But the Negro, son of a wild and tropical race, content for thousands of years to roam the jungles of Africa, supplied by bountiful nature with all his heart’s desire, failing thus to develop any controlling trait of character, or mental stamina, and although civilizations rose and fell beside him, it meant nothing to him. And even now in the midst of American civilization he is moved to action, mainly, by the gusts of primitive emotion and passion. This is the creature that was expected to take an equal share in the government of the most enlightened and progressive people that the world has ever known. “Who sows to the wind shall reap the whirlwind.” So to-day all other domestic problems or questions pale before—“What shall be done about the Negro? The mob acts upon it, conventions of learned sociologists discuss it. Every superficial thinker has a solution of the problem,—ready made, but never in good working order. The Negro is such a problem in our society mainly, no doubt, because he represents the chief criminal element,—how criminal, let statistics, by way of comparison, declare: In the Northern and Western States in 1910, _one_ white person was in a penal institution for every 982 of the white population, and _one_ Negro for every 123 of the Negro population; while in the South, the ratio was _one_ to every 2014 for the white, and _one_ Negro to every 308 of the Negro population. Thus in the North Negroes had eight times their proportion in prison, and in the South six and one-half times. That Negro crime is on the increase is evidenced by the fact that in 1890 the Negroes had hardly six times their proportion in prison in the North, and hardly five times their share in the South. In this connection statistical tables should be helpful and interesting as well. Table I gives a comparative showing of whites and Negroes in some State penitentiaries. Instead of giving the number of prisoners on hand at a certain time, some prison reports give the number received and discharged during a certain period of time while a few give both. In Table II is given the number of prisoners received by the penitentiaries of a few States during a specified time. TABLE I Times the Number of Negroes to State Population in 1910 Number in Penitentiary Whites, --------------------- ---------------------- Year 1910, White Negro Year White Negro or Thereabouts --------------------------------------------------------------------------- { 1902 201 525 } Alabama 1,228,833 908,882 { 1910 416 1,976 } 7- { 1914 357 2,252 }