Race, Heredity and Civilisation: Human Progress and the Race Problem

Table of contents : Publishers' Foreword. Part I. RACE, HEREDITY AND CIVILISATION. Promoting Talents of Both Races

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Race, Heredity and Civilisation: Human Progress and the Race Problem

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HUMAN PROGRESS and the I

ACE PROBLEM

RACE. HEREDITY AND CIVILISAnON

February, 1961 Printed by the RP.S. Printing Co. and published by the Britons Publishing Society, Beamish House, IlIA Westbourne Grove, London, W.2.

RACE HEREDITY and

CIVILISATION HUMAN PROGRESS and the

RACE PROBLEM

by Professor W. George

BRITONS

LONDON PUBLISHING 1961

SOCIETY

Dedicated to a Just Solution of the Race Problem

Publishers Foreword This booklet is in part a lecture given by the author at Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, U.S.A. in 1956 entitled Human Progress and the Race Problem and in part a pamphlet entitled Race, Heredity and Civilization. Dr. W. C. George is a Professor of Histology and Embryology at the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina. He is a member of the American Association of Anatomists, Zoologists and Human Genetics. Although originally written for Americans, the emergence of a major colour problem in Britain in the last few years, makes this booklet a subject of considerable importance to the British reader. It is a reasoned answer to those who advocate race mixture, and for this reason it will appeal also to all white people in Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

"There is a physical difference between the White and Black races which I believe will forever forbid the two races living together on tenns of social and political equality."

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, Speech at Charleston, U .S.A., September 18th, 1858. "If it were entire separation, if South Africa agreed to become two separate countries, with separate cultures and customs and government, there would be much to be said for it." Dr. FISHER, Archbishop of Canterbury. Speech at Birmingham, April 21st, 1953. "The vast majority of Africans have not reached the stage of being able to exercise the vote. This will take years." "Any solution must be founded upon a practical basis; idealism can be completely misleading without commonsense."

Field Marshal VISCOUNT MONTGOMERY. Sunday Times, December 20th, 1959.

Part I RAfJE, HEREDITY AND fJIVIUSATION "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament sheu/eih. his handywork." Psalms 19, I. HE corollary of the above passage is that since nature is God's handywork, it reveals his laws to those who have the diligence and the insight to discover them.

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Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns or figs of thistles? Matt. 7, 16.

Pro.noting Talents

of

Both Races

Because of the friendly feeling that I have for Negroes, especially many Negro friends whom I hold in esteem and affectionate regard, it is with reluctance that I call attention to weaknesses common in the race. But since multitudes of Negroes have joined together with others in pressure groups to force on us national programmes that would mean calamity to our posterity there seem. to be no honourable choice but to inform the public of what appears to be in store for us if we yield to these pressures. If we can continue to develop a programme of friendly co-operation between the races, with separate-

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ness in social life, we can go forward in promoting the talents of the white man and the Negro and can contribute to the welfare and happiness of both. Otherwise, tragedy lies ahead for the American people. My concern with the race problem is based on the conviction that, as good citizens, we should do all we can to insure that ten generations and more from now we shall have a breed of people in this country capable of maintaining American civilization. Integration and amalgamation of the two races is not the way to insure having such a breed of people. The proposal to mix the races in our schools involves far more fundamental questions than whether white and Negro children will get along amicably together or will fight. Destruction of White Creat(1)e Genius

When we bring young people of the two races together in intimate social relationship we promote the protoplasmic mixing of the races. This will result, as generations come and go, in the production of an ever increasing proportion of mixed breed people and a lessening of pure strains. In my judgment, one of the consequences will be the deterioration and probable destruction of the creative genius of our people. I believe this because: 1) The Caucasian race, in spite of all its frailties, stupidities and evil ways, has demonstrated a capacity for creative greatness that has produced most of the civilizations of history. 2) On the other hand, whatever its other virtues may

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be, the Negro race has never produced any civilization any where at any time. Nor has there been much that is notable in those areas of the world where white-negro mixed breeds have become dominant. 3) The creativeness, the productiveness, or the lack of such qualities. in man are related to and in large measure the result of their inherent natures. These inherent natures have a genetic or hereditary basis. Good and Bad Hereditary Traits

Before looking into the record with regard to the relative capacities of the Caucasian and Negro races to produce civilized culture, let us examine the validity of the claim that man's nature is largely inherited. An individual is characterized by a mosaic of bodily. intellectual, and personality traits. These traits are produced in part by genetic and in part by environmental factors. The relative parts played by inheritance and by environment varies with different features. For example, general body form, skin texture and pigmentation are primarily hereditary. But degree of corpulence and depth of pigmentation are obviously influenced by environment, by such factors as mode of life, abundance and character of food, exposure to wind and weather. Anatomical abnormalities like hare-lip and club-foot seem to be predominantly hereditary, although they may be influenced by non-hereditary factors. At any rate, they can sometimes be mended by surgery. Some physiological abnormalities, like hemophilia and diabetes, are mainly hereditary although they can be 9

controlled to some extent by external interference. On the other hand, crippling by infantile paralysis or by rheumatic fever appears to be largely the result of environmental factors, although the hereditary factor is not negligible. For the information of those who have not studied such things, let me say a word about the physical basis whereby features are transmitted from generation to generation. Each individual has in his tissues a combination of hereditary determiners, called genes, that initiate and control the development of hereditary characters. He acquired these in the fertilized egg from which he grew. Each individual has a combination of genes different from that of every other individual; except in the case of 1-egg twins in which both members of a pair have identical sets of genes, since they both came from the same egg. Family traits are the result of similar though not identical gene combinations in different members of the family. A Pool

of Genes

Now a race consists of the total number of individuals having certain traits, some of which are easily recognized, others less easily. Behind these traits, each race has a pool of genes different from the pool of genes of every other race, although some genes in the pool appear to be common to all races, probably to all mammals. This pool of genes is the major factor in determining the appearance of individuals of a race, and not only their bodily appearance but their reactions. their intellectual capacity and their accomplishments.

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The importance of heredity in the production of physical features is scarcely denied; but in the sphere of intellect and behaviour there is a campaign of denial of the importance of heredity. Everyone recognizes that a man may have his father's nose, or his legs, or his premature baldness or grayness. But his mind, or his drive, or lack of it, or his capacity to grow and develop intellectually as well as physically-this is not acceptable to the dominant school of sociological politicians who think they can make over mankind by changing his environment. ,"ental and Pl,ysical Differences Both Inherited

What conclusions concerning the part played by heredity in the area of mind and cultural achievement are scientists led to by a critical consideration of the data? Ruggles Gates, emeritus professor of the University of London and author of our principal reference book on human genetics, says, 1 "All those who have any respect for the facts will agree that men differ in their mentality at least as widely as in their physique," and he cites evidence for his conclusion that "Those who study dispassionately the inheritance of mental differences, normal or pathologic, must conclude, I believe, that these differences are inherited in the same way as are physical (bodily) differences." Dr. ]. V. Neal, geneticist of the University of Michigan, in discussing Professor 1

Gates, R. R. 1952. The Biology of Mental Health and Disease. (See chapt. 18, p.277. Genetics and Normal Mental Health).

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Gates's paper, states that, "If we are willing to accept intrinsic or genetic factors in the etiology of all manner of neurologic disorders, we cannot logically deny the operation of such factors in the development of the mind. " Also, Dr. David C. Rife, Professor of Genetics at Ohio State University, expresses some definite conclusions on this point.' He says, "It is axiomatic that if individuals differ with respect to certain genes, populations also may be expected to differ from each other with respect to the frequencies of these same genes.... This principle is of special concern with respect to mental and personality traits. . . . The ability to develop a culture most certainly is genetic in origin .... One is forced to conclude that there are genetic differences within mankind as to the types of culture which various groups are capable of developing. Gen'ius Buns ita Fontifies

This conclusion can be illustrated in the histories of families as well as of races. For example, there is a book, Uncommon People; A Study of England's Elite 2 that traces the progeny of some outstanding sires through five or more generations. It is pointed out that of the 45 British Prime Ministers during the period under study, 13 have been descendants of a single sire. Two 1

Rife, David C. 1954. The Myth of the Melting Pot. Genetic Variability and Racial Intermixture. Eugenics Quarterly, VD!. 1. pp. 24-8-253.

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Uncommon People; a Study of England's Elite, by Paul Bloornfield, 1955. Published by Harnish Hamilton, London.

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other strains ha ve had a Fellow of the Royal Society in each of the five generations. Similar conclusions by scientists of unimpeachable integrity could be multiplied. Such conclusions are confinned by the everyday experience of those who are observant. Those of you who have lived long enough to have observed the children and grandchildren of your friends grow up have observed at times the talents and traits of parents reappear in their offspring. Since we cannot escape the conclusion that ability is inherited in about the same way as bodily structure, it would seem folly for a superior race to blend with a race inferior in its ability to create and maintain civilized culture. Stud" of tll6 African i"ind

Is there any difference between the Caucasian and Negro races in their relative ability and will to achieve? In an earlier paper I cited evidence from tests given in the military forces and elsewhere leading to the conclusion that the mean level of the intelligence in the Negro is roughly 25% lower than in whites. Race integrationists have attempted to discredit such evidence in one way or another. Quite recently Carothers (1953) 1 has published a further extensive study, made in Africa, of the African mind and personality, and he cited a number of rather recent studies made by other investigators. Although he seems reluctant to accept the implications of these studies, he does record the data 1

Carothers, J. C. 1953. The African mind in Health and Disease; a study in Ethnopsychiatry. World Health Organization, Monograph Series No. 17.

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and the conclusions. Whatever the absolute accuracy may be, we cannot lightly dismiss so much old and new objective evidence, all of which points in the same direction. Dr. Carothers was born in South Africa, went to school and to medical college in England, and has spent his life on the staffs and as director of mental hospitals in Africa. In his rather extensive monograph on The African Mind in Health and Disease one finds the statement that, "The available objective data point to a marked inferiority on the part of the native in comparison with the European children in educability." Attempting to summarize the attributes of the African, Carothers says, "The African has accordingly been described as conventional; highly dependent on physical and emotional stimulation; lacking in spontaneity, foresight, tenacity, judgment and humility; inapt for sound abstraction and for logic; given to phantasy and fabrication; and, in general, as unstable, impulsive, unreliable, irresponsible, and living in the present without reflection or ambition, or regard for the rights of others outside his own circle. To counteract these ruderies, he has also been described as cheerful, stoical, self-confident, sociable, loyal, emotionally intuitive, and eloquent, and as bearing no grudges and having an excellent memory; a large vocabulary, and an aptitude for music and the dance" (p.87). Concerning reliability of behaviour in Africans, Carothers cites cases and says, "The failures were of the usual kinds met with in Africa; .... although such failures occur from time to time, of course, in experience of European em-

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ployees .... they would only occur frequently in western European civilization in persons who would be considered thoroughly irresponsible, whereas Africans who do not frequently default in ways like these are rather exceptional people." I could not vouch for the correctness in all details of this appraisal of Africans, but it certainly corresponds in many ways with our experience in dealing with American Negroes. No ApfJreciuble Developnlent

One might give acquiescence to the efforts to explain away such evidence as has been obtained by tests and other observations if the historical record revealed significant accomplishment by the Negro race. But such is not the case. Throughout the thousands of years during which the different branches of the Caucasian race were developing the civilizations of Egypt, Sumeria, Assyria, Chaldea, Babylon, Persia, India, Palestine, Phoenicia, Carthage, Greece, Rome .Modern Europe, Arnericathroughout all these thousands of years the Negroes in Africa have not developed beyond food gatherers and a hoe agriculture. Although they have been in peripheral contact with civilizations of other races since the days of early Egypt, they have borrowed little and created little. Bad environment is not an acceptable excuse tor failure of the Negroes to do anything much but survive. They had a whole continent, indeed a whole world, to explore and utilize, and some parts of that continent are very favourable and have great resources. Furthermore, other races have overcome environmental difficulties. Why should not the Negroes? Overcoming difficulties is

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the very essence of civilization. Toynbee has pointed out that the development of the Egyptian civilization required 1 "the transformation of the prehistoric jungle swamps of the lower Nile into the ordered networks of dikes and fields where soil and water are subject to human control." Also, the Mayan culture of Central America was developed in the tropical humid jungles where conditions were similar to conditions that confronted the Negroes in Central Africa. If you want confirmation, read the world historians. Ridpath remarks, 2"The whole of ancient and modern history is virtually occupied with the ambitions, activities, and grand monuments of those Ruddy peoples, who, springing from a common origin in the east and spreading everywhere, have obtained and held the mastery of the world." And Arnold Toynbee says, "The black races alone have not contributed to any civilization. " Higlt Negro Crinte Figures

Does modern history confirm or refute the lesson of ancient history? In spite of the efforts of press agents to make out a flattering case for the Negro race, it is well known that during their 300 years in America their contributions to our civilization have been and are relatively meagre whereas their contributions to social delinquency have been major. Apologists claim this is due to discrimination and lack of opportunity, a claim that is hardly credible for the record is not significantly different in areas that boast of their lack of discrimination. 1

2

Toynbee, Arnold. 1946. A Study of History. (1 vol. abridgement of vols. 1-6). Ridpath, J. C. 1936. History of the World VOI. I, chapt. 7.

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A few years ago the Philidelphia Presbytery made a race relations survey in their area. Concerning crime and delinquency, the survey reports what they refer to as 1 "Disturbing facts of Negro juvenile delinquency in Philadelphia. Though Negroes constitute only 14.5% of Philadelphia's population, 43% of juvenile arrests have been Negroes.... Four out of every five Negroe boys are now coming into some scrape with the law by the time they reach 18." Would Negroes do better in the modern world if they were removed from the supposed hampering influence of the white man? Let us examine cases. The Republic of Liberia was started in 1820 with the encouragement and support of citizens and the government of the United States. It occupies an area about the size of the state of Ohio. It is hilly, has forests and grasslands and other resources. It has a mild tropical climate, nights are cool and pleasant. By law officials must be of Negro blood. What have they accomplished? After more than 100 years as an independent state, a commission in 1931 found that Liberia, although founded for freedom of the blacks, had itself become a slave state. Whatever development of resources there has been in 135 years seem to have been largely by Firestone and other American companies and by United States Government agencies. The Lesson

of Haiti

The Republic of Haiti is another independent Negro I

Philadelphia Presbytery Report. 1947. Events and Trends in Race Relations, vol. 4. A monthly publication of the Social Science Institute, Fisk University.

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country with a long history. Located on the island of Hispaniola, it had fine forests and agricultural conditions. In the days when it was a French colony, it was the most productive colony in the Caribbean. According to ]. G. Leybum (1941), in a scholarly book, The Haitian People, published by Yale University Press, l"Its combined exports and imports in 1789 were valued at more than $140,000,000. Its sugar, coffee, indigo, and cotton supplied the home market and employed in prosperous years more than 700 ocean going vessels, with as many as 80,000 seamen." In 1791 the blacks slaughtered the whites except for some that managed to escape. What have the Negroes in Haiti done in 150 years of freedom? Their only outstanding achievement has been an eight times increase in the population, Materially and culturally there was rapid deterioration of the country. Haiti of the 1790's "was one of the exciting parts of the world to traders; Haiti 50 years later was little more than a vague name. . . . In French days the coffee trees had been pruned, fertilized, grafted; the new Haitian farmer simply let nature take its course .... After freedom there were fewer doctors than ever, less sanitation and a worse diet. . . . Another good reason for the failure of democratic education is the demonstrated apathy of the masses." Ultimately, in 1915, due to a condition of economic and political collapse and anarchy, it became necessary for the United States marines to occupy the country and restore some stability. Quoting Leyburn again, "Visitors disembark from 1

Leybum,]. G. 1941. The Haitian People. Yale Unive:rsity Press.

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their ships or planes, see the poverty, the backwardness, the pathetic smallness of human effort which matches so ill with what nature originally provided, and come away with a feeling of disappointment Not even the little things of Haiti are immediately attractive: the peasants are not quaint, their costumes are not picturesque, their towns are not colourful; even the souvenirs to take back to the tourist ship have likely as not been made in New York and imported by the shops." Do not these facts suggest the fate possibly in store for America if we adopt policies leading to mongrelization of our people? There has been a disposition of recent years among "liberals" and short sighted "humanitarians" to sweep such data under the rug, and to advocate the adoption of foolish policies on the basis of virtuous sounding slogans, and depend on God to take care of the consequences. Some of us, however, cannot bring ourselves to have such faith in delivery from biological sin. We know that the sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. I hope you will not make the mistake of thinking that I speak as a prejudiced, die-hard southerner, I strive to avoid any prejudice other than prejudice for the truth. I speak as one who has spent his life trying to understand the laws of God as revealed in nature. Through the years I have attempted to examine and evaluate every kind of evidence that bears on the race problem. That evidence leads me to conclusions that I think are inescapable, conclusions that we can disregard only at peril to our posterity. May I reinforce my position with some quotations from a well known scientist who is not a Southerner. 19

Ernest Hooton, bom in Wisconsin, formerly head of the department of anthropology at Harvard has said, 1 "True intelligence is inbred.... Man imagines that his behaviour bears no essential relationship to his organic constitution. This is the prime article of faith among all morons in high places, and is the gospel of demogogery. not of democracy. "The errors of humanitarianism are based on the assumption that it is under-privilege that makes the underdog, and that the potentialities for intellectual and cultural development are essentially equal in all meoin short upon the delusion that mind and social capacity in man are independent of the organism and that an equalization of opportunity will bring the millenium. " 1

Hootan, Ernest. Twilight of Man.

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Part 11

HUMAN PROGRESS AND THE BA~E PROBLEM When our early American forebears brought Negro slaves to this country they laid the foundation for a problem for which there seems to be no wholly acceptable solution. In the North slavery proved unprofitable and so the number of Negroes did not increase greatly and no very grave inter-racial problem developed. The South has had large numbers of Negroes for a long time and for an equally long time has been struggling with the problem of inter-racial relations and adjustments. Few in the South would claim perfect success or perfect justice in handling the problem nor would they claim the absence of much human meanness in our behaviour. But, with considerable travail, we have worked out a system of social customs and laws, and personal and group understandings, that have enabled two greatly different peoples to live together in peace, mutual tolerance and helpfulness. Under this system we have developed increasingly good, friendly and cordial race relations. 21

Most of us who have grown up and lived in the South alongside Negroes have necessarily come to know their good qualities as well as their bad ones, and we are not unaware of the evil in white people. We have many Negro friends with whom we have cordial relations. They have our good wishes and we have theirs, so we believe. But whatever the cordiality or the enmity in the relations between individuals of the two races, there is recognition of the fact that we are of separate races and that this properly makes a difference in the nature of our relations. Forcing IntegratiO'l' It would be a more agreeable task at this time for me to say pleasant things about Negroes. With truth I could say many. But the situation forced on us by Negro organizations, by the courts and others is such that we cannot ignore unpleasant facts of significance. For more than three decades there has been an organized campaign to defame and destroy the South's mode of handling the race problem and to force integration of the races in every phase of life. This campaign is not entirely endorsed by northern people but it has been financed largely by northern people and foundations. We have our integrationists in the South, however. In fact, I should be surprised to meet with any greater intolerance towards my point of view on the campus of Dartmouth College than I encounter on the campus of the University of North Carolina.

The people of the entire country might well concern themselves with the race problem in a most serious and

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thoughtful way. It requires our best thought and a careful consideration of all pertinent facts. It will not be solved by good intentioned but ill informed people giving what they consider to be idealistic, inspired advice and exerting pressures to bring about ill advised revolution. Race Problena in Big Cities

In spite of the efforts of press and radio to play down inter-racial friction in the North while they give it prominent coverage if it occurs in the South, part of the public has become aware that there is a race problem in various northern cities. Many people were surprised to hear of the incident in Buffalo, New York, where a riot occurred recently on the lake steamer carrying a picnic crowd of Negroes and young white people. Informed people have long known that there is a race problem in New York City where the teen-age gangs of Harlem defy the police and where the Negro vote is a potent but questionable factor in politics. They are becoming aware that there is a race problem in Washington 1 City where white parents with school age children are fleeing the city to escape the demoralizing effects of the constantly increasing Negro population; and in Philadelphia 2 where the white population dropped 30,000 between 1930 and 1950 while the Negro population increased 100,000 during those 20 years; and in Detroit, 3 where the worst race riot in the nation's history occurred 1

2 3

U.S. News and World Report, June 10, 1955, pp. 19-23. U.S. News and World Report, July 6 1956, pp. 46-65. U.S. News and World Report, January 4, 1957, pp. 92-100. The Reporter, May 31, 1956, pp. 8-12. U.S. News and World Report, May 11, 1966, pp. 34-40.

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in 1943 and where race tensions are on the rise again; and in Chicago.' where Negroes are said to be arriving at the rate of 3,000 a month and where they swallow up former white areas at the rate of 21i blocks a week and constitute an increasing economic, social and police problem, and where they are said to commit 2 out of three murders although they constitute only one-fifth of the population; and in Los Angeles,' where newnegroes are arriving at the rate of 1,000 a month, have reached a total at present of about 255,000 and now occupy 30 square miles of the city. As you see, the race problem is no longer just a Southern problem but is becoming increasingly widespread and increasingly urgent. If the wrong decisions are made and the wrong programmes followed, it is not just the South that will suffer. If the integrationists prevail and if they are wrong, and I am sure they are, the tragedy of their success would affect the whole nation. This problem is so fateful for future generations that a decision as to whether the integrationists are right or wrong is the question of first national importance. Slogans If seress If I were to close my mind to the facts and think only in terms of political and religious slogans, I should probably oppose segregation; but when one considers all the facts, such a decision seems impossible. Perhaps we should consider first of all the arguments and assertions used by the proponents of racial integration. 4

S

V.S. News a.nd World Report, April 12, 1966, p. 29. V.S. News and World Report, June 29. 1956, pp. 36-408.

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We are told that we must eliminate all racial bars for the sake of our foreign policy-because that is what the people of the backward nations want. Does that really make sense? Should we make the decisions regarding our national problems or should we submit those problems for decision to people who have made a failure of running their own countries? We are told that compulsory mixing of the races is the democratic, the American way. That, of course, is false. The United States was founded and for 180 years has prospered on the principle of union and strength in diversity. Compulsory conformity and uniformity is not the American way; it is a perversion of the American way. We are told that there is no fundamental difference between men. How often have you heard "All men are created equal," quoted with the implication that it applies to men's abilities? Most of us will admit that all men should be equal in their right to justice and fair play; but in the biological sense there is no troth in the quotation and it has no valid force or use in solving the race problem. We are reminded of .. the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man". Fatherhood and brotherhood are fine ideas and factual states but they do not solve social problems without regard to other facts any more than they solve family problems. In reaching decisions on vital social problems we are admonished to disregard "race, creed, colour and national origin." These are all major facts of life. Do you suppose that anyone really believes that we can reach wise decisions through the process of disregarding major facts and reaching decisions on the basis of cliches such as "second class citizens?" It is asserted that in25

tegration is the Christian way and that separation of the races is un-Christian. It is not clear why anything should be accepted as Christian when its virtue has not been demonstrated. Strange connotations have been given to words now-a-days. I believe you will join me in saying that it is a religious fraud to claim that Christianity would require us to adopt a public policy that would lead to destruction of our race. Integrationists ilrg'Uuaents Specio'Us

It seems to me, therefore, that the arguments used by integrationists are almost wholly specious. And yet the persistent use of virtuous words and slogans has had a hypnotic effect upon millions of people and has softened them up to the point of being ready to accept integration of Negroes into the intimate lives of white people. It is my task to show you why that must not be.

Race mixing and race amalgamation may not seem a serious matter in Hanover where you doubtless have a small and possibly select Negro population, but in the South and in many other areas it would be tragic for us to submit to mixing white and Negro children in the schools for two major reasons. One of these reasons is that wise and cautious parents dare not subject their children to the Negroes' standards of social behaviour. The moral standards of the white race are none too high but social delinquency is far more prevalent among Negroes. Some months ago one of our national journals of news and opinion reported that the German people were becoming resentful of the presence of American troops because of their bad be26

haviour and referred especially to the crimes of Negro troops. Subsequently, on August 24th, the Associated Press sent out a story from Wuerzburg, Germany, saying that an Army court-martial had convicted seven V.S. soldiers charged with raping a 15 year old German girl. It reported that the defendants were all Negroes. (Many papers omitted this latter fact.) Low standards of social behaviour are common not only among troops. It has been reliably reported that five Negro girls became oregnant in a single Washington city high school during the first year of integration. That seemed a pretty bad situation at the time it was first reported, but during the recent Congressional investigation of the Washington schools, one high school principal reported that during the second year of integration there were twentyseven pregnancies in his school-two white girls and twenty-five Negro girls. High Illegitimate Birth Hate

Perhaps you say that we should not judge a race by two incidents. I agree. But the statistical record presents a picture hard to ignore. The record released for last year by the North Carolina Board of Welfare shows that the ratio of illegitimate births is about 20 times higher for Negroes than for white people. The statistics for other states, both Southern and Northern, reveal similar conditions elsewhere. In Maine, for example, it is said that illegitimate white births are 2.7% of the total white births; Negro illegitimate births are 23.5% of total Negro births. In Michigan illegitimate white births are 1.5% of total white births; Negro illegitimate births are 13% of total Negro births. 27

A similar disparity between the races prevails in other fields of anti-social behaviour. The 1950 census shows that Negroes constitute 10% of the population of the United States. Yet the Department of Justice statistics show that this 10% of the population committed more than half of the murders and manslaughters in our country in 1950. Lest you think that this is due to the horrible conditions that you have heard prevail in the South, let me inform you that the Negro crime rate in the integrated states is twice the rate in the Southern United States.' Let me remind you also that the Philadelphia Presbytery! a few years ago found that in the city of Philadelphia four out of every five Negro boys came into some scrape with the law by the time they reached 18. Would you, knowing these facts, want to send your children to school with people having such standards of conduct? Dunger of .IIixed Breeding The second and more fundamental reason why we must not yield to pressures to mix the races in the schools has its basis in genetics. It is based on the facts, or the assumptions, if you wish, that 1) The white and Negro races differ in talents and abilities that are hereditary, and 2) The greater social intimacy resulting from integration especially of young people in school, will promote inter1

Congressional Record, Tuesday, March 27, 1956. Where is the "Reign of Terror," Speech by the Hon. John Bell WilIiams. (Government statistics cited.) Philadelphia Presbytery Report. 1947. Events and Trends in Race Rela.tions, vol, 4. (A monthly publication of the Social Science Institute. Fisk University).

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breeding and the protoplasmic mixing of the races. This will result as generations come and go in the production of an ever increasing proportion of mixed breed people and a lessening of pure strains. That is, the nation will become progressively Negroid. If these facts, or assumptions, are not supportable, then my major objection to racial integration collapses. If they are supportable, integration becomes the greatest folly. What is the evidence. It is common knowledge that differences in performance shown by different breeds of animals is rooted in differences in their inherent, hereditary natures, although the fulfillment of hereditary capacities is affected by environment. Everyone knows that a Holstein cow does not produce at her maximum capacity if pasture and feed conditions are not favourable. Everyone knows also that you do not endow a Hereford cow or her calf with the milk producing capacity of a Holstein by turning her into the pasture and feed the lot with the Holsteins. When thinking in terms of lower animals, people are willing enough to accept these facts. But when thinking in terms of people and social and political problems, it is the fashion to abandon common knowledge and commonsense and substitute slogans as a basis for decisions. Actually, everyone with experience and judgment knows that although white people and Negroes are all human, they are very different people and you cannot convert a Negro child into a white child by sending him to school with white children. There is much evidence to show that the Caucasoid people, the white race, have creative talents and abilities that have not been demonstrated to any considerable

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extent by the Negro race. Great achievement in human individuals is correlated with a high degree of intelligence combined with a number of traits such as zeal, vigour, persistence, co-operativeness, adaptability, imagination, courage, self-confidence. Great achievement in population groups is correlated with the number of individuals of great talent and drive the group possesses. Compare, for example, the people and the achievements of ancient and modern Greece. If.S. Ar"'JI Testll

Psychologists have devised a variety of tests for determining relative degrees of intelligence and intellectual achievement. Many studies done with these tests under a variety of geographic, cultural and economic backgrounds show average scores for Negroes lower than the average scores of similar groups of white people. I shall merely refer to and pass over the well known U.5. Army tests that indicate a level of intelligence for Negroes roughly 25% lower than that of whites. In Wilmington, N.C., where, it is claimed, Negroes since the Civil War have had educational advantages superior to more than 90% of North Carolina's white children, tests show that 20% of the white children have IQs no-up while only 1.6% of the Negroes are in this highest ability group. Only 23% of the white children were in the various classifications below average while 72% of the Negroes were in the classifications below average. JSuch records showing differences in ability and achievement between whites and Negroes are not 1

New Hanover County, N.C., Bulletin No. 1. Mental Ability and Achievement. 1955.

30

limited to North Carolina or to segregated schools. News Week, "reports that in 50 large northern high schools with 30~1a Negro enrollment, only a fraction of 1% of the Negro pupils became eligible for college. Also. Dr. ]. C. Carothers, a British physician working in Africa and reporting in UNESCO publications.! reviews his own and others findings and says: "The available objective data point to a marked inferiority on the part of the native (Negro) in comparison with the European children in educability. " Even Franz Boaz.' a party line anthropologist. not a segregationist, concedes that tests show that Europeans as a whole are superior to Negroes in performance. Not Affected by Clfm.a.tf"

Efforts to explain away such results and conclusions as I have cited are not convincing. Furthermore. the psychologists' tests are not the only evidence we have concerning the relative abilities of whites and negroes in the field of intellectual and cultural achievement. It is a well established fact of history that the great civilizations of the world have been produced primarily by the Caucasoid or white races, secondarily by the yellow races; none at all by the Negro race. The civilizations of the white and yellow races have been created in 1

2

3

News Week, July 25, 1956. World Health Organisation, Monograph Series No. 17, 1953. The African Mind in Health and Disease, by J. c. Carothers. Race, Language and Culture, by Franz Bou. 19'0.

31

almost every type of climates and geographical area from tropical jungles to subarctic areas. We cannot, therefore, accept the theory that the Negroes' lack of achievement must be excused because of the climate of Africa. Africa is really a continent of vast size, great resources and varied climate. The Negroes could have explored and discovered and created if they had had the urge and the intellectual and personality qualities necessary to succeed at it. Do you think that we can safely ignore the records and base a national policy on assumed abilities that have not been demonstrated? If one wants evidence other than the schoolmen's tests and the historians' records regarding this matter, such evidence is available. Consider for a moment the origin of some of the things that constitute the material and cultural basis of our present day civilization. The wheelbarrow, the wagon, the automobile, the locomotive, the steamship, the airplane are all inventions of the white man and they enable him to extend his activity far beyond anything ever dreamed of by the Negroes of Africa. Great bridges and dams, canals, railroads and highway systems are all creations of the white race. Complicated machines and power plants that have greatly increased man's productivity and standard of living for both white and negro are achievements of the white man. So also are beautiful homes, churches, cathedrals and other architectural monuments. The science of mathematics, so indispensable to the understanding and conquest of the physical world; and the art of printing, which makes possible the distribution of knowledge, are his achievements. Scientific medicine and surgery and preventive medicine that have length-

32

ened the average span of life, including the Negro's from thirty to nearly seventy years; scientific agriculture, the breeding of disease resistant and more productive plants and animals-these too are achievements of the white race. One hears of the Negroes' musical talent; but the piano, the organ, the violin, the flute and harp, great musical compositions that thrill and soothe the human soul are creations of the white man, not of the Negro. Great literature and philosophy that entertain and inspire the spirit of man; and constitutional government that helps restrain the growth of tyranny-these too are the conceptions and achievements of the white race. No one can find comparable fruits in the history of the Negro race. Negro Shares in '''hUe Achievements

Although these and many other great achievements are fruits of the white man's mind and drive, the Negro in America shares in them. To cite one illustration, it has been pointed out by Herbert Hoover that the 15,000,000 Negroes in America own more automobiles than all the 150,000,000 Negroes in Africa plus all the 200,000,000 Russians in Russia. We should recognize these facts not with vanity or arrogance but as realities of life that should be taken into consideration in setting policies that will vitally involve future generations. With good will for other men and races and with humility for our own shortcomings, let us preserve the race that has given us these riches of our civilizaton in order that we may continue on the path of human progress. Sen-

33

sible people do not kill the goose that lays the golden egg nor do they breed a productive line of cattle to an unproductive line. They know that that is the road to deterioration and bankruptcy. We may be sure that if we allow our children to be brought up in intimate social relations with young people of an unproductive race, we may expect to produce a hybrid posterity of inferior creative capacity and we may expect them to produce a pauperized society devoid of greatness. Some people claim that the qualities of mind and character that result in creativeness are environmentally determined; that they are not hereditary. Let us look at some evidence. In an article in Eugenics Quarterlyl we find this statement: "In the areas of personality and intelligence, we know that the selection of animals for specific learning ability and specific emotional responses is successful." In the same journal Vandenburg" reporting an experimental study, finds that several of the factors in intelligence are under hereditary control. Thomas Huxley once wrote: "The sum of tendencies to act in a certain way, which we call character, is often traced through a long series of progenitors and collaterals. " E'Vidence

of Twins

Further and more precisely measurable evidence regarding the hereditary nature of ability and personality can be obtaned from a comparison of identical twins with fraternal twins and ordinary siblings. Those of you 1

2

Eugenics Quarterly, 1956, vol. 3, pp. 75. Eugenics Quarterly, 1956, vol. 3, pp. 94.

34

who have had a course in embryology know that fraternal twins, like ordinary brothers and sisters, come from separate eggs fertilized by separate sperm. They, therefore, differ in their genetic composition. Identical twins on the other hand, both come from a single egg fertilized by a single sperm. Both of them, therefore, have the same genetic composition, which should express itself in virtual identity of body, mind and character in so far as these are genetically determined and not modified by differences in environment. No doubt most of you are familiar with cases. The close superficial similarities that cause their friends to confuse the identity of one-egg twins is also deep seated and includes physiological processes, body chemistry, degree and nature of intelligence, personality traits and emotional drives. As illustration of these facts there are two pairs that especially intrigue my interest. One pair is Larry and Leary Colie, who are employed in our Medical School at Chapel Hill. Not only are they similar in appearance, they are similar in manner, character, talents and skills. They do similar work equally well, so far as I can tell, one as technical assistant in the Department of Anatomy, the other as technical assistant in the Department of Pharmacology. The other pair consists of Barney and Barry Giles,' born in Texas in 1892. They both entered the military forces as privates in World War 1. Bamey was in the aviation section of the Signal Corps. Barry was in the infantry but later transferred to the aviation section of the Signal Corps. Both remained in the army and advanced through the 1

journal of Heredity, vol. 35. pp. 267-268. 194040. Twin Army Officers.

35

grades to generals. In World War 11 Barney was lieutenant general and chief of staff of the D.S. Army Air Forces. Barry was a major general in command of the D.S. Army Air Forces in the Middle East. Thousands

of Cases Studietl

Of course wise men will refrain from drawing positive conclusions from only two cases. Fortunately, however, we are not limited to two or only a few cases. A number of studies have been made to discover the degree of difference and the degree of agreement or concordance between individuals of I-egg twin pairs in regard to a variety of characters. Last year Hans Grebe! found that I-egg twins had a concordance seven times as high as 2-egg twins as regards interest in sports and achievement in sports as shown by comparison of scores in athletic meets. Newman" found the IQ twice as nearly similar in pairs of I-egg twins as in pairs of two-egg twins. The Rosanoffs,' on the basis of a study of 366 pairs of twins, found that in the great majority of cases of I-egg twins, if one individual was affected with mental deficiency so was the other. Franz Kallman, ~ principal 1

Acta Genetica et Gemelol., Vol. 4. pp. 276-296. 1966. Sport bei Zeillengen, by Hans Grebe.

2

Multiple Human Births, by H. H. Newman. 1940. Published by Doubleday, Doran and Co.

3

Psychological Monographs. vol. 48, pp. 1-137. The Etiology of Mental Deficiency with Special Reference to its Occurrence in Twins, by Rosanoff and others, 1937.

4

Journal of Heredity, vol. 39, pp. 349-357. 1948. Twin Studies on Ageing and Longevity, by Franz Kallmann and G. Sander.

36

research scientist of the N. Y. State Psychiatric Institute and recently president of the American Society of Human Genetics, has made genetic studies of thousands of twins. He says, "Many physical and psychological similarities of I-egg twin partners have been found to persist throughout life ... and frequently withstand advancing age as well as significant environmental diversity. The personality features, which have been shown to depend on genetically produced potentialities, include various inteIlectual abilities." In spite of the grave dangers suggested by science, there are people who insist that we should go ahead with integration. Some of them say that amalgamation will not occur. Wc cannot afford to gamble the future of our nation and our race on that assumption. If we bring together in social relations children and teenage people of both sexes and both races and break down their sense of racial integrity we may expect a progressive increase in our mixed blood population. This has occurred in some countries. For example, about the time Columbus was born, the Portuguese nation began importing Negro slaves. Large numbers were brought from Africa. In some way the sense of racial integrity was broken down among the white people. They interbred with the Negroes, and during the centuries since Columbus they absorbed them into the general population so that today Negroid characteristics are widespread among the Portuguese people. It is significant, and should be a warning to us, that during these centuries while amalgamation was taking place, Portugal declined from a nation of first class power in the

37

world and a people of great achievement to a nation and a people of little creative significance. The Backwardness

of Brazil

Another example is to be found in this hemisphere. Brazil is an older and a bigger country than the United States and a country of great natural resources. It was colonized by the Portuguese who had already started amalgamation in their homeland. From the beginning, the colonists, who had little sense of racial integrity, interbred first with the Indians they found there and then with a great numbers of Negroes that they imported as slaves over the centuries. The population today is a highly mixed breed people and today, in spite of its age, its size and its great natural resources, Brazil remains a backward country calling on the United States for economic aid. Theirs is not the kind of programme and result that we can wisely emulate. Portugal and Brazil are two examples of what has happened when nations have adopted programmes such as some politicians and the courts are trying to force on us.

Tragic

Con.~equences in

Store

How did we get in this fix of having so many of our people approve revolutionary changes from which we can expect no sure good but almost certainly very tragic consequences? It is not my purpose to consider the part played by various subversive organizations and individuals who for ignoble reasons have stirred up interracial strife. These people would not be influenced by reasoned consideration of our problem. There are people

38

with good hearts, however, who for lack of information and understanding have espoused integration. The group most difficult to combat and the group most influential, perhaps. in bringing this evil upon us are the ministers. The tradition and the desire among most Americans is to hold ministers in high regard. Throughout history the clergy have contributed largely to human welfare and to human progress. However, they have often assumed greater wisdom than they possess. Often too they have been sorely wrong, as when they persecuted and tortured those whom they chose to call heretics and when they burned Joan of Arc at the stake. They were wrong too when they condemned and excommunicated Galileo. You may remember that the Church used to assert that the earth was the centre of our World and that the sun revolved around it. When Galileo presented proof that the sun is the centre of our world and that the earth moves, the clergy declared this to be "false and contrary to the sacred and divine scriptures" and they imposed on him the censures and penalties of the Church. Today ministers tell us that they know God's will on all sorts of worldly matters that they know little about, and they tell us what is the Christian thing to do, when a careful, critical consideration of the facts leads to the conclusion that the thing is evil, not good. They preach sociological sermons that will not stand the test of analysis, they pass resolutions, they quote the Golden Rule. They seem not to realize that quoting the Golden Rule does not answer the question. What is the right and moral thing to do? It merely raises the question. The admonition "Do unto others as you would have

39

them do to you," applies not only to our relations with Negroes. It applies also to our children and to our children's children through future generations. Do you think that the Golden Rule requires or permits that we make racial hybrids of our posterity? I hardly think so. Racial Integration Preached in Ca,npuses and Schools

The National Council of Churches and its predecessor, the Federal Council of Churches, have for many years made racial integration one of their main objectives. For years they have participated in arranging programmes and supplying speakers on the campuses of the country, programmes designed to induce our young people in the colleges to accept and promote integration as their Christian duty. This is one reason why we find race mixing sentiment strongest on the campuses. I have not been able to discover that the persuasions used bear any reasonable relation to the facts of the problem. It is undoubtedly true that many good men of the Church believe that they are doing right in promoting integration of the races, blinded as they are by shiboleths and virtuous sounding phrases. But, for reasons that I have given, evil results are indicated if they succeed in their purpose. In that sad time, if it should come, the good intentions and virtuous sounding slogans will not alter the human and cultural deterioration. I would remind you that things are not always what wellmeaning men think they are. You will recall that Neville Chamberlain arrived home from Munich waving his scrap of paper and saying "Peace in our time." But

40

there was no peace, only a sequence of tragedies. Words of Winston Churchill, written about the men who appeased and bumbled into the second world war, are appropriate to our race situation today. Churchill said: "In this sad tale of wrong judgments formed by wellmeaning and able people, we now reach our climax. That we should have come to this sad pass makes those responsible, however honourable their motives, blameworthy before history." Like .lumping OtT a Cliff

I have given you some of the reasons why I am convinced that integration and amalgamation of the races is not the way to insure having a breed of people ten generations from now capable of continuing American civilization. Adopting social policies with the expectation that the laws of heredity will not operate is like jumping off a cliff in defiance of the laws of gravity. You will remember that Satan invited Christ to do just that sort of thing when he took him up to a pinnacle of the temple and suggested that he cast himself down-with the assurance that the angels of God would bear him up. Christ declined the suggestion. We will be wise to follow his example and refuse to bring about destruction of our posterity through defiance of the laws of Nature. By all means let us be kind, generous and helpful to Negroes and all men, but let us rid ourselves of the delusion that Christianity requires us to sacrifice our children and our children's children to the cause of integration. It is not enough merely to assert that something is 41

ethical, the Christian thing to do and God's will. There is no reason to assume that God's will is any more clearly revealed to integrationists than to other men nor is there any reason why they should be exempted from proving the merit of the programme they advocate. This they have not done. Shall We Sacrifice Our Children?

Many strange and evil things have been advocated in the name of religion. There was a time when Abraham thought that his religion required him to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering to God. The story is told in the 22nd chapter of Genesis and has been the subject of artists' representations. One of my earliest recollections is of having my mother read to me from the illustrated Bible Story Land. The story and picture most vividly etched in my mind is that of Abraham and Isaac in the wooded hills where Abraham had gone to make his sacrifice to God. In the picture, Abraham had built an altar of stones on which he had piled wood for a fire. In the picture, Abraham had his left hand on the shoulder of his young son Isaac, He stretched forth his (right) hand and took the knife to slay his son. At this point, in the picture as in the scriptures, an angel of God appeared, took hold of Abraham's upraised hand and stopped the slaughter. I do not claim to be an angel of God, my friends, but I believe that we should resist those people who are telling us to sacrifice our children on the altar of integration.

42

ANSWER TO A DIVINITY STUDENT Dr. W. C. George reports that about 350 communications were received supporting a petition asking for continued separation of schools for white and negro pupils. A few letters were received condemning it. One from a divinity student urged withdrawal of the petition. Among other objections, he disapproved of the sentence that reads: "In as much as a careful reading of the New Testament reveals that Christ never said one word about the race problem, we deplore the efforts of some people to identify a programme of racial integration with Christianity." And he raised the question: "Is it really significant that Christ said nothing about the race problem? Our task is to see how the ethic that he lived and taught should be interpreted and applied in new situations. " False Judgtnents

Since this young preacher apparently represents a point of view common in divinity schools and among the clergy, it probably should have a public answer. The answer is that it makes a great deal of difference whether we teach as Christianity what Christ said or what ecclesiastical politicians say. Furthermore, attempting to interpret Christ's ethics is one thing. Making final judgments 43

on complex human problems on the basis of little information or understanding is quite another. Ministers have gone much further than raise the question of ethics. Without seeming to understand or even to be aware of very fundamental matters. they have promoted a rash of resolutions declaring that separation of the races is "unChristian" and they have promoted social revolution. Attempts to exercise temporal power do not make ministers more worthy or more effective spiritual ambassadors of Christ. Doing wrong in Christ's name and calling it "applied Christianity" does not make it right. It merely compounds the wrong. The "·Tria'"

of Galileo

Those ministers who are tempted to make dogmatic statements and decisions about worldly matters based on their interpretation of the scriptures and try to impose "the Christian position" on the people would do well to read and ponder the sentence imposed on Galileo for demonstrating the theorem proved by Copemicus in 1530 that the earth is not the centre of the universe. It reads in part as follows: "We say. pronounce. sentence. declare that you. the said Galileo, by reason of the matters adduced in this trial, and by you confessed as above, have rendered yourself in the judgment of this Holy Office vehemently suspected of heresy. namely of having believed and held the doctrine-which is false and contrary to the sacred and divine scriptures-that the Sun is the centre of the World and does not move from east to west, and 44

that the Earth moves and is not the centre of the World . . . . And that consequently you have incurred all the censures and penalties imposed and promulgated in the sacred canons and other constitutions, general and particular, against such delinquents.... "

SLANTED ARTICLES ON RACE In response to my recently published communication about the propriety, and the probable results, of the selection of Harry Ashmore (aggressive propagandist for integration of races) to be editor-in-chief of the Encyclopedia Britannica, one columnist (Paul Stevens) called attention to it and wrote a piece of his own in which he refers to the slanted article on race in the Columbia Encyclopedia. Another response was a letter from a wise and distinguished friend who sent a quotation that is relevant to the problem of slanted sources of information: "Tell me today what the philosopher thinks, the university professor expounds, the schoolmaster teaches, the scholar publishes in his treatises and text books, and I shall prophesy the conduct of individuals, the ethics of business men, the schemes of political leaders, the plans of economists, the pleadings of lawyers, the decisions of judges, the legislation of law makers, the treaties of diplomats and the decisions of state a generation from now. " My friend further comments, " It seems to me pretty clear what the opinion makers (including editorial 4S

writers) are handing out today, and therefore what the forthcoming pattern of life will be in the next generation. " It is fairly common knowledge that a number of wealthy foundations have been pouring their wealth into race mixing propaganda, that there has been a flood of doctrinaire professors and text-books, that many churchmen have been diligent in making emotional appeals for integration, that politicians have endorsed race mixing programmes with the expectation of harvesting minority votes. But there has been little reasoned consideration of what the results of social mixing of the races would be. What thinking there has been has had difficulty in getting a hearing or of finding a publisher. And yet the most vital issues regarding our future are involved.

w.

C. GEORGE, North Carolina, U.S.A.

Recommendations for Further Study For a scientific study of questions of heredity we strongly recommend readers not to neglect some of the very illuminating articles which appear from time to time in The Eugenics Review, published quarterly in London price 5/ -d. In particular (since it is a new journal and perhaps not known to you as a consequence) we suggest that

46

for a scientific approach to racial questions, free from sentiment, propaganda or bias, you should read The Mankind Quarterly published July, October, January and April, under the editorship of Dr. R. Gayre of Gayre, with as honorary assistant editors Professors Henry E. Garrett and R. Ruggles Gates. 51-d. ($1.25) per copy or for an annual subscription £1.1.0d. ($4.00). Write to The Editor, Dr. R. Gayre of Gayre, 1 Darnaway Street, Edinburgh 3, Scotland.

47

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