The Color Line: A Brief in Behalf of the Unborn

by William Benjamin Smith

In his Romanes Lecture of June 7, 1902, on "The Relations of the Advanced and the Backward Races of Mankind," Mr. Bryce says (p. 24): "Where two races are physiologically near to one another, the result of intermixture is good. Where they are remote, it is less satisfactory, by which I mean not only that it is below the level of the higher stock, but that it is not generally and evidently better than the lower stock.... But the mixture of whites and negroes, or of whites and Hindus, or of the American aborigines and negroes, seldom shows good results. The hybrid stocks, if not inferior in physical strength to either of those whence they spring, are apparently less persistent, and might—so at least some observers hold—die out if they did not marry back into one or other of the parent races. Usually, of course, they marry back into the lower." (N.B. Mr. Bryce, it appears, is so "provincial, unintelligent and unchristian" as to assume that the Whites are superior—a higher stock, and the Negroes inferior—a lower stock!) Again, p. 26: "... the two general conclusions which the facts so far as known suggest are these: that races of marked physical dissimilarity do not tend to intermarry, and that when and so far as they do, the average offspring is apt to be physically inferior to the average of either parent stock, and probably more beneath the average mental level of the superior than above the average mental level of the inferior." Again, p. 35: "Should this view be correct, it dissuades any attempt to mix races so diverse as are the white European and the negroes." And on p. 36: "The matter ought to be regarded from the side neither of the white nor of the black, but of the future of mankind at large. Now for the future of mankind nothing is more vital than that some races should be maintained at the highest level of efficiency, because the work they can do for thought and art and letters, for scientific discovery, and for raising the standard of conduct, will determine the general progress of humanity. If therefore we were to suppose the blood of the races which are now most advanced to be diluted, so to speak, by that of the most backward, not only would more be lost to the former than would be gained to the latter, but there would be a loss, possibly an irreparable loss, to the world at large." Lastly, p. 39: "The moral to be drawn from the case of the Southern States seems to be that you must not, however excellent your intentions and however admirable your sentiments, legislate in the teeth of facts.... Nevertheless, the general opinion of dispassionate men has come to deem the action taken in a.d. 1870 a mistake."

Now, we are quite willing to concede that possibly, even probably, there are exceptions to the general conclusions of this eminently fair-minded investigator. We feel sure there are many cases in which the Mulatto is raised distinctly above his coal-black parent; we believe there are some cases, relatively rare, absolutely frequent, in which he rises measurably above the median line, towards his white parent. The law of Mendel, or any other plausible law of inheritance, would lead us to expect such a result. And yet, the extreme difficulty of organic ascent, whether of the individual or of the race, as compared with the fatal facility of descent, prepares us to expect, in general terms, precisely what Mr. Bryce affirms. It is so easy to fall ill! It is so hard to get well! In any case, that the average of cross-breeding between widely separate races, like Black and White, rises above the mid-line or approaches the superior, is a proposition that runs squarely against all evidence and all reason, nor will anything but invincible prepossession maintain it.

True it is, that a great authority, a stalwart champion of the Black man, whose attention we had called to these extracts, declares in reply that he is "not at all affected by Mr. Bryce's statements." He thinks we have here, in the United States, a much broader basis of induction than the Englishman has (as if Mr. Bryce, the author of "Assimilation of Races in the United States" [1892], of all men, could neglect or ignore this important example!); he has in mind a case of triple mixture, reaching back several generations, yet the family are vigorous and of excellent character; and he refers to thousands of Mulattoes that are perfect physically—all of which may be true and yet not enlightening. We sometimes meet with not uncultured persons who are firmly persuaded that the moon controls the weather. Tell them that the most minute and accurate observations, extending through half a century and designed to test the matter, have failed to reveal any connection between the weather and the moon's phases; point out to them the insuperable obstacles in the way of their opinion—and they reply that they are "not at all affected by your statements", that they and their ancestors have observed for generations that changes in the weather coincide accurately with changes in the moon, that the broadest induction in their own neighbourhood shows clearly that beans will not flourish if planted in the dark of the moon, and that it would be madness to plant potatoes in the light. If any other facts or observations seem not to conform to this theory—why, so much the worse for them!

The general inferiority of the mixed stock has passed into a proverb even in Africa, where it is said: "A god created the whites; I know not who created the blacks; certainly a devil created the mongrels." So reports Livingstone (quoted by Lombroso), and adds that he had seen but one Portuguese Mestizo of robust health. In Brazil it is held that the mingling of Indian with Latin blood has not produced evil results, [ [14] ] but everywhere else such remote crossings have been more or less disastrous. Strikingly is this the case with the Zambos—the mixture of Indian and Negro; they are mainly degenerates and degraded. Thus E. G. Squier, writing of Honduras in the Encyclopædia Britannica, Vol. XII., says: "A small part of the coast, above Cape Gracias, is occupied by the Sambos, a mixed race of Indians and Negroes, which, however, is fast disappearing." In Mexico, Central and South America, the half-breeds are everywhere stationary or declining. In India the Eurasians (20,000 in Calcutta) "touch a level of degradation which is far lower than any reached by the pure heathen about them. They inherit defects more conspicuously than virtues from both races from which they spring" (Pop. Sci. Mon., Nov., 1892). In Japan the inferior Ainos are passing away before the superior Japanese. The hybrids are never healthy or vigorous, and vanish with the third or fourth generation. Here, in the United States, the testimony is all against the Mulatto. In a report of the Provost-Marshal General, the opinions of physicians stand eleven to one against the Mulatto as "scrofulous and consumptive," "degenerated physically," and the one favourable judgement reposes on only two instances. The anthropometry of the Mulatto is decidedly against him. His average lung capacity, the most significant of measurements, was found by Gould to be only 158.9 cubic inches against 163.5 for the pure Black, and 184.7 for the White. His respiration rate was equally unfavourable, being 19 per minute against 17.7 for the pure Black, and 16.4 for the White. We refer, also, to the testimony of Dr. Shaler (p. 52), that he had never known a Mulatto to pass threescore. The writer remembers the first use he ever heard of the word "cachectic;" his father spoke of it as a term generally applicable to Mulattoes.

From the convergence of all such testimony, which may be multiplied indefinitely, there seems no escape whatever. We must concede, with Lombroso: "It is impossible to contemplate these facts without admitting that marriages between some human races are much less fertile and happy than between others;" and especially unfortunate are those between such extremes as Whites and Negroes. When such anthropologists as Waitz, Serres, Deschamps, Bodichon, anticipate a millennium from universal miscegenation, it is only sentimentalism or else forgetfulness of the distinction drawn so properly by Topinard (Eléments d'Anthropologie générale, 1885) between the intermingling of nearly related and of distantly related races. In the first case the result is, in general, certainly good; in the latter, it is quite as certainly bad.

But let us now, merely for the moment and for the sake of argument, admit that both our premises are in doubt; that, perhaps, after all the Negro is not inferior organically—mentally, morally, or physically—to the Caucasian, and that interfertility might, perhaps, work no deterioration; would the case be essentially altered? Assuredly not. For even then the most extreme negrophilist must still admit that there is, at least, a reasonable doubt; even if the Negro be not proved inferior, yet he is certainly not proved equal, and there is a large body of at least apparent evidence against him; even if it be not certain that miscegenation would work deterioration, it is at least very possible and seemingly probable. Who, then, would have the foolhardihood to make this experiment of race amalgamation—an experiment which, once made, is made forever; whose consequences could never be undone—when there is at least and at the very lowest an undeniable possibility, not to say certainty, that those consequences would be disastrous in the extreme? Can we imagine a more wanton folly? Would such an experiment beseem any other place so well as the madhouse?

But some one will say that we are fighting "bogies"; that no one in the North, much less in the South, desires any such amalgamation. Do not believe it! The intense, the supreme yearning of large bodies of Negroes is for social recognition among the Whites—more especially for intermarriage with their haughty, old-time despisers. Who does not know this, simply does not understand the dominant facts of Southern life. [ [15] ] True, there may be no longer anyone in the North that openly advocates miscegenation—no one that would welcome or even tolerate it in his family, though we remember to have read years ago a distinct declaration, by no mean authority, that it might be a positive advantage to pour the strong, rich blood of the Black man into the languid veins of the Southern Whites! However, granted that all would now [ [16] ] disavow such a sentiment—and let us accept the disavowal unreservedly—the fact remains that the highest authorities in the North, the factors that form public opinion and guide legislation, have never yet to our knowledge raised their voices against miscegenation in the South. What means this expressive silence? In this momentous, all-overshadowing controversy, there is no middle ground. He that is not against amalgamation is for it. Who so does not oppose must ipso facto favour it. Only ciphers are neither plus nor minus.

Moreover, we affirm that he who denies our two cardinal theses, who denies the racial inferiority of the Negro, and the racial deterioration of the Mulatto, must consistently hold that mongrelization of the South is positively desirable; and we should esteem him not the less, but the more, for boldly defending it. [ [17] ] For if such miscegenation involves no declination from the Caucasian standard, then there is no reason whatever against it. On the other hand, there are strong reasons that favour it (as Bryce himself admits, p. 27, it "has two great merits"); in particular, it would bring about speedily and permanently a settlement of the race question, and a settlement far more amicable than is otherwise possible. There is no escape from this conclusion; and no disclaimer, however honest, can be adequate. The inference of approval, from non-hostility to miscegenation, is immediate and unavoidable; and we may justly hold our opponents to the logical consequence of their teachings, however earnestly they may reject it.

Herewith, then, for the present, we sheathe the sword for lack of argument; for it seems scarcely worth while to point out that when we demonstrate the racial inferiority of the Negroids, and insist upon the necessity of an impassable social chasm, we by no means excuse or extenuate any form of cruelty or injustice or oppression or inconsideration, political or other. Replies to our arguments are not pertinent when they fail to note this distinction, even though they may quote passages from the "Apostle of Heredity," written nearly a generation before his call to that apostolate. The humane man resents the maltreatment of inferiors no less quickly because he recognizes their inferiority; it is they that especially move his compassion. The ancient Hindu knew and felt this when he wrote: "He who needlessly tramples upon a worm in his path, that soul is darkly alienate from God."

This remark conducts us very near to certain semi-political phases of the matter; which, however, we leave to the politician, the pulpit, and the press. These are careful and troubled about many things; but there is one thing needful—that the rights of the generations unborn be guarded, that the Caucasian race integrity be preserved.