“Who sows to the wind shall reap the whirlwind.” So to-day all other domestic problems or questions pale before—“What shall be done about the Negro? The mob acts upon it, conventions of learned sociologists discuss it. Every superficial thinker has a solution of the problem,—ready

made, but never in good working order. The Negro is such a problem in our society mainly, no doubt, because he represents the chief criminal element,—how criminal, let statistics, by way of comparison, declare:

In the Northern and Western States in 1910, one white person was in a penal institution for every 982 of the white population, and one Negro for every 123 of the Negro population; while in the South, the ratio was one to every 2014 for the white, and one Negro to every 308 of the Negro population. Thus in the North Negroes had eight times their proportion in prison, and in the South six and one-half times. That Negro crime is on the increase is evidenced by the fact that in 1890 the Negroes had hardly six times their proportion in prison in the North, and hardly five times their share in the South.

In this connection statistical tables should be helpful and interesting as well. Table I gives a comparative showing of whites and Negroes in some State penitentiaries. Instead of giving the number of prisoners on hand at a certain time, some prison reports give the number received and discharged during a certain period of time while a few give both. In Table II is given the number of prisoners received by the penitentiaries of a few States during a specified time.

TABLE I

StatePopulation in 1910Number in PenitentiaryTimes the Number of Negroes to
Whites, Year 1910, or Thereabouts
WhiteNegro YearWhiteNegro
Alabama1,228,833908,88219022015257-
19104161,976
19143572,252
Georgia1,431,8021,176,98719052911,98911
19102482,300
19143802,692
19164123,170
Mississippi786,1111,009,48719011079287+
19131561,552
19151451,336
Maryland1,062,639232,25019063545868-
1910369663
1915402682
Tennessee1,711,432473,08819105321,2368-
19126131,297
19146511,208
Arkansas1,131,026442,89119062446038-
1912213643
Texas3,204,848690,04919081,0941,9878+
19101,1192,095
Louisiana941,086713,89419042491,1435+
19103821,663
19153821,663
Kentucky2,027,951261,65619116037299.4
1915674726
Connecticut1,098,89715,1741904419528.4
191054263
191457856
Kansas1,634,35254,030190287429917-
1914508269
New Jersey2,445,89489,76019101,0493469
19151,020329
Ohio4,654,897111,45219091,21640715-
19111,110417
Vermont354,2981,6211904149512-
17-
19101478
191216713
191421213

TABLE II[76:1]

StatePopulation in 1910 Convicts Received at
the Penitentiary During—		 Times as
Many Negroes
as Whites
Committed
in Proportion
to Population
of Each Race
WhiteNegroYear WhiteNegro
Arkansas1,131,026442,891Nov. 1, 1912
to
Oct. 31, 1914		606776 3.4
Alabama1,228,832908,882Sept. 1, 1910
to
Aug. 31, 1914		5872,414 6-
N. Dakota569,855617July 1, 1908
to
June 30, 1910		21711 43
Missouri3,124,932157,4521906 51330611+
1909560374
1910543303
1912660389
1914803378
Maryland1,062,639232,250Year Ending
Nov. 30, 1910		129199 7+
Texas3,204,848690,049Sept. 1, 1908
to
Oct. 31, 1910		8351,251 7
Louisiana941,086913,87419102025494-
1915257654
Ohio4,654,897111,452Year Ending
Oct. 31, 1907		40214514-
Year Ending
Oct. 31, 1910		504169
W. Virginia1,156,81764,173Two Years
Ending
Sept. 30, 1908		519428 15