SOUTHERN RACE PROBLEMS 371 



environmental conditions and to the influence of general ideas and 

 movements of thought. Whatever variations have appeared in the 

 physical and psychical types among the various peoples are due to differ- 

 ences in the mixtures of the original strains of blood, with the accom- 

 panying differences in the contributions of hereditary mental predispo- 

 sitions received by the respective peoples, plus subsequent adaptations 

 to environmental conditions. But behind all the differences lies a 

 common kinship of blood and of tradition, which has operated to produce 

 the unit we call western European culture ; and this racial kinship is the 

 principal reason why it is not difficult for one group of western Euro- 

 peans to adopt without revolutionizing it the culture of another group. 

 Furthermore, as a powerful factor assisting in the formation and growth 

 of this western European culture, and aiding constantly in keeping it 

 homogeneous, is the fact that the several strains of blood, particularly 

 in the higher levels of society where most of the productive thinking is 

 done, are incessantly mixing, and there are being interchanged inces- 

 santly, through heredity, the mental predispositions peculiar to the 

 groups thus crossing. The people of western Europe and the white por- 

 tion of American population, for the most part, are a sort of "blend" 

 of similar racial stocks, presenting similar though not identical bio- 

 logical characteristics; and the varieties of this "blend," expressed in 

 such terms as " English," " Dutch," and so forth, are due to differences 

 in the numerical relationships of the contributing stocks forming these 

 peoples. So, too, western European culture is a sort of "blend" of 

 cultures, and the varieties of this "blend" parallel the varieties in the 

 physical characteristics of the various peoples. 



The same statements apply to any other group of people presenting 

 a special, characteristic type of culture. The Chinese are an example; 

 they differ among themselves in certain respects ; they are a " blend " of 

 races and their present culture is a "blend" of cultures. Yet Chinese 

 culture is definite, peculiar and recognizable, and it is essentially Mon- 

 golian, just as our culture is essentially European. Behind the differ- 

 ences among the various groups in China lie their common Mongolian 

 blood and their common store of traditions, the influences of which have 

 moulded them into what they are to-day. Exactly the same statements 

 apply to the Negroes. They have, physically and mentally, definite and 

 easily recognizable characteristics, indicative of a common origin dif- 

 ferent from our own, and expressed in a similarity of Negro cultures 

 throughout the world. 



The fact of race as a physical and mental phenomenon is evident to 

 every one. The peoples of the world differ, and often differ funda- 

 mentally; and these differences are ineradicable as long as the strain of 

 blood remains unimpaired. On the physical side, this principle has 

 long been an axiom. " Can the Ethiopian change his skin ? " asks Jere- 

 miah. "We can not, do what we will with environment, change to any 



