It has been proved by the foregoing statistical study, varied in every way and taking every significant fact into consideration, that the Negro is everywhere in the United States yielding and making place for the Caucasian. We might, indeed, have anticipated that such a result would follow infallibly upon exposing the two races to open competition. For the Negro has never voluntarily extended himself beyond his African home; he has never eagerly sought out new habitats, nor readily adapted himself to new environments; whereas the Caucasian has traversed and colonized the earth from the equator to either pole; he has plumbed every abyss; he has scaled every height; he has spied out every secret place: for him no sea has been too wide, no plains too broad, no mountains too high, no sands too hot, no snow too cold, no jungles too dark and deadly. He pits himself against Nature, he forges for himself Achillean armour, he grasps the shield, he shakes the spear, and rushes joyfully to the encounter. Nothing of all this, nothing in any way like aught of this, has the Negro ever done; naught, in our judgement, will he ever do. The massive facts, then, of the geographical distribution of the races give token unmistakable that, in any collision within any but the tropical regions, the Negro must go down before the Caucasian.

This superior vigour, this aggressive vitality need not reveal itself to any mass-measurements; it might hide away in the cells and the finest tissue; it might be not anatomic, but histotomic only. The distinguished surgeon, Dr. Rudolph Matas, as the result of wide observation and careful inquiry, declares that pathological-anatomical peculiarities of the Negro are not recognizable chirurgically; Black and White are sensibly the same.

Nevertheless, broad distinctions are actually present and come to light wherever extensive observations have been made. It is jauntily declared by a great protagonist of the Black man that "physically, he is the equal of the white man; he is as tall and as strong," and such is perhaps the general opinion. There is a fine irony, however, in the fact that precisely these moments in which his equality is so incautiously affirmed are the ones in which he is distinctly inferior. He is in truth neither so tall nor so strong, though vertical inch for inch he is somewhat heavier. It seems needless to copy down table after table to prove these statements. We quote the words of Hoffman, summing up extensive comparisons: "The average stature of the negro is less than that of the white, and the difference, though slight, prevails at all ages." From Gould's "Military Statistics," pp. 461-465, we learn as distinctly as we can learn any such facts, that the Negro is not so strong as the Caucasian; that the mean lifting strength of the Black is very markedly below that of the White at all ages above seventeen, with the exceptions of thirty-one to thirty-four, where the Black excess is nearly five pounds, and of forty-five to forty-nine, where the Black average is 328.7, the White only 325.7—a Black excess of three pounds. Under seventeen the White average is only 250.4, the Black 258.9—another Black excess of 8.5, very considerable and noteworthy, and for seventeen the Black excess is 295-292.8 = 3.2. For all other ages, the White excesses are as follows:

1819202122232425
26.823.6151013.723.68.615.6
262728293035-3940-4450-
24.16.913.591.426.810.424.2

Hence, it appears that up to seventeen the Negro is on the average stronger than the White; he is also stronger in the cases measured from thirty-one to thirty-four and from forty-five to forty-nine, though his advantage is not great; but everywhere else he is markedly not so strong. Of course, it is easy to except to such statistics—to say that the averages are untrustworthy; but it would be very strange if so many distinct and independent indications were all wrong. As the lowest age for soldiers is hardly below sixteen, we see that the Black excels, and only slightly, in only twelve years, the White in twenty-three years up to fifty and in all above, and on the whole very considerably, his excess rising twice to 26.8. The indication, then, is of a more tropical nature in the Black; he attains his maximum sooner, but he maintains it not so long nor so high; and this might certainly have been expected.

Similar is the indication of the respiration. In full vigour the average respiration per minute of Whites, Blacks, Mulattoes are 16.44, 17.75, 19.01; while with impaired vigour the average rates are for Whites 16.84, for Blacks and Mulattoes 20.71. Here this excessive frequency is found at every age, both in health and still more in disease, both for Blacks and still more for Mulattoes. It seems impossible, then, that the indications should be erroneous. On the other hand, the pulse of the White, in vigour and in ailment, is faster than the full Black's, but slower than the Mulatto's; Whites 74.84, 77.21; Blacks 74.02, 76.91; Mulattoes 76.97, 83.12. Here the differences are too slight for emphasis, and we do not know that there is any advantage in a somewhat slower pulse. But what is the meaning of the quicker respiration? It means the decidedly lower lung capacity of the Black. Since the Black weighs more per inch of height than the White, we are prepared to find his chest measurements greater after respiration. These measurements confirm each other. Of 315,620 White soldiers the average girth of chest was 33.42 inches, but of 25,828 coloured soldiers it was 33.69; and this difference in favour of the Blacks maintained itself for all statures. However, the lung capacity or mobility of chest (i.e. the difference between the girth at forced inspiration and forced expiration) is greater in the Whites; in 6,359 Whites the average was 3.24; in 377 Negroes it was 3.23. This difference is too small to be worth noting, but mark you! in the under-weights (100 to 120 pounds) the mobility was far greater in the Blacks (3.33 against 3.15), also in the overweights (180 and more) (3.38 against 3.27); but in the normal weights (120 to 180) it everywhere favoured the Whites. Moreover, these Whites were about an inch taller than the Blacks (67.30 against 66.39) at all ages; their chest girth was nearly half an inch less (32.49 against 32.84), and yet their lung capacity was greater. The indication of stronger lungs seems unmistakable.

At this point it seems necessary to point out that in this extremely important matter of chest mobility, the Negro is not maintaining himself but is perceptibly declining. In 1861-65 the excess favoured the Whites for the ages thirty to thirty-nine, and under twenty; for all other ages it favoured the Blacks, who fell behind only .01 on the general average (3.24 and 3.23). But in 1892-94 it favours the Whites at all ages; and the White excess has increased to .35 (2.93 and 2.58). (Reports of Provost-Marshal General, Vol. I., and of Surgeon General of U.S.A., 1893-95.) The indication is not in itself infallible, but it has great significance in connection with other corroborative evidence.

Lung capacity is not chest mobility, but the two are closely related. Gould's measurements indicate a very decidedly smaller number of cubic inches of air in case of the Negro, and this for all heights and weights. The White excess increases steadily from eight cubic inches (for under-heights, sixty inches) up to fifteen and one-half cubic inches for over-heights (seventy-one inches), but falls back to fourteen and one-half for six-footers. On the other hand, this White excess falls from twenty-five and one-half cubic inches for narrow chests (30 inches) down to two cubic inches for large girths (40 inches); but its uniform presence shows that the excess is a fact, whatever may be the varying size of the fact. Here again the indication is unambiguous that the Negro is short-winded, weak-lunged as compared with his White rival.

This indication is immensely strengthened by combination with another exceedingly important fact. It has been said that the Negro is stouter than the White, at all ages and all statures, weighing more per inch of height. Now this extra weight per vertical inch is considered of all outward signs the best for lung strength and lung soundness. "Are you gaining in weight?" is the all-important question that the physician asks of his tuberculotic patient. The Negro has (or had) here very much outwardly in his favour; the lower height, the heavier build, the greater girth of chest; so important is the single item of weight that it is held on the basis of the broadest induction that even a very slight overplus in heaviness may suffice to counteract effectively a hereditary disposition towards tubercle, while actuaries are agreed that slightness in proportion to age and height greatly determines susceptibility to consumption.

And yet, in spite of all, he is the peculiar victim of tuberculosis, which attacks him not only with great and increasing frequency, but with especial malignance. Of his enormous death rate from lung affections, we have yet to speak. Here we would merely point out the obvious conclusion, that histologically the Negro thus appears inferior to the White man; not only do his tissues offer ready lodgement to the invading bacillus, but they offer far less stubborn and protracted resistance to such inroads when once in progress.