that the figures in respect to the number of coloured people are too small. At any rate there seems to be no doubt, when comparing one census with another, that the coloured or middle class is steadily increasing.

The present writer is not prepared to give a complete answer to the natural question: how is the middle class kept up or caused to increase so far as its color is concerned? The great majority are the progeny of coloured parents who were legitimately married and have brought up their children essentially like the members of the middle class in England. Infant mortality is, of course, lower among them than among the blacks, because they are able to provide better hygienic surroundings. Out in the country it is not uncommon to find a white man married to a woman of mixed ancestry, for the same reason that white men go to Oklahoma and marry squaws or half-breed girls. Then again, there are, no doubt, a number of illegitimate children whose fathers are white men; especially is this the case in the larger cities, but reliable statistics on such a matter are, of course, impossible to obtain.

Less space need be given to a description of the blacks. They are poor, ignorant, untrained to anything beyond the crudest manual labor, and are but little removed from their African progenitors. Their language is so far from standard English that it is impossible for an American to mix much with them and thus learn about them at first hand. They are, as a class, less advanced in civilization than the average of field laborers in the United States. The present writer knows something of them by observation and by conversation with a number of coloured people; he lodged with the middle class last winter in various parts of the island and mingled freely with them. The preponderating number of the blacks, with their indifference to progress, acts as an incubus on the economic advancement of Jamaica. Some years ago, after much discussion by the intelligent taxpayers, the Government resolved to introduce a system of public schools similar to those in the United States, and to make attendance upon them obligatory for all children up to fourteen years of age. As Jamaica is already pretty

well loaded with taxes for other purposes, the equipment for these elementary schools is not first class, nor is the allowance for salaries sufficient to engage the services of well trained teachers. Immediate results from this system of free schools is not expected by any one, and the future will determine whether the next generation can show mental and moral improvement commensurate with the expense upon the public chest.

Meanwhile, ❝continuation" schools and colleges, maintained in large measure by tuition fees, will have pupils as heretofore from homes where parents are in better financial circumstances than members of the lowest class, and their children, who are for the most part coloured, will make greater intellectual progress than those who cease to attend school at fourteen years of age. Leaving exceptional individuals out of account, it is probable that the introduction of free schools will have no obliterating effect upon the lines of class distinction. All three classes may mingle in the school-room and at play for about eight years, and thus learn to note the good and bad qualities that show forth in all boys and girls. And in after years, when their paths in life have led them far apart, although some of them will have a recognized social and mental superiority, there will not be the same feeling of aloofness that existed in the minds of their grandparents; to that extent the free schools may be a benefit.

But the real value of democracy is not to be found in the years of childhood and adolescence; the test comes rather among adults and voters. Here we meet in Jamaica a status of affairs which is not duplicated in the United States: namely, the property qualification or the ability to earn a certain income. Any man, who is not an alien in Jamaica, on paying a tax of at least ten shillings (not license fees) is placed by the proper clerk on the registration list of voters; and any man without taxable property, but who can show that his yearly income is as much as £50 -whether in payment of services or from investments or gifts can also demand, by proper legal papers, that his name be placed among those entitled to vote. Practically

all that are entitled to vote do not vote, and at the same time the great mass of the blacks are not eligible, notwithstanding the low limit of £50 income. The people elect fourteen members to the legislative council, and the crown appoints fifteen members with the understanding that they are, in general, to support the governor in his views upon any legislative measure; and these fifteen members must give their support to any directions that come to them from the colonial secretary in London. For a full understanding of the political organization of Jamaica the reader is referred to Mr. de Lisser's book already mentioned. Sufficient has been given above to show that the form of government in the United States differs radically from what is found in a British colony; consequently, political methods and privileges that work well in the West Indies could not be imitated in one of the states.

The proportionate number of white men in the southern states far exceeds the number found in Jamaica, and they are permanent residents, whereas many of the whites in Jamaica are occupying commercial positions which they expect to abandon after a stated period. If certain offices in a British crown colony are given to persons with African ancestry it is because a sufficient number of white men are not applicants, and because the coloured man has been tested during a number of years and was promoted by slow degrees. Is there any opportunity to apply that principle in South Carolina or Mississippi? Again, the number of elective offices in the states is far greater than in Jamaica; in fact the voters are done when they choose their fourteen representatives once in five years. The heads of departments hold their positions for life or good behavior, and are selected by the government from subordinates, all of whom serve under civil service rules. Is there any probability that this system will be introduced into any state, county or municipality in the United States?

In the maintenance of order and in the punishment of crime, Jamaica certainly has something to her credit in comparison with most of the southern states. First, there is an admirable system of roads located and mapped by

experts, some of whom, before the year 1670, were Spaniards; and these roads are kept, for the most part, in good condition, notwithstanding the soft limestone that is, generally, the only available material for a macadam covering. Negro women are glad to gather and break this stone by hand, and to be paid for it by measurement at a rate that yields on an average 25 cents per day. Second in aid to the maintenance of order, there is an excellent police organization, regulated like an army by officers who have been trained in the British Isles across the Atlantic. Their black subordinates are obtained by a sifting process, and the successful ones are glad to give their best years in the service of the government at low salaries, knowing that they will be pensioned if disabled in the performance of duty or by reason of old age. The constabulary force of Pennsylvania comes nearer to the police of Jamaica than any state body of officials. But in none of our mountainous southern states, similar in topography to Jamaica, is there an approach to the splendid system of wagon roads and the permanent body of men who can be immediately summoned to enforce obedience to the law or to suppress disorder. The promptness with which petty crimes are punished-the offender having little chance of escape after the police are notified

is one reason why greater crimes are rarely attempted. The people of the southern states could vastly improve their judiciary and their legal methods of punishing crime without large expenditure of money, but they are not prepared to build roads by taxation or to maintain such a good system of police as the British government insists upon having in all its colonies: for one reason, good men to serve on the police can not be obtained at any thing like the small price which is paid in the West Indies. Furthermore, in comparing the two regions we must remember that the insular form of Jamaica makes the escape of a criminal much more difficult than in the United States.

The present writer made the acquaintance of several police inspectors in Kingston, and attended the sessions of the court, besides visiting the general penitentiary. The prisons are full, and many of the inmates seem to prefer

the comforts of their cells to the accommodations of miserable shacks that would otherwise be their homes. The prevalent crime is larceny, just as it is in the southern states of the Union. Were it not for the opposition of the British cabinet, the authorities in Jamaica would probably introduce a system of corporal punishment for stealing. It is undoubtedly a good deterrent for a confirmed criminal, and, if an adult negro is no more than a child in his moral perceptions, he should be governed and controlled as a child. The southern states can set the example for Jamaica in this matter, as they are not under distant advisers with veto power.

The most serious accusation brought against the southern people is in relation to their mode of punishment for the crime of rape. Because the rape of a white woman is unknown in Jamaica, the inference is drawn that the white people in the southern states are to blame for its occurrence among them, the negro character in both regions being essentially the same. Men who are not familiar with social conditions below Mason and Dixon's line do not hesitate to assert that the rape of white women is the natural outcome of a revengeful feeling, since white men are continually forcing colored women in a similar manner, and the police fail to take notice of it even as a misdemeanor. Others again believe it is because the negro is deprived of the right of suffrage to which under the fifteenth amendment of the constitution he is entitled, and, like the militant suffragettes in England, he uses violent means to show his displeasure. Many other explanations equally absurd have appeared in print, all of them coming from men who have never studied the question on the ground.

The fallacy in trying to connect the crime of rape with deprivation of suffrage is evident when we remember that in Maryland and Kentucky, where the "grandfather clause" is inoperative, there are as many assaults upon white women-in proportion to the number of negroes-as in more southern states. The negro who believes that he is arbitrarily deprived of registration, or that his vote is not really counted, is usually too intelligent to attempt a criminal