124 Eugene Rollin Corson 



tion fearlessly, and we may say successfully, for with surpris- 

 ing rapidity they become an integral part of our white popu- 

 lation. Though many fall by the wayside, many fight their 

 way to the front. The struggle is not so great for them as in 

 the older country. Of the same great race, brain and spine 

 are equally pitted, and they run the same chances with the 

 multitude. This southward migration then of the colored is 

 a most significant fact. 



Though I, of course, put a high value upon the census 

 enumeration, I have always regarded the question of relative 

 mortality as the pith of the whole matter. In the census enu- 

 meration there are many sources of error, and the}' have been 

 most evident in several of the censuses. On the contrary, in 

 a study of the relative mortality of the two races living to- 

 gether under similar conditions of soil and climate, the mor- 

 bific tendencies which produce these racial differences come 

 directly before the observing physician, and the}' soon be- 

 come so evident that he who runs may read. I feel quite 

 sure that there is not a competent physician practicing in the 

 south among the two races who will not assure you promptly, 

 that the colored race has not the vitality of the white race, 

 and he will immediately show you in how man}' ways this 

 has been brought home to him. A southern city, then, with 

 a large population of white and colored, becomes a great 

 " culture *' ground where the many factors in the struggle for 

 individual and racial life can be scientifically studied. I 

 therefore purpose to show more plainly the sources of this 

 greater mortality among the colored, and draw more sharply 

 the perspective lines which lead to but one goal, the decadence 

 of the negro as a race. To this end I have studied carefully 

 the mortuary records of my own city, and I shall show that 

 they tally fairly well with the mortality tables of the Tenth 

 Census, prepared under the supervision of Dr. John S. 

 Billings, in volumes XI and XII. The corresponding vol- 

 umes to come of the Eleventh Census will show even more 

 clearly, I believe, these great racial differences. 



Reviewing the general mortality one is struck with the ex- 

 cessive mortality under the first year of life which in a meas- 



