Mr. Hoffman having on hand a theory, was spared the pains of inquiring further into the causes which led to this deplorable state of things. The reviewer suggests that this increase in social immorality among the Negroes of Washington is due to the great rush of ignorant, purposeless colored people to the national capital, a condition of things which always leads, in its first effect, to social looseness and impurity. The very late marriages among the better element of the colored people also help to account for this awful state of things. But perhaps a greater than any cause yet assigned as leading to the social degradation of Negroes in cities is the excess of the female over the male element of the population. On account of the importance of this subject, I append a table showing this excess for the cities whose colored population is over 20,000.
Colored population.
| City. | Colored males. | Colored females. | Excess of females. | Number of females to every 100 males. | ||||
| Baltimore | 29,165 | 38,131 | 8,966 | 131 | ||||
| Richmond | 14,216 | 18,138 | 3,922 | 128 | ||||
| Atlanta | 12,400 | 15,717 | 3,317 | 127 | ||||
| Washington | 33,831 | 41,866 | 8,035 | 123 | ||||
| New Orleans | 28,936 | 35,727 | 6,791 | 123 | ||||
| Nashville | 13,334 | 16,061 | 2,727 | 120 | ||||
| Charleston | 14,187 | 16,849 | 2,662 | 119 | ||||
| Savannah | 10,493 | 12,485 | 1,992 | 119 | ||||
| Memphis | 13,333 | 15,396 | 2,063 | 115 | ||||
| Louisville | 13,348 | 15,324 | 1,976 | 115 | ||||
| Philadelphia | 18,960 | 21,414 | 2,454 | 113 | ||||
| St. Louis | 13,247 | 13,819 | 572 | 104 | ||||
| New York | 12,649 | 13,025 | 376 | 103 | ||||
| ——— | ——— | ——— | —— | |||||
| Total | 228,099 | 273,952 | 45,875 | 120 |
Such a disproportion between the sexes can forbode no good to society. In the West, where the male element predominates over the female among the white population, the evil effect on society is painfully apparent. If every colored man in Washington were married and every male minor had a mate selected for him, there would still be left Negro females enough to form a manless community larger than Annapolis, Md. Now, no one should wonder at the moral corruption under these circumstances. These 8000 females, for whom marriage is impossible, be it remembered, are not restrained by the inhibitory influence of pride, station, and self-esteem. This is no doubt the greatest evil which threatens the social integrity of Negro life, and forms the most serious and perplexing of our city problems.
As startling as the records of crime and immorality are, they are only the outgrowth of circumstances and conditions. Human nature at best is weak, and under fostering circumstances has always yielded to the power of sin and uncleanliness. The author tells us that immorality is a race trait. This is sadly too true, but it is a human race trait, and is limited to no particular variety thereof.
CHAPTER VI.
Subject: Economic Conditions.
Gist: “As a general conclusion it may be said that the Negro has not yet learned the first element of Anglo-Saxon thrift.”[55]