248 THE TREND OF THE RACE 



without being impressed with the fact that prejudice and precon- 

 ceived opinions have greatly influenced the verdict of a large 

 proportion of those who have dealt with the problem. It is no 

 easy matter in most cases to distinguish the effects of race cross- 

 ing per se from the influence of the social environment under 

 which the cross breed lives. The product of race mixture is very 

 frequently a person of unsettled social status. He is more or less 

 alienated from both races from which he sprang. His associations 

 are only two frequently with the worst elements of the more culti- 

 vated stock. The family environment and traditions under 

 which he is brought up are often less favorable than they are for 

 the offspring of either pure race. Contact between whites and 

 natives has effected the debauchery of the native women, in- 

 creased addiction to alcohol, and the introduction of tubuculosis 

 and other diseases which are apt to be especially severe upon the 

 inferior race. The spread of venereal diseases with the most 

 deplorable influence upon the native and mixed population is an 

 occurrence which has been repeated almost times without number 

 wherever civilized man has mingled with more primitive peoples. 

 Where race mixture occurs old customs which form the chief 

 restraining influence on conduct become broken up; tribal feeling 

 and character are weakened, and moral laxity naturally follows. 



The saddest pages of history are those which deal with the 

 relations of the white man with his less enlightened brethren. 

 The whites may have introduced missionaries, salvation, and a 

 measure of education, but they have also brought syphilis, de- 

 bauchery, industrial slavery and not infrequently extinction. 



There can be little doubt that the shortcomings frequently 

 attributed to mongrel stocks are the result of causes quite inde- 

 pendent of heredity. Nevertheless, nothing is more common 

 than to find the defects and vices as well as the virtues of mixed 

 races attributed to the influence of race mixture per se. An opin- 

 ion on race mixture which is frequently appealed to is that of 

 Prof. Agassiz who says, in speaking of the mixed population of 

 Brazil, "Let any one who doubts the evil of this mixture of races, 

 and is inclined from mistaken philanthropy to break down all 



