked in
| the first 10 of that 100.
The conclusion of modern science Is
| that environment has as much to do
with mental capacity as any racial
| limitations. The Army tests showed that
immigrants from different nations of
Europe revealed as great a range of diff
| ferences as do the whites and negroes.
| For example, the mental difference be-
| tween the English and Italians is 1856
years" In favor of the English. Yet
in modification of that difference, it is
| pointed out that 1t Is not fair estimate
| of the average Englishman and the
| average italian at home but only of
I the average immigrants from the two
countries.
Another very eminent authority was
the late Prof. Franz Boas of Clarke
University. He contends in his work,
''The Mind of Primitive Man" that
there is no scientific proof for the cur
rent doctrine that cultural achievement
J measures mental ability, and he MAIN
tains that cultural variations and differ
ences are due to historic rather than
biological causes, and that the white
race is not scientifically proved to be
| the most gifted of the races psycholog-
| ically and the most highly developed
biologically. While admitting that the
geographical environment may alter the
bodily form of inhabitants, he contends
that the manner or degree Of modifica-
ton is not certain and there is no COM
plete determination of culture by geo.
graphical surroundings. He supports
the doctrine of unity of the human
mind and that there Is no marked diff
ference between primitive and modern
! man, as to the degree of endowment in
the native mental faculties.
Hence the modern tendency, to wipe
out artificial differences indicated by
dress and language, has potentialities
OF world remeking beyond the possible
conception of the observer.
The East may yet meet the West, in
spite of Kipling
In the cry Of William Knox, which so