A Review of Hoffman's Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro: The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 1 — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
A Review of Hoffman's Race Traits and Tendencies of the American Negro: The American Negro Academy. Occasional Papers No. 1
John Stuart Mill · en
The following quotation from Senator Mills reflects the opinion of many
eminent students of public problems as to the accuracy of this
enumeration: "The announcement that our population is only 62,662,250
was a genuine surprise, not only to those who looked for the dark side
of the picture, but also to those whose faith in the administration and
its census bureau had never for a moment wavered. The census of 1880
gave 50,155,783. The present returns give an increase of 12,466,476,
which is at the rate of 24.86 per cent. That this number is not even
approximately correct may be seen by comparing the increase in this
decade with the gain in others which have preceded it. Any alleged fact
that is without the pale of probability stands impeached at the very
threshold of the inquiry, and must be verified by competent evidence."
Basing his estimates upon the school census, the Senator continues: "The
state of Texas is deprived, by the incorrect returns, of at least three
representatives in Congress. Alabama loses 240,000, Tennessee and North
Carolina 170,000 each, and Virginia, Kentucky, and Louisiana 100,000
each."[10] Whatever force there may be in the protest of the eloquent
Texas Senator, applies with special emphasis to the colored element; for
it goes without saying that errors in enumeration in the South would be
confined mainly to the Negro race, and since the bulk of the race is
confined to this section such errors would have a most disastrous effect
upon its rate of increase as shown by the census reports.
The following table exhibits the development of the colored population
for the last one hundred years, as well as its decennial rates of
increase and percentage of the total population.
_Colored Population of the United States._
Year. Colored Decennial Increase Per cent
Population. Increase. per cent in of total
10 years. population.
1790 757,208 ....... ..... 19.27
1800 1,002,037 244,829 32.33 18.88
1810 1,377,808 375,771 37.50 19.03
1820 1,771,656 393,848 28.50 18.39
1830 2,328,642 556,986 31.44 18.10
1840 2,873,648 545,006 23.44 16.84
1850 3,638,808 765,169 26.63 15.69
1860 4,441,830 803,022 22.07 14.13
1870[11] 5,391,000 949,170 21.37 13.84
1880 6,580,793 1,189,793 22.07 13.12
1890 7,470,040 889,247 13.51 11.93