Page:The Relations of the Advanced and the Backward Races of Mankind.djvu/48

 the higher teaching, while Muslims have risen to the level of the lower.

It is worth remarking that in respect if not of their practical treatment of the Backward races, yet of their attitude towards them, Roman Catholics have been more disposed to a recognition of equality than have Protestants. The Spaniard is the proudest of mankind. He treated the aborigines of the New World as harshly as ever the Teutonic peoples have done. But he does not look down upon, nor hold himself aloof from, the negro or the Indian as the Teutons do. May this be partly owing to the powers of the Catholic priesthood and the doctrine of Transubstantiation? An Indian or a negro priest—and in Mexico the priests are mostly Indians—is raised so high by the majesty of his office that he lifts his race along with him.

The tremendous problem presented by the Southern States of America, and the likelihood that similar problems will have to be solved elsewhere, as, for instance, in South Africa and the Philippine Isles, bid us ask, What should be the duty and the policy of a dominant race where it cannot fuse with a backward race? Duty and policy are one, for it is equally to the interest of both races that their relations should be friendly.