Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/285

Rh country he will mix with the whites until in a half century or less, there will not be a person of pure negro blood in it. It follows from this that there will be, in accordance with the usual rate of increase, an im- mense population of mulattoes, where there should be an equal number of whites. The deterioration thus re- sulting would tell disastrously on our intellectual and moral, and consequently on our political, prosperity. In view of these facts, it appears to me that the sur- plus in the treasury could not be better spent, and the navy of the country be better employed, than in the transportation of these people to Africa, where they can work out their own destiny, whatever that may be. The necessity seems to me to be great and urgent, and nothing but an ignorance of the facts of the case can prevent its being felt to be such by every white citizen of this republic. It is not denied by me that the negro has various merits, and that in particular instances men of that race have risen to deserved prominence. But the gen- eral result is not altered by these exceptions. Senator Morgan's bill, or something like it, should be passed promptly, and its provisions carried into effect before the burden becomes greater, and the material condi- tions beyond our control. These last words are prophetic in the extreme. Cope has been dead a number of years now, and it looks very much to me as though " the burden " had most decidedly become " greater, and the material condi- tions beyond our control." The negroes themselves are not nearly so much averse to their leaving this country as many would have us believe; indeed, a very large proportion of them are heartily in favor of some kind of an emigra- tion scheme. In support of this fact, I here publish some of their views on the subject set forth in the newspapers of the country for the past ten years or more. Thousands of them are ready to emigrate now.