The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JULY 6. BLACK v. WHITE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 74, 6 July 1910, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, JULY 6. BLACK v. WHITE.

Johnson, a full - blooded negro, has "knocked out'' Jeffries, a white pugilist, in a fist fight at San Reno, United States of America. We are so constituted that we take a tremendous interest in this matter. The healthy man does not exist whose possible disgust at the brutality of prize-fighting is not tempered by his | interest in the physical struggle between men. Public opinion in regard to prizefights only gradually changes. It is not so very long ago that there was no limit to the number of ''rounds 1 ' pugilists ware permitted to fight. It is also not a matter of very ancient history that men used to fight with bare fists. The "fourounce" glove is a concession to public opinion. Our own forefathers loved personal combat, and used to get into a hundredweight of steel armour in order to fight another person, also in ironmongery, with a heavy spear. We are more civilised now, 'but our instincts have not changed. The fight with gloves or bare fists is related to the jousts of the knights of old. In ancient days the fight at San Reno would have been a mild affair. The Roman gladiators, who fought with the short heavy sword and shield, would have laughed at Johnson, and would have been amused at Jeffries. The Greek boxer who went into the arena with heavy iron spiked "gloves" to meet a man matched against him would have thought the American affair a matter of child's play. But the fight that tooli place on the 4th July has a very grave aspect. Quite apart from its brutality, the question of race enters. In all countries where the white is the predominating influence the question of control is' generally a moral one. For instance, it is absurd to hold that the hundreds of millions of colored men in India are physically controlled by a few white men. The power of the white man is "taken as read" by the native races. A draught horse is ten times stronger than his driver, but the driver controls him. It would not be a matter of difficulty for the horse to obtain brute domination over the man. In some countries the incoming of the white man means the outgoing of the colored man. That is to say, the aboriginal race deteriorates and dies. We have illustrations of this in the 'Red Indian, the Australian blackfellow, and the Maori. But the Ethiopian is peculiarly and splendidly virile. In the United States the Ethiopians are the progeny of slaves. It might be thought that the negroes would lose their splendid vitality under the conditions of slavery. It is possible that in slavery days the weaklings were not valuable, or that they could not bear up under the strain of servitude, and so died out. Slavery was, in fact, the very finest method of producing a remnant of people of unusual physical qualities. The Ethiopian, even though transplanted, does not deteriorate. He is muscularly strong, he does not readily become toothless, he increases in larger proportion than his "masters," and he has an imitative and progressive faculty that in some cases makes him mentally the equal of the white man. That the average Afro-American, the average Zulu, Matabele, or Basuto is a better man physically than the average white man there can be no gainsaying. The negro is childish. In his untaught state, he can be controlled 'by a white man half his size, but if the white man shows a disposition to 'be either frightened of him or to receive him with any show of i equality the negro at once shows superior airs. All the native troubles in Africa have been caused by "superior" natives, and the fact is so obvious in other countries that it need not be emphasised. The American nation made a grave error when it allowed any black man to fight any white man. It does not matter about the physical quality or inequality of the men. What matters is the worldwide influence the victory of a black man over a white will exert. America has trouble with its negroes very frequently. It cannot expect to decrease the trouble when every negro in the States will boast about the conquest of white by black. The animosity of the races is very pronounced. If the negro is content to serve, he is tolerated—but only as a servant. He is allowed none of the privileges of the white N man in white communities, and for his part when he gets a chance he is a bad antagonist. He is an American, and, therefore, cannot ibe deported. He shows no disposition to go abroad in large numbers, so he stays where ihe is and increases and multiplies in larger proportion than the white man, who likes him only as a servant. He has communities and institutions of his own, he sees the benefits of education, and is able to assimilate learning easily. He has many distinguished leaders, and does not become etiolated to any large extent. Just as Americans speak with disdain of'j the "squaw-men"—whites who have married Red Indians—so do they speak of intermarriages between white and black. Frankly, the Afro-American is a grave danger in many of the States of America, and one of the chief reasons can easily be understood from the reports of lynchings we sometimes read in the papers. The race hatred that is always seething in America will be augmented by this latest development. The negroes will ' add to their contempt for the white man. and the white man will not love the black any more dearly for the experi--1 ence. It has been said that trie Johns'on- ' Jeffries fight will be the last great money ibattle fought in America. But if it had (been said that any white jnan who dared Ho fight with a nearo should be gaoled, some good might be effected. It'is not too much to say that Johnson, who is bv | no means a desirable or gentlemanly j 'or considerate person, could lead the j negroes of the Southern States in anv enterprise he cared to undertake. He is

their hero. The fame of Johnson will spread to his relatives iu South Africa, where .little is needed to make the magnificent physical specimens, of black manhood get '"'out of hand." Johnson's fame ■will be talked of by Hindoos and Egyptians, the slaves of the Argentine, and the bondmen of the islands. What man has done, man can do. What one negro has accomplished could be accomplished much more easily by many negroes. Johnson in the eyes of himself and his relatives lias vindicated his right to be considered the equal of the best white man, arid immeasurably the superior of the "mean-white."' The last has not been heard of the battle of San Reno.