154 



The Journal cf Heredity 



"The negro's intellectual deficiency 

 is registered in the retardation ler- 

 centages of the schools as well as in 

 mental tests. And in view of all the 

 evidence it dees not seem jKJSsible to 

 raise the scholastic attainment of the 

 negro to an equality with that of the 

 white. It is i)robable that no ex]}endi- 

 ture of time and mone\- would accom- 

 plish this end, since education cannot 

 create mental power, but can onlx- 

 develop that which is innate. 



"The movement toward induslrial 

 education for the negro finds sanction 

 in the studies of his i)s>-chology. With- 

 out great ability in the processes of 

 abstract thought, the negro is yet very 

 caj)ab]c in the sensory and inotor 

 l)owers which are involved in manual 

 work. And economy would indicate 

 that training should be concentrated 

 u\)(m those capacities which promise 

 the l:est return for the educative effort 

 expended. vSocial conditions, of course, 

 have been the main incentive to the 

 growth of industrial education among 

 negroes, and in themselves they are 

 sufficient reason for emijhasizing an 

 intensely practical training. But the 

 mental nature of the negro gives reason 

 for believing thai lliis sort of education 

 is the only one which will avoid great 

 waste. 



"But while it thus aj^j^ears that for the 

 colored ])0]nilation as a whole a manual 

 is more ]jractical)1e than a literary 

 education, it must not be overlooked 

 that there are Individual colored persons 

 of great ability. The widely held 

 doctrine that the negro's mental growth 

 comes to a comparative standstill at 

 adolescence does not find corroboration 

 in the results of tests. ... So far as 

 has been demonstrated, the negro's 

 intellectual development proceeds as 

 ra])idly after ])uberty as does that of 

 the white." 



LEADERS .\KK .MIL.XTTOES 



Although mulatloes make uj) only 

 about one-fourth of the colored p()])ula- 

 tion of the United States, their superior 

 ability, due to the possession of white 

 blood, and shown in the tests above 

 mentioned, leads one to expect that of 

 colored pfiijilr who show ability, more 



will be mulatt(;es than full-blooded 

 negn es. This is, in fact, exactly the 

 situation that a survey of eminent 

 c()l( )re(l ] jersons shows. hY'rguson makes 

 som.e interesting calculations, based on 

 Galton's law of deviation from the 

 average, as to the number of eminent 

 peoi)le to be exi)ected in the po]>ulation 

 of the United States. Considering 

 only white men, pure negro men, and 

 mulatto men, he finds that "if all three 

 classes have the same ability, there will 

 I e 4,464 eminent white men, 397 

 eminent jnire negroes and 99 eminent 

 mulaltoes," the standard of eminence 

 being that laid down by Oalton, viz., 

 attainment so great that it is reached by 

 only one man in 4,300. 



"But if we assume that pure negroes 

 average 75% of white ability and that 

 mulattoes average 87.5% of white 

 abilitN', we find the following situation 

 growing out of the law of deviation 

 from an average. In a million of each 

 class of men there will be 248 whites, 15 

 mulattoes, and 1 jnire negro who will 

 attain the abo\'e-mentioned degree of 

 eminence. Considering the number of 

 these three classes in the total popula- 

 tion, there will be 4,464 eminent whites, 

 6 eminent mulattoes and 2 eminent 

 negroes in the United States. 



"These figures are suggestive. If we 

 take it that there are 4,464 eminent 

 white men in America, there are cer- 

 tainly not 397 ])ure negroes and 99 

 mulattoes of the same degree of emi- 

 nence. There are more nearly 6 mulat- 

 toes and 2 imre negroes to 4,464 eminent 

 whites. Definite figures are not obtain- 

 able, but such lists of men of achieve- 

 ment as have been comi)iled accord 

 with the latter set of figures far more 

 closely than with the fonner." 



This method of deduction, therefore, 

 seems to Fergu.son to conlimi his tests, 

 and those of other psychologists (of 

 whose work he gives a valuable review), 

 and to indicate that "the white type 

 has attained a higher level of develop- 

 ment, based upon the common elemen- 

 tary capacities, which the negro has not 

 reached to the same degree;" that the 

 difference is germinal and cannot be 

 modified by education or any environ- 

 mental changes. 



