The census of 1870 was inaccurate and incomplete in the South, and in consequence the census of 1880 seemed to show a phenomenal increase in the negro population.

Upon this supposed increase was based the theory that the South would soon be overwhelmingly black.

From the historical standpoint, Albion W.Tourgee's _Appeal to Caesar_ is interesting as a perfect example of this type of deduction, for he could see only a black South.

The three censuses taken since 1880 definitely establish the fact that the net increase of negro population is smaller than that of the white.

This seems to have been true at every census since 1810, and the proportion of negroes to the total population of the nation grows steadily, though slowly, smaller.[1] [Footnote 1: Though the negro increase is smaller than the white, nevertheless the 4,441,930 negroes in 1860 had increased to 9,827,763 in 1910.