The official census of the coloured people in the United
States reveals some remarkable facts. The compilers declare that the widespread fears as to the Negro rate of increase are illusory. Even in the " 131ack Belt "—that is, the South Atlantic and South Central States—the Blacks have increased within the ten years only by 13.90 per cent., while the Whites have increased by 24.67 per cent., a rate nearly double that of their rivals. At this pace, it will be a hundred years before the Blacks number twenty millions. No explanation is offered of the difference in the rate of increase, but it is probably due to the mortality among Negro children, owing to insanitary conditions. It is found that freedom does not tempt the Negroes to move northward, their tendency, which, though slight, is perceptible, being towards the States of the Gulf, and the warmer climates generally. The return will allay many apprehensions, and probably soften feeling, especially in the North, which, being itself unmenaced, can study the great problem more coolly than the South is capable of doing.
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