population has increased less than 15,000. Virginia in twenty years has gained 312,000 white people, and has gained only 29,000 negroes. North Carolina in the same period has gained, in round figures, 400,000 white people and only 93,000 negroes. Tennessee has gained 400,000 white people and only 77,000 negroes. Missouri has gained 922,000 white people and less than 16,000 negroes. Kentucky has gained almost 500,000 white people and only 13,000 negroes. Negro Density in the Far South. These figures show well enough that the race problem is not destined to be a very formidable one,-whether from the political, the social, or the industrial point of view, in the former slave States of Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Missouri. The negro element in those States remains relatively stationary, while the white population is growing rapidly. If the negro communities in the Northern States like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio are tending to increase by a considerable percentage, they are still very inconsiderable in comparison with the immense general growth of these prosperous States. It is in the States farther South that the negroes are making their principal gains. The State of largest negro preponderance ten years ago was South Carolina, where there were 149,117 negroes to every 100,000 white people. This relative proportion has fallen in ten years to 140,249. It is altogether likely that within twenty-five years the whites will outnumber the blacks in South Carolina. But in Mississippi, where ten years ago there were 136,287 blacks for every 100,000 whites, the proportion has increased to 141,552. These are the only two States now in which the negroes outnumber the whites, although in Alabama and Florida the relative proportion of negroes has increased. Louisiana, on the other hand, the relative decrease of negroes has been very marked. Thus, ten years ago there were 100, 143 negroes to each 100,000 whites, whereas the new census shows only 89,199 negroes to 100,000 whites. In Georgia, the proportions of the races have remained almost stationary, there being now 87,600 for every 100,000 whites, whereas ten years ago there were 87,781. In Alabama, there are now 82, 636, and in Florida 77,600, blacks for every 100,000 whites. All this points toward the concentration of the colored population in the relatively low and warm regions of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. There has also been a greater proportionate increase of blacks than of whites in Arkansas; but the whites are almost three-quarters of the popu lation, and the negro gain is unimportant. In Alabama's In Alabama, where a little more Constitution than 14 per cent. of the adult male Adopted. whites of American parentage are reported as illiterate, while 59.5 per cent. of the male negroes of voting age are illiterate, it is declared that the new constitution was adopted by popular vote on November 11; and under the operation of the clauses relating to the franchise this entire mass of negro illiteracy will be at once excluded from the voting privilege. Most of the white illiterates will probably be able, under exceptional clauses, to place their names on the registration books. But after a limited period the system will work with practical equality, and every man of whatever race who knows enough to be morally entitled to exercise political privileges will be allowed to register and vote. These Southern franchise systems, viewed broadly in their main features rather than narrowly in their minor details, bid fair to be of advantage to both races. They supply the most powerful incentive to education and personal improvement. They create at once a bold and sweeping division between the enfranchised and the disfranchised, but they do not erect an arbitrary or difficult barrier. An object-lesson in the disadvantages of illiteracy will be constantly before the eyes of the rising generation of both races. The children of native-born Americans will be impelled to follow the example of the American-born children of foreign parents and acquire the rudiments of an ordinary education. cation. These new franchise laws come at a Fresh Zeal for Southern Edu- time when the most thoughtful and intelligent people of the South are more than ever determined to improve publicschool facilities and promote in every way the cause of education. In pursuance of plans set on foot at the Southern Educational Conference, held last spring at Winston-Salem, N. C., a small gathering, composed principally of the members of the executive board of this movement, was held in New York last month, and was attended by some of the most prominent educators of the South. This meeting was so timed as to coincide with the meeting of the directors and officers of the Peabody Fund and the Slater Fund; and the work proposed to be carried on will be in harmony with these. like the Peabody and Slater boards, this new Southern Education Board will not have funds to apportion in direct aid of schools, but it will gather facts, distribute information, and wage a deliberate and continuous propaganda in favor of educational progress. It will do everything in its power to persuade communities to tax themselves for schools, and it will interest itself in Un plans for the provision of competent teachers. It will be prepared to show philanthropists and men of wealth how great is the need of money for educational work in the South, and it will also show how little of the educational benefi cences of the rich men of the country have gone to that portion of the United States where the need and the desert are greatest. For the relative poverty of the South, the responsibility belongs, not to that section, but to the entire country; and it is equally true that the peculiar burdens and problems imposed upon the South by the presence there of millions of negroes be long, of right, to the entire country,-since the North as well as the South was concerned in the origin of those burdens and problems. Leaders and Dr. J. L. M. Curry, of Richmond Aims of the and Washington, who is the execuNew Movement. tive representative of the Peabody and Slater funds, will be the general supervising director of the work of the new Southern Education Board, Mr. Robert C. Ogden, of New York, being chairman of the board, Mr. George Foster Peabody treasurer, and Dr. Charles D. McIver, of North Carolina, secretary. The work of investigation and of the dissemination of printed matter is to be carried on under direction of President Charles W. Dabney, of the University of Tennessee, at Knoxville. Coöperating as active directors in the field with Dr. Curry are President E. A. Alderman, of Tulane University, at New Orleans; President McIver, of the State Normal and Industrial College, at Greensboro, N. C., and Dr. H. B. Frissell, principal of the Normal and Agricultural Institute, at Hampton, Va. This movement is in hearty sympathy with all useful and valuable forms of education for both races, but it recognizes especially the necessity for radical improvement in the public schools for the children of all the people. It believes that the right kind of education is desirable for everybody, and that the best future of our democratic institutions calls for universal education more than for any other one thing. It believes especially in those kinds of education that fit men and women for practical life, those that promote progress in agriculture and industry. It believes that the worst thing that can possibly happen to the negro race in the South is to have any large proportion of the white race kept low in the scale of human advancement through ignorance. The South is fortunate in having active and enthusiastic educational leaders of high accomplishments, broad views, and unselfish devotion. The North has contributed a great deal of money and much noble effort to the work of negro education in the South, but it ought also to contribute with like generosity to the work of Southern white education. It is essential, furthermore, from this time on that Northern men in their educational work in the South for negroes should secure the constant sympathy, coöperation, and advice of the best Southern men in the States or communities where the schools in question are located. It is gratifying to learn from many sources that the institutions for negroes founded in the South by Northern philanthropists are constantly growing in favor, and that the motives and spirit of their work are much better understood among the Southern white people than in former years. The Modern More and more such institutions are Trend of Edu- adapting themselves to the real situacation. tion. Many of them have fairly grasped the idea that the purpose of education for the negro is to make him as good and useful a negro as possible rather than to make him an imitation white man. But the main fact is that the whole business of education, North and South, East and West,-whether for white men, black men, or red men,-is becoming transformed by new ideas to mean something much more and better than mere text-book stuffing. The business of education is to make capable citizens, decent and happy homes, good neighbors, and useful and efficient members of a workaday world. According to the new educational ideas, the young negro who knows some Latin and algebra, but who does not know how to plow corn with a mule, is not only an absurd and ridiculous object, but is probably not so well educated in the deep sense of the word as his illiterate brother who actually understands plain farm work and has the moral character to work faithfully. But a certain amount of book learning is not incompatible with practical training and economic efficiency, and these things should all go together. Republican the West. The most important of the November Victories in elections was that of New York City, in which local issues alone were concerned and party politics not involved. The State elections showed no falling off in the prestige and strength of the Republican party. This was to have been expected, for several reasons. One of these was the assassination of President McKinley. The circumstances attending Mr. McKinley's death so impressed the country with the loftiness of the President's character that honor and credit were reflected upon the party of which he was the leader; while all the words and deeds of Mr. Roosevelt, as successor to Mr. McKinley, were so thoroughly approved by the country as in their turn to strengthen the position of the party in power. Another con dition favorable to Republican success was the continuance of general business prosperity, in spite of the partial failure of the corn crop. And still another ground for Republican victory lay in the fact that the Democratic party had not yet recovered from the factional differences caused by its alliance with the Populists under Mr. Bryan's leadership. The Democrats of Iowa and Nebraska adhered this year to Bryanism, with the result that Mr. Bryan's own State was carried by the Republicans, while the Republican majority in Iowa was unusually large for an off year. new Iowa Legislature will contain about 125 Republicans and 25 Democrats. The plurality of the Governorelect, Hon. Albert B. Cummins, was about 88,000. The Ohio campaign was quiet to the point of The HON. A. B. CUMMINS. (Gov.-elect of Iowa.) apathy. Governor Nash was reëlected by a plu. rality over his Democratic opponent of nearly .68,000. The Republicans carried Hamilton County (Cincinnati), but the Democrats were successful in Cuyahoga County (Cleveland), this being due to the energy with which Mayor Tom L. Johnson infused tax questions and other local issues into the campaign. Results in Pennsylvania. In Pennsylvania, the campaign was rendered very unusual and important by reason of the fact that the Democrats had formed a fusion with independent Republicans in order to wage a campaign on purely State and local issues, with the object of reforming the corrupt conditions that have made Pennsylvania's political reputation so unsavory. It was not, however, a fortunate year in which to fight this particular battle, because the general and national considerations which were favorable to Republican success elsewhere came to the rescue of the regular Republican ticket in Pennsylvania. The plurality, however, of about 50,000 was a small one in view of the huge Republican majorities that Pennsylvania generally gives. The reform movement in the Philadelphia local contest was not successful, but it is left in good position for the greater contest of next year. Meanwhile, the Philadelphia reformers are very much gratified by the fact that certain amend The ments to the State constitution of Pennsylvania were ratified at the polls, these amendments having been originally prepared by the Municipal League of Philadelphia, and their purpose being to pave the way for a personal registration law. chief obstacle to municipal reform in Philadelphia hitherto has been the impossibility of getting an honest vote. According to the statements of the reformers, corroborated from time to time by admissions on the part of their opponents, election frauds on an enormous scale are regularly perpetrated in Philadelphia in the interest of a mercenary political organization that is far worse than Tammany has ever been in New York. These election frauds are difficult to prevent, because of the lack in Pennsylvania of any such system of advance registration of voters, with accompanying safeguards, as exists in New York and other States having large cities. In order to provide proper election laws it was found. HON. FRANKLIN MURPHY. (Gov.-elect of New Jersey.) necessary to amend the Constitution. The New State Elections Jersey Elsewhere. Repub licans elected, by a plurality of more than 17,000, their excellent candidate for the governorship, Hon. Franklin Murphy. In Massachusetts, Gov. William Murray Crane was elected for the third time by a large majority, Hon. Josiah Quincy being the Democratic candidate. The campaign was politely conducted, with compliments as weapons, like a battle of roses. In Connecticut, the principal matter of interest was the election of a constitutional convention. This convention will meet in Hartford early in January. The rural townships will rule it, and will be reluctant to give the cities fair representation. Republicans of Rhode Island elected their State ticket, but the Democrats were successful in electing a mayor in Providence. The Democrats were thoroughly successful in Virginia, electing Hon. Andrew Jackson Montague to the governorship, and securing all but about ten seats in the Legislature. The negroes quite generally abstained from voting. The Democrats of Kentucky have secured a majority in the next Legislature, and will elect a Democrat to the seat in the United States Senate now held by Hon. W. J. The Deboe, Republican. Partisanship is still bitter in Kentucky, and the election of last month did not pass off without friction and many complaints of injustice and fraud. In Maryland, also, the Republicans complain that Democratic success was secured by trickery and conspiracy. The Democratic campaign was managed by Mr. Gorman, who seems to have made certain his return to the United States Senate. The Republicans charge that they would have carried the State by a satisfactory majority if many thousands of ballots which were honestly cast had not been thrown out of the count by Democratic election judges on the pretense that they were defectively or illegally marked. These allegations are made by Senator McComas, who was most prominent in the conduct of the Republican campaign. The opposition to ratifying The opposition to ratifying the new constitution in Alabama did not prove a serious obstacle to the gentlemen who favored the document, managed the election, and counted the ballots. New York's In New York city, the fusion ticket Great Munici- was completely successful. Although pal Victory. the result was called by the newspapers overwhelming," and a landslide,' it should be noted that if between 2 and 3 per cent. of the voters who elected Mr. Low and the reform ticket had cast their ballots the other way Tammany would have been successful. Nevertheless, it is a very great victory when one considers that Mr. Low carried New York County, the home of Tammany, as well as Brooklyn, where all the conditions made his success much more probable. It is a thing that is now demonstrated beyond a doubt that the American metropolis can be aroused to a healthy interest in its own affairs, and that it possesses at last that corporate municipal self-consciousness that is necessary if the community is to govern itself and make progress. From being one of the worst gov. erned of the great cities of the world, New York is now in a pos.tion to become one of the best governed. In some features it would be impos sible, on short notice, to carry on municipal work in New York as efficiently as in the English and German cities; but in many other respects there is no reason to believe that Mayor Low's administration will not fully equal the best that can be found abroad, while in certain other important ways it may easily aspire to surpass them all, and to set an example for the world. No It is as of what it would be delightful to do if feasi ble. He has allowed the community to know that he thinks it possible to do very great things. He proposes to take the various departments of administration, in so far as he is responsible for them, and see, not merely that they are managed honestly in the negative sense, but that they are carried on efficiently in the sense in which Colonel Waring, under Mayor Strong's administration, managed the business of cleaning the streets and disposing of refuse and waste. other city in the world spends money so freely upon public administration as New York. not so important that New York should spend less as that it should get more for its outlay. There is a great awakening on the school ques. tion, and we may expect to see unprecedented educational activity in New York during the next three or four years. In New York, as in the South and in the West, it is true that no other task of government is so important as that of provision of the right kind of education for all the children. New York, from some points of view, has been a dreadful warning. Mr. Low and his colleagues in the new administration will try to make it the leader of all American cities, and the pride of its citizens. The Business Government. The one great gain of the year 1901 Idea in City in American politics and government is the triumph of the idea that our cities must no longer be made the football of the national parties. The best men everywhere have finally given up the idea that there is any advantage in having Republican or Democratic city government. city government. Thus, Republican leadership in New York this year was exerted on behalf of non-partisanship, just as the best Democratic leadership in Philadelphia was exerted in the same interest. No better statement of the advantages of governing cities as business corporations, with campaigns fought on strictly local issues, could be desired than those which were made in the course of the recent campaign by men authorized to speak for the Republicans of the city and State of New York. These men had not committed themselves to this doctrine before; but they have now done it deliberately, and with no thought of retraction. Practically all the reputable Democratic leaders of New York have long held that same view. Whether or not this doctrine has actually carried the day in municipal elections throughout the country, it has everywhere made great gains, and the future is with it. In Philadelphia it lost the election, to be sure; but it gained substantial ground, and will make itself heard unmistakably next year in the mayoralty contest. HON. GEORGE L. RIVES. although he managed to make good appointments in the main, was handicapped by his theory that the offices should be distributed on some pro-rata plan to the different organizations and elements that had united in supporting him. Very much that is ingenious could be said in favor of Mayor Strong's plan; but when all is said the fact remains that the plan is wrong. Mr. Low's idea is that the people who supported him did so, not because they expected to be rewarded with offices, but because they wanted him to give the city the best possible government. But in order to do this he must appoint for every important place the very best man he can find, all things being considered. He showed what he meant by this in a manner that profoundly impressed the community when, a few days after the election, he announced his choice of the Hon. George L. Rives as corporation counsel, and Mr. Rives' acceptance. Mr. Rives was chairman of the commission ap pointed by Governor Roosevelt to make the revision of the city charter that now goes into effect. He has been intimately associated with President Low as a trustee of Columbia University, has served for years on the Rapid Transit Commission, was First Assistant Secretary of State at one time under President Cleveland, and was regarded by everybody in New York as an ideal man for corporation counsel, the only surprise being that he could be induced to take the office. The duties of the corporation counsel in a great city like New York are of the utmost importance in the safeguarding of public interests. The acceptance of Mr. Rives made it the more certain that men of the highest order of fitness and ability would follow his example and make some private sacrifices to aid Mr. Low and serve the city by accepting appointments to other departments of the city government. San Francis So While the New York municipal camco's Mayor- paign naturally attracted world-wide Elect. attention, the people of the United States should know that a very interesting campaign was at the same time being waged on the other side of the continent, at San Francisco. far as the election of a mayor was concerned, the result was a surprise to the business community. The Republicans and the Democrats had made regular nominations, but a third party of working men, known as the Union Labor party, had entered the field with a candidate of its own; and it elected him by a good plurality. His name is Eugene E. Schmitz. San Francisco newspapers seem to have deferred making Mr. Schmitz's close acquaintance until after the election. There upon they looked him up, found him admirable in every respect, and were frank enough to represent him in the most favorable and attractive light. The new mayor is not in any sense a labor agitator. He is an accomplished musician, and has for several years been the leader of an orchestra connected with one of the San Francisco theaters. He has been at the same time the manager of a small manufacturing business. many of our readers are aware, San Francisco has recently been afflicted with labor troubles, accompanied by protracted and stubborn strikes. The trade-unions had thus been brought together in unusual harmony and strength. In his capacity as leader of the orchestra, Mr. Schmitz had served as president of the Musicians' Union; while in his other capacity as manager of a gasengine works he had employed union labor and maintained harmony. He had always been a Republican in politics, but along with many other people in San Francisco he believed both parties to be locally boss-ridden. Thus, he readily ac As |