THE 



POPULAR SCIENCE 

 MONTHLY. 



FEBRUARY, 1883. 



THE AFKICAN IN THE UNITED STATES. 



By Professor E. W. GILLIAM. 



THE future of the African in the United States is, in the judg- 

 ment of many, the gravest question of the day. It must, from 

 its nature, swell in volume and thrust itself forward more and more ; 

 and though the evils as depicted in these pages he in their worst forms 

 comparatively remote, yet, if there he real grounds for them, the time 

 for action in seeking and applying a remedy lies in the present. The 

 far-reaching and critical character of the subject demands that it 

 should be approached without political bias, and treated solely from 

 the point of view of the national welfare. 



In this spirit the reader is referred to the tabulated figures on a 

 succeeding page, derived from an analysis of the census of the United 

 States, and of several of the Southern States, for each decade from 

 1830 to 1880 inclusive, and showing the rate per cent of increase or 

 decrease of the white and the black population for the basis of the 

 following discussion. 



The very high rate of increase for the whites in the United States, 

 in the first, second, and third decades, is due to a copious immigration 

 adding itself to a lesser population. As the population of a country 

 swells, and tbe immigration remains about the same, the rate per cent 

 of increase falls. 



The enormous rate of increase in several of the States, in the early 

 decades, notably Arkansas and Mississippi, is altogether abnormal, and 

 readily accounted for. These were then new regions, just opening to 

 settlers, and the older slave States poured into their rich bosoms an 

 overwhelming tide. Multitudes of whites, with and without slaves,. 

 like bees from a hive, swarmed forth from tbe older States, to settle 

 in these cheap and productive parts. Hence it is that South Carolina,, 

 vol. xxii. 23 



