Jews have exhibited every degree of eagerness for, and opposition to,
assimilation. There are among them many schools for the teaching of
the Hebrew language, and some other schools--private and expensive
ones--in which only non-Jewish, “all-American” teachers are employed.
Of the seventy-eight Jewish periodicals published in the United States,
forty-eight are printed in English. In every Jewish centre, Yiddish
theatres have been established for the amusement of the people; but
Jewish managers, producers, actors, and playwrights have also had a
large part in the general dramatic activities of the country. Finally,
in the matter of religion, the response of the Jews to Christian
missionary work has been very slight indeed, while, on the other
hand, the number of synagogue-members per thousand Jews is only about
one-fourth the general average of religious affiliation for the United
States as a whole. When one considers the fact that in some fields the
Jews have thus made advances in spite of opposition, while in others
they have refused opportunities offered to them, it seems at least
probable that the incompleteness of their cultural assimilation is due
as much to their own racial pride as to the prejudice of the majority.
Similarly in the case of the Orientals, the pride and self-sufficiency
of the minority has helped to preserve for it a measure of cultural
autonomy. In the absence of such a disposition on the part of the
Chinese, it would be difficult to account for the fact that their
native costume has not disappeared during the thirty-nine years
since the stoppage of immigration. San Francisco’s Chinatown still
remains very markedly Chinese in dress largely because the Chinese
themselves have chosen to keep it so. The Japanese have taken much
more kindly to the conventional American costume, but one is hardly
justified in inferring from this that they are more desirous for
general assimilation. Indeed, one would expect the opposite to be the
case, for most of the Japanese in America had felt the impress of
the nationalistic revival in Japan before their departure from that
country. In a measure this accounts for the fact that Japanese settlers
have established a number of Buddhist temples and Japanese-language
schools in the United States. However, figures furnished by the “Joint
Committee on Foreign Language Publications,” which represents a number
of Evangelical denominations, seem to indicate that the Japanese in the
United States are much more easily Christianized than the Chinese, and
are even less attached to Buddhism than are the Jews to their native
faith. In the nature of things, the domestic practice of Shinto-worship
among the Japanese is incapable of statistical treatment.
Thus the combination of all the internal and external forces that
affect the racial minorities in America has produced a partial, but by
no means a complete, remodelling of minority-life in accordance with
standards set by the majority. Prejudice and counter-prejudice have not
prevented this change, and there is no accounting for the condition of
the American minorities to-day without due attention to the positive
factor of cultural assimilation, as well as to the negative factor of
prejudice.
* * * * *
Since it has already been implied that a greater or less assimilation
by the minorities of the culture of the majority is inevitable, it
is apparent that the relation of this assimilative change to the
biological fusion of the groups is a matter of ultimate and absolute
importance. Wherever friction exists between racial groups, the mere
mention of biological fusion is likely to stir up so much fire and
smoke that all facts are completely lost to sight; and yet it is quite
obvious that the forces of attraction and repulsion which play upon the
several races in America have produced biological as well as cultural
results.
The mulatto population of the United States is the physical embodiment
of a one-sided race-prejudice. By law, by custom, even by the
visitation of sudden and violent death, the master-class of the South
expresses a disapproval of relations between white women and coloured
men, which does not apply in any forcible way to similar relations
between white men and coloured women. The white male is in fact the
go-between for the races. The Negroes have not the power, and sometimes
not even the will, to protect themselves against his advances, and the
result is that illegitimate mulatto children in great numbers are born
of Negro mothers and left to share the lot of the coloured race.
If the infusion of white blood were stopped entirely, the proportion
of mulattoes in the Negro race would nevertheless go on increasing,
since the children of a mulatto are usually mulattoes, whether the
other parent be mulatto or black. There is, however, no reason for
supposing that under such conditions the proportion of mulattoes to
blacks would increase _more_ rapidly in one geographic area than in
another. The fact is that during the period 1890 to 1910 the number of
mulattoes per 1,000 blacks _decreased_ in the North from 390 to 363,
and _increased_ in the South from 159 to 252; the inference as to white
parenthood is obvious. During the same period the black population of
the entire United States increased 22.7 per cent., while the mulatto
population increased 81.1 per cent. The mulatto group is thus growing
far more rapidly than either the black or the white, and the male
white population of the South is largely responsible for the present
expansion of this class, as well as for its historical origin.
Thus the South couples a maximum of repression with a maximum of racial
intermixture; indeed, the one is naturally and intimately associated
with the other. The white population as a whole employs all manner
of devices to keep the Negro in the social and economic status most
favourable to sexual promiscuity, and aggressive white males take full
advantage of the situation thus created.
While it is not generally admitted in the South that the progressive
whitening of the black race is a natural result of the maintenance of
a system of slavery and subjection, the converse of this proposition
is stated and defended with all possible ardour. That is to say, it
is argued that any general improvement in the condition of the Negro
will increase the likelihood of racial intermixture on a higher level,
through inter-marriage. The Southerners who put forth this argument
know very well that inter-marriage is not likely to take place in the
presence of strong race-prejudice, and they know, too, that the Negro
who most arouses their animosity is the “improved” Negro who will not
keep his place. They are unwilling to admit that this increase in
prejudice is due largely, if not wholly, to the greater competitive
strength of the improved Negro; and likewise they prefer to disregard
the fact that such a Negro resents white prejudice keenly, and tends to
exhibit on his own part a counter prejudice which in itself acts as an
additional obstacle to inter-marriage.
In the absence of such factors as Negro self-consciousness and
inter-racial competition, it would be difficult to account for the
extreme rarity of marriages between blacks and whites in the Northern
States. No comprehensive study of this subject has been made, but an
investigation conducted by Julius Drachsler has shown that of all the
marriages contracted by Negroes in New York City during the years
1908 to 1912, only 0.93 per cent. were mixed. The same investigation
revealed the fact that Negro men contracted mixed marriages about four
times as frequently as Negro women.
Marriages between whites and Indians have not been so vigorously
condemned by the American majority as those between whites and Negroes,
and the presumption is that the former have been much more frequent.
However, it appears that no systematic investigation of Indian mixed
marriages has been made, and certainly no census previous to that of
1910 gives any data of value on the subject of mixed blood among the
Indians. The enumeration of 1910 showed that 56.5 per cent. of the
Indians were full-blooded, 35.2 per cent. were of mixed blood, and
8.4 per cent. were unclassified. Although it is impossible to fix the
responsibility as definitely here as in the case of the Negro, it is
obvious that an infusion of white blood half again as great as that
among the Negroes cannot be accounted for in any large part by racial
inter-marriages. Without question, it is chiefly due to the same sort
of promiscuity that has been so common in the South, and the present
and potential checks upon the process of infusion are similar to those
already discussed.
In the case of the Jews and the Asiatics, it seems that the only
figures available are those gathered by Drachsler. He found that only
1.17 per cent. of the marriages contracted by Jews in New York City
during the years 1908 to 1912 were classifiable as “mixed,” while
the corresponding percentages for the Chinese and the Japanese were
55.56 and 72.41 respectively. The largeness of the figures in the
case of Orientals is accounted for in part by the fact that there are
comparatively few women of Mongolian race in New York City. Besides
this, it must be remembered that, whatever the degree of their cultural
assimilation, the Chinese and Japanese residents of the metropolis are
not sufficiently numerous to form important competitive groups, while
the Jews constitute one-quarter of the entire population of the city.
Does any one doubt that the situation in regard to mixed marriages
would be partially reversed in San Francisco?
When due allowance is made for special conditions, Drachsler’s
figures do not seem to run contrary to the general proposition that
an improvement in the economic and social condition of one of the
minorities, and a partial or complete adoption by the minority of the
culture of the majority, does not necessarily prepare the way for
racial fusion, but seems to produce exactly the opposite effect by
increasing the competitive power of the minority, the majority’s fear
of its rivals, and the prejudice of each against the other.
In spite of all that prejudice can do to prevent it, the economic,
social, and intellectual condition of the minorities is becoming
increasingly like that of the majority; and yet it is not to be
expected that as long as the minorities remain physically recognizable
this change will result in the elimination of prejudice, nor is it
likely that the cultural assimilation which checks the process of
racial intermixture through promiscuous intercourse will result
automatically in intermixture on a higher level, and the consequent
disappearance of the recognizability of the minorities. Prejudice does
not altogether prevent cultural assimilation; cultural assimilation
increases competitive strength without eliminating recognizability;
competitive strength _plus_ recognizability produces more prejudice;
and so on ... and so on.... Thus it seems probable that race-prejudice
will persist in America as long as the general economic, social,
political, and intellectual system which has nurtured it endures. No
direct attack upon the race-problem, as such, can alter this system in
any essential way.
Is this conception sound, or not? It stands very high upon a slim
scaffolding of facts, put together in pure contrariness after it had
been stated that no adequate foundation for such a structure could be
found anywhere. But, after all, it is no great matter what happens
to the notion that race-prejudice can be remedied only incidentally.
If the conditions which surround race-prejudice are only studied
comparatively, this notion and others like it will get all the
attention they deserve.
_RACE PROBLEMS_
(The answers are merely by way of suggestion, but the questions may
prove to be worthy of serious attention.)
Q. Has the inherent inferiority of any human race been
established by historical, biological or psychological evidence?
A. No.
* * * * *
Q. Does the theory of the inequality of human races offer a
satisfactory explanation of the existence of race-prejudice?
A. No.
* * * * *
Q. Do physical characteristics make the members of the several
races recognizable?
A. Yes.
* * * * *
Q. Is race-prejudice inherent and inevitable, in the sense that
it always exists where two recognizably different races are in
contact?
A. No.
* * * * *
Q. How does it happen that in the presence of _racial_
factors which remain constant, race-prejudice exists in some
localities, and is absent in others?
A. No satisfactory explanation of these local variations in
inter-racial feeling has yet been given; however, the existence
of the variations themselves would seem to indicate that
the primary causes of race-prejudice are _not racial_ but
_regional_.
* * * * *
Q. What study will lead most directly to an understanding of
race-prejudice--that of universal racial differences, or that
of regional environmental differences which are associated with
the existence and non-existence of racial prejudice?
A. The latter.
* * * * *
Q. Does the systematic study of regional environmental
differences in the United States, in their relation to
race-prejudice, yield any results of importance?
A. No such systematic study has ever been made; a casual
glance seems to reveal an interesting coincidence between
race-prejudice and the fear of competition.
* * * * *
Q. Is competition more likely to produce race-prejudice in the
United States than elsewhere?
A. Because of the general preoccupation of the American people
with material affairs, _economic_ competition is likely to
produce unusually sharp antagonisms.
* * * * *
Q. Does the coincidence between race-prejudice and the fear of
competition offer a complete explanation of the existence and
strength of race-prejudice in the United States?
A. No; no such claim has been advanced.
* * * * *
Q. Is the assimilation by the minorities of the culture of the
majority taking place continuously, in spite of the prejudice
of the majority and the counter-prejudice of three of the
minorities?
A. Yes.
* * * * *
Q. Does this cultural assimilation make for better inter-racial
feeling?
A. Probably not, because as long as physical race-differences
remain, cultural assimilation increases the strength of the
minority as a _recognizable_ competitive group, and hence
it also increases the keenness of the rivalry between the
minorities and the majority.
Q. How can the recognizability of the minorities be eliminated?
A. By blood-fusion with the majority.
Q. How can blood-fusion come about if cultural assimilation
increases rivalry and prejudice?
A. ............................... .
Q. Is it then true that, as things stand, the future of
inter-racial relations in the United States depends upon the
ratio between cultural assimilation, which seems inevitable,
and biological assimilation, which seems unlikely?
A. It so appears.
Q. Does the race-problem in the United States then seem
practically insoluble as a separate problem?
A. It does.
Q. Has the race-problem ever been solved anywhere by direct
attack upon it as a _race_ problem?
A. Probably not.
Q. Does not this conclusion involve a return to the assumption
that race-prejudice is inevitable wherever race-differences
exist; and has this not been emphatically denied?
A. On the contrary, the implication is that race-prejudice is
inevitable where _race-prejudice_ exists. The conclusion in
regard to the United States is based on the single assumption
that the _non-racial_ conditions under which race-prejudice has
arisen will remain practically unchanged.
Q. Is it then conceivable that a complete alteration of
non-racial conditions--as, for instance, an economic
revolution which would change the whole meaning of the word
“competition”--might entirely revise the terms of the problem?
A. It is barely conceivable--but this paper is not an accepted
channel for divine revelation.
GEROID TANQUARY ROBINSON
ADVERTISING
Do I understand you to say that you do not believe in advertising?
Indeed! Soon you will be telling me that you do not believe in God.
Though, to be sure, in so doing you would be committing less of a crime
against the tenets of modern American civilization than in doubting
the existence of a power so great that overnight it can raise up in
our midst gods, kings, and other potentates, creating a world which
for splendour and opulence far surpasses our own poor mortal sphere--a
world in which every prospect pleases and only the reluctant spender is
vile.
True, we can only catch a fleeting glimpse of its many marvels. True,
we have scarcely time to admire a millionth part of the joys and
magnificence of one before a new and greatly improved universe floats
across the horizon, and, from every corner news-stand, smilingly
bids us enter its portals. True, I repeat, our inability to grasp or
appreciate the full wonder of these constantly arriving creations,
yet even the narrow limitations of our savage and untutored minds can
hardly prevent us from acclaiming a miracle we fail to understand.
If it were only given me to live the life led by any one of the
fortunate creatures that dwell in these advertising worlds, I should
gladly renounce my home, my wife, and my evil ways and become the
super-snob of a mock creation. All day long should I stand smartly
clad in a perfectly fitting union-suit just for the sport of keeping
my obsequious butler waiting painfully for me with my lounging-gown
over his exhausted arm. On other days I should be found sitting in mute
adoration before a bulging bowl of breakfast food, and, if any one
should chance to be listening at the keyhole, they might even catch me
in the act of repeating reverently and with an avid smile on my lips,
“I can never stir from the table until I have completely crammed myself
with Red-Blooded American Shucks,” adding in a mysterious whisper, “To
be had at all good grocers.”
There would be other days of course, days when I should ride in a
motor of unrivalled power with companions of unrivalled beauty, across
canyons of unrivalled depth and mountains of unrivalled height. Then
would follow still other days, the most perfect days of all, days when
the snow-sheathed earth cracks in the clutches of an appalling winter
and only the lower classes stir abroad. This would be the time that I
should select for removing the lounging gown from my butler’s arm and
bask in the glowing warmth of my perfect heater, with my chair placed
in such a position as to enable me to observe the miserable plight of
my neighbours across the way as they strive pitifully to keep life in
their bodies over the dying embers of an anæmic fire. The sight of
the sobbing baby and haggard mother would only serve to intensify my
satisfaction in having been so fortunate and far-sighted as to have
possessed myself of a Kill Kold Liquid Heat Projector--That Keeps the
Family Snug.
What days I should spend! Take the literary days, for instance. Could
anything be more edifying than to dip discriminatingly into a six-inch
bookshelf with the absolute assurance that a few minutes spent thus
each day in dipping would, in due course of time, give me complete
mastery of all the best literature of the world--and incidentally
gain for me a substantial raise at the office? Nor could any of the
literature of the past ages equal my hidden library of books containing
Vital Secrets. In this room there would linger a never-failing thrill.
Here I should retreat to learn the secret of success, the secret of
salesmanship, the secret of vigour, the secret of bull-dozing one’s
boss, the secret of spell-binding, the secret of personality and social
charm, all bearing a material value measured in dollars and cents. In
time I should so seethe with secrets that, unable to bear them any
longer, I should break down before my friends and give the whole game
away.
But why should I lacerate my heart in the contemplation of happiness I
shall never experience? Why should I dwell upon the pipe-filling days,
or the days when I should send for samples? Why torture my mind with
those exquisitely tailored days when, with a tennis racket in one hand
and a varsity crew captain on my shoulder, I should parade across the
good old campus in a suit bereft of wrinkles and a hat that destroyed
the last shreds of restraint in all beholding women? No, I can go no
further.
For when I consider the remarkable characters that so charmingly infest
my paradise never found, I cannot help asking myself, “How do they
get that way?” How do the men’s legs grow so slim and long and their
chins so smooth and square? Why have the women always such perfect
limbs and such innocent but alluring smiles? Why are families always
happy and children always good? What miracle has banished the petty
irritations and deficiencies of life and smoothed out the problems of
living? How and why--is there an answer? Can it all be laid at the door
of advertising, or do we who read, the great, sweltering mass of us,
insist upon such things and demand a world of artificial glamour and
perfectly impossible people? The crime is committed by collusion, I am
forced to conclude. Advertising, for the most part, makes its appeal to
all that is superficial and snobbish in us, and we as a solid phalanx
are only too glad to be appealed to in such a manner.
In only the most unscholarly way can I lay my reflections before you,
and the first one is this: advertising is America’s crudest and most
ruthless sport, religion, or profession, or whatever you choose to call
it. With an accurate stroke, but with a perverted intent, it coddles
and toys with all that is base and gross in our physical and spiritual
compositions. The comforts and happiness it holds out to the reader
are for ever contrasted with the misery and misfortune of another.
Thus, if I ride in a certain make of motor, I have the satisfaction of
knowing that every one who rides in a motor of another make is of a
lower caste than myself and will certainly eat dust for the rest of his
life. There is a real joy in this knowledge. Again, if I wear a certain
advertised brand of underwear, I have the pleasure of knowing that my
fellow-men not so fortunately clad are undoubtedly foolish swine who
will eventually die of sunstroke, after a life devoted entirely to
sweating. Here, too, is a joy of rare order. If I brush my teeth with
an advertised tooth paste, my satisfaction is enhanced by the knowledge
that all other persons who fail to use this particular paste will in a
very short time lose all of their teeth. In this there is a savage, but
authentic delight. Even if I select a certain classic from my cherished
six-inch bookshelf, I shall have a buoyant feeling in knowing that all
men, who, after the fatigue of the day, take comfort in the latest
murder or ball-game, are of inferior intellect and will never succeed
in the world of business.
This is one of the most successful weapons used in advertising, and
there is no denying that a great majority of people take pleasure
in being struck by it. It is a pleasure drawn from the same source
that feeds so many people’s sense of satisfaction when they attend
a funeral, or call on a sick friend, or a friend in misfortune
and disgrace. It was the same source of inner satisfaction which
made it possible for many loyal citizens to bear not only with
fortitude, but with bliss, the sorrows of the late war. It is the
instinct of self-preservation, toned down to a spirit of complacent
self-congratulation, and it responds most readily to the appeal of
selfishness and snobbery. Advertising did not create this instinct,
nor did it discover it, but advertising uses it for its own ends. Who
is to blame, the reader or the advertiser, hardly enters in at this
point. The solid fact to take into consideration is that day in and day
out the susceptible public is being worked upon in an unhealthy and
neurotic manner which cannot fail to effect harmful results.
At this tragic moment I purpose briefly to digress to the people who
create advertisements, before returning to a consideration of the
effects of their creations.