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diff --git a/24712-8.txt b/24712-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb3c4e9 --- /dev/null +++ b/24712-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5969 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Negro at Work in New York City, by George +Edmund Haynes + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Negro at Work in New York City + A Study in Economic Progress + + +Author: George Edmund Haynes + + + +Release Date: February 28, 2008 [eBook #24712] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEGRO AT WORK IN NEW YORK +CITY*** + + +E-text prepared by Jeannie Howse, Suzanne Shell, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 24712-h.htm or 24712-h.zip: + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/1/24712/24712-h/24712-h.htm) + or + (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/1/24712/24712-h.zip) + + + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + | Transcriber's Note: | + | | + | Inconsistent hyphenation in the original document has | + | been preserved. | + | | + | This ebook has some very wide tables which might be better | + | displayed in the html version. | + | | + | Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. For | + | a complete list, please see the end of this document. | + | | + +------------------------------------------------------------+ + + + + + +Studies in History, Economics and Public Law + +Edited by the Faculty of Political Science of +Columbia University + +Volume XLIX Number 3 + +Whole Number 124 + +THE NEGRO AT WORK IN NEW YORK CITY + +A Study in Economic Progress + +by + +GEORGE EDMUND HAYNES, Ph.D. + +Sometime Fellow of the Bureau of Social Research, +New York School of Philanthropy; +Professor of Social Science in Fisk University + + + + + + + +[Illustration] + +New York +Columbia University +Longmans, Green & Co., Agents +London: P.S. King & Son +1912 + +Copyright, 1912 +by +George Edmund Haynes + + + + +PREFACE + + +This study was begun as one of the several researches of the Bureau of +Social Research of the New York School of Philanthropy, largely at the +suggestion of Dr. Samuel McCune Lindsay, the director, to whose +interest, advice and sympathy its completion is largely due. Sincere +thanks are due the Bureau for making the investigation possible. + +The material was gathered between January, 1909, and January, 1910, +except about four weeks in August, 1909, during the time that I was +pursuing studies at the School of Philanthropy and at Columbia +University. + +The investigation necessarily involved many questions concerning the +personal affairs of many Negroes of New York and it is a pleasant duty +to acknowledge the unvarying cheerfulness with which they rendered +assistance in securing the facts. + +I wish to acknowledge especially the help of Dr. William L. Bulkley in +making possible many of the interviews with wage-earners, of Dr. +Roswell C. McCrea for criticism and encouragement in preparation of +the monograph, and of Dr. E.E. Pratt, sometime fellow of the Bureau of +Social Research; Miss Dora Sandowsky for her careful and painstaking +tabulation of most of the figures. They should not be charged, +however, with responsibility for any of the errors that may be +detected by the trained eye. + +The study as now published is incomplete. Part I, the Negro as a +Wage-earner and Part II, the Negro in Business, were to be +supplemented by Part III, the Negro in the Professions. But the time +absorbed in gathering the material for the first two parts prevented +the securing of a sufficient amount of personally ascertained data for +the third; it seemed best to concentrate on the first two for the sake +of thoroughness. + +The summaries following the data on the several points and at the end +of each chapter, and the conclusion at the end of the volume contain +some repetitions which may be open to criticism, but they have been +retained with the hope of making the monograph useful to those who +wish to know the conclusions from the succession of figure upon figure +and percentage upon percentage, without necessarily going through +these details. At the same time, anyone who may wish to weigh the +inferences in the light of the facts has the details before him. + +Conditions among Negroes in Philadelphia have been adequately studied +in the work of Dr. W.E.B. DuBois and Dr. R.R. Wright, Jr. It is to be +hoped that some time soon the need of similar inquiries in other +cities--East, West, North and South--may be realized and that +provision may be made in this way for the guidance of the growing +impulses of those who wish to better conditions in urban centers. + +I am aware that there are good reasons for criticism of these pages. +But what has been done was done in the search for the truth, that the +enthusiasm of reform may be linked with the reliability of knowledge +in the efforts to better the future conditions of the city and the +Negro. + + GEORGE EDMUND HAYNES. + + FISK UNIVERSITY, NASHVILLE, TENN., APRIL 1, 1912. + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + +PART I + + PAGE + +PREFACE 7-8 + + +THE NEGRO AS A WAGE EARNER + +CHAPTER I + +THE CITY AND THE NEGRO--THE PROBLEM 13 + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEGRO POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY 45 + + +CHAPTER III + +GENERAL CONDITION OF WAGE-EARNERS + +1. Sex and Age of Negro Wage-Earners 54 +2. Nativity of Negro Wage-Earners 57 +3. Marital Condition of Wage-Earners 60 +4. Families and Lodgers 61 + + +CHAPTER IV + +OCCUPATIONS OF WAGE-EARNERS + +1. A Historical View of Occupations 66 +2. Occupations in 1890 and 1900 69 +3. Occupations in 1905 72 + + +CHAPTER V + +WAGES AND EFFICIENCY OF WAGE-EARNERS + +1. Wages in Domestic and Personal Service 78 +2. Wages in Other Occupations 82 +3. Efficiency of Wage-Earners 83 + + +PART II + +THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS IN NEW YORK CITY + +CHAPTER I + +THE CHARACTER OF NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES + +1. The Business Promise 93 +2. A History of the Negro in Business 94 +3. The Nature of the Establishments in 1909 98 +4. Ownership of Establishments 100 +5. Size of Business Enterprises 104 + + +CHAPTER II + +THE VOLUME OF BUSINESS + +1. Valuation of Tools and Fixtures 109 +2. The Amount of Merchandise on Hand 111 +3. Gross Receipts in 1907 and 1908 113 + + +CHAPTER III + +DEALING WITH THE COMMUNITY + +1. Age of Establishments 117 +2. Permanence of Location 118 +3. Business Methods 120 +4. Credit Relationships 122 +5. The Purchasing Public 123 + + +CHAPTER IV + +SOME SAMPLE ENTERPRISES + +1. Individuals and Partnerships 127 +2. The Negro Corporation 137 + +CONCLUSION 143 + +APPENDICES, A, B, C 149 + +SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY 154 + +INDEX 157 + + + + +PART I + +THE NEGRO AS A WAGE EARNER IN NEW YORK CITY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CITY[1] AND THE NEGRO--THE PROBLEM + + +The city of to-day, the growth of the past century, is a permanent +development. Dr. Weber has effectively treated the history, nature, +causes and effects of the concentration. He shows[2] that the +percentage of urban population has varied in different countries; and +that this is due mainly to the varying density of population and to +the diverse physical features of the countries which have been +differently affected by the Industrial Revolution and the era of +railroads. The causes of this concentration have been the divorce of +men from the soil, the growth of commercial centers, the growth of +industrial centers, and such secondary and individual causes as +legislation, educational and social advantages. + +In the United States, city growth has been affected by all of the +several causes that have operated in other countries, modified at +times and in places by exceptional influences.[3] + +In the discussions concerning the Negro and his movement cityward, it +is often assumed that his migration is affected by causes of a +different kind from those moving other populations; or that it is not +similar in respect to the movement of the white population under +similar conditions; or that the concentration can result only in dire +disaster both to himself and to the community into which he moves. +Such facts as are available suggest that these assumptions are +ill-founded. The efforts that are being put forth to improve rural +conditions and to advance agricultural arts among Negroes are highly +commendable and effective. The thesis of this chapter is that, +notwithstanding improvements resulting from these efforts for rural +districts, wherever similar causes operate under similar conditions, +the Negro, along with the white population, is coming to the city to +stay; that the problems which grow out of his maladjustment to the new +urban environment are solvable by methods similar to those that help +other elements of the population. + +In the first place, so far as we know now, the general movement of the +Negroes, speaking for the South, does not seem to have been very +different from that of the whites. Professor Wilcox says,[4] + + It is sometimes alleged that the migration to cities, which has + characterized nearly all countries and all classes of population + during the last half century, has affected Southern whites more + than Southern negroes, and that the latter race is thus being + segregated in the rural districts. That such a movement may have + gone on, or may now be in progress, in parts of the South can + neither be affirmed nor denied on the basis of the present + figures, but it may be said with some confidence that, as a + general statement applied to the whole South, it is not correct. + To be sure the negroes constitute 32.6 per cent of the + population of the country districts in the entire South and only + 30.9 per cent of the city population, but an examination of the + figures (Census 1900) for the several divisions and states will + show that what is in some degree true of the South as a whole is + not true of most of its parts. + +Therefore, it is of importance to note that the movement of white and +Negro populations toward cities tends to be coincident. We may get +some indication of these movements of white and Negro populations +cityward by comparing the growth of their numbers in the principal +Northern and Southern cities from 1860 to 1900. + +The Negro population has shown a greater increase than the white in +each southern city taken separately for the entire period, 1860 to +1900, but together the movement of the white and Negro populations was +similar except between 1860 and 1870. That fourteen of the southern +cities show an excessive proportional increase of Negro population +between 1860 and 1870 is probably due (1) to the very small +proportionate Negro population in each of these cities in 1860, the +Negroes being almost entirely in the rural districts, and (2) to the +exceptional influences following the Civil War which uprooted the +rural Negro population that was proportionately larger than the white. +The truth of this is corroborated by the per cent of increase by +decades for these southern cities taken together. Comparisons with the +white population in Northern cities were not made because of the +influence of foreign immigration of whites. The per cent of increase +of the populations in Southern cities from 1860 to 1870 were white +16.7 per cent, Negro 90.7 per cent; from 1870 to 1880, white 20.3 per +cent, Negro 25.5 per cent; from 1880 to 1890, white 35.7 per cent, +Negro 38.7 per cent; from 1890 to 1900, white 20.8 per cent, Negro +20.6 per cent; from 1900 to 1910, white 27.7 per cent, Negro 20.6 per +cent. That is, when the proportion between the urban and rural +populations of blacks and whites becomes normal, and exceptional +influences no longer bear upon the Negro, the two populations show +about the same rate of increase in their migrations to these Southern +cities. The percent of increase of the Negro population for eight +Northern cities (counting all the boroughs of New York City as now +constituted as one) was as follows: 1860-1870, 51 per cent; 1870-1880, +36.4 per cent; 1880-1890, 32.3 per cent; 1890-1900, 59.2 per cent. The +larger liberty of Northern cities was coupled with the economic call +of better wages. And this probably may account for the fact that +Southern cities show an increase of whites of 7.7 per cent more than +of Negroes between 1900-1910. The migration to both Southern and +Northern cities is graphically illustrated in the accompanying +diagram. + + [Illustration: Diagram I: + PER CENT INCREASE OF WHITES AND NEGROES] + +The figures for Southern cities represented in the diagram are given +in Table I. + + +TABLE I. NUMBER AND PER CENT. INCREASE OF WHITE AND NEGRO POPULATIONS, +PRINCIPAL SOUTHERN CITIES, 1860-1900.[A] + +----------+---------------+-------------++---------------+------------- + | Population | Increase || Population | Increase + | 14 cities. | 1860-1870. || 15 cities. | 1870-1880. + +-------+-------+-------+-----++-------+-------+-------+----- + | 1860. | 1870. | No. | Per || 1870. | 1880. | No. | Per + | | | | cent|| | | | cent +----------+-------+-------+-------+-----++-------+-------+-------+----- + White |610,015|712,015|102,000| 16.7||715,887|867,403|145,081| 20.3 + | | | | || | | | + Negro |141,709|270,212|128,503| 90.7||272,433|341,907| 69,474| 25.5 +----------+-------+-------+-------+-----++-------+-------+-------+----- + | Population | Increase || Population | Increase + | 15 cities. | 1880-1890. || 16 cities. | 1890-1900. + +---------------+-------+-----++---------------+-------+----- + | 1890 | | Per || 1900 | | Per + | | No. | cent|| | No. | cent +----------+---------------+-------+-----++---------------+-------+----- + White | 1,183,419 |307,542| 35.7|| 1,429,931 |246,512| 20.8 + | | | || | | + Negro | 485,477 |132,316| 38.7|| 585,931 |100,054| 20.6 +----------+---------------+-------+-----++---------------+-------+----- + | Population | Increase + | 16 cities. | 1900-1910. + +------------------------------+--------------+-------------- + | 1910. | No. | Per cent + +------------------------------+--------------+-------------- + White | 1,817,155 | 387,224 | 27.7 + | | | + Negro | 706,352 | 120,821 | 20.6 +----------+------------------------------+--------------+-------------- + [A] Table is based on figures compiled from Eighth Census, + _Pop._, pp. 9, 19, 46, 74, 132, 195, 215, 452, 487, 519; Tenth + Census, vol. i, _Pop._, pp. 416-425; Eleventh Census, vol. i, + _Pop._, pp. 451-485; Twelfth Census, vol. i, pt. 2, _Pop._, pp. + cxix-cxxi and _Bulletin 8, Negroes of the United States_, pp. + 230-232. For 1860, compare Hoffman, _Race Traits and Tendencies + of the American Negro_ p. 10. + + +Both the diagram and the table support the conclusion that the +movement of the white and Negro populations to these cities have been +similar under similar conditions and influences. + +In like manner such statistics as are available show that the causes +that have concentrated the white population in urban centres have +operated likewise to send the Negro thither. + +I. The Divorce of the Negro from the Soil.--With other rural +populations improvements in agriculture have made fewer workers +necessary. In the case of the Negro, the main moving force from the +rural districts since 1860 has been the breaking down of the old +régime. The decades from 1840 to 1890, except 1870 to 1880, or the +period of the "industrial paralysis" after the panic of 1873, were +decades of remarkable urban growth in the United States.[5] The first +two decades of this time were the years of violent slavery agitation. +Then followed the Civil War and the boon of freedom, which gave rise +to an unusual mobility of Negro labor. The inevitable _Wanderlust_ +which sudden social upheaval entails was increased by Ku-Klux +terrorism and the breaking down of the slave plantation system.[6] +Thousands of the wandering freedmen flocked to the Union army posts +which were located in towns and cities. + +This was only the beginning. The landless freedman furnished occasion +for the creation of the share-tenant and crop-lien systems. In many +cases these handicaps often became intolerable under dishonest +merchants, unscrupulous landlords, and ill-treatment by overseers.[7] +All this tended to loosen the hold of the Negro tenant upon the soil. + +Simultaneously with these dominant forces in agriculture, another +began to be felt. The one crop of cotton or tobacco taxed the land in +many sections year after year until it was worn out. In 1899, 70.5 per +cent of Negro farmers reported cotton as the principal source of +income. Tobacco formed the principal source of income of 16 per cent +of Negro farmers in Virginia, of 30.1 per cent in Kentucky and of 18.7 +per cent in Maryland.[8] Compared with the growing industrial +pursuits, these old agricultural lands no longer offer attractive +returns.[9] + +Again, where thrift, improvement in agricultural methods and knowledge +develop, just as among other farmers, there begins to be a surplus of +hands to the cultivator, and Negroes turn toward better paid +employment in the urban centres. + +It is true that there are large uncultivated, virgin areas of the +Southwest, especially in Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, +and Texas, that are calling loudly for farm labor. The population +these areas can support is very considerable and the returns to labor +are better than in many of the older agricultural sections. Granting +this, the tendency of modern civilization and improvements in +facilities for transportation favors the urban centers. So that +migration is easier toward the city than away from it or toward these +untilled agricultural areas. _The Negro is in the population stream._ + +II. The Migration of the Negro to Industrial and Commercial +centers.--A study of the growth of the Southern cities shows +influences at work similar to those of other sections. Statistics of +manufactures of the United States Censuses are not altogether +conclusive or reliable, but they measurably indicate conditions. We +turn to these records for light upon the Southern situation. + +A study of the value of manufactured products of sixteen Southern +cities shows that there was a marked increase during the twenty-five +years from 1880 to 1905. The industrial centers, Chattanooga, +Tennessee, and Birmingham, Alabama, have come into prominence in the +decade, 1890-1900, and show an increase in value of products of 17.8 +per cent and 78.9 per cent respectively. The comparatively small +increase during 1890-1900 for Richmond, Va.; Charleston, S.C.; Augusta +and Savannah, Ga., and Mobile, Ala., was probably due to unknown local +causes and to a reaction during the industrial crisis of 1892-1894 +from the excessive increases of the preceding decade. Yet these cities +along with nine of the others show remarkable increase in the total +value of products for the entire twenty years from 1880 to 1900. +Richmond, with an increase of 39 per cent and Savannah, with an +increase of 90.3 per cent, were the only cities which had an increase +of less than one hundred per cent in value of products during the +score of years from 1880 to 1900. The total increase in value of +products from 1880 to 1900 for 14 of the cities (Chattanooga and +Birmingham being omitted) was 143.3 per cent. The following +comparative statement in Table II shows the increase in the value of +products of manufactures in sixteen Southern cities from 1880 to 1905, +and gives the detailed figures which are the bases of the preceding +conclusion. (See p. 21.) + +Along with the increase of production has gone the growth in the +average number of wage-earners in manufacturing establishments. Each +city made a decided advance in the average number of wage-earners in +manufactures during the twenty years from 1880 to 1900. In that +period, out of fourteen cities, two increased over 300 per cent in the +average number of wage-earners, two cities increased over 240 per cent +in the average number of wage-earners, five cities increased over 100 +per cent and the remaining five cities showed an increase of 76.3 per +cent, 57 per cent, 39.8 per cent, 18.8 per cent, and 7.5 per cent +respectively. Chattanooga, Tenn., and Birmingham, Ala., from 1890 to +1900 increased 5.2 per cent and 105.6 per cent respectively. Omitting +these, the other fourteen cities taken together increased in the +number of wage-earners during the twenty years from 1880 to 1900, 60.9 +per cent. Table III, which follows, brings into full view this large +and constant increase in the average number of wage-earners in +manufacturing establishments, exclusive of proprietors, salaried +officers, clerks, _etc._ + + +TABLE II. TOTAL VALUE OF PRODUCTS, INCLUDING CUSTOM WORK AND +REPAIRING, OF MANUFACTURES IN SIXTEEN SOUTHERN CITIES, 1880-1905.[A] + +--------------+---------------------------------------------------------- + | Total value of products. + +-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------- + Cities. | | | | Per cent | + | 1880. | 1890. | 1900. | increase | 1905[B] + | | | |1880-1900.| +--------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------- + | $ | $ | $ | | $ + | | | | | +Wilmington | 13,205,370| 24,568,125| 34,053,324| 157.9 | 30,390,039 +Baltimore | 78,417,304|141,723,599|161,249,240| 105.6 |151,546,580 +Washington[C] | 11,882,316| 39,331,437| 47,667,622| 301.2 | 18,359,159 +Norfolk | 1,455,987| 5,100,408| 9,397,355| 545.4 | 5,900,129 +Richmond | 20,790,106| 27,792,672| 28,900,616| 39.0 | 28,202,607 +Charleston | 2,732,590| 9,005,421| 9,562,387| 249.9 | 6,007,094 +Atlanta | 4,861,727| 13,074,037| 16,707,027| 243.6 | 25,745,650 +Augusta | 3,139,029| 9,244,850| 10,041,900| 219.9 | 8,829,305 +Savannah | 3,396,297| 6,319,066| 6,461,816| 90.3 | 6,340,004 +Louisville | 35,423,203| 54,515,226| 78,746,390| 122.3 | 83,204,125 +Chattanooga | | 10,216,109| 12,033,780| 17.8[D] | 15,193,909 +Memphis | 4,413,422| 13,244,538| 17,923,058| 306.1 | 21,348,817 +Nashville | 8,597,278| 14,590,823| 18,469,823| 114.8 | 23,109,601 +Birmingham | | 7,034,248| 12,581,066| 78.9[D] | 7,592,958 +Mobile | 1,335,579| 3,826,399| 4,451,062| 233.3 | 4,942,331 +New Orleans | 18,808,096| 48,295,449| 63,514,505| 237.7 | 84,604,006 +--------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------- +Total |208,458,304|427,882,407|531,760,971| 143.3[E] |521,316,314 +--------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+----------+----------- + [A] Compiled from Census Reports: 1880, 10th Census, + _Manufactures_, pp. xxiv, xxv; 1890-1900, 12th Census, vol. + viii, _Manufactures, Part ii_, pp. 7, 108, 115, 134, 279, 301, + 335, 831, 848, 908; 1905, 12th Census, _Manufactures, Part ii_, + pp. 20, 142, 152, 179, 339, 361, 403, 1025, 1056, 1127. + + [B] In Tables ii and iii the figures of Manufactures from 1880 + to 1900 are not exactly comparable with those of 1905, because + the census of 1905 was limited to manufacturing establishments + and excluded all neighborhood work and establishments for + custom work and repairing. Hence percentage of increase was not + worked out for this period. + + [C] Figures for Washington, D.C., apply to the District of + Columbia and include governmental establishments. + + [D] Increase 1890-1900. + + [E] Increase per cent for 14 cities from 1880 to 1900, + exclusive of Chattanooga and Birmingham. + + +TABLE III. AVERAGE NUMBER OF WAGE-EARNERS[A] ENGAGED IN MANUFACTURES +IN SIXTEEN SOUTHERN CITIES, 1880-1905.[B] + +------------------------+---------------------------------------------- + | Average Number of Wage-earners. + +-------+-------+----------+----------+-------- + | | | | Per cent | + | 1880. | 1890. | 1900. |increase, |1905.[D] + | | | |1880-1900.| +------------------------+-------+-------+----------+----------+-------- +Wilmington. Del. | 7,852| 13,370| 16,055 | 104.5 | 13,554 +Baltimore, Md. | 56,338| 76,489| 78,738 | 39.8 | 65,224 +Washington, D.C. | 7,146| 20,406| 24,693 | 245.5 | 17,281 +Norfolk, Va. | 752| 2,391| 4,334 | 476.3 | 3,063 +Richmond, Va. | 14,047| 16,891| 16,692 | 18.8 | 12,883 +Charleston, S.C. | 2,146| 4,684| 5,027 | 134.2 | 3,450 +Atlanta, Ga. | 3,680| 7,957| 9,356 | 154.2 | 11,891 +Augusta, Ga. | 4,518| 5,714| 7,092 | 57.0 | 4,839 +Savannah, Ga. | 1,130| 2,419| 2,870 | 154.1 | 3,330 +Louisville, Ky. | 17,103| 24,159| 29,926 | 7.5 | 24,985 +Chattanooga, Tenn.[C] | | 5,200| 5,472 | 5.2 | 6,984 +Memphis, Tenn. | 2,268| 5,497| 8,433 | 271.8 | 8,153 +Nashville, Tenn. | 4,791| 7,275| 8,447 | 76.3 | 8,435 +Birmingham, Ala.[C] | | 3,247| 6,675 | 105.6 | 3,987 +Mobile, Ala. | 704| 2,719| 2,827 | 301.5 | 2,496 +New Orleans, La. | 9,504| 22,342| 19,435[E]| 104.5 | 17,631 +------------------------+-------+-------+----------+----------+--------- + | | | | | +Total |131,979|212,313|233,925 | 60.9[F] |208,186 +------------------------+-------+-------+----------+----------+--------- + [A] Does not include proprietors, salaried officers, clerks, + _etc._ + + [B] 1880, Tenth Census, _Manufactures_, pp. xxiv, xxv; 1890 and + 1900, 11th Census, _Manufactures, Part ii_, pp. 7, 108, 115, + 134, 279, 300, 335, 831, 848, 908; 1905, 12th Census, vol. + viii, _Manufactures, Part ii_, pp. 20, 142, 152, 179, 339, 361, + 403, 1025, 1056, 1127. + + [C] No return for 1880. + + [D] Figures for 1905 are less and are not comparable with + preceding figures, because in 1905 all neighborhood work and + establishments for custom work and repairing were excluded. + + [E] Does not include cotton compressing in 1900. + + [F] Fourteen cities; Chattanooga and Birmingham are omitted. + + +The industrial pull of Southern cities, then, is shown both by the +increase in the average number of wage-earners and in the total value +of manufactured products. + +There is no reason to doubt that commercial enterprise has operated +and kept pace with industrial activity in causing the growth of these +urban centers. Figures for the trade of these sixteen Southern cities +are not available. However, we have side lights upon the commercial +life in the amount of railroad building that has taken place in the +South since 1860. In 1860, there were only 8,317 miles of railroad in +the thirteen states from Maryland and Delaware to Arkansas and Texas. +In 1900, there were 46,735.86 miles in the same territory, an increase +of 461.9 per cent. From 1900 to 1905 this increased to 55,239.22 miles +or 18.2 per cent in the five years.[10] Likewise the traffic +operations, including total tonnage, and freight, passenger, express +and mail earnings of selected groups of railways covering most of this +territory, increased very rapidly from 1890 to 1900. In the ten years, +from 1890 to 1900, the tonnage increased from 63,597,120 tons to +121,180,317 tons or 90.5 per cent; and total earnings went from +$113,616,184.45 in 1890 to $168,606,233 in 1900, an increase of 48.4 +per cent in ten years. + +As these industrial and commercial forces affect the population, the +Negro without doubt shares to a considerable extent the influence. +That the Negro has been a large labor factor in the South is a patent +fact. All the data available indicate that he has been affected by +economic influences similar to those which have moved the white +population toward the urban centers. + +The most decisive set of facts is the growth in the number of whites +and Negroes in gainful occupations in Southern cities. The census +returns of 1890 and 1900 for a number of Southern cities were +sufficient for an inference. For some occupations figures for 1890 +were not available, and in other occupations some cities were not +reported in 1890. So a selected list of occupations was taken. + +The comparisons of those occupations selected are striking. Among the +males, for domestic and personal service occupations, from 1890 to +1900, the white wage-earners increased 42.3 per cent and the Negro +wage-earners increased 31.1 per cent. Here we see the influence of the +growth of wealthy classes in the industrial and commercial centers, +who require increasing numbers to supply their developing wants. In +trade and transportation occupations, while the number of white +wage-earners increased 25.2 per cent from 1890 to 1900, the Negro +wage-earners increased 39.1 per cent during the same decade. For the +same period, in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, the white +workers increased 6.1 per cent and the Negro workers increased 12.1 +per cent. This indicates the dependence of the growing industry of the +South upon its black male workers and shows how strong upon them is +the economic pull. + +For the females, the increases are no less telling, especially for +Negro workers. In ten selected occupations for Southern cities, the +white female workers decreased 29.1 per cent and the Negro female +workers increased 36 per cent from 1890 to 1900. The decrease for the +whites was due to an excessive decrease among dressmakers, milliners +and seamstresses, which may be a discrepancy of the census returns. + +The full list of selected occupations in Southern cities for 1890 and +1900 are given in full in Table IV, following: + + +TABLE IV. INCREASE OF WHITE AND NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS IN SELECTED +OCCUPATIONS, SOUTHERN CITIES, 1890-1900.[A] + +KEY: +A: No. of cities. +B: Per cent increase. + +----------------------------+---------------------------------------------- + | Male. + +----+--------------------+-------------------- + | | Native white. | Negro. + | +-------+-------+----+-------+-------+---- + Occupation. | A | 1890. | 1900. | B | 1890. | 1900. | B +----------------------------+----+-------+-------+----+-------+-------+---- +Domestic and personal | | | | | | | + service | -- | 29,407| 41,854|42.3| 54,179| 71,047|31.1 + Barbers, hairdressers | 10 | 1,436| 2,208| -- | 1,946| 2,317| -- + Bartenders | 8 | 1,688| 2,486| -- | 277| 389| -- + Laborers (not specified) | 10 | 19,843| 27,759| -- | 35,868| 51,346| -- + Restaurant and saloon | | | | | | | + keepers | 9 | 1,577| 2,107| -- | 377| 474| -- + Servants and waiters | 10 | 1,395| 1,128| -- | 15,358| 16,071| -- + Watchmen, policemen, | | | | | | | + detectives, etc. | 10 | 3,441| 6,166| -- | 353| 450| -- +Trade and transportation | -- | 71,291| 89,294|25.2| 18,305| 25,459|39.1 + Agents, collectors and | | | | | | | + commercial travelers | 10 | 8,571| 13,031| -- | 287| 411| -- + Bankers, brokers and | | | | | | | + officials (bank) | 8 | 2,309| 1,824| -- | 76| 13| -- + Draymen, hackmen, | | | | | | | + teamsters | 10 | 6,385| 8,117| -- | 11,246| 14,545| -- + Messengers, packers, | | | | | | + porters, etc.[B] | 9 | 3,302| 4,486| -- | 3,554| 6,225| -- + Steam railway employees | 10 | 11,033| 11,532| -- | 2,213| 3,048| -- + Street railway employees | 8 | 1,987| 3,366| -- | 85| 170| -- + Bookkeepers, accountants, | | | | | | + etc.[C] | 10 | 37,704| 46,638| -- | 844| 1,057| -- + Manufacturing and | | | | | | | + mechanical pursuits | -- | 55,236| 64,288|16.3| 11,548| 12,887|11.6 + Bakers and butchers | 9 | 4,111| 4,512| -- | 632| 640| -- + Blacksmiths[D] | 10 | 3,722| 4,003| -- | 852| 935| -- + Boot and shoemakers and | | | | | | + repairers | 10 | 2,195| 1,816| -- | 1,184| 965| -- + Carpenters and joiners | 10 | 12,947| 12,394| -- | 3,029| 2,762| -- + Cotton and textile mill | | | | | | + operatives | 7 | 2,648| 2,534| -- | 258| 281| -- + Engineers, firemen | | | | | | | + (not locomotive) | 10 | 3,379| 5,151| -- | 881| 1,224| -- + Iron and steel workers | 9 | 3,366| 4,808| -- | 779| 752| -- + Machinists | 10 | 5,086| 8,088| -- | 92| 174| -- + Marble and stone cutters | 5 | 1,009| 906| -- | 150| 149| -- + Masons (brick and stone) | 6 | 2,663| 2,362| -- | 731| 1,264| -- + Painters, glaziers, | | | | | | + varnishers | 10 | 6,807| 7,372| -- | 875| 782| -- + Plasterers | 7 | 672| 633| -- | 886| 811| -- + Plumbers, gas and steam | | | | | | + fitters | 7 | 1,925| 2,646| -- | 113| 151| -- + Saw and planing mill | | | | | | + employees | 7 | 2,543| 4,409| -- | 749| 1,062| -- + Tailors | 10 | 2,163| 2,654| -- | 337| 307| -- +----------------------------+----+-------+-------+----+-------+-------+---- + Total | -- |155,934|195,436|25.3| 84,032|109,393|30.2 +----------------------------+----+-------+-------+----+-------+-------+---- + +----------------------------+---------------------------------------------- + | Female. + +----+--------------------+-------------------- + | | Native white. | Negro. + | +-------+-------+----+-------+-------+---- + Occupation. | A | 1890 | 1900 | B | 1890 | 1900 | B +----------------------------+----+-------+-------+----+-------+-------+---- +Housekeepers and | | | | | | | + stewardesses | 10 | 1,475| 1,956 | -- | 752| 513| -- +Laborers (not specified) | 10 | 332| 712 | -- | 676| 901| -- +Laundresses | 10 | 1,543| 2,409 | -- | 25,968| 41,386| -- +Nurses and midwives | 10 | 781| 2,472 | -- | 1,097| 3,691| -- + Servants[E] | 10 | 10,176| 9,983 | -- | 47,198| 56,729| -- +Saleswomen | 7 | 2,633| 4,808 | -- | 37| 28| -- +Dressmakers, milliners, | | | | | | | + seamstresses | 10 | 41,313|22,007 | -- | 6,528| 6,859| -- +Tailoresses | 6 | 2,814| 2,950 | -- | 164| 131| -- +----------------------------+----+-------+-------+----+-------+-------+---- +Total | -- | 61,067|47,297 |29.1| 81,027|110,238|36.0 + | | | [F] |[F] | | | +----------------------------+----+-------+-------+----+-------+-------+---- + NOTES FOR TABLE IV. + + [A] Figures for 1890 from Eleventh Census, _Pop., Part ii_, pp. + 630-703; for 1900, Twelfth Census, _Occupations_, Table 43. The + cities are from the list in Tables III and IV _supra_. + + [B] Includes office-boys, shippers, and helpers in stores in + 1900, probably not separated in 1890. + + [C] Includes clerks and copyists. + + [D] Includes some wheelwrights for all cities except one. + + [E] Includes waitresses in 1900. + + [F] Decrease. + + +The evidence, then, that the economic call of Southern cities has +received response from Negroes as from whites is fairly conclusive. +That the economic motive of the Negro has had a large place in causing +his migration to urban centers is further shown by the testimony of +Negro wage-earners in a Northern city. + +In a personal canvass in New York City, 365 wage-earners were asked +their reasons for coming to New York City. In reply to the question +put in this direct manner 210 out of the total 365 wage-earners gave +replies; of these, 99 or 47.1 per cent gave answers that are easily +classified as economic. The other replies have been grouped under +"family" reasons, 68 or 32.4 per cent, and "individual" reasons, 43 or +20.5 per cent. Many cases in the last two groupings, as appear below +(pp. 31-32), would probably be seen to have an underlying economic +cause, if we knew more of their history. The 99 answers classed as +economic were as follows: + + +TABLE V. ECONOMIC REASONS GIVEN BY 99 WAGE-EARNERS FOR COMING TO NEW +YORK CITY, 1909. + +To "get work" or "find work" 38 +To secure "better wages" or "more money" 19 +With former employers 18 +To complete trade training 2 +To engage in work previously assured 4 +To "better my condition" 15 +"Business low at home" 1 +"Wanted to buy house at home by (with) money made here" 1 +"Seeking business" 1 + --- + Total 99 + + +This evidence is further corroborated by a record of the wages of 64 +of the 365 wage-earners before and after their coming to New York +City. For 38 males and 26 females statements of the wages received +just previously to their coming to New York City and of their present +wages were secured. These figures are presented because they suggest +that a wider survey of such facts would probably be in line with the +body of data given above. For instance, of 37 men, the median weekly +wage before their coming to New York City was in the wage-group $6.00 +to $6.99, and after coming, the median weekly wage increased so that +it was in the wage-group $10.00 to $10.99. Of the 26 women, the median +weekly wage was in the wage-group $4.00 to $4.99 before their coming +to New York City and advanced so that it was in the group $6.00 to +$6.99 after coming. These facts indicate a decided response to the +higher wage attraction of New York City. It should be remarked that +the wage-earner in his migration to secure higher wages seldom takes +into consideration the higher cost of living in New York City. Table +VI, following, gives the details of the comparison: + + +TABLE VI. WEEKLY WAGES RECEIVED BY 64 INDIVIDUALS BEFORE AND AFTER +COMING TO NEW YORK CITY, 1909. + +---------------------------+--------------+-------------- + | | + | Males. | Females. + +-------+------+-------+------ + Wages. | | | | + |Before.|After.|Before.|After. +---------------------------+-------+------+-------+------ +Less than $3.00 | -- | -- | 9 | -- +$3.00-$3.99 | 8 | -- | 3 | 3 +$4.00-$4.99 | 3 | -- | 3 | 3 +$5.00-$5.99 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 3 +$6.00-$6.99 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 7 +$7.00-$7.99 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 6 +$8.00-$8.99 | 4 | -- | -- | 2 +$9.00-$9.99 | -- | 4 | 2 | 2 +$10.00-$10.99 | 3 | 5 | -- | -- +$11.00-$11.99 | 1 | 4 | -- | -- +$12.00-$12.99 | 1 | 2 | -- | -- +$13.00 and over | 4 | 9[A]| -- | -- +---------------------------+-------+------+-------+------ + Total | 37 | 38 | 26 | 26 +---------------------------+-------+------+-------+------ + [A] One individual replied "less than now in New York City." + + +In the economic movement to the Northern cities, the activity of +employment agencies (especially for female domestic help) with +drummers and agents in Southern communities has served to spread tales +of high wages and to provide transportation for large numbers.[11] +Again, many who have been to the urban centers return for visits to +their more rural home communities with show of better wages in dress, +in cash and in conversation[12]. + +The conclusion of the matter, therefore, is that the Negro is +responding to the call of commerce and industry and is coming to the +urban centers under economic influences similar to those that move his +fellows. + +III. Secondary or Individual Causes of the Negro's Movement +Cityward.--It requires only a brief survey of the legislation in +several of the Southern states to understand that this has played a +part in uprooting the population from the soil and transplanting it in +the urban centers. + +The trend of legislation everywhere has been to make the city +attractive at the expense of the rural districts. First among these +measures have been the improved educational facilities provided by +municipal authorities. In the South, this has come since 1865. Parks +and recreation centers are rapidly being added. General regulation of +rights and privileges has been made with the city in the foreground, +and many another measure has favored the urban centers. + +Labor legislation in the South that affects the Negro population has +been of two kinds, aside from the laws to regulate or prohibit the +exodus of laborers through the activity of labor agents or +runners[13]: (1) that applying to the industrial centers and serving +to make conditions of labor on railroads, in mines, and other places +where Negroes are employed more attractive and payment of wages more +certain and frequent than in the case of labor upon the farm and +plantation; (2) that dealing with the relations of landlord and tenant +which in practical operation often makes the life of the tenant and +farm-hand very hard. Coupled with the ignorance of the usual Negro +peasant, these laws are sometimes tools of coercion.[14] + +Another line of secondary or individual causes is shown in the reasons +for coming to New York City given by wage-earners mentioned above (p. +27). The tabulation of answers indicates that the influences drawing +individuals to New York City are, on the one hand, family +relationships. These cases, 68 or 32.4 per cent of the 210 replies +noted above, have been classified as those who came because of +parents, because of husband or wife, or because of other relatives. On +the other hand, there are the individual inclinations. The latter, 43 +or 20.5 per cent of the 210 replies, are grouped under restlessness, +attraction of New York City, unattractiveness of former residence, and +miscellaneous. These groupings and designations are given as +suggestive only to facilitate the understanding of the mental attitude +of the Negro wage-earner. Their more or less economic tinge may be +seen. The reasons classified as "family" and as "individual" are +reported in detail in Table VII, following: + + +TABLE VII. REASONS GIVEN IN 1909 BY WAGE-EARNERS SHOWING WHY THEY CAME +TO NEW YORK CITY, 1909. + +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+--- + | + Family reasons (68 or 32.4 per cent, of 210). | T + | o +-----------------------+----------------------+------------------------+ t + | | | a +On account of parents. |On account of husband | On account of other | l + | or wife | relatives. | . +-----------------------+----------------------+------------------------+--- + | | | +"Brought here by |"Relatives of wife |"A son here" 2| + parents" 12| here" 1| | + | |"To visit a brother | +"With mother" 6|"Wife here" 1| and remained" 5| + | | | +"Came with mother |"To follow husband" 1|"Had a sister here" 9| + who was here" 4| | | + |"Came with husband" 7|"My health was bad | +"Father was here" 2| | and came to live | + |"My husband was | with sister" 1| +"On account of death | working on a ship | | + of father" 1| coming here" 1|To live with other | + | | relatives on account | +"Father transferred | | of death of mother 4| + in revenue service" 1| | | + | |Through influence | + | | of other relatives 10| +-----------------------+----------------------+------------------------+--- + | | | + Total 26| Total 11| Total 31|68 +-----------------------+----------------------+------------------------+--- + +-----------------------------------------------------------------------+--- + | T + | o + Individual reasons (43 or 20.5 per cent of 210). | t + | a +-----------------------+----------------------+------------------------+ l + | | | + Restlessness.--16 | Attraction of New | Former residence, | 4 + | York City.--15 | unattractive.--6 | 3 + | | | . +-----------------------+----------------------+------------------------+--- + | | | +"Thought I would like |"I wanted to come out |"To say I was leaving | + the place as a | this way." | home like everybody | + change;" wanted "to | | else." (From | + be goin somewhere." |"Wanted to come to a | St. Martin's Island.) | + | larger (place); to | | +"Was in Rhode Island | travel to see the |"Got tired of Boston | + and wanted a change." | world." | and came to New York." | + | | | +"Thought I'd like to |"Passing through |"Got tired of Virginia; | + make a change." | several summers; | came to visit friend; | + | stopped." | remained." | +"Wanted to make a | | | + change." |"Came out with |"Got tired of | + | friends who were | Baltimore; thought I'd | +"To change cities and | coming; been back | see some of New York." | + see New York." | and forth." | | + | |"Got tired of home, | +"Thought I would like |"Was running on the | that's all." | + change; to be going | boat to New York | | + somewhere." | and stopped for a |"To get away from home | + | while." | for a change." | +"Just for a change." | | | + |"Just to see New +------------------------+ +"Just for a change." | York; was traveling | | + | and stopped." | Miscellaneous.--6 | +"Thought I'd make a | | | + change; came North |"Took a notion to +------------------------+ + to try it." | come; wanted to | | + | come North." |"Came to get married." | +"Just to be coming." | | | + (To New York) |"Liked New York after |"Stopped on way to | + | seeing it as a | Boston, robbed in | +"For recreation; to | sailor in the Navy." | Jersey City." | + change cities." | | | + |"Thought I would like |"Came to America to go | +"Traveling and | New York." | to school." (From S. | + stopped." | | Hampton, Bermuda.) | + |"Thought I'd like New | | +"Split the difference | York." | | + of time." | |"To learn | + |"Wanted to see the | architecture." | +"Felt like traveling." | place." | | + | |"To visit friends; got | +"Had a roaming |"To see the place and | married." | + mind--came here from | be with sister." | | + Chicago." | |"To see and learn and | + |"To see the city; | improve my ability." | +"Felt like traveling." | friend wrote me of | | + | sights of the great | | + | city." | | + | | | + |"Heard talk of | | + | enjoyable life | | + | here." | | + | | | + |"Came here from | | + | Cincinnati; had read | | + | a great deal of New | | + | York City and wanted | | + | to see it." | | +-----------------------+----------------------+------------------------+ + + +Another individual cause operates especially upon the more able and +intelligent classes and sends them to Northern cities. The restriction +by "Jim Crow" legislation and by custom of the rights and privileges +of persons of color in Southern communities leads some of them to +migrate North. They long for a larger liberty for themselves and +particularly for their children, which the hard conditions of Southern +communities do not give. They come North to gain this and to escape +the proscriptions.[15] They settle in the cities. A similar force +probably operates in a few sections of the South to send Negro +families to the security of the urban centers.[16] + +The final conclusion from these facts concerning the causes operating +upon the Negro population has been clearly indicated in the above +discussion. Such fundamental economic and social causes do not cease +to operate suddenly. So far as the development of the South is +concerned, the agricultural, industrial and commercial movement is in +its infancy, and it will doubtless be of an indefinite growth. The +secondary and individual causes will continue to play their part. The +Negro will be affected in a manner similar to that of the Southern +white population. Any rural improvement or "back-to-the-land" movement +should recognize that along with the whites, Negroes will continue to +migrate to the urban centers and that they will come to the cities in +comparatively large numbers to stay. The problem alike of statesman, +race leader, and philanthropist is to understand the conditions of +segregation and oppositions due to race prejudices that are arising as +a sequel to this urban concentration and to co-operate with the Negro +in his effort to learn to live in the city as well as the country. + +Although it requires serious attention, the situation is a hopeful +one. Improvement in the living and working conditions has its effect +upon the health and morals of Negroes just as it has in the case of +other elements of the population. Intelligence is essentially a matter +of education and training. Good housing, pure milk and water supply, +sufficient food and clothing, which adequate wages allow, street and +sewer sanitation, have their direct effect upon health and physique. +And municipal protection and freedom from the pressure of the less +moral elements of the environing group go a long way toward elevating +standards of morality. In spite of the limits which the neglect and +prejudice of a white public sets to opportunities for improvement, +Negroes do show progress along these lines. + +Speaking first of the health of Negroes in cities, an index is given +in the general death-rate.[17] In the period from 1871 to 1904, the +death rate for the white and Negro populations of several Southern +cities is summarized by Mr. Hoffman.[18] Of the consolidated +death-rate of the white population, he says, + + For only two cities are the returns complete for the entire + period of thirty-four years. The tendency of the rate has been + _persistently downward_ from 26.7 per 1,000 in 1871 to 20.6 in + 1886 and 17.4 in 1904. Commencing with the rate for the year + 1871, the general death-rate of the white population of + Southern cities shows an _upward direction_ at different times + _during twelve years_, and a _downward_ direction _during + twenty-one years_, following in this respect practically the + same course as the corresponding death-rate for Northern and + Western cities combined. The year of _maximum mortality_ was + _1878_, due to a yellow fever epidemic, while the year of + _minimum mortality_ was, as in the case of the Northern and + Western cities, _1903_. + +In reference to the table for the Negro population he says,[19] + + Without exception, the death-rates are materially in excess of + the corresponding death-rates of the white population, but there + has also been in this case a _persistent decline_ in the general + death-rate from 38.1 per 1,000 in 1871 to 32.9 in 1886 and 28.1 + in 1904. Commencing with the rate for the year 1871, the general + death-rate of the colored population of Southern cities at + different times assumed an _upward_ direction _during fifteen + years_ and a _downward_ direction _during eighteen years_, + departing in this respect from the corresponding mortality of + the white population of Southern cities and the general + population of Northern and Western cities, the tendency of which + was more distinctly towards a definite improvement. The year of + _maximum mortality_ for the colored population was _1873_, while + the year of _minimum mortality_ was _1903_. + +The general correspondence and few divergencies of the two death-rates +are more clearly seen from the following diagram,[20] adapted from +Hoffman's study already cited: + + [Illustration: Diagram II: + THE GENERAL DEATH RATE OF AMERICAN CITIES 1871-1904] + +Other data[21] for two of the cities investigated by Mr. Hoffman, and +for three other cities (Atlanta, Ga., Charleston, S.C., and Richmond, +Va.) from 1882 to 1905 furnish results similar to his and indicate +likewise that while the general death-rate for the Negro population is +uniformly in excess of that of the white, _there is a tendency +downward_. For example, in Atlanta, Ga., the death-rates from 1882 to +1885 were for the white population, 18.22 per 1,000, Negro, 37.96; +from 1886 to 1890, white, 19.25, Negro, 33.41; from 1891 to 1905, +white, 18.03 per 1,000, Negro, 32.76. Baltimore, Md., Charleston, +S.C., Memphis, Tenn., and Richmond, Va., show a similar decrease, +except that the white and Negro populations of Baltimore show an +increase in the third period, 1891 to 1905, and the rate of the Negro +population of Charleston increased in the second period, 1886 to 1890. + +We see, then, that while the death-rate of Negroes in Southern cities +has been considerably in excess of that of the whites, there has been +at the same time a similar tendency toward improvement. + +And where there is unprejudiced effort the death-rate among Negroes is +affected favorably by improved living conditions. The chief +health-officer of Richmond, Va., Dr. E.C. Levy, has sounded a note +which is not mere prophecy.[22] He said, in 1906, "There is no doubt +whatsoever but that the introduction of better sanitation among the +colored people would have great influence on their high death-rate, +but whether, after all, it can be brought down as low as the white +rate, is a matter which can not be foretold." Again, in 1907, he says, + + We must clearly face the issue that the first fruits of improved + sanitation in Richmond will most probably be seen in a lowering + of the death-rate among the colored people, as conditions among + them are so much worse at present, but this in turn will + gradually react on the white race. + +And, in 1908, this significant paragraph occurs in his report: + + The white death-rate in Richmond during 1908 was 17.48 per 1000; + the colored rate was 29.21 per 1000. Although the colored rate + was thus 67 per cent higher than the white rate, the decrease in + the colored rate from 1907 was greater than the decrease in the + white rate, the 1907 rates being 18.11 for whites and 32.99 for + Negroes. + + Out of a total decrease of 166 in the number of deaths in 1908 + compared with 1907, the white decrease was 27, while the colored + decrease was 139. From the time that I entered office I have + predicted that improved sanitation would benefit the Colored + race more quickly than the white, and the figures above given + justify this conclusion. + +The statement of this health officer points to experience rather than +to prejudiced notions about the physical weaknesses of Negroes. + +From both the statistician and the sanitarian, therefore, comes the +word that while the health of Negroes in cities is worse than that of +whites, it shows a tendency to improve similar to that of the white +population when a fairly impartial treatment is accorded. + +As with health, so with other phases of the Negro's city life. There +is no place for pessimism. Improvements in intelligence and in moral +conditions can not be counted by case and set down in figures and +tables.[23] But any one at all familiar either by reading or +recollection with the condition of the Negro at the beginning of his +freedom, who now takes an impartial and unprejudiced view of his +intellectual and social life in urban communities, will come to no +other conclusion than that in the face of peculiar whims and +prejudices a large and increasing number in the group is arising to +the full consciousness of a freeman and has assimilated the best that +America affords in morals and intelligence; and that they are vitally +concerned for the uplift of themselves and their people, persistently +seeking to partake of all that makes for progress.[24] + +For the whole Negro population in cities some light is thrown upon +developments by the few facts at hand on crime among Negroes.[25] +Statistics of crime are, of course, of limited worth in judging of +moral conditions. Arrests and prison commitments have many factors +which figures do not show and are quite as much a commentary upon the +white communities at large as upon the unfortunate Negro law-breakers. +Yet, along with other facts, these records of crime are a part of the +social barometer. + +An analysis of three periods of crime (prior to 1866-1867; 1867 to +1880, and 1880 to 1903) made by Mr. Monroe N. Work gives indicative +results. Speaking of arrests per thousand of the Negro population in +nine cities, he says,[26] + + Taking the period from 1866 to 1882, it appears that at some + time during this period the arrest-rate, with the possible + exception of St. Louis, for each of the cities decreased. From + 1882 to 1892-1896 there was, with some exceptions, a marked + increase in the arrest-rates of the several cities. This was + especially true of Chicago, Cincinnati, Washington and St. + Louis. From 1892-1896 to 1902-1903 there appears to have been a + general tendency for the Negro arrest-rates of these cities to + decrease. It appears that, on the whole, we are warranted in + concluding that for the nine cities considered, the rate of + Negro arrests per thousand of the Negro population is + decreasing. + + The rates of jail commitments for Baltimore, Charleston, and St. + Louis have increased slowly since the seventies until the + nineties, and now apparently are beginning to decrease slightly. + +The workhouse commitments for Philadelphia, Washington, Cincinnati, +Louisville, Chicago and St. Louis "show a similar tendency to +decrease." Penitentiary commitments[27] for Baltimore and Chicago +show, on the whole, a decreasing trend. "The rate of annual +commitments to the state penitentiary of Illinois from the city of +Chicago in 1873 was 4.4; in 1902 the rate was 1.6," the highest rate +being in 1873. Mr. Work continues, + + The rate of annual commitments to the penitentiary from + Baltimore in 1888 was 1.1; in 1902 the rate of annual + penitentiary commitments from this city was 1.3; the highest + rate of annual penitentiary commitments from Baltimore was 2.0 + in 1899. Since 1898-1899 there has been a decrease in the + annual Negro penitentiary commitments for both cities. The rate + per thousand of the Negro population for the number of prisoners + received in the Kansas penitentiary was available for four + years, as follows: in 1889 and 1890 the rate of annual Negro + commitments to the Kansas penitentiary was 1.5; in 1891 and 1892 + the rate was 1.3. The rate per thousand of the Negro population + for the number of prisoners received annually in the Indiana + penitentiary was available for three years, as follows: in 1900 + the rate was 2.1; in 1901 the rate was 2.5; and in 1902 the rate + was 2.0. + +Mr. Work remarks finally,[28] + + Summarizing our results, it is seen that police arrests, jail, + workhouse and penitentiary commitments appear to have increased + during the period from 1890 to 1892-1896. The highest rates of + arrests and commitments were about 1893. Since 1894-1896 the + tendency of both arrests and commitments to decrease has been + notable. The crime-rate for murder is also probably decreasing. + It appears, therefore, that the conclusion that crime is + probably decreasing among the Negroes of the United States is + warranted. The crime-rate of Negroes, North and South, appears + at present to be about the same, although the rate of police + arrests for some Southern cities is higher than that for the + Northern cities. The claim that there is greater criminality + among the Negroes of the North than those of the South is + probably not true. The fallacy on which this claim was based was + in comparing the criminal rate of the Negroes of the North, who + live almost entirely in cities, with the criminal rate of the + Negroes of the entire South, the great majority of whom live in + rural communities. + +Besides, differences in age-grouping are usually ignored. + +On the whole, therefore, there is firm ground for hope as the Negro +becomes adjusted to the urban environment. + +Since, then, these economic and social causes bid fair to continue +their influence for an indefinite time, the concentration of Negroes +in urban centers makes imperative the need of knowledge and methods of +dealing with the problems that face the Negro and the Nation in these +growing urban centers.[29] These questions of how to live in the city +are problems of health, of intelligence and of morals. They are +economic, social, political, educational and religious. The present +essay is an attempt to study carefully the economic problems arising +out of the Negro's adjustment in his struggles to make a living and to +live in the city as seen in the commercial Metropolis of America; to +find out at what he is employed there; to inquire of his efficiency +and success, and of the attitude of employer and fellow employee. As +we find Negroes rising from the plane of the employed to that of the +employer, these questions arise: How does he get into business and +what lines does he enter? With what success does he meet? What +resourcefulness does he show? What are the reasons for his failures? +We want to know what are his relations with the business world with +which he deals and the consuming public to whom he caters. These and +many other things can be ascertained only by painstaking +investigation. + +This study aims to be a small contribution to the end that efforts for +betterment of urban conditions may be founded upon facts. The material +has been treated in two parts--that relating to wage-earners and to +business undertakings. In the former the United States Census reports, +a personal canvass, and the unpublished schedules for 2,500 families +of the New York State Census of 1905, were used as sources; for the +latter a block to block canvass was made and records of the business +enterprises were secured by personal interviews. + + +FOOT-NOTE ON THE MANNER AND CAUSES OF CITY CONCENTRATION OF +POPULATION[30] + +The manner of growth has been two-fold: (1) By natural increase +through the lowering of the death-rate due partially to improved +housing conditions, progress in personal hygiene of the poorer classes +and in city sanitation and inspection; (2) by migration: that is, +short distance movements by progressive stages from the more rural +districts toward the larger centers.[31] In the case of the great +cities this may mean increase in density of the most populated +areas.[32] + +The causes of concentration in cities are the following: + +I. The Divorce of Men from the Soil.[33] The diminishing relative +importance of elementary wants, improvements in scientific cultivation +and in agricultural machinery, and the opening of distant and virgin +fields by better transportation have reduced the relative number of +workers needed on the soil. + +II. The Growth of Commercial Centers.[34] This went hand in hand with +the Agrarian Revolution. Trade has been the basis of city founding. +The prevailing influence in determining location has been "_a break in +transportation_." Where goods are transferred and where, in addition, +ownership changes hands, urban centers grow up. Wealthy classes arise +which require others to supply their increasing and varied wants. + +III. The Growth of Industrial Centers.[35] The passage of industry +from the household, handicrafts and domestic systems to that of the +factory, with the invention of power machinery and modern methods of +transportation and communication, draws population away from the rural +districts to the industrial centers. + +IV. Secondary or Individual Causes.[36] (a) The shifting demand for +transfer of labor from agricultural to industrial production was met +by the economic motive of workers. (b) Political action has influenced +city growth; legislation affecting trade and the migration of labor; +centralization of governmental machinery in the cities; legal forms of +land tenure, _etc._ (c) Social advantages such as better education, +varied amusements, higher standard of living, intellectual +associations and pursuits, draw people to urban centers, while desire +for the contact of the moving crowds, for the excitement and apparent +ease of city life, serve to make the rural districts distasteful. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[1] The most comprehensive study of city growth is _The Growth of +Cities in the 19th Century_, by A.F. Weber, vol. xi, _Columbia +University Studies in History, Economics and Public Law_ (New York, +1899), pp. 1-478. The meaning of city and urban population is that +used by Weber: An agglomerated population of two thousand to ten +thousand for towns, more than ten thousand for cities, more than one +hundred thousand for great cities. _Cf._ p. 16. + +[2] See footnote at the end of this chapter. Weber, _op. cit._, pp. +146-154. + +[3] Weber, _op. cit._, pp. 167-68; 173-74; 201-207. See also footnote +at end of chapter. + +[4] Twelfth Census, _Bulletin 8, Negroes in the United States_, p. 29. + +[5] Weber, _op. cit._, pp. 24-27, 162. + +[6] Coman, _Industrial History of the United States_, Revised edition, +(New York, 1910), pp. 308-9. + +[7] Kelsey, The Negro Farmer, (Chicago, 1903), pp. 5-103; _vide_ pp. +24-28. Du Bois, _The Negro Farmer_ in _Bulletin 8_, (Twelfth Census), +pp. 79-81. + +[8] DuBois, _op. cit._, p. 77. + +[9] Kelsey, _Some Causes of Negro Emigration: Charities_, New York, +vol. xv, no. 1, pp. 15-17; _cf._ DuBois, _op. cit._, pp. 73-74. + +[10] _Statistical Abstract of the United States, 1909, table 143_, p. +261. + +[11] Kellor. _Out of Work_, pp. 73, 83. + +[12] Cf. Tucker, _Negro Craftsmen in New York_, in _Southern Workman_, +September, 1907, p. 550. + +[13] For statute provisions of state governments, see _Twenty-second +Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, Labor Laws of the United +States_, pp. 129, sec. 4165; 133-135, secs. 6345-6856; 146-147, secs. +3695-3696, 3905, 4057; 153, secs. 5357-58, 5383; 155-56; acts of 1901, +no. 101, secs. 1-3; acts of 1905, no. 49, secs. 1-3; 157-59, act no. +219, sec. 1; act no. 225, secs. 7-18; 278, secs. 2530, 2641-42; 281, +sec. 3233-34; 291, sec. 4732; 495-501, secs. 1350, 2722-2739A; 706, +sec. 2139; 1228-29, secs. 2717-2720; 1231-32, secs. 338, 358; 1251-52, +secs. 3794, 4339-42; 1339-40, sec. 3657D. _Vide_ also, _Digest and +Summaries of Certain Classes of Laws Affecting Labor_,--_Mechanics' +Liens_, pp. 37-38, 43, 44, 49, 50, 55, 61-62, 70-72, 74. + +[14] The laws referred to are framed in terms of the regulation of +contracts of employment, violation of contract, and contracts of +employment with intent to defraud. Breach of contract in either set of +cases is usually a misdemeanor (criminal act instead of a civil tort) +with a penalty of fines (or imprisonment in Florida). Often in +practical operation, they place the tenant and farm laborer at the +discretion or mercy of the landlord. The writer has made repeated +visits to many rural communities in Ala., Ga., Fla., Miss., and La., +and has observed how these legislative measures serve as barriers to +thrift among the landless Negro farmers. A number of the youths have +expressed their conviction that since their fathers and mothers have +accumulated nothing after years of labor on the land, they do not +intend to stay on the plantation to repeat the process. For provisions +of statutes: See Commissioner of Labor, _op. cit._, pp. 133-34, secs. +6845-46; 147, sec. 5030; 284, chaps. 703-704, secs. 1146-1148. + +[15] _Economic Analysis of American Prejudice_, by Dr. Wm. L. Bulkley, +in _The Colored American Magazine_, July, 1909, pp. 17, 19. 20-21. + +[16] _Cf. Darkest America_, by Kelly Miller in _New England Magazine_, +April, 1904. + +[17] _Vide_ Hoffman, _The General Death Rate of Large American +Cities_, 1871-1904, in _Quarterly Publications of the American +Statistical Association_, new series, vol. x, no. 73, March, 1906. Mr. +Hoffman says: "While the general death-rate is of very limited value +for the purpose of comparison in the case of different localities, it +is, I am satisfied, after a very careful investigation and much +experience, of quite considerable value in making local comparison of +the present health conditions with the past." + +[18] _Op. cit._, pp. 5-8. The cities are Baltimore, 1871-1904; New +Orleans, 1871-1904; District of Columbia, 1876-1904; Louisville, Ky., +1890-1904; Memphis, Tenn., 1876-1904. + +[19] _Op. cit._, pp. 7-8. (Italics are mine.) + +[20] In the _Biennial Report of the Board of Health of New Orleans, +La., 1906-1907_, this diagram of Mr. Hoffman is reproduced with the +following comment: (p. 113) "The colored mortality has not only been +excessive, but has borne no relation whatever to the white mortality +curve, being on the ascending scale at times when the white mortality +was clearly on the decrease." A comparison with Mr. Hoffman's words +about the two death-rates quoted above and a glance at the curves +supply sufficient commentary upon this biased view. + +[21] _Mortality Among Negroes in Cities_, Atlanta University Pubs., +no. 1, (Atlanta, Ga., 1896), p. 51; _vide_ pp. 21-25; and 2nd ed., +1903, pp. 11-15. + +[22] _Annual Reports of the Health Department of the City of Richmond, +Va._, 1906, p. 22; 1907, p. 34; 1908, pp. 39-40. + +[23] _Cf._ Ray Stannard Baker, in _American Magazine_, Feb. and March, +1908, and _Following the Color Line_, (New York, 1909), pp. 54-55. + +[24] For a large body of facts and opinions on this point see _Atlanta +University Pubs., no. 8_, pp. 64-79; 108-110; 154-190. Personal +observation during residence of the past twelve years in Louisville, +Ky., Memphis and Nashville, Tenn., Atlanta, Ga., Chicago, and New +York, and during visits to Baltimore, Md., Washington, D.C., Norfolk +and Richmond, Va., Savannah and Augusta, Ga., Chattanooga, Tenn., +Birmingham and Mobile, Ala., New Orleans, La., and smaller cities has +afforded the author of this essay considerable opportunity to know at +first-hand this phase of Negro city life. + +[25] _Atlanta University Pubs., no. 9, Notes on Negro Crime: Crime in +Cities_, by M.N. Work (Atlanta, Ga., 1904), pp. 18-32; _cf._ pp. +49-54. _Vide_ also Kellor, _Experimental Sociology_, pp. 250 _ff._ + +[26] _Op. cit._, p. 22. + +[27] _Ibid._, pp. 26-29 _passim._ + +[28] _Op. cit._, p. 32. + +[29] Philadelphia is the only city which has had adequate study. +_Vide_ DuBois, W.E.B., _The Philadelphia Negro_, (Philadelphia, 1889) +and Wright, R.R., Jr., _The Negro in Pennsylvania, a Study in Economic +History_ (Philadelphia, 1912). + +[30] _Vide_ Weber, _op. cit., passim._ + +[31] _Ibid._, 232 _ff._; 241 _ff._; 283 _ff._; 346-364, _passim._ + +[32] A suggestive study on this phase of the city problem has been +published recently: _Industrial Causes of Congestion of Population in +New York City_, by E.E. Pratt, Ph.D., (New York, 1911), pp. 5-262. + +[33] Weber, _op. cit._, pp. 161-169; 223. + +[34] _Ibid._, pp. 171-173; 181-182; 223-224. + +[35] Weber, _op. cit._, pp. 184-191. + +[36] _Ibid._, pp. 210, 213-222. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE NEGRO POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY + + +The Negro population of New York City has had a history similar to +that of other Northern cities. Beginning with a small body of slaves, +it has since had its problems growing out of the presence of an +increasing number of Negroes in the midst of the environing white +group. In 1629, The Dutch West India Company pledged itself to furnish +slaves to the Colonists of New Amsterdam.[37] A similar resolution was +passed by the colony council in 1648[38] and by 1664 slavery had +become of sufficient importance to receive legislative regulation in +the Duke of York Code.[39] Both by further importations and by natural +increase the Negro population grew until in 1704 it numbered about +1,500; in 1741 it was estimated at about 2,000, and in 1757 about +3,000. Beginning with the first Federal Census of 1790 there was an +increase shown by each census except those of 1820 for Brooklyn and of +1850 and 1860 for other parts of New York City, mainly Manhattan. + +The figures show a striking contrast in growth between Brooklyn and +the other parts of New York City as now constituted, exclusive of +Brooklyn. The former had a comparatively small Negro population until +after 1860, but from 1790 the Negro population although small +increased steadily, except the one decade between 1810 and 1820. This +was a decrease of only 92 or 4.9 per cent of a population less than +2,000. Only one increase, from 1800 to 1810, was less than 13 per +cent. Beginning with 5,915 at the Federal census of 1790, the Negro +population of the other parts of New York City has shown a high per +cent of increase in numbers, above 15 per cent, at eight of the twelve +succeeding censuses, and 8.1 per cent and 5.5 per cent at two others. +The decreases from 1840 to 1850, 13.2 per cent, and from 1850 to 1860, +7.5 per cent, were probably due to the unfavorable sentiment against +the Negroes which arose during the abolition agitation of these +periods and which had its effect on the Negro's movements to and from +the city. The small increase from 1860 to 1870, 5.5 per cent, was very +probably the result of the same causes--of the Civil War disturbances +and the New York Draft riots, which deterred Negroes from coming to +New York City and sent many Negro residents away.[40] The figures for +Manhattan show a similar trend at each census. However, except the +periods noted above, there has been a general trend toward increase in +both Manhattan and Brooklyn. The Negro population has become a smaller +and smaller part of the total population from decade to decade since +1810, but this is because the several streams of foreign immigrants +have been large and not because the increase of the Negro population +has been small. + +Table VIII, which follows, shows the growth of the total and the Negro +populations, and brings the full figures to view: + + +TABLE VIII. TOTAL AND NEGRO POPULATION OF NEW YORK CITY, AS AT PRESENT +CONSTITUTED, 1704-1910.[A] + +-----+--------------------------------++-------------------------------- + | New York City, exclusive of || + | Brooklyn. || Brooklyn. +-----+----------------+---------------++----------------+--------------- + | | Increase of || | Increase of +Year.| Population. | Negro || Population. | Negro + | | population. || | population. +-----+---------+------+-------+-------++---------+------+-------+------- + | | | | Per || |Negro.| | Per + | Total. |Negro.|Number.| cent || Total. | [B] |Number.| cent +-----+---------+------+-------+-------++---------+------+-------+------- +1704 | -- | 1,500| -- | -- || -- | -- | -- | -- +1741 | -- | 2,000| 500|33.3 || -- | -- | -- | -- +1757 | -- | 3,000| 1,000|50.0 || -- | -- | -- | -- +1790 | 44,906| 5,915| 2,915|97.2 || 4,495| 1,478| -- | -- +1800 | 73,476| 8,626| 2,711|45.9 || 5,740| 1,811| 333|25.5 +1810 | 111,431|12,116| 3,490|40.4 || 8,303| 1,853| 42| 2.3 +1820 | 140,869|13,100| 984| 8.1 || 11,187| 1,761| 92| 4.9[C] +1830 | 221,743|16,082| 2,982|22.8 || 20,535| 2,007| 246|13.9 +1840 | 343,501|18,595| 2,573|15.6 || 47,613| 2,846| 839|41.8 +1850 | 557,233|16,131| 2,464|13.2[C]|| 138,882| 4,065| 1,219|42.8 +1860 | 895,657|14,927| 1,204| 7.5[C]|| 279,122| 4,999| 934|22.9 +1870 |1,058,182|15,755| 828| 5.5 || 419,921| 5,653| 654|13.1 +1880 |1,312,203|22,496| 6,741|42.8 || 599,495| 9,153| 3,500|61.9 +1890 |1,668,867|26,330| 3,834|17.0 || 838,547|11,307| 2,154|23.5 +1900 |2,270,620|42,299| 15,969|60.6 ||1,166,582|18,367| 7,060|62.5 +1910 |3,132,532|69,700| 27,403|64.8 ||1,634,351|22,702| 4,335|23.6 +-----+---------+------+-------+-------++---------+------+-------+------- + [A] Figures 1704-1757 from Du Bois, _Notes_, _etc._, p. 1. + + [B] Negro not reported separately 1790 to 1850; includes + "slaves" and all other "Free Colored" which does not involve + serious error in the earlier censuses. + + Census figures 1790-1910 are from the latest revisions of the + Bureau of the Census. Figures for same area, outside of + Manhattan and Brooklyn, are estimates of censuses 1790-1890. + Figures for 1900 and 1910 are exact. + + [C] Decrease. + + +To summarize the point, while the Negro population has become a +smaller relative part of the total population each decade since 1810, +it has shown a decided trend toward a large actual increase. + +The distribution of the Negro population has varied with its increase +and with the growth of the city. But almost from the beginning, +probably the environing white group has segregated the Negroes into +separate neighborhoods. The figures available for Brooklyn do not +permit a positive inference, but in Manhattan, while the areas +populated by Negroes have shifted somewhat from decade to decade, +there have been distinctively Colored sections since 1800.[41] + +An idea of this segregation is shown in the fact that in 1900, 80.9 +per cent of all the Negro population of Manhattan was contained within +12 out of 35 Assembly Districts and that in 1890 seven wards of +Manhattan contained fully five-sixths of the Negro population of the +Borough. The largest number of Negroes, 13.8 per cent of the total +number, were living, in 1900, in the Nineteenth Assembly District with +numbers approximating this in the Eleventh, which contained 10.4 per +cent, the Twenty-seventh, which had 9.2 per cent, and the +Twenty-third, which had 8.7 per cent of the Negro population. The +Negro population for Manhattan, 36,246, was distributed in 1900 by +assembly districts as is shown in Table IX (p. 49). + +These figures give a clear idea of the segregated character of the +Negro population and show something of its present location. There has +been a decided shifting from the part of Manhattan between +Twenty-fifth, Forty-second streets, Sixth and Eighth avenues, and into +Harlem between One Hundred and Thirtieth, One Hundred and Fortieth +streets, Fifth and Eighth avenues during the past five years as +business interests have been taking possession of the zone around the +new Pennsylvania Railway Station, between Thirty-second and +Thirty-third streets. But as the Negroes have moved into blocks in +Harlem, the whites have moved out. + + +TABLE IX. DISTRIBUTION OF NEGRO POPULATION BY ASSEMBLY DISTRICTS OF +MANHATTAN, 1900. + +-----------------------------+-------------+--------------- + | Negro | Per cent of + Assembly District. | population. | total. +-----------------------------+-------------+--------------- + 5th Assembly District | 1,378 | 3.8 + 9th Assembly District | 1,673 | 4.6 + 11th Assembly District | 3,756 | 10.4 + 13th Assembly District | 2,584 | 7.1 + 17th Assembly District | 1,214 | 3.4 + 19th Assembly District | 4,982 | 13.8 + 21st Assembly District | 1,135 | 3.1 + 23rd Assembly District | 3,169 | 8.7 + 25th Assembly District | 2,950 | 8.1 + 27th Assembly District | 3,318 | 9.2 + 31st Assembly District | 1,483 | 4.1 + 32nd Assembly District | 1,680 | 4.6 + All other Districts | 6,924 | 19.1 +-----------------------------+-------------+-------------- + Total | 36,246 | 100. +-----------------------------+-------------+--------------- + + +The exact character and extent of the segregation of the Negro +population may be clearly seen from diagrams of this Harlem district, +and of the "San Juan Hill" district in the West Sixties, based upon +the latest figures of the Census of 1910. This is given in Diagrams +III and IV (pp. 50-51)[42] + +With such a distribution of the clearly segregated Negro population, +the representative character of the 2,500 families chosen for closer +study becomes evident. These families, from figures based upon the +original returns of the New York State Census of 1905, were chosen +from the Eleventh, the Nineteenth, the Twenty-third, and the +Thirty-first districts. The last district was taken in preference to +several which contained larger numbers, because it included certain +streets that were typical of the Harlem section. + + [Illustration: Diagram III: + DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION OF HARLEM + Corrected To June 1911] + + [Illustration: Diagram IV: + DISTRIBUTION OF THE NEGRO POPULATION ON "SAN JUAN HILL"] + +In all 2,639 families were tabulated. Of these 95 were excluded +because the heads of these families were of the professional or +business classes, 37 because they were too incompletely reported, and +7 because the heads were white. This reduced the number to 2,500 +families, which consisted of 9,788 persons, exclusive of 17 white +members of these families. The data from the State Census schedules of +enumerators were tabulated in regular order as reported by them for +each block or part of block for the Negro families that were +designated as living in that street or block. + +The families studied were from the following territory: Within the +Eleventh Assembly District, the area bounded by Thirtieth and +Thirty-eighth streets, Seventh and Tenth avenues; within the +Nineteenth Assembly District, Sixty-first, Sixty-second, and +Sixty-third streets, between Amsterdam and Eleventh avenues, commonly +called "San Juan Hill;" within the Twenty-third and Thirty-first +Assembly Districts, One Hundred and Thirtieth and One Hundred and +Thirty-third streets between Eighth and St. Nicholas avenues, and One +Hundred and Thirty-fourth and One Hundred and Thirty-fifth streets +between Fifth and Seventh avenues. These three segregated +neighborhoods in 1905 may be roughly characterized as follows: The +first was probably in the lowest grade of social condition; the second +did not show a decidedly predominant type, but ranged from the middle +grade toward the more advanced; the third was the most advanced. + +A comparison in detail of the distribution by assembly districts of +the total Negro population and of the 2,500 selected families shows +also that the latter are representative of the several neighborhoods +and of the total population. Table X shows the distribution by +Assembly Districts of the 2,500 families for comparison with Table IX +above, which gave the total Negro population of Manhattan and its +distribution. + + +TABLE X. DISTRIBUTION BY ASSEMBLY DISTRICTS OF 2,500 NEGRO FAMILIES, +STATE CENSUS, 1905. + +--------------------+------------------+------------------ +Assembly District. | No. of families. | No. of persons. +--------------------+------------------+------------------ +Eleventh | 927 | 3,329 +Nineteenth | 1,018 | 4,024 +Twenty-third | 326 | 1,581 +Thirty-first | 229 | 854 +--------------------+------------------+------------------ + Total | 2,500 | 9,788 +--------------------+------------------+------------------ + + +In addition to the data of the State Census of 1905, a personal +canvass was made in 1909 of 73 families in their homes, having a total +of 212 persons. To these were added 153 individuals at one of the +evening schools of the city, a total of 365 persons. The localities +within which these 365 people lived corresponded in the main to the +location of the 2,500 families taken from the State Census of 1905; +that is, between Twenty-fifth, Forty-fifth streets, Fifth and Eighth +Avenues; Fifty-third, Sixty-fifth streets, west of Sixth Avenue and +between One Hundred and Thirtieth and One Hundred and Thirty-sixth +streets, Fifth and Seventh Avenues. + +To sum up: The assembly districts chosen and the number of families +and individuals tabulated from each district are such as to give a +fairly accurate description of the clearly segregated wage-earning +Negro population of the districts. The study, then, is representative +of about one-fourth of the Negro population of Manhattan in 1905, and +is so distributed as to be reasonably conclusive for the wage-earning +element of the whole Negro population. + +The next question is the composition of this toiling Negro population. +The general condition of the wage-earning element of this group will +now, therefore, engage our attention. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[37] _New York Colonial Doc._, i, 553. + +[38] O'Callaghan, _Laws and Ordinances of New Netherlands, 1637-1674_, +p. 81. + +[39] DuBois, _Some Notes on Negroes of New York City_, p. 5. + +[40] The writer has testimony of contemporary witnesses of these +disturbances. + +[41] _Vide_ DuBois, _Notes_, _etc._, p. 1. + +[42] Diagrams III and IV were made by Mr. Eugene K. Jones, Field +Secretary of the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +GENERAL CONDITION OF WAGE-EARNERS[43] + + +I. SEX AND AGE OF NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS + +In the 2,500 families composed of 9,788 individuals, the sex +distribution and age grouping[44] throw some light upon the life +conditions of the wage-earning class. That city life does not look +with favor upon a large juvenile element in the population is +generally believed. That the city draws mainly those of the working +period of life is also generally conceded. The number of children in +this Negro group under 15 years of age is 19 per cent, below normal +for great cities, and the upper age limit is also quite low, being +only 6.6 per cent between forty-five and fifty-four years, and 3.2 per +cent over fifty-five years. Thus the bulk of the population, 70.8 per +cent, both male and female, excluding 0.4 per cent doubtful and +unknown, falls between fifteen and fifty-four years, or within the +vigorous working period of life. This is fully set forth in Table XI, +which gives the sex distribution and age grouping in assembly +districts of the 9,788 individuals in these 2,500 families of the +Census of 1905: + + +TABLE XI. SEX DISTRIBUTION AND AGE GROUPING OF 9,788 NEGRO +WAGE-EARNERS IN MANHATTAN, STATE CENSUS, 1905. + +---------------------+--------------+--------------+---------------- + | Male. | Female. | Total. +Age group. +------+-------+------+-------+------+--------- + | | Per | | Per | | Per + | No. | cent | No. | cent | No. | cent +---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+--------- +Less than 15 years | 949 | 19.6 | 910 | 18.4 | 1859 | 19.0 +15-24 | 988 | 20.4 | 1155 | 23.4 | 2143 | 21.9 +25-34 | 1543 | 31.8 | 1546 | 31.2 | 3089 | 31.6 +35-44 | 889 | 18.4 | 809 | 16.4 | 1698 | 17.3 +45-54 | 333 | 6.9 | 311 | 6.3 | 644 | 6.6 +55 and over | 128 | 2.6 | 188 | 3.8 | 316 | 3.2 +Doubtful and unknown | 14 | 0.3 | 25 | 0.5 | 39 | 0.4 +---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+--------- + Totals | 4844 | 100. | 4944 | 100. | 9788 | 100. +---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+--------- + + +Figures obtained from the personal canvass made in 1909 bear +comparison with those of the State Census of 1905. Substantial +agreement is to be noted between the two enumerations, except for the +larger percentage of those under 15 years of age in 1905 (19.6 per +cent male, 18.4 per cent female), and the smaller percentages in the +grouping thirty-five to forty-four years (18.4 per cent male, 16.4 per +cent female). Doubtless this effect is produced because so many of the +cases in 1909 were individuals attending evening school, who were +required to be above 14 years of age, and because few over forty-five +years of age are attracted to such a place. The other small difference +in percentages is due probably to the small number of individuals, +365, in the figures for 1909. The sex distribution and age grouping in +1909 is shown in Table XII, which follows: + + +TABLE XII. SEX DISTRIBUTION AND AGE GROUPING OF 365 NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS +IN MANHATTAN, 1909. + +---------------------+--------------+--------------+---------------- + | Male. | Female. | Total. +Age group. +------+-------+------+-------+------+--------- + | | Per | | Per | | Per + | No. | cent | No. | cent | No. | cent +---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+--------- +Less than 15 years | 18 | 10.2 | 21 | 11.2 | 39 | 10.7 +15-24 | 35 | 19.8 | 37 | 19.7 | 72 | 19.7 +25-34 | 54 | 30.5 | 50 | 26.6 | 104 | 28.5 +35-44 | 40 | 22.6 | 41 | 21.8 | 81 | 22.2 +45-54 | 11 | 6.2 | 21 | 11.2 | 32 | 8.8 +55 and over | 10 | 5.6 | 4 | 2.1 | 14 | 3.8 +Doubtful and unknown | 9 | 5.1 | 14 | 7.4 | 23 | 6.3 +---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+--------- + Totals | 177 | 100. | 188 | 100. | 365 | 100. +---------------------+------+-------+------+-------+------+--------- + + +The results above correspond also with those of the United States +Census of 1900 for the entire City of New York. Making allowance for +some families of professional and business classes, probably not +excluded from the Census figures for 1900, and for changes which five +years interval may have caused, the agreement with the two preceding +tables above confirms the representative character of the data for +1905 and 1909. For the total per cent under fifteen years in 1900 was +19.8; in 1905, 19.0; from fifteen to twenty-four years, 24 per cent in +1900, 21.9 per cent in 1905; from twenty-five to thirty-four years, +25.9 per cent in 1900, 31.6 per cent in 1905; from thirty-five to +forty-four years, 16.2 per cent in 1900, 17.3 per cent in 1905; from +forty-five to fifty-four years, 8.3 per cent in 1900, 6.6 per cent in +1905, and fifty-five years and over, 5.6 per cent in 1900, 3.2 per +cent in 1905.[45] + +Here, then, is a wage-earning group made up of persons in the younger +and more vigorous working period. The small number of children under +15 years of age calls attention to the fact that the growth of this +population takes place largely through recruits from other sections of +the Country. They must find industrial and social adjustment to a new +environment largely made up of the white population. They are either +killed off by the conditions under which they work and live, or drift +away from the city at a premature old age. + + +2. NATIVITY OF NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS + +If New York has a Negro population largely composed of immigrants from +other regions, the question naturally arises, From what sections or +regions do they come? The State Census of 1905 gives nativity by +countries only. Consequently, those born within the United States are +not specified by State or territory of birth. That large numbers of +the Negro population of New York City come from other sections of the +United States, mainly from the South, is beyond doubt. + +We get the first impression of this fact from the Federal Census of +1900. For the whole State of New York in 1900, out of a population of +100,000,[46] 44.6 per cent were natives, 24.1 per cent were from +Virginia, 19 per cent were from other Southern States, with a +remaining 12.3 per cent to be drawn from other parts of the United +States and from other countries. + +These proportions are different from those for New York City, because +immigrants make up a larger part of the City's Negro population. The +figures of the State Census of 1905, as well as those from a personal +canvass, point in the same direction, and the evidence indicates +clearly the probable condition. + +The West Indian element in the Negro population of the City was +noticed first. The British West Indies furnish 5.8 per cent of these +foreign Negro immigrants, while the Danish West Indies, Cuba, and +those islands not specified, together make up 3.6 per cent, a total of +9.4 per cent West Indian.[47] Table XIII (p. 59) gives a survey of +this part of the population and shows its relation to the native born. + +We are unable to get from the figures of Table XIII the sections or +States of the United States from which the 89.5 per cent of +American-born Negroes came. The few straws of evidence afforded by the +personal canvass point to the main sources of the stream. The +percentages have significance although the figures are few. The +Southern States, from which there are easy means of transportation to +New York, naturally furnish the larger part. Virginia supplied 29.6 +per cent of the 365 Manhattan residents; South Carolina, 11 per cent; +Georgia, 6 per cent, and Maryland, 4.4 per cent. Taking the Southern +States by themselves, 67.5 per cent of the 365 wage-earners were born +in that section. Besides 5.7 per cent of the 365 came from the +British West Indies. The West Indies and the Southern States probably +furnished 73.4 per cent or about three-fourths of these wage-earners +in the Negro population of New York City. Table XIV (p. 60) shows in +full the State and country of birth of the 365 wage-earners. + + +TABLE XIII. NATIVITY BY COUNTRY OF BIRTH OF 9,788 WAGE-EARNERS, +MANHATTAN, 1905. + +----------------------------+-----+------+------- + Country of birth. | No. | No. |Per cent +----------------------------+-----+------+------- + | | | +The Bermudas | -- | 28 | 0.3 +British West Indies | -- | 566 | 5.8 + Antiqua | 1 | -- | -- + Bahama Islands | 7 | -- | -- + Barbadoes | 36 | -- | -- + Jamaica | 19 | -- | -- + St. Croix | 46 | -- | -- + St. Christopher | 20 | -- | -- + St. Thomas | 8 | -- | -- + Trinidad | 1 | -- | -- + Not specified | 428 | -- | -- +Danish West Indies | -- | 62 | 0.6 +Cuba | -- | 14 | 0.1 +West Indies (not specified) | -- | 285 | 2.9 +Canada | -- | 16 | 0.2 +United States | -- | 8,757| 89.5 +Miscellaneous[A] | -- | 36 | 0.4 +Unknown | -- | 24 | 0.2 +----------------------------+-----+------+------- + Total | -- | 9,788| 100. +----------------------------+-----+------+------- + [A] The miscellaneous includes the following: Australia 3, + England 7, East Indies 1, France 1, Germany 1, Hayti 1, India + 2, Ireland 1, Mexico 2, Monrovia, Africa 1, Porto Rico 9, + Sandwich Islands 1, Santo Domingo 2, South America 4. + + +Foreign and native immigrants predominate in the Negro population of +the City. With such a stream of immigrants the question arises about +their marriage and family relationships. Are they largely single +people, or are there large numbers of married, widowed, or divorced +persons among them? The discussion next centers upon this point. + + +TABLE XIV. NATIVITY BY STATE OR COUNTRY OF BIRTH OF 365 WAGE EARNERS, +MANHATTAN, 1909. + +------------------------+-----+------+-----+------ + Country. | No. | Per | No. | Per + | | cent | | cent +------------------------+-----+------+-----+------ +Bermuda | -- | -- | 4 | 1.1 + | | | | +British West Indies | -- | -- | 21 | 5.7 + Antigua | 3 | -- | -- | -- + Barbadoes | 8 | -- | -- | -- + Grenada | 1 | -- | -- | -- + Jamaica | 1 | -- | -- | -- + Nassau | 1 | -- | -- | -- + St. Croix | 3 | -- | -- | -- + St. Kitts | 1 | -- | -- | -- + Trinidad | 1 | -- | -- | -- + Island Unknown | 2 | -- | -- | -- +------------------------+-----+------+-----+------ +------------------------+-----+------+-----+------ + Country. | No. | Per | No. | Per + | | cent | | cent +------------------------+-----+------+-----+------ +United States | -- | -- | 307 | 84.2 + Georgia | 22 | 6.0 | -- | -- + Maryland | 16 | 4.4 | -- | -- + New York | 40 | 11.0 | -- | -- + North Carolina | 35 | 9.6 | -- | -- + South Carolina | 40 | 11.0 | -- | -- + Virginia | 108 | 29.6 | -- | -- + Other States[A] | 46 | 12.6 | -- | -- +Miscellaneous[B] | -- | -- | 4 | 1.1 +Unknown | -- | -- | 29 | 7.9 +------------------------+-----+------+-----+------ + Total | -- | -- | 365 |100 +------------------------+-----+------+-----+------ + [A] The other states of the Union are: Alabama 2, Arkansas 2, + Delaware 2, District of Columbia 7, Florida 7, Illinois 1, + Kentucky 4, Massachusetts 4, Missouri 3, Ohio 2, Pennsylvania + 3, Tennessee 2, Texas 2, Michigan 1, New Jersey 1, Rhode Island + 1, Porto Rico 2. + + [B] Miscellaneous: St. Martin 1, Ontario 1, British Guiana 2. + + +3. MARITAL CONDITION OF WAGE-EARNERS + +The State Census of 1905 did not ask about the marital condition, but +only stated relationships to the head of the family, so that the +conjugal condition of women reported as heads of families, of lodgers, +and of adult sons and daughters or other relatives in the family could +not be ascertained. Therefore, no attempt was made to give statements +about conjugal condition based on these returns. However, in the +personal canvass of 326 individuals, fifteen years of age and over, +the marital condition was obtained. The small number of cases included +in Table XV makes the figures and percentages presented valuable for +pointing only to what a larger body of data would probably make +certain. It is important, therefore, to note that 113 out of 159 +males, or 71.1 per cent, and 106 out of 167 females, or 63.5 per cent, +were single, excluding those unknown. This suggests what the age +grouping would lead us to expect, viz., that the Negro group in New +York City has a large proportion of unmarried persons. Table XV, which +follows, indicates this conclusion: + + +TABLE XV. MARITAL CONDITION OF 326 NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS, FIFTEEN YEARS +OF AGE AND OVER, MANHATTAN, 1909. + +--------------------+-------------+-------------+------------- + | Male. | Female. | Total. + +-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+------- +Marital condition. | | Per | | Per | | Per + | No. | cent | No. | cent | No. | cent +--------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+------- +Married | 26 | 16.3 | 30 | 17.9 | 56 | 17.2 +Single | 113 | 71.1 | 106 | 63.5 | 219 | 67.2 +Widowed | 9 | 5.7 | 27 | 16.2 | 36 | 11.0 +Divorced | 3 | 1.9 | -- | -- | 3 | 0.9 +Unknown | 8 | 5.0 | 4 | 2.4 | 12 | 3.7 +--------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+------- + Total | 159 | 100. | 167 | 100. | 326 | 100. +--------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+------- + + +Now that the marital condition of the individuals has been indicated, +we may profitably inquire into the composition of the families. + + +4. FAMILIES AND LODGERS + +An illuminating sidelight is thrown upon the general condition of +wage-earners by a study of the sizes of families and the relation of +lodgers to those families. The figures used are those of the State +Census of 1905 only, as the number of complete families secured in the +personal canvass was too small. The points of importance are the size +of the economic family, which includes lodgers and all others living +under one head, and size of the natural family when lodgers are +excluded. The census returns of 1905 showed relationship of each +dweller in the household to the head of the family. It was thus easy +to separate lodgers, except in some cases when relatives may have been +lodgers but were not so designated. Taking the 2,500 families as a +whole, with 9,788 individuals, the average size of the family was +three and nine-tenths persons. Of these, 2,631 individuals, 26.9 per +cent were lodgers, and 7,157, or 73.1 per cent, were natural members. +But these aggregates do not portray actual conditions. A true picture +may be obtained from a more detailed study of the figures which show +that 119, or 4.8 per cent, of the economic families (which includes +all persons living under one head) consisted of an individual living +alone; 576, 23 per cent, of two persons; 531, 21.2 per cent, of the +families had three members, while 478, 19.1 per cent, were composed of +four members. Above four, the percentages of families rapidly +declined; 13.4 per cent of economic families had five members; 8.3 per +cent, six members; 5 per cent, seven members, down to 2.2 per cent, +eight members; 1.4 per cent, nine members, and 1.6 per cent, ten or +more members. But the composition of these economic families is even +more striking. To illustrate, of a total of 576 economic families with +two members, 488 had no lodgers, and this was 36.1 per cent of all the +families without lodgers; out of 531 families of three members each, +173 had one lodger, or 37.7 per cent of all families having one +lodger, and 67 families had two lodgers each, or 20.6 per cent of all +the families having two lodgers. Further, 478 families of four members +each contained 133 families with two lodgers, 40.9 per cent of all +families having two lodgers, and 48 families had three lodgers, 27 per +cent of all families having three lodgers, while only 84 families had +one lodger, and 213 families, less than one-half, 44.6 per cent of all +families of four members each, had no lodgers. Taking the entire +2,500 families, only 1,353 families, or 54.1 per cent, had no +lodgers; 459, or 18.4 per cent of the total families, had one lodger +only; 325 families, or 13 per cent of the total, had two lodgers only, +while 320 families, or 12.8 per cent of the total, had from 3 to 5 +lodgers. This left 45, or 1.7 per cent, with 6 to 9 lodgers. In a +phrase, the increase in the size of the family means, as a rule, an +increase in the number of lodgers, and the relative proportion of +natural members probably decreases as the size of the family +increases, the proportion of lodgers increasing with the size of the +economic family. + +Now this showing is not the effect of lodging-houses run as business +enterprises, except probably in the families ten members or more, +which constitute only 1.6 per cent of the total 2,500 families. This +condition is most probably due in part to the fact--which both Census +returns and personal observation indicated but could not fully +determine--that many of the lodgers consisted of married couples, +sometimes with one or two children, and of parts of broken families. +Furthermore, the high rents[48] which Negroes have to pay, the limited +area in which the opposition of whites allows them to live, together +with the small income power due to the occupational field being +largely restricted to domestic and personal service, play a large part +in forcing families and parts of families to live thus crowded +together. This last point about income will be referred to again in +Chapter IV on Occupations and in Chapter V on Wages. It is a cause for +serious concern that only 54.1 per cent of the families had no +lodgers, and this percentage here will probably hold for the entire +Negro population of the City. If we exclude the 119 individuals living +alone, the families having no lodgers fall to 51.8 per cent. + +This last phase of the lodger condition is emphasized if presented in +another way which shows the number of families having a specified +number of members, exclusive of lodgers. For the same 2,500 families, +it brings out from another point of view the relation of the family to +the lodgers. There is presented both the number and percent of +families that had a specified number of lodgers, and also, the number +and percent of families that had a specified number of members +exclusive of lodgers. For example, 178 families had three lodgers +each, which was 7.1 per cent of the total 2,500 families. And of these +48 families had only one other member; 57 had two other members; 36 +had three other; 23 four other; 9 five other; 3 six other, and 1 seven +other. Out of 1,353 families that did not accommodate lodgers, 898 +families, 67.8 per cent, had three members or less. Of 1,147 families +that did accommodate lodgers, 606, 52.8 per cent, had more lodgers +than natural members. And if we take the totals, 392, 15.7 per cent, +of the families had besides lodgers only one natural member; 909, 36.4 +per cent, of the families had in addition to lodgers two members only, +and 508, 20.3 per cent, had besides lodgers three members only; 329 +families, 13.2 per cent of the total, had four natural members; 325, +12.9 per cent, had five to seven natural members, and 38, 1.5 per +cent, had eight or more natural members. This makes it clear that +1,809 of the 2,500 families had three natural members or less, if +lodgers are not counted. To take a statement in a percentage that +probably will be applicable to the whole City, one may say that, even +including relatives who may have been lodgers, 72.6 per cent of Negro +families had three members or less, if the lodgers are excluded--a +fact of almost startling social significance. All this is a cause for +serious concern, and any constructive steps for social betterment +should give attention to the causes and remedies for this condition as +one of the first and most urgent problems. + +To sum up the general condition of wage-earners: The Negro population +has increased decade by decade, except from 1840 to 1850 and from 1850 +to 1860, preceding and during the Abolition and Civil War crisis. It +is made up of young persons and adults in the vigorous working period, +and has a small number of children under fifteen years of age. The +population is recruited largely by immigrants from the South and the +West Indies, who do not survive or remain in the City to a very old +age. Among the wage-earners probably single people predominate. +Largely because of high rents and low incomes, lodgers made up of +married couples, parts of broken families and of individuals seriously +interfere with normal family life. The families are usually very small +in size, from two to four persons, and an increase in the size of the +family generally means an increase in the number of lodgers. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[43] The term "wage-earner", for want of a better, is used to +designate the group of persons belonging to families whose heads are +actual wage-workers. This includes children and some other family +members not in gainful occupations. + +[44] _Cf._ Bailey, _Modern Social Conditions_, (New York, 1906), pp. +67-89. + +[45] _Cf._ Twelfth Census, _Bulletin 8, Negroes in the United States_, +Table 31. + +[46] DuBois, _Notes_, _etc._, p. 2. + +[47] In a study of _Negro Craftsmen in New York City_ made by Miss +Helen A. Tucker in 1907 (_Vide_, _Southern Workman_, 1907, 36: 9, p. +550), she reported the most reliable estimate of the proportion of +West Indians in New York City as about one-tenth of the total Negro +population. The figures above substantiate such an estimate. Of the +385 men in Miss Tucker's study, 29.09 per cent were born in the West +Indies. Among the 94 who claimed to know a trade, 57 or 60.64 per cent +were born in the West Indies. _Cf. ibid._, 37: I, p. 45. This wide +variation of percentage from that given for 9,788 individuals in 1905, +probably arises because (1) of the larger number of cases in the +latter instance, (2) the returns are from two other districts of +Manhattan besides "the Sixties" of Miss Tucker's canvass, (3) Miss +Tucker canvassed male craftsmen only; the figures of this text cover +the whole population. + +[48] Real estate agents, who have handled properties during the change +from white to Negro tenants, testified that Negro families upon moving +in pay from $2.00 to $5.00 more per apartment. Others corroborated +their statements. _Vide_ also, Chapin, _Standard of Living in New York +City_, pp. 76-77. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +OCCUPATIONS OF WAGE-EARNERS + + +I. AN HISTORICAL VIEW OF OCCUPATIONS + +In the New Amsterdam Colony as early as 1628, slaves were sought as a +source of labor. These slaves were employed mainly in farm labor. In +that year the Dutch West India Company agreed to furnish slaves to the +colonists and the Company's largest farm was "cultivated by the +blacks."[49] Individuals were at liberty to import slaves for the same +purpose.[50] Both slaves and freedmen were used as stevedores and +deckhands for the Company's vessels. The slaves were also used in +building and repairing the public highways and in the repairing of +Fort Amsterdam.[51] In 1680, mention is made of Negroes being used in +housebuilding.[52] About the same time Negro slaves were carrying hod +for wages, and in 1699 it was said that about the only servants +(probably meaning domestic servants) in the Province of New York were +Negroes. Freed Negroes were indentured or hired for similar +service.[53] + +Negroes were mustered into the Colonial army as early as 1698, and in +the battle of Lake George in 1755, the "blacks behaved better than the +whites."[54] + +Under the Dutch government enfranchised and slave Negroes were allowed +to acquire and hold land. Some took advantage of this privilege. But +with English possession of the colony it was expressly prohibited.[55] +Some few Negroes were seamen as shown by the records of the so-called +Negro plot of 1741, and one Negro doctor, Harry by name, was among +those executed during the time of that insane public excitement.[56] + +From about 1835 until 1841 a weekly newspaper, _The Colored American_, +owned and published by Charles B. Ray, Philip A. Bell and others, was +published in New York. It had an extensive circulation from Boston to +Cincinnati. From this source a number of employments and business +enterprises of Negroes in the New York of that period were +ascertained. The occupations included three carpenters and joiners, +five boot and shoe-makers, five tailors, two music teachers, four +teachers of private and evening schools, one newspaper agent, one +engraver, one watch and clock-maker, one sign-painter, two dress and +cloak makers.[57] + +In this period between 1830 and 1860, there were many engaged in +domestic and personal service. Most of the smaller hotels of the times +had colored waiters. The Metropolitan had about 60 or 70; other +hostelries like the Stuyvesant House, the Earls, the Clifford, and a +number of restaurants employed colored waiters. Some cooks and +barbers, who also applied leeches, treated corns, and did other minor +surgical services, were among this class of wage-earners. + +Three dentists, P.H. White, John Burdell, and Joshua Bishop, two +physicians, James McCune Smith and W.M. Lively, and three ministers, +H.W. Garnet, Chas. B. Ray, and Peter Williams, were prominent persons +of the period. + +But these facts should not give the impression of unalloyed +opportunity in the trades and professions, for the columns of this +same Negro newspaper were filled with articles, editorials and appeals +which indicate the difficulties in that direction. This is further +borne out by the testimony of Charles S. Andrews, the white principal +of the Manumission Society School for Negroes. He said his graduates +left with every avenue closed against them and spoke of difficulties +those who had trades encountered, many being forced to become waiters, +barbers, servants, and laborers.[58] That domestic and personal +service furnished employment for a large number of Negroes is further +shown by the organization of the United Public Waiters' Mutual +Beneficial Association. This effort was first started by twelve Negro +caterers as a corporation to control and keep up the quality of +service both by looking after the efficiency of the many waiters they +employed and by preventing "irresponsible men attempting to cater at +weddings, balls, parties, and some hotels on special occasions." +Originally their constitution, framed in 1869, stated the objects of +the organization to be "to consolidate the business interests of its +members; to encourage and promote industrial pursuits followed by +them; to give preference in patronage to its members."[59] + +Five of the original corporators, among whom were George Morris, +George E. Green, and Charles W. Hopewell, owned imported silver, +china, and other caterers' "service" ranging in valuation from about +$1,000 to $4,000, and all of them had ability to manage large banquets +and other social functions, supplying waiters, cooks, _etc._ First +smaller caterers, then waiters, were taken into the organization +until the membership increased to more than a hundred. And in 1872 +they added the mutual benefit features, "to insure both medical and +brotherly aid when sick and to assist respectably interring its +deceased members." One of the caterers of the early corporation, W.E. +Gross, is yet in the business at the Bowery Savings Bank and still +serves for special occasions, now mainly among Colored people. The +organization as a benefit association continued with varying fortunes +down to 1905, when it was dissolved by its remaining 33 members. + +That there were many other waiters and servants of the time is +certain. A head-waiter of that day estimated the number of colored +hotel and restaurant waiters at between 400 and 500 in 1870. + + +2. OCCUPATIONS IN 1890 AND 1900 + +By the time of the Federal censuses of 1890 and 1900 the Negro +population in New York had grown to considerable proportions, and for +this increased population we are fortunate in having full occupational +returns. Although these figures included all persons ten years of age +and over, those under fourteen years probably formed a negligible part +of the totals because the Child Labor Laws of the State of New York +prohibited the employment of children under fourteen years of age. + +It appears, as was expected, that the large majority of Negro +wage-earners were engaged in domestic and personal service. But it is +significant that in 1890 there were among the male population 236 +bookkeepers, accountants, _etc._, 476 draymen, hackmen, and teamsters, +and 427 were engaged in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. Among +the females, there were 418 dressmakers, 103 seamstresses, and 67 +nurses and midwives. + +The figures for 1900 show a large percentage of increase in domestic +and personal service. In occupations classed under trade and +transportation, Negro wage-earners increased 450.3 per cent compared +with an increase of 177.2 per cent among native whites. Nor is this +increase due entirely to semi-personal service occupations for the +class of clerks, bookkeepers, _etc._, had increased from 236 in 1890 +to 456 in 1900; draymen, hackmen, and teamsters numbered 1,439 in 1900 +as compared with 476 in 1890, an increase of 202.3 per cent. In +manufacturing and mechanical pursuits the percentage of increase +during the ten years, 1890 to 1900, was 140.3 per cent, larger than +that of the native whites, 137.3 per cent. Only one occupation in this +class had a smaller increase of Negro workers than 75 per cent. +Machinists increased from 7 to 47; brick and stone masons from 20 to +94, or 370 per cent; stationary engineers and firemen from 61 to 227, +or 271.1 per cent. Other comparisons indicate clearly a similarly +favorable advance in many occupations other than domestic and personal +service. Large allowances, of course, must be made for the errors in +gathering the figures of the two censuses; yet this does not account +for all of the decided increases shown. It must be accounted for on +the ground that slowly the walls of inefficiency on one side and of +prejudice on the other which have confined Negroes to the more menial +and lower-paid employments are being broken down. This progress has +come in the face of the fact that the more ambitious and efficient +individual is "tied to his group."[60] + +In 1890 and 1900 a large number of occupations could not be included +in the table because the figures for 1890 were not available. The +comparison of the two censuses shows clearly that there is for Negro +wage-earners a probable enlargement of the scope of occupations +outside of domestic and personal service. + +Table XVI below gives in detail the number and percent of increase of +the native white and Negro wage-earners, ten years of age and over, +engaged in selected occupations in New York City in 1890 and 1900: + + +TABLE XVI. NATIVE WHITE AND NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS, TEN YEARS OF AGE AND +OVER, ENGAGED IN SELECTED OCCUPATIONS, NEW YORK CITY, 1890 AND +1900.[A] + +-------------------------+------------------------------------------------ + | Male. + +------------------------+----------------------- + Occupation. | Native white. | Negro. +-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+------+-------+-------- + | | |Per cent| | |Per cent + | 1890. | 1900. |increase|1890. | 1900. |increase +-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+------+-------+-------- +Domestic and personal | | | | | | + service | 16,887| 42,621| 152.4 | 4,975| 27,956| 461.9 + Barbers and | | | | | | + hairdressers | 1,017| 1,936| 60.9 | 111| 215| -- + Bartenders | 2,530| 5,776| 128.3 | 29| 84| -- + Janitors and sextons | 712| 2,037| 186.2 | 336| 800| 118.6 + Laborers (not | | | | | | + classified) | 8,807| 26,669| 203.1 | 882| 3,719| 352.4 + Servants and waiters[B] | 3,821| 6,473| 69.4 | 3,647| 6,280| 72.2 +Trade and transportation | 69,162|170,350| 146.3 | 1,520| 5,338| 450.3 + Boatmen and sailors | 1,024| 3,675| 258.9 | 106| 145| 36.8 + Bookkeepers and | | | | | | + accountants[F] | 34,960| 16,526| -- | 236| 33| -- + Clerks and copyists | --| 62,921| -- | --| 423| -- + Draymen, hackmen, | | | | | | + teamsters, etc. | 12,908| 31,695| 145.5 | 476| 1,439| 202.3 + Hostlers[C] | 840| 1,659| -- | 100| 633| -- + Messengers, errand and | | | | | | + office boys[D] |} |{10,578|} | |{ 355|} + Packers and shippers |} 7,711|{ 2,026|} 117.4 | 559|{ 23|} 347.4 + Porters and helpers (in |} |{ |} | |{ |} + stores) |} |{ 4,157|} | |{ 2,143|} + Salesmen | 8,398| 29,889| 255.9 | 15| 94| 526.7 + Steam railroad employees| 3,321| 7,224| 121.1 | 28| 70| 150.0 +Manufacturing and | | | | | | + mechanical pursuits | 30,180| 71,613| 137.3 | 427| 1,026| 140.3 + Blacksmiths | 1,169| 2,490| 113.0 | 9| 29| -- + Masons (brick and stone)| 2,278| 5,032| 120.1 | 20| 94| 370.0 +Painters, glaziers and | | | | | | + varnishers | 5,805| 12,947| 123.0 | 99| 177| 78.8 + Plasterers | 701| 1,592| 127.1 | 10| 51| 410.0 + Plumbers, gas and steam | | | | | | + fitters | 5,225| 12,355| 136.4 | 11| 31| -- + Carpenters and joiners | 4,712| 11,471| 143.4 | 33| 94| 184.8 + Tobacco and cigar | | | | | | + factory operatives | 1,940| 2,182| 12.0 | 146| 189| 29.4 + Tailors | 2,200| 4,545| 106.6 | 20| 69| 245.0 + Upholsterers | 860| 1,447| 68.2 | 11| 18| 63.3 +Engineers and firemen | | | | | | + (not locomotive) | 2,622| 8,129| 210.0 | 61| 227| 272.1 +Machinists | 2,368| 9,423| 297.9 | 7| 47| -- +-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+------+-------+------- + Total |116,224|284,584| 144.8 | 6,922| 34,321| 395.8 +-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+------+-------+------- + +-------------------------+----------------------------------------------- + | Female. + +------------------------+---------------------- + Occupation. | Native white. | Negro. +-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+------+-------+------- + | | |Per cent| | |Per cent + | 1890. | 1900. |increase|1890. | 1900. |increase +-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+------+-------+------- +Musicians and teachers | | | | | | + of music | 950| 2,581| 171.7 | 24| 73| 204.2 +Housekeepers and | | | | | | + stewardesses | 797| 2,421| 203.8 | 83| 226| 172.3 +Laundresses | 1,416| 4,329| 205.7 | 1,526| 3,224| 111.3 +Nurses and midwives | 1,220| 4,416| 262.0 | 67| 290| 332.8 +Servants and | | | | | | + waitresses[E] | 11,140| 22,616| 103.0 | 3,754| 10,297| 174.3 +Clerks and copyists | 2,505| 7,811| 419.0 | 5| 22| -- +Bookkeepers and | | | | | | + accountants | 1,492| 6,998| 360.0 | 2| 10| -- +Stenographers and | | | | | | + typewriters | 1,356| 9,518| 601.9 | 3| 14| -- +Saleswomen | 7,476| 18,315| 144.7 | 4| 13| -- +Dressmakers | 13,106| 22,137| 68.9 | 418| 813| 94.5 +Seamstresses | 4,206| 7,855| 86.7 | 103| 249| 141.7 +-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+------+-------+------- + Total | 45,664|108,997| 138.5 | 5,989| 15,231| 154.3 +-------------------------+-------+-------+--------+------+-------+------- + NOTES FOR TABLE XVI. + + [A] Eleventh Census, _Part ii, Population_, p. 704. Occupations + for Negroes in 1890 are approximately accurate as Chinese, + _etc._, made up less than 10 per cent. of the total Colored + population. Twelfth Census, _Special Rep._, Table 43, + _Occupations_, pp. 634-640. + + [B] In 1890 occupation marked only "servants." + + [C] Includes livery-stable keepers in 1890. + + [D] Messengers, packers, and porters, _etc._, classed together + in 1890. + + [E] 1900, "servants and waitresses;" 1890, "servants." + + [F] Includes clerks, _etc._, in 1890. + + +OCCUPATIONS IN 1905 + +In the 2,500 families, composed of 9,788 persons, 1,859 were excluded +because of their being under fifteen years of age and 82 were excluded +because, although members of wage-earning families, they themselves +were either in a professional occupation, or were engaged in a +business enterprise on their own account. This left 7,847 individual +wage-earners, 3,802 of whom were male and 4,045 were female. Both the +male and the female wage-earners show a very large percentage employed +in domestic and personal service, 40.2 per cent male and 89.3 per cent +female, a large percentage of whom doubtless were married women and +widows with children.[61] But it is to be noted as important that +among the males, 20.6 per cent were engaged in some occupation +classified under Trade and 9.4 per cent under Transportation. While +some of these occupations may differ little in character from domestic +and personal service, yet the occupations that are entirely removed +from that classification are sufficient in number to show, as did the +figures for 1890 and 1900, the possibility of Negroes in considerable +numbers securing a scope of employment which includes other +occupations than those of domestic and personal service. + +The State Census figures are more detailed than those of the Federal +Census. For example, under domestic and personal service, the Federal +Census has grouped together male waiters and servants, while the State +Census figures have been tabulated separately. It is also probable +that the classification in 1890 and 1900 included wage-earners who +were classified differently in 1905 and _vice versa_. And in 1905 +professional occupations as well as all persons doing business on +their own account were excluded. Differences in the figures may, +therefore, be allowed. + +Table XVII, which follows, shows the latest figures available on the +scope of employment of Negro wage-earners: + + +TABLE XVII. OCCUPATIONS OF NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS, FIFTEEN YEARS OF AGE +AND OVER, MANHATTAN, 1905.[A] + + MALE +-------------------------------------+--------+-----+--------- + Occupation. | Totals.| No. |Per cent +-------------------------------------+--------+-----+--------- +Public service | 55 | -- | 1.4 + Sailors and mariners (U.S.) | -- | 3 | -- + Federal employees (custom house, | | | + immigration, etc.) | -- | 6 | -- + Post office (clerks) | -- | 13 | -- + Post office (carriers) | -- | 9 | -- + Street cleaning department | -- | 23 | -- + Miscellaneous | -- | 1 | -- + | | | +Domestic and personal service | 1,527 | -- | 0.2 + Barbers | -- | 27 | -- + Bartenders | -- | 24 | -- + Bellmen and doormen | -- | 154 | 4.0 + Bootblacks | -- | 2 | -- + Butlers | -- | 41 | -- + Chauffeurs | -- | 9 | -- + Cleaners (house, etc.) | -- | 15 | -- + Coachmen | -- | 68 | 1.8 + Cooks | -- | 110 | 2.9 + Cooks (dining car) | -- | 7 | -- + Chimney sweeps | -- | 2 | -- + Domestic servants (not specified) | -- | 12 | -- + Elevatormen | -- | 365 | 9.6 + Hallmen (hotel, etc.) | -- | 90 | 2.4 + Hotel managers | -- | 3 | -- + Housemen | -- | 29 | -- + Janitors and caretakers | -- | 83 | 2.2 + Stewards | -- | 38 | -- + Valets | -- | 18 | -- + Waiters | -- | 425 | 11.2 + Miscellaneous | -- | 5 | -- + | | | +Manufacturers and mechanical pursuits| 300 | -- | 7.9 + Asphalt layers | -- | 6 | -- + Blacksmiths | -- | 5 | -- + Carpenters | -- | 18 | -- + Confectioners | -- | 3 | -- + Drill runners | -- | 5 | -- + Electricians | -- | 3 | -- + Engineers (not locomotive) | -- | 48 | -- + Firemen (not locomotive) | -- | 19 | -- + Factory employees (not specified) | -- | 6 | -- + Hodcarriers | -- | 9 | -- + Harness and saddlemakers | -- | 2 | -- + Cigarmakers | -- | 32 | -- + Kalsominers | -- | 8 | -- + Machinists | -- | 12 | -- + Mechanics (automobile, bicycle, | | | + etc.) | -- | 9 | -- + Masons (stone) | -- | 2 | -- + Masons (brick) | -- | 8 | -- + Masons (not specified) | -- | 5 | -- + Painters and decorators | -- | 26 | -- + Plasterers | -- | 7 | -- + Plumbers, steam and gas fitters | -- | 5 | -- + Printers and compositors | -- | 14 | -- + Shoemakers and repairers | -- | 6 | -- + Tailors | -- | 20 | -- + Miscellaneous | -- | 22 | -- + | | | +Trade | 783 | -- | 20.6 + Agents (real estate) | -- | 4 | -- + Bookkeepers | -- | 3 | -- + Clerks (office, banks, etc.) | -- | 11 | -- + Shipping clerks | -- | 9 | -- + Clerks and salesmen (in stores, | | | + etc.) | -- | 63 | 1.7 + Laundry employees | -- | 13 | -- + Messengers, errand boys and | | | + office boys | -- | 60 | 1.6 + Watchmen | -- | 10 | -- + Porters (stores, etc.) | -- | 587 | 15.4 + Stenographers | -- | 5 | -- + Miscellaneous | -- | 19 | -- + | | | +Transportation | 359 | -- | 9.4 + Boatmen and seamen | -- | 17 | -- + Expressmen, truckmen and drivers | -- | 119 | 3.1 + Hostlers and stablemen | -- | 47 | 1.2 + Longshoremen | -- | 75 | 2.0 + Porters (railway) | -- | 83 | 2.2 + Porters (street railway) | -- | 7 | -- + Steamship company (not specified) | -- | 4 | -- + Street railway (not specified) | -- | 3 | -- + Telephone operators | -- | 3 | -- + Car cleaner | -- | 1 | -- + | | | +Unclassified | 778 | -- | 20.5 + Gardeners | -- | 3 | -- + Laborers (not specified) | -- | 616 | 16.2 + Musicians and musical performers | -- | 55 | 1.4 + Foremen (not specified) | -- | 9 | -- + Theatrical (not specified) | -- | 6 | -- + Unknown | -- | 94 | -- + Total for all occupations | 3,802 | | +-------------------------------------+--------+-----+--------- + + FEMALE +-------------------------------------+--------+-----+--------- + Occupation. | Totals.| No. |Per cent +-------------------------------------+--------+-----+--------- +Domestic and personal service | 3,456 | -- | 89.3 + Chambermaids | -- | 22 | -- + Cooks | -- | 149 | + Day workers out | -- | 19 | + Domestic servants (not specified) | -- | 88 | 2.3 + Hairdressers | -- | 6 | -- + Manicurists and masseurs | -- | 18 | -- + Housekeepers | -- | 60 | -- + Housewives | -- | 51 | -- + General housework (wages) | -- | 72 | 18.6 + General housework (not specified) | -- |1572 | -- + Janitress and caretakers | -- | 28 | -- + Laundresses | -- | 543 | 14.0 + Ladies' maids | -- | 23 | -- + Maids (not specified) | -- | 80 | 2.1 + Nurses | -- | 21 | -- + Waitresses | -- | 47 | -- + Miscellaneous | -- | 4 | -- + | | | +Trade | 25 | -- | 0.6 + Bookkeepers | -- | 2 | -- + Clerks and saleswomen | -- | 6 | -- + Stenographers and typewriters | -- | 8 | -- + Miscellaneous | -- | 9 | -- + | | | +Manufacturing and mechanical pursuits| 564 | -- | 5.5 + Dressmakers | -- | 164 | 4.2 + Garment workers | -- | 18 | .5 + Milliners | -- | 5 | -- + Seamstresses | -- | 16 | -- + Tailors' assistants | -- | 3 | -- + Miscellaneous | -- | 6 | -- + | | | +Unclassified | 176 | -- | 4.6 + Telephone operators | -- | 1 | -- + Unknown | -- | 175 | -- +-------------------------------------+--------+-----+--------- + Total for all occupations | 4,045 | -- | -- +-------------------------------------+--------+-----+--------- + [A] In classifying these occupations, some departure has been + made from the Federal Census arrangement. Those engaged in + Public Service have been separated from Domestic and Personal + Service, while Trade and Transportation are tabulated + separately; a few occupations have been put in an unclassified + list, while one or two occupations are included that might + possibly be regarded as professional. This rearrangement, + however, does not prevent comparison with previous Federal + Census classification, and it is hoped that it is in line with + subsequent classifications. + + +Before leaving the subject of the restricted scope of occupations +among Negroes, something should be said of the far-reaching effects +this restriction has upon the life of the wage-earners. Negroes are +crowded into these poorer-paid occupations because many of them are +inefficient and because of the color prejudice on the part of white +workmen and employers.[62] Both of these influences are severe +handicaps in the face of the competition in this advanced industrial +community. + +Restricted thus to a few occupations, there is a larger number of +competitors within a limited field with a consequent tendency to lower +an already low wage scale. In this way the limitations of occupational +mobility react upon income, producing a low standard of living, the +lodger evil, and social consequences pointed out below (pp. 80, 89, +144 ff). + +To sum up the occupational condition of Negro wage-earners: The large +majority of Negroes are employed to-day in occupations of domestic and +personal service. This is partly the result of the historical +conditions of servitude, of a prejudice on the part of white workmen +and employers, which restricts them to this lower field, and of the +inefficiency of Negro wage-earners for competition in occupations +requiring a higher order of training and skill. The steady increase in +1890, 1900 and 1905 of numbers employed in occupations other than +personal and domestic service is prophetic of a probable widening +scope of the field of employment open to them. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[49] Williams, _History of the Negro Race in America_, vol. i, p. 135. + +[50] _Colonial Doc._, i, 364. + +[51] _Laws of New York_, 1691-1773, pp. 83, 156; _Doc. relating to +Colonial History of New York_, vol. i, 499; ii, 474. + +[52] _Doc. relating to Colonial History of New York_, iii, 307. + +[53] _Ibid._, ix, 875; iv, 511; Burghermen and Freemen, _collection of +New York Historical Society_, 1885, p. 569. + +[54] _Ibid._, 377 (London Doc. xi); _ibid._, vi, 1005 (London Doc. +xxxii.) "Letter from a gunner to his cousin." + +[55] Williams, _op. cit._, pp. 137, 142. + +[56] Horsmanden, _History of the Negro Plot, passim._ + +[57] For business enterprises, see chap. v, pp. 96-7. + +[58] Quoted in Ovington, _Half a Man_, pp. 27-28. + +[59] _Constitution and By-Laws of the United Public Waiters' Mutual +Beneficial Association._ + +[60] Ovington, _op. cit._, pp. 93-95. + +[61] _Cf._ Ovington, _op. cit._, pp. 56-57, 144-145. + +[62] In a canvass of business establishments 12 manufacturers, 1 +architect, 3 plumbers and steam-fitters, 2 printing firms, 10 +contractors and builders and 3 miscellaneous--37 total--12 were +decidedly against employing Negroes, 9 giving as a reason the +objections of their white workmen; 13 were non-committal, and 12, 10 +of whom were builders and contractors, offered or gave employment to +Negroes above the average competency; _cf._ Ovington, _op. cit._, pp. +91-98. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +WAGES AND EFFICIENCY OF WAGE-EARNERS + + +The question of wages and working efficiency are so closely related +that they can be better treated together than separately. The material +for this part of the monograph has been gathered from three sources, +namely: a personal canvass, the records of employment agencies for +personal and domestic help, and the statement of union rates published +by the New York Bureau of Labor Statistics. It has not been possible +to calculate the time loss by the worker, and therefore any estimate +of annual income based upon the figures given must be made on the +assumption of a full year of work. This, of course, is not the actual +case, especially with many wage-earners in domestic and personal +service. + + +I. WAGES IN DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE + +The Employment Agencies' Law of New York City requires that each +agency keep a careful and accurate record of the wages of those for +whom they secure situations, as well as written references from former +employers of each applicant. Since inspectors from the Bureau of +Licenses have access to these records at any time, they are probably +carefully kept. The material on wages which has been taken largely +from these sources has been arranged to show the number of individuals +who receive a specified wage, beginning at less than $4.00 and running +by $1.00 groups up to $9.00 and over. There follows (p. 80) a table +covering 682 males in twenty-four occupations and 2,138 females in +twenty-five occupations from 1906 to 1909. It will be noted that in +some cases two occupations are given under one heading such as +elevator and switchboard, or cook and laundress. In these cases, the +individual is paid the same for the two branches of work; so far as +the wage is concerned it is one occupation. It is significant that out +of a total of 682 males, 513, or 75.2 per cent, received wages under +$6.00 per week and that 141, or 20.7 per cent, received between $6.00 +and $8.99 per week, while only 4.1 per cent received $9.00 or more per +week. With the females, the showing is even more unfavorable. Out of a +total of 2,138 females, 1,971, or 92.2 per cent, received less than +$6.00 per week, and of these 1,137, or 53.2 per cent, received less +than $5.00 per week. Of those receiving $6.00 or more per week, only 8 +out of 2,138, or .04 per cent, received as much as $9.00 or more per +week. + +Of course, many of these wage-earners are furnished their meals in +addition to wages; some have meals and room. In some cases question +may arise about the effect of lodgings furnished by the employer upon +the wages paid his domestic help, but both from the testimony of the +employment agent and from statements made in the records, it does not +appear that wages are different whether the servants "sleep in" or +"sleep out." There are no data to show whether or not consideration of +car-fare had any effect on the wages. + +An inspection of the list of occupations for which these wages are +given and the fact that they were employed in private families (see +Table XVIII below) show that comparatively few of these wage-earners +had opportunity to receive any considerable money from tips. This is +especially true of the females. We may take, therefore, the figures of +the table as probably giving an accurate statement of the wages +received in domestic service in New York City during the four years, +1906 to 1909. + +When one considers the probable dependents on many of these +wage-earners, the high rents and high cost of food, he is not +surprised to find that about half of these families take lodgers (see +p. 64), and that a majority of the women are bread-winners (see p. +73). He sees the poorly-paid domestic service on the one side and on +the other the cost of living as high walls bounding a narrow, +restricted road that leads to a low standard of living and to social +and economic disease. Table XVIII shows the picture in full relief: + + +TABLE XVIII. WEEKLY WAGES BY GROUPS OF WAGE-EARNERS FOR SELECTED +OCCUPATIONS IN DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE, NEW YORK CITY, +1906-1909.[A] + + MALE +----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------ + |Less |$4.00|$5.00|$6.00|$7.00|$8.00|$9.00| + Occupations. |than | to | to | to | to | to | and |Total. + |$4.00|$4.99|$5.99|$6.99|$7.99|$8.99|over.| +----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------ +Bartenders | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 +Bellmen | 3 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 +Blacksmiths | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 2 +Butlers | -- | 4 | 18 | 4 | 11 | 4 | -- | 41 +Butler and cook | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 3 +Coachmen | -- | 1 | 2 | -- | 1 | -- | 1 | 5 +Cooks | -- | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 28 +Elevator | -- | 20 | 141 | 20 | 3 | -- | -- | 184 +Elevator and | | | | | | | | + switchboard | -- | 1 | 21 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 23 +Elevator and hallboy | -- | -- | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 +Firemen | 1 | 1 | 10 | -- | 10 | 2 | 2 | 26 +Furnacemen | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 2 +Gardeners | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 5 +Hallmen and doormen | 5 | 26 | 15 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | 49 +Housemen | 2 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 29 +Janitors | -- | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14 +Kitchenmen | 6 | 21 | 11 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | 41 +Errand and office | | | | | | | | + boys | 1 | 8 | 3 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 13 +Pantrymen | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 +Porters | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 47 +Stablemen | 4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 +Switchboard | -- | 7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 16 +Usefulmen | 5 | 31 | 31 | 5 | 1 | -- | -- | 74 +Waiters | -- | 22 | 31 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 68 +----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- + Total | 29 | 160 | 324 | 53 | 64 | 24 | 28 | 682 + Percent | 4.2 |23.5 |47.5 | 7.8 | 9.4 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 100 +----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------- + + FEMALE +----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------ + |Less |$4.00|$5.00|$6.00|$7.00|$8.00|$9.00| + Occupations. |than | to | to | to | to | to | and |Total. + |$4.00|$4.99|$5.99|$6.99|$7.99|$8.99|over.| +----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------ +Chambermaid | 13 | 56 | 18 | -- | 2 | 1 | -- | 90 +Chamb. and cook | -- | 1 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 +Chamb. and laundress | 1 | 6 | 9 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 18 +Chamb. and seamstress | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 +Chamb. and waitress | 32 | 197 | 80 | -- | 2 | 1 | -- | 310 +Cleaner | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | 4 +Cook | -- | 30 | 131 | 38 | 49 | 12 | 7 | 267 +Cook and general | | | | | | | | + housework | -- | 2 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 +Cook and laundress | 1 | 54 | 104 | 5 | 3 | -- | -- | 167 +Cook and waitress | -- | 5 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 +Errand girl | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 +General housework | 82 | 472 | 399 | 22 | 4 | -- | -- | 979 +Laundress | 3 | 28 | 23 | 4 | 2 | -- | -- | 60 +Laund. and general | | | | | | | | + housework | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 +Laund. and waitress | -- | 4 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 6 +Maid | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | -- | -- | 17 +Maid (house and | | | | | | | | + parlor) | 1 | 4 | 2 | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 8 +Maid (kitchen) | 5 | 13 | 5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 23 +Maid and seamstress | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 +Nurse | 13 | 9 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 24 +Pantry girl | -- | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3 +Switchboard | -- | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 +Waitress | 10 | 78 | 46 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | 137 +Dishwasher | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 +Sick nurse | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 +----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------ + Total | 165 | 972 | 834 | 78 | 64 | 17 | 8 | 2138 + Percent | 7.7 |45.5 |39.0 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 100 +----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------ + [A] Day's work, 1 at $1.00 a day, 7 at $1.25 a day, and 15 at + $1.50 a day. + + +The earnings in hotel service play such an important part in the +income of males of the Negro group, that some special note was taken +of wages for waiters and bellmen. Records of 249 waiters in Manhattan +and 46 waiters in Brooklyn showed that they received $25.00 per month, +not including tips. Forty-nine bellmen received $15.00 to $20.00 per +month, exclusive of tips. Out of these wages lodging and car-fares +must usually be paid, and besides uniforms and laundry are not small +items of expense. + + +2. WAGES IN OTHER OCCUPATIONS + +The wages of skilled trades do not affect the larger part of the Negro +population, because so small a percentage are engaged in these +occupations, as reference to the occupational tables in Chapter IV +will show. But the numbers are increasing, for there is a constant +struggle of Negro wage-earners to rise to these better-paid +occupations. Colored carpenters have a local branch of the Amalgamated +Carpenters and Joiners Union; there is a street-pavers union, with +about a third of the membership Colored men, and the Mechanics +Association is composed of Negro artisans of all kinds who wish mutual +help in securing and holding work. Since Negroes who are union men are +reported to receive the same wages as white workmen, the approximate +union wages in 1909 for such skilled occupations as had a considerable +number of Negro males will be a good index. The approximate number of +Negro union members in 1910 and union wages in 1909 were about as +follows:[63] Asphalt pavers and helpers, Negro union members 350, rate +of wages, pavers $2.50 per day, helpers $1.75 per day; rock-drillers +and tool sharpeners, Negro members 240, employed by the hour, average +daily earnings $2.77; cigar-makers, Negro members 165, piece-workers, +average daily earnings $2.00; carpenters, Negro members 40, rate of +wages $4.50 per day; stationary engineers, Negro members 35, rate of +wages, $3.00-$3.50 per day, average weekly earnings, $21.00; +bricklayers, Negro members 21, rate of wages $0.70 per hour, average +daily earnings $5.60; plasterers, Negro members 19, rate of wages +$5.50 per day; printers (compositors), Negro members 8, average +weekly earnings, $24.00; coopers, Negro members 2, average daily +earnings $2.50; lathers, Negro members 7, average daily earnings +$4.50; sheet-metal workers, Negro members 1, rate of wages $4.50 per +day. It is evident that compared with the large number of Negro +workers few are engaged in the skilled trades, join the unions, and +thus enter into the more highly-paid occupations. + + +3. EFFICIENCY OF WAGE-EARNERS + +The efficiency of wage-earners attaches itself to the question of +wages. For domestic and personal service, a rich deposit of first-hand +material was available in the written testimonials, secured by +employment agencies, from the former employers of each applicant +seeking work. This is a requirement of the Employment Agencies' Law. +The investigator found two employment agencies which had used a +printed blank for securing this testimony from former employers of +applicants. These blanks asked four questions which are pertinent to +the matter of efficiency, and an additional space was left for further +remarks. The questions called for answers on the following points: (1) +length of time employed, whether applicant was (2) capable, (3) sober +or temperate and (4) honest. + +In all, 10,095 such blanks were sent out by the agencies during +1906-1909. About 3,000 were returned. Of these about 1,800 replies +were excluded from this tabulation because they were received from +employers outside of New York, because they were not completely filled +out, or were not signed by the parties replying. For this study, 1,182 +cases were used. Of these 139 were returned by the Post Office +Department as unclaimed, 21 were returned unanswered, while 20 replied +that the parties were never in their employ. So there were left 902 +complete cases. + +These give a fair indication of the whole. The first point of +efficiency is the length of service to one's employer. The records of +100 males do not furnish a sufficient number of cases for any sweeping +generalization, yet considerable light is given by the percentages. +These show that 30 out of the 100 remained with one employer less than +five months; that 24 remained six to eleven months, and 17 from one +year to one year and eleven months, while 25 were in one place for +more than two years. Special mention may be made of the five following +cases: One of them remained five years, one seven years, one six +years, one eight years, and one ten or eleven years, with the same +employer. + +For the females, the percentages will apply well to all who are +wage-earners in domestic and personal service. Here, also, the largest +percentage, 24.1 per cent, remained in one place from six to eleven +months; 21.3 per cent remained three to five months; 16.7 per cent +remained one year to one year and eleven months, and fair percentages +obtain for the longer terms of service: namely, 5.2 per cent two years +to two years and eleven months, and 9 per cent three years or more. Of +those in one place of service for three or more years, five remained +four years; two, four years and a half; nine, five years; three, six +years; four, seven years; two, eight years; one, twelve years; three, +fifteen years, and one, "eighteen years off and on;" in all, a total +of thirty in 802 cases that were in one place of employment more than +three years. + +When the shifting life of such a great city and the mobile character +of modern wage-earners, especially in domestic and personal service, +are considered, and when it is remembered that the Negro population +because of unusual need of adjustment to city life feels particularly +this unstable current of influence, this showing of lengthy service +for occupations which have weak tenures of service in all countries +can be interpreted in no other way than favorable for the reputation +of Negro domestic help. + +The table, next following, gives the detailed length of service for +the cases covered by the 902 testimonials: + + +TABLE XIX. SHOWING LENGTH OF SERVICE FOR 902 WAGE-EARNERS IN SELECTED +OCCUPATIONS OF PERSONAL AND DOMESTIC SERVICE, NEW YORK CITY, +1906-1909. + +-------------------------+-------------+-------------+--------------- + | Male. | Female. | Total. + +-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+--------- + | No. |Percent| No. |Percent| No. |Percent +-------------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+--------- +Under 3 months | 19 | 19 | 149 | 18.6 | 168 | 18.6 +From 3 to 5 months | 11 | 12 | 171 | 21.3 | 182 | 20.2 +From 6 to 11 months | 24 | 24 | 193 | 24.1 | 217 | 24.1 +1 yr. to 1 yr. 11 mos | 17 | 17 | 134 | 16.7 | 151 | 16.7 +2 yrs. to 2 yrs. 11 mos | 11 | 11 | 42 | 5.2 | 53 | 5.9 +3 yrs. and over | 14 | 14 | 72 | 9.0 | 86 | 9.5 +Not stated | 4 | 4 | 41 | 5.1 | 45 | 5.0 +-------------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+--------- + Total | 100 | 100.0 | 802 | 100.0 | 902 | 100.0 +-------------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+--------- + + +The above favorable conclusion, seemingly biased and against the +current opinion, is further borne out by the other replies as to +whether the employee had been capable, sober or temperate, and honest. + +Some allowances should be made in weighing employers on these last +points. Many when asked to speak of former employees have either +probably forgotten points of inefficiency, or do not wish to stand in +the way of subsequent employment, or desire to aid the party in +securing such employment. Sometimes also answers are strong +commentaries on the hard character of the employers. But when these +things are given due weight there still remains a decided balance in +favor of the Negro employee. For, of the 100 males, 27 were certified +as very capable; 68 as capable, 4 as fairly so, and only one out of +100 received the condemnation, "decidedly no." As to their sober or +temperate character, 9 were regarded as excellent, 78 employers said +"yes," one replied "fairly so," 11 returned the cautious statement "so +far as I know" or "I think so," and one did not answer. As to honesty, +they received on the whole good certificates; 12 of the 100 were +considered very honest, 81 honest, 4 were placed in the cautionary +class, while 3 employers gave no statement on this point. + +The testimony for female help shows a tendency as favorable. Taking +the percentages which are more significant than the crude numbers, +25.4 per cent were considered very capable, 8.9 per cent very +temperate, and 28.2 per cent very honest. 59 per cent of the replies +said "Yes" as to their capability, 81.9 per cent said "Yes" as to +temperateness and 62.8 per cent gave an affirmative answer on honesty. +This makes the decidedly affirmative replies 84.4 out of the hundred +capable, 90.8 of the hundred temperate, and 91 out of the hundred +honest. Of the employers' testimony, classified as "fairly so," there +were 10.5 per cent under capable, 0.1 per cent under "sober or +temperate," and 0.4 per cent under honest. Those replying "so far as I +know" or "I think so," 0.5 per cent were under capable, 6.5 per cent +under sober or temperate, and 7.1 per cent under honest. Those classed +under "No" and "Decidedly no" show 2.4 per cent not capable, 0.5 per +cent not sober or temperate, and 0.7 per cent not honest. Considering +this mass of testimony in whatever light one may, coming as it does +entirely from the employers, and applying to that part of the Negro +group which probably has the lowest standard of intelligence and +economic efficiency and independence, the conclusion is made decidedly +trustworthy that Negro wage-earners in domestic and personal service +in New York City are capable, sober and honest. + +Table XX, following, gives in full the classified replies of +employers: + + +TABLE XX. OPINIONS OF FORMER EMPLOYERS OF 902 NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS IN +DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE, NEW YORK CITY, 1906-1909. + +-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ + | Capable. | + +-------------+-------------+-------------+ + | Male. | Female. | Total. | + +------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ +Very | 27 | 27 | 204 | 25.4 | 231 | 25.6 | +Yes | 68 | 68 | 473 | 59 | 541 | 60 | +Fairly so | 4 | 4 | 84 | 10.5 | 88 | 9.8 | +"So far as I know," or | | | | | | | + "I think so." | -- | -- | 4 | 0.5 | 4 | 0.4 | +No | -- | -- | 17 | 2.1 | 17 | 1.9 | +Decidedly no | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.3 | 3 | 0.3 | +Not stated | -- | -- | 18 | 2.2 | 18 | 2.0 | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + Total | 100 | 100 | 802 | 100 | 902 | 100 | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + Total percent | 11.1 | 88.9 | 100 | +-------------------------+-------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + +-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ + | Sober or temperate. | + +-------------+-------------+-------------+ + | Male. | Female. | Total. | + +------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ +Very | 9 | 9 | 71 | 8.8 | 80 | 8.9 | +Yes | 78 | 78 | 657 | 82 | 735 | 81.5 | +Fairly so | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.2 | +"So far as I know," or | | | | | | | + "I think so." | 11 | 11 | 52 | 6.5 | 63 | 7.0 | +No | -- | -- | 4 | 0.5 | 4 | 0.4 | +Decidedly no | -- |- -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Not stated | 1 | 1 | 17 | 2.1 | 18 | 2.0 | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + Total | 100 | 100 | 802 | 100 | 902 | 100 | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + Total percent | 11.1 | 88.9 | 100 | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + +-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+ + | Honest. | + +-------------+-------------+-------------+ + | Male. | Female. | Total. | + +------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + | No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ +Very | 12 | 12 | 226 | 28.2 | 238 | 26.4 | +Yes | 81 | 81 | 504 | 62.9 | 585 | 64.9 | +Fairly so | -- | -- | 3 | 0.4 | 3 | 0.3 | +"So far as I know," or | | | | | | | + "I think so." | 4 | 4 | 57 | 7.1 | 61 | 6.8 | +No | -- | -- | 6 | 0.7 | 6 | 0.6 | +Decidedly no | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Not stated | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0.7 | 9 | 1.0 | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + Total | 100 | 100 | 802 | 100 | 902 | 100 | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + Total percent | 11.1 | 88.9 | 100 | +-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+ + + +These testimonials furnish a body of evidence contrary to the current +opinion of criticism and blame, and direct attention to other causes +for whatever unsatisfactory part that Negroes are playing in this line +of service in the City. These causes may be looked for in the +increasing number of European immigrants; in the growing ambition and +effort of Negro wage-earners, sharing the feeling of all native-born +Americans, to get away from personal and domestic service and to enter +fields of work with better wages, shorter hours, and more +independence.[64] To this may be added the increasing custom, +indicating prejudice of well-to-do Americans, of giving preference to +European servants.[65] + +The efficiency of Negro skilled workmen is indicated in the replies of +37 employers, summarized in Chapter IV. (See p. 77, _supra_.) If they +had ever employed Negroes, they were asked whether in comparison with +white workmen Negro workmen were: + + 1. Faster, equal or slower in speed. + 2. Better, equal or poorer in quality of work done. + 3. More, equally or less reliable. + +The consensus of opinion expressed was that the Negro workmen whom +they had employed measured up to the white, and there was a general +belief that Negroes usually had to be well above the average to secure +and hold a place in the skilled trades. + +To make a summary of the wages and efficiency: In comparison with the +cost of living, Negro men receive very inadequate wages in domestic +and personal service except three or four occupations that afford +"tips." The small number of skilled artisans who are equal to or above +the average white workman and can get into the unions, receive the +union wages. + +Women for the most part are in the poorly paid employments of domestic +and personal service. The small wages of the men and the number of +women engaged in gainful occupations (See Chapter IV) show that the +women must help earn the daily bread for the family. Their low income +power forces these families to the necessity of completing the rent by +means of lodgers, deprives children of mothers' care, keeps the +standard of living at a minimum, and thus makes the family unable to +protect itself from both physical and moral disease. + +Although popular opinion may be to the contrary, testimonials signed +by former employers show that the large majority of Negroes in +domestic and personal service are capable, temperate, and honest, and +remain with one employer a reasonable time, considering the shifting +condition of city life, the mobility of such wage-earners and the weak +tenure of domestic and personal service in a modern city. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[63] Bureau of Labor Statistics of New York, _Annual Report_, 1909, +pp. 444-595. Figures for Negro members of unions are from Ovington, +_op. cit._, pp. 97-99. Miss Ovington's table seems to show that in 16 +occupations the number of Negro members of unions increased from about +1,271 in 1906 to about 1,358 in 1910. + +[64] On this point the writer has talked with a number of Negroes who +were serving or had served in domestic and personal service. Some of +them have gone so far as to enter small business enterprises for +themselves. They often remarked: "I want to be my own boss." + +[65] From several reliable sources has come testimony concerning +employers who formerly had Negro servants, and gave them up for +reasons similar to that of one lady who said: "It is going out of +fashion to have Colored help any longer." _Cf._ also, Ovington, _op. +cit._, pp. 75-86. + + + + +PART II + +THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS IN NEW YORK CITY + + + + +CHAPTER I + +THE CHARACTER OF NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES + + +1. THE BUSINESS PROMISE + +It is a far cry from satisfying an employer to pleasing the public. +The one requires the obeying of the orders of a boss, the other calls +for initiative and self-direction. Business enterprise involves +judgments of the whims, wishes and wants of prospective customers and +skill in buying goods or supplying services to satisfy their demands. +The wage-earner needs his labor only. The business promoter must +secure capital and establish credit. The employee has only the stake +of a present place, and has little hindrance from going to another job +in case of disappointment. The business man risks name, time, labor +and money in the commercial current and has only his experience left, +if he loses his venture. + +Therefore, the Negro two and a half centuries under the complete +control of a master could hardly be expected in one generation to +acquire the experience, develop the initiative, accumulate the +capital, establish the credit and secure the good-will demanded to-day +in carrying on great and extensive business enterprises, such as find +their headquarters in New York City, the commercial heart of the +continent. Besides, the handicaps of the social environment, due to +the prejudices and differences of the white group by which he is +surrounded, and to previous condition of servitude, have had their +commercial and industrial consequences. Again, speaking for New York +City, many of the Negroes who were leaders in whatever business was +carried on up to about 1884 were the prominent workers in activities +for race liberation and manhood privileges, thus subtracting energy +and time from business pursuit. The movement may be likened in a rough +way to that of English workingmen before and after about 1848; the +first period being a struggle for the liberty of labor and the second +period aiming to fill that liberty with manhood and economic content. + +This study, then, of what the Negro is doing along business lines in +New York City does not show a number of large operations when compared +with what goes on in America's greatest commercial Metropolis. But the +findings are highly significant for what they disclose of business +capacity and possibility. There has been a business development among +Negroes in such a competitive community that is both substantial and +prophetic. + + +2. A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS + +The economic propensity to higgle and barter appeared early among the +Negroes of the New Amsterdam Colony. As early as 1684 the Colonial +General Assembly passed a law that "no servant or slave, either male +or female, shall either give, sell or truck any commodity whatsoever +during the term of their service." Any servant or slave who violated +the law was to be given corporal punishment at the discretion of two +justices and any person trading with such servant or slave should +return the commodity and forfeit five pounds for each offense.[66] And +further action was taken in 1702 which rendered all bargains or +contracts with slaves void and prevented any person from trading in +any way with a slave, without the consent of the owner of such +slave.[67] The penalty for violation was to forfeit treble the value +of the commodity and payment of five pounds to the owner of the slave. +In 1712, probably after the terror of the Negro riot of that year, it +was decreed that no Negro, Indian or mulatto _who should be set free, +should hold any land or real estate, but it should be escheated_.[68] +The provisions of the two acts of 1684 and 1702 about trading with +slaves were revised and re-enacted in 1726.[69] + +The character of much of this trade is shown by city regulations which +forbade the sale of great quantities of "boiled corn, peaches, pears, +apples, and other kinds of fruit." These wares were bought and sold +not only in houses and outhouses but in the public streets. The Common +Council in 1740 declared the same to be a nuisance and prohibited it +with a penalty of public whipping. The Council gave as one of its +reasons that it was productive of "many dangerous fevers and other +distempers and diseases in the inhabitants in the same city," but +those coming to market by order of their masters were excepted from +the prohibition. The effect of the latter traffic upon the health of +the city was purposely not discerned.[70] The act of 1726 was again +re-enacted in 1788.[71] From time to time faithful slaves of the West +India Company were set free. These usually began tilling the soil for +themselves and probably marketed their products in the town. + +Slaves, therefore, had little or no opportunity to share in the +trading operations of the Colony. State emancipation by the acts of +1799, 1817, and 1827, however, was finally secured, and with the +coming of this boon there was liberty to engage in the traffic of the +growing metropolis. There is conclusive evidence that considerable +numbers of Negroes did embrace the opportunity. + +The volumes of the Colored American from 1838 to 1841 contain a number +of advertisements and references to business enterprises run by +Negroes. The newspaper itself was a considerable undertaking and job +printing was also "executed with dispatch." In 1837, George Pell and +John Alexander opened a restaurant in the one-hundred block in Church +Street. + +In 1838, there were two boarding houses in this same block, and two +boarding houses in Leonard Street and one each in Spruce and Franklin +and Lispenard Streets. The next year two other boarding houses were +started, one on South Pearl Street and the other near the beginning of +Cross Street, and in 1840 two more entered the list, on Sullivan and +Church Streets. The drug store of Dr. Samuel McCune Smith and the +cleaning and dyeing establishment of Bennet Johnson, both in the +one-hundred block on Broadway, were well known and successful +enterprises of the day. + +B. Bowen and James Green both had small stores for dry goods and +notions in 1838, the former on Walker Street and the latter on +Anthony. While the same year a hair-dressing establishment on Leonard +Street, a coal-yard on Duane Street, a pleasure garden on Thomas +Street and three tailors, whose location could not be ascertained, +were enterprises of promise. + +In 1839 and 1840, there were a pleasure garden and saloon in Anthony +Street and a similar establishment on King Street, with an "Amusement +House" on Spring Street, and near it Brown and Wood ran a +confectionary and fruit store. Richard Carroll ran a bathing +establishment in Church Street. A coal-yard in Pearl Street, a watch +and clock maker, three private schools, and a "dry-goods store of the +female Trading Association," complete the list of firms that was +contained in the record of the period. + +A number of these enterprises are known to have continued for a number +of years after 1840. Testimony of witnesses[72] as late as the time of +the Civil War shows that a number of the above-named enterprises were +in existence as late as 1860. + +Also that second-hand clothing shops were frequently run by Negroes, +and barber-shops and restaurants of excellent equipment were evidences +of activity comparable with the earlier period. Thomas Downing kept a +restaurant at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets and from it amassed +considerable wealth bequeathed to his children. + +In 1869, the Negro caterers had such a large share of this business +that the dozen leading ones came together and formed the Corporation +of Caterers which was a sort of pool to control the conduct of the +business and which was so enlarged after three years under the name of +the United Public Waiters Mutual Beneficial Association, that the +original purpose was largely sidetracked.[73] + +There is little direct evidence available for the period from about +1875 to 1909. The census of 1900 gave a return of Negroes in +occupations which may indicate proprietors of establishments, but +there is no way of ascertaining whether they owned, operated or were +employed in such lines of business. There were in all 488 distributed +as follows: Among the males, boarding and lodging-house keepers 10, +hotel-keepers 23, restaurant keepers 116, saloon keepers 27, bankers +and brokers 5, livery-stable keepers 9, merchants and dealers 162 +(retail 155, wholesale 7), undertakers 15, clock and watchmakers and +repairers 2, manufacturers and officials 36, and photographers 22. The +females included boarding and lodging-house keepers 50, milliners 9, +and photographers 2. A goodly number of Negro enterprises are very +probably represented in this list. That this is true is evident from +the large number of enterprises in the various lines of business that +were found by the canvass of 1909. We may safely infer that the period +was one of considerable growth in both the number and variety of +business establishments. We shall, therefore, turn our attention to +the result of the canvass of the last-named year. + + +3. THE NATURE OF THE ESTABLISHMENTS IN 1909 + +The first question which naturally arises is how many Negro business +enterprises were in Manhattan in 1909. At the meeting of the National +Negro Business League in New York City in 1908, a paper was read on +"The Negro Business Interests of Greater New York and Vicinity." This +paper gave a total of 565 enterprises. But as this included 100 +dressmaking and 14 stenography and typewriting, this estimate +doubtless included some cases that upon closer analysis could not have +been designated as business establishments. + +A Negro business directory of New York City in 1909 gave names and +addresses of 567 establishments. Upon investigation some of these +could not be found at addresses given. From his own canvass, the +writer estimates the number of bona-fide business enterprises in +Manhattan to have been about 475. Of this number, records of 332 were +secured and the remainder were either visited or certified by reliable +testimony. Of the 332 records, 15 have been excluded either because +the firm has ceased to do business or the records were too incomplete +for use in this monograph; eight of the remainder were corporations +and will be treated below separately. This left 309 establishments +upon which to base conclusions. These establishments were so +distributed as to be fully representative of the whole. According to +the kind of service or goods offered to the public, these 309 +establishments were as follows: + + Barber shops 50 + Groceries 36 + Restaurants and lunch rooms 26 + Tailoring, pressing, etc. 24 + Coal, wood and ice 19 + Hotel and lodging houses 17 + Employment agencies 14 + Express and moving vans 12 + Undertakers and embalmers 11 + Pool and billiard Rooms 10 + Dressmaking and millinery 8 + Hairdressers 8 + Printers 5 + Saloons and cafés 5 + Miscellaneous 48[74] + ---- + Total 309 + +Two facts are evident. The largest number of the enterprises are the +outgrowth of the domestic and personal service occupations and they +are mainly enterprises that call for small amounts of capital. + + +4. OWNERSHIP OF ESTABLISHMENTS + +The Negro goes into business mainly as an independent dealer. In the +large majority of cases he does not enter into a partnership and even +when he does, there are rarely more than two partners. Out of the 309 +enterprises in 1909, there were only 49 partnerships and 44 of these +were firms of two partners only. There were only three firms with +three partners each, one firm with four members and one with five +members. To these may be added the eight corporations mentioned above. + +Some light is thrown upon the Negro's business enterprises by knowing +the birth-place of proprietors, the length of time they had resided in +New York City and the occupations in which the proprietors were +engaged previously to going into business. + +The birth-place of proprietors should be considered in connection with +the length of their residence in New York City, because the two facts +point to the same conclusion concerning the economic and other stimuli +of the environment. So far as birth-place is concerned, the most +striking fact is that out of 330 proprietors whose birth-places were +ascertained, 220, or 66.66 per cent, were born in Southern states and +the District of Columbia, and 65, or 19.7 per cent, in the West +Indies. The following Southern states furnished the specified 220 +proprietors: Virginia 96, South Carolina 31, Georgia 27, North +Carolina 25, Maryland 15, Florida 12, the District of Columbia 5, +Delaware 3, Kentucky 2, and Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas +1 each. Besides the Southern and West Indian-born Negro business men, +other sections were represented as follows: South America 7, New +Jersey 7, New York State 7, Pennsylvania 5, New York City 8, Illinois +2, Bermuda 2, Canada 2, Africa, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, and +Massachusetts 1 each. + +This proportion of Southern-born proprietors is 0.84 of one per cent +less than the proportion of Southern-born in the total Negro +population.[75] The 19.7 per cent West Indian is about 10.3 per cent +larger than the West Indian proportion in the total Negro population. +If the 7 natives of South America be added, the proportion would be +12.4 per cent larger. This condition can hardly be explained on the +ground that West Indian Negroes reach New York with more capital, nor +is it because West Indians secure employment that is better paid, for +they, like the native-born Negroes, are confined to domestic and +personal service. It is due both to the better general education of +the average West Indian and to the fact that he has been reared in an +environment of larger liberty which has developed in him an +independence and initiative that respond more readily to the new +surroundings. Conversation with numbers of them elicited the +information that they had come to this country with the idea of saving +money and entering business for themselves. + +Facts about the length of residence before January 1st, 1910, of 363 +proprietors are no less illuminating than their birth-places. Both +show the influence of environment, for we do not find that the +majority entered business immediately after taking up their residence +in the Metropolis. Exclusive of 50 doubtful and unknown and 11 who +were born in New York City, only 11 of the 363 had been in the city +less than 2 years, 18 had resided in the city between 2 years and 3 +years 11 months, and 33 between 4 years and 5 years eleven months--in +all, only 62 had entered business after a residence of less than six +years. Of course this is partly due to the time it took to save or +secure the necessary capital but that this is not the only reason for +long residence previous to entering business is shown by the fact that +of the 62 who began after less than six years residence, 14 ran +barber-shops and 11 had grocery stores, enterprises which require at +least a small outlay of capital. + +In harmony with this view of the matter the inquiry showed further +that 161 proprietors had lived in New York City between 6 years and 9 +years 11 months; 108 had been in the city between 10 years and 19 +years 11 months; 43 had resided there between 20 years and 29 years 11 +months; while 28 had lived in the city 30 years or more. + +Considerable weight must then be given to the opinion that is in line +with the showing of the West Indian--that Negroes entering business in +New York City need to live some time in the atmosphere of such a +progressive, liberal community to catch the spirit of its initiative +and enterprise. + +In support of the conclusion the full table showing length of +residence of proprietors of the several classes of enterprises is +given (p. 103). + +Besides the birth-place of proprietors and the length of their +residence in New York City, their occupations previously to their +entering upon their present lines of business throw considerable light +upon the character of ownership. The natural expectation would be to +find connection between the previous occupation of the proprietor and +the present business in which he is engaged. In a number of cases this +cannot be clearly made out as is the case of 16 brokers and 11 +undertakers. Very probably this expectation would not be fulfilled in +the cases of many Negroes, because domestic and personal service has +been largely the opportunity of employment and the source of savings +through which the prospective business venture could be launched. For +example, 11 proprietors have been waiters or waitresses; of these +one hotel and lodging-house proprietor, and one restaurant keeper were +in enterprises closely connected with their previous occupations; +there were three grocers and one coal, wood and ice dealer: +enterprises less closely connected. Two pool and billiard-room +proprietors, one conductor of a tailoring establishment, one +employment agent and one establishment in the miscellaneous class +completed the list of those formerly employed as waiters and +waitresses. This makes a striking comparison with three hotel and +lodging-house keepers and with five restaurant and lunch-room +proprietors who formerly were cooks. That many did follow such a +natural line of advance from employee to employer is shown in that 80 +out of the 309 were previously connected with the same line of +business in which they were engaged in 1909 either on a smaller scale +or as an employed promoter. A few had tried one line of business +before and had changed to that in which they were found. Such was the +case with nine who had previously been restaurant keepers, and six who +had been in the grocery business. In no case did a proprietor report +that he had been an inheritor of independent means or a gentleman of +leisure, and had thus found the road which had led him into business. + + +TABLE XXI. LENGTH OF RESIDENCE IN NEW YORK CITY, BEFORE JANUARY, 1910, +OF PROPRIETORS OF 309 NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909. + +----------------------------+---------------------------------------- + |Length of residence in New York City of + | proprietors. + +------+-------+-------+-------+--------+ + Class of establishment. | Less |2 yrs.-|4 yrs.-|6 yrs.-|10 yrs.-| + | than |3 yrs. |5 yrs. |9 yrs. |19 yrs. | + |2 yrs.|11 mos.|11 mos.|11 mos.|11 mos. | +----------------------------+------+-------+-------+-------+--------+ +Barber shops | 1 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 21 | +Brokers | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 8 | +Coal, wood and ice | 1 | 1 | -- | 3 | 6 | +Dressmaking and millinery | 4 | 1 | -- | 1 | 4 | +Employment agencies | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 5 | +Express and moving vans | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 4 | +Groceries | -- | 1 | 10 | 12 | 15 | +Hairdressers, etc. | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | +Hotels and lodging houses | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 8 | +Pool and billiard rooms | 1 | -- | 2 | 3 | 2 | +Printers | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 2 | +Restaurant and lunch rooms | -- | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | +Saloons and cafés | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 2 | +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 8 | +Undertakers | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 4 | +Miscellaneous | -- | 1 | 3 | 16 | 12 | +----------------------------+------+-------+-------+-------+--------+ + Total | 11 | 18 | 33 | 61 | 108 | +----------------------------+------+-------+-------+-------+--------+ + +----------------------------+----------------------------------------- + |Length of residence in New York City of + |proprietors. + +--------+-------+--------+--------+------ + Class of establishment. |20 yrs.-|30 yrs.|Born in |Doubtful| + |29 yrs. | and |New York| and |Total. + |11 mos. | over. | City. |Unknown.| +----------------------------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------ +Barber shops | 10 | 4 | -- | 1 | 58 +Brokers | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 18 +Coal, wood and ice | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 21 +Dressmaking and millinery | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 11 +Employment agencies | 4 | -- | -- | 5 | 17 +Express and moving vans | 3 | 3 | -- | 4 | 15 +Groceries | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 46 +Hairdressers, etc. | 1 | -- | -- | 4 | 9 +Hotels and lodging houses | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 19 +Pool and billiard rooms | 2 | -- | -- | 1 | 11 +Printers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 +Restaurant and lunch rooms | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 33 +Saloons and cafés | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | 6 +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 24 +Undertakers | 3 | -- | 1 | 5 | 14 +Miscellaneous | 4 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 53 +----------------------------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------ + Total | 43 | 28 | 11 | 50 | 363 +----------------------------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------ + + +5. SIZE OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISES + +The size of business enterprises was measured in three ways: (1) the +number of employees besides proprietors; (2) the floor space occupied +and (3) the rental paid for the place in which the business was +carried on. Obviously all the enterprises could not be measured by all +three tests. For example, the amount of floor space occupied and +monthly rental paid by a brokerage firm might not bear so close a +relation to size as the number of employees, nor would rental alone be +an index of size of a coal, wood and ice business, since cellars, +which call for smaller rental than other space, are used. But each +enterprise was covered by more than one of the measurements, so that a +fair estimate is given of its size. + +In ascertaining the number of employees, the attempt was made to +include only those who had no part in the ownership, but who gave a +large part or all of their time to some work connected with the +enterprise. As far as possible this was confined to paid employees, +but in a few cases the question of wages of those employed could not +be successfully ascertained on account of reticence of the employer. +No record was made of whether or not the time of the proprietor was +also put into the business since in this respect there was great +variation among establishments. + +Only a small proportion, 77 out of 309 establishments, were without +employees. Yet very few, 21 in all, employed five or more persons. The +largest number, 87, had only one regular employee, 65 establishments +had two employees, 29 had three and 16 had four persons regularly +employed. The number of employees of 14 firms was not ascertained. + +Floor space occupied by many establishments is a good index of size, +especially in New York City. Of course, in the case of such +establishments as brokers, employment agencies and express and +moving-van firms that require an office only, this is not a criterion. +But for many other establishments in a city where square feet of floor +space is carefully figured upon in the cost of the product, such a +measure has considerable value in estimating business enterprises. In +securing the measurement of floor space in the different +establishments it was not possible to make an actual measurement in +many instances. In some cases the proprietors knew accurately the +length and breadth of the place they occupied; in other cases where +measurements could not be taken estimates of length and breadth were +made, taking a rough view of the frontage and depth of the building or +apartment occupied. + +A goodly number of enterprises, such as dressmakers, milliners, +shoemakers and tailoring "bushelers" carried on their business in the +front room of a ground-floor flat and lived, often with families, in +the rear rooms. In those cases, only the floor space of the room used +for business purposes was included in the estimate. + +Establishments to the number of 17 were estimated as having less than +150 square feet of floor space; six of these were offices of brokers +and express and moving-van firms. The greatest number of +establishments, 186 in all, were estimated to occupy between 150 and +499 square feet of floor space. Thirty-one establishments occupied +between 500 and 999 square feet of floor space; 17 between 1,000 and +1,999 square feet; 4 between 2,000 and 2,999 square feet; 10 between +3,000 and 4,999 square feet; 8 occupied 5,000 or more square feet; 36 +were not known--a total of 309 establishments. + +Thus, it is seen that the typical Negro business enterprise occupies +small floor space, since 234, or 75.7 per cent, of the 309 +establishments occupied 999 square feet or less. Table XXII (p. 107) +is included to show the details as to floor space in square feet +occupied by each class of establishment. + +Monthly rental is also a fair indication of the size of a business +establishment. In a few cases in which the proprietor said he was +owner of the building, a rental was estimated for the portion of the +building used for the particular enterprise; in the cases, mentioned +above, where the proprietor lived in the rear rooms only a part of the +whole rental was estimated as a charge upon the business +establishment. So that the figures here given are good measurements of +their kind. The facts about 86 establishments could not be secured. +With the remaining 223, we meet again the evidence of small size of +typical establishments, for 180 establishments, or 80.7 per cent, had +a monthly rental of $39 or less, and 30 others had a monthly rental +between $40 and $79; 16 out of the 223 establishments had a rental of +$80 or more per month, and of these 7 paid $150 or more per month. + + +TABLE XXII. ESTIMATED SQUARE FEET OF FLOOR SPACE OF 309 NEGRO BUSINESS +ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909. + +-----------------------------+-------------------------------- + | Estimated square feet of floor + | space. +-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + | | | | 1000 | + | Less | 150 | 500 |sq. ft.| + Class of establishment. | than |sq. ft.|sq. ft.| to | + | 150 | to 499| to 999| 1999 | + |sq. ft.|sq. ft.|sq. ft.|sq. ft.| +-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ +Barber shops | -- | 44 | 3 | 2 | +Brokers | 3 | 11 | 2 | -- | +Coal, wood and ice | 2 | 8 | 3 | 1 | +Dressmaking and millinery | -- | 4 | 2 | -- | +Employment agencies | 1 | 10 | 1 | -- | +Express and moving vans | 3 | 4 | 1 | -- | +Groceries | 1 | 29 | 4 | 1 | +Hairdressing, etc. | 1 | 3 | -- | 1 | +Hotels and lodging houses | -- | -- | -- | 1 | +Pool and billiard rooms | -- | 1 | 1 | 5 | +Printers | -- | 3 | 2 | -- | +Restaurants and lunch rooms | 1 | 19 | 3 | 1 | +Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | -- | 20 | 1 | -- | +Undertakers | -- | 3 | 4 | 2 | +Miscellaneous | 5 | 27 | 3 | 2 | +-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + Total | 17 | 186 | 31 | 17 | +-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + +-----------------------------+--------------------------------------- + | Estimated square feet of floor + | space. +-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------ + | 2000 | 3000 | 5000 | | + |sq. ft.|sq. ft.|sq. ft.| | + Class of establishment. | to | to | and |Unknown.|Total. + | 2999 | 4999 | over. | | + |sq. ft.|sq. ft.| | | +-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------ +Barber shops | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 50 +Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | 16 +Coal, wood and ice | -- | -- | -- | 5 | 19 +Dressmaking and millinery | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 8 +Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 14 +Express and moving vans | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 12 +Groceries | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 36 +Hairdressing, etc. | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 8 +Hotels and lodging houses | 3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 17 +Pool and billiard rooms | -- | 2 | -- | 1 | 10 +Printers | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 +Restaurants and lunch rooms | -- | 2 | -- | -- | 26 +Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 5 +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 24 +Undertakers | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 11 +Miscellaneous | 1 | -- | 1 | 9 | 48 +-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------ + Total | 4 | 10 | 8 | 36 | 309 +-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------ + + +Judging, then, by the number of employees, by the square feet of floor +space occupied and by the monthly rental paid, the typical Negro +enterprise is a small retail establishment. + +To summarize this chapter: Negroes have had to begin business on a +small scale because large capital was lacking and extended experience +is yet to be gained. They have, however, even from the days of the +Colony, when they were held as slaves, shown a decided propensity for +trade, and since state emancipation this has been increased by a +desire for economic independence and has expressed itself in +enterprises in several lines of business. The variety and number of +enterprises have increased with the years. In 1909, Southern born and +West Indian Negroes comprised nearly all who had entered business, the +latter far in excess of their proportion in the Negro population. This +is probably due to initiative developed in an atmosphere freer than +that from which the Southern Negro comes. Although confined largely to +domestic and personal service occupations, Negroes have had the thrift +and initiative to enter many lines of business into which neither the +experience nor the capital derived from such employment would be +expected to lead. In size, the typical Negro business enterprise has +from one to two paid employees, has a floor space of less than one +thousand square feet, and pays a rental of between fifteen and forty +dollars per month. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[66] _New York Colonial Laws_, p. 157. + +[67] _Ibid._, pp. 519-21. + +[68] Williams, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 142. + +[69] _New York Colonial Laws_, vol. ii, p. 310. + +[70] _Minutes of the Common Council of New York_, vol. iv, pp. 497-98. + +[71] _New York State Laws, Eleventh Session_, p. 675. + +[72] S.R. Scottron in _Colored American Magazine_, Oct., 1907, and +several others interviewed by the writer. + +[73] _Vide_, pp. 68-69. + +[74] The 48 miscellaneous establishments were distributed as follows: +boot and shoe repairing 6, hand laundries 6, cigar, tobacco and +confectionery retailers 5, boot-blacking and hat-cleaning firms 5, +fruit and vegetable dealers 4, cigar manufacturers 3, house-cleaning +firms 3, garages 2, upholstering and mattress-making establishments 2, +watch and jewelry dealers 2, bakeries 2, and bicycle repairer, +photographer, hat-cleaner and repairer, hardware and notions, painter +and plasterer, tea, coffee and spices retailer, fish retailer and +storage firm, one each. + +[75] _Cf._ Part 1, Chapter III, pp. 58-59. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +THE VOLUME OF BUSINESS + + +Indications of the volume of business are in accord with the +conclusions from the size of Negro business enterprises. Volume of +business was measured (1) by the valuation of tools, fixtures, _etc._, +used in the conduct of the business, (2) by the amount of merchandise +kept on hand, if the business was such as required a stock of goods, +and (3) by the total gross receipts of the business during the two +years, 1907 and 1908. + + +I. VALUATION OF TOOLS AND FIXTURES + +Wood and ice dealers need to invest very little in tools and fixtures. +Fourteen out of 19 coal, wood and ice dealers had less than ten +dollars so invested. They needed only shovels, baskets and push-carts. +The estimated valuation of tools and fixtures of the largest number of +establishments fell between $50 and $399; 90 were estimated to be +between $50 and $199, and 63 were estimated to be between $200 and +$399. Besides these, 37 establishments--1 broker, 5 employment +agencies, 1 grocery, 5 hairdressers, 9 restaurants and lunch rooms, 2 +"busheling" tailors and 14 miscellaneous had tools and fixtures +estimated, with allowance for depreciation, to be worth more than $10 +and less than $50. It is important to note, however, that while the +numbers with estimated valuation of tools and fixtures between $400 +and $1,499 is only 50, those estimated at $1,500 and over number 33. + + +TABLE XXIII. ESTIMATED VALUATION OF PLANT, TOOLS AND FIXTURES OF 309 +NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909. + +------------------------+------------------------------------------ + |Estimated valuation of plant, tools and + | fixtures. +------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ + Class of | Less | $50 | $200 | $400 | $600 | $800 | + establishment. | than | to | to | to | to | to | + | $50. | $199.| $399.| $599.| $799.| $999.| +------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ +Barber shops | -- | 3 | 27 | 8 | 5 | 3 | +Brokers | 1 | 5 | 4 | -- | -- | -- | +Coal, wood and ice | 14 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Dressmaking and | | | | | | | + millinery | -- | 6 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | +Employment agencies | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | +Express and moving | | | | | | | + vans | -- | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | +Groceries | 1 | 22 | 11 | 2 | -- | -- | +Hairdressers, etc. | 5 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | +Hotels and lodging | | | | | | | + houses | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | +Pool and billiard | | | | | | | + rooms | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 | +Printers | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 1 | +Restaurant and lunch | | | | | | | + rooms | 9 | 10 | 3 | 1 | -- | -- | +Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Tailoring, | | | | | | | + pressing, etc. | 2 | 18 | 2 | -- | 1 | -- | +Undertakers | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 1 | -- | +Miscellaneous | 14 | 17 | 8 | 3 | -- | -- | +------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ +Total | 51 | 90 | 63 | 23 | 10 | 6 | +------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ + +------------------------+------------------------------------------- + |Estimated valuation of plant, tools and + | fixtures. +------------------------+------+------+------+------+--------+------ + Class of |$1000 |$1200 |$1500 |$2000 |Doubtful| + establishment. | to | to | to | and | and | + |$1199.|$1499.|$1999.| over.|unknown.|Total. +------------------------+------+------+------+------+--------+------ +Barber shops | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | 2 | 50 +Brokers | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 16 +Coal, wood and ice | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 | 19 +Dressmaking and | | | | | | + millinery | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 +Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 14 +Express and moving | | | | | | + vans | 1 | -- | -- | 4 | -- | 12 +Groceries | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 36 +Hairdressers, etc. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 +Hotels and lodging | | | | | | + houses | 2 | -- | 2 | 7 | 2 | 17 +Pool and billiard | | | | | | + rooms | -- | -- | 4 | 3 | -- | 10 +Printers | 1 | -- | -- | 2 | -- | 5 +Restaurant and lunch | | | | | | + rooms | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 26 +Saloons and cafés | -- | 1 | -- | 3 | 1 | 5 +Tailoring, | | | | | | + pressing, etc. | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 24 +Undertakers | 2 | -- | 1 | 4 | -- | 11 +Miscellaneous | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 5 | 48 +------------------------+------+------+------+------+--------+------ +Total | 10 | 1 | 8 | 25 | 22 | 309 +------------------------+------+------+------+------+--------+------ + + +Judged, then, from the valuation of tools and fixtures, the +magnitude of Negro business enterprises is considerable and falls into +three classes: one of comparatively small valuation, 184 estimated +below $400; one class of medium valuation, 50 estimated between $400 +and $1,499; and one of comparatively large valuation, 33 at $1,500 and +over. + +The details of these valuations of tools and fixtures are given in +full in Table XXIII (p. 110). + + +2. THE AMOUNT OF MERCHANDISE ON HAND + +Next to valuation of tools and fixtures, the amount of merchandise +kept in stock is a good index of the magnitude of the business done by +many enterprises. Of course, the business of brokers, express and +moving-van firms, employment agencies, and some miscellaneous +enterprises could not be measured by the amount of stock kept on hand. +Also barber shops and pool and billiard rooms sometimes keep a small +stock of cigars, tobacco, _etc._ So these firms can not be so +measured. The statements about merchandise on hand were accurately +estimated either from figures on the books of the firm or from rough +inventories of the stock on hand made with the assistance of the +proprietor. + +Negro business enterprises for the most part are small retail +enterprises and do business on the scale of establishments of this +type. They have not yet accumulated the capital nor gained the credit +to engage in wholesale trade or to carry a stock of merchandise large +in quantity or variety such as an extensive patronage demands. But +they do handle a considerable amount of business with the small +capital they have to invest. When this is compared with the gross +receipts for 1907 and 1908 the showing is very creditable. + + +TABLE XXIV. ESTIMATED VALUATION OF MERCHANDISE ON HAND IN 241 NEGRO +BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909. + +----------------------------+------------------------------------------ + |Estimated valuation of stock on hand. + +------+------+------+------+------+------+ + Class of | Less | $50 | $100 | $200 | $400 | $600 | + establishment. | than | to | to | to | to | to | + | $50. | $99. | $199.| $399.| $599.| $799.| +----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ +Barber shops | 14 | 2 | 3 | 1 | -- | -- | +Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Coal, wood and ice | 13 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | +Dressmaking and millinery | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | +Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Express and moving vans | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Groceries | -- | 1 | 4 | 14 | 8 | 7 | +Hairdressers, etc. | 3 | -- | -- | 2 | -- | -- | +Hotels and lodging houses | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | +Pool and billiard rooms[A] | 3 | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | +Printers | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Restaurants and lunch rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 5 | 4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Undertakers | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 1 | -- | +Miscellaneous | 12 | 4 | 4 | 8 | -- | 1 | +----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ + Total | 52 | 13 | 14 | 33 | 15 | 9 | +----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+ + +----------------------------+---------------------------------------------- + |Estimated valuation of stock on hand. + +------+------+------+--------+-------+-------- + Class of | $800 |$1000 |$2000 |Doubtful|Refused.|Totals. + establishment. | to | to | and | and | | + | $999.|$1999.| over.|unknown.| | +----------------------------+------+------+------+--------+--------+------- +Barber shops | -- | -- | -- | 30 | -- | 50 +Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- +Coal, wood and ice | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 19 +Dressmaking and millinery | 1 | -- | -- | 5 | -- | 8 +Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- +Express and moving vans | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- +Groceries | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 36 +Hairdressers, etc. | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 8 +Hotels and lodging houses | -- | -- | -- | 14 | 1 | 17 +Pool and billiard rooms[A] | -- | -- | -- | 5 | 1 | 10 +Printers | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 5 +Restaurants and lunch rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- +Saloons and cafés | -- | 3 | -- | -- | -- | 5 +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | -- | -- | 1 | 14 | -- | 24 +Undertakers | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 4 | 11 +Miscellaneous | 1 | -- | -- | 18 | -- | 48 +----------------------------+------+------+------+--------+--------+------- + Total | 3 | 4 | 3 | 62 | 16 | 241 +----------------------------+------+------+------+--------+--------+------- + [A] Cigars and tobacco. + + +For, of the 302 enterprises for which estimates of stock on hand were +obtained 159 firms, including 46 barber-shops and 9 pool and billiard +rooms that kept small stocks of cigars and tobacco, had a stock of +merchandise on hand estimated at less than $50; 20 others ranged +between $50 and $99; 38 others had stock on hand in amounts between +$100 and $299, while 23 fell between $300 and $599. Thirteen +enterprises kept a stock estimated between $600 and $1,000; six ran +from $1,000 up, while seven were unknown. In a word, classified by +amount of merchandise kept on hand, the firms fell into three classes, +the largest class was composed of those having a stock valued at less +than $50, the next class grouped those between $50 and $600, and the +third and smallest class contained those with stock on hand valued at +$600 and above. It will be of help to see in detail how enterprises in +each class were grouped according to estimated valuation of +merchandise on hand, so Table XXIV showing this is given (p. 112). + + +3. GROSS RECEIPTS IN 1907 AND 1908 + +The final and concluding item in measuring the magnitude of Negro +business enterprises is the amount of gross receipts of the firms +covering a given period of time. For this purpose the years 1907 and +1908 were selected, the first because the greater part of it was +before the panic of 1907, the second instead of 1909 because a +completed year at the time this canvass was made. A close study of the +accompanying table shows that the panic had considerable effect upon +the gross receipts of these firms. For example, in 1907, 32 firms had +gross receipts less than $1,000; in 1908, 38 firms were in the same +group; in 1907, 37 firms did a business of between $1,000 and $1,999; +in 1908, 38 firms had the same fortune. And even this does not always +show the falling off in gross receipts of the individual firm unless +the decrease was sufficient to carry it into a lower group. + +Of the total 309 Negro enterprises, 118 were established too recently +to have gross receipts in 1907 and 1908, and 63 did not furnish +sufficient evidence, so they are classed as doubtful and unknown. This +leaves, therefore, 128 enterprises about which sufficient statements +of gross receipts were secured to justify discussion. The figures for +these, however, were carefully ascertained. For 115 establishments the +exact figures were taken from records kept by the firms for the years +1907 and 1908, or the larger part of those years, while the other 13 +are estimates based upon careful statements from proprietors and +employees of their receipts for months or weeks at different seasons +of the two years. + +Compared with the general retail lines in New York City the magnitude +of Negro business is creditable when judged by gross receipts. Of the +128 establishments, 87 in 1907 and 85 in 1908 handled a gross business +of $2,999 or less; 32 firms in 1907 and 38 firms in 1908 had gross +receipts between $3,000 and $10,000; and 9 firms in 1907 and 5 firms +in 1908 carried on business operations which ranged in gross receipts +above $10,000, four of these in 1907 and two in 1908 being $15,000 or +more. Considering the amount of merchandise kept on hand and the +valuation of tools and fixtures, this business showing indicates that +the small amount of capital invested is handled with considerable +energy and ability to carry on such an amount of gross business. + +It should be noted also that out of 69 establishments in 1907, which +had gross receipts less than $2,000, 14 were barber shops, 8 were +coal, wood and ice dealers, 4 were employment agencies, 3 were express +and moving-vans, 9 were tailors, pressers, _etc._, and 8 were +miscellaneous--a total of 46. And in 1908, out of 76 establishments +with gross receipts under $2,000, 18 were barber-shops, 8 were ice, +coal and wood dealers, 4 were employment agencies, 3 were express +and moving-vans, 10 were tailors and pressers, and 9 were +miscellaneous--making a total of 52. The majority of the more +important classes of business firms such as brokers, barber shops, +grocers, printers, hotel and lodging-house keepers, restaurant and +lunch-room proprietors, saloon and café firms and undertakers have +gross receipts from $2,000 a year and over. + + +TABLE XXV. GROSS RECEIPTS FOR 1907 AND 1908 OF 309 NEGRO BUSINESS +ENTERPRISES IN MANHATTAN. + +KEY: +A: Doubtful and unknown. +B: Established since 1907. + +-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------- + |Gross receipts of Negro business enterprises. +-----------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+ + | Less | $1000 | $2000 | $3000 | $4000 | + Class of | than | to | to | to | to | + establishment. | $1,000. | $1,999. | $2,999. | $3,999. | $4,999. | + +----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ + |1907|1908|1907|1908|1907|1908|1907|1908|1907|1908| +-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ +Barber shops | 3 | 5 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | -- | -- | +Brokers | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | -- | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | +Coal, wood and ice | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Dressmaking and | | | | | | | | | | | + millinery | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | +Employment agencies | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Express and moving vans| 2 | 3 | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | +Printers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | +Groceries | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 2 | +Hotels and lodging | | | | | | | | | | | + houses | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 | +Pool and billiard rooms| -- | -- | 2 | 1 | -- | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | +Restaurants and | | | | | | | | | | | + lunch rooms | -- | -- | 2 | 3 | -- | -- | 3 | 2 | -- | -- | +Tailoring, | | | | | | | | | | | + pressing, etc. | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | +Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Undertakers | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | -- | +Hairdressers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Miscellaneous | 7 | 9 | 1 | -- | 3 | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 2 | +-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ + Totals | 32 | 38 | 37 | 38 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 5 | 6 | +-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+ + +-----------------------+------------------------------------------------- + |Gross receipts of Negro business enterprises. +-----------------------+---------+---------+---------+-----+-----+------- + | $5,000 | $10,000 | | | | + Class of | to | to | $15,000 | | | + establishment. | $9,999 | $14,999.| above. | | | + +----+----+----+----+----+----+ | | + |1907|1908|1907|1908|1907|1908| A | B |Totals. +-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+------- +Barber shops | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 | 13 | 50 +Brokers | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | 5 | 16 +Coal, wood and ice | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 7 | 4 | 19 +Dressmaking and | | | | | | | | | + millinery | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 8 +Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 | 1 | 14 +Express and moving vans| -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 2 | 12 +Printers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 5 +Groceries | 5 | 6 | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 10 | 10 | 36 +Hotels and lodging | | | | | | | | | + houses | 2 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 8 | 17 +Pool and billiard rooms| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 5 | 10 +Restaurants and | | | | | | | | | + lunch rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 20 | 26 +Tailoring, | | | | | | | | | + pressing, etc. | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 13 | 24 +Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 +Undertakers | 1 | 5 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 3 | 11 +Hairdressers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 3 | 8 +Miscellaneous | 1 | 1 | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 10 | 24 | 48 +-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+------- + Totals | 12 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 63 | 118 | 309 +-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+------- + + +The full showing of classified gross receipts of the 309 +establishments is given in Table XXV (p. 115). + +Measured, then, by valuation of tools, fixtures, _etc._, by +merchandise on hand, and by gross receipts in 1907 and 1908, Negro +enterprises with a small command of capital and credit do a +comparatively large gross amount of retail business. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +DEALING WITH THE COMMUNITY + + +The severest test of a business enterprise is its relation to the +community, both the commercial houses with which it deals and the +consuming public to whom it sells. With the former a firm must +establish credit, with the latter it must build up confidence. Credit +is established by the prompt payment of bills, the length of time a +firm has been in operation allowing time to make a good reputation and +its business methods in dealing with its suppliers. The confidence of +customers is secured by the care and accuracy with which orders are +filled, the length of time the firm has been in a certain locality and +patrons have dealt with it and by the whims and prejudices of the +community or locality. + +It was out of the question to get data which would cover all of these +points, but sufficient material was gathered to throw considerable +light on (1) the length of time the firms had been established, (2) +the length of time they had been situated at the particular address +where they were found, (3) the means used in keeping the accounts of +sales, expenditures, _etc._, (4) whether they gave credit to customers +and whether they received credit from suppliers, and (5) what +proportion of their customers were white and what proportion were +colored. + + +I. AGE OF ESTABLISHMENTS + +Negroes are often said to be able to start but unable to continue in +undertakings which require determination, persistence, tact, and +which involve strenuous competition. This opinion is certainly not +borne out by the age of their business enterprises in New York. For, +in the face of conditions they had met in beginning business in New +York City, only 51 out of the known 309 enterprises had been +established less than one year; 67 between one and two years; 114 +between two years and six years, and 33 between six years and ten +years. Twenty-two had been established between ten and fifteen years, +and twenty were fifteen or more years old, nine of them having been +established twenty years or more; the age of two was unknown. When it +is remembered that during the first decades after emancipation the +larger number of the most energetic Negroes was absorbed in +professional occupations, principally teaching, because of the great +need in race uplift, and that business pursuits have had until within +the last few years minor consideration, to say nothing of trials and +failures in the effort to gain business experience, the age of these +enterprises must be counted a creditable showing. And it is a good +recommendation to the commercial world that the Negro has not made a +reputation for bankruptcy assignments. When one reflects that nearly +all of these proprietors and promoters have migrated to New York City +from less progressive communities and that the chances to get +experience in a well-established business before they attempt to start +an enterprise for themselves is, except in very rare cases, denied +Negroes, the permanency of the ventures in the commercial current +deserve commendation. + + +2. PERMANENCE OF LOCATION + +No less interesting than the length of time a firm had been +established was the length of time it had been located at the address +where it was found by the canvasser in 1909. The exact causes which +induce the Negro firms to change addresses could not be ascertained, +but 81 out of 275 had been at the address where they were found less +than one year, although, as shown above, only 51 were less than one +year old; 72 had been at their present address between one year and +two years, which leaves a smaller margin between that number and the +67 shown to have been established that length of time. There was a +similar small margin of comparison in the groupings of two to four and +four to six years between the time the firms were established and the +length of time they had remained at the one address. This shifting is +due probably to the movements of the Negro population upon which the +firms depend for patronage, but partly to inexperience. + + +TABLE XXVI. SHOWING LENGTH OF TIME 309 BUSINESS ENTERPRISES HAD BEEN +AT ADDRESSES WHERE FOUND, MANHATTAN, 1909. + +--------------------------+---------------------------------------- + |Length of time at present address. +--------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + | Less | 6 mos.| 1 yr. | 2 yrs.| 4 yrs.| + Class of | than | to 11 | to 1 | to 3 | to 5 | + establishment. | 6 mos.| mos. | yr. 11| yr. 11| yr. 11| + | | | mos. | mos. | mos. | +--------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ +Barber shops | 5 | 1 | 13 | 10 | 5 | +Brokers | 1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | +Coal, wood and ice | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | +Dressmaking and millinery | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -- | +Employment agencies | -- | 3 | 2 | 5 | 1 | +Express and moving vans | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | +Groceries | 4 | 6 | 12 | 7 | 4 | +Hairdressers, etc. | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | -- | +Hotels and lodging houses | -- | 2 | 3 | 5 | 1 | +Pool and billiard rooms | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +Printers | -- | -- | 3 | 1 | -- | +Restaurant and lunch rooms| 5 | 8 | 3 | 7 | 2 | +Saloons and cafés | -- | 2 | -- | 2 | -- | +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 2 | 5 | 10 | 7 | -- | +Undertakers | 1 | 1 | -- | 3 | 1 | +Miscellaneous | 6 | 12 | 13 | 6 | 3 | +--------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + Total | 30 | 51 | 70 | 66 | 22 | +--------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + +--------------------------+----------------------------------------- + |Length of time at present address. +--------------------------+--------+--------+-------+--------+------ + | 6 yrs. | 8 yrs. | 10 | | + Class of | to 7 | to 9 | yr. | |Total. + establishment. | yr. 11 | yr. 11 | and |Unknown.| + | mos. | mos. | over | | +--------------------------+--------+--------+-------+--------+------ +Barber shops | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 50 +Brokers | 2 | 1 | -- | 3 | 16 +Coal, wood and ice | -- | 2 | 1 | 7 | 19 +Dressmaking and millinery | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 8 +Employment agencies | -- | 1 | -- | 2 | 14 +Express and moving vans | -- | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 +Groceries | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 36 +Hairdressers, etc. | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 8 +Hotels and lodging houses | 3 | -- | 2 | 1 | 17 +Pool and billiard rooms | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 10 +Printers | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 5 +Restaurant and lunch rooms| -- | -- | -- | 1 | 26 +Saloons and cafés | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 5 +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | -- | -- | -- | -- | 24 +Undertakers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 11 +Miscellaneous | 2 | -- | 1 | 5 | 48 +--------------------------+--------+--------+-------+--------+------ + Total | 14 | 9 | 13 | 34 | 309 +--------------------------+--------+--------+-------+--------+------ + + +The first of these facts would have effect on the question of a firm's +getting credit on purchases of supplies and both facts mean a great +deal in securing and holding a retail trade. + +That a detailed comparison may be made, Table XXVI, showing length of +time firms had been at addresses where they were found, is added (p. +119). + + +3. BUSINESS METHODS + +The age and permanence of a firm does not influence its success so +much as its business methods. And an index of its efficiency in this +respect is its methods of accounting. These are shown in the means +used for keeping accounts Negro business men were asked whether or not +they used ledger, journal, cash-book, day-book, or other records. Some +enterprises such as grocery stores, would have need of a mechanical +register. If a firm had one, it was inspected. Facts about 49 +establishments were not available. Of these, 35 firms had no means of +keeping accounts, other than the memories of those running the place. +These were, however, very small enterprises. Of the 260 remaining, +60, or 23 per cent, kept a ledger, 122, or 46.9 per cent, kept a +cash-book, and 33.5 per cent had day-books. Thus showing that 37 more +firms kept day-books than kept ledgers, and 62 more firms kept +cash-books than ledgers. Of the 260, 28 had mechanical cash registers +and 64 had some form of record in addition to or other than those +named. In a phrase, the Negro business man is learning the methods of +the business world in keeping track of his business affairs, though in +most cases they are small. Table XXVII gives the details on this +point. (See p. 121.) + + +TABLE XXVII. MEANS FOR KEEPING ACCOUNTS USED BY 309 NEGRO BUSINESS +ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909. + +--------------------------+----------------------------------------------- + |Means used in accounting by Negro business + | enterprises. + +-----------+-----------+-----------+----------- + Class of | Ledger. | Journal. | Cash-book.| Day-book. + establishment. | | | | +--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- + | Yes.| No. | Yes.| No. | Yes.| No. | Yes.| No. +--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- +Barber shops | 2 | 43 | -- | 45 | 23 | 22 | 7 | 38 +Brokers | 13 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 16 | -- | 8 | 8 +Coal, wood and ice | -- | 13 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 6 +Dressmaking and millinery | 1 | 7 | -- | 8 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 7 +Employment agencies | 3 | 11 | 2 | 12 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 10 +Express and moving vans | -- | 10 | -- | 10 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 +Groceries | 10 | 25 | 3 | 32 | 12 | 23 | 21 | 14 +Hairdressing, etc. | 1 | 4 | -- | 5 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 +Hotels and lodging houses | 4 | 6 | -- | 10 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 6 +Pool and billiard rooms | 1 | 9 | -- | 10 | 5 | 5 | 2 | 8 +Printers | 2 | 3 | -- | 5 | 3 | 2 | -- | 5 +Restaurants and | | | | | | | | + lunch rooms | 2 | 10 | -- | 12 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 11 +Saloons and cafés | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 2 | 19 | 2 | 19 | 7 | 14 | 8 | 13 +Undertakers | 8 | 3 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 6 +Miscellaneous | 8 | 32 | 2 | 38 | 16 | 24 | 9 | 31 +--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- + Total | 60 | 200 | 15 | 245 | 122 | 138 | 87 | 173 +--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+----- + +--------------------------+------------------------------------------ + |Means used in accounting by Negro + | business enterprises. +--------------------------+--------------+-----------+-------+------- + | Mechanical | Other | | + |cash-register.| records. | | + Class of +------+-------+-----+-----+ | + establishment. | Yes. | No. | Yes.| No. |Unknown|Totals +--------------------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+------- +Barber shops | 10 | 35 | 2 | 43 | 5 | 50 +Brokers | -- | 16 | 5 | 11 | -- | 16 +Coal, wood and ice | -- | 13 | 1 | 12 | 6 | 19 +Dressmaking and millinery | -- | 8 | 1 | 7 | -- | 8 +Employment agencies | -- | 14 | 14 | -- | -- | 14 +Express and moving vans | -- | 10 | 1 | 9 | 2 | 12 +Groceries | 7 | 28 | 2 | 33 | 1 | 36 +Hairdressing, etc. | -- | 5 | 5 | -- | 3 | 8 +Hotels and lodging houses | -- | 10 | 2 | 8 | 7 | 17 +Pool and billiard rooms | 5 | 5 | -- | 10 | -- | 10 +Printers | -- | 5 | 2 | 3 | -- | 5 +Restaurants and | | | | | | + lunch rooms | -- | 12 | -- | 12 | 14 | 26 +Saloons and cafés | 4 | 1 | -- | 5 | -- | 5 +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | -- | 21 | 7 | 14 | 3 | 24 +Undertakers | -- | 11 | 11 | -- | -- | 11 +Miscellaneous | 2 | 38 | 11 | 29 | 8 | 48 +--------------------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+------- + Total | 28 | 232 | 64 | 196 | 49 | 309 +--------------------------+------+-------+-----+-----+-------+------- + + +4. CREDIT RELATIONSHIPS + +The manner and care with which a firm keeps record of the business it +transacts is closely connected with its credit relations with the +buying and selling community. And both these determine to a large +extent its business operations. Considerable light was thrown upon the +credit relations of Negro enterprises by finding out, wherever +possible, whether a firm gave credit occasionally or habitually to +customers and whether it received credit from suppliers. Naturally, +many proprietors would not give any reply to such an inquiry, and +especially about their credit standing with wholesale firms. On such a +delicate point, however, information about the giving of credit was +secured from 205 firms, and about the receiving of credit from 94 +firms. Of the 205 that furnished statements on the matter of giving +credit, 87, or 42.4 per cent, occasionally, and 69, or 33.6 per cent, +habitually had given credit to customers, while 49, or 23.9 per cent, +did not allow credit. When asked about their credit relations with +suppliers, 47 replied that they did receive credit, and 47 that they +did not receive any; and 215 gave no reply on this point. + + +5. THE PURCHASING PUBLIC + +Length of time established, length of location at an address, methods +of accounting and the credit relations play no more important a part +in the efforts of Negroes to build up their business enterprises than +do the subtle whims and prejudices of the community. This is shown +first by the location of nearly all the enterprises in Negro +neighborhoods. Of all the 309 enterprises, 288 were located either +within or upon the border of the Negro districts. It may be expected, +of course, that Negroes will look to their own people first for their +patronage, but they should be allowed to cater to the public at large, +especially in a cosmopolitan commercial center like New York. In the +case of real estate brokers, this is partly true and has grown partly +out of the Negro broker's ability to handle more successfully than +others properties tenanted by Negroes. It is not generally the case in +other lines of business, however, as the testimony of many Negro +business men shows. + +It was difficult to get statements that would be a basis for a +percentage estimate of how liberally white people traded with these +Negro firms. Brokers gave no statements that could be so used because +nearly all of the 16 brokers had many transactions which involved +white owners and colored tenants, white or colored sellers and white +or colored buyers. Employment agencies faced a similar situation. Of +the other 279 firms, 81, or 29.7 per cent, reported no white +customers; 92, or 33.3 per cent, reported that less than 10 per cent +of their customers were white. Thus 63 per cent of the Negro business +firms have to depend upon the small purchasing power of their own +people for the trade with which to build up their enterprises. This is +partly due to the feeling of the Negroes in business that they are to +cater mainly to Negroes and partly to their inexperienced way of +handling customers. But the main reasons are the difficulties they +have in renting places in desirable localities and in the refusal of +white people to patronize Negroes in many lines of trade.[76] Of the +remaining firms 42, or 15 per cent, reported between 10 and 49 per +cent white customers. The numbers above were small and only one firm, +in the class of dressmaking and millinery, and three in the +miscellaneous class, reported an exclusive white trade. + +What a battle the Negro business man has to fight can be surmised when +to the fact of a narrow patronage from his own people, who have the +small purchasing power of their low-paid occupations, is added the +severe competition of white firms with larger capital, with more +extended credit and larger business experience, that vie with him for +even this limited field. Table XXVIII (p. 125), which follows, was +compiled on the basis of proprietors' statements of the probable +number of white and colored customers over a given number of months. +It is about as accurate as such an estimate can be and is far more +reliable and definite than general impressions. The percentages of +white customers are given, it being understood that the remainder were +Negroes. This small amount of information is very significant in +showing how the attitude of the white public affects the economic +advancement of the Negroes. + +In the foregoing chapter we have reviewed some very definite facts +concerning the Negro business man's dealing with the community. We +have seen that his enterprises are permanently established although +against great odds, but that permanence of address is not so well +secured. Nearly all, 260 out of 309, were known to have some of the +usual methods of keeping accounts, and of the 205 from whom +information on the matter was obtained about three-fourths gave credit +either occasionally or habitually; while of the 94 who answered as to +their receiving credit, about half did and the other half did not +receive credit. + + +TABLE XXVIII. ESTIMATED PROPORTIONS OF WHITE CUSTOMERS OF 279 NEGRO +BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909. + +---------------------------+---------------------------------------- + |Estimated Proportion of Whites of Total + |Customers of Negro Business Enterprises. + +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ +Class of establishment. | None. | Less | 10%- | 25%- | 50%- | + | | than | 24%. | 49%. | 74%. | + | | 10%. | | | | +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ +Barber shops | 16 | 23 | 7 | 2 | -- | +Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Coal, wood and ice | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | +Dressmaking and millinery | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | +Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | +Express and moving vans | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | +Groceries | 10 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 2 | +Hairdressers, etc. | 1 | 5 | -- | -- | -- | +Hotels and lodging houses | 15 | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | +Pool and billiard rooms | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- | 2 | +Printers | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | +Restaurant and lunch rooms | 16 | 7 | 1 | 2 | -- | +Saloons and cafés | 1 | 1 | 1 | -- | 2 | +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 4 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 2 | +Undertakers | 5 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | +Miscellaneous | 4 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 11 | +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + Totals | 81 | 92 | 22 | 20 | 28 | +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ + +---------------------------+---------------------------------------- + |Estimated Proportion of Whites of Total + |Customers of Negro Business Enterprises. + +-------+-------+-------+--------+------- +Class of establishment. | 75%- | 90%- | 100%. |Doubtful|Total. + | 89%. | 100%. | |and | + | | | |Unknown.| +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------- +Barber shops | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 50 +Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- +Coal, wood and ice | 1 | -- | -- | 3 | 19 +Dressmaking and millinery | 2 | 2 | 1 | -- | 8 +Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- +Express and moving vans | 2 | 1 | -- | 1 | 12 +Groceries | -- | -- | -- | -- | 36 +Hairdressers, etc. | -- | 2 | -- | -- | 8 +Hotels and lodging houses | -- | -- | -- | -- | 17 +Pool and billiard rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 +Printers | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 5 +Restaurant and lunch rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | 26 +Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 +Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 1 | 2 | -- | -- | 24 +Undertakers | -- | -- | -- | -- | 11 +Miscellaneous | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 48 +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+-------- + Totals | 10 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 279 +---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+-------- + + +The attitude of the white purchasing public has had a tremendous +effect on Negro business, because it has failed to forget color in its +business dealings. In many lines of business white people will not +patronize Negroes at all and about two-thirds of all enterprises +depend upon the low purchasing power of the Negro group. The idea that +white people will not trade with them to any considerable extent and +that they must depend upon their own people is so steeped into the +mind of the Negro that he often does not perceive that he is catering +to the whole public, white and black. + +FOOTNOTES: + +[76] This conclusion is based upon the statements of Negroes that +white people have entered their stores apparently to buy, but beat a +retreat upon finding a Negro in charge. Two Negro proprietors employed +white workmen to call at residences, _etc._, in the operation of their +businesses while they kept in the background. The writer traced out +cases of refusals to rent places to Negro firms. Some of the incidents +would be amusing if they were not tragic. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +SOME SAMPLE ENTERPRISES + + +In the first chapters on Negro business enterprises, the several +classes of establishments were described in order to present a picture +of business among Negroes as a whole. A more concrete idea of the +organization and operation of these enterprises, as well as of the +proprietors who own and operate them, may be gained from detailed +descriptions of selected establishments of each kind. These have been +chosen as representing a fair type of the classes to which they +belong. On some points there may be wide variations, but each class as +a whole is fairly represented by those detailed. + + +1. INDIVIDUALS AND PARTNERSHIPS + +Establishment No. 1 was a barber shop started in 1898, and moved once +to the present address eleven years before. The proprietor was born in +Savannah, Georgia, had resided in New York City for about twenty +years, and was a journeyman barber before starting his own shop. He +employed four barbers besides himself, paying each barber between +forty and fifty per cent of his receipts. This shop was about 12 feet +by 40 feet, and the rental was $30.00 per month. The estimated value +of his tools and fixtures was about $700.00, and the estimated gross +receipts of his business were $3,500.00 in 1907 and $4,000.00 in 1908. +The proprietor kept a cash-book which he balanced once a week. He +started his enterprise with one chair, bought with savings from his +earnings as a barber. He did a strictly cash business. His customers +were Negroes only, although he kept a first-class, cleanly place, was +in a district where there were a large number of small white business +establishments and some white tenants, and bought his supplies from a +white firm. + +No. 2. This was a barber shop established in 1890, had moved twice, +and had been located at the last address four years. The proprietor +called himself "the pioneer" as he visited New York City in 1856-7 and +had been living here 32 years in 1909, coming from Calvert County, +Maryland. He had worked as a barber in a shop run for white customers, +and by this means saved money to set up for himself in Mott Haven some +years before opening in New York. He employed one additional barber, +had a shop about 12 feet by 28 feet, for which he was paying $35.00 +rent. His tools and fixtures were worth about $200.00, and his gross +receipts amounted to about $900.00 in 1907 and about $850.00 in 1908. +He used a cash-book and occasionally credited customers, although he +paid cash for supplies from a white firm. His shop was located in a +distinctly Negro neighborhood and all his customers were Negroes. + +No. 3. This establishment was a grocery store started by a West Indian +at the address where it was found, who took a partner at the beginning +of the second year. The junior partner, a Virginian by birth, was +brought to New York by his mother 12 years previously, while the other +had resided here ten years. The senior partner had a very small +grocery business during one year in the West Indies and worked as an +elevator boy and saved capital after coming to New York, as his change +of residence had absorbed his limited resources. The Virginian was +peddling tea and coffee before entering the firm. He had been a porter +in a department store, but preferred "to be independent, as it seemed +too hard to work for another man." They employed one helper and both +put in their time; they occupied a floor space 20 feet by 40 feet, at +a rental of $35.00 per month. The tools and fixtures were estimated at +$350.00; these included a safe and a large national cash register. The +careful inventory of stock showed $450.00 worth on hand, and the gross +receipts from May, 1908, to May, 1909, was estimated at $6,000.00. The +large national cash register and bank book were sufficient means of +keeping accounts for the strictly cash conduct of the business. Only a +few whites, about all of whom were Jews, live in the blocks adjoining +the Negro neighborhood. They found this store most convenient and +traded with the firm, but more than five-sixths of its customers were +Negroes. The firm sent out hand-bills weekly, and used other forms of +advertisement. + +No. 4 was a grocery, started in September, 1906, at the same address +where it was found by the investigator. The proprietor came from the +West Indies to New York City about 12 years previously and engaged in +hotel work by means of which he saved his capital. He was still so +employed, while his brother conducted the store. The store room was +about 14 feet by 40 feet, at a rental of $35.00 per month. The tools +and fixtures were valued at $100.00, and the merchandise on hand at +about $300.00. The estimated gross receipts were between $2,500 and +$3,000 in 1907, and about $2,700 in 1908. Only a cash-book was used in +keeping accounts. This was balanced once a week, and an inventory of +the stock was taken once a quarter. Credit was habitually allowed to +customers, all of whom were Negroes. No whites lived in the +neighborhood. + +No. 5. This was a real-estate and insurance agent, who began business +in July, 1907, and had moved once since. He was born in Virginia and +had been in New York City twelve years. This man's business career +started as soon as he left college, as his father had given him an +education and arranged affairs to that end. He entered his father's +barber shop in Virginia and remained three years, then came to New +York and started a club and saloon business with capital brought from +his native home. This was carried on four years and sold out. After +several intervening years, the present enterprise was started on some +of the capital derived from the sale of the previous establishment. He +employed two collectors, had an office space of about 12 by 40 feet in +one of the tenements of which he had charge. His gross receipts from +commissions, _etc._, were about $2,300.00 in 1908. Ledger, cash-book +and day-book were used in accounting. The landlords of the properties +he handled were all white, but all tenants were Negroes. The real +estate sales and exchanges he has handled have been of a similar kind. + +No. 6. This was a real estate broker who began business in November, +1903, in Nassau street and moved to his present address two years +later. He was born in New York and has always made his home there. +Before he finished his high school course, he worked during spare +hours and vacations for a real estate firm. After graduation from high +school, he started to work with the same firm on a commission basis +until he began business for himself as a regular broker. He employed +two assistants in his business and had an office in one of the large +buildings in the Wall Street district. His office was modestly but +adequately furnished, the fixtures, typewriter, _etc._, estimated at +$200.00. In 1907 his gross receipts from commissions, fees, _etc._, +were over $2,500, and in 1908 over $3,000. His capital was accumulated +from the business; he used ledger and cash-book in his accounting and +both gave and received credit in his transactions. He was a member of +the New York Fire Insurance Exchange, and has done considerable study +in evening courses on insurance, banking, _etc._ About 95 per cent of +his business dealings were with white people. + +No. 7. This enterprise in dressmaking and ladies tailoring was started +in August, 1906, at the address where found. The proprietress came +from her native city, Pittsburgh, Pa., to New York three years +previously, and set up her establishment with money she had saved from +sewing in Pittsburgh. She employed three helpers and used for business +purposes the front room of her apartment, which rented for $25.00 per +month. Her tools and fixtures were valued at about $175.00, and she +kept less than $100.00 worth of stock on hand, as all work was to +order. Gross receipts were about $2,300 in 1907, and about $3,000 in +1908. A cash-book only was used in keeping accounts. About +three-fourths of the customers were white. + +No. 8. This is an employment agency started about 1889 by the +proprietor who came from Delaware the year preceding. In the +flourishing days when Negro help was in large demand he made money and +formerly employed two or three helpers. When seen, he alone did not +find full employment. His fixtures were worth less than $50. He used +two front rooms of his living apartment for business purposes. His +gross receipts in 1907 were $1,316, and in 1908, $1,076. He used a +cash-book and the two record books required by the employment license +law. He supplied colored help for white families almost entirely; +business was running low because white help was "displacing the +colored help of years past." + +No. 9. This was a restaurant, established in September, 1904, and +moved to the present address two years later. The proprietor was born +in Jacksonville, Florida, and had resided in New York six years when +interviewed. He was a cook and head-waiter before beginning business +for himself. He had two employees, his place occupied a 14 feet by 40 +feet basement, for which he paid about $18.00 rental. His fixtures, +_etc._, were valued at about $150, and his gross receipts were about +$3,500 in 1907, and $3,000 in 1908. He had saved money for the +enterprise while engaged in hotel service in Jacksonville. All his +customers were Negroes, except one white regular customer. He admitted +occasionally giving credit to customers, although a sign on the wall +said, "Positively, no trust." + +No. 10. This firm sold coal, wood and ice. It was established in +September, 1907, at the address where found, by a native Virginian who +had lived in New York seventeen years, and had previously worked as a +porter in a jewelry house. No help was employed and the small amount +of stock on hand, between $40 and $50, was kept in a cellar about 12 +feet by 18 feet. For this a rental of about $8.00 per month was paid. +The gross receipts amounted to about $800 in 1908. The proprietor had +saved some money from his previous occupation on which to begin; he +was located in a Negro neighborhood, so depended entirely on their +patronage. He habitually gave credit to customers but received none +from his white suppliers. + +No. 11. This tailoring establishment was started in September, 1907, +by a West Indian, who had lived in New York eighteen years and had +worked as journeyman tailor in St. Christopher, W.I. He had moved five +times since the business was begun. He did mostly cutting and fitting, +but some "busheling." He did not employ any help, and lived in two +rooms in the rear of his business place, paying $25 per month for all. +The tools and fixtures were worth about $150, and the stock on hand +about $50, while gross receipts had amounted to $1,200 in 1907 and +about $1,100 in 1908. He kept a cash-book; gave credit occasionally, +but received none. + +This proprietor said he came to New York leaving paying work behind, +because of tales of high wages in his trade; that at first he answered +advertisements for journeymen but was turned away when they saw he was +a Negro. Finally, he worked as waiter to get money to start for +himself. His first "stand" was in a white neighborhood with white +trade, but when a considerable number of Negro customers began to +frequent his place the neighbors made objections to the landlord, who +would no longer rent him the place. At the time of the interview he +was in a Negro neighborhood and had only four or five white customers. + +No. 12. This also was a tailoring firm, started in 1907, which did +mainly cleaning, pressing and repairing ("busheling"). The proprietor +was a Georgian by birth, came to New York six years previously, and +worked as a valet, and as elevator man in an apartment. He employed +one part-time assistant, used for his business the front room, about +12 feet by 14 feet, of an apartment which rented for $25 per month. +His tools and fixtures were valued at $140, and he carried about $75 +worth of second-hand clothing in stock. His gross receipts in 1908 +were about $800. He kept lists of work done for customers. He had been +in the same line of business for seven years in his native state, and +both times had saved wages to carry out his "desire from a lad up to +do business." About two-thirds of his customers were white, and he +gave credit habitually. + +No. 13. This firm for express and moving service was established in +September, 1902, in the same block where found, by a Virginian, who +had lived in New York City fifteen years and who worked as a Pullman +porter before beginning in this line of business. He usually employed +from five to seven men, according to the seasonal trade. He had an +express wagon and two vans, which with the horses were valued at +$1,200. His gross receipts amounted to about $3,100 in 1907, and about +$3,600 in 1908. In keeping accounts both ledger and day-book were +used. The proprietor had run a small grocery in Virginia before coming +to New York, and some of the capital from its sale had been saved and +put into this enterprise. He depended upon white customers for about +two-thirds of his patronage. + +No. 14 was a manicurist and hair-dressing firm started by the +proprietress in May, 1903, who had been in New York eleven years in +1909 and who worked at a pocket-book factory before starting into this +venture. She was a native of Virginia. The enterprise was not large +enough for any employees; tools and fixtures were worth about $60, and +hair goods, _etc._, on hand were valued at $75; the front room, about +12 by 14 feet, of the living apartment was used for business purposes. +In 1907 and 1908 the gross receipts averaged about $1,000, which was +mainly fees for manicure and hair-dressing services. This enterprise +was started that the proprietress might "be at home," and a cash trade +almost solely among white people was being developed. + +No. 15. This was an undertakers establishment started in 1897 by a +minister, who came to New York from Virginia about twenty-five years +ago. The firm had been located at the address where found about nine +years, and had a branch in another part of Manhattan. Two helpers were +employed, the floor space was about 20 by 40 feet, for which a rental +of $35 per month was paid. Tools and fixtures, including dead-wagon, +were valued at $1,200, and about $300 of stock was kept on hand. The +gross receipts of the business were about $9,000 in 1907, and about +$8,000 in 1908. Ledger, cash-book, day-book, and funeral register were +used in keeping accounts. The proprietor started on a small saving +from his salary as a minister, having to run the business a year +before he had the additional $200 in cash for deposit for registration +in the Casket Makers Association, thus securing credit on supplies. He +habitually allows credit to customers, all of whom, with very rare +exceptions, are Negroes. + +No. 16 was a hotel on the European plan, established in 1899 by a +Georgian who had been in New York five years previously and had saved +his wages in several kinds of hotel work to get his start. He usually +employed six helpers; the place occupied a four-floor building about +25 by 60 feet, for which a rental of $1,800 per year is paid. +Fixtures, furniture, _etc._, were valued at $2,000. The gross receipts +of the hotel were a little over $10,000 in 1907, and between $9,000 +and $10,000 in 1908. Both ledger and cash-book were used in keeping +accounts. Nearly all customers were Negroes, and whites were not +especially sought because those who did come were usually looking for +a colored dive and did not act in an orderly way. Credit was +occasionally allowed customers and the firm had such standing that it +could get such amounts from suppliers as it wished. + +No. 17 was a pool-room with a club arrangement in connection. It was +started in 1901 by a native of Virginia, who had been living in New +York eleven years. The firm had moved once since its establishment. +The proprietor was a waiter before beginning this enterprise; he +employed two helpers, his place occupied three floors about 25 by 40 +feet, and he paid a rental of $75 per month. His fixtures, tables, +_etc._, were valued at between $1,800 and $2,000, and he said they +were all paid for. In 1907 the gross receipts were about $3,400, and +in 1908 about $3,700, the "best year." A cash-book was kept and +balanced twice a year. Negroes "almost altogether" were customers. +This proprietor had an ambition from boyhood to run a business and at +one time had a second-hand furniture store in Long Branch, N.J. + +No. 18 was a job-printing house, started in June, 1908, run since that +time at the same place by two partners, one of whom was born in +Washington, D.C., the other in the West Indies. The West Indian had +been in New York fifteen years in 1909, and had been in the same +business once before; the other had been in New York twenty-five +years; both had saved money as they worked as journeymen printers +before entering business for themselves. At the time of the interview +they did not employ any helpers, but their tools, fixtures, _etc._, +were valued at about $900, and the floor space occupied was about 14 +by 25 feet. The gross receipts during the six months of 1908 were +about $900, and the monthly average for the first month of 1909 was +somewhat higher. A cash-book was used in keeping accounts, and about +one-third of their customers were white people. They did a strictly +cash business. + +No. 19 was a saloon and café which was opened in November, 1908, at +the place where found. The proprietor came from Kentucky to New York +about ten years previously and worked in a cigar store. He employed +from seven to nine helpers, and his place occupied about 20 by 60 feet +floor space, with a rathskeller in the basement; he paid $100 per +month rental. Fixtures, _etc._, were valued at about $2,200, and stock +was kept on hand to the amount of between $700 and $800. Sufficient +data for an estimate of gross receipts were not forthcoming. Ledger +and cash-book, with cash-register, kept record of business transacted. +Customers were "Negroes, almost exclusively" with a "white person now +and then." At one time the proprietor ran a cigar store, growing out +of his work in such an establishment. + + +2. THE NEGRO CORPORATION + +As was pointed out in a previous chapter, the Negro enters business +either alone or with one or two partners. Small enterprises can be so +financed. But for undertakings that require considerable capital those +who enter them must either have large means or a number must combine +their small funds. + +The Negro is alert to business lines which offer chances of profit. He +is slowly learning the method of "big business." The corporation, with +its advantages of impersonal responsibility, facility for taking in or +releasing members, and particularly its combined capital, has been +adopted in a few cases. These can be treated briefly for what +variations they show from the general type. + +One of these was a corporation that ran a garage, furnished storage +and other care for machines and operated a line of taxicabs, employing +from nine to eleven men. Three of the firm members had been employed +chauffeurs and thus got the idea and the money to start the firm. +There was storage space for about 50 cars. One of the proprietors came +from Georgia, another from North Carolina. They had a book-keeper and +the usual books for a business house. Five Negro owners and about +forty white owners were storing cars with them. + +Another enterprise was a corporation of undertakers with a board of +eight directors, who held nearly all of the stock. In size they had +four employees, occupied a floor space of about 1,200 square feet at a +monthly rental of $150. The investments represented about $1,500 in +dead-wagon and fixtures and a stock on hand of about $1,000. The gross +business was between $9,000 and $10,000 in 1907, the first year of the +business; and over $20,000 in 1908. At its organization there were ten +corporators who subscribed about $300 each to float the enterprise. It +is interesting to note that a hotel-keeper, a minister, three men in +other lines of business and the manager of the concern were among +these ten. + +Two other corporations were printing establishments, each with six +original incorporators. One firm did job printing. The other was a +publisher of popular songs and has produced several of New York's most +popular airs. They had two and ten employees, occupied about 158 and +3,000 square feet of floor space, respectively. The larger firm had a +plant valued at between $4,000 and $5,000, kept several hundred +dollars worth of stock on hand and did a gross business of about +$15,000 in 1907, and about $17,000 in 1908. The smaller firm had been +organized in 1909. The larger had run more than four years. The +corporators of the smaller concern included an editor, a messenger, +silk-factory employee, and laundry employee; those of the larger, a +liquor dealer, two actors and three composers of popular songs. + +The four other corporations were real estate firms, a line of business +requiring considerable capital and attracting the higher grade of +business ability. In these instances, all except one firm was composed +of the few original incorporators, making the arrangement only a +little removed from a partnership. The one exception was a large +concern with a capital stock of over $500,000. The previous +occupations of the principal promoters of this company included a +lawyer, a pharmacist and two real estate brokers. + +The stock of this concern was held by small investors in many parts of +the United States. The firm at one time employed over 200 people in +and out of New York, and claimed to have done an annual business of +over $200,000. At some period in its history it may have done so large +a business, but this was probably only for an exceptionally prosperous +year. This may have led to too sanguine attempts on the part of the +promoters. Because of other poor business methods and bad attempts at +investment the enterprise failed in the winter of 1910-11. + +Three obvious points are shown by the facts concerning these +corporations: First, they were composed of only a few members and +therefore were not far removed from large partnerships. This set a +large limit to command of capital for there were no large capitalists +in New York among Negroes. Second, this form of combining capital and +business ability has been tried in a few lines of business only--three +in all, if we exclude the garage. Third, as seen in their previous +occupations, the promoters were men above the average in ability and +of some experience. + + + + +CONCLUSION + + + + +CONCLUSION + + +The significance of the foregoing facts is clearly indicated by the +summaries following each set of figures. The road to the conclusions +is straight. Turning to the preceding chapters, let us see what +conclusions are warranted. + +The urban concentration of the Negro is taking place in about the same +way as that of the white population. In proportions, it varies only to +a small extent from the movement of the whites, save where the +conditions and influences are exceptional. The constant general causes +influencing the Negro population have been similar to those moving +other parts of the population to cities. The divorce from the soil in +the sudden breaking down of the plantation régime just after the Civil +War and the growth of industrial centers in the South, and the call of +higher wages in the North, have been unusually strong influences to +concentrate the Negro in the cities. It is with him largely as with +other wage-earners: the desire for higher wages and the thought of +larger liberty, especially in the North, together with a restlessness +under hum-drum, hard rural conditions and a response to the +attractions of the city, have had considerable force in bringing him +to urban centers. Labor legislation in the South has played its part +in the movement. + +The growth of the industrial and commercial centers of the South, the +larger wages in domestic and personal service in the North, and social +and individual causes of concentration bid fair to continue for an +indefinite period. The Negro responding to their influence will +continue to come in comparatively large numbers to town to stay. + +But the Negro's residence in the city offers problems of +maladjustment. Although these problems are similar to those of other +rural populations that become urban dwellers, it is made more acute +because he has greater handicaps due to his previous condition of +servitude and to the prejudiced opposition of the white world that +surrounds him. His health, intelligence and morals respond to +treatment similar to that of other denizens of the city, if only +impartial treatment can be secured. Doubtless death-rate and +crime-rate have been and are greater than the corresponding rates for +the white populations of the same localities, but both crime and +disease are a reflection of the urban environment and are solvable by +methods similar to those used to remedy such conditions among white +people, if prejudiced presuppositions, which conclude without +experiment or inquiry that Negroes have innately bad tendencies, give +place to open-minded trial and unbiased reason. Snap-shot opinions +should be avoided in such serious questions and statesmen, +philanthropists and race leaders should study the facts carefully and +act accordingly. + +The study of the wage-earners among the Negroes of New York City has +disclosed conditions and led to conclusions in line with the foregoing +inferences. The Negro population was solidly segregated into a few +assembly districts, thereby confining the respectable to the same +neighborhoods with the disreputable. This population is made up mainly +of young persons and adults of the working period of life, attracted +to the city largely from the South and the West Indies, principally by +the thought of better industrial and commercial advantages. Single +persons predominate and the percentage of the aged is low. High rents +and low incomes force lodgers into the families to disturb normal home +life. + +From the early days of the Dutch Colony the Negro has had a part in +the laboring life of this community. While most of the wage-earners +have been engaged in domestic and personal service occupations, +figures that are available warrant the inference that the Negro is +slowly but surely overcoming the handicaps of inefficiency and race +prejudice, and is widening the scope of employment year by year. What +the individual asks and should have from the white community is a fair +chance to work, and wages based upon his efficiency and not upon the +social whims and prejudices of fellow-workmen, of employers, or of the +community. + +In domestic and personal service the Negro is poorly paid compared +with the cost of living. And even in skilled occupations, where unions +admit him and wages are offered equal to those of white workmen, the +Negro must be above the average in speed, in quality of work done, and +in reliability to secure and hold places. + +In domestic and personal service, the verdict from a large body of +evidence is that, judged by the testimony of employers as to the +length of time employed, the capability, sobriety and honesty of the +workers, Negroes furnish a reliable supply of employees that need only +to be properly appraised to be appreciated. What is needed for the +workers in this class of occupations and for those in the skilled +trades, is that more attention be given to adequate training, that +more facilities be offered and that a more sympathetic attitude be +shown them in their efforts for better pay and better positions. + +In reviewing the Negro's business operations judgment should be +tempered by consideration of his past and of the tremendous odds of +the present. There are handicaps due to the denial of the chances of +getting experience, to inefficiency born of resulting inexperience, +to the difficulty of securing capital and building credit and to the +low purchasing power of the patronage to which a prejudiced public +limits him. He is not only denied experience, sorely limited in +capital and curtailed in credit, but his opportunities for securing +either are very meagre. In spite of all this, there has been progress +which is prophetic of the future. + +From the days of slavery Negroes have tried the fortunes of the market +place and under freedom their enterprises have increased in number and +variety. At the present time Southern-born and West Indian Negroes +form the bulk of the business men, the latter far in excess of their +proportion in the Negro population. This success of West Indians is +partly a result of training and initiative developed in a more +favorable environment, as they had the benefit of whatever +opportunities their West Indian surroundings offered. + +Although they gained the meagre capital chiefly from domestic and +personal service occupations, Negroes have entered and maintained a +foothold in a number of lines of business unrelated to these previous +occupations. One of the most important findings is that Negroes form +few partnerships and that those formed are rarely of more than two +persons. Co-operative or corporate business enterprises are the +exceptions. This fact has its most telling effect in preventing +accumulations of capital for large undertakings. But co-operation in +business is largely a matter of ability born of experience and where +can Negroes get this experience in well-organized firms, under +experienced supervision? For it is more than a matter of school +instruction in book-keeping and the like. In practically the entire +metropolis, they rarely get beyond the position of porter, or some +similar job. Some fair-minded white people who wish to help the Negro +help himself could do great service for the economic advancement of +the Negro by throwing open the doors of business positions to a number +of ambitious, capable Negro youths, who would thus enter the avenues +of economic independence. The writer knows of three Negroes in New +York City who proved themselves so efficient in their respective lines +that they were taken in as members of large firms. + +Another serious matter is connected with this point. All 309 firms +were retail establishments, all of them bought from wholesale +suppliers who so far as could be ascertained were white firms. In some +lines, there were sufficient retailers to support a wholesale house if +their purchases were combined. For example, the group of 50 barber +shops or of 36 grocers would each support a jobber if they pooled +their patronage. But this would demand an organizing power, a business +initiative, a fund of capital and a stretch of credit, which only some +men experienced in the method of the modern business world could +possess. + +The small size and scope of Negro enterprises cannot be attributed to +lack of business capacity alone. For the gross receipts of the +selected years taken in connection with the valuation of tools and +fixtures, and with the stock of merchandise on hand showed +considerable diligence and thrift in turning these small resources to +active use. + +The variety of the many small establishments indicates also the +initiative of the Negro in using every available opportunity for +economic independence. As we have seen, some of the proprietors had +early ambitions for business careers, and others had worked hard and +saved carefully from small wages that they might rise from the class +of the employed to that of employers. The public to which the Negro +business man caters should accept his wares and his services for their +face value and not discount them because of the complexion of his +face. Then, too, Negroes must learn that the purchasing public desires +to be pleased and is larger than the limits of their own people. + +Negro wage-earners and business men have great difficulty in scaling +the walls of inefficiency and of race prejudice in order to escape the +discomforts and dangers of a low standard of living. + + + + +APPENDIX A + + +FAMILY SCHEDULE + +------------+--------------+----------------------+---------------------------------- +Serial | | FAMILY SCHEDULE |Surname: + No. |Investigator. |No. in family: |Address: +Date: |Source of |No. earning wages: |Floor: No. of rooms: Bath? Rent: + | information.|No. depending on |Location on floor: + | | family income: | front, rear, right, left. +====================================================================================== + | | | | | MARITAL | | |EDUCATION AND INDUSTRIAL + | | | | |CONDITION| | | TRAINING.[*] + | | | | +---------+ | +---------------------------- +Family |Age|Place of|Time |Reason|M|S|W|D|S|Chr|Pol|R|W|M S|M C|M I S|M T|T |W F +Members. | | Birth. |in | for |a|i|i|i|e| + | X |e|r|o c|o o|o n c|o r|r |h o + | | |N.Y. |coming|r|n|d|v|p| | |a|i|s h|s l|s d h|s a|a |e l + | | | |to |.|g|.|.|.| | |d|t| o|. l|. u o|. d|d |r l + | | | |N.Y. | |.| | | | | |.|e|i o| e| s o| e|e |e o + | | | | | | | | | | | | |.|n l|i g|i t l|a .| | w + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | .|n e|n r .|t | | e + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | .| i | | | d + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | a | | | . + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | l | | | +------------+---+--------+-----+------+-+-+-+-+-+---+---+-+-+---+---+-----+---+--+--- +1. Man | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +2. Woman | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +(Sex.) | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +3. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +4. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +5. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +6. (Lodgers)| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +7. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +8. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | +====================================================================================== + | [*] OCCUPATION. (State exact kind of work done and weekly pay.) + |-------+------+-----+------+------+-------+-------+---------------------- +Family | At | |Hours|During| |D l p y|During |+ Church +Members. |present|Weekly| per | past |Weekly|a o a e|entire | affiliations. + | time. | Pay. | day.| year.| Pay. |y s s a|time |B = Baptist. + | | | | | |s t t r|in N.Y.|M = Methodist. + | | | | | | .|City. |E = Episcopal +------------+-------+------+-----+------+------+-------+-------+P = Presbyterian. +1. Man | | | | | | | |C = Catholic. +2. Woman | | | | | | | |MN = Moravian. +(Sex) | | | | | | | +---------------------- +3. | | | | | | | |X Political +4. | | | | | | | | affiliations. +5. | | | | | | | |R = Republican. +6.(Lodgers) | | | | | | | |D = Democrat. +7. | | | | | | | |S = Socialist. +8. | | | | | | | |PB = Prohibition. +9. | | | | | | | +---------------------- +10. | | | | | | | | *See space for +11. | | | | | | | |remarks on other + | | | | | | | |side (3) (4). +-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +FAMILY SCHEDULE (REVERSE SIDE) + + UNSUCCESSFUL APPLICATIONS | |TRADE UNION, SECRET + FOR WORK.* (1) | REASON FOR REFUSAL.* (1) | SOCIETIES.* (2) +------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------ +Family |Date|Place: Name |Kind of|Place |Lack of| | |Name of |Why not +Members | | and Address| Work |Filled| Skill |Color|Other|Organiz-| member? + | | | | | | | | ation |Did you + | | | | | | | | | apply? +------------+----+------------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+--------+---------- +1. Man | | | | | | | | | +2. Woman | | | | | | | | | + (Sex.) | | | | | | | | | +3. | | | | | | | | | +4. | | | | | | | | | +5. | | | | | | | | | +6. (Lodgers)| | | | | | | | | +7. | | | | | | | | | +8. | | | | | | | | | +------------+----+------------+-------+------+-------+-----+-----+--------+---------- + +* (1) Remarks on Unsuccessful Applications: + + +* (2) Remarks on Trade Unions and Secret Societies: + + +* (3) Remarks on Occupation: + + +* (4) Remarks on Education, Trade Training, _etc._: (Where and how was trade learned?) + + + + +APPENDIX B + +FIRM EMPLOYEES SCHEDULE + +(The information given will be regarded as confidential.) + + Nature of business of firm------------------------------- + +1. Total number of employees: 2. Total number Negro employees: + +3. In spaces below state exact nature of work done by your Negro + employees: + +------------+-----+--------+------+------------+-----+--------+------ + |Male | No. |Weekly| |Male | No. |Weekly + WORK DONE. |or F.|Employed|Wages.| WORK DONE. |or F.|Employed|Wages. +------------+-----+--------+------+------------+-----+--------+------ + | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | +------------+-----+--------+------+------------+-----+--------+------ + +4. Are white workmen paid same wages for same kind of work? + +5. Are your Negro workmen + + (a) Faster, equal, or slower in speed than white workmen? + (_underline proper word_). + + (b) Better, equal, or poorer in quality of work done than white workmen? + (_underline proper word_). + + (c) More, equally, or less reliable than white workmen? + (_underline proper word_). + +6. If not now, have you ever employed Negroes? + (See the other side.) + + +FIRM EMPLOYEES SCHEDULE (REVERSE SIDE) + +7. If competent Negro workmen could be furnished, would you employ them? + +8. If you would not employ them, please give reasons. + +9. Remarks on attitude of your white workmen toward Negro workmen, _etc._ + + + + +APPENDIX C + +BUSINESS SCHEDULE. + +BUSINESS SCHEDULE--CONFIDENTIAL + +DATE: FIRM NAME: + ADDRESS: + +INFORMANT: WHEN ESTABLISHED: HOW LONG AT THIS ADDRESS? +---------------------------------------------------------------------- + +1. Organization (underline): individual, partnership, + number of partners______, agent. + +2. (underline): Manufacture, jobbing, wholesale, retail,______________ + +3. Kind of service or goods offered (e.g., hotel, barber, + groceries, real estate, etc.)______________________________________ + +4. Number of employees: ______ Estimated total business + done past 1907: $____________ + 1908: $____________ + +5. Previous occupations of owners or promoters: ______________________ + +6. Birthplace of owners or promoters: ________________________________ + Years in N.Y. City: ______ + +7. Valuation of plant, tools, Fixtures, etc.: $_________ + Of merchandise on hand: $_________ + +8. Other assets: $__________ Liabilities: $__________ + +9. Insurance: $__________ Rent per month: $_________ Floor space:_____ + +10. Nationality of customers: ________________________________________ + +11. Account books used (underline): Ledger, journal, cash-book, + day-book + +12. How often are books balanced? ____________________________________ + +13. Inventory taken?__________________________________________________ + +14. For what special reasons did you enter business: _________________ + (How was capital secured?):_______________________________________ + +15. Remarks on history, etc., of firm: (Credit given occasionally? + Habitually? Received?): __________________________________________ + +(For further remarks use back). + + + + +SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY + + +Bibliography of the Negro American, Atlanta University Pub. no. 10. + W.E.B. DuBois, editor, Atlanta, Ga., 1905. + +Bibliography of Negroes. U.S. Congr. Lib., 324. + +American Woman's Journal, July, 1895. The Story of an Old Wrong + +Atlanta University Publications, W.E.B. DuBois, editor. + + No. 1. Mortality among Negroes in cities, pp. 51. Atlanta, Ga., + 1896. + No. 3. Some efforts of American Negroes for their own social + betterment, Atlanta Univ. Press, Atlanta, Ga., 1898, pp. 72. + No. 4. The Negro in Business, pp. 77, Atlanta, Ga., 1899. + +Brackett, J.R. Status of the Slave, 1775-89. Johns Hopkins Univ. + Studies. + +Bulkley, William L. Industrial conditions of the Negro in New York. + Annals, Amer. Acad., 27: 590-6. 1906. + +Chapin, Robert Coit. Standards of living among workingmen's families + in New York City. New York, 1909 (Russell Sage Foundation + Publication). + +Collin, G.L. A city within a city: St. Cyprian's parish. Outlook + (N.Y.), 84: 274-7. 1906. + +Colored Orphan Asylum and Association for Benefit of Colored + Children. Annual reports, 1896--N.Y., 1896. + +Commissioner of Education. Special report on the conditions of + improvement of Public Schools in the D. of C., Washington, 1871, + pp. 5-850, indices. (Schools of the Colored Population, pp. + 193-400). U.S. Print. + +Goodell, W. American Slave Code. + +Griffin, Maude K. St. Mark's and its social work for Negroes. + Charities, 15: 75-6. 1905. + +Horsmanden, D. The New York conspiracy or history of the Negro Plot, + New York, 1742. + +Hansall, Geo. H. Reminiscences of New York Baptists. + +Kellor, Frances A. Out of Work. A study of employment agencies, + their treatment of the unemployed, and their influence upon + homes and business. Knickerbocker Press, N.Y., 1904, pp. 283. + +---- Southern colored girl in the North. Charities 13: 584-5. 1905. + +Laidlaw, Walter. Report of a sociological canvass of the Nineteenth + Assembly District, 1897. + +---- The Federation of Churches and Christian workers in New York + City. Canvasses: 1st, 112 pp.; 2nd, 116 pp., 1896. + +Miller, Clifford L. The Negro students' summer vacation. Independent + (N.Y.). June 16, 1904. + +Morgan, E.V. Slavery in New York. American Historical Association, + 1890. + +More, Mrs. Louise Bolard. Wage-earners' budgets: Study of standards + and cost of living in New York City. New York, 1907. 280 pp. + (Greenwich House Series of Social Studies, No. 1.) + +Minutes of the Common Council of the City of New York from + 1675-1776. Published under the authority of the City of New + York, by Dodd, Mead and Company. 1905. 8 vols. + +Negro in the cities of the North, The. Articles by Lillian Brandt, + Frances A. Kellor, Carl Kelsey, Booker T. Washington, William E. + Benson, Mary W. Ovington, W.E.B. DuBois, John Daniels, Fannie B. + Williams, _etc._ Charities 15: 1, Oct, 1905. + +New York (City) genealogical and biological record. + +New York Historical Society: Burghers and Freemen. New York + collection of New York Historical Society for the year 1885. + Publication Fund Series (Pub. in New York for the Society). + +Ovington, Mary White. The Negro home in New York. Charities 15: + 25-30, 1905. + +---- The Negro in trades unions in New York City. Annals Amer. + Acad., 27: 551-558, 1906. + +---- Fresh-air work among Colored children in New York. Charities, + 17: 115-7, 1906. + +---- Half a Man. New York, 1911. 227 pp. + +O'Callaghan, E.B. Documents relative to the Colonial history of New + York state. Procured in Holland, England and France by John + Romeyn Brodhead, Esq. (Published by Weid Parsons and Company.) + Vols. i. and ii. Albany, 1856. + +---- Laws and Ordinances of New Netherland, 1638-1674. Compiled and + translated from the original Dutch records in the office of the + Secretary of State, Albany, N.Y. (Published by Weid Parsons and + Company, 1868.) + +Pelletreau, William S. Historic homes and institutions and + genealogical and family histories of New York. 4 vols. N.Y., + 1907. Illustrated. + +Pratt, E.E. Industrial causes of congestion of population in N.Y. + City. pp. 260. N.Y., 1911. (No. 109 of the Columbia University + Series in History, Economics and Public Law.) + +Proceedings of the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of New + York. + +Proceedings of the Select Committee of the United States Senate. + Investigation into the cases of the removal of Negroes from the + Southern states into the Northern states. 3 Parts, 1,486 pp. 2 + vols. Washington. + +Speed, J.G. Negroes in New York. Harpers' Weekly, 44: 1249-50. + +Scottron, Samuel R. The Negro in business before the war. Colored + American Magazine, October, 1907. + +Thompson, Mary W. Sketches of the History, character and dying + testimony of beneficiaries of the Colored Home in the City of + New York. pp. 3-78. N.Y., 1851. + +Tucker, Helen A. Negro craftsman in New York. Southern Workman, 36: + 545-551. 1907; 37: 1. + +Tyler, Edith. New York settlement for Negroes. The Stillman Branch + of the Henery Street Settlement. Charities, 18: 328. 1907. + +United States, Twelfth Census, Special Report: Employees and Wages. + +---- Bulletin 8, Negroes in the United States. + +---- Women at Work. + +Wheller, B.F. The Varrick Family. + +Williams, G.W. History of the Negro race in America from 1619-1880. + Negroes as slaves, as soldiers, and as citizens. 2 vols. N.Y., + 1883. + + + + +INDEX + + +Assembly districts, Negroes in, 52-53 + + +Back-to-the-land movement, 33 + +Business establishments, nature of, 98 + Classified, 99 + Floor space occupied by, 106 + Gross receipts of, 113-114 + Length of residence in New York of proprietors of, 101 + Number of employees in, 105 + Ownership of, 100 + Permanence of location of, 118-119 + Table of floor space of, 107 + Table of gross receipts of, 115 + + +City growth, causes of, 13 + Foot-note on, 43-44 + +Colonial General Assembly, laws passed by, 94-95 + +Colored American (newspaper), 67, 96 + +Crime in cities, 39-41 + + +Death-rates of whites and Negroes, 34-37 + Changes in Richmond, Va., 37-38 + +Diagrams: + I. Increase of whites and Negroes in cities, 16 + II. Death-rates in cities, 36 + III. Distribution of Negro population in Harlem, 50 + IV. Distribution of Negro population in "San Juan Hill" district, 51 + + +Freedmen, as shiphands, 66 + Property escheated, 95 + + +Health of Negroes in cities, 34-38 + + +Industrial centers, migration of Negroes to, 19-25 + + +Lake George, Negroes in battle of, 66 + +Lodgers, natural members and, 62 + Consist of, 63 + Natural members in families, 62-63 + Number of lodgers in families, 64 + + +Migration to cities, 15-17 + Secondary causes of, 29 + + +Nativity of Negroes, of New York State, 57 + Of New York City, 58-59 + Of West Indians, 58 + Of business proprietors, 100 + +Negro population of New York, table showing growth of, 47 + Distribution of 2,500 families in, 52-53 + Segregation of Negro, 48-51 + +Negro, riot of 1712, 95 + So-called plot of 1741, 67 + +New Amsterdam Colony, slaves as laborers in, 66 + Slaves owned land in, 67 + + +Occupations, history of, 66-69 + In 1890 and 1900, 69-71 + In 1905, 72 + Proportion of males and females in, 73 + Tables of, 71-72, 74 + + +Reasons for Negroes coming to New York, 27-28 + Tables of, 27, 31-32 + + +Slaves, as farm laborers and stevedores, 66 + Able to hold land, 67 + Forbidden to trade, 94 + +Soil, divorce of Negro from, 18-19 + + +United Public Waiters, 68 + Becomes Beneficial Association, 69 + +United States, city growth in, 13 + + +Wages, in domestic and personal service, 78-79 + In hotel service, 81 + Table of, 80-81 + Union rates, 82 + +Wage-earners, sex and age, 54-55 + Efficiency of male, 83 + Efficiency of female, 84 + Efficiency of skilled, 88 + Marital condition of, 60-61 + Tables of efficiency of, 85, 87 + +Wilcox, Professor, quoted, 14 + +Work, M.N., quoted, 40-41 + + + + + * * * * * + + + + + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + | Typographical errors corrected in text: | + | | + | Page 56: fifteeen replaced with fifteen | + | Page 57: popullation replaced with population | + | Page 83: cmpared replaced with compared | + | Page 96: "watch and cloak maker" replaced with | + | "watch and clock maker" | + | Page 123: transaction replaced with transactions | + | Page 124: againt replaced with against | + | Page 155: geneological replaced with genealogical | + | Page 155: O'Callagan replaced with O'Callaghan | + | Page 158: Martial replaced with Marital | + | | + +-----------------------------------------------------------+ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE NEGRO AT WORK IN NEW YORK CITY*** + + +******* This file should be named 24712-8.txt or 24712-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/4/7/1/24712 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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