Actually, Professor Tolkien
does say what Hobbits were. He very plainly calls them
Men several places and says quite specifically that they are, indeed,
human.
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Hobbits on the other hand were in nearly all respects normal Men, but of very short stature. They were called 'halflings'; but this refers to the normal height of men of Numenorean descent and of the Eldar(especially those of Noldorin descent), which appears to have been about seven of our feet. Their height at the periods concerned was usually more than three feet for men, though very few ever exceeded three foot six; women seldom exceeded three feet. They were not as numerous or variable as ordinary Men, but evidently more numerous and adaptable to different modes of life and habitat than the Drūgs, and when they are first encountered in the histories already showed divergences in colouring, stature, and build, and in their ways of life and preferences for different types of country to dwell in.
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'Of Dwarves and Men',
Peoples of Middle Earth,
HoME vol XII
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The Hobbits are, of course, really meant to be a branch of the specifically human race (not Elves or Dwarves) - hence the two kinds can dwell together (as at Bree), and are called just the Big Fok and Little Folk. They are entirely without non-human powers, but are represented as being more in touch with 'nature' (the soil and other living things, plants and animals). and abnormally, for humans. free from ambition or greed of wealth.
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Footnote to a letter to Milton Waldman, 1951
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... my 'hobbits' were in any case of dissimilar sort, a diminutive branch of the human race.
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Letter to Robert Lancelyn Green, 1971
[ March 26, 2002: Message edited by: Bruce MacCulloch ]