Race Problems Arise 'From Concentration of Certain Peoples Other Than White,' Says Editor, Sept. 5, 1921

Census Reflections

The vast stores of information gathered last year by the census takers of the country are now being classified and card-indexed that this information may be of genuine service for the country. The population of the country was the first fact given out and it was found that there are 105,710,620 people in the United States.

The enumerators found out some interest facts about the divisions of the vast number of people as to racial lines. They discovered that 94,822,431 of them are white; that 10,463,013 belong to the Negro race; 111,025 are Japanese; 61,686 are Chinese; 242,959 are Indians and 9,605 constitute a “miscellaneous” class. Of every thousand people in the United States 897 are white, 99 are black, 2 ¼ are red, and 1 ¾ are yellow. In view of the representations by our friends from California as to the imminence of the “yellow peril,” these figures do not impress the reader as constituting such a menace. The Japanese alone constitute about 1/16th of 1 per cent of our population. However, when we compare the ratio of races in California alone, we may assume that the attitude of the people of that state is due in large measure to the absence of perspective in their vision. In California there is one yellow man to every 32 ½ whites. The Chinese and Japanese, therefore, constitute approximately 3 per cent of the population of that state. This would not seem to constitute a ration sufficiently large to warrant a campaign threatening the friendly relations between our country and Japan.

We would not need the census figures to indicate that there is a larger percentage of colored people in the south than in other parts of the country. However, to be told that in two southern states, South Carolina and Mississippi, the majority of residents are of the colored race is somewhat startling. In Mississippi there are 94 negroes to 85 whites. This is one of the states which has shown a decrease in population during the last 10 years.

The Indian has ceased to create a race problem in this country, doubtless due to the fact that his race is scattered over a large area. Arizona has the largest percentage of Indians. In that state there are 3 redmen to every 29 whites, the Indians constituting approximately 10 per cent of the entire population.

Our race problems seem therefore, to arise from the concentration of certain peoples other than white, rather than to the ratios they bear to the total of our population.

The lead editorial from The Charlotte News, Monday, Sept. 5, 1921, W.C. Dowd, president and general manager, and Julian S. Miller, editor.