446 AMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST [n. s., i, 1899
growth, taken in connection with the various culture stages now existing, indicates that the transition was by no means contem- poraneous — that, e. g., the progenitors of the white man must have been well past the critical point before the progenitors of the red and the black arose from the plane of bestiality to that of humanity.
The Advance of Culture
Classed in terms of blood, the peoples of the world may be grouped in several races ; classed in terms of what they do rather than what they merely are, they are conveniently grouped in the four culture grades of savagery, barbarism, civilization, and enlightenment.
Considered as races, the peoples are evidently approaching community, partly through blending of blood, partly through the more rapid extinction of the lower races who lack the strong consti- tution (developed through generations of exercise) enjoyed by the higher races; so that the races of the continents are gradually uniting in lighter blend, and the burden of humanity is already in large measure the White Man's burden — for, viewing the human world as it is, white and strong are synonymous terms.
Still more significant is the trend of progress descried when the people of the world are considered as representatives of the four culture grades ; for the lamp of civilization and the sun of en- lightenment are shining on the dark-skin peoples no less strongly (albeit somewhat less effectively) than on those of white skin, and all are rising steadily into the higher grades. Even below the plane in which enlightenment is an appreciably efficient factor in shaping progress, the savage is acquiring, both spontaneously and through association, the knowledge required to raise him into the higher grade of barbarism, while the shackles of barbaric organiza- tion are slowly wearing weaker through normal processes. The 1,500,000,000 people of the world are increasing from decade to decade in number, and still more rapidly in efficiency as indi-
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