In the South Atlantic States, he furnished 8,863 prisoners against 2,544 Whites; not 37 per cent. of the population, but over 77 per cent. of the trespass; proportionally, he offended almost six times as often as the Whites. In the South Central the prison record stood: Whites 5,604, Blacks 10,381; the populations are as 6,828 to 3,171; the Black appears nearly four times as criminal as the White.
It is often urged that the comparative criminality of the Negro in the South is exaggerated. The White transgressor has friends, money, and social position and manages to evade the law; the Negro is poor, friendless, and outcast and falls an easy victim. In a measure, this may be true—we are ashamed to confess; but it cannot alter the general fact, only its degree. On the other hand, very many offences of Black against Black must go unchallenged by the law, both from apathy and from fear. These two considerations, very likely, about balance each other. It is thoroughly decisive, however, that the Negro appears a greater criminal in the North and East, where there is no prejudice against him than in the South, where the prejudice is supposed to be so strong. If we compare the states, we may see this even more clearly. In Massachusetts, the prisoners were: Whites 5,157, Blacks 161. Since the latter formed not 1 per cent. of the population, their criminality appears over three times as great as the White; yet they are, presumably, the very elect of the race—the best Negroes in the world. In New York, there were 10,745 White prisoners and 723 Black; but the latter numbered only 117 per myriad; hence, their criminality was six times as great as the White. In Pennsylvania there were 5,749 White prisoners and 738 Black; but the latter formed little over 2 per cent. of the population; hence, again, their criminality was six times that of the White. In West Virginia there were 320 Whites in prisons and 130 Blacks; these latter formed not 5 per cent. of the population; they were seven times as criminal as the White. Washington City is the Mecca of the Negro; there, if anywhere on earth, he should show himself at his best. What is the prison record? Whites 138, Blacks 358; yet he numbers only 328 per thousand—he is more than five times as criminal as the Whites. In Ohio there were 481 Black prisoners, representing only 247 per myriad of the population, and 2,415 Whites; again, an eightfold criminality. In Michigan there is no prejudice against the Negro, but rather for him, and how stands the court record? He numbers only 73 per myriad of the population, yet he furnishes 141 prisoners against 1,998 Whites—this time a criminality tenfold! In the South his record is seemingly better. In Louisiana the Blacks numbered one-half, but the population of the prisons was 367 Whites, 1,238 Blacks; the latter were not quite fourfold criminal. In Alabama the population-ratio was 5,516 to 4,484, but the prison-ratio was 422 to 2,096. On dividing the former by the latter, we find the crime-ratio of six to one. In Mississippi, the population-ratio was 4,342 to 5,658; the prison-ratio was 119 to 1,058; their quotient, the crime-ratio, was over six to one.
In Virginia the ratio is over six, in South Carolina under six, in Indiana nearly five, in Georgia over eight, in Illinois nearly nine.
Thus it appears that the Negro everywhere, many times oftener than the White man, falls into prison; but in the North still oftener than in the South, and not only is he relatively more frequently criminal in the North—he is absolutely so. For, to judge from the court records, the South is in general more law-abiding than the North.
It may be useful here to give a table of the criminality of the five grand divisions in the census years 1880 and 1890, giving the number of prisoners per million of population, with the increase of each division in ten years;
| 1890 | 1880 | Increase | ||
| United States | 1,315 | 1,169 | 146 | |
| North Atlantic | 1,624 | 1,425 | 199 | |
| South Atlantic | 1,288 | 1,043 | 245 | |
| North Central | 888 | 862 | 26 | |
| South Central | 1,466 | 1,250 | 216 | |
| Western | 2,221 | 2,199 | 22 |
Here the great North Central appears by far most law-abiding. The reason is, the criminality is raised by foreigners in the East, by the Negro in the South, by the adventurer in the West. On comparing the total number of prisoners North and South with the total populations, we find that there were in the South about six prisoners per myriad of Whites, and twenty-nine prisoners per myriad of Blacks; whereas in the North were twelve prisoners per myriad Whites, and sixty-nine prisoners per myriad Blacks. On going from South to North, we find the prison numbers exactly doubled among the Whites, but much more than doubled among the Blacks.
But our tables can teach us still more. The increase from 1880 to 1890 is worth attention. In the West and the North Central region, it was only slight—twenty-two and twenty-six per million; but both in the South Central and the South Atlantic, it was very great—216 and 245 per million. To whom was it due? To the Black, or to the White? In part to both, but far more to the former. The White increase was only seven per cent., the Black was twenty-seven per cent. Worse than this, however, in the North the White increase was hardly five per cent., but the Black increase was thirty-five per cent.—whence it appears that in criminality the Negro, especially the educated Northern Negro, is striding forward in seven-league boots.
Closely akin to this latter fact is still another—the still higher criminality of the Mulatto. In the whole United States, the pure Blacks outnumber the mixed breeds about six to one; in the North Atlantic division, about twenty to six, or three to one; in the South Atlantic, nearly seven to one; in the North Central, over two to one; in the South Central, about six to one; in the West, under two to one. Now we have already seen that precisely where the Mulattoes most abound, the Negro is most criminal. Still more definitely, we have these facts of the eleventh census (1890). Of Blacks there were in city prisons 898 pure, 170 mixed—five to one; in workhouses, 1,004 pure, 333 mixed—three to one; in juvenile reformatories, 1,418 pure, 512 mixed—three to one; leased out (not in penitentiaries), 1,700 pure, 295 mixed—five to one; altogether, in penitentiaries 10,884 pure, 3,383 mixed—only three to one; whence, it appears, that the pure Black exceeds the Mulatto more in numbers than in criminals—that is, the Mulatto is the greater offender. This result accords with the African proverb quoted by Livingstone: "A god made the white; who made the black I know not; but surely the devil made the mongrel."
The champions of the oppressed will have much to say in avoidance of the foregoing—nothing, however, that is both forceful and relevant. They may urge that the offences of the Negro are mainly trivial, that he is not to be judged too harshly for his penchant towards henroosts; that such a little thing as a chicken must not be allowed to separate him from civilization and Christianity. But the facts look the other way. The great crimes are the ones that swell his list; his slight offences are mainly against his own kith and kin, and very frequently go unpunished. The court records, as in Alabama, [ [40] ] show that he aspires to the heights of felony. He is murderous, he excels in arson, he forges with a will. Of the crime of all crimes he enjoys almost the proud monopoly, and he plies it in spite of the swiftest, surest, savagest of all possible penalties. His defenders have here excogitated a most ingenious plea. This crime against woman is not a reversion to barbarism; it is not a yielding to ungovernable and brutal lust—oh, no! It is, they say, a deep-studied revenge; it is an attack by the oppressed on the race of the oppressor. In the person of his victim, the Black avenger would hurl defiance and desecration at the whole tribe of his persecutors. We are not concerned to refute such nonsense. He that can find satisfaction in thus swapping off bestiality for diabolism, let him find it. We merely note, in passing, that the North has recently shown itself as little tolerant as the South of such assaults on the integrity of the race. To be sure, there are many crimes, and many of appalling proportions, from which the Negro does greatly abstain. He does not corrupt legislatures, he does not thwart justice, he does not evade the Constitution, he does not defy the acts of Congress, he does not frame tariff schedules, he does not assume divine vice-gerency, he does not water stock and crush competition and servilize millions, he does not even buy and sell franchises, nor divide rake-offs, nor stuff ballot boxes, nor muzzle the press, nor indulge in other such venialities. But is there any one that does not know the reason? The Negro is not equal to these iniquities. There fail him both ability and opportunity. But if any one doubts for an instant that, according to the measure of his might, he has improved and will improve whatever stray chance may fall in his way, in fashion that would even make St. Louis blush, we would respectfully recommend to such a Nathanael a study of Presidential nominating conventions or any faithful history of Reconstruction.