president's address. 13 



borderland of racial purity. To these may be added, perhaps, 

 genius, character, some outstanding quality on the part of man 

 or woman, on the one side or the other, which tempts to a leap 

 over the racial barrier. 



It is evident that in neither of the policies indicated can 

 we find a permanent or satisfactory solution of our problem, 

 or even a temporary method of treatment which can be contem- 

 plated with equanimity. 



(e) There remains what Science points out as the only true 

 method of dealing with such a question as this : the clear con- 

 ception of the facts involved in race consciousness, the candid 

 recognition of the basal right of all races and every human being 

 to live and advance, which must be followed by such readjust- 

 ments of social and political relationships as may be found 

 desirable and practicable. It is here we find great fundamental 

 factors neglected, and a trailing of false scents across the line 

 which confuses the main issue. 



The mental hysteria which has been manifested here and 

 there in South Africa and in the Southern States of America 

 in pogrom-like attacks on natives is at once lowering to our 

 conception of the white race, and an intensifying of the complica- 

 tions already involved in our problem. We dare not contem- 

 plate the idea of turning South Africa into a permanently armed 

 camp as between white and coloured races, and the cost of 

 tolerance and helpfulness on the part of the white man toward? 

 the native may as well be faced honestly and fearlessly. Other- 

 wise we force the matter into the hands of the agitator, whose 

 opportunities will increase and not lessen as the years pass, unless 

 the nation is aroused to its responsibilities. 



Accepting the present superiority of the white race and its 

 civilisation, we cannot escape the obligations and responsibilities 

 of that superiority. Though scientific experiment and theory 

 may not directly concern character, yet we cannot, in adopting 

 a method which asks for all the facts, explain race consciousness 

 and either justify or condemn its expression, or attempt to 

 improve its outward relations without recognizing the ethical 

 element. 



Starting on the lower ground, science allots to objects and 

 organisms the functions of which they are capable, and, in 

 utilizing them, suggests the aid needed in performing- such func- 

 tional operations to the best advantage. 



The coloured races are no longer in the dark concerning 

 their own potentialities, and the social, economic and political 

 rights which are enshrined therein. Chinese, Japanese, and 

 Indian on the higher platform, and African on the lower, arc 

 advancing with strides, which in some instances are assuming 

 gigantic proportions, and, as one has tersely put it, " The race 

 must come to terms with the races." 



We cannot, if the dictates of science are to be obeyed, place 

 the native life, with which we are in contact, and our treatment 

 of it, on a lower plane than that of our growing crops and 



