Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 22.djvu/451

Rh consideration that the census for 1880 was made under a new and improved law, and by enumerators who, as a body, were thoroughly qualified, ought to be considered as settling the matter, and placing the error at the door of the preceding census. It is to be observed, in passing, that if the error, as practically it does, bears equally against white and black alike, however the figures for the two races, taken absolutely, may vary from the truth, yet are they still a proximate guide, considered relatively, to the comparative rate of increase of the races.

It is estimated that five per cent from the rate of gain for the entire Southern blacks, as by census for 1880, is a fair allowance for this error, making their real gain about thirty per cent. Yet, as an obvious consideration points to the conclusion that the blacks will for the future develop in the South under conditions more and more favorable, it is not unreasonable to think that, in subsequent decades, this five per cent will be regained.

That consideration is the more complete adjustment of the black man to his new surroundings. His comparative helplessness