Google

This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on Hbrary shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project

to make the world's books discoverable online.

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject

to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books

are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other maiginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the

publisher to a library and finally to you.

Usage guidelines

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the
public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we liave taken steps to
prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.
We also ask that you:

+ Make non-commercial use of the files We designed Google Book Search for use by individuals, and we request that you use these files for
personal, non-commercial purposes.

+ Refrain fivm automated querying Do not send automated queries of any sort to Google's system: If you are conducting research on machine
translation, optical character recognition or other areas where access to a large amount of text is helpful, please contact us. We encourage the
use of public domain materials for these purposes and may be able to help.

+ Maintain attributionTht GoogXt "watermark" you see on each file is essential for informing people about this project and helping them find
additional materials through Google Book Search. Please do not remove it.

+ Keep it legal Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just
because we believe a book is in the public domain for users in the United States, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other
countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country, and we can't offer guidance on whether any specific use of
any specific book is allowed. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in Google Book Search means it can be used in any manner
anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liabili^ can be quite severe.

About Google Book Search

Google's mission is to organize the world's information and to make it universally accessible and useful. Google Book Search helps readers
discover the world's books while helping authors and publishers reach new audiences. You can search through the full text of this book on the web

at|http : //books . google . com/|

!RA?^^

publtcattond

OP THE

XDlnivetditi^ of pennsi^lvania

SERIES IN

Political Economy and Public Law

THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO

A SOCIAL STUDY / ' ^' '^. .^ J

W; BiTbUROHARDT DU BOIS, Ph. D.

%tmm time AMistaat is Sociology in the Univonlty of PeaBtylTaaia ; Prof«Mor

of Bconomico and History ia Atlanta Unlvonity ; Author of

** The Sappreaaloa of the African BlaTc-Trade.*'

TOOBTHSB WITH

A SPECIAL EEPOET ON DOMESTIC 8EEVICE

t *

BY
ISABEL BATON, A. M.
Fellow of the College Settlements' Assodatioa

'Puhlished* for the University

PHILADELPHIA

1899

GiNN & Co., Selling Agents, Tremont Place, Boston, liass.

«»'1 «>57 I

PREFACE.

In November, 1897, I submitted to the American Academy
of Political and Social Science a plan for the study of the
Negro problems.^ This work is an essay along the lines there
laid down, and is thus part of a larger design of observation
and research into the history and social condition of the trans-
planted Africans.

The opportunity of making this particular study was due
to the initiative of Miss Susan P. Wharton, a Philadelphia
woman active in practical social reform, and to the interest
and generosity of Dr. Charles Custis Harrison, Provost of the
University of Pennsylvania, and other citizens of Philadelphia.
The Department of Finance and Economy (Wharton School)
of the University of Pennsylvania had the general oversight
of the work, and I am under many obligations to the profes-
sors in that department for assistance and counsel. Especially
am I indebted to Dr. Samuel McCune Lindsay, Assistant Pro-
fessor of Sociology, for aid, advice and sympathy, without
which the work could hardly have been brought to a success-
ful close.

I must also express the general sense of obligation which I
feel toward the Negroes of Philadelphia, and especially toward
those of the Seventh Ward, for their broad-minded attitude
toward an inquiry which was at best a prying into private
affairs. With no authority of law behind me, the whole suc-
cess of the undertaking depended on voluntary co-operation,
that they cannot be explained away by fantastic theories,

1 Published in the Annai3 of the Academy for January, 1898.

(iii)

iv Preface.

I am glad that, almost without exception, there was a disposi-
tion to allow the full truth to be known for the sake of science
and social reform.

Many persons have rendered me assistance in various ways
during the investigation. Among these I must especially
mention the Rev. Henry L. Phillips, Rector of the Church of
the Crucifixion; Mr. George W. Mitchell, of the Philadelphia
bar; Mr. W. Carl Bolivar, Mr. R- F. Adger, and Miss Isabel
Eaton, Fellow of the College Settlements Association. Mr.
W. M. Dorsey kindly placed his unique scrap-books at my
disposal.

As large numbers of the Philadelphia Negroes immigrate
from Virginia, I spent the summer of 1897 in that State for my
own enlightenment. The results of my observations were pub-
lished in the Bulletin of the United States Department of Labor ^
for January, 1898, in a contribution entitled ** The Negroes of
Farmville: a Social Study." This must be regarded as a part
of the present work.

It is my earnest desire to pursue this particular form of study
far enough to constitute a fair basis of induction as to the
present condition of the American Negro. If, for instance,
Boston in the Bast, Chicago and perhaps Kansas City in the
West, and Atlanta, New Orleans and Galveston in the South,
were studied in a similar way, we should have a trustworthy
picture of Negro city life. Add to this an inquiry into simi-
larly selected country districts, and certainly our knowledge of
the Negro would be greatly increased. The department of
history and economics of Atlanta University, where I am now
situated, is pursuing certain lines of inquiry in this general
direction. I hope that funds may be put at our disposal for
this larg^er and more complete scheme.

Finally, let me add that I trust that this study with all its
errors and shortcomings will at least serve to emphasize the
fact that the Negro problems are problems of human beings;

Preface. v

ungrounded assumptions or metaphysical subtleties. They
present a field which the student must enter seriously, and
cultivate carefully and honestly. And until he has prepared
the ground by intelligent and discriminating research, the labors
of philanthropist and statesman must continue to be, to a large
extent, barren and unfruitful.

W. E. BURGHARDT Du BOIS.
Atlanta University^
June istf i8gg.

INTRODUCTION.

This inquiry into the condition of the Negroes of Philadel-
phia was begun August i, 1896, and, with two months' inter-
mission in the summer of 1897, was pursued continuously until
January i, 1898. Dr. Du Bois was engaged by the University
of Pennsylvania as assistant in sociology during this period for
the special purposes of the inquiry. He devoted all of his
time to systematic field-work among the Negroes, especially in
the Seventh Ward, attending their meetings, their churches,
their business, social and political gatherings, visiting their
schools and institutions, and, most important of all, conducting
a house-to-house visitation in their families, through which he
came in personal contact with over ten thousand Negro inhabit-
ants of the city. He devoted his whole time to this laborious
work, and the thanks of the University are due to him for his
afterward taking such time as he could spare from his duties as
professor of history and economics at Atlanta University to
prepare the following complete and accurate report. Miss
Eaton was engaged by the Philadelphia College Settlement for
eight months of the above period, that is, from October i, 1896,
to June I, 1897, to conduct, under the same general direction
and in harmony with the methods of the larger inquiry, a
special investigation of the conditions of Negro domestic ser-
vice. She also devoted the whole period of her engagement to
practical field-work and to house-to-house visitation, and
kindly consented to prepare her report afterwards. Thus the
inquiry represents a large amount of consecutive hard work

(vii)

viii Introduction.

under the most favorable conditions of practical personal study
of the problems encountered, while most of the book-work
necessary to give the proper historical setting to the reports of
these trained observers w^ done subsequently to the inquiry
itself.

The inquiry owes its origin to Miss Susan P. Wharton, at
the time a member of the Executive Committee of the Phila-
delphia College Settlement. In addition to her sympathy with
the unfortunate and her desire to help them she realizes the
value of knowledge as a guide in true philanthropy. Being
herself a resident of the Seventh Ward, where the largest
Negro settlements of the city are located, and in her work at
the College Settlement being deeply impressed with the serious
character of some of the Negro problems, she had already early
in 1895 called together for conference at her house persons
interested in the welfare of this race. In a letter addressed to
the Provost of the University, Dr. Charles Custis Harrison,
under date of May 30, 1895, she asked for the co-operation of
the University, saying : '' We should like the co-operation of
the University in a plan for the better understanding of the
colored people, especially of their position in this dty. Mr.
Robert C. Ogden, Mr. Talcott Williams, Mrs. Coppin and
myself are interested in a plan to obtain a body of reliable
information as to the obstacles to be encountered by the colored
people in their endeavor to be self-supporting, etc. Is the Uni-
versity interested in sociological work of this kind ? Could it
help to collect information in any of the ways mentioned by
Mr. Williams in the enclosed letter ? The College Settlement
wishes to co-operate in the movement and will probably engage
a woman who can reside in St Mary Street. Dr. Devine
thought there might be some one graduating from the Univer-
sity this year who would be interested in such an investigation.
Mrs. Coppin will have a centre for such information as comes
best through the colored people themselves. ... If you

Introduction. ix

see any way in which the University could take part will you
send me a line by the end of this week. We hope to formulate
a plan in a few days."

To no one more sympathetic could Miss Wharton have gone
than to the Provost, who has been so long conspicuously iden-
tified with the best philanthropy in the dty and State. More-
over, his ideal of the place of the University in the modem
community, and of its responsibilities for public usefulness,
caused him to welcome the suggestion that the University
should have a part in a work with a distinctly ethical aim and
to be based on accurate scientific study and investigation. To
show even more clearly the relation of the University to the
inquiry we may quote a few lines from a letter which the Pro-
vost sent out to a few friends of the University in order to raise
the necessary frmds for its part in the work :

In association with the College Settlement, the University of Pennsyl-
vania has been asked to take part in a social movement of the following
character. It has to do with the condition of the colored people in Phila-
delphia, and with a qniet, earnest effort to improve their condition.

It is proposed to take a ward in the city and to study the actual condi-
tion of the colored people in that ward. The University wiU designate a
trained observer; the College Settlement will also supply a similar
observer. The visitation will be from house to house. The present
actual conditions will thus be ascertained with as close an approximation
to accuracy as possible, and the results, with the statistics, will be pub-
lished by the University. We shall then have a body of facts upon which
to work. We shall know, inter alia, from what occupations colored
people are excluded, and we shall be able to endeavor to open new
employments to colored people, both men and women.

The object in view has met the approval of thoughtful people and we
would like to carry it out. . . . My attention has been called to work
of a similar character which has attracted the attention of Columbia
College. President Low made use of the following words, which I desire
to repeat, as applicable to our effort: '* Science tells very plainly that we
must not despise raw or crude materials. In &ct, practical scientific

X Introduction.

work of to-day is directed more toward the utilization of waste materials
than the discovery of new things. Those who despise the poor and the
outcast, and declare that nothing can be done for their uplifting, have
failed to learn a great lesson that Christ would teach us. The city prob-
lems are the problems of the world, and always will be until we come to
the new city, the heavenly Jerusalem."

A parlor meeting was held at Miss Wharton's house in the
late fall of 1896, Provost Harrison presiding. The plan
referred to was drawn up by the University and presented with
explanations of the methods which it was desired to pursue,
and with some account of a similar work on a still larger scale
which had been successfully prosecuted by Mr. Charles Booth
in London and the Hull House in Chicago, — investigations
leading in the one case to the publication of Mr. Booth's monu-
mental volumes on the *'Life and Labor of the People of
London," and in the other to the valuable volume of '' Hull
House Maps and Papers." Addresses were made at this gath-
ering by such representative colored leaders as Mrs. Coppin and
the Rev. Mr. Phillips, and by Miss Wharton, Provost Harri-
son, Mr. Isaac Clothier and others. The Provost formally
announced that the University was ready to undertake the
direction of the investigation, the appointment of one special
observer, and the publication of such results of the entire
inquiry as might prove of permanent value. As a result of
this meeting plans were soon completed and the work of secur-
ing the requisite funds and qualified investigators was begun.

Dr. William B. Burghardt Du Bois, a graduate of Fisk and
Harvard Universities, and also of the Graduate Department of
Harvard, came to us from Wilberforce University, where, at
the time of his appointment, he was Professor of Ancient
Languages. His major work at Harvard, and during a con-
siderable period of study in Germany, had been history and
sociology. His admirable volume on '* The History of the
African Slave Trade," published as the first volume in the

Introduction. xi

Harvard Historical Studies, was at the time in press. Both his
training and personal qualifications for the projected work
proved to be far greater than our highest expectations, and his
signal services in the educational uplift of his people, both
before and since his term of service at the University of Penn-
sylvania, have won for him a public recognition that renders
any personal introduction of Dr. Du Bois quite unnecessary.

The College Settlement was not less fortunate in securing the
services of an efficient college woman for its part of the work.
Miss Eaton is a graduate of Smith College, and has had expe-
rience in practical investigation. While Fellow of the College
Settlements Association, she made and published a careful
statistical study of the condition of wage-earners in the garment
trades in New York and Chicago. Her report for the present
inquiry has already received recognition from Columbia Uni-
versity, where it was accepted as partial fulfillment of the con-
ditions for the Master of Arts degree.

It is hardly necessary to refer to the original plan of the
investigation, because it was adhered to in all its salient fea-
tures, though modified in minor details as suggested by expe-
rience, and the results and methods described in the following
pages speak for themselves.

The purpose of the inquiry is to furnish local agencies and
individuals, interested in improving the condition of the Negro
population of Philadelphia, a more comprehensive knowledge of
the existing condition of Negroes, so that such work may be
directed in the most helpful channels. It will not be amiss,
therefore, to call attention in this place to some of the more
significant points brought out in the report.

The Negroes, as an element in the total population of the
city, are growing in numbers more rapidly than the whites, the
rate of increase being due rather to immigration than to natural
increase. In 1890, however, the Negro constituted less than
four per cent of the total population, which was about the

xii Introduction.

percentage for each of the three preceding decades, and much
less than that for any decade in this century prior to i860 (49).^
Insignificant as four per cent may seem, it represents over
40,000 souls, and was a larger absolute Negro population than
was found in any other dty of the country, excepting Wash-
ington, Baltimore and New Orleans (53). This population is
placed in a city which combines in many curious ways the
characteristics of both North and South. Its Negro popula-
tion is moreover peculiar in its excess of females and of young
persons, men and women, between the ages of eighteen and
thirty-five (55). More help should be extended to Negro
working-women, the majority of whom are at domestic ser-
vice. In general their health is good, because they are better
fed and housed than persons in other employments who provide
their own meals and lodgings (496). More opportunities are
needed for healthy amusement for domestics on their " days
out " than are provided by the Negro churches (468); also more
direction and legal protection concerning methods of saving
and mutual benefit societies. The relation of mistress and ser-
vant is a problem in which the Negro domestic is not peculiar,
but is involved in what is being done for a better adjustment of
this relationship in general (500 ff . ). Still the question remains :
Why the abnormal excess of females in this city Negro popu-
lation ? The limited occupations open to men have much to do
with it (55). Thus the women will be helped by every increase
in employments for men which will make the relative numbers
of the sexes more normal. The present abnormal sex distri-
bution has caused considerable crime and moral degradation.
This is still further accentuated by the fact that an abnormal
age structure explains if it does not condone the most preva-
lent crimes (259).

The chief problem of the Philadelphia Negro is not that of
'* sheer ignorance,'* for the percentage of illiteracy, as illiteracy

^ Figures in parentheses refer to pages in the volnme.

Introduction. xiii

is measured statistically, is low (92). Yet when one asks seri*
ously: What kind of education have these people received ?
and, How is it suited to their economic and social status? the
educational problem assumes large proportions. In the case of
a race still in its infancy in social development, a race which
lacks most of the safe-guarding instincts of its stronger com-
petitor, the education of each child for direct economic inde-
pendence is of vital import. More should also be done for adult
Negro education. The laboring men need training in organi-
zation and in esprit du corps (130), and must be enabled to
diversify their employments and maintain a higher grade of
efBciency in lines where they are being eliminated in the eco-
nomic struggle for survival. The male as well as female ser-
vant class — the class which predominates in employments —
needs training in the laws of health and hygiene, as well as in
the technical knowledge of cleaning, cooking and household
etiquette. The high death-rate of the Negro is largely due to
the condition of living, rather than to marked racial weak-
nesses (156), and to the widespread ignorance of the laws of
health (160). The family life needs strengthening at every
point — a work in which the churches might do more than at
present. The Negro church is strong as a social institution,
but under present conditions it absorbs relatively too large a
proportion of the family income, which could be spent more
profitably on the social activities of the home (195 ff.).

The housing problem is one of the most serious among Phila-
delphia Negroes. With the present progress in housing reform
among the poorer classes of whites and the foreign population
it should be easy to apply effective remedies. Negroes now
pay abnormally high rents for the poorest accommodations,
and race-prejudice accentuates this difficulty, out of which
many evils grow (295).

Many readers of this report will look most eagerly for what
is said on the subject of race-prejudice and the so-called '' color

xiv Introduction.

line." I feel sure that no one can read Chapter XVI without
being impressed with the impartiality and self-control of the
writer. Dr. Du Bois has treated the facts he obtained with the
delicacy of an artist, and I would not wish to mar his state-
ment of the truth as he sees it by any attempt to re-state it. In
this connection another presentation of this difficult theme, by
the same author, and published some time ago in the Atlantic
Monthly^ will be read with interest. The report shows clearly
that the better-educated classes among the Philadelphia
Negroes feel very keenly the injustice of the class antagonism
that comes from the indiscriminate classing of all Negroes
together, and the imputing to all of the short-comings of the
ignorant, vicious and criminal. This fact, and the proof that
such is the habit among the bulk of the white population,
comes out frequently in the following pages (339) (489). From
the very nature of his task Dr. Du Bois has wisely refrained
for the most part from drawing conclusions or introducing any-
thing that savors of personal judgment. It is therefore a seri-
ous charge, and worthy of reflection, when he is constrained to
say in one place (352): '' Thus the class of Negroes which the
prejudices of the city have distinctly encouraged is that of the
criminal, the lazy and the shiftless; for them the city teems
with institutions and charities; for them there is succor and
sympathy; for them Philadelphians are thinking and planning;
but for the educated and industrious young colored man who
wants work and not [platitudes, wages and not alms, just
rewards and not sermons — for such colored men Philadelphia
apparently has no use." Of the truthfulness or falsity of this
statement may the careful perusal of this report furnish evi-
dence that will lead to honest convictions and corresponding
action on the part of the citizens of Philadelphia, for it sums
up the pivotal problem of all the Negro problems of the city.
If the Negroes themselves, that is their upper ranks, cannot
command these privileges and secure them, or, if competent to

Introduction. xv

possess them, they are denied the possession by the organized
prejudices of the stronger race around them» and these preju-
dices cannot be broken down, then scientific philanthropy is
helpless to point the way to their improvement, and the present
haphazard efforts of unthinking charity would better cease
altogether. In the last analysis the rise of the Negro is apt to
be in proportion to the ability of the upper classes of his race
to infuse the lower strata of Negro society with the intellectual
and moral requisites of economic survival which they them-
selves possess.

Samxtkl McCunk Lindsay.

University of Pennsylvania^
June^ iBgg,

r'

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

FAOB.

PRXPACB iii-v

Introduction vii-xv

THE PHILADELPHIA NEGRO.

Chapter I. The Scope of This Study 1-4

1. General aim i

2. The methods of inquiry i

3. The credibility of the results 2

Chapter II. The Problem 5-9

4. The Negro problems of Philadelphia . 5

5. The plan of presentment 8

Chaptbr III. The Negro in Philadelphia, 1638-1820 .... 10-24

6. General survey zo

7. The transplanting of the Negro, 1638-

1760 II

8. Emancipation, 1760-1780 15

9. The rise of the freedmen, 1780-1820 . . 17

Chapter IV. The Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-1896 .... 25-45

10. Fugitives and foreigners, 1820-1840 . . 25

11. The guild of the caterers, 1840-1870 . . 32

12. The influx of the freedmen, 1870-1896 39

Chapter V. The Size, Age and Sex of the Negro Popula-
tion 46-6$

13. The city for a century 46

14. The Seventh Ward, 1896 58

Chapter VI. Conjugal Condition 66-72

15. The Seventh Ward 66

16. The city 70

(xvii)

xviii Contents.

FAOB.

Chaptbr Vn. Sources of the Negro Population 73-82

17. The Seventh Ward 73

18. The city 80

Chaptbr VIII. Education and Illiteracy 83-96

19. The history of Negro education ... 83
2a The present condition 89

Chaptbr IX. The Occupation of Negroes 97-146

21. The question of earning a living • . 97

22. Occupations in the Seventh Ward • . 99

23. Occupations in the city iii

24. History of the occupations of Negroes 141

Chaptbr X. The Health of Negroes 147-163

25. The interpretation of statistics . . . . 147

26. The statistics of the city 149

Chaptbr XI. The Negro Family 164-196

27. The size of the family 164

28. Incomes 168

29. Property 179

30. Family life 192

Chaptbr Xn. The Organized Life of Negroes 197-234

31. History of the Negro church in Phila-

delphia 197

32. The function of the Negro church . . 201

33. The present condition of the churches 207

34. Secret and beneficial societies and co-

operative business 221

35. Institutions 230

36. The experiment of organization . . . 233

Chaptbr XIII. The Negro Criminal 235-268

37. History of Negro crime in the city . . 235

38. Negro crime since the war 240

39. A special study in crime 248

4a Some cases of crime 259

Chaptbr XIV. Pauperism and Alcoholism 269-286

41. Pauperism • • • . 269

42. The drink habit 277

43. The causes of crime and poverty . . 282

Contents. xix

PAOB.

Chaptsr XV. The Bnyironment of the Negro 287-321

44. Honaes and rent 287

45. Sections and wards 299

46. Social classes and amusements . . . 309

Chaptbr XVI. The Contact of the Races 322-367

47. Color prejudice 322

48. Benevolence 355

49. The intermarriage of the races . . . 358

Chaptbr XVII. Negro Sa£frage 368-384

50. The significance of the experiment . 368

51. The history of Negro suffrage in Penn-

sylvania 368

52. City politics 372

53. Some bad results of Negro suffrage * 373
54» Some good results of Negro suffrage . 382

55. The paradox of reform 383

Chapter XVIII. A Final Word 385-397

56. The meaning of all this 385

57. The duty of the Negroes 389

58. The duty of the whites 393

Appendix A. Schedules used in the house-to-house inquiry . . 400-410
Appendix B. I«egislation, etc., of Pennsylvania in regard to the

Negro 411-418

Appendix C. Bibliography 419-421

SPECIAL REPORT ON NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVICE

IN THE SEVENTH WARD.

I. Introduction 427-429

II. Enumeration of Negro domestic servants 430-434

Recent reform in domestic service 430

Enumeration 431

IIL Sources of the supply and methods of hiring 435-443

Methods of hiring 436

Personnel of colored domestic service 436

IV. Grades of service and wages 444-455

Work required of various sub-occupations 454

XX Contents.

PAOB.

V. Savings and expen4itare 456-462

Assistance given by domestic servants 459

Summary 462

VI. Amusements and recreations 463-473

VII. Length and quality of Negro domestic service 474-489

VIII. Conjugal condition, illiteracy and health of Negro do-
mestics 490-499

Conjugal condition 490

Health statistics for domestic servants 495

IX. Ideals of betterment 500-509

INDSX 511-520

MAPS.

I. Map of Seventh Ward, showing streets and political divi-
sions ••••• Facing page 60

IL Map of Seventh Ward, showing distribution of Negro in-
habitants^ throughout the ward, and their social condi-
tion Pacing page i

► >,

I

SPRUCE

^m^

Ur-

MJMJM] !

m

w<-iyyj|y

m\M

iijui]-.

I^j[l1t|ilffl^^ :

II

Philadelphia

ireuglituf Hm Want,
hn

ferent grades, see \i6, chap, xv.)

Grade 4 : ficioui am
Orada 3 : The Poor.
Orade S . The Worii

J U IL.

PONNSYLVArn'A'f
*— JWS^/'il'-' i

NAMPAIN

^m '

"*

^^

,i

The Seventh Ward of

7%* Dittribaifen of Kagn tithabihuitt 7)
an^ ihmir teeM eondH

(For a more detailed expltnatlon of the meaning; of the dM

JT.

11.

K

NAUDAIN

J

■.

KLANCtV n..

X
1-

§

k.
>■
1-
Z

t

ST.

1

- i i T X ^ "" X "

as

i

irirn

j'A-}>i

u^

Mffl

ii

ffl

The Seventh Ward of

Th» Dittfibutioa of ll»gro lahabrtairi* Ti
and tfmir tocial eoaJH

(For a more detailed explanation of the meaning of the dU

2 The Scope of This Study. [Chap. I.

intensive study of conditions in this district, and afterward
to supplement and correct this information by general
observation and inquiry in other parts of the citj'.

Six schedules were used among the nine thousand
Negroes of this ward ; a family schedule with the usual
questions as to the number of members, their age and sex,
their conjugal condition and birthplace, their ability to
read and write, their occupation and earnings, etc. ; an
individual schedule with similar inquiries ; a home
schedule with questions as to the number of rooms, the
rent, the lodgers, the conveniences, etc. ; a street schedule
to collect data as to the various small streets and alleys,
and an institution schedule for organizations and institu-
tions ; finally a slight variation of the individual schedule
was used for house-servants living at their places of employ-
ment. ^

This study of the central district of Negro settlement
furnished a key to the situation in the city ; in the other
wards therefore a general survey was taken to note any
striking differences of condition, to ascertain the general
distribution of these people, and to collect information and
statistics as to organizations, property, crime and pauperism,
political activity, and the like. This general inquiry, while
it lacked precise methods of measurement in most cases,
served nevertheless to correct the errors and illustrate the
meaning of the statistical material obtained in the house-
to-house canvass.

Throughout the study such official statistics and histori-
cal matter as seemed reliable were used, and experienced
persons, both white and colored, were freely consulted.

3. The Credibility of the Results. — The best available
methods of sociological research are at present so liable to
inaccuracies that the careful student discloses the results
of individual research with diffidence : he knows that they
are liable to error from the seemingly ineradicable faults of

* See Appendix A for form of schedules used.

. ■•/•

Sect. 3.] 754^ Credibility of the Results, 3

the statistical method, to even greater error from the
methods of general observation, and, above all, he must
ever tremble lest some personal bias, some moral conviction
or some unconscious trend of thought due to previous
training, has to a degree distorted the picture in his view.
Convictions on all great matters of human interest one
must have to a greater or less degree, and they will enter
to some extent into the most cold-blooded scientific research
as a disturbing factor.

Nevertheless here are social problems before us demand-
ing careful study, questions awaiting satisfactory answers.
We must study, we must investigate, we must attempt to
solve ; and the utmost that the world can demand is, not
lack of human interest and moral conviction, but rather
the heart-quality of fairness, and an earnest desire for the
truth despite its possible unpleasantness.

In a house-to-house investigation there are, outside the
attitude of the investigator, many sources of error : mis-
apprehension, vagueness and forgetfulness, and deliberate
deception on the part of the persons questioned, greatly
vitiate the value of the answers ; on the other hand, con-
clusions formed by the best trained and most conscientious
students on the basis of general observation and inquiry
are really inductions from but a few of the multitudinous
facts of social life, and these may easily fall far short of
being essential or typical.

The use of both of these methods which has been
attempted in this study may perhaps have corrected to
some extent the errors of each. Again, whatever personal
equation is to be allowed for in the whole study is one
unvarying quantity, since the work was done by one inves-
tigator, and the varying judgments of a score of census-
takers was thus avoided.*

*The appended study of domestic service was done by Miss Isabel
Eaton, Fellow of the CoUege Settlements Association. Outside of this
the work was done by the one investigator.

4 The Scope of This Study. [Chap. I.

Despite all drawbacks and difficulties, however, the
main results of the inquiry seem credible. They agree, to
a large extent, with general public opinion, and in other
respects they seem either logically explicable or in accord
with historical precedents. They are therefore presented
to the public, not as complete and without error, but as
possessing on the whole enough reliable matter to serve as
the scientific basis of further study, and of practical reform.

CHAPTER 11.

THE PROBLEM.

4. The Negro Problems of Philadelphia. — In Phila-
delphia, as elsewhere in the United States, the existence of
certain peculiar social problems affecting the Negro people
are plainly manifest. Here is a large group of people —
perhaps forty-five thousand, a city within a city — ^who do
not form an integral part of the larger social group. This
in itself is not altogether unusual ; there are other unassim-
ilated groups : Jews, Italians, even Americans ; and yet
in the case of the Negroes the segregation is more con-
spicuous, more patent to the eye, and so intertwined with
a long historic evolution, with peculiarly pressing social
problems of poverty, ignorance, crime and labor, that the
Negro problem far surpasses in scientific interest and social
gravity, most of the other race or class questions.

The student of these questions must first ask. What is
the real condition of this group of human beings? of
whom is it composed, what sub-groups and classes exist,
what sort of individuals are being considered ? further, the ^^f

student must clearly recognize that a complete study must 't n " ^*^^*'
not confine itself to the group, but must specially notice
the environment ; the physical environment of city, sec-
tions and houses, the far mightier social environment — the
surrounding world of custom, wish, whim, and thought
which envelops this group and powerfully influences its
social development.

Nor does the clear recognition of the field of investiga-
tion simplify the work of actual study ; it rather increases
it, by revealing lines of inquiry far broader in scope than
first thought suggests. To the average Philadelphian the

(5)

6 The Problem. [Chap. II.

whole Negro question reduces itself to a study of certain
slum districts. His mind reverts to Seventh and Lombard
streets and to Twelfth and Kater streets of to-day, or to
St Mary's in the past. Continued and widely known
charitable work in these sections make the problem of
poverty familiar to him ; bold and daring crime too ofteif^
traced to these centres has called his attention to a prob-l
lem of crime, while the scores of loafers, idlers and pros-l
titutes who crowd the sidewalks here night and day
,\j^ remind him of a problem of work. — ^

^ All this is true — all these problems are there and of

threatening intricacy ; unfortunately, however, the interest
of the ordinary man of aiBFairs is apt to stop here. Crime,
poverty and idleness affect his interests unfavorably and
he would have them stopped ; he looks upon these slums
and slum characters as unpleasant things which should in
some way be removed for the best interests of all. The
social student agrees with him so far, but must point out
that the removal of unpleasant features from our compli-
cated modern life is a delicate operation requiring know-
ledge and skill ; that a slum is not a simple fact, it is a
symptom, and that to know the removable causes of the
Negro slums of Philadelphia requires a study that takes
one far beyond the slum districts. For few Philadelphians
realize how the Negro population has grown and spread.
There was a time in the memory of living men when a
small district near Sixth and Lombard streets compre-
hended the great mass of the Negro population of the
city. This is no longer so. Very early the stream of the
black population started northward, but the increased
foreign immigration of 1830 and later, turned it back.
It started south also but was checked by poor houses and
worse police protection. Finally with gathered momen-
tum the emigration from the slums started west, rolling on
slowly and surely taking Lombard street as its main
thoroughfare, gaining early foothold in West Philadelphia,

Sect 4.] The Negro Problems of Philadelphia,

and turning at the Schuylkill River north and south to
the newer portions of the city.

Thus to-day the Negroes are scattered in every ward of
the city, and the great mass of them live far from the whilom
centre of colored settlement. What, then, of this great
mass of the population? Manifestly they form a class"7
with social problems of their own — the problems of the
Thirtieth Ward differ from the problems of the Fifth, as
the black inhabitants differ. In the former ward we have
represented the rank and file of Negro working-people ;
laborers and servants, porters and waiters. This is at pres-
ent the great middle class of Negroes feeding the slums

on the one hand and the upper class on the other. Here
are social questions and conditions which must receive the
most careful attention and patient interpretation.

Not even here, however, can the social investigator stop.
He knows that every group has its upper class ; it may be
numerically small and socially of little weight, and yet its
study is necessary to the comprehension of the whole — it
forms the realized ideal of the group, and as it is true that
a nation must to some extent be measured by its slums, it
is also true that it can only be understood and finally judged
by its upper class.

The best class of Philadelphia Negroes, though some-
times forgotten or ignored in discussing the Negro prob-
lems, is nevertheless known to many Philadelphians.
Scattered throughout the better parts of the Seventh
Ward, and on Twelfth, lower Seventeenth and Nineteenth
streets, and here and there in the residence wards of the
northern, southern, and western sections of the city is a class
of caterers, clerks, teachers, professional men, small mer-
chants, etc., who constitute the aristocracy of the Negroes.
Many are well-to-do, some are wealthy, all are fairly edu-
cated, and some liberally trained. Here too are social
problems— differing from those of the other classes, and
differing too from those of the whites of a corresponding

]

i*«.

^^«i>

lA

CA

.<>

8 The Problem. [Chap. II.

grade, because of the peculiar social environment in which
the whole race finds itself, which the whole race feels, but
which touches this highest class at most points and tells
upon thera most decisively.

Many are the misapprehensions and misstatements as to
the social environment of Negroes in a great Northern city.
Sometimes it is said, here they are free ; they have the
same chance as the Irishman, the Italian, or the Swede ; at
other times it is said, the environment is such that it is
really more oppressive than the situation in Southern cities.
The student must ignore both of these extreme statements
and seek to extract from a complicated mass of facts the
tangible evidence of a social atmosphere surrounding
Negroes, which differs from that surrounding most whites ;
of a different mental attitude, moral standard, and economic
judgment shown toward Negroes than toward most other
folk. That such a difference exists and can now and then
plainly be seen, few deny ; but just how far it goes and
how large a factor it is in the Negro problems, nothing but
careful study and measurement can reveal.

Such then are the phenomena of social condition and
environment which this study proposes to describe, analyze,
and, so far as possible, interpret.

5. Plan of Presentment. — The study as taken up here
divides itself roughly into four parts : the history of the
Negro people in the city, their present condition considered
as individuals, their condition as an organized social group,
and their physical and social environment. To the history
of the Negro but two chapters are devoted — a brief sketch
— although the subject is worthy of more extended study
than the character of this essay permitted.

Six chapters consider the general condition of the
Negroes : their number, age, and sex, conjugal condition,
and birthplace; what degree of education they have
obtained, and how they earn a living. All these subjects
are treated usually for the Seventh Ward somewhat

Sect. 5.] Plan of Presentment. 9

minutely, then more geneially for the city, and finally such
historical material is adduced as is available for com-
parison.

Three chapters are devoted to the group life of the
Negro ; this includes a study of the family, of property, and
of organizations of all sorts. It also takes up such phe-
nomena of social maladjustment and individual depravity
as crime, pauperism and alcoholism.

One chapter is devoted to the difficult question of en-
vironment, both physical and social, one to certain results
of the contact of the white and black races, one to Negro
sufFrage, and a word of general advice in the line of social
reform is added.

CHAPTER III.

THE NEGRO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1638-182O.

6. General Survey. — Few States present better oppor-
tunities for the continuous study of a group of Negroes
than Pennsylvania. The Negroes were brought here early,
were held as slaves along with many white serfs. They
became the subjects of a protracted abolition controversy^
and were finally emancipated by gradual process. Although,,
for the most part, in a low and degraded condition, and
thrown upon their own resources in competition with white
labor, they were nevertheless so inspired by their new free-
dom and so guided by able leaders that for something like
forty years they made commendable progress. Meantime,
however, the immigration of foreign laborers began, the
new economic era of manufacturing was manifest in the
land, and a national movement for the abolition of slavery
had its inception. The lack of skilled Negro laborers for
the factories, the continual stream of Southern fugitives
and rural freedmen into the city, the intense race antipathy
of the Irish and others, together with intensified prejudice
of whites who did not approve of agitation against slavery
— all this served to check the development of the Negro,
to increase crime and pauperism, and at one period resulted
in riot, violence, and bloodshed, which drove many Negroes
from the city.

Economic adjustment and the enforcement of law finally
allayed this excitement, and another period of material
prosperity and advance among the Negroes followed. Then
came the inpouring of the newly emancipated blacks from
the South and the economic struggle of the artisans to main-
tain wages, which brought on a crisis in the city, manifested
again by idleness, crime and pauperism.

(10)

Sect. 7.] Transplanting of the Negro ^ i6j8-ij6o, 11

Thus we see that twice the Philadelphia Negro has, with
a fair measure of success, begun an interesting social devel-
opment, and twice through the migration of barbarians a
dark age has settled on his age of revival. These same
phenomena would have marked the advance of many other
elements of our population if they had been as definitely
isolated into one indivisible group. No differences of social
condition allowed any Negro to escape from the group,
although such escape was continually the rule among Irish,
Germans and other whites.

7. The Transplanting of the Negro, 1638-1760. — The
Dutch, and possibly the Swedes, had already planted
slavery on the Delaware when Penn and the Quakers
arrived in 1682.* One of Penn's first icts was tacitly to
recognize the serfdom of Negroes by a provision of the
Free Society of Traders that they should serve fourteen
years and then become serfs — ^a provision which he himself
and all the others soon violated.*

Certain German settlers who came soon after Penn, and
who may or may not have been active members of the
Society of Friends, protested sturdily against slavery in
1688, but the Quakers found the matter too "weighty."*
Five years later the radical seceders under Kieth make the
existence of slavery a part of their attack on the society.
Nevertheless the institution of slavery in the colony con-
tinued to grow, and the number of blacks in Philadelphia
so increased that as early as 1693 ^^ ^^^ ^^ order of the

» Cf. Scharf-Wcstcott's ** History of Philadelphia," I, 65, 76. DuBois'
" Slave Trade,'* p. 24.

'Hazard's "Annals," 553. Thomas' ** Attitude of Friends Toward
Slavery," 266.

* There is some controversy as to whether these Germans were actually
Friends or not; the weight of testimony seems to be that they were.
See, however, Thomas as above, p. 267, and Appendix. *• Pennsylvania
Magazine," IV, 28-31; The Critic^ August 27, 1897. DuBois' ** Slave
Trade," p. 20, 203. For copy of protest, see published fac-simile and
Appendix of Thomas. For further proceedings of Quakers, see Thomas
and DuBois, passim.

12 Negro in Philadelphia^ j 638-18 20. [Chap. III.

Council against the ** tumultuous gatherings of the negroes
of the towne of Philadelphia, on the first dayes of the
weeke." *

In 1696 the Friends began a cautious dealing with the
subject, which in the course of a century led to the abolition
of slavery. This growth of moral sentiment was slow but
unwaveringly progressive, and far in advance of contem-
porary thought in civilized lands. At first the Friends
sought merely to regulate slavery in a general way and
prevent its undue growth. They therefore suggested in
the Yearly Meeting of 1696, and for some time thereafter,
that since traders " have flocked in amongst us and ....
increased and multiplied negroes amongst us," members
ought not to encourage the further importation of slaves,
as there were enough for all purposes. In 171 1 a more
active discouragement of the slave trade was suggested,
and in 17 16 the Yearly Meeting intimated that even the
buying of imported slaves might not be the best policy,
although the meeting hastened to call this " caution, not
censure."

By 1 719 the Meeting was certain that their members
ought not to engage in the slave trade, and in 1730 they
declared the buying of slaves imported by others to be
** disagreeable." At this milestone they lingered thirty
years for breath and courage, for the Meeting had evidently
distanced many of its more conservative members. In
1743 the question of importing slaves, or buying imported
slaves, was made a disciplinary query, and in 1754,
spurred by the crusade of Say, Woolman and Benezet,
offending members were disciplined. In the important
gathering of 1758 the same golden rule was laid down as
that with which the Germans, seventy years previous, had
taunted them, and the institution of slavery was categor-
ically condemned.* Here they rested until 1775, when.

* ** Colonial Records," I, 380-81.

B Thomas, 276; Whittier Intro, to Woolman, 16.

Sect 7.] Transplanting of tlie Negro^ i6j8-/y6o. ' 13

after a struggle of eighty-seven years, they decreed the
exclusion of slaveholders from fellowship in the Society.

While in the councils of the State Church the freedom
of Negroes was thus evolving, the legal status of Negroes
of Pennsylvania was being laid. Four bills were intro-
duced in 1700: one regulating slave marriages was lost;
the other three were passed, but the Act for the Trial of
Negroes — ql harsh measure providing death, castration and
whipping for punishments, and forbidding the meeting
together of more than four Negroes — was afterward disal-
lowed by the Queen in Council. The remaining acts
became laws, and provided for a small duty on imported
slaves and the regulation of trade with slaves and ser-
vants.*

In 1706 another act for the trial of Negroes was passed
and allowed. It differed but slightly from the Act of 1700 ;
it provided that Negroes should be tried for crimes by two
justices of the peace and a jury of six freeholders ; rob-
bery and rape were punished by branding and exportation,
homicide by death, and stealing by whipping ;^ the meeting
of Negroes without permission was prohibited. Between
this time and 1760 statutes were passed regulating the sale
of liquor to slaves and the use of firearms by them ; and
also the general regulative Act of 1726, "for the Better
Regulation of Negroes in this Province." This act was
especially for the punishment of crime, the suppression of
pauperism, the prevention of intermarriage, and the like-
that is, for regulating the social and economic status of
Negroes, free and enslaved.®

Meantime the number of Negroes in the colony con-
tinued to increase; by 1720 there were between 2500 and
5000 Negroes in Pennsylvania ; they rapidly increased
until there were a large number by 1750 — ^some say 11,000

•See Appendix B.

T**SUtute»-at-Large," Ch. 143, 881. Sec Appendix B.

•*• Statutes-at-Large,** III, pp. 250, 254; IV, 59 ff. See Appendix B.

14 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1638-1820. [Chap. III.

or more — when they decreased by war and sale, so that the
census of 1790 found 10,274 in the State.*

The slave duties form a pretty good indication of the
increase of Negro population.*^ The duty in 1700 was
from 6^. to zos. This was increased, and in 1712, owing
to the large importations and the turbulent actions of
Negroes in neighboring States, a prohibitive duty of ;^20
was laid." England, however, who was on the eve of
signing the Assiento with Spain, soon disallowed this act
and the duty was reduced to ;^5. The influx of Negroes
after the English had signed the huge slave contract
with Spain was so large that the Act of 1726 laid a restrict-
ive duty of ;^io. For reasons not apparent, but possibly
connected with fluctuations in the value of the currency,
this duty was reduced to £2 in 1729, and seems to have
remained at that figure until 1761.

The ;^io duty was restored in 1761, and probably helped
much to prevent importation, especially when we remem-
ber the work of the Quakers at this period. In 1773 a
prohibitive duty of ;^20 was laid, and the Act of 1780
finally prohibited importation. After 1760 it is probable
that the efforts of the Quakers to get rid of their slaves
made the export slave trade much larger than the
importation.

Very early in the history of the colony the presence of
unpaid slaves for life greatly disturbed the economic con-
dition of free laborers. While most of the white laborers
were indentured servants the competition was not so much
felt ; when they became free laborers, however, and were
joined by other laborers, the cry against slave competition
was soon raised. The particular grievance was the hiring
out of slave mechanics by masters; in 1708 the free
white mechanics protested to the Legislature against this

•DuBois* "Slave Trade,*' p. 23, note. U. S. Census.
»® Sec Appendix B. Cf. DuBois' ** Slave Trade," passim.
" DuBois' "Slave Trade," p. 206.

Sect. 8.] Emancipation^ iy6o-iy8o. 15

custom," and this was one of the causes of the Act of 1712
in all probability. When by 1722 the number of slaves had
further increased, the whites again protested against the
** employment of blacks," apparently including both free
and slave. The Legislature endorsed this protest and
declared that the custom of employing black laborers and
mechanics was "dangerous and injurious to the repub-
lic."" Consequently the Act of 1726 declared the hiring
of their time by Negro slaves to be illegal, and sought to
restrict emancipation on the ground that " free negroes
are an idle and slothful people," and easily become public
burdens."

As to the condition of the Negroes themselves we catch
only glimpses here and there. Considering the times, the
system of slavery was not harsh and the slaves received
fair attention. There appears, however, to have been
much trouble with them on account of stealing, some
drunkenness and general disorder. The preamble of the
Act of 1726 declares that "it too often happens that
Negroes commit felonies and other heinous crimes," and
that much pauperism arises from emancipation. This act
facilitated punishment of such crimes by providing indem-
nification for a master if his slave suflFered capital punish-
ment They were declared to be often " tumultuous " in
1693, to be found " cursing, gaming, swearing, and com-
i|iitting many other disorders'' in 1732 ; in 1738 and 1741
they were also called " disorderly " in city ordinances.^*

; In general, we see among the slaves at this time the low
condition of morals which we should expect in a barbar-
ous people forced to labor in a strange land.

8. Emancipation, 1760-1780. — The years 1750-1760
mark the culmination of the slave system in Pennsylvania

»» Scharf-Westcott's ** History of Philadelphia," I, 200.
»i Watson's "Annals." (Ed. 1850) I, 98.
** Sec Appendix B.
i«Cf. Chapter XIII.

ztI*T 210CC disposed i2x2^ f oraie^y

•Bi^F ^ki^Hh^^ ^i^Vi^B^V ^B^^F ^■^H^^^^v Wl^^Mi^fr ^B^Mfc^M^^^^ ^^ ^•^^^^flfc ^k^^i^^^to^H^wA^^^B •i^W^^'l^B^fc**^ ^^^fc ^h^H^V^^* V^b

rr agiiaiocs oc that period. Thcne w«re, to be sm;
s^rucg; T^ested Ii^ustats sdll to be ibogit. Wben Ac j^io
crtT act of 1761 -»:» pcacizg. tbc slave meichaiits of the
citT. "T^rtrrfyy iTTary icspectzbie names, v^gccocsly pro-
tested : - CTC descrons to fxtrnd tbe Trade of tics Pn?r-
iaoe.*" tbev decflaied tisat tLcv bad ^ seen for
poB^ the nuny iscocnreriicacTS tbe T7:habitart3
for want of L^boorexs and Arrinrers,'* and
qoertZy **for sosne time eticocxragcd the importatSon of
Xegrocs^"* Tbcy payed at Ae very least for delay in

tkm vhb die gorerDor tbe measnre finally passed, indi-
csting itiiemed strength ax^ determination 00 tbe pan of
tbe aboHtSon party.*

Meantime volnntaiy cmancipatioa increased. Sandiibrd
emancipated bis slaves in I733, and there wTcre by 1790 in
Ph:2ade!pbia abo^one tbocxsand black fncedmen. A scbool
Ux these and othexs vas started in 1770 at the instance of
Bez^ezet, and bad at fiist tventv-two children in attend-
ance.^ Tbe var brooght a broader and kindlier fieelxi^
tovard the Xegroes ; before its end the Quakers bad
ordered xnannmissioa,^ and several attempts vere made to
prohibit slavery by statnte. Finally, in 17S0. the Act Sar
the Gradual .Vbolitkm of Slavery was passed.^ This act,
beginning with a strong condemnation of slavery, pro-
vided that no child thereafter bom in Penns\'Ivania shoold
be a slave. The dxildren of slaves bom after 17S0 were to
be bond-servants nntil twenty-eight years of age — that is^

■-OoioBxalRceotds,-' VIII.576: DaBois* " SUi« T^ade,** pL J^
^d PamphVt- ''Sketch of the Schools for Elad:s»'* also Cka|itvVin.
«Ci:TlioB»"'Atl3tBdeorFzieBd&,"ctc, p. 272.
•Dallas- •• Law*,- I, S3S. Oi. SSi; DoBou* " Slii« Trade,'' p. ws^

Sect 9.] The Rise of the Freedtnan^ 1780-1820. 17

beginning with the year 1808 there was to be a series of
emancipations. Side by side with this growth of emanci-
pation sentiment went an increase in the custom of hiring
out Negro slaves and servants, which increased the old
competition with the whites. The slaves were owned in
small lots, especially in Philadelphia, one or two to a
family, and were used either as house servants or artisans.
As a result they were encouraged to learn trades and seem
to have had the larger share of the ordinary trades of the
city in their hands. Many of the slaves in the better
families became well-known characters — ^as Alice, who for
forty years took the tolls at Dunk's Ferry ; Virgil Warder,
who once belonged to Thomas Penn, and Robert Venable,
a man of some intelligence.**

9. The Rise of the Freedman, 1780-1820. — A careful
study of the process and eflFect of emancipation in the
diflFerent States of the Union would throw much light on
our national experiment and its ensuing problems. Espe-
cially is this true of the experiment in Pennsylvania ; to
be sure, emancipation here was gradual and the number
emancipated small in comparison with the population, and
yet the main facts are similar: the freeing of ignorant
slaves and giving them a chance, almost unaided from
without, to make a way in the world. The first result was
widespread poverty and idleness. This was followed, as
the number of freedmen increased, by a rush to the city.
Between 1790 and 1800 the Negro population of Philadel-
phia County increased from 2489 to 6880, or 176 per cent,
against an increase of 43 per cent among the whites. The
first result of this contact with city life was to stimulate
the talented and aspiring freedmen ; and this was the
easier because the freedman had in Philadelphia at that
time a secure economic foothold ; he performed all kinds
of domestic service, all common labor and much of the
skilled labor. The group being thus secure in its daily

*Cf. Watson's "Annals" (Ed. 1850), I, pp. 557, 101-103, 601, 602, 515.

a

i8 Negro in Philadelphia^ i6j8-i820, [Chap. III.

bread needed only leadership to make some advance in
general culture and social effectiveness. Some sporadic
cases of talent occur, as Derham, the Negro physician,
whom Dr. Benjamin Rush, in 1788, found "very learned.""
Especially, however, to be noted are Richard Allen," a
former slave of the Chew family, and Absalom Jones,** a
Delaware Negro. These two were real leaders and actually
succeeded to a remarkable degree in organizing the freed-
men for group action. Both had bought their own freedom
and that of their families by hiring their time — Allen
being a blacksmith by trade, and Jones also having a trade.
When, in 1792, the terrible epidemic drove Philadelphians
away so quickly that many did not remain to bury the
dead, Jones and Allen quietly took the work in hand,
spending some of their own funds and doing so well that
they were publicly commended by Mayor Clarkson in
1794.**

The great work of these men, however, lay among their
own race and arose from religious diflSculties. As in other
colonies the process by which the Negro slaves learned the
English tongue and were converted to Christianity is not
clear. The subject of the moral instruction of slaves had
early troubled Penn and he had urged Friends to provide
meetings for them.** The newly organized Methodists soon
attracted a number of the more intelligent, though the

•^The American Museum^ 1789, pp. 61-62.

" For life of AUen, see his ** Autobiography," and Payne's ** History
A. M. E. Church/*

** For life of Jones, see Douglass' ** Episcopal Church of St. Thomas.'*

**The testimonial was dated January 23, 1794, and was as follows:
'* Having, during the prevalence of the late malignant disorder, had
almost daily opportunities of seeing the conduct of Absalom Jones and
Richard Allen, and the people employed by them to bury the dead, I,
with cheerfulness give this testimony of my approbation of their pro-
ceedings as far as the same came under my notice. Their diligence,
attention and decency of deportment, afforded me at the time much
satisfaction. Wii^UAM Ci«arkson, Mayor."

From Douglass* **St. Thomas' Church."

^ See Thomas, p. 266.

Sect. 9.] The Rise of the Freedman^ 1780-1820. 19

masses seem at the end of the last century not to have been
church-goers or Christians to any considerable extent. The
small number that went to church were wont to worship at
St. George's, Fourth and Vine ; for years both free Negroes
and slaves worshiped here and were made welcome.
Soon, however, the church began to be alarmed at the
increase in its black communicants which the immigration
from the country was bringing, and attempted to force
them into the gallery. The crisis came one Sunday
morning during prayer when Jones and Allen, with a
crowd of followers, refused to worship except in their
accustomed places, and finally left the church in a body.*^
This band immediately met together and on April 12,
1787, formed a curious sort of ethical and beneficial brother-
hood called the Free African Society. How great a step
this was, we of to-day scarcely realize ; we must remind
ourselves that it was the first wavering step of a people
toward organized social life. This society was more than
a mere club : Jones and Allen were its leaders and recog-
nized chief officers ; a certain parental discipline was
exercised over its members and mutual financial aid given.
The preamble of the articles of association says : " Where-
as, Absalom Jones and Richard Allen, two men of the
African Race, who for their religious life and conversation,
have obtained a good report among men, these persons
from a love to the people of their own complexion whom
they beheld with sorrow, because of their irreligious and
uncivilized state, often communed together upon this pain-
ful and important subject in order to form some kind of
religious body ; but there being too few to be found under
the like concern, and those who were, differed in their
religious sentiments ; with these circumstances they labored
for some time, till it was proposed after a serious commu-
nication of sentiments that a society should be formed
without regard to religious tenets, provided the persons

*<See Allen's "Autobiogxaphy," and Douglass' "St. Thomas."

20 Negro in PkiUidelpkia^ 16^8-1820. [Chap. Ill*

lived an orderly and sober life, in order to support one
another in sickness, and for the benefit of their widows
and fatherless children.*'*'

The society met first at private houses, then at the
Friends' Negro school house. For a time they leaned
toward Quakerism; each month three monitors were
appointed to have oversight over the members ; loose
marriage customs were attacked by condemning cohabita-
tion, expelling offenders and providing a simple Quaker-
like marriage ceremony. A fifteen minute pause for silent
prayer opened the meetings. As the representative body
of the free Negroes of the city, this society opened com-
munication with free Negroes in Boston, Newport and
other places. The Negro Union of Newport, R. L, pro-
posed in 1788 a general exodus to Africa, but the Free
African Society soberly replied: "With regard to the
emigration to Africa you mention we have at present but
little to communicate on that head, apprehending every
pious man is a good citizen of the whole world." The
society co-operated with the Abolition Society in studying
the condition of the free blacks in 1790. At all times they
seem to have taken good care of their sick and dead and
helped the widows and orphans to some extent Their
methods of relief were simple : they agreed " for the
benefit of each other to advance one-shilling in silver
Pennsylvania currency a month ; and after one year's sub-
scription, from the dole hereof then to hand forth to the
needy of the Society if any should require, the sum of
three shillings and nine pence per week of the said money ;
provided the necessity is not brought on them by their
own imprudence." In 1790 the society had £1^2 95. \d.
on deposit in the bank of North America, and had applied
for a grant of the Potter's Field to be set aside as a burial
ground for them, in a petition signed by Dr. Rush, Tench
Coxe and others.

"'Douglass* **St Thomas."

Sect 9.] The Rise of the Freedman^ 1780-1820, 21

It was, however, becoming clearer and clearer to the
leaders that only a strong religious bond could keep this
untrained group together. They would probably have
become a sort of institutional church at first if the question
of religious denomination had been settled among them ;
but it had not been, and for about six years the question
was still pending. The tentative experiment in Quakerism
had failed, being ill suited to the low condition of the rank
and file of the society. Both Jones and Allen believed that
Methodism was best suited to the needs of the Negro, but
the majority of the societ)', still nursing the memory of St
George's, inclined toward the Episcopal church. Here came
the parting of the ways : Jones was a slow introspective
man, with a thirst for knowledge, with high aspirations for
his people ; Allen was a shrewd, quick, popular leader,
positive and dogged and yet far-seeing in his knowledge of
Negro character. Jones therefore acquiesced in the judg-
ment of the majority, served and led them conscientiously
and worthily, and eventually became the first Negro rector
in the Episcopal church of America. About 1790 Allen
and a few followers withdrew from the Free African
Society, formed an independent Methodist church which
first worshiped in his blacksmith's shop on Sixth near
Lombard. Eventually this leader became the founder and
first bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church of
America — an organization which now has 500,000 mem-
bers, and is by long odds the vastest and most remarkable
product of American Negro civilization.*

Jones and the Free African Society took immediate steps
to secure a church ; a lot was bought at the comer of Fifth
and Adelphi streets in February, 1792, and by strenuous
effort a church was erected and dedicated on the seventeenth

^ There is on the part of the A. M. E. Church a disposition to ignore
Allen's withdrawal from the Free African Society, and to date the A. M.
B. Church from the founding of that society, making it older than St.
Thomas. This, however, is contrary to Allen's own statement in his
'* Autobiography.'* The point, however, is of little real consequence.

22 f*^gro im PkUadtlpkia^ i6jS-i820, [ChzpL IIL

of Jii1t« 1794. This was the ficst X^[td dnuch in
and knovn as the Fiist African Chnrdi of St. Thooias ; in
the Tcstibole of the chmch was written : ^Tiie people that
walked in darkness hare seen a great ligfat.^ Bethd
Chnrcfa was erected by Allen and his fitrfkmers in 1796k. the
same year that a similar moirement in New Yock cstab*
Hshed the Zion Methodist Chmch. In 1794, too. the
Methodists of St. George^s, viewing with some diagrin die
widespread withdrawal of Negroes from their body, estab-
lidied a misnon at Camperdown, in the northeastern part
of the city, which eventually became die present Zoar
Chnrch.

The general oadook for the N^joes at this period was
encooraging, notwithstanding the low condition of die
masses of the race. In 1788 Pennsylvania amended the
Act of 1780, so as to prevent the internal and foreign slave
trade, and correct kidnapping and odier abases that had
arisen. ^ The convention which adopted the Constitution of
1790 had, in spite of opposition in the convention, refused
to insert the word ^' white '' in die qualifications for voters,
and dius gave the right of sufFrage to free Negro property
holders ; a right which they held, and, in most counties of
the State, exercised until 1837. * The general conference
of Abolition Societies, held in Philadelphia in 1794, started
an agitation which, when reinforced by the news of the
Haytian revolt, resulted in the national statute of 1794, for-
bidding the export slave trade. ^ In 1799 and 1800 Absalom
Jones led the Negroes to address a petition to the Legislar
ture, praying for immediate abolition of slavery, and to
Congress against the fugitive slave law, and asking pros-
pective emancipation for all Negroes. This latter petition
was presented by Congressman Wain, and created an uproar

•Carey & Bioren, Ch. 394. DnBois' " Slave Trade," p. 231.
•The constitution, aa reported, had the word "white,*' but this was
stmck ont at the instance of Gallatin. Cf. Ch. XVII.
•» Cf. DuBois' •* SUve Trade," Chapter VII.

Sect. 9.] The Rise of the Freedman^ ly 80-18 20. 23

in the House of Representatives ; it was charged that
the petition was instigated by the Haytian revolutionists
and finally the Negroes were censured for certain parts of
the petition. ^

The condition of the Negroes of the city in the last
decade of the eighteenth and the first two decades of the
nineteenth century, although without doubt bad, slowly ,
improved; an insurance society, in 1796, took the benefi- '
cial features of the old Free African Society. Some small
essays were made in business, mostly in small street stands,
near the wharves ; and many were in the trades of all kinds.
Between 1800 and 18 10 the city Negro population con-
tinued to increase, so that at the latter date there were
100,688 whites and 10,522 blacks in the city, the Negroes
thus forming the largest per cent of the population of the
city that they have ever attained. The free Negroes also
began to increase from the effect of the abolition law. j
The school established in 1770 continued, and was endowed ,
by bequests from whites and Negroes. It had 414 pupils-'
by 1813. In this same year there were six Negro churches
and eleven benevolent societies. When the war broke out
many Philadelphia Negroes were engaged on land and sea.
Among these was James Forten — ^a fine character, expres-
sive of the best Negro development of the time. Bom in
1766, and educated by Benezet, he ** was a gentleman by
nature, easy in manner and able in intercourse ; popular as
a man of trade or gentleman of the pave, and well received
by the gentry of lighter shade." " For years he conducted
a sail-making trade, employing both whites and Negroes.
In 1 814 he, Jones, Allen and others were asked, in the
midst of the alarm felt at the approach of the British, to
raise colored troops. A meeting was called and 2500
volunteers secured, or three-fourths of the adult male

** "Annals of Congress," 6 Cong., ISess., pp. 229-45. DuBois' "Slave
Trade," pp. 81-83.
•Quoted by W. C Bolivar in Philadelphia THbune,

24 Negro in Philadelphia^ i6j8—i820. [Chap. III.

population ; they marched to Gray's Ferry and threw up
fortifications. A battalion for service in the field was
formed, but the war closed before they reached the frouL **

The Negroes at this time held about $250,000 of city
property, and on the whole showed great progress since
1780. At the same time there were many evidences of the
effects of slavery. The first set of men emancipated by
law were freed in 1808, and probably many entitled to free-
dom were held longer than the law allowed or sold out of
the State. As late as 1794 some Quakers still held slaves,
and the papers of the day commonly contain such adver-
tisements, as :

" To be Sold for want of Employ, For a term of years, a
smart active Negro boy, fifteen years of age. Enquire at
Robert McGee's board yard, Vine street wharf." ^

•*Dclany*« "Colored People,'* p. 74.

■• Dunlap's American Daily Advertiser, July 4, 1791. William White
had a large commiaBion-hotuie on the wharves about this time. Con-
aiderable praise is given the Insurance Society of 1796 for its good man-
agement Cf. "HistoryofthelnsuranceCompaniesof North America.'* In
18x7 the first convention of Free Negroes was held here, through the
efforts of Jones and Porten.

CHAPTER IV.

THE NEGRO IN PHILADELPHIA, 1820-1896.

10. Fugitives and Foreigners, 1820-1840. — Five social
developments made the decades from 1820 to 1840 critical
for the nation and for the Philadelphia Negroes ; first, the
impulse of the industrial revolution of the nineteenth cen-
tury ; second, the reaction and recovery succeeding the War
of 1812 ; third, the rapid increase of foreign immigration ;
fourth, the increase of free Negroes and fugitive slaves,
especially in Philadelphia ; fifth, the rise of the Abolitionists
and the slavery controversy.

Philadelphia was the natural gateway between the North
and the South, and for a long time there passed through it
a stream of free Negroes and fugitive slaves toward the
North, and of recaptured Negroes and kidnapped colored
persons toward the South. By 1820 the northward stream
increased, occasioning bitterness on the part of the South,
and leading to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1820, and the
counter acts of Pennsylvania in 1826 and 1827.^ During
this time new installments of Pennsylvania freedmen, and
especially their children, began to flock to Philadelphia.
At the same time the stream of foreign immigration to this
country began to swell, and by 1830 aggregated half a
million souls annually. The result of these movements
proved disastrous to the Philadelphia Negro ; the better
classes of them — the Joneses, Aliens and Fortens — could not
escape into the mass of white population and leave the new

> These laws were especiaUy directed against kidnapping, and were
designed to protect free Negroes. See Appendix B. The law of 1826
was declared unconstitutional in 1842 by the U. S. Supreme Court. See
16 Peters, 500 flf.

(25)

26 Negro in Philadelphia^ i8 20-1896. [Chap. IV-

Negroes to fight out their battles with the foreigners. No
distinction was drawn between Negroes, least of all by the
new Southern families who now made Philadelphia their
home and were not unnaturally stirred to unreasoning
prejudice by the slavery agitation.

To this was added a fierce economic struggle, a renewal
of the fight of tjie eighteenth centurj' against Negro work-
men. The new industries attracted the Irish, Germans
and other immigrants ; Americans, too, were flocking to
the city, and soon to natural race antipathies was added a
determined effort to displace Negro labor — an effort which
had the aroused prejudice of many of the better classes,,
and the poor quality of the new black immigrants to give
it aid and comfort. To all this was soon added a problem
of crime and poverty. Numerous complaints of petty
thefts, house-breaking, and assaults on peaceable citizens
were traced to certain classes of Negroes. In vain did the
better class, led by men like Forten, protest by public
meetings their condemnation of such crime,^ the tide had
set against the Negro strongly, and the whole period from
1820 to 1840 became a time of retrogression for the mass
of the race, and of discountenance and repression from the
whites.

By 1830 the black population of the city and districts
had increased to 15,624, an increase of 27 per cent for the
decade 1820 to 1830, and of 48 per cent since 1810. Never-
theless, the growth of the city had far outstripped this ; by
1830 the county had nearly 175,000 whites, among whom
was a rapidly increasing contingent of 5000 foreigners. So
intense was the race antipathy among the lower classes,
and so much countenance did it receive from the middle
and upper class, that there began, in 1829, ^ series of
riots directed chiefly against Negroes, which recurred fre-
quently until about 1840, and did not wholly cease until

* A meeting of Negroes held in 1822, at the A. M. £. Church,
denounced crime and Negro criminals.

Sect lo.] Fugitives and Foreigners^ i8 20-1840. 27

after the war. These riots were occasioned by various
incidents, but the underlying cause was the same : the simul-
taneous influx of freedmen, fugitives and foreigners into
a large city, and the resulting prejudice, lawlessness, crime
and poverty. The agitation of the Abolitionists was the
match that lighted this fuel. In June and July, 1829, Mrs.
Fanny Wright Darusraont, a Scotch woman, gave a num-
ber of addresses in Philadelphia, in which she boldly
advocated the emancipation of the Negroes and something
very like social equality of the races. This created great
excitement throughout the city, and late in the fall the first
riot against the Negroes broke out, occasioned by some
personal quarrel.*

The Legislature had proposed to stop the further influx
of Southern Negroes by making free Negroes carry passes
and excluding all others ; the arrival of fugitives from the
Southampton massacre was the occasion of this attempt^
and it was with difficulty that the friends of the Negro pre-
vented its passage.* Quakers hastened to advise against
the sending of fugitives to the State, ** as the effects of such
"a measure would probably be disastrous to the peace and
comfort of the whole colored population of Pennsylvania.'*
Edward Bettle declared in 1832: "The public mind here
is more aroused even among respectable persons than it
has been for several years," and he feared that the laws of
1826 and 1827 would be repealed, "thus leaving kidnap-
pers free scope for their nefarious labors.'"^

In 1833 a demonstration took place against the Aboli-
tionists, and in 1834 serious riots occurred. One night in
August a crowd of several hundred boys and men, armed

» Scharf- Westcott's "History of Philadelphia," I, 824. There was at
this time much lawlessness in the city which had no connection with the
presence of Negroes, and which led to rioting and disorder in general.
Cf. Price's ** History of Consolidation."

* Southampton was the scene of the celebrated Nat Turner insurrection
of Negroes.

* Letter to Nathan Mendelhall , of North Carolina.

28 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.

with clubs, marched down Seventh street to the Pennsyl-
vania Hospital. They were joined by others, and all pro-
ceeded to some places of amusement where many Negroes
were congregated, on South street, near Eighth. Here the
rioting began, and four or five hundred people engaged in a
free street fight. Buildings were torn down and inmates
assaulted on Bedford and St. Mary streets and neighbor-
ing alleys, until at last the policemen and constables suc-
ceeded in quieting the tumult. The respite, however, was
but temporary. The very next night the mob assembled
again at Seventh and Bainbridge ; they first wrecked a
Negro church and a neighboring house, then attacked
some twenty Negro dwellings ; " great excesses are repre-
sented as having been committed by the mob, and one or
two scenes of a most revolting character are said to have
taken place." That the riots occurred by prearranged
plan was shown by the signals — lights in windows — ^by
which the houses of the whites were distinguished and
those of the Negroes attacked and their inmates assaulted
and beaten. Several persons were severely injured in this
night's work and one Negro killed, before the mayor and
authorities dispersed the rioters.

The next night the mob again assembled in another
part of the city and tore down another Negro church. By
this time the Negroes began to gather for self-defence, and
about one hundred of them barricaded themselves in a
building on Seventh street, below Lombard, where a howl-
ing mob of whites soon collected. The mayor induced
the Negroes to withdraw, and the riot ended. In this three
days' uprising thirty-one houses and two churches were
destroyed and Stephen James ** an honest, industrious
colored man " killed.*

The town meeting of September 15 condemned the riots
and voted to reimburse the sufferers, but also took occasion
to condemn the impeding of justice by Negroes when any

* Hazard's ** Register,'* XIV, pp. 126-28, 200-203.

Sect. lo.] Fugitives and Foreigners^ 1 8 20-1840. 29

of their number was arrested, and also the noise made in
Negro churches. The fires smouldered for about a year^
but burst forth again on the occasion of the murder of his
master by a Cuban slave, Juan. The lower classes were
aroused and a mob quickly assembled at the corners of
Sixth and Seventh and Lombard streets, and began the
work of destruction and assault, until finally it ended by
setting fire to a row of houses on Eighth street, and fight-
ing off the firemen. The following night the mob met again
and attacked a house on St. Mary street, where an armed
body of Negroes had barricaded themselves. The mayor
and recorder finally arrived here and after severely lectur- ^
ing the Negroes (!) induced them to depart. The whole
of the afternoon of that day black women and children
fled from the city.^

Three years now passed without serious disturbance,
although the lawless elements which had gained such a
foothold were still troublesome. In 1838 two murders
were committed by Negroes — one of whom was acknowl-
edged to be a lunatic. At the burial of this one's victim,
rioting again began, the mob assembling on Passyunk
avenue and Fifth street and marching up Fifth. The
same scenes were re-enacted but finally the mob was
broken up.* Later the same year, on the dedication of
Pennsylvania Hall, which was designed to be a centre of
anti-slavery agitation, the mob, encouraged by the refusal
of the mayor to furnish adequate police protection, burned
the hall to the ground and the next night burned the
Shelter for Colored Orphans at Thirteenth and Callowhill
streets, and damaged Bethel Church, on Sixth street.®

The last riot of this series took place in 1842 when a
mob devastated the district between Fifth and Eighth

"^Ibid., XVI, pp. 35-38.

« Scharf-Westcott's *• PhilaHelphia/' I, pp. 654-55.

•Price, "History of Consolidation," etc.. Ch. VII. The county
eventuaUy paid {22,658.27, with interest and costs, for the destruction of
the hall.

30 Negro in Philadelphia^ i8 20-1896. [Chap. IV.

streets, near Lombard street, assaulted and beat Negroes
and looted their homes, burned down a Negro hall and a
church ; the following day the rioting extended to the sec-
tion between South and Fitzwater streets and was finally
quelled by calling out the militia with artillery.*®

While these riots were taking place a successful eflFort
was made to deprive free Negroes of the right of suffrage
which they had enjoyed nearly fifty years. In 1836 a case
came before the court of a Negro who had been denied
the right of voting. The court decided in a peculiar de-
cision that free Negroes were not " freemen " in the lan-
guage of the constitution and, therefore that Negroes could
not vote." The reform convention settled the matter by
inserting the word "white" in the qualifications for
election in the Constitution of 1837.*^ The Negroes pro-
tested earnestly by meetings and appeals. " We appeal to
you " said they^ " from the decision of the ' Reform Con-
vention,' which has stripped us of a right peaceably
enjoyed during forty-seven years under the constitution of
this commonwealth. We honor Pennsylvania and her
noble institutions too much to part with our birthright, as
her free citizens, without a struggle. To all her citizens
the right of suffrage is valuable in proportion as she is free;
but surely there are none who can so ill afford to spare it
as ourselves." Nevertheless the right was lost, for the
appeal fell on deaf ears."

A curious comment on human nature is this chano^e of

o

public opinion in Philadelphia between 1790 and 1837.
No one thing explains it — it arose from a combination of
circumstances. If, as in 1790, the new freedmen had been
given peace and quiet and abundant work to develop
sensible and aspiring leaders, the end would have been

10 Scharf-Westcott, I, pp. 660-61.

» Case of Fogg vs. Hobbs, 6 Watts, 553-560. See Chapter XII.
1* See Chapter XJI and Appendix B.

^Appeal of 40,000 citizens, etc., Philadelphia, 1838. Written chiefly
by the late Robert Purvis, son-in-law of James Forten.

Sect lo.] Fugitives and Foreigners 1 8 20-1840, 31

different; but a mass of poverty-stricken, ignorant fugitives
and ill-trained freedmen had rushed to the city, swarmed in
the vile slums which the rapidly growing city furnished,
and met in social and economic competition equally ignor-
ant but more vigorous foreigners. These foreigners outbid
them at work, beat them on the streets, and were enabled
to do this by the prejudice which Negro crime and the
anti-slavery sentiment had aroused in the city.

Notwithstanding this the better class of Negroes never
gave up. Their school increased in attendance; their
churches and benevolent societies increased ; they held
public meetings of protest and sympathy. And twice, in
1831 and 1833, there assembled in the city a general con-
vention of the free Negroes of the country, representing
five to eight States, which, among other things, sought to
interest philanthropists of the city in the establishment of
a Negro industrial school.** When the Legislature showed
a disposition in 1832 to curtail the liberties of Negroes,
the Negroes held a mass meeting and memorialized the
lawmaking body and endeavored to show that all Negroes
were not criminals and paupers ; they declared that while
the Negroes formed eight per cent of the population they
furnished but four per cent of the paupers ; that by actually
produced tax receipts they could show that Negroes held
at least $350,ocx) of taxable property in the city. More-
over, they said, " Notwithstanding the diflSculty of getting
places for our sons to learn mechanical trades, owing to the
prejudices with which we have to contend, there are
between four and five hundred people of color who follow
mechanical employments.''*^ In 1837 the census of the
Abolition society claimed for the Negroes 1724 children in
school, $309,626 of unencumbered property, 16 churches
and 100 benevolent societies.

'*See Minutes of Conventions; the school was to be situated in New
Haven, but the New Haven authorities, by town meeting, protested so
vehemently that the project had to be given up. Cf. also Hazard, V, 143.

» Hazard's "Register," IX, 361-62.

32 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1 8 20-1896. [Chap. IV*

II. The Guild of the Caterers, 1840-1870. — ^The outlook
for the Negro in Philadelphia about 1840 was not encour-
aging. The last of the first series of riots took place in
1842, and has been mentioned. The authorities were
wakened to their duty by this last outbreak of barbarism^
and for several years the spirit of lawlessness, which now
extended far beyond the race question and seriously threat-
ened the good name of the city, was kept within control.
However, in 1849, ^ ^^^ ^^^ upon a mulatto who had a
white wife, at the corner of Sixth street and St Mary's,
and there ensued a pitched battle for a night and a day ;
firemen fought with firemen ; the blacks, goaded to desper-
ation, fought furiously ; houses were burned and firearms
used, with the result that three white men and one Negro
were killed and twenty-five wounded persons taken to the
hospital. The militia was twice called before the disturb-
ance was quelled. These riots and the tide of prejudice
and economic proscription drove so many Negroes from
the city that the black population actually showed a
decrease in the decade 1840-50. Worse than this, the good
name of the Negroes in the city had been lost through the
increased crime and the undeniably frightful condition
of the Negro slums. The foreign element gained all
the new employments which the growing industries of
the State opened, and competed for the trades and com-
mon vocations. The outlook was certainly dark.

It was at this time that there arose to prominence and
power as remarkable a trade guild as ever ruled in a medi-
aeval city. It took complete leadership of the bewildered
group of Negroes, and led them steadily on to a degree of
affluence, culture and respect such as has probably never
been surpassed in the history of the Negro in America.
This was the guild of the caterers, and its masters include
names which have been household words in the city for fifty
years : Bogle, Augustin, Prosser, Dorsey, Jones and Minton.
To realize just the [character of this new economic

Sect. II.] The Guild of the CaiererSy 1840-1870. 33

development we must not forget the economic history of
the slaves. At first they were wholly house servants or
field hands. As city life in the colony became more
important, some of the slaves acquired trades, and thus
there arose a class of Negro artisans. So long as the
pecuniary interests of a slaveholding class stood back of
these artisans the protests of white mechanics had little
eflFect; indeed it is probable that between 1790 and 1820 a
very large portion, and perhaps most, of the artisans of Phil-
adelphia were Negroes. Thereafter, however, the sharp
competition of the foreigners and the demand for new sorts
of skilled labor of which the Negro was ignorant, and was
not allowed to learn, pushed the black artisans more and
more to the wall. In 1837 only about 350 men out of a
city population of 10,500 Negroes, pursued trades, or about
one in every twenty adults.

The question, therefore, of obtaining a decent livelihood
was a pressing one for the better class of Negroes. The
masses of the race continued to depend upon domestic
service, where they still had a practical monopoly, and
upon common labor, where they had some competition
from the Irish. To the more pushing and energetic
Negroes only two courses were open : to enter into com-^
mercial life in some small way, or to develop certain lines
of home service into a more independent and lucrative
employment In this latter way was the most striking
advance made ; the whole catering business, arising from
an evolution shrewdly, persistently and tastefully directed,
transformed the Negro cook and waiter into the public
caterer and restaurateur, and raised a crowd of underpaid
menials to become a set of self-reliant, original business
men, who amassed fortunes for themselves and won general
respect for their people.

The first prominent Negro caterer was Robert Bogle,
who, early in the century, conducted an establishment on
Eighth street, near Sansom. In his day he was one of the
3

34 Negro in Philadelphia^ i8 20-1896. [Chap. IV.

best known characters of Philadelphia, and virtually cre-
ated the business of catering in the city.'* As the butler
or waiter in a private family arranged the meals and
attended the family on ordinary occasions, so the public
waiter came to serve different families in the same capacity
at larger and more elaborate functions; he was the butler
of the smart set, and his taste of hand and eye and palate
set the fashion of the day. This functionary filled a unique
place in a time when social circles were very exclusive,
and the- millionaire and the French cook had not yet
arrived. Bogle's place was eventually taken by Peter
Augustin, a West Indian immigrant, who started a business
in 1818 which is still carried on. It was the Augustin
establishment that made Philadelphia catering famous all
over the country. The best families of the city, and the
most distinguished foreign guests, were served by this
caterer. Other Negroes soon began to crowd into the field
thus opened. The Prossers, father and son, were prominent
among these, perfecting restaurant catering and making
many famous dishes. Finally came the triumvirate Jones,
Dorsey and Minton, who ruled the fashionable world from
1 845-1 875. Of these Dorsey was the most unique char-
acter ; with little education but great refinement of man-
ner, he became a man of real weight in the community,
and associated with many eminent men. " He had the
sway of an imperial dictator. When a Democrat asked
his menial ser\uce he refused, because Mie could not wait
on a party of persons who were disloyal to the gox'emment,
and Lincoln' — pointing to the picture in his reception
rooms — *was the government.'"*" Jones was Virginia

>« Kadlecs **C>de to Bogle/* is a w«n>known sqaib; Bogle himself b
credited with considermble wit. ** You are of the people who walk in
darkness^** said a prominent clergyman to him once in a dimly lighted
hall. ** But«'* replied Bogle, bowing to the distinguished gentleman, *' I
have seen a great light.**

1^ See in Philadelphia TYmi^, October 17, 1S96, the foUowing notes by
** Megargee :** Docsey was one of the triumvirate of colored cateren^the

Sect. II.] TTie Guild of the Caterers^ 1840-1870, 35

born, and a man of great care and faithfulness. He catered
to families in Philadelphia, New Jersey and New York.'*
Minton, the younger of the three, long had a restaurant at
Fourth and Chestnut, and became, as the others did, mod-
erately wealthy.**

«

Such men wielded great personal influence, aided the
Abolition cause to no little degree, and made Philadelphia
noted for its cultivated and well-to-do Negro citizens.
Their conspicuous success opened opportunities for Negroes
in other lines. It was at this time that Stephen Smith
amassed a very large fortune as a lumber merchant, with
which he afterward handsomely endowed a home for aged

other two being Henry Jones and Henry Minton — who some years ago
might have been said to role the social world of Philadelphia through its
stomach. Time was when lobster salad, chicken croquettes, deviled
crabs and terrapin composed the edible display at every big Philadelphia
gathering, and none of those dishes were thought to be perfectly pre-
pared unless they came from the hands of one of the three men
named. Without making any invidious comparisons between those who
were such masters of the gastronomic art, it can fairly be said that out-
side of his kitchen, Thomas J. Dorsey outranked the others. Although
without schooling, he possessed a naturally refined instinct that led him
to surroimd himself with both men and things of an elevating character.
It was his proudest boast that at his table, in his I^ocust street residence,
there had sat Charles Sumner, William Lloyd Garrison, John W. Forney,
William D. Kelley and Fred Douglass. . . . Yet Thomas Dorsey had
been a slave; had been held in bondage by a Maryland planter. Nor did
he escape from his fetters until he had reached a man's estate. He fled
to this city, but was apprehended and returned to his master. During
his brief stay in Philadelphia, however, he made friends, and these raised
a fund of sufficient proportion to purchase his freedom. As a caterer he
quickly achieved both fame and fortune. His experience of the horrors
of slavery had instilled him with an undying reverence for those cham-
pions of his down-trodden race, the old-time Abolitionists. He took a
prominent part in all efforts to elevate his people, and in that way he
came in close contact with Sumner, Garrison, Forney and others.

1" Henry Jones was in the catering business thirty years, and died
September 24, 1875, leaving a considerable estate.

1* Henry Minton came from Nansemond County, Virginia, at the age
of nineteen, arriving in Philadelphia in 1830. He was first apprenticed
to a shoemaker, then went into a hotel as waiter. Finally he opened
dining rooms at Fonrth and Chestnut He died March 20, 1883.

36 Negro in PhilcuUiphiay 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.

and infirm Negroes. Whipper, Vidal and Pumell were
associated with Smith at different times. Still and Boweis
were coal merchants and Adger was in the furniture
business. There were also some artists of ability : Bowser,
who painted a portrait of Lincoln, and Douglass and Burr ;
Johnson, the leader of a famous colored band and a com-
poser."

During this time of effort, advance and assimilation the
Negro population increased but slowly, for the economic
struggle was too earnest for young and indiscriminate mar-
riages, and immigrants had been frightened away by the
riots. In 1840 there were 19,833 Negroes in the county,
and ten years later, as has been noted, there were only
19,761. For the next decade there was a moderate increase
to 22,185, when the war brought a slight decrease, leaving
the Negro population 22,147 in 1870. Meantime the
white population had increased by leaps and bounds :

Popui,ATioN OF Phii:«adbi«phia County, 1840-1870.

Date.

1840
1850
i860
1870

Whites.

2.^8,204
389.001

543,344
651.854

Negroes.

19,833
19,761

22,185

22.147

In 1 810 the Negroes had formed nearly one-tenth of the
total population of the city, but in 1870 they formed but
little over one thirty-third, the lowest proportion ever
reached in the history of Philadelphia.

The general social condition showed some signs of im-
provement from 1840 on. In 1847 there were 1940 Negro
children in school ; the Negroes held, it was said, about
$400,000 in real estate and had 19 churches and 106
benevolent societies. The mass of the race were still
domestic servants — about 4000 of the 1 1 ,000 in the city

^ This band was in great demand at social functions, and its leader
received a trumpet from Queen Victoria.

Sect II.] The GuUd of the Caterers^ 1840-1870. 37

proper being thus employed, a figure which probably
meant a considerable majority of the adults. The
remainder were chiefly employed as laborers, artisans,
coachmen, expressmen and barbers.

The habitat of the Negro population changed somewhat
in this period. About 1790 one-fourth of the Negroes
lived between Vine and Market and east of Ninth ; one-
half between Market and South, mostly in the alleys
bounded by Lombard, Fifth, Eighth and South ; one-
eighth lived below South, and one-eighth in the Northern
Liberties. Many of these, of course, lived in white
families. In 1837 a quarter of the Negroes were in white
families, a little less than one-half were in the city limits
centring at Sixth and Lombard or thereabouts ; a tenth
lived in Moyamensing, a twentieth in the Northern Lib-
erties, and the remaining part in Kensington ^nd
Spring Garden districts. The riots concentrated this
population somewhat, and in 1847, ^^ ^^^ 20,000 Negroes
in the county, only 1300 lived north of Vine and east of
Sixth. The rest were in the city proper, in Moyamensing
and in Southwark. Moyamensing was the worst slum
district: between South and Fitzwater and Fifth and
Eighth there were crowded 302 families in narrow, filthy
alleys. Here was concentrated the worst sort of depravity,
poverty, crime and disease. The present slums at Seventh
and Lombard are bad and dangerous, but they are de-
cent compared with those of a half century ago. The
Negroes furnished one-third of all the commitments for
crime in 1837, and one-half in 1847.

Beginning with 1850 the improvement of the Negro
was more rapid. The value of real estate held was esti-
mated to have doubled between 1847 ^^^ 1856. The
proportion of men in the trades remained stationary ;
there were 2321 children in school. Toward the time of
the outbreak of war the feeling toward the Negro, in certain
classes softened somewhat, and liis stattnch friends were

38 Negro in Philadelphia^ 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.

enabled to open many benevolent institutions ; in many
ways a disposition to help them was manifested: the
newspapers treated them with more respect, and they were
not subject so frequently to personal insult on the street

They were still kept off the street cars in spite of ener-
getic protest Indeed, not until 1867 was a law passed
prohibiting this discrimination. Judicial decisions upheld
the railways for a long time, and newspapers and public
opinion supported them. When by Judge Allison's decis-
ion the attitude of the courts was changed, and damages
granted an evicted Negro, the railway companies often
side-tracked and left cars which colored passengers had
entered. Separate cars were run for them on some lines,
and in 1865 a public ballot on the cars was taken to decide
the admission of Negroes. Naturally the conductors
returned a large majority against any change. Finally,
after public meetings, pamphlets and repeated agitation,
the prospective enfranchisement of the freedmen gained
what decency and common sense had long refused.*^

Steps toward raising Negro troops in the city were
taken in 1863, ^ soon as the efficiency of the Negro soldier
had been proven. Several hundred prominent citizens
petitioned the Secretary of War and were given permis-
sion to raise Negro regiments. The troops were to receive
no bounties, but were to have $10 a month and rations.
They were to rendezvous at Camp William Penn, Chelten
Hills. A mass meeting was soon held attended by the
prominent caterers, teachers and merchants, together with
white citizens, at which Frederick Douglass, W. D. Kelley
and Anna Dickinson spoke. Over $30,000 was raised in
the city by subscription, and the first squad of soldiers
went into camp June 26, 1863. ^Y December, three

"^See Spiers* <* Street Railway System of Philadelphia," pp. 23-27;
alto nnpablished MS. of Mr. Bemheimer, on file among the senior theses
in. the Wharton School of Finance and Economy, University of Penn-
^hnnla.

Sect 1 2. J Influx of the Freedmen^ i8yo-r8p6. 39

regiments were full, and by the next February, five. The
first three regiments, known as the Third, Sixth and Eighth
United States Regiments of Colored Troops, went promptly
to the front, the Third being before Fort Wagner when it
fell. The other regiments followed as called, leaving still
other Negroes anxious to enlist**

After the war and emancipation great hopes were enter-
tained by the Negroes for rapid advancement, and nowhere
did they seem better founded than in Philadelphia. The
generation then in its prime had lived down a most intense
and bitter race feud and had gained the respect of the
better class of whites. They started with renewed zeal,
therefore, to hasten their social development.

12. The Influx of the Freedmen, 1870-1896. — The
period opened stormily, on account of the political rights
newly conferred on black voters. Philadelphia city politics
have ever had a shady side, but when it seemed manifest
that one political party, by the aid of Negro votes, was
soon to oust the time-honored incumbents, all the lawless
elements which bad city government for a half-century had
nurtured naturally fought for the old regime. They found
this the easier since the city toughs were largely Irish and
hereditary enemies of the blacks. In the spring elections
of 1 87 1 there was so much disorder, and such poor police
protection, that the United States marines were called on
to preserve order.**

In the fall elections street disorders resulted in the cold-
blooded assassination of several Negroes, among whom was
an estimable young teacher, Octavius V. Catto. The mur-
der of Catto came at a critical moment ; to the Negroes it
seemed a revival of the old slavery -time riots in the day
when they were first tasting freedom ; to the better classes
of Philadelphia it revealed a serious state of barbarism and
lawlessness in the second city of the land ; to the politicians

" Pamphlet on " Bnltatment of Nqpo Troopt^" Philadelphia Library.
•Cf. Scharf-Westoott, I, 837.

40 Negro in Philadelphia^ i8 20-1896. [Chap. IV.

it furnished a text and example which was strikingly
eflFective and which they did not hesitate to use. The
result of all this was an outburst of indignation and sor-
row, which was remarkable, and which showed a deter-
mined stand for law and order. The outward expression
of this was a great mass meeting, attended by some of the
best citizens, and a funeral for Catto which was perhaps
the most imposing ever given to an American Negro.**

** The following account of an eye-witness, Mr. W. C. Bolivar, is from
the Philadelphia Tribune^ a Negro paper : '* In the spring election
preceding the murder of Octavius V. Catto, there was a good deal of
rioting. It was at this election that the United States Marines were
brought into play under the command of CoL James Forney. Their very
presence had the salutary efifect of preserving order. The handwriting
of political disaster to the Democratic party was plainly noticed This
galled *the unterrified,' and much of the rancor was owing to the fact
that the Negro vote would guarantee Republican supremacy beyond a
doubt. Even then Catto had a narrow escape through a bullet shot at
Michael Maher, an ardent Republican, whose place of business was at
Eighth and Lombard streets. This assault was instigated by Dr. Gilbert,
whose paid or coerced hirelings did his bidding. The Mayor, D. M. Fox,
was a mild, easygoing Democrat, who seemed a puppet in the hands of
astute conscienceless men. The night prior to the day in question, Octo-
ber 10, 187 1, a colored man named Gordon was shot down in cold blood
on Eighth street. The spirit of mobocracy filled the air, and the object
of its spleen seemed to have been the colored men. A cigar store kept
by Morris Brown, Jr., was the resort of the Pythian and Banneker mem-
bers, and it was at this place on the night prior to the murder that Catto
appeared among his old friends for the last time. When the hour arrived
for home going, Catto went the near and dangerous way to his residence,
814 South street, and said as he left, * I would not stultify my manhood
by going to my home in a roundabout way.' When he reached his
residence he found one of its dwellers had his hat taken from him at a
point around the corner. He went out and into one of the worst places
in the Fourth Ward and secured it.

** Intimidation and assault began with the opening of the polls. The
first victim was Levi Bolden, a playfellow, as a boy, with the chronicler
of these notes. Whenever they could conveniently catch a colored man
they forthwith proceeded to assail him. Later in the day a crowd forced
itself into Emeline street and battered in the brains of Isaac Chase, going
into his home, wreaking their spite on this defenceless man, in ihe pres-
ence of his family. The police force was Democratic, and not only stood
idly by, but gave practical support They took pains to keep that part
of the city not in the bailiwick of the rioters from knowing anything of

Sect 12.] Influx of the Freedmen^ i8jo-i8g6. 41

This incident, and the general expression of opinion
after the war, showed a growing liberal spirit toward the

what was transpiring. Catto voted and went to school, but dismissed it
after realizing the danger of keeping it open daring the nsnal hours.
Somewhere near 3 o'clock as he neared his dwelling, two or three men
were seen to approach him from the rear, and one of them, supposed to
have been either Prank Kelly or Reddy Dever, pulled out a pistol and
pointed it at Catto. The aim of the man was sure, and Catto barely got
around a street car before he fell . This occurred directly in front of a
police station, into which he was carried. The news spread in every
direction. The wildest excitement prevailed, and not only colored men,
but those with the spirit of fair play, realized the gravity of the situation,
with a divided sentiment as to whether they ought to make an assault on
the Fourth Ward or take steps to preserve the peace. The latter pre-
vailed, and the scenes of carnage, but a few hours back, when turbulence
was supreme, settled down to an opposite state of almost painful calm-
ness. The rioting during that day was in parts of the Fifth, Seventh and
Fourth wards, whose boundary lines met. It must not be supposed that
the colored people were passive when attacked, because the records show
* an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,' in every instance. No pen
is graphic enough to detail the horrors of that day. Each home was in
sorrow, and strong men wept like children, when they realized how much
had been lost in the untimely death of the gifted Catto.

** Men who had sat quietly unmindful of things not directly concerning^
themselves, were aroused to the gravity of the situation, wrought by the
spirit of a mob, came out of their seclusion and took a stand for law and
order. It was a righteous public sentiment that brought brute force to
bay. The journals not only here, but the country over, with one voice
condemned the lawless acts of October 10, 1871. Sympathetic public
gatherings were held in many cities, with the keynote of condemnation
as the only true one. Here in Philadelphia a meeting of citizens was
held, from which grew the greater, held in National Hall, on Market
street, below Thirteenth. The importance of this gathering is shown by
a list its promoters. Samuel Perkins, Esq., called it to order, and the
eminent Hon. Henry C. Carey presided. Among some of those in
the list of vice-presidents were Hon. William M. Meredith, Gustavus
S. Benson, Alex. Biddle, Joseph Harrison, George H. Stuart, J. Effing-
ham Fell, George H. Boker, Morton McMichael, James L. Claghom, F.
C. and Benjamin H. Brewster, Thomas H. Powers, Hamilton Disston,
William B. Mann, John W. Forney, John Price Wetherill, R. L. Ashhurst,
William H. Kemble, William S. Stokley, Judge Mitchell, Generals
Collis and Sickel, Congressmen Kelley, Harmer, Myers, Creely, O'Neill,
Samuel H. Bell and hundreds more. These names represented the
wealth, brains and moral excellence of this community. John Goforth,
the eminent lawyer, read the resolutions, which were seconded in

42

Negro in Philadelphia, 1820-/896. [Chap. IV.

Negro in Philadelphia. There was a disposition to grant
him, within limits, a man's chance to make bis way in tlie
world; he had apparently vindicated his right to this in
war, and his ability for it iu peace. Slowly, but surely,
therefore, the community was disposed to throw off tlie
trammels, brush away petty hindrances and to soften the
harshness of race prejudice, at least enough to furnish the
new citizen the legal safeguards of a citizen and the per-
sonal privileges of a man. By degrees the restrictions on
personal liberty were relaxed ; the street cars, which for

■peeches by Hon. William B, Mant
Rev, J, Walker Jackson, Gen. C.
McClure. Thes« all breathed the sai
law and a demand for equal and '

Robert Purvis, Isaiah C. Weira,
:. T. CoUis and Hon. Alei. K.

spirit, the condemnation of tnob
justice to all, Tlie speech of Col.

' McClure stands out boldly among the greatest forensic efforts c

ur city. His central thought was ' ttie unwritten law,' which made
mpression beyond my power to convey. In the meanwhile, smaller
meetings were held in all parts of the city tn record their earnest protest
Bgainst the brute force of the day before. That was the end of disorder
in a large scale here. On the sirtecTith of October the funeral occurred.
The body lay in state at the armory of the First Regiment, Broad and
Race streets, and was guarded by the military. Not since the (uoeral
cortege of President Lincoln had there been one as large or as imposing
b Philadelphia. Outside of the Third Brigade. N. G. P., deUchedcom-
mands from the First Division, and the military from New Jersey, there
were civic organizations by the hundreds from Philadelphia, to aay
nothing of various bodies from Washington, Baltimore, Wilmington,
New York and adjacent places. All the city offices were closed, besde
many schools. City Councils attended in a body, the State Legislature
was present, all the city employes marched in line, and personal friends
came from far and near to testify their practical sympathy. The military
was under the command of General Louis Wagner, and the civic bodies
marshaled by Robert M. Adger. The pall-bearers were Lieutenant Colo-
nel Ira D. Cliff, Majors John W. Simpson and James H. Crocker, Captains
J. F, Needham and R, J. Burr, Lieutenants J. W. Diton, W. W. Morris
and Dr. E. C. Howard, Major and Surgeon of the Twelfth Regiment.
This is but a mere glance backward at the trying days of October, 1871.
and is written to refresh the minds of men and women of that day, as
well as to chronicle a hit of sad history that this generation may be
informed. And so closed the career of a man of splendid equipment,
rare force of character, whose life was so interwoven with all that was
good about us, as to make it stand out in bold relief, as a pattern for
those who have followed after."

Sect. 12.] Influx of the Freedmen, i8yo-j8\

43

many years had sought by every species of proscription to
get rid of colored passengers or carry them on the plat-
form, were finally compelled by law to cancel such rules ;
the railways and theatres rather tardily followed, and
finally even the schools were thrown open to all.** A
deep-rooted and determined prejudice srill remained, but it
showed signs of yielding.

It cannot be denied that the main results of the develop-
ment of the Philadelphia Negro since the war have on the
whole disappointed his well-wishers. They do not pretend
that he has not made great advance in certain lines, or
even that in general he is iiot better off to-day than for-
merly. They do not even profess to know just what his
condition to-day is, and yet there is a widespread feeling
that more might reasonably have been expected in the line
of social and moral developmeut than apparently has been
accomplished. Not only do they feel that there is a lack
of positive results, but the relative advance compared with
the period just before the war is slow, if not an actual
retrogression ; an abnormal and growing amount of crime
and poverty can justly be charged to the Negro ; he is not
a large taxpayer, holds no conspicuous place in the busi-
ness world or the world of letters, and even as a working
m.in seems to be losing ground. For these reasons those
who, for one purpose and another, are anxiously watch-
ing the development of the American Negro desire to
know first how far these general impressions are true, what
the real condition of the Negro is and what movements
would best be undertaken to improve the present situa-
tion. And this local problem is after all but a small
manifestation of the larger and similar Negro problems
throughout the laud.

For such ends the investigation, the results of which are
here presented, was undertaken. This is not the first time
such a study has been attempted. lu 1837, 1847 and 1856
"cr. Appendix B.

44 AWtgro in rhiladeipkia^ 1820-1896. [Chap. IV.

studies were iiuulc by the Abolition Society and the Friends
and much vahuible data procured." The United States
censuses have alsi) added to our general knowledge, and
news]xi|H^rs have often interested themselves in the matter.
Unfortunately, however, the Friends* investigations are not
alto{^ether free front a suspicion of bias in favor of the
Negro, the census n^(H>rts are very general and newspaper
articles necess;irily hurried and inaccurate. This study
seeks to cull judiciously from all these sources and others,
and to add to them specially collected data for the years
1896 and 1897.

Before, however, we enter upon the consideration of this
matter, we must bring to mind four characteristics of the
period we are considering : (i) The growth of Philadelphia ;

(2) the increase of the foreign population in the city;

(3) the development of the large industry and increase of
wealth, and (4) the coming in of the Southern freedmen's
sons and daughters. Even Philadelphians hardly realize
that the population of their staid old city has nearly
doubled since the war, and that consequently it is not the
same place, has not the same spirit, as formerly ; new men,
new ideas, new ways of thinking and acting have gained
v>me entrance ; life is larger, competition fiercer, and con-
ditions of economic and social surxdval harder than formerly.
Av;*in, while there were perhaps 125,000 foreign horn
p^rv/n<i in the city in i860, there are 260,000 now, not to

^'^^ App^n^'Iix C. The inqairy of 183S was by the PhUaddpUa
^^•.^^ / fr^ Pr^/motirif^ the Abolition of Slaverj, and the report was im
*.»*, ytf*^ ^n^ jh r^j^i^tfT of trades and one a general report of fatjr
>«^M 7>.« V^i^/ of Pri^nds, or the AboUtion Society, nndcrtook
,v,> // '/ ;>,y, *nd pnhlMitd a pamphlet of forty-foor pag<
w«4 *.«// *f^ MiT.^ y»kr « r«;port on the health of colored GOii¥icl&. A
^''*^'^,.** v/ M mnf^ }immA\^% was also published in 1849. compariac
^i4y/'^4 ,^ />,/'/ «n/S i'<4^. Renjamin C. Bacon, at the imlBnoeof
AV/«.>y/fr ^yA-^*y ff,nA^ f\i0 inqniry in 1856, which was pnbliAcd
^««# If, />//;. u ««///r»/I •4iM//n was issued with criminal f^w^irttT^i AB
t)^M ;/*#/.> '.^'•4 M«/ '/* ^//n«fi)tH at the Library Company of

Sect. 12.] Influx of the Freedmen^ 1870-1896. 45

mention the children of the former bom here. These
foreigners have come in to divide with native Americans
the industrial opportunities of the city, and have thereby
intensified competition. Thirdly, new methods of con-
ducting business and industry are now rife : the little shop,
the small trader, the house industry have given way to the
department store, the organized company and the factory.
Manufacturing of all kinds has increased by leaps and
bounds in the city, and to-day employs three times as many
men as in i860, paying three hundred millions annually
in wages ; hacks and expressmen have turned into vast
inter-urban businesses: restaurants have become palatial
hotels — the whole face of business is being gradually
transformed. Finally, into this rapid development have
precipitated themselves during the last twenty years fifteen
thousand immigrants, mostly from Maryland, Virginia
and Carolina — untrained and poorly educated countrymen,
rushing from the hovels of the country or the cottages of
country towns, suddenly into the new, strange life of a
great city to mingle with 25,000 of their race already there.
What has been the result ?

[Note. — There was a small riot in 1843 during the time
of Mayor Swift. In 1832 began a series of literary
societies — the Library Company, the Banneker Society, etc. ,
— which did much good for many years. The first Negro
newspaper of the city, the "Demosthenian Shield," appeared
in 1840. Among men not already mentioned in this period
should be noted the Rev. C. W. Gardner, Dr. J. Bias, the
dentist, James McCrummell, and Sarah M. Douglass. All
these were prominent Negroes of the day and had much
influence. The artist, Robert Douglass, is the painter of a
portrait of Fannie Kemble, which its Philadelphia owner
to-day prefers to attribute to Thomas Dudley.]

ClIAI'TKR V,

THK P>r/J% A'iH Atitt hlU nt* run NKORO PfiPULATIOK-

13. The Ci!y for m Century.— The (Kipulation of the
county' of IMnhnlrlphia uutrtmrtl about twenty-fold frwn
1790 to 1890; nlu»!inj{ wilh .v),fKy> whitc« and 2500
Ncj^rocs at thr fuM crnwiir*, it \uu\ at the time of the
eleventh ern.HiiH, u niiIli«Mi whltr?* mid ^o^ikx) Ne)froes. Com-
parinji; the ratr ol inctrair' of thenr two elements of the
population wr havr :

RATKS OV lNt:W«A«*K tit* NUiiHOWH AND WlllTKH.

Decade from

Nrnrt>r«.

Wtlllc*

l»M mlr n«)m

Nrgrom.

White*.

I790-1800 . .

176.43%

4^«P'V

iM^ii iH.v>* . .

.56;*

63.50^

1R0D-1810 . . .

52.93

.v^ ^!\

?.S.v» lHOi> . .

ta.a6

39.67

rHlo-1820 . . .

1 3. to

J)Hi\

iNfWi iM70« . .

.17

19.96

l82r>-l8JO . . .

^^'^9

yh*h\ ,

irv;o tS.S»» . .

4.V13

25.08

; 8^^1840

27.07

A7.A4

I.VH.I |.Si>»

24.20

23.4a

• h'-'T^a^ for Nenroes.

T/>'; first two decades woio \o;u> »>( rapid iuorca.se for the
T'^^/r'^ Si, tlieir number risiui; {\o\\\ ^,|S<) in t yi}o to 10,552 in
/*;/'/. This was due to the inoomiit^ of the new freedmen
-../ /yf cervants with masters, all to .\ot\io extent attracted
v/ *'v- s/fcial and industrial opp«nMniilioN of the city.
'r'-^ *'>':*'^ f/^»pulation duriui^ thix potiivl also increased
yuy*. f •"r>'/-ii:li not SO rapidly as the No>^r*vs lisiuv; from

«.* w., ". /'^ «1ti'lv throuf»houl lhi« ewAv h«% l>ron nmao the ^^jw/i^
^^ \ ..■ yj-^- i;».-k. tilt'] not the cil3\ cvtTpt ^hoiv the oUv is et&)>eciAUy
.,/.->/. a/ Cf.t.'» ;'«;4, the city An<i <s>«iUv h«N-e l>een iNMemiinout.
/..,. . .^^^'A -*.** *he yK#pnlation of the "«ii»tnotn" w^* fiM- owr putjx^j^es
♦/\r'/V' ¥*»'//>, *nd a part of the p'*'*"!"* ^if<* <^f rhi]*<1elphU.

(4^)

»■« • 'I

Sect. 13.]

The City for a Century.

47

51,902 in 1790 to 100,688 in 1810. During the next
decade the war had its influence on both races although
it naturally had its greatest effect on the lower which
increased only 13 per cent against an increase of 28.6 per
cent among the Negroes of the country at large. This
brought the Negro population of the county to 11,891,
while the white population stood at 123,746. During the
next two decades, 1820 to 1840, the Negro population rose
to 19,833, by natural increase and immigration, while the
white population, feeling the first effects of foreign immi-
gration, increased to 238,204. For the next thirty years
the continued foreign arrivals, added to natural growth,
caused the white population to increase nearly three-fold,
while the same cause combined with others allowed an
increase of little more than 2000 persons among the Negroes,
bringing the black population up to 22,147. In the last
two decades the rush to cities on the part of both white and
black has increased the former to 1,006,590 souls and the
latter to 39,371. The following table gives the exact
figures for each decade :

P0PU1.AT10N OF Phii,adei.phia, 1 790-1890.

nat*

Whites.

Negroes.

Total.

iJiWLlX,

City.

County.

City.

County.

City.

County.

1790 . .
1800 ....
1810 ....
1820 ....
1830 ....

1838. . . .

1840 ....

1847. .. .
1850. . . .

1856 ....

• • •

• • •

• • f

56,220

• * •

83.158

• • •

110,640

51,902

74.129

100,688

123.746

173.173

• • •

238,204

• • •

389.001

• • •

• • •

• • •

• • ■

7.582

• • •

• •

10,507
11,000?

10,736

• •

2,489
6,880

10,552
11,891

15.624
17,500

19,833
20,240

19,761

• •

28,552
41,220
53.722
63,802
80,462

• • •

93.665

• • •

121,376

• • •

54.391
81,009

111,240

135.637
188,797

...
258,037

• • •

408,762

• • •

i860. . .

1870 ....

1880. . . .
1890 ....

54:

651

8t«

i,oo(

J, 344

.854

;.362

>.590

22,185
22,147
31.699

39.371

56!
67^1
84:

i,o4e

).529

^,022*

r,i7o*
),964*

■^hese totals include Chinese, Indians, etc.

Size, Age and Sex.

[Chap. V.

'

—

—

*

^

1

rt

35.000

K

t

1

HI

i 1

S

II

1

30,

'

...

* '

15.000

/

/

"■

/

15.000

/

"■

/

/

UMU

ti

!

e

E

p

' i

i I

1

i

1

I

i

1

!

[Note. — Each horizontal line represents an increment of
2500 persons in population j the upright lines represent the
decades. The broken diagonal shows the course of Negro
population, and the arrows above recall historic events pre-
viously referred to as influencing the increase of the
Negroes. At the base of the upright lines is a figure
giving the percentage which the Negro population formed
of the total population.]

^H Sect. 13.] Tiie City for a Century. 4

^H The Negro has never formed a very large percent of th
^^H population of the city, as this diagram shows :

^H 0 I a 345 67 8 9 10 Per.

9

1790
1800

leio

1820
1830
1840
t850
1860
1870
1880
1850

™

™

""

™

^

™

"

"J

™

^_

™

_

HI

J"

_

^

1^

1

"

^^H A glance at these tables shows liow much more sensitive

^^1 the lower classes of a population are to great social changes

^^1 than the rest of the group; prosperity brings abnormal

^^1 increase, adversity, abnormal decrease in mere numbers, not

^^1 to speak of other less easily measurable changes. Doubt-

^^1 less if we could divide the white population into social

^^1 strata, we would find some classes whose characteristics '

^^H corresponded in many respects to those of the Negro. Or

^^H to view the matter from the opposite standpoint we have

^^1 here an opportunity of tracing the history and condition 1

^^H of a social class which peculiar circumstances have kept

^^^1 segregated and apart from the mass.

^^H If we glance beyond Philadelphia and compare con- I

^^H ditions as to increa.se of Negro population with the situa-

^^H tion in the country at large we can make two interesting com-

^^H parisons : the rate of increase in a large city compared with

so

Sise^ Age and Sex.

[Chap. V.

that in the country at large ; and the changes in the propor-
tion of Negro inhabitants in the city and the United States.

INCRSASB OF NSGROBS IN THB UnITBD STATBS AND IN THE CiTY

OP Phu^dbi^phia Comparbd.

Increase in

Cenaut Ycara

PercentaKC of Negroea
in Total Population in

AJCC&CIC.

Philii.
delphia.

United
SUtes.

Phila-
delphia.

United
States.

1790-1800 . ,
1800-1810 .

l8l<>-I>»20 . .

1820-1830 . .
1830-1840 . .

I84O-I85O a .
I85O-I86O a .
I86O-I87O. .
I87O-I88O .
1880-1890. <

176.42

52.93
13.00

31.39
27.07

.36*
12.26

.17*

43.13
24.20

%
32.33
37.50

28a59

31.44

23.40
26.63

22.07

9.86

34.85

13.51

1790 . .

1800

1810

1820

1830

1840

1850

i860

1870

1880

1890

%
4.57
8.49
9.45
8.76

8.27

7.39
4.83
3.92
328

3.74
3.76

%
19.27

18.88

IQ.03

18.39
18.10

16.84

15.69

14.13
12.66

13.12
".93

^ Decrease.

A glance at the proportion of Negroes in Philadelphia
and in the United States shows how largely the Negro
problems are still problems of the country. (See diagram
of the proportion of Negroes in the total population of
Philadelphia and of the United States on opposite page.)

This is even more striking if we remember that Phila-
delphia ranks high in the absolute and relative number of
its Negro inhabitants. For the ten largest cities in the
United States we have :

Tbn Largest Citibs in thb Unitbd States Arranged According

TO Negro Popui,ATioNa

Proportion

Citiesa

Negro
Population.

Cities.

Total
Populationa

la Baltimore ....

67.104

la Baltimore . a a a

15.49%

2. Philadelphia . .

39.371

2. St Louis . . .

594

3. St. Louis . . a .

26,865

3. Philadelphia .

3.76

4. New York . . .

23,601

4. Cincinnati a ,

3-72

5. Chicago

I4»27i

5a Boston . . ,

1.76

6. Cincinnati . . .

11.655

6. New York . .

1.55

7. Brooklyn ....

10,287

7. Chicago. . . ,

8. Brooldyn a .

1.29

8. Boston

8.125

1.27

9. Cleveland . a . .

2,989

9. Cleveland . . .

I.14

10. San Francisco . .

1,847

10. San Francisco

.61

Sect 13.] The City for a Century. 51

U^«A4vs^^W*^'V<«^g^J^^

„

vsA'^

r^

-/V«S,

pAAA

a/^A,

f/Vs/V

Nvvv-

rw\^

KA/WS^

rvVN/V.

a

^

(O

^

^

tf>

X

r"'

10

/

..'

*

<v

IC

s

/^

v

M

/

s

0

^^

s

\

^

^

:^>^'

/

A'

\

A

V

—

/

1.

\

. 1

s

1

! 5

%

] 'c
! 2

2 !

9 °

s

K

\\

l\

52

Size^ Age and Sex.

[Chap. V.

M

c

o

*!)i

*5

jfe

•2

•

:^

:3

s.

PO

1

1

•

.2

Negroes
of

1890.

•

•
•0

^

M

c

0

•5

^

^

•i

M

0

PO

c

^

lO

e^

•♦!

a

QO

•>

«

M

a

Vj

3
0

f«

H

Sect 13.]

The City far a Century.

53

Of all the large cities in the United States, only three
have a larger absolute Negro population than Philadelphia :
Washington, New Orleans and Baltimore. We seldom
realize that none of the great Southern cities, except the
three mentioned, have a colored population approaching
that of Philadelphia :

COI«ORBD* POPUI«ATlON Ol? LARGB SOUTHBRN CiTIBS.

Colored

Colored

Cities.

Inhabitants.

Cities.

Inhabitants.

Washinfi;ton, D. C. .
New Orleans, I^a. . .

75.697

Nashville, Tenn. . .

29.395

64.663

Memphis, Tenn. . .

28,729

Philadelphia, Pa. . .

40,374*

Ix>uisville, Ky. . . .

28,672

Richmond, Va. . . .

32,354

Atlanta, Ga

28.117

Charleston. S. C. . .

31.036

Savannah, Ga. . . .

22,978

^ Includes Chinese, Japanese and civilized Indians, an insignificant number in
these cases.

Taken by itself, the Negro population of Philadelphia is
no insignificant group of men, as the foregoing diagrams
show. (See page 52.)

In other words, we are studying a group of people the
size of the capital of Pennsylvania in 1890, and as large as
Philadelphia itself in 1800.

Scanning this population more carefully, the first thing
that strikes one is the unusual excess of females. This
fact, which is true of all Negro urban populations, has not
often been noticed, and has not been given its true weight
as a social phenomenon.' If we take the ten cities having
the greatest Negro populations, we have this table : *

* My attention was first called to this fact by Professor Kelly Miller,
of Howard University; cf. *' Publications of American Negro Academy,"
No. I. There is probably, in taking censuses, a larger percentage of
omissions among males than among females; such omissions would,
however, go but a small way toward explaining this excess of females.

*In a good many of the Eleventh Census tables, ** Chinese, Japanese
and civilized Indians,'* were very unwisely included in the total of the
Colored, making an error to be allowed for when one studies the Negro.
In most cases the discrepancy can be ignored. In this case this fact but
serves to decrease the excess of females, as these other groups have an
excess of males. The city of Philadelphia has 1003 Chinese, Japanese

54

Size^ Age and Sex.

[Chap. V.

COLO&BD* POPUIJiTION OF TKN CmBS BY SBX.

Cities.

Washinffton . .
New Orleans .
Baltimore . . .
Philadelphia
Richmond, Va.
Naahville . . .
Memphia . . .
Charleston, S. C.
St. Louis . . .
Louisville, Ky.

Total

Proportion

Mmles.

I.OOO

PeniAles.

33.831

41.866

28,936

35.727
38,131

20,165
18,960

21,414

14,216

18,138

13,334

16,061

13,333

15,396

14.187

16,849

13,247

13,819

13,348

15,324

192,557

232.725

1208.5

* Includes Chinese, Japanese and civilised Indians— «n element that can be
ignored, being smaU.

This is a very marked excess and has far-reaching efPects.
In Philadelphia this excess can be traced back some years :

Phii«adku>hia Nkgrobs by Skx.*

County of Philadelphia.

City of Philadelphia.

Year.

•
Males.

Females.

Number

Females

to 1000

Males.

Year.

Males.

Females.

Number

Females

to 1000

Males.

1820 . .
1838 . .
1840 . .
1850 . .
1890 . .

5.220
6.896
8,316

6,671

9.146

II.515

1,091
1,326
1,387

1820 . .
1838 . .
1840 . .
1850 . .
1890 . .

3,156
3.772
3,986

8.435
18,960

4.426

5.304

6,521

11.326

21.414

1,383
1.395
1,630

1,348
1,127

The cause of this excess is easy to explain. From the
beginning the industrial opportunities of Negro women in

and Indians. The figures for the whole United States show that this
excess of females is probably confined to cities :

Nbgrobs According to Sbx.

SECTION.

MAI,BS.

United SUtes
North Atlantic
South Atlantic
North Central
South Central
Western . . .

3,725.561
133.277

1.613.769
222,384

1,739,565
16,566

FBMALBS.

3.744.479
136.629

1,648,921

208,728

1,739,686

10,515

* Figures for other years have not been found.

Sect 13.] The City for a Century. 55

cities bavebeen far greater than those of men, through their
large employment in domestic service. At the same time the
restriction of employments open to Negroes, which per-
haps reached a climax in 1830-1840, and which still plays
a great part, has served to limit the number of men. The
proportion, therefore, of men to women is a rough index
of the industrial opportunities of the Negro. At first there
was a large amount of work for all, and the Negro ser-
vants and laborers and artisans poured into the city. This
lasted up until about 1820, and at that time we find the
number of the sexes approaching equality in the county,
although naturally more unequal in the city proper. In
the next two decades the opportunities for work were
greatly restricted for the men, while at the same time,
through the growth of the city, the demand for female
servants increased, so that in 1840 we have about seven
women to every five men in the county, and sixteen to
every five in the city. Industrial opportunities for men then
gradually increased largely through the growth of the city,
the development of new callings for Negroes and the in-
creased demand for male servants in public and private.
Nevertheless the disproportion still indicates an unhealthy
condition, and its effects are seen in a large percent of
illegitimate births, and an unhealthy tone in much of the
social intercourse among the middle class of the Negro
population.*

Looking now at the age stnicture of the Negroes, we
notice the disproportionate number of young persons, that
is, women between eighteen and thirty and men between
twenty and thirty-five. The colored population of Phila-
delphia contains an abnormal number of young untrained
persons at the most impressionable age ; at the age when.

'In social gatherings, in the churches, etc., men are always at a
premium, and this very often leads to lowering the standard of admission
to certain circles, and often gives one the impression that the social level
of the women is higher than the level of the men.

56

Size^ Age and Sex,

[Chap. V.

as statistics of the world show, the most crime is committed,
when sexual excess is more frequent, and when there has
not been developed fully the feeling of responsibility and
personal worth. This excess is more striking in recent
years than formerly, although full statistics are not
available :

Proportion of Population.

Under 5 years
Under 15 years
15 to so years
Over 50 years

iai8.

1880.

14.7

33.<>
41.8

9.9

9.8

• •

• • •
« • •

X890.

7.8

22.5

63.6t
6. It

^ Including Chinese, Japanese and Indians, t X5 to 55. \ Over 55.

This table is too meagre to be conclusive, but it is proba-
ble that while the age structure of the Negro urban popu-
lation in 1848 was about normal, it has greatly changed in
recent years. Detailed statistics for 1890 make this
plainer :

' Negrobs * oif Phii«adbi«phia by Sbx and Agb, 1890.

Ages.

Under i

I to 4 . .

5to9 . .

10 to 14 . .

15 to 19 . .

20 to 24 . .

25 to 29 . .

30 to 34. .

35 to 44. .

45 to 54. .

55 to 64. .
65 and over
Unknown .

Total

Males.

Per Cent.

Females.

Per Cent.

400

2.1

369

1.7

1,121

5.9

1,264

5.9

1,458

7.7

1,515

.7.1

1,409

7.5

1,567

7.4

2.455

7.7

2,123

9-9

2.408

I2.9

3,1.^3

14.8

1,521

135

2,774

13.1

2,034

10.9

2,046

9-5

3,375

18.0

3,139

14.8

1,645

8.7

1,783

8.4

581

3.1

799

3.9

376

2.0

726

3.4

177

• •

176

• •

i8.9to

lOO.O

21,414

lOO.O

Total.

769

2,385

2,973
2,976

3.578

5,541

5,295
4,080

6,514
3,428

1.380
1,102

353

40,374

* Includes Z003 Chinese, Japanese and Indians.

Comparing this with the age structure of other groups
we have this table : *

'The age groupings in tliese tables are necessarily unsatisfactory on
account of the vagaries of the census.

^H Sect. 13.] The City /or a Century. 57

^1 AB-- 'I.^U?.°'| "S^

England. Pnnce. Cetto

1 ^yAx^

^^H Under 10

^^1 aotOAO . .
^H 30 and over

i5-3t '8.13
16.37 35.19
27.08 17.40
41. J4 39.19

J3.9 17.S 24.3 34 »9 '

21.3 17.4 30.7 ai.7o

17-oa 16.3 16.3 18.34

37.6 4S.8 38.9 35.77 '

^^1 In few large cities does the age structure approach the
^^1 abnormal condition here presented ; the most obvious com-
^^1 parison would be with the age structure of the whites of
^^^ Philadelphia, for 1890, which may be thus represented :

NEGRO A

MA ES ACIS FEMALES

:;:±:::±::^::::::x::::

=--ii.ii ff ^-^■-■

^■^mL '-

Jffl^ .nm

WHITE B

MALES AOM FEMALES

iii'^wi

"^m A

^^V We find then in Philadelphia a steadily and, in recent j

^^H years, rapidly growing Negro population, in itself as large

^^H as a good-sized city, and characterized by an excessive

^^H number of females and of young persons. |

58 Stze^ Age and Sex. [Chap. V.

14. The Seventh Ward, 1896. — ^We shall now make a
more intensive study of the Negro population, confining
ourselves to one typical ward for the year 1896. Of
the nearly forty thousand Negroes in Philadelphia in 1890,
a little less than a fourth lived in the Seventh Ward, and
over half in this and the adjoining Fourth, Fifth and
Eighth Wards :

Ward.

Seventh
Eighth
Fourth
Fifth .

Negroes.

Whites.

8,861

21,177

3,0"

13.940

2.573

17,792

2,335

14,619

The distribution of Negroes in the other wards may be
seen by the accompanying map. (See opposite page.)

The Seventh Ward starts from the historic centre of
Negro settlement in the city. South Seventh street and
Lombard, and includes the long narrow strip, beginning at
South Seventh and extending west, with South and Spruce
streets as boundaries, as far as the Schuylkill River. The
colored population of this ward numbered 3621 in i860,
4616 in 1870, and 8861 in 1890. It is a thickly populated
district of varying character ; north of it is the residence
and business section of the city ; south of it a middle
class and workingmen's residence section ; at the east end
it joins Negro, Italian and Jewish slums ; at the west end,
the wharves of the river and an industrial section separat-
ing it from the grounds of the University of Pennsylvania
and the residence section of West Philadelphia.

Starting at Seventh street and walking along Lombard,
let us glance at the general character of the ward. Pausing
a moment at the corner of Seventh and Lombard, we can
at a glance view the worst Negro slums of the city. The
houses are mostly brick, some wood, not very old, and in
general uncared for rather than dilapidated. The blocks
between Eighth, Pine, Sixth and South have for many
decades been the centre of Negro population. Here

Sect. 14.]

TIte Seventh IVard, i8<

59

the riots of the thirties took place, and here once was a
depth of poverty and degradation almost unbelievable.
Even to-day there are many evidences of degradation,

although the signs of idieness, shiftlessness, dissoluteness
and crime arc more conspicuous than those of poverty.

6o Svse^ Age and Sex. [Chap. V.

The alleys^ near, as RatcliflFe street, Middle alley, Brown^s
court, Barclay street, etc., are haunts of noted criminals,
male and female, of gamblers and prostitutes, and at the
same time of many poverty-stricken people, decent but not
energetic. There is an abundance of political clubs, and
nearly all the houses are practically lodging houses, with
a miscellaneous and shifting population. The corners,
night and day, are filled with Negro loafers — ^able-bodied
young men and women, all cheerful, some with good-
natured, open faces, some with traces of crime and excess,
a few pinched with poverty. They are mostly gamblers,
thieves and prostitutes, and few have fixed and steady
occupation of any kind. Some are stevedores, porters,
laborers and laundresses. On its face this slum is noisy
and dissipated, but not brutal, although now and then
highway robberies and murderous assaults in other parts
of the city are traced to its denizens. Nevertheless the
stranger can usually walk about here day and night with
little fear of being molested, if he be not too inquisitive.'
Passing up Lombard, beyond Eighth, the atmosphere
suddenly changes, because these next two blocks have few
alleys and the residences are good-sized and pleasant.
Here some of the best Negro families of the ward live.
Some are wealthy in a small way, nearly all are Philadel-
phia bom, and they represent an early wave of emigration
from the old slum section.* To the south, on Rodman

^"In the Fifth Ward only there are 171 small streets and courts;
Fourth Ward, 88. Between Fifth and Sixth, South and Lombard streets,
15 courts and alleys.** ** First Annual Report CoUege Settlement
Kitchen.'* p. 6.

' In a residence of eleven months in the centre of the slums, I never
was once accosted or insulted. The ladies of the College Settlement
report similar experience. I have seen, however, some strangers here
roughly handled.

*It is often asked why do so many Negroes persist in living in the
slums. The answer is, they do not; the slum is continually scaling off
emigrants for other sections, and receiving new accretions from without.
Thus the efforts for social betterment put forth here have often their best

]

a

—in

=^^

nnjinnri

gw-/w-*

iT

J /&^.^i^.~i

g"Ff4n

/x^"

;i^-i

_££»£

laeo

niC

//.

Sf-

H

-w

iL..i.—.-.u: it--

]

'»"'-

i'~— I

Is

/

-^-1

£.

U:

CU-t**. f.

~JFZu^^^

-hc-.-

>-:o. Inly i. /-««,,-, The h„;;r fi.iinn-^ '■••f.-r //. ;

Sect. 14.] The Seventh Ward, i8p6. 61

street, are families of the same character. North of
Pine and below Eleventh there are practically no Negro
residences. Beyond Tenth street, and as far as Broad
street, the Negro population is large and varied in char-
acter. On small streets like Barclay and its extension below
Tenth — Souder, on Ivy, Rodman, Salem, Heins, Isemin-
ger, Ralston, etc., is a curious mingling of respectable
working people and some of a better class, with recent
immigrations of the semi-criminal class from the slums.
On the larger streets, like Lombard and Juniper, there live
many respectable colored families — native Philadelphians,
Virginians and other Southerners, with a fringe of more
questionable families. Beyond Broad, as far as Sixteenth,
the good character of the Negro population is maintained
except in one or two back streets.*® From Sixteenth to
Eighteenth, intermingled with some estimable families, is
a dangerous criminal class. They are not the low, open
idlers of Seventh and Lombard, but rather the graduates of
that school : shrewd and sleek politicians, gamblers and
confidence men, with a class of well-dressed and partially
undetected prostitutes. This class is not easily differen-
tiated and located, but it seems to centre at Seventeenth
and Lombard. Several large gambling houses are near
here, although more recently one has moved below Broad,
indicating a reshifting of the criminal centre. The whole
community was an earlier immigration from Seventh and
Lombard. North of Lombard, above Seventeenth, includ-
ing Lombard street itself, above Eighteenth, is one of the
best Negro residence sections of the city, centring about
Addison street. Some undesirable elements have crept in
even here, especially since the Christian League attempted to

results elsewhere, since the beneficiaries move away and others fill their
places. There is, of course, a permanent nucleus of inhabitants, and
these, in some cases, are really respectable and decent people. The
fore s that keep such a class in the slums are discussed further on.

'^Gulielma street, for instance, is a notorious nest for bad characters,
with only one or two respectable families.

62 Size^ Age and Sex, [Chap. V.

clear out the Fifth Ward slums," but still it remains a centre
of quiet, respectable families, who own their own homes
and live well. The Negro population practically stops at
Twenty-second street, although a few Negroes live beyond.

We can thus see that the Seventh Ward presents an epit-
ome of nearly all the Negro problems ; that every class is
represented, and varying conditions of life. Nevertheless
one must naturally be careful not to draw too broad con-
clusions from a single ward in one city. There is no proof
that the proportion between the good and the bad here is
normal, even for the race in Philadelphia ; that the social
problems affecting Negroes in large Northern cities are
presented here in most of their aspects seems credible, but
that certain of those aspects are distorted and exaggerated
by local peculiarities is also not to be doubted.

In the fall of 1896 a house to house visitation was made
to all the Negro families of this ward. The visitor went
in person to each residence and called for the head of the
family. The housewife usually responded, the husband
now and then, and sometimes an older daughter or other
member of the family. The fact that the University was
making an investigation of this character was known and
discussed in the ward, but its exact scope and character was
not known. The mere announcement of the purpose
secured, in all but about twelve cases,*' immediate admis-
sion. Seated then in the parlor, kitchen, or living room.

^^The almost universal and unsolicited testimony of better class
Negroes was that the attempted clearing out of the slums of the Fifth
Ward acted disastrously upon them; the prostitutes and gamblers emi-
grated to respectable Negro residence districts, and real estate agents, on
the theory that all Negroes belong to the same general class, rented them
houses. Streets like Rodman and Juniper were nearly ruined, and pro-
perty which the thrifty Negroes had bought here greatly depreciated. It
is not well to clean a cess-pool until one knows where the refuse can be
disposed of without general harm.

i« The majority of these were brothels. A few, however, were homes
of respectable people who resented the investigation as unwarranted and
unnecessary.

Sect 14.] The Seventh Ward^ 1896. 63

the visitor beg^n the questioning, using his discretion as to
the order in which they were put, and omitting or adding
questions as the circumstances suggested. Now and then
the purpose of a particular query was explained, and usually
the object of the whole inquiry indicated. General discus-
sions often arose as to the condition of the Negroes, which
were instructive. From ten minutes to an hour was spent in
each home, the average time being fifteen to twenty-five
minutes.

Usually the answers were prompt and candid, and gave
no suspicion of previous preparation. In some cases
there was evident falsification or evasion. In such cases
the visitor made free use of his best judgment and either
inserted no answer at all, or one which seemed approxi-
mately true. In some cases the families visited were not at
home, and a second or third visit was paid. In other cases,
and especially in the case of the large class of lodgers, the
testimony of landlords and neighbors often had to be taken.

No one can make an inquiry of this sort and not be
painfully conscious of a large margin of error from omis-
sions, errors of judgment and deliberate deception. Of
such errors this study has, without doubt, its full share.
Only one fact was peculiarly favorable and that is the
proverbial good nature and candor of the Negro. With
a more cautious and suspicious people much less success
could have been obtained. Naturally some questions were
answered better than others ; the chief diflSculty arising in
regard to the questions of age and income. The ages
given for people forty and over have a large margin of
error, owing to ignorance of the real birthday. The ques-
tion of income was naturally a delicate one, and often had
to be gotten at indirectly. The yearly income, as a round
sum, was seldom asked for ; rather the daily or weekly
wages taken and the time employed during the year.

On December i, 1896, there were in the Seventh Ward
of Philadelphia 9675 Negroes; 4501 males and 5174

64

Sizey Age and Sex.

[Chap. V.

females. This total includes all persons of Negro descent,
and thirty-three intermarried whites.^ It does not include

Negro Popuijition oy Seventh Ward.

Age.

Under lo . .
lo to 19 . . .
20 to 29 . . .
30 to 39 . . .
40 to 49 . . .
50 to 59 . . .
60 to 69 .
70 and over .
Age unknown

Totel

Male.

4»50i

Female.

570

641

483

675

1,276

1.444

1,046

1.084

553

632

298

331

114

155

41

96

120

116

5.174

Grand total 9.675

residents of the ward then in prisons or in almshouses.
There were a considerable number of omissions among the
loafers and criminals without homes, the class of lodgers
and the club-house habitues. These were mostly males,
and their inclusion would somewhat affect the division by
sexes, although probably not to a great extent." The
increase of the Negro population in this ward for six and a
half years is 814, or at the rate of 14.13 per cent per decade.
This is perhaps somewhat smaller than that for the popula-
tion of the city at large, for the Seventh Ward is crowded and
overflowing into other wards. Possibly the present Negro
population of the city is between 43,000 and 45,000. At
all events it is probable that the crest of the tide of immi-
gration is passed, and that the increase for the decade 1890
-1900 will not be nearly as large as the 24 per cent of the
decade 1880-1890.

Twenty-nine women and four men. The question of race inter-
marriage is discussed in Chapter XIV.

^^ There may have been some duplication in the counting of servant
girls who do not lodge where they work. Special pains was taken to
count them only where they lodge, but there must have been some errors.
Again, the Seventh Ward has a very large number of lodgers; some of
these form a sort of floating population, and here were omissions; some
were forgotten by landladies and others purposely omitted.

Sect 14.]

The Seventh IVard^ 1896.

65

The division by sex indicates still a very large, and it
would seem, growing excess of women. The return shows
1 150 females to every 1000 males. Possibly through
the omission of men and the unavoidable duplication of
some servants lodging away from their place of service,
the disproportion of the sexes is exaggerated. At any rate
it is great, and if growing, may be an indication of increased
restriction in the employments open to Negro men since
1880 or even since 1890.

The age structure also presents abnormal features.'*
Comparing the age structure with that of the large cities
of Germany, we have :

Age.

Under 20
ao to4o .
Over 40 .

Negroes of
Philadelphia.

25.1

51.3
23.6

Large Cities
of Germany.

39 3
37.2

23.5

Comparing it with the Whites and Negroes in the city
in 1890, we have :

Age.

Under 10 .
10 to 20 . .
20 to 30 . .
30 and over

Negroes ot
Philadelphia,

1896,
Seventh Ward.

Negroes*

PhiladelphU,
1890.

Native Whites

of

Philadelphia,

1890.

12.8%
12.3
28.7
46.2

15.31%

16.37
27 08

41.24

24.6^

19.5
18.5

37.4

^Includes 1003 Chinese, Japanese and Indians.

As was noticed in the whole city in 1 890, so here is even
more striking evidence of the preponderance of young peo-
ple at an age when sudden introduction to city life is apt
to be dangerous, and of an abnormal excess of females.

^* There is a wide margin of error in the matter of Negroes* ages, espe-
cially of those above fifty; even of those from thirty -five to fifty, the age
is often unrecorded and is a matter of memory, and poor memory at that
Much pains was taken during the canvass to correct errors and to throw
out obviously incorrect answers. The error in the ages under forty is
probably not large enough to invalidate the general conclusions; those
under thirty are as correct as is general in such statistics, although the

5

CHAPTER VL

CONJUGAL CONDITION.

15. The Seventh Ward. — ^The conjugal condition of
the Negroes above fifteen years of age living in the Seventh
Ward is as follows :*

Oo^Jugal Condition.

I

Single

Married

Widowed

Permanently separated

Total
Unknown
Under 15

Total population

Males.

Per Cent.

Females.

1,482

1.876

200

18

41.4
52.5

} -■

1.240

I.918

841

66

3*576

"5
800

lOO.O

• • «

• • •

4,065
179

930

4,501

• • •

5.174

Percent.

}

30.5
47.1

22.4

ICO.O

For a people comparatively low in the scale of civiliza-
tion there is a large proportion of single men — ^more than
in Great Britain, France or Germany ; the number of mar-
ried women, too, is small, while the large number of wid-
owed and separated indicates widespread and early breaking

ag^ of children under ten is liable to err a year or so from the truth.
Blany women have probably understated their ages and somewhat
swelled the period of the thirties as against the forties. The ages oyer
fifty have a large element of error.

^ There are many sources of error in these returns: it was found that
widows usually at first answered the question ** Are yon married?" in
the negative, and the truth had to be ascertained by a second question;
unfortunate women and questionable characters generally reported
themselves as married; divorced or separated persons called themselves
widowed. Such of these errors as were made through misapprehension,
were often corrected by additional questions; in case of designed decep-
tion the answer was naturally thrown out if the deception was detected,
which of course happened in few cases. The net result of these errors is
difficult to ascertain: certainly they increase the apparent number of the
truly widowed to some extent at the expense of the single and married.

(66)

jt t ^

Sect. 15.] The Seventh Ward. 67

up of family life.' The number of single women is
probably lessened by unfortunate girls, and increased some-
what by deserted wives who report themselves as single.
The number of deserted wives, however, allowing for false
reports, is astoundingly large and presents many intricate
problems. A very large part of charity given to Negroes
is asked for this reason. The causes of desertion are partly
laxity in morals and partly the diflSculty of supporting a
family.

The lax moral habits of the slaye regime still show
themselves in a large amount of cohabitation without mar-
riage. In the slum districts there are many such families, i
which remain together years and are in effect common law
marriages. Some of these connections are broken by
whim or desire, although in many cases they are permanent
unions.

The economic diflSculties arise continually among
young waiters and servant girls ; away from home and
oppressed by the peculiar lonesomeness of a great city,
they form chance acquaintances here and there, thought-
lessly marry and soon find that the husband's income
cannot alone support a family ; then comes a struggle
which generally results in the wife's turning laundress,
but often results in desertion or voluntary separation.

The great number of widows is noticeable. The condi-
tions of life for men are much harder than for women and
they have consequently a much higher death-rate. Unac-
knowledged desertion and separation also increases this
total. Then, too, a large number of these widows are

'The number of actually divorced persons among the Negroes is
naturally insignificant; on the other hand the permanent separations are
large in number and an attempt has been made to count them. They do
not exactly correspond to the divorce column of ordinary statistics and
therefore take something from the married column. The number of
widowed is probably exagicerated somewhat, but even allowing for errors,
« the true figure is high. The markedly higher death-rate for males has
much to do with this. Cf. Chapter X.

68

Conjugal Condition.

[Chap. VI.

simply unmarried mothers and thus represent the unchastity
of a large number of women.*

The result of this large number of homes without hus-
bands is to increase the burden of charity and benevolence,
and also on account of their poor home-life to increase
crime. Here is a wide field for social regeneration.

Separating the sexes by age periods according to conjugal
condition we have these tables j

MAI.BS.

Conjugal Condition.

15-19.

20-39.

3*^3y*

40-49.

50-59.

60-69.

70 and
over.

Unk.
Ag«.

Single

Married • . • .
Widowed . .
Separated . . .

250

2

• •

• •

783

474

7

3

298
681

43
9

90

396

53

5

23
212

42

I

6

79
30

2

17
21

• •

20
4-

• •

Pbmai^bs.

Conjugal Condition.

Single . .
Married .
Widowed .
Separated

15-19.

30-29.

30-39.

40-49.

50-59.

60-69

70 and
over.

337

559

222

68

32

9

3

35

754

633

326

no

34

4

• •

47

192

217

179

III

88

• •

23

22

12

5

[

I

Unk.
Age.

10
22

9

2

When we remember that in slavery-time slaves usually
began to cohabit at an early age, these figures indicate
the sudden and somewhat disastrous application of the
preventive check to population through the economic stress
of life in large cities. Negro girls no longer marry in
their 'teens as their mothers and grandmothers did. Of
those in the twenties over 40 per cent are still unmarried,
and of those in the thirties 21 per cent. So sudden a
change in marriage customs means grave dangers, as shown
by the fact that forty-five of the married couples under
forty were permanently separated and 239 women were
widowed.

'Unfortunately Philadelphia has no reliable registration of births, and
the illegitimate birth rate of Negroes cannot be ascertained. This is
probably high judging from other conditions.

Sect 15.]

The Seventh Ward,

69

If we reduce the general conjugal condition to per cents,
we have this table :

Men.

Conjugal Condition.

15-40.

40-60.

Over 60.

Single

Married

Widowed

Separated

1.333

1,157

50
12

52.2

45.3

} 2.5

"3
608

95
6

%

13.7
73.9

} 12.4

8
96

51

5.1
62.0

32.9

Total

2,552

100

822

100

155

100

Here it is plain that although a large per cent of men
under forty marry there is nevertheless a number who wait
until they are settled in life and have a competence. With
the mass of Negroes, however, the waiting past the fortieth
year means simply increased caution about marriage ; or,
if they are widowers, about remarriage. Consequently
while, for instance, in Germany 84.8 per cent of the men
from forty to sixty are married, among the Negroes of this
ward less than 74 per cent are married. At the same time
there are indications of a large number of broken marriage
ties. Of the men under forty the bulk marry late, that is
in the thirties :

Conjugal Condition.

20-29.

30-39.

ngle

61.8?^
37.4

} •»

29%
66

Carried . .
Widowed .

Separated

5

Totel

• • •••••••••••#

100%

100%

Turning now to the women, we have a table in which

Conjugal
Condition.

15-40.

40-60.

Over 60.

Number.

Per Cent.

Number

Per Cent.

Number.

Per Cent.

Single ....
Married . . .
Widowed . . .
Separated. . .

1,118
1,422

239
45

39.6
50-3

1 10. 1

100
436

; 396
I 17

10.5
46.0

} 43.5

12
38

{199

4.9
150

1 80.1

Totel ....

2,824

100

949

100

251

100

a .

♦ » •

•-•

70

Conjugal Condition.

[Chap. VI.

the noticeable feature is the extraordinary number of wid-
owed and separated persons, indicating economic stress, a
high death-rate and lax morality. Such are the social
results of a large excess of young women in a city where
young men cannot afford to marry. Of the women below
forty, we have this tabulation :

Conjugal Condition.

Single
Married .
Widowed
Separated

30-39-

208
59.2

20.0

The comparatively large number of separations is here
to be noticed, and the fact that over a fifth of the women
between thirty and forty are unmarried and 40 per cent
are without husbands.

From all these statistics, making some allowance for the
small number of persons counted and the peculiar
conditions of the ward, we may conclude :

1. That a tendency to much later marriage than under
the slave system is revolutionizing the Negro family and
incidentally leading to much irregularity.

2. There is nevertheless still the temptation for young
men and women under forty to enter into matrimony
before their economic condition warrants it.

3. Among persons over forty there is a marked tendency
to single life.

4. The very large number of the widowed and separated
points to grave physical, economic and moral disorder.

16. The City. — The census of 1890 showed that the
conjugal condition of Negroes in the city was as follows :

Conjugal Condition.

Single . .
Married .
Widowed
Divorced

Total

liales over 15

Number.

Per Cent.

6,047

44.0

7,042

51.3

603

44

15

.3

13.707

100

Females over 15

Sect i6.]

TTie City.

71

Similar statistics for native whites with native parents
for the city, are :

Conjugal Condition.

Single

Widowed
Divorced

Total

100%

Males

Females

over 15.

over 15.

43-2%

38.0 J6

52.0

49.0

4.5

13.7

.3

.3

100%

These figures, although six years earlier, for the most part
confirm the statistics of the Seventh Ward, except in the
statistics of separation. In this respect the returns for the
Seventh Ward are probably more reliable as the census
counted only actually divorced persons. The largest dis-
crepancy is in the percentage of single females ; this prob-
ably comes from the fact that outside the Seventh Ward
the single servant girls form a large part of the Negro
population. On the whole it is noticeable that the conjugal
condition of the Negroes approaches so nearly that of the
whites, when the economic and social history of the two
groups has been so strikingly different

These statistics are the best measurements of the condi-
tion and tendencies of the Negro Home which we have,
and although they are crude and difficult in some cases
rightly to interpret, yet they shed much light on the
problem. First it must be remembered that the Negro
home and the stable marriage state is for the mass of the
colored people of the country and for a large per cent of
those of Philadelphia, a new social institution. The strictly
guarded savage home life of Africa, which with all its
shortcomings protected womanhood, was broken up com-
pletely by the slave ship, and the promiscuous herding of
the West Indian plantation put in its stead. From this
evolved the Virginia plantation where the double row of
little slave cabins were but parts of a communistic pater-
nalism centering in the Big House which was the real centre

JZ Conjugal Condition. [Chap. VI.

of the family life. Even in Pennsylvania where the plan-
tation system never was developed the slave family was
dependent in morals as well as work upon the master.
With emancipation the Negro family was first made inde-
pendent and with the migration to cities we see for the first
time the thoroughly independent Negro family. On the
whole it is a more successful institution than we had a
right to expect, even though the Negro has had a couple of
centuries of contact with some phases of the monogamic
ideal.* The great weakness of the Negro family is still
lack of respect for the marriage bond, inconsiderate
entrance into it, and bad household economy and family
government Sexual looseness then arises as a secondary
consequence, bringing adultery and prostitution in its train.
And these results come largely from the postponement of
marriage among the young. Such are the fruits of sudden
social revolution.*

* And, to teU the truth, contact with some very unsavory phases of iL

* There can be no doubt but what sexual looseness is to-day the pre-
vailing sin of the mass of the Negro population, and that its prevalence
can be traced to bad home life in most cases. Children are allowed on
the street night and day unattended; loose talk is often indulged in; the
sin is seldom if ever denounced in the churches. The same freedom is
allowed the poorly trained colored g^rl as the white girl who has come
through a strict home, and the result is that the colored g^rl more often
falls. Nothing but strict home life can avail in such cases. Of coarse
there is much to be said in palliation: the Negress is not respected by
men as white girls are, and consequently has no such general social
protection; as a servant, maid, etc., she has peculiar temptations;
especially the whole tendency of the situation of the Negro is to kiU his
self-respect which is the greatest safegiiard of female chastity.

CHAPTER VII.

SOURCES OF THE NEGRO POPULATION.

17. The Seventh Ward. — ^We have seen that there is in
Philadelphia a large population of Negroes, largely young
unmarried folks with a disproportionate number of women.
The question now arises, whence came these people ? How
far are they native Philadelphians, and how far immigrants,
and if the latter, how long have they been here ? Much
depends on the answer to these questions ; no conclusions
as to the eflfects of Northern city conditions on Negroes, as
to the effects of long, close contact with modern culture,
as to the general question of social and economic survival
on the part of this race, can be intelligently answered until
we know how long these people have been under the
influence of given conditions, and how they were trained
before they came.*

It is often tacitly assumed that the Negroes of Philadel-
phia are one homogeneous mass, and that the slums of the
Fifth Ward, for instance, are one of the results of long
contact with Philadelphia city life on the part of this
mass. There is just enough truth and falsehood in such an
assumption to make it dangerously misleading. The slums
of Seventh and Lombard streets are largely the results of
the contact of the Negro with city life, but the Negro in
question is a changing variable quantity and has felt city

^ The chief source of error in the returns as to birthplace are the
answers of those who do not desire to report their birthplace as in the
South. Naturally there is considerable social distinction between
recently arrived Southerners and old Philadelphians; consequently the
tendency is to give a Northern birthplace. For this reason it is probable
that even a smaller number than the few reported were really born in
the city.

(73)

74

Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.

influences for periods varying in diflerent persons from one
day to seventy years. A generalization then that includes
a North Carolina boy who has migrated to the city for
work and has been here for a couple of months, in the
same class with a descendant of several generations of
Philadelphia Negroes, is apt to make serious mistakes. The
first lad may deserve to be pitied if he falls into dissipation
and crime, the second ought perhaps to be condemned
severely. In other words our judgment of the thousands
of Negroes of this city must be in all cases considerably
modified by a knowledge of their previous history and
antecedents.

Of the 9675 Negroes in the Seventh Ward, 9138 gave
returns as to their birthplace. Of these, there were bom :

In Philadelphia 2939or 32.1 per cent.

In Pennsylvania,oatside of Philadelphia . 526 or 6.0
In the New England and Middle States . 485 or 5.3

In the South 4980 or 54.3

In the West and in foreign lands .... 208 or 2.3

<<

i<

<<

«<

That is to say, less than one-third of the Negroes living
in this ward were born here, and over one-half were bom
in the South. Separating them by sex and giving their
birthplaces more in detail, we have :

BlRTHPI^CB OP NBGR0BS» SBVBNTH WaRD.
Bom in

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania, ontside of Philadelphia

Virginia

Maryland

Delaware

New Jersey

District of Columbia

Other parts, and undesignated parts, of the

South

Other New England and Middle States .

Western States

Foreign countries

Unknown

Total

Males.

Females.

1,307

1,632

231

295

939

1,012

550
168

794
296

141
146

190
165

528
62
28

382

9»

27

IIO

291

43
246

4.501

5.174

T4

1,951

1,344

464

331

3"

910

154

55

153
537

9675

3ect 17.]

TTie Seventh Ward.

75

This means that a study of the Philadelphia Negroes
would properly begin in Virginia or Maryland and that
only a portion have had the opportunity of being reared
amid the advantages of a great city. To study this even
more minutely let us divide the population according to
age periods:

BntTHPI^CK BY AGS Pbriods.

Birthplmce.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

Vimnia, Maryland,
New Jersey, Dela-
ware, District of Co-
lumbia

Sonth in general . . .

North

West

Foreign lands ....

Unknown

Total

0-9.

lo-ao.

ai-30.

3X-40.

Over

40.

Un-
known.

1,004

8

737
52

502
185

289
no

396
168

ZI
3

137

432

1,564

1.150

1,090

28

20
II
10

79
12

9

375
45
12

259

^\
18

175

48

6

2
2
0

2

2

63

43

42

I

19

19

142

105

63

189

1,211

1,342

2,888

2,010

1.988

236

Total.

2,939

526

4,401

910

154

55
153
537

9.675

That the Negro immigration to the city is not an influx
of whole families is shown by the fact that 83 per cent of
the children under ten were bom in Philadelphia. Of the
youth from ten to twenty about one-half were bom in the
city. The great influx comes in the years from twenty-one
to thirty, for of these but 17 per cent were bom in the
city ; of the men and women born between 1856 and 1865,
that is, in war time, about one-seventh were bom in the
city; of the freedmen, that is those bom before 1856, a
larger portion, one-fifth, were bom in Philadelphia. The
wave of immigration may therefore be thus plotted :

76 Sources of the Negro PopuJation. [Chap. VII.

PERSONS born' 1

^j^ft* IB76-66 ie«6-ie7& 1856-1865

BrhniSSe

/

NATIVES

, 1

niu ^AN rs

^^^

fe.s\\wi\N

.\\\\\s\\\\\-,\\ ..\ys\\tv\ ^s

THS WAVS OP N8GBO lUHIGRATION.

The square represents the Negro population of the
Seventh Ward, divided into segments according to age by
the upright lines ; the shaded portions show the proportioQ
of immigrants.

Further detailed information as to birthplace is given in
the next table. (See pages 77 and 78.)

Much of the immigration to Philadelphia is indirect;
Negroes come from country districts to small towns ; then go
to larger towns ; eventually they drift to Norfolk, Va., or
to Richmond. Next they come to Washington, and finally
settle in Baltimore or Philadelphia.' The training they
receive from such wanderings is not apt to improve young
persons greatly, and the custom has undoubtedly helped to
swell the numbers of a large migratory criminal class who
are often looked upon as the product of particular cities,
when, as a matter of fact, they are the offscourings of

(Compare "The Negroes of Pannville: A Social Study," in SmiUtim
of U. 8. Labor Bureau, Januarf, 189S.

Sect 17.]

The Seventh Ward.

77

PHILADELPHIA— NEGROES OF SEVENTH WARD, 1896.

BlRTHPZ^ACB— MaI,ES BY PiVB AGB PBRIODS.

Section

City.

SUte.

I

\

Jrn

^ O

Place.

Philadelphia ....

Pennsylvania . .

New Jersey

Maryland

Virginia

District of Columbia
Delaware

North Carolina . . .
South Carolina . . .

Geor;eia

Florida

Alabama

Mississippi

Louisiana . . . .
West Virginia . . .

Kentucky

Tennessee

Missouri

Texas

'*South"

Massachusetts . . .
Connecticut . . . .

New York

Rhode Island ....
Maine

Minnesota

Nebraska

Ohio

Michigan . . . . .

Illinois

California

"West"

West Indies . . . .

Canada

Africa

Portugal

Mexico

East Indies

Nova Scotia . . . .
South America . . .

Unknown

o-g.

486

10
20

6

2

5
o

o

I

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

I

I

2

I
o
o

I
o
o
o
o
o
o

xo^ao.

o

2

o
o
o
o
o
o

8

337

20

14
48

48

13
12

21

5
o

I

o

o

o

I

I

o

o

o

5

2
o

4

2
o

o
I

4
I

o

o

o

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

al-30.

208

92

31

164
420

55
40

97
22

14
II

2

o

4

13

2

9
o

I
55

7
I

8

I

I

o
o

4
o

2

o

o

37
I

3

2

I
o
o
o

87

Over

31-40.

40.

123

151

49

64

42

44

137

176

268

178

50

22

42

71

63

35

16

II

5

10

5

I

0

4

2

0

I

I

3

4

4

3

3

2

0

2

2

0

50

29

I

4

I

2

5

15

3

0

I

0

0

0

0

0

5

3

0

0

2

0

I

0

2

2

30

24

I

3

I

0

0

0

0

0

I

0

I

0

2

I

56

25

Un-
known.

O

5

6

o

I

o
I
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o
o
o

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

108

78

Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.

PHILADELPHIA— NEGROES OP SEVENTH WARD, 189S.

BntTHPLACB— PBMAI.BS BY FiVB AGS PBRIODS.

Section

Plmce.

-9.

lo-ao.

ax-30.

31-40.

Over
40.

Un-
knowa.

City.

Philadelphia .....

518

400

294

166

245

9

8Ute.

Pennsylvania

3

32

93

61

104

2

Neighboring
8UUS.

New Jersey

15

19

44

52

58

2

Maryland

16

92

254

217

211

%

Virginia

35

129

431

242

169

District of Columbia .

13

3»

69

29

22

I

Delaware

I

26

56

71

139

5

North Carolina ....

8

31

66

32

3a

0

South Carolina ....

I

4

8

12

II

0

Georgia

Florida

2

3

12

4

3

0

0

I

5

I

0

I

Alabama

0

0

6

0

0

0

■

Mississippi

0

3

I

3

I

0

%

Louisiana

0

0

I

2

2

0

1

West Viiginia ....

0

I

7

9

I

0

w

Kentucky

0

0

3

I

I

0

Tennessee

0

0

I

2

4

0

Missouri

0

0

I

2

2

0

Texas

0

0

0

I

0

0

Arkansas

0

0

I

0

0

0

'•South"

2

3

33

36

16

0

-Ji

Massachusetts ....

2

0

5

4

3

0

Connecticut

New York

I

4

0
4

4
17

2
15

10
9

I
I

'^fiSS

Rhode Island

0

0

I

4

2

0

Maine

0

0

0

0

3

0

Minnesota

2

0

0

0

0

0

\

Ohio

0

I

6

7

I

0

Michigan

3

0

0

I

0

0

Delaware

4

I

0

0

0

0

Kansas

0

I

0

0

0

0

ti

West Indies

0

0

7

I

6

0

Canada

0

0

3

3

5

0

Forej
Count

South America ....

0

0

I

0

0

0

Cuba. . .

0

0

I

0

0

0

Europe*

0

2

7

3

3
38

I

?

Unknown

II

12

55

49

81

* Intermarried whites.

country districts, sharpened and prepared for crime by the
slums of many cities through which they have passed.

Sect. 17.]

The Seventh Ward.

79

Besides these, there is the large and well-intentioned class
who are seeking to better their lot and are attracted by
the larger life of the city.

Much light, therefore, will be thrown on the question of
migration if we take the Negro immigrants as a class and
inquire how long they have lived in the city ; we can sepa-
rate the immigrants into four classes, corresponding to the
waves of immigration : first, the ante-bellum immigrants,
resident thirty-five years or more ; second, the refugees of
war time and the period following, resident twenty-one to
thirty-four years ; third, the laborers and sightseers of the
time of the Centennial, resident ten to twenty years;
fourth, the recent immigration, which may be divided into
those resident from five to nine years, from one to four
years, and those who have been in the city less than a
year. Of 5337 immigrants,' the following classes may be
made :

ArriTcd since De-
cember 1.

Resident.

Number.

Per cent.

Per cent.

1895

1892

1887

1875

1862

Before i860 . . .

Yean.
Under i

I to 4

5to9

10 to 20

21 to 34

35 and over.

293
I|242
1.308

1,143
1,040

3"

5.5
23.2

24.5
21.4

19.4

6.0

} 28.7

} 45.9
} 25.4

*

53.2

•

46.8

Before 1896 . .

5»337

100

100

100

Thus we see that the majority of the present immigrants
arrived since 1887, and nearly 30 per cent since 1892.
Carrying out the division by age periods, we have :

* In the case of lodgers not at home and sometimes of members of
families answers could not be obtained to this question. There were in
all 862 persons bom outside the city from whom answers were not
obtained.

8o

Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VIL

Aire.
Tears Resident.

0-9.

10-90.

ai-30.

31-40.

Over 40.

Un-
known.

Under i 3rear ....

I to 4 yean ....

5 to 9 yean ....
lo to ao yean ....
21 to 34 yean ....
35 yean and over . .

40

77
48

0

0

0

56
181

139

103

0

0

"3
648

603

343
107

0

60

239
355
449
334
17

23

94

157

238

595
294

3

3
6

10

4
0

Total

165

479

1,814

1,454

1,400

26

This table simply confirms the testimony of others as to
the recent immigration of young people. Without doubt
these statistics of immigration considerably understate the
truth ; strong social considerations lead many Negroes to
give their birthplace as Philadelphia when, as a matter of
fact, it may be elsewhere. We may then safely conclude
that less than a third of the Negroes in the city were bom
here, and of the others less than a quarter have been resi-
dent twenty years or more. So that half the Negro popu-
lation can not in any sense be said to be a product of the
city, but rather represents raw material, whose transforma-
tion forms a pressing series of social problems. Of course,
not all immigrants are undesirable material, nor are the
native Negroes all creditable to the city ; on the contrary,
many of the best specimens of Negroes both past and
present were not bom in the city,* while some of the most
baffling problems arise as to the young people of native
families. Nevertheless, as a whole, it is true that the
average of culture and wealth and social efficiency is far
lower among immigrants than natives, and that this gives
rise to the gravest of the Negro problems.

18. The City. — The available figures for the past are not
many nor altogether reliable, yet it seems probable that
the per cent of immigrants to-day is as large as at any
previous time and perhaps larger. In 1848, 57.3 per cent
of 15,532 Negroes were natives of the State, and the

* Absalom Jones, Dorsey, Minion, Henry Jones and Augustin were
none of them natives of Philadelphia.

Sect i8.] The City. 8i

remaining 42.7 per cent immigrants. In 1890 we have
only figures for the whole State, which show that 45 per
cent of the Negroes were immigrants mainly from Vir-
ginia, Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, North Carolina,
etc.* For Philadelphia the percentage would probably
be higher.

The new immigrants usually settle in pretty well-defined
localities in or near the slums, and thus get the worst pos-
sible introduction to city life. In 1848, five thousand of
the 6600 immigrants lived in the narrow and filthy alleys
of the city and Moyamensing. To-day they are to be
found partly in the slums and partly in those small streets
with old houses, where there is a dangerous intermingling
of good and bad elements fatal to growing children and
unwholesome for adults. Such streets may be found in the
Seventh Ward, between Tenth and Juniper streets, in parts
of the Third and Fourth Wards and in the Fourteenth and
Fifteenth Wards. This mingling swells the apparent size
of many slum districts, and at the same time screens the
real criminals. Investigators are often surprised in the
worst districts to see red-handed criminals and good-hearted,
hard-working, honest people living side by side in apparent
harmony. Even when the new immigrants seek better
districts, their low standard of living and careless appear-
ance make them unwelcome to the better class of blacks and
to the great mass of whites. Thus they find themselves

* Chinese, Japanese and Indians are included in these tables. The
exact figures are:

Negro population of Pennsylvania 107,626

Of these, bom in Pennsylvapia 58,681

Virginia 19.873

Maryland 12,202

Delaware 4>85i

New Jersey 1,786

New York 891

North Carolina i»362

District Columbia i>i3i

Unknown 1,804

6

82 Sources of the Negro Population. [Chap. VII.

hemmed in between the slums and the decent sections,
and they easily drift into the happy-go-lucky life of
the lowest classes and rear young criminals for our jails.
On the whole, then, the sociological effect of the immigra-
tion of Negroes is the same as that of illiterate foreigners
to this country, save that in this case the brunt of the
burden of illiteracy, laziness and inefficiency has been, by
reason of peculiar social conditions, put largely upon the
shoulders of a group which is least prepared to bear it

CHAPTER VIII.

EDUCATION AND ILLITERACY.

19. The History of Negro Education. — Anthony
Benezet and the Friends of Philadelphia have the honor
of first recognizing the fact that the welfare of the State
demands the education of Negro children. On the
twenty-sixth of January, 1770, at the Philadelphia Monthly
Meeting of Friends, the general situation of the Negroes,
and especially the free Negroes, was discussed. On motion
of one, probably Benezet, it was decided that instruction
ought to be provided for Negro children.^ A committee
was appointed, and on February 30 this committee pro-
posed " that a committee of seven Friends be nominated
by the Monthly Meeting, who shall be authorized to
employ a schoolmistress of prudent and exemplary con-
duct, to teach not more at one time than thirty children in
the first rudiments of school learning, and in sewing and
knitting. That the admission of scholars into the said
school be entrusted to the said committee, giving to the
children of free Negroes and Mulattoes the preference, and
the opportunity of being taught clear of expense to their
parents." A subscription of ;^ioo (about $266.67) was
recommended for this purpose. This report was adopted,
and the school opened June 28, 1770, with twenty-two
colored children in attendance. In September the pupils
had increased to thirty-six, and a teacher in sewing and
knitting was employed. Afterward those who could, were
required to pay a sum, varying from seven shillings six-
pence to ten shillings per quarter, for tuition. The following

'This account is mainly from the pamphlet: ''A Brief Sketch of the
Schools for Black People/' etc. Philadelphia, 1867.

(83)

84 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.

year a school-house was built on Walnut street, below
Fourth — a one-story brick building, 32 by 18 feet

From 1770 to 1775 two hundred and fifty children and
grown persons were instructed. Interest, however, began
to wane, possibly under the war-cloud, and in 1775 but
five Negro children were in attendance and some white
children were admitted. Soon, however, the parents were
aroused, and we find forty Negroes and six whites attend-
ing.

After the war Benezet took charge of the school and
held it in his house at Third and Chestnut At his death,
in 1784, he left a part of his estate to " hire and employ a
religious-minded person or persons to teach a number of
Negro, Mulatto or Indian children, to read, write, arithme-
tic, plain accounts, needle-work, etc." Other bequests
were received, including one from a Negro, Thomas Shir-
ley, and from this fund the schools, afterward known as the
Raspberry street schools, were conducted for many years,
and a small school is still maintained. In the early part
of the century sixty to eighty scholars attended the school,
and a night school was opened. In 1844 ^ ^^^ ^^ Raspberry
street was purchased, and a school-house erected. Here,
from 1844 to 1866, eight thousand pupils in all were
instructed.

Public schools for Negroes were not established until
about 1822, when the Bird school, now known as the
James Forten, was opened on Sixth street, above Lombard ;
in 1830 an unclassified school in West Philadelphia was
begun, and in 1833 the Coates street school, now known
as the Vaux school, on Coates street (now called Fairmount
Avenue), near Fifth, was established. Other schools were
opened at Frankford in 1839, at Paschalville in 1841, on
Corn street in 1849, ^^^ ^^ Holmesburg in 1854. In
1838 the Negro school statistics were as follows :

Sect 19.] History of Negro Education.

85

Nbgro Schooz, Statistics, 1838.

Schools.

Pupils
Enrolled.

Average
Attendance.

9 free schools

1,116
226
102
288

713
125

89
260

3 schools, partly free

3 pay schools, white teachers

10 pay schools, colored teachers

25 schools

1,732

I.187

Total children of school age 3»o25.

Ten years later school facilities had greatly increased:

Nbgro School Statistics, 1847.

Schools.

Pupils
Enrolled.

Public Grammar School, Lombard street

Abolition Society Infant School, Lombard street

Public Primary School, Gaskill street

463
70

226

Raspberry Street School

155

"3
166

207

32
81
12

67
296

Public Primary School, Brown street

Adelphi School, Wager street ...

Shiloh Baptist ChurcSi Infant School, Clifton and Cedar Sts.

Bedford Street School

Moral Reform School

Public School, Oak street. West Philadelphia

At undesignated public schools

At twenty priyate schools

Total ....

1,888

At work and apprenticed

504
2,074

At home and unaccounted for

Total Negro children . .

4.466

This would seem to indicate a smaller percentage of
children in school than in the last decade — a natural out-
come of the period of depression through which the
Negroes had just passed.

In 1850 the United States census reported 3498 adults
who could neither read nor write, among the Negroes of
the city. The adult population at that time must have
been about 8000. There were 2176 children in school.
In 1856 we have another set of detailed statistics :

86

Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.

School*.

Public schools

Charity schools

Benevolent and reformatory schools
Private schools

Total

ToUl
Knrolment.

Average
Attendance.

821
491

Children from 8 to 18 not in school 1,62a

The schools by this time had increased in number.
There were the following public schools :

Schools and Situations.

Bird, Sixth above Lombard street, Boys'
Department, Grammar School . . .

Bird, Sixth above Lombard street. Girls'
Department, Grammar School ....

Bird, Sixth above Lombard street. Primary
Department

Robert Vaux, Coates street, unclassified .

West Philadelphia, Oak street, unclassified

Com street, unclas.<dfied

Frankford, unclassified

Holmesburg, unclassified

Banneker, Paschalville, unclassified . . .

Total

Number

Bnrol-

Teachers.

ment.

4

228

4

252

3

183

2

136

2

97

I

47

I

31

I

25

I

32

19

1,031

Average
Attendance

208

293

150

95
78

32

25

19

15

913

The public schools seemed to have been largely manned
by colored teachers, and were for a long time less efficient
than the charity schools. The grammar schools at one time,
about 1844, were about to be given up, but were saved,
and in 1856 were doing fairly well. The charity schools
were as follows :

i
Schools. 1 Teachers.

Enrol-
ment.

Av. Attend-
ance.

Institute for Colored Youth, Lombard St. .
Raspberry St. schools. Boys* Department
Raspberry St. schools. Girls' Department
Adelphi, Wager Street, Girls* Department
Adelphi, Wager street, Infants* Department

Sheppard, Randolph street

School at the House of Industry

School for Destitute, Lombard street . .
Infant School, South and Cliflon streets .

House of Refuge School

Orphans* Shelter School, Thirteenth street
Home for Colored Children, Girard avenue

2
2
2
2
2
2

3

I

3

3

2

I

31
90

79

70

95
60

100

73
150
119

73
19

26
64

53
42
61
40

75

45

85
III

73
19

Total

25

959

694

Sect. 19.] History of Negro Education. 87

Of the above schools, the House of Refuge, Orphans'
Shelter, House of Industry, and Home for Colored Children
were schools connected with benevolent and reformatory
institutions. The Raspberry school was that founded by
Benezet. The Institute for Colored Youth was founded by
Richard Humphreys, a West Indian ex-slaveholder, who
lived in Philadelphia. On his death, in 1832, he bequeathed
the sum of $10,000 to the Friends, to found an institution,
"having for its object the benevolent design of instructing
the descendants of the African race in school learning, in the
various branches of the mechanic arts and trades, and in
agriculture, in order to prepare, fit and qualify them to act
as teachers." The Institute was acccordingly founded in
1837, chartered in 1842, and upon receiving further gifts
was temporarily located on Lombard street. In 1866
additional sums were raised, and the Institute located on
Bainbridge street, above Ninth, where it is still conducted.

There were in 1856 the following private schools :

Grade.

Schools.

Enrollment.

For hi^h school work

I

2

10

30

30

271

For grammar school work

For common branches

Total

13

331

There were also two night schools, with an attendance
of 150 or more.

The percentage of illiteracy in the city was still large.
Bacon's investigation showed that of 9021 adults over
twenty years of age, 45^ per cent were wholly illiterate,
16^ per cent could read and write and 19 per cent could
"read, write and cipher." Detailed statistics for each
ward are given in the next table :

88

Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIIL

IZ«UTBRACY OF PhILADBZ«PHIA NBGROBS, 1854-6.

Ward.

I . . .

2 . . .

3 . . .

4 . . .

5 • • .

6 . . .

7 . . .

8 . . .

9 . . .

10 . . .

11 . . •

12 . . .

13 . . •

14 . . .

15 . . •

16 . . .

17 . . .

18 . . .

19 . . .

20 . . .

21 . . .

22 . . .

23 . . .

24. . ■ >

Totel

Of these

Total

there cas

Read

Adults over

Read,

and

Read.

ao Years

Write and

Write.

of Age.

Cipher.

223

25

23

47

349

36

54

76

275

60

48

68

1,427

262

199

273

1,818

350

285

310

151

21

25

34

1,867

431

337

3"

969

204

192

199

76

20

16

19

208

40

39

42

37

2

II

5

234

53

35

42

69

15

12

15

233

34

46

66

157

20

26

29

82

17

12

13

70

13

8

II

4

I

I

0

114

6

20

18

99

22

12

15

2

0

0

I

36

7

4

7

249

30

43

48

252

41

34

37

9,001

1,710

1,482

1,686

ToUllf
IlUterate.

128
183

99
693
873

71
788

374
21

87

19

104

27

87
82
40

38

2
70

50

I

18
128
140

4.123

Separate schools for black and white were maintained
from the beginning, barring the slight mixing in the early
Quaker schools. Not only were the common schools sep-
arate, but there were no public high schools for Negroes,
professional schools were closed to them, and within the
memory of living men the University of Pennsylvania not
only refused to admit Negroes as students, but even as
listeners in the lecture halls.* Not until 1881 was a law
passed declaring it " unlawful for any school director, super-
intendent or teacher to make any distinction whatever on
account of, or by reason of, the race or color of any pupil
or scholar who may be in attendance upon, or seeking
admission to, any public or common school maintained

' within a few years a Negro had to fight his way through a promi-
nent dental college in the city.

Seet. 20.] The Present Condition. 89

whoUj^ or in part under the school laws of this common-
wealth." This enactment was for some time evaded, and
even now some discrimination is practiced quietly in the
matter of admission and transfers. There are also schools
still attended solely by Negro pupils and taught by
Negro teachers, although, of course, the children are at
liberty to go elsewhere if they choose. They are kept
largely through a feeling of loyalty to Negro teachers.
In spite of the fact that several Negroes have been gradu-
ated with high marks at the Normal School, and in at
least one case " passed one of the best examinations for a
supervising principal's certificate that has been accom-
plished in Philadelphia by any teacher," * yet no Negro
has been appointed to a permanent position outside the
few colored schools.

20. The Present Condition. — There were, in 1896,
5930 Negro children in the public schools of the city,
against 6150 in 1895 and 6262 in 1897. Confining our-
selves simply to the Seventh Ward, we find the total popu-
lation of legal school age — six to thirteen in Pennsylvania —
was 862 in 1896, of whom 740, or 85.8 per cent, were
reported as attending school at some time during the year.
Of the persons five to twenty years of age about 48 per
cent were in school. Statistics by age and sex are in the
next table.* (See page 90.)

Some difference is to be noted between the sexes : Of
the children six to thirteen years of age, 85 per cent of the
boys and nearly 86 per cent of the girls are in school ; of
the youth fourteen to twenty, 20 per cent of the boys and
21 per cent of the girls are in school. The boys stop
school pretty suddenly at sixteen, the girls at seventeen.

* Philadelphia Ledger^ August 13, 18974

^The chief error in the school returns arises from irregularity in
attendance. These reported in school were there sometime during the
year, and possibly off and on during the whole year, but many were not
steady attendants.

90

Education and lUUercuy. [Chap. VIII.

Nearly ii per cent of the children in school were in
attendance less than the full term f of these attending the
whole term there is much irregularity through absences
and tardiness. On the whole, therefore, the effective school
attendance is less than appears at first sight.

ScHOoi, Population and Attsndancb (1896-97) by

Negroes of the Seventh Ward.

Agb.

Males.

Females.

Age.

School
Population.

School
Attendance.

School
Population.

School
Attendance.

Kindeigarten f 4 years .
age 1 5 years .

67
46

"3

5
II

66

51

6
19

Total of Kindeigarten age

16

117

25

Pennsylva-
nia legal
school age.

6 years .

7 years .

8 years .

9 years .

10 yeArs .

1 1 years .

12 years .
L 13 years .

50
48

53
54
49
39
45
53

28

40

48

50

44

38

39
46

56

67
51
57
58
62
61

35
45
59
50
52
55
56

55

Total of legal

school age

391

333

471

407

Youth
above legal
school a^e, •
and under
voting age.

r 14 years .

15 years .

16 years .

17 years .

18 years .

19 years .
. 20 years .

45
39
53
50

55
56
67

35
22

24
6

4

2

0

52

52

71

87
80

91
122

36

24

31

19

4
I

2

Total youth

Total child:
(Ustial sch

I . . 14-20

365

93

555

117

ren . 5-20
lool age. )

802

437

1077

543

The question of illiteracy is a diflScult one to tfave
answered without actual tests, especially when the people
questioned have some motives for appearing less ignorant
than they actually are. The figures for the Seventh Ward,
therefore, undoubtedly understate the illiteracy somewhat ;
nevertheless the error is not probably large enough to

s Of 647 school children 62 were in school less than nine months — tome
less than three. Probably many more than this did not attend the fall
term.

Sect 20.]

The Present Condition.

91

deprive the figures of considerable value, and compared with
statistics taken in a similar manner they are probably of
average reliability/ Of 8464 Negroes in the Seventh
Ward the returns show that 12.17 per cent are totally
illiterate. Comparing this with previous years we have :

1850
1856
1870

44 per cent. 1890 18 per cent.

45>i " 1896 (7th Ward) 12.17 ** »
22

II

The large number of young people in the Seventh Ward
probably brings the average of illiteracy below the level
of the whole city. Why this is so may be seen if we take
the illiteracy of four age-classes :

•

Age.

Read and
Write.

Read.'

nuterate.

Youth, 10 to 20 years of age

Men and women, 21 to 30 years of age . .
Men and women, 31 to 40 years of age .
Men and women, over 40 years of age . .

94%
90

77
61

6
10

4%

4

17
29

The same difference is plain if we take the returns of the
census of 1890 for the colored population of the whole city :

Age.

10 to 19 .
20t034 .
35t044 .
45 and over

Total (including those of unknown age)

Population over 10

Per cent of total illiteracy

niiterate
Males.

niiterate
Females.

138

836

1,098

334

216
1,096

1,571
775

2,450

3»7i9

Males.
15,981

Females.
18,266

15%

21%

Total
niiterates.

354
1,932
2^669

1,109

6,169

Colored
Persons.

34,247
18%

* Ab has before been noted, the Negroes are less apt to deceive deliber-
ately than some other peoples. The ability to read, however, is a point
of pride with them, and especial pains was taken in the canvass to avoid
error; oflen two or more questions on the point were asked. Nevertheless
aU depended in the main on voluntary answers.

^ This looks small and yet it probably approximates the truth. My
general impression from talking with several thousand Negroes in the
Seventh Ward is that the percentage of total illiteracy is small among
them.

92

Education and Illiteracy. [Chap.VIIL

Separating those in the Seventh Ward by sex, we have
this table, showing a total illiteracy of lo per cent among
the males and 17 per cent among the females :

I1.UTBKACY BY Sex and by Age Periods. — Seventh Ward.

Males.

Females.

Sex— Ages.

■

I

Read

and

Write.

1

Wholly
Illiterate.

I

0
1

t

Read

and

Write.

Read.

Wholly
niiterate.

•

a
a

Youth. 10 to 20 years .

Post-Dellum men.
(born since 1865),
21 to 30 years ....

Men of war time
(bom between 1855
and 1866), 31 to 40
years

Preedmen (bom be-
fore 1856), over 40
years

Ot unknown age . .

550
1.396

978

887
120

514
1,229

784

625
12

xo
45

40

63

I

13
61

III

181
3

13
61

43

18
104

792
1,492

1,032

1,101

116

730
1.283

697

558

24

x6
55

84

136

a

38
X16

an

381
4

8
38

40

26

86

Total 1 3,931

3.164

159

369 1 230

4.533 1 3,292

293

750

198

Granting that those reporting themselves as able to read
should in most cases be included under the illiterate, and
that therefore the rate of illiteracy in the Seventh Ward is
about 18 per cent, and perhaps 20 per cent for the city,
nevertheless the rate is, all things considered, low and
places the Philadelphia Negroes in a position not much
worse than that of the total population of Belgium (15.9
per cent), so far as actual illiterates are concerned.®

■The Seventh Special Report of the United States Commissioner of
Labor enables us to make some comparison of the illiteracy of the foreign
and Negro populations of the City:

Nationalities.

Italians, 1894 . . .
Russians, 1894 . .
Poles, 1894 ....
Hungarians, 1894
Irish, 1894 ....
Negroes, 7th W., 1896
Germans, 1894 . . .

Persons able to
Read and Write.

niiterates.

1396

36.37 p. c.

2442

63.63 p.c.

1128

58.08 *•

814

41.92 '•

838

59.73 "

565

40.27 "

314

69.16 "

140

30.84 "

541

74.ai ••

xS8

25-79 "

6893

81.44 ••

X571

18.56 "

451

85.26 "

78

14.74 "

Comparison of
Illiteracy.

The foreigners here reported include all those living in certain puts of
the Third and Fourth Wards of Philadelphia. They are laigdy nooit
immigrants. The Russians and Poles are mostly Jews. — Isabh BaXOWp

Sect. 20.] The Present Condition. 93

The degree of education of those who can read and write
can only be indicated in general terms. The majority
have only a partial common school education from the
country schools of the South or the primary grades of the
city ; a considerable number have taken grammar school
work ; a very few have entered the high schools and there
have been from fifty to one hundred graduates from col-
leges and professional schools since the war. Exact figures
as to the proportion of students taking higher courses are
not easily obtained.

In the Catto School, 1867-96, 11 per cent of those enter-
ing the primary grade were promoted to the grammar
school ; less than i per cent of those entering the primary
grade of the Vaux School were promoted to the High
School. Of those graduating from the course at the Insti-
tute for Colored Youth, 8 per cent have taken a college or
professional course.^ Thus it appears that of 1000 colored
children entering the primary grade no go to the gram-
mar school, ten to the high school and one to college or
to a professional school. The basis of induction here is,
however, too small for many conclusions.^®

At present there are in the Seventh Ward thirteen schools
for children of all races and sixty-four teachers, with school
property valued at $214,382. The schools are : one com-
bined grammar and secondary, three secondary, one com-
bined secondary and primary^ four primary and four
kindergartens.

In the city the following are the public schools chiefly
attended by Negroes :

*Data famished by two principals of colored schools. At present
(1897) there are 58 Negro students in the following schools: Central
High, Girls* Normal, Girls' High, Central Manual Training and North
Bast Manual Training; or about one per cent of the total school enroll-
ment.

"•Probably the percentage of children promoted from primary to
grammar grades in this case is unusually small.

94 Education and Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.

Coulter street, Twenty-wcond Section . . 45 bojv, 39 glrla, all colored.

J. E. Hill, Gemuuitown 84 " 89 "

Robert Vanx, Wood atreet 67 *' 74 "

O. V. Catto, Lombard street 140 " 150 "

Wilmot, Meadow and Cheirr ttreeta . . 48 " 47 "
Jamea Miller, FortjHKCondand Ludlow its., >4 " 13 "
J. S. Ramsey, Quince and Pine stieeta . . 243 " a53 "

colored.
All the teachers are colored except those in the Ramsey
and Miller schools, who are all white. There are a few
colored kindergarten teachers in various sections, and large
ntunbeis of colored children go to other schools heside
those designated. Many of the colored schools have a high
reputation for efficient work." There is, theoretically,
no discrimination in night schools and some Negroes
go to white schools ; for the most part, however, the
Negroes are in the following night schools :

PHII.ADBLPHIA COUJRHD NiOHT SCHOOU

1895.

Name of Scbool.

ft

i

i

m

ii

M

i

i

u

J

i

i-.

1

< l<£^

i

-

"

I

<

0. V. Catta

Coulter .(reet . . .

6a

1

38

i

'\

ii

«

.«

1

s

I

ofcily-whlwanil
colork

SM7

nx*

8M.

«

.,„

...«

*n

as

■es

«

IB

" The following report from a member of tbe Committee on Schools of
the City Councila is taken from the Philadelphia Ledger, December 3,
1896: On the matter ol the needs of the colored population in connection
with tbe schools, Mr. Meehan had to say: " Voaug women of the colored
race are qualifying tbenisclvea for public school teachera by taking; the
regular conrae throngh onr Normal School. No matter how welt
qualified they may be to teach, directon do not elect them to positions in
the schools. It ia taken for granted that only white teachers shall be
placed in charge of white children. Tbe colored Normal School grad-
uates might be given a chance by appointments in the centre of some
colored population, so that colored people might support their own
teachera if so disposed, as they support their own ministers in their

Sect 20.] The Present Condition. 95

The Institute for Colored Youth is still a popular and
useful institution. It gives grammar and high school
courses. In 1890, by the eflTorts of both white and colored
friends," an industrial department, with eleven teachers,
was added. Among the men trained here are Octavius V.
Catto, Jacob C. White, Jr., who was for thirty-five years
principal of the Vaux School, two ex-ministers from the
United States to Haiti, and the young colored physician
who recently broke twenty-five years record in the excel-
lence of his examination before the State Board. Under
Mr. White, mentioned above, Mr. Henry Tanner, the artist
recently honored by the French government, was graduated
from the Vaux School.

Considering this testimony as a whole, it seems certain
that the Negro problem in Philadelphia is no longer, in the
main, a problem of sheer ignorance ; to be sure, there is
still a very large totally illiterate class of perhaps 6000
persons over ten years of age ; then, too, the other 24,000
are not in any sense of the word educated as a mass ; most
of them can read and write fairly well, but few have a
training beyond this. The leading classes among them are
mostly grammar school graduates, and a college bred person
is very exceptional. Thus the problem of education is
still large and pressing ; and yet considering their ignorance
in the light of history and present experience, it must be
acknowledged that there are other social problems con-
nected with this people more pressing than that of educa-
tion ; that a fair degree of persistence in present methods
will settle in time the question of ignorance, but other
social questions are by no means so near solution.

The only diflSculties in the matter of education are care-
lessness in school attendance, and poverty which keeps

separate colored chtirches. The good result of this arrangement is
shown by the experience in the Twenty-second Section, where there are
two schools with seven colored teachers, ranking among the most
popular in the section.'*
" Negroes in the city raised f 2000 toward this.

g6 Education afid Illiteracy. [Chap. VIII.

children out of school. The former is a matter for the
colored people to settle themselves, and is one to which
their attention needs to be called. While much has been
done, yet it cannot be said that Negroes have fully grasped
their great school advantages in the city by keeping their
younger children regularly in school, and from this remiss-
ness much harm has sprung.

CHAPTER IX.

THE OCCUPATIONS OF NEGROES.

21. The Question of Earning a Living. — For a group
of freedraen the question of economic survival is the most
pressing of all questions ; the problem as to how, under
the circumstances of modem life, any group of people can
earn a decent living, so as to maintain their standard of
life, is not always easy to answer. But when the question
is complicated by the fact that the group has a low degree
of eflSciency on account of previous training ; is in com-
petition with well-trained, eager and often ruthless com-;
petitors ; is more or less handicapped by a somewhat
indefinite but existent and wide reaching discrimination ;
and, finally, is seeking not merely to maintain a standard
of living but steadily to raise it to a higher plane — such a
situation presents baffling problems to the sociologist and
philanthropist

And yet this is the situation of the Negro in Philadel-
phia ; he is trying to better his condition ; is seeking to
rise ; for this end his first need is work of a character to
engage his best talents, and remunerative enough for him
to support a home and train up his children well. The
competition in a large city is fierce, and it is difficult for
any poor people to succeed. The Negro, however, has two
especial difficulties : his training as a slave and freedman
has not been such as make the average of the race as
efficient and reliable workmen as the average native Amer-
ican or as many foreign immigrants. The Negro is, as a
rule, willing, honest and good-natured ; but he is also, as
a rule, careless, unreliable and unsteady. This is without
doubt to be expected in a people who for generations have

7 (97)

98 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

been trained to shirk work ; but an historical excuse
counts for little in the whirl and battle of bread-winning.
Of course, there are large exceptions to this average rule ;
there are many Negroes who are as bright, talented and
reliable as any class of workmen, and who in untrammeled
competition would soon rise high in the economic scale,
and thus by the law of the survival of the fittest we should
soon have left at the bottom those ineflScient and lazy
drones who did not deserve a better fate. However, in the
realm of social phenomena the law of survival is greatly
modified by human choice, wish, whim and prejudice.
And consequently one never knows when one sees a social
outcast how far this failure to survive is due to the defi-
j ciencies of the individual, and how far to the accidents or
^injustice of his environment. This is especially the case
with the Negro. Every one knows that in a city like
Philadelphia a Negro does not have the same chance to
exercise his ability or secure work according to his talents
as a white man. Just how far this is so we shall discuss
later ; now it is suflScient to say in general that the sorts
of work open to Negroes are not only restricted by their
own lack of training but also by discrimination against
them on account of their race ; that their economic rise is
not only hindered by their present poverty, but also by a
widespread inclination to shut against them many doors of
advancement open to the talented and efficient of other
races.

What has thus far been the result of this complicated
situation ? What do the mass of the Negroes of the city
at present do for a living, and how successful are they in
those lines ? And in so far as they are successful, what
have they accomplished, and where they are inefficient in
their present sphere of work, what is the cause and rem-
edy ? These are the questions before us, and we proceed
to answer the first in this chapter, taking the occupations
of the Negroes of the Seventh Ward first, then of the city

Sect 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 99

in a general way, and finally saying a word as to the
past.

22. Occupations in the Seventh Ward. — Of the 257
boys between the ages of ten and twenty, who were regu-
larly at work in 1896, 39 per cent were porters and errand
boys ; 25.5 per cent were servants ; 16 per cent were common
laborers, and 19 per cent had miscellaneous employment.
The occupations in detail are as follows : *

Total population, males 10 to 20 . . . .651
Engaged in gainful occupations .... 257

Porters and errand bo3r8 100 39.0 per cent.

Servants 66 25.5

Common laborers 40 16.0

Teamsters 7

Apprentices 6

Bootblacks 6

Drivers 5

Newsboys 5

Peddlers 4

Tjrpesetters 3

Actors 2

Bricklayers 2

Hostlers 2

T3rpewriters 2

Barber, bartender, bookbinder, &ctory
hand, rubber-worker, sailor, shoe-
maker— one each 7

— 51 19-5

257 100 per cent.

^ The returns as to occupations are on the whole reliable. There was
in the first place little room for deception, since the occupations of
Negroes are so limited that a false or indefinite answer was easily
revealed by a little judicious probing; moreover there was little disposi-
tion to deceive, for the Negroes are very anxious to have their limited
opportunities for employment known; thus the motives of pride and
complaint balanced each other fairly well. Some error of course
remains: the number of servants and day-workers is slightly under-
stated; the number of caterers and men with trades is somewhat
exaggerated by the answers of men with two occupations: e.g.^Bi waiter
with a small side business of catering returns himself as caterer; a
carpenter who gets little work and makes his living largely as a laborer
is sometimes returned as a carpenter, etc. In the main the errors are
small and of little consequence.

lOO The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

Of the men twenty-one years of age and over, there were
in gainful occupations, the following :

In the learned professions 6i 2.0 per cent

Conducting business on their own ac-
count 207 6.5 "

In the skiUed trades 236 7.0

Clerks, etc 159 5.0

Laborers, better class 602

Laborers, common class 852

— 1454 45.0

Servants 1079 34«®

Miscellaneous 11 .5

11
<«

<4

3207 100 per cent.

Total male population, 21 and over 3S50.'

' A more detailed list of the occupations of male Negroes, twenty-one
years of age and over, living in the Seventh Ward in 1896, is as foUows:

Entrepreneurs,

Caterers 65 Employment Agents . . . . 3

Hucksters 37 Lodging House Keepers ... 3

Proprietors Hotels and Restau- Proprietors of Pool Rooms . . 3

rants 22 Real Estate Agencies 3

Merchants: Fuel and Notions 22 Job Printers 3

Proprietors of Barber Shops . . 15 Builder and Contractor .... i

Expressmen owning outfit . . 14 Sub-landlord i

Merchants, Cigar Stores ... 7 Milk Dealer i

Merchants, Grocery Stores . . 4 Publisher i

Proprietors of Undertaking Es-

tablishments 2 207

In Learned Professions.

Clergymen 22 Dentists 3

Students 17 Editors i

Teachers 7

Physicians 6 61

Lawyers 5

In the Skilled Trades,

Barbers 64 Apprentice .

Cigar Makers 39 Boilermaker . .

Shoemakers 18 Blacksmith . ,

Stationary Engineers 13 China Repairer

Bricklayers 11 Cooper . . . .

Printers 10 Cabinetmaker

* ■» • • .
^ » ». • .

Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward.

lOI

This shows that three-fourths of the male Negroes ten
years of age and over in gainful occupations are laborers
and servants, while the remaining fourth is equally divided
into three parts : one to the trades, one to small business

Painters lo

Upholsterers 7

Carpenters 6

Bakers 4

Tailors 4

Undertakers 4

Brickmakers 3

Pramemakers 3

Plasterers 3

Rubber Workers 3

Stone Cutters 3

Bookbinders 2

Candy Makers a

Chiropodists 3

Ice Carvers 2

Photographers 2

Clerks^ Semi' Professional and Responsible Workers.

Dyer

Furniture Polisher .
Gold Beater ....
Kalsominer ....
Locksmith ....
Laundryman (steam)
Paper Hanger . . .

Roofer

Tinsmith

Wicker Worker . .
Horse Trainer . . .

Chemist

Florist

Pilot

Policemen

Sextons

Shipping Clerks . .
Dancing Masters . .
Inspector in Factory
Cashier

Messengers 33

Stewards 31

Musicians 20

Clerks 18

Agents 15

Clerks in Public Service ... 8

Managers and Foremen .... 6

Actors 6

Bartenders 5

Servants,

Domestics 582 Nurses

Hotel Help 457

Public Waiters 38

Laborers {^Select Class).

236

5

4

3

3
I

I
159

1079

Stevedores 164

Teamsters 134

Janitors 94

Hod Carriers 79

HostleiB 44

Elevator Men 22

Sailors 21

China Packers 14

Watchmen 14

Drivers 12

Oyster Openers 4

602

I02 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX*

enterprises, and one to professional men, clerks and miscel-
laneous employments.

Turning now to the females, ten to twenty years of age,
we have :

Housewives 38 4.5 percent.

At work* 289 36.5 "

At school 333 43.0 "

At home, unoccupied, etc 133 17.0 "

Total female population 10-20 . . . 793 100 per cent.

Of the 289 at work there were :

In domestic service 311 73.0 per cent

Doing day's work 32 ii.o "

Dressmakers and seamstresses 16 5.5 '*

Servants in public places 13 4.3 "

Apprentices 6

Musicians 4

Teachers 3

Clerks 3

Actresses 2

Hairdressers i

— 18 6.3

289 100 per cent

Taking the occupations of women twenty-one years of
age and over, we have :

Domestic servants 1262 37.0 per cent

Housewives and day laborers .... 937 27.0

Housewives 568 17.0

Day laborers, maids, etc 297 9.0

4i

Laborers (Ordinary),

Common Laborers 493 Casual Laborers 12

Porters 274 Miscellaneous Laborers .... 4

Laborers for City 47

Bootblacks 22 852

Miscellaneous,

Rag Pickers 6 Prize Fighter i

"Politicians** 2 —

Root Doctors 2 il

*This includes 12 housewives who also work.

Sect 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward. 103

In skilled trades 221 6.0 per cent.

Conducting businesses 63 2.0

Clerks, etc 40 i.o

Learned professions 37 i.o

4(

3425 100 per cent.
Total female population 21 and over 374o. *

Leaving out housewives who do no outside work and
scheduling all women over twenty-one who have gainful
occupations, we have :

*A more detailed list of the occupations of female Negroes, twenty one
years of age and over, living in the Seventh Ward in 1896, is as follows :

Entrepreneurs.

Caterers 18 Undertakers 3

Restaurant Keepers 17 Child-Nursery Keepers .... 3

Merchants 17 —

Employment Agents 5 63

Learned Professions,

Teachers 22 Students 7

Trained Nurses 8 —

37
Skilled Trades.

Dressmakers 204 Manicure i

Hairdressers 6 Barber i

Milliners 3 Typesetter i

Shrouders of Dead 4 —

Apprentice i 221

Clerks^ Semi-Professional and Responsible Workers.

Musicians 12 Matrons 2

Clerks 10 Actress i

Stewardesses 4 Missionary i

Housekeepers 4 —

Agents 3 40

Stenographers 3

Laborers^ etc.

Housewives and Day Workers . 937 Janitresses 22

Day Workers 128 Factory Employe i

Public Cooks 72 Office Maids 12

Seamstresses 48

Waitresses in Restaurants, etc. 14 1234

Servants.

Domestic Servants 1262

>4 The Occttpalions of Negroes. [Chap, IX.

Professions 37

Working on own account 63

In trades aai

Clerks and agents, etc 40

Day workera, janitresaea, seamstresses, cooks, etc .... 1334
Servants 1261

The following tables gather up all these statistics and
give full returns with distinctions of age and sex :

OCCnPATIOMS— FfiMAI,ES, TSN YEARS OF AGE AMD OVER. SBVBNTH WaKD, 1896L

ITS,

Al Khool

At home

Honaewiwi

Dbvii' worltcra '.'.'.'.'.'.
Domntlc Hn-lK

gS^j;^"'. : : :

Public eooki

Miulcisnt

Malrdrtsser*

TcKCheri '.'.'.W'.'.W
ClerkB

Milllnrn'. . ". ." .'

Tn™^ nSST" '.'.'.'.'.
AKenUfbeaeEcialaoc.) .

Catercun

Shnnidera of d«d ....

aienographeri

Pnctory employee ....
Matron (ol Home) ....

Ucrclunt9-^ij;ar (tore' '.

Barbrr

Prop. Umplaj'ineni Ajj.
TypcBMter*

Sect. 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward.

Occupations— Males, Ten to Twknty-o»s Ybars of Agk.
SsvBsTu Ward, 1896.

Occupetiou.

1

1

\

I

I
1

<

*

4

I
I

5

I

j

iS

E
I

1

Total boy II Rl iriTcn fig«

19

Actors ..............

•

Boolibiiider

j

SKJil'S^biw.: :::::;

J

USS^ ■ ■ :

s

Robber worker

Berrice (domt.Uc) '.'.'.'.'.'.'.'.
■nrice {public)

ffiSSIS^:::::::::::

\

% Ybars and Ovsr.

Occupations.

Acton

Agents (ins. societies and drummers)

ApprenUce to trade

Barbers

Bartenders

Bellmen

Bookbinders

Bootblsclcs

Bricklayers . .

Brickmakets

Builder and contractor . ...

Bakers

Boiler-maker

Blacksmith and wheelwright . .

Chiropodtets

China repairer

Compounder of liquors

Carpenter (ship)

Carpenters

Cashier

io6

The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

Occupations— Continued.

Occnpations.

Cabinet-maker

Candy-makers

Caterers

Chemist

Cigar-makers

Clerks

Oerks (in public service)
Oerks (shipping) . . .
Conductor (railroad)*. .

Dairymen

Dancing-masters ....
Drivers (for doctor) . .

Dyer

Errand boys

Engineers (stationary) .

Elevator men

Editor

Florist

Frame-makers ....
Furniture polisher . . .

Gold beater

Gamblers

Hucksters

HosUers

Hod carriers

Inspector of furniture

Ice carvers

Janitors

Kalsominer

Lodging-house keepers
Landlord

Locksmith

Laborers (casual)

(soap factory)

(furnace-setters) ....

(on buildings)

(brickyard)

|on streets)

general)

farm)

\ water works and gas, etc . )

Laundrymen

Managers and foremen

Messengers

Musicians

Manufacturers

Nurses

Oyster openers

Packers (china)

Painters

Paper-hanger

Porters

ai-30
Years.

I

I

II

I

17

7

3
I

I

10

2

7
16

I

2
I

4
12

21

27

I
29

I
2

2

3

19

33

149

2

9
o

3

9
10

I

2

5

3

3

135

31-40
Years.

I
18

17

4
I

2

I

2

2

I

4
5

3

15
12

23
I

I

20

I

4

4

7
10

120

I

9
I

2

10

7

I

2

4
4

•

77

41 and
over.

36

•

4
7
4

I
I

I

I

10

II

29

45
I

3
I

7

4

120

• •

28
I
I

12

3
I

5
3

60

Unk.
Age.

8

21

Total.

I

2

65

i

8

3

I

2

3

12

I
2

13
22

I

I

3

I

I
16

37
44

79

I

2

94
I

3
I

I

12

2
2

7
32

37
410

3

47

2

6

33
20

I

2

4

14
10

23
74

^Intermarried white man.

Sect 22.] Occupations in the Seventh Ward.

107

Occupations— <!oiitinaed.

Occnpationa.

Politidans

Photographers

Plasterers

Printers

Proprietors— Hotels and restaurants .

Express business . . .

Printing office

Cimr store

Muk-dealing

Store, notions and fuel,

Grocery

Bmplo3anent agency . .

Baroer shop

Newspaper

Pool-room

Professions— Teachers

Lawyers

Clergymen

Ph3^sicians

Dentists

Policemen

Pilot •

Prize fighter

Rubber workers

Roofer

Ragpickers

Real estate agents

Root doctors

Service — Domestic

Hotel and restaurants, etc. .
Public waiters (with caterers)

Stewards

Students

Sailors

Sextons

Shoemakers

Stevedores

Stone-cutters

Tinsmith

Trainer (horses)

Tailors

Teamsters

Upholsterers

Undertakers

Watchmen

Wicker- worker

21-30
Years.

I
I

6
6

3

3

I

I

3

I

I

I

2

4

2

2
z

2

I
288
205

13

14

I

4

64

I

I

63

2

4
I

31-40
Years.

I
Z

3
z

6

4
I
6

•

9

z

z

5
z

2

3

2

8
I
z

5

z6z
Z26

15
14

4

3
I

I

60

z

z

I

3

38
z
I

4
I

41 and
©▼er.

2
ZO

7

zo

2

z
zo

•

z

3
z

zo
3

4

2
z

123

72
13

9

3

2

13
40

32

4
I

9

Unk.
Age.

zo

zz
z

TotaL

2
2

3

9
22

14
4

7

I

22

4
3

15

z

3
7

5
22

6

3

5
z

z

3
z

6

3

2

582

414
38
31
17

2Z

4

18

Z64

3
z

z

4

134

7
6

14
z

Let us now glance at the occupations as a whole : of the
9675 Negroes in the Seventh Ward, 12 12 are children nine
years of age or less. Of the reznaining 8463 there are :

io8 734^ Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX

At work 6,6io

In school 609

Housewives 568

Known criminals 116

Unoccupied, at home, defective, unknown, etc 560

8.463

The 6610 at work are distributed as follows:

Professions loi

Working on own account 268

In trades 492

Clerks, semi-professional and responsible workers .... 216

Laborers (select) 778

Laborers (ordinary) 2,111

Servants 2,644

6,610

We can grasp the true meaning of these figures only by
comparing the distribution of occupations among the
Negroes with that of the total population of the city ; for
this purpose we must redistribute the occupations accord-
ing to the simpler, but in many respects unsatisfactory,
divisions of the United States census. We then have :

Whole Population

of Philadelphia.

1890.

Seventh Ward,
1896.

Number.

Per
Cent.

Number.

Per
Cent.

Total population over 10

Number in gainful occupations . . .
Per cent in gainful occupations . . .

847,283
466,791

55.1

• •

• •

• •

8.463
6,611

78

• •

Engaged in agriculture

Engaged in professional service . . .

Engaged in domestic and personal
service

Engaged in trade and transportation

Engaged in manufacturing and me-
chanical industries

6,497
19,438

106,129
115,462

219.265

1.5
4.2

22.7
24.7

46.9

II
130*

4.889
1,006

541

.a
2.0

74.3
' 15.3

8.2

^Omitting 34 students at years of age and over.

Sect. 22.] Ocatpalions in the Seventh Ward.
Illustrated graphically, this is :

WHOLE POPUUTION
OF PHILA.

Comparing the whole population with the Negroes of
the Seventh Ward by sex, we have :

1.9

'TOTAL MALES MALE NEGROEi
OFALLCOLOBS. 1 71- WABD

AcniCL^puRtftc.

03'/=

ZS

PRokisions

zsy.

ira

1 DOMIST^^BilllliHMJlWHa

6I,5X

sas

1 TPAnr n, HIHSHgBBl^TinN

28 X

47.4

1 manufacturincHmechanical industries

7.7-

TOTAL

FE.MALES FEMALE NEGROES'
L COLORS. 1^ 7T-WflRD

0.0%

4.8
37.9

IL4

f]p

,.4X

1 DOMESTIC ^^^^]^^^^^^^|

a

traIde ^|irAN5P0RTAT10N

1.5%

4sa

j MANUFAaURINUpMECHANlCAL INDUSTRIES

asx

In these statistics and tables we have first to notice the
large proportion of these people who work for a living;
taking the population ten years of age and over, and we
have 78 per cent for the Negroes of the Seventh Ward,
and 55,1 per cent for the whole city, white and colored.
This is an indication of an absence of accumulated wealth,

no

The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

arising from poverty and low wages; the general causes of
poverty are largely historical and well known ; to appre-
ciate the cause of low wages, we have only to see the
few occupations to which the Negroes are practically
limited, and imagine the competition that must ensue.
This is true among the men, and especially true among
the women, where the limitation is greatest. All the
forces that are impelling white women to become bread-
winners, are emphasized in the case of Negro women : their
chances of marriage are decreased by the low wages of the
men and the large excess of their own sex in the great
cities ; they must work, and if there are few chances open
they must suflfer from competition in wages. Among the
men low wages means either enforced celibacy or irregular
and often dissipated lives, or homes where the wife and
mother must also be a bread-winner. Statistics curiously
illustrate this ; 16.3 per cent of the native white women

Thb Working Popui:.ation op Phii,adb]:^hia, 1890.

Color, etc.

Whites.
(Native, with native

parents)

(Native, with foreign

parents)

Colored (Negro and

Chinese, etc.) . .

Total Population .

Number, Ten Years of Age and
over, in Gainful Occupations.

Male.

122,332
91,280
13.650

Female.

34,731
39.618

9.258

344,143 I 122,648

Totol.

130,898
22,908

466,791

157.063 65

Per Cent of Total Popu-
lation in Gainful
Occupations.

BCale.

58
72

Female

16

24
43

ToUL

38
40

57

of native parents and of all ages, in Philadelphia are bread-
winners ; * their occupations are restricted, and there is
great competition ; yet among Negro women, where the

^ A better comparison here would be made by finding the percentages
of the population above 10 years of age ; statistics unfortunately are not
available for this.

Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. iii

restriction in occupation reaches its greatest limit, never-
theless 43 per cent are bread-winners, and their wages are
at the lowest point in all cases save in some lines of domes-
tic service where custom holds them at. certain figures ;
even here, however, the tendency is downward.

The causes of this peculiar restriction in employment of
Negroes are twofold: first, the lack of training and
experience among Negroes ; second, the prejudice of the
whites. The first is to be expected in some degree, although
undoubtedly carelessness and culpable inefficiency have
played their part. The second cause will be discussed at
length, later. One point, however, needs mention: the
peculiar distribution of employments among whites and
Negroes makes the great middle class of white people
seldom, if ever, brought into contact with Negroes — may
not this be a cause as well as an effect of prejudice ?

Another noticeable fact is the absence of child-labor ;
this is not voluntary on the part of the Negroes, but due to
restricted opportunity ; there is really very little that Negro
children may do. Their chief employment, therefore, is
found in helping about the house while the mother is at
work. Thus those children scheduled as at home repre-
sent child-labor in many cases.

23. Occupations in the City. — Turning from the more
detailed study of the Seventh Ward, let us glance in a
general way over the occupations of Negroes in the city at
large.

The Professions. — The learned professions are represented
among Negroes* by clergymen, teachers, physicians, lawyers
and dentists, in the order named. Practically all Negroes
go to their own churches, where they have, save in a very
few cases, clergymen of their own race. There are not less
than sixty Negro ministers in the city (possibly a hundred)
mostly Methodists and Baptists, with three or four Presby-
terians and two Episcopalians. The Presbyterian and
Episcopalian clergymen are well trained and educated men

112 TTie Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

in nearly every case. The ministers of the African Metho-
dists vary ; those in charge of the larger churches are all men
of striking personality, with genius for leadership and
organization in some lines, and in some cases, though not
in all, they are well-educated men. Practically none of
them are illiterate. The Baptist ministers are not on the
whole so well trained as the Methodists, although some
are well-educated.

Taken on the average the Negro ministers of the city are
good representatives of the masses of the Negroes. They
are largely chosen by the masses, must cater to their
tastes, and must in every way be men whom the rank and
file of the race like and understand. Sometimes a strong
personality, like the late Theodore Miller, will take a
church and lift it to a high level ; usually the minister
rather follows than leads, and indicates public opinion
among his people rather than forms it The Baptist min-
ister is the elected chairman of a pure democracy, who, if
he can command a large enough following, becomes a
virtual dictator ; he thus has the chance to be a wise leader
or a demagogue, or, as in many cases, a little of both. The
Methodist minister is the appointed steward of a large cor-
poration, of which his particular church is a small part.
His success depends upon the way in which he conducts
this church : his financial success, his efforts to increase
church membership and his personal popularity. The
result is that the colored Methodist minister is generally a
wide-awake business man, with something of the politician
in his make-up, who is sometimes an inspiring and valuable
leader of men; in other cases he may develop into a loud
but wily talker, who induces the mass of Negroes to put
into fine church edifices money which ought to go to charity
or business enterprise.

Ministers receive from $250 a year, in small missions, to
$1500 in three or four of the largest churches. The aver-
age would be between $600 and $1000.

Sect 23.]

Occupations in the City.

"3

Next to the clergymen come the teachers, of whom there
are about forty in the city :

School.

Institute for Colored Youth

O. V. Catto

Vaux

J. E. Hill

Coulter street

Wilmot

House of Industry ....

James Porten

Berean Church

Total

Princi-

AasisUnt

Kinder-

pals.

Teachers

gartners.

2

7

0

6

2

3

0

3

I

I

0

I

0

0

4

0

0

0

2

0

0

I

7

25

6

Indus*!
teachers.

2
O
O

o
o
o
o
o
o

These teachers are in nearly every case well equipped
and have made good records. Save in the kindergartens,
or in one or more temporary cases, they teach Negro chil-
dren exclusively. The public school teachers receive the
same pay as the white teachers.*

The Negro physician is to-day just beginning to reap the
reward of a long series of attempts and failures. At first
thought it would seem natural for Negroes to patronize
Negro merchants, lawyers and physicians, from a sense of
pride and as a protest against race feeling among whites.
When, however, we come to think further, we can see
many hindrances. If a child is sick, the father wants a
good phj'sician ; he knows plenty of good white physicians ;
he knows nothing of the skill of the black doctor, for the
black doctor has had no opportunity to exercise his skill.
Consequently for many years the colored physician had
to sit idly by and see the 40,000 Negroes healed principally
by white practitioners. To-day this has largely changed,
and principally through the eflforts of the younger class of
doctors, who have spared no pains to equip themselves at
the best schools of the country. The result is that fully
half the Negroes employ Negro physicians, and to a small
extent these physicians practice among the whites. There

'This has been the case only in comparatively recent times.
8

114 ^^ Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

are still many of the old class of root doctors and patent
medicine quacks with a lucrative trade among Negroes.'
Of reputable Negro physicians there are in the city abont
fifteen, graduated as follows :

Uniyentty of Pennsylvania 5

Hahnemann (Homeopathic) 2

Women's Medical 3

Medico-Chintrgical i

Harvard i

Univerrity of Michigan i

Howard a

14

Seven of these have good-sized practice, running from
$1500 a year to $3000 or more. Five others have practi-
cally just commenced to get practice and are doing fsdrly
well. The other two have outside work and have a limited
practice. There are many medical students in the city, and
this field is the most attractive open to the Negro among
the learned professions.

In contrast to the £air success of the Negro in medicine
is his partial failure in law. There are at present about ten
practicing Negro lawj'ers in the city, graduated as follows :

Howard 3

University of Pennsylvania 4

Unknown 3

Two of these are fairly successful practitioners — ^wdl
versed in law, with some experience, and a small but steady
practice. Three others are with diflSculty earning a living
at criminal practice in police cases; and the rest are
having little or no practice. This failure of most N^^o
lawyers is not in all cases due to lack of ability and push
on their part Its principal cause is that the Negroes furnish
little lucrative law business, and a Negro lawyer will seldom
be employed by whites. Moreover, while the work of a
physician is largely private, depending on individual skill,

^ Negroes also buy immense quantities of patent medicines, etc.

Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 115

a lawyer must have co-operation from fellow lawyers and
respect and influence in court ; thus prejudice or discrimi-
nation of any kind is especially felt in this profession. For
these reasons Negro lawyers are for the most part confined
to petty criminal practice and seldom get a chance to show
their ability.

There are three Negro dentists, two being graduated
from first-class institutions and enjoying good practice.

On the whole, the professional class of Negroes is cred-
itable to the race. The teachers and physicians would bear
comparison with any race ; the ranks of the clergy are
overcrowded and they present all degrees, from excellent
and well-trained spiritual guides to blatant demagogues ;
the lawyers have little chance to show themselves.

The Entrepreneur — The number of individual under-
takers of business enterprise among Negroes is small but
growing. Let us first take the Seventh Ward alone and
glance over the field. There are in this ward twenty-three
establishments for meals and other entertainment, varying
from a small one-room restaurant to a twenty-room hotel ;
some of these on Lombard and South streets have capacious
dining-rooms with twenty or more tables ; some are little
dark places with two or three dubious looking stands. In
length of establishment they vary : eight had in 1896 been
running a year or less ; four, two years ; two, three years ;
four, from four to eight years. They represent investments
varying from $40 to $1500, and employ beside the pro-
prietors between fifty and one hundred persons according
to the season.

There are in the Seventh Ward twenty-three barber-
shops varying from two months to forty years in length of
establishment ; eight are from three to five years old, five
over ten years old. They employ beside the proprietors
from twenty to forty journeymen more or less regularly.
A shop represents an investment varying from $50 to $250
or more. The Negro as a barber is rapidly losing ground

\

ii6 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX»

in the city. It is difficult to say why this has occurred, but
there are several contributory reasons : first the calling was
for so long an almost exclusively Negro calling that it
came in for a degree of the contempt and ridicule poured
on Negroes in general ; it therefore grew very unpopular
among Negroes, and apprentices became very scarce. To-
day one would have to look a long time among young and
aspiring Negroes to find one who would willingly become
a barber — ^it smacks perhaps a little too much of domestic
service, and is a thing to fall back upon but not to aspire
to. In the second place the business became unpopular
with Negroes because it compels them to draw a color line*
No first-class Negro barber would dare shave his own
brother in his shop in Philadelphia on account of the color
prejudice. This is peculiarly galling and has led to much
criticism and unpopularity for certain leading barbers
among their own people. These two reasons led to a lack
of interest and enterprise in the business for a long time
and it needed but one movement to hasten the collapse,
that is, competition. The competition of German and
Italian barbers furnished the last and most potent reason
for the withdrawal of the Negro ; they were skilled work-
men, while skilled Negro barbers were becoming scarce ;
they cut down the customary prices and some of them
found business co-operation and encouragement which
Negroes could not hope for. For these reasons the business
is slipping from the Negro. This is undoubtedly a calamity
and unless the Negro in spite of sentiment awakens in
time he will find a lucrative employment gone and nothing
in its place. Already a white labor union movement is
beginning to crowd the Negro, to ask for legislation which
will strike him most forcibly and in other ways to bring
organized endeavor to bear upon disorganized apathy.

The Seventh Ward has thirteen small Negro grocery
stores. They are mostly new ventures, eight being less
than a year old ; four, one to five years old, and one fifteen

Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 117

years old. Two are co-operative enterprises but have had
no great success. All of these stores with two or three
exceptions are really experiments and most of them will
soon go to the wall and their places be taken by others.
The six smaller shops represent investments of $25 to
$50 ; two have $50 and $100 invested ; three between $100
and $200, and one from $500 to $1000. The ambition of
the middle class of Negroes lies in this direction and their
endeavors are laudable. In another age of industrial
development they would have already constituted them-
selves a growing class of small tradesmen ; but to-day the
department store and stock-company makes the competition
too great for people with so little commercial training and
instinct. Nevertheless the number of Negro groceries will
undoubtedly grow considerably in the next decade.

Next come fourteen cigar stores representing a total
investment of $1000 to $1500 mostly in sums of $25, $50
and $100. These stores have been established as follows :
one year or less, six ; two years, four ; three to sixteen years,
four. They sell cigars and tobacco, and daily papers; some
also rent bicycles, or have a boot-blacking stand or pool
room attached. One of the proprietors conducts, beside his
cigar store, three barber shops and a restaurant, and
employs twenty people. Some of these stores are finely
equipped. This business is new for Negroes and growing ;
a few women have ventured into it, and thus in some cases
it furnishes a side occupation for wives.

There are four candy and notion shops established
respectively five months, six months, one year and three
years, and each representing an investment of $10 to $100.
They are in most cases in the hands of women and do a
small business. There are also numberless places for selling
fuel of all kinds, of which about thirteen rise to the dignity
of shops. They represent small investments.

Three retail liquor shops and one bottling establishment
are conducted by colored people, representing considerable

ii8 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

investments. Two of the saloons are old and well-con-
ductedy and financially successful. The other saloon and
the bottling establishment are not very successful.

Pour lar^e employment agencies and some smaller ones
are situated in the ward. They conduct lodging houses
and in some cases boarding houses in connection. One
is sixteen years old ; all hire clerks. Their business
is to act as agents for persons desiring servants, and
to guide unemployed persons to situations; for this
they charge a percentage or fixed sum out of the wages.
They also often serve as homes for unemployed servants,
giving them board and lodging, sometimes on credit.
Their work is thus useful and lucrative when properly
conducted as in two or three establishments. In one
or two others, however, there is some suspicion of unfair
dealing ; servants are attracted from the south by catchy
advertisements and personal letters, only to find themselves
eventually penniless and out of work in a large city.*
Questionable acquaintanceships are also made at the
agencies at times, which lead to ruin. These agencies
need strict regulation.

There are fourundertakingestablishments, two of which
are conducted by women. They represent investments of
$iooo-$io,ooo and two of them do a business which proba-
bly aggregates $8000 or more annually in each case. They
are all old establishments — six to thirty-three years — and in
no branch of business, save one, has the Negro evinced so
much push, taste and enterprise. Two of the establish-
ments will, in equipment, compare favorably with the
white businesses in the city ; indeed, in fair competition
they have gained the great bulk of Negro and some white
patronage from white competitors.

Three bakeries, established two and three years respect-

* In Norfolk, Va., I once saw the advertisement on a street sign calling
for colored *' clerks, saleswomen, stenographers," etc, for NQftheni
dties!

Sect 23.] Occupations in the Ci^. 119

ively are having moderate success. Six pxiciting offices
established,4me) six months, the others four to seven years,
4o job work on small presses; two publish weekly papers.
These shops are fairly successful and get considerable work
from the colored people. One dressmaker has a shop with
$150 invested; another runs a dressmaking school.

Pour upholsterers have shops, old and well established,
and all do a good business ; in two cases the business
amounts to two to five thousand a year. One sells
antique furniture also.

There are a large number of caterers in the ward— eighty-
three* in all. Most of these, however, do a small busi-
ness, and in some cases have other work also for at least a
part of the year. Of the principal caterers there are about
ten, of whom the doyen was the late Andrew F. Stevens. ^*
These ten caterers do a large business, amounting in some
cases probably to $3000 to $5000 a year. They have a small
cooperative store on Thirteenth street, with a considerable
stock of dishes, and such things as olives, pickles, etc.
This is conducted by a manager and has one hundred or
more members. There is also a caterers' association, which
is really a trades-union. Its club room serves as a clearing
house for business and the employment of waiters. This
has been running ten years. The catering business presents
many interesting phases to the economist and sociologist.
Undoubtedly the pre-eminence of Negroes in this business
has declined since the Augustins, Jones and Dorsey passed.
Negro caterers are still prominent, but they do not
by any means dominate the field, as then. The chief
reason for this is the change that has come over American

*This total includes a large number of men and women who do some
private catering, but for the most part work under other caterers; strictly
a large part of them are waiters rather than caterers.

^.Mr. Stevens died in 1898 — he was an honest, reliable, business man —
of pleasant address, and universally respected. He was easily the
successor of Dorsey, Jones and Minton in the catering business.

I20 Tlhe Occupations af Negroes, [Chap. IX.

fashionable society in the last twenty-five yeais, and the
application of large capital to the catering business.
Philadelphia society is no longer a local affiur, bnt receives
its cue as to propriety and fashion from New York, Lon-
don and Paris ; consequently the local caterers can no
longer dictate fashion for any single American city ; more
than this, demands have so risen with increasing wealth
that catering establishments like Delmonico^s, which would
keep in the front rank, represent a large investment of
capital — investments far beyond the power of the local
Negro caterers of Philadelphia. Thus we find a large
business built up by talent and tact, meeting with changed
social conditions ; the business must therefore change too.
It is the old development from the small to the large
industry, from the house-industr>' to the concentrated
industry, from the private dining room to the palatial hoteL
If the Negro caterers of Philadelphia had been white,
some of them would have been put in charge of a large
hotel, or would have become co-partners in some large
restaurant business, for which capitalists furnished funds.
For such business coK)peration, however, the time was not
ripe, and perhaps only a few of the best Negro caterers
would have been capable of entering into it with success.
As it was, the change in fashion and mode of business
changed the methods of the Negro caterers and their
clientele. They began to serve the middle class instead
of the rich and exclusive, their prices had to become more
reasonable, and their efforts to excel had consequently fewer
incentives. Moreover, they now came into sharp competi-
tion with a class of small white caterers, who, if they
were worse cooks, were better trained in the tricks of the
trade. Then, too, with this new and large clientele that per-
sonal relationship between the caterer and those served was
broken up, and a larger place for color prejudice was made.
It is thus plain that a curious economic revolution in
one industry has gone on during twenty-nine years, not

Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 121

unaccompanied by grave social problems. In this case the
Negro has emerged in better condition and has shown more
capacity for hand to hand economic encounter than, for
instance, in the barbering business. Yet he has not emerged
unscathed ; in every such battle, when a Negro is fighting
for an economic advantage, there is ever a widespread
feeling among all his neighbors that it is inexpedient to
allow this class to became wealthy or even well-to-do.
Consequently the battle always becomes an Athancisius
contra mundutn^ where almost unconsciously the whole
countenance and aid of the community is thrown against
the Negro.

The three Negro cemetery companies of the city have
their headquarters in the Seventh Ward. They arose from
the curious prejudice of the whites against allowing
Negroes to be buried near their dead. The companies
hold valuable property and are fairly well conducted. "
There are several expressmen in the ward owning their
own outfits ; one has been established twenty-five years ;
he has three or four wagons and hires four or five men
regularly. There was in 1896 a hardware and furniture
business forty-seven years old, on South street, but the
proprietor, Robert Adger, has since died. " There are

uwhen the caterer Henry Jones died his funeral procession was
actually turned back from the cemetery by the refusal of the authorities
of Mt Moriah Cemetery to allow him interment there; he had before his
death bought and paid for a lot in the cemetery and the Supreme Court
eventually confirmed his title. To-day this absurd prejudice is not so
strong and Negroes own lots in the Episcopal Cemetery of St. James the
Less and in perhaps one other.

^'The following clipping from the Philadelphia Ledger^ November 2,
1896, illustrates a typical life:

" Robert Adger, a colored Abolitionist, died on Saturday, at his home,
835 South street. He vrais bom a slave, in Charleston, S. C, in 18 13.
His mother, who was bom in New York, went to South Carolina about
1810, with some of her relatives, and while there was detained as a slave;

" When his master died, Mr. Adger, together with his mother and other
members of the family, were sold at auction, but, through the aissistance

IM Tkt Ocoi^aiums cf Negroes. [Chap. IX.

leveial bicycle shops, a flonrishing milk, bfottcr and egg
itoie^ a china repairing shopi of long standing; a hair goods
store, a rubber goods lepairing shop, seveuteeu years <dd;
a second-hand stove store and two patent medicine shops.
To test the accuracy of these statistics and to note
changes, a second visit was made in this ward in 1897, with
this result:

NiOKO Bosonms Bstabushmxmts, Sstxhth Waxd, 1896-97.

Bsrber shops

dg^ stores

Cmdj and noCioiis

Shoemsker shops

TJpholstems

liquor saloons

UndertakefB

)9c wspapcfs

Dmi^ stone •

Patent medicine stores ^

Frinting offices

Such small businesses represent the efforts of a class of
poor people to save capital.^ They are all alike hindered
by three great drawbacks: First, the Negro never was
trained for business and can get no training now ; it is very
seldom that a Negro boy or girl can on any terms get a

ifl96 (Dec) 1897 (Oct.)

n

39

n

34

13

"

14

"

4

8

13

4

3

4

2

0

a

4

of friends, legal proceedings were instituted, and their release finaUj
secured. Mr. Adger then came to this citj aboot 1845, and secured a
position as a waiter in the old Merchants' Hotel. Later he was employed
as a nurse» and while working in that capacity, saved^enough money to
start in the furniture business on South street, above Eighth, which ha
continued to conduct with success until his death. Mr. Adger always
took an active interest in the welfare of the people of his race."

^One enterprising capitalist hires and sub-rents eight different houses
with furnished apartments, paying I1944 annually in rent; he has a
bicycle shop whidi brings in |iooo a year for an expense of about |i33a
He also owns a barber shop which brings in about |iooo a year; one-half
the gross receipts of this he pays to a foreman, who pays his journeymen
barbers; the owner pays for rent and material. " If I had an edocatloo/i
he said, '< I could get on better."

Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 123

position in a store or other business establishment where
he can learn the technique of the work or general business
methods. Second, Negro merchants are so rare that it is
natural for customers, both white and colored, to take it for
granted tha( their business is poorly conducted without
giving it a trial.** Third, the Negroes are unused to
cooperation with their own people and the process of
learning it is long and tedious. Hitherto, their economic
activities have been directed almost entirely to the satis-
faction of wants of the upper classes of white people, and,
too, of personal and household wants ; they are just begin-
ing to realize that within their own group there is a vast
field for development in economic activity. The 40,000
Negroes of Philadelphia need food, clothes, shoes, hats and
furniture; these by proper thrift they see ought to be in part
supplied by themselves, and the little business ventures we
have noticed are attempts in this direction. These
attempts would, however, be vastly more successful in
another economic age. To-day, as before noted, the appli-
cation of large capital to the retail business, the gathering
of workmen into factories, the wonderful success of trained
talent in catering to the whims and taste of customers
almost precludes the effective competition of the small \
store. Thus the economic condition of the day militates \
largely against the Negro ; it requires more skill and ex- '
perience to run a small store than formerly and the large
store and factory are virtually closed to him on any terms.
Turning now to the other wards of the city let us notice
some of the chief business ventures of the Negroes. This
list is by no means exhaustive, but it is representative :

>* Several storekeepers have had white persons enter the store, look at
the proprietors and say " Oh ! I— er— made a mistake,*' and go out.

TTte Ocaipalions of Negroes. [Chap. IX

Tliird.
Fourth.

Barber shops

Second-hand dolhing

Secoud-hand furniture ....

Coat and wood shops

Newspaper

Restauranta

Hair goods and dressmalcing . .

Expressmen

Decorating and paper-hanging .

Job printer

Shoe repair shops

Candy store (manufacture) . .

Cigar stores

Crockery store

Second-hand stoves

Barbershops

Pool-room

Shoeblaclcing shop

Restaurants

Undertaker . .

Fuel and notions

Cigar store

Watch repairer

Newspaper and job printing .

Undertaker

Hotel and liquor saloon . . .

Barber shops

Upholsterers

Rag warehouse

Restaurants

Fuel and newspaper shop . .

Grocery store

Cigar stores

Employment bureau . . . .
Hair-dresser for ladies ....

Barber

Grocery store

Upholsterer

Dealer in mineral water . . .
Second-band furniture store .
Fuel and candy store ....
Restaurants

Tailor shop

Shoe>repairiiig shop .
Barber shops ....

Sect 23.]

Occupations in the City.

135

Ward.

Twcnty-
Beventh.

Fifteenth

and

Twenty-ninth.

Twenty-sixth

and

Thirtieth,

Character of Badness.

Twenty-aecond.

Real estate agent

Meat dealer (wholesale)

Carpet-cleaning works

Meat and provisions

Barber shops and varions small establi^iments

Second-hand stoves

Cigar store

Barbershops

Kzpressnian

Second-hand furniture . .

Upholsterer

Grocery store

Milk and ice shop

Job printing

Restaurant

No. BsUb-
lishments.

20

Restaurant and lodging house

Grocery stores

Barbers

Upholsterer

Expressman

Steam laundry

The most important omissions here are barber shops, on
account of the large number, caterers, because their head-
quarters are mainly in private houses, and many small
stores which are easily overlooked and which quickly come
and disappear. Some of the businesses are large and im-
portant : Three or four caterers do a business of several
thousand dollars per year ; the well-known Chestnut street
florist does a flourishing and well-conducted business ;"
the undertaker in the Eighth Ward and the real estate
dealer in the Twenty-seventh are unusually successful in
their lines. The crockery store in the Fourth Ward is
neat and tasty. The three largest enterprises are the pro-
vision and wholesale meat businesses in the Fifteenth Ward,
and the carpet cleaning works. It is reported that the
business of each of these approaches $10,000 a year.

>* Here was a case where some persons sought to drive an enterprising
and talented Negro out of business simply because he was colored. A
Chestnut street property owner made a special effort to give him a start
and now he conducts % business of which no merchant need be aAiamed.

126 The OccMpatiims af Segroes, [Ch^ K.

There aie five weekly newspapers and a qnartedv
zine published in the city by Negroes. Two erf* the \ttspas
are denominational organs for chnrches ; ancrther paper is
the official organ of the Odd Fellows ; the iboith and fifth
are local news sheets. The quarterly is published by the
A« K« E. Church* These papers aie fairly sucoessfhl, and
are considerably read and reflect the general public <^iinioa
pretty welL Most of them have been very weak editorially,
though there are some signs of improvement, especially in
the case of the quarterly. The publishing hoose does a
business of $15,000 a year.

The Trades. — ^The practical exclusion of the N^ro
from the trades and industries of a great dty like Phila-
delphia is a situation by no means easy to explaiiL It is
often said simply: the foreigners and trades unions have
crowded Negroes out on account of race prejudice and left
employers and philanthropists helpless in the matter. This
is not strictly true. What the trades unions and white
workmen have done is to seize an economic advantage
plainly offered them. This opportunity arose from three
causes : Here was a mass of black workmen of whom
very few were by previous training fitted to become the
mechanics and artisans of a new industrial development ;
here, too, were an increasing mass of foreigners and native
Americans who were unusually well fitted to take part in
the new industries ; finally, most people were willing and
many eager that Negroes should be kept as menial servants
rather than develop into industrial factors. This was
the situation, and here was the opportunity for the white
workmen ; they were by previous training better workmen
on the average than Negroes; they were stronger numer-
ically and the result was that every new industrial enter-
prise started in the city took white workmen. Soon the
white workmen were strong enough to go a step further
than this and practically prohibit Negroes from entering
trades under any circumstances ; this affected not only nMr

Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 127

enterprises, but also old trades like carpentering, masonry,
plastering and the like. The supply of Negroes for such
trades could not keep pace with the extraordinary growth
of the city and a large number of white workmen entered
the field. They immediately combined against Negroes
primarily to raise wages ; the standard of living of the
Negroes lets them accept low wages, and, conversely, long
necessity of accepting the meagre wages offered have made
a low standard of living. Thus partially by taking]
advantage of race prejudice, partially by greater economic
efficiency and partially by the endeavor to maintain and
raise wages, white workmen have not only monopolized
the new industrial opportunities of an age which hasi
transformed Philadelphia from a colonial town to a world-l
city, but have also been enabled to take from the Negro
workman the opportunities he already enjoyed in certain .
lines of work.

If now a benevolent despot had seen the development,
he would immediately have sought to remedy ^e_re^
^)|[e^ne^of the Negro's position, i. ^., his lack of train-
-ing; and he] would have swept away any discrimination
that compelled men to support as criminals those who
might support themselves as workmen.

He would have made special effort to train Negro boys
for industrial life and given them a chance to compete on
equal terms with the best white workmen ; arguing that
in the long run this would be best for all concerned, since
by raising the skill and standard of living of the Negroes
he would make them effective workmen and competitors who
would maintain a decent level of wages. He would have
sternly suppressed organized or covert opposition to Negro
workmen.

There was, however, no benevolent despot, no philan-
thropist, no far-seeing captain of industry to prevent thfe
Negro from losing even the skill he had learned or to inspire
by opportunities to learn more. As the older Negroes

128 The OccMpatioms of X^roa, [Chapi IX.

with txades dxoppcd off» there was little to indnoe younger
men to soooecd them. On the oootiaiy special cfibft was
made not to txain X^^oes for indossiy or to allow them to
enter on soch a careec Consequently they giadnally slipped
oat of industrial life until in 1890 when the N^^oes fanned
4 per cent of the population, only 1. 1 per cent erf* 134,709
men in the principal txades of the city were N^^oes ; of
46,200 women in these trades 1.3 per cent were Negroes ;
or taking men and women together, 2160 or 1.19 per cent
of all were Negroes. This does not, however, tell the
whole story, for of this 2160, the barbers, bridonakers,
and dressmakers formed 1434. In the Seventh Ward the
number in the trades is mnch larger than the proportion
in the city, but here again they are confined to a £ew
trades — ^barbers, dressmakers, cigarmakersand shoemakers.
How now has this exclusion been maintained? In
some cases by the actual inclusion of the word " white "
among qualifications for entrance into certain trade unions.
More often, however, by leaving the matter of color
entirely to local bodies, who make no general rule, but
invariably fail to admit a colored applicant except under
pressing circumstances. This is the most workable S}-5tem
and is adopted by nearly all trade unions. In sections
where Negro labor in certain trades is competent and con-
siderable, the trades union welcomes them, as in Western
Pennsylvania among miners and iron-workers, and in
Philadelphia among cigarmakers ; but whenever there is a
trade where good Negro workmen are comparatively
scarce each union steadfastly refuses to admit Negroes, and
relies on color prejudice to keep up the barrier. Thus the
carpenters, masons, painters, iron-workers, etc, have suc-
ceeded in keeping out nearly all Negro workmen by
simply declining to work with non-union men and refusing
to let colored men join the union. Sometimes, in time
of strikes, the unions are compelled in self-defence not
only to allow Negroes to join but to solicit them ; this

Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 129

happened, for instance, in the stone-cutters' strike some
years ago.

To repeat, then, the real motives back of this exclusion
are plain : a large part is simple race prejudice, always
strong in working classes and intensified by the peculiar
history of the Negro in this country. Another part,
however, and possibly a more potent part, is the natural
spirit of monopoly and the desire to keep up wages. So
long as a cry against " Irish " or " foreigners " was able to
marshal race prejudice in the service of those who desired
to keep those people out of some employments, that cry
was sedulously used. So to^ay the workmen plainly see
that a large amount of competition can be shut off by
taking advantage of public opinion and drawing the color
line. Moreover, in this there is one thoroughly justifiable
consideration that plays a great part : namely, the Negroes
are used to low wages — can live on them, and consequently
would fight less fiercely than most whites against reduc-
tion.

The employers in this matter are not altogether blame-
less. Their objects in conducting business are not, of
course, wholly philanthropic, and yet, as a class, they rep-
resent the best average intelligence and morality of the
community. A firm stand by some of them for common
human right might save the city something in taxes for
the suppression of crime and vice. There came some time
since to the Midvale Steel Works a manager whom many
dubbed a " crank ;" he had a theory that Negroes and
whites could work together as mechanics without friction
or trouble." In spite of some protest he put his theory into
practice, and to-day any one can see Negro mechanics
working in the same gangs with white mechanics with-
out disturbance. A few other cases on a smaller scale

V The large steel manufactory known as the "Midvale Steel Works "
is located at Nicetown, near Germantown, in Philadelphia County. This

130 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

have occurred throughout the city. In general, however,
the black mechanic who seeks work from a mill owner, or
a contractor, or a capitalist is told : ' ' I have no feeling in
the matter, but my men will not work with you." Without
doubt, in many cases, the employer is really powerless ; in
many other cases he is not powerless, but is willing to
appear so.

The Negroes of the city who have trades either give
them up and hire out as waiters or laborers, or they become
job workmen and floating hands, catching a bit of carpen-
tering here or a little brick-work or plastering there at
reduced wages. Undoubtedly much blame can rightly be
laid at the door of Negroes for submitting rather tamely to
this organized opposition. If they would meet organization
with organization and excellence of work by excellence,

establishment was visited by the writer, and the manager of the estab-
lishment interviewed as to the success of the experiment made by him
in emplopng Negroes as workmen along with whites.

About 1200 men are employed altogether, and fully 200 of these are
Negroes. About 40 per cent of the whole number of employes are
American-bom, but generally of Irish, English or German parentage.
The remaining 43 per cent are foreign-bom, chiefly English, Irish and
German, with a few Swedes.

" Our object in putting Negroes on the force,*' said the manager,
" was twofold. First, we believed them to be good workmen ; secondly,
we thought they could be used to get over one difficulty we had experi-
enced at Midvale, namely, the clannish spirit of the workmen and a
tendency to form cliques. In steel manufacture much of the work ia
done with large tools run by gangs of men; the work was crippled by
the different foremen trying always to have the men in their gang all of
their own nationality. The English foreman of a hammer gang, for
instance, would want only Englishmen, and the Irish Catholics only
Irishmen. This was not good for the works, nor did it promote friend-
liness among the workmen. So we began bringing in Negroes and
placing them on diffisrent gangs, and at the same time we distributed
the other nationalities. Now our gangs have, say, one Negro, one or two
Americans, an Englishman, etc. The result has been favorable both for
the men and for the works. Things run smoothly, and the output ia
noticeably greater."

The manager was^ especially questioned about the grade of work
done by Negroes and their efficiency as skilled workmen. He aaid:

Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 131

they could do much to win standing in the industries of
the cities. This is to-day hard to begin, but it is worth
the trying, and the Industrial Department of the Institute
for Colored Youth, which the Negroes themselves helped
equip, is a step in this direction.

Clerks^ Semirprofessional and Responsible Workers. —
Under this head has been grouped a miscellaneous mass of
occupations : clerks in public and private service, stewards,
messengers, musicians, agents, managers and foremen,
actors, policemen, etc., i. ^., that class of persons whose
position demands a degree of attainment in education,
reliability, talent or skill. Here the number of Negroes
is small, but they are nearly as well represented as in
trades — an indication of a rather abnormal development.

• • • • • • • ^r

Of 46,393 ™^^ 1^ ^his class of occupations in the city [i. e.^
policemen, watchmen, agents, commercial travelers, bankers

" They do all the ^^rades of work done by the white workmen. Some of
this work is of snch a nature that it had been sapposed that only very
intelligent Bnglish and American workmen could be trusted with it. We
have 100 colored men doing that skilled work now, and they do it as well
as any of the others."

As to wages, the manager said no discrimination was made between
Negroes and whites. They start as laborers at $1.20 a day and ** we try
to treat them as individuals, not as a herd; they know that good work
gives them a chance for better work and better pay. Thus their ambition
is aroused; yesterday, for instance, four Negroes saved a furnace worth
130,00a The furnace was full of molten steel, which had become
clogged, so that it could not be gotten out in the usual way. A number
of powerful men were required to open the side of the furnace. Pour
colored men volunteered and saved the steel."

Withjregard to the relations between white.and black workmen the
manager said: "We have, had no trouble at glL .The unions generaUy
hold potentiaLstrikes over their employers' heads to keep the Negro out
of employment. There has, however, been no strike in this establish-
ment for seventeen yeats, and Negroes have been employed for the last
seven years."

Finally the manager declared that according to his belief the Negro
workman does not have half a chance to show his ability. " He does
good work and betters his condition when he has any inducement to do
so." ISABBi« Baton.

132

The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

and brokers, bookkeepers, clerks and salesmen, and bar-
keepers) 327, or seven-tenths of i per cent were N^ptoes ;
if we add to this stewards, messengers, musicians, and
clerks in government service, they form about i per cent of
those in the city. Nearly all the clerks and salesmen are to
be found in Negro stores, although there are a few excep-
tions.

CXERKS, SBBa-PROFBSSIONAL AND RBSPONSIBIA WORKKBS IN

Phii«adblphia, 1890.

Occupation.

Watchmen, policemen and detectives

Bartenders

Agents and collectors

Bankers, brokers, etc

Bookkeepers, clerks, etc

Salesmen

Total

Total.

46,393

Negroes.

4. "3

62

1.683

^5

5.049

^!

2,072

6

23.057

^^2

10^419

3«

326

There are about sixty colored policemen on the force at
present, and the general impression seems to be that they
make good average oflScers. They were first appointed to
the police force by Mayor King in 1884. At first there
was violent opposition, which would have been listened to
had it not been for political complications. The Negro
policemen are put on duty mostly in or near the chief
Negro settlements and no one of them has yet been pro-
moted from the ranks. The number of Negroes in
government service is as follows :

Municipal departments 11

Custom House i

Post-office 17

Navy yard » x

Beside these there are a number of messengers and
ordinary laborers. In many cases these clerks have made
very excellent records, as in the case of the discount clerk
in the tax oflSce, who has held his position for many years,
and is perhaps the most efficient clerk in the office ; or

Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 133

again the Negro postmaster and employes in the post-
office at Wanamaker's store who have been unusually
successful in administrating the second largest sub-station
in the city. In a few cases certain Negroes have received
office through political influence and have been plainly
unfitted for their work.

There are a few clerks in responsible positions— one
employed by the Pennsylvania railway company, another
in a bank. Such cases, however, are rare.

Laborers.— "t^i^ great mass of the men and a large per-
centage of the women are manual laborers — i. e. , teamsters,
janitors, stevedores, hod-carriers, hostlers, [elevator-men,
sailors, china-packers and night-watchmen. Their wages
are usually :

Teamsters |i to $1.50 a day.

Janitors ...... J30 to ^60 a month.

Stevedores 20c. to 30c an hour (irregular employment).

Hod-carriers . . . . ji.50 to J2.50 a day (employed according to season).

Hostlers $16 to J30 a month.

Elevator-men . • • $16 to J25 a month.

Besides these there are the ordinary porters, errand
boys, newsboys and day-laborers, whose earnings vary
considerably, but usually are too small to support a family
without much help from wife and children. Stevedores,
hod-carriers and I day-laborers are especially liable to
irregular employment, which makes life hard for them
sometimes. The mass of the men are, save in the lower
grades, given average wages and meet their greatest diffi-
culty in securing work. The competition in ordinary
laboring work is severe in so crowded a city. The women
day-laborers are, on the whole, poorly paid, and meet fierce
competition in laundry work and cleaning.

The most noticeable thing about the Negro laborers as
a whole is their uneven quality. There are some first-
class, capable and willing workers, who have held their
positions for years and give perfect satisfaction. On the

y

134 Tlie Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

other hand, there are numbers of inefficient and unintelli-
gent laborers on whom employers cannot rely and who
are below average American labor in ability. This
unevenness arises from two causes : the diflFerent training-
of the various groups of Negroes composing the city
population ; some are the descendants of generations of
free Negroes ; some of trained house-servants, long in close
contact with their masters' families ; others are the sons
of field-hands, untouched and untrained by contact with
civilized institutions : all this vast difference in preparation
shows vast differences in results. The second reason lies
in the increased competition within the group, and the
growing lack of incentive to good work, owing to the
difficulty of escaping from manual toil into higher and
better paid callings ; the higher classes of white labor are
continually being incorporated into the skilled trades, or
clerical workers, or other higher grades of labor. Some-
times this happens with Negroes but not often. The first-
class ditcher can seldom become foreman 9f a gang ; the
hod-carrier can seldom become a mason ; the porter
cannot have much hope of being a clerk, or the elevator-
boy of becoming a salesman. Consequently we find the
ranks of the laborers among Negroes filled to an unusual
extent with disappointed men, with men who have lost the
incentive to excel, and have become chronic grumblers
and complainers, spreading this spirit further than it would
naturally go. At the same time this shutting of the
natural outlet for ability means an increase of competition
for ordinary work.

Without doubt there is not in Philadelphia enough work
of the kind that the mass of Negroes can and may do, to
employ at fair wages the laborers who at present desire
work. The result of this must, of course, be disastrous,
and give rise to many loafers, criminals, and casual labor-
ers. The situation is further complicated by the fact
that in seasons when work is more plentiful, temporary

Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 135

immigrations from the South swell the number of laborers
abnormally ; every spring the tide of immigration sets in,
consisting of brickmakers, teamsters, asphalt-workers,
common laborers, etc., who work during the summer in
the city and return to the cheaper living of Virginia and
Maryland for the winter. This makes the competition in
summer close for Philadelphians, and often brings actual
distress in winter. A pressing duty is to see that the
opportunities for work in the city are not misrepresented,
and to relieve congestion in some avenues by opening
others to Negro labor. Nor would this be a boon simply
for Negroes: the excessive competition of Negroes in
certain lines of work makes more suffering for their white
competitors than if that competition were less intense in
places and spread over a larger area. White hod-carriers
and porters suffer greatly from competition, while other
branches of labor are artificially protected — an economic
injustice which might be remedied.

Another custom that works much harm to all classes
and colors of laborers is the custom of working exclusively
white or exclusively colored gangs of workmen. It is unjust
to the Negro because it virtually closes the greater part of
the field of labor against him, since his numbers are small
compared with the population of the city, and it is harder
for him to gather gangs than for the whites. It is, how-
ever, a fruitful cause of injustice to white laborers ; for the
contractor who gets a gang of Negroes to work, has a
temptation to force down wages which he seldom resists or
cares to resist. He knows that the standard of living of
the Negroes is low, and their chances for employment
limited. He therefore takes on a gang of Negroes, lowers
wages, and then if whites wish to regain their places, they
must accept the lower wages. The white laborers then
blame the Negroes for bringing down wages— a charge
with just enough truth in it to intensify existing preju-
dices. If laborers on ordinary jobs were hired regardless

/

136 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

of color and according to eflBciency, no doubt both white
and black labor would gain, and the employer would not
in the long run lose much.

Servants. — Probably over one-fourth of the domestic
servants of Philadelphia are Negroes, and conversely
nearly one-third of the Negroes in the city are servants.
This makes the Negro a central problem in any careful
study of domestic service, and domestic service a large
part of the Negro problems. The matter thus is so
important that it has been made the subject of a special
study appended to this work. A few general considera-
tions only will be advanced here.

So long as entrance into domestic service involves a loss
of all social standing and consideration, so long will domes-
tic service be a social problem. The problem may vary in
character with diflferent countries and times, but there will
always be some maladjustment in social relations when any
considerable part of a population is required to get its sup-
port in a manner which the other part despises, or affects
to despise. In the United States the problem is compli-
cated by the fact that for years domestic service was per-
fonned by slaves, and afterward, up till to-day, largely by
black freedmen — thus adding a despised race to a despised
calling. Even when white servants increased in number
they were composed of white foreigners, with but a small
proportion of native Americans. Thus by long experience
the United States has come to associate domestic service
with some inferiority in race or training.

The effect of this attitude on the character of the service
rendered, and the relation of mistress and maid, has been
only too evident, and has in late years engaged the atten-
tion of some students and many reformers. These have
pointed ou^ how necessary and worthy a work the domestic
performs, or could perform, if properly trained ; that the
health, happiness and efficiency of thousands of homes,
which are training the future leaders of the republic, depend

Sect. 23.] Occupations in the City. 137

largely on their domestic service. This is true, and yet the
remedy for present ills is not clear until we recognize how
far removed the present commercial method of hiring a ser-
vant in'market is from that which obtained at the time when
the daughters of the family, or of the neighbor's family,
helped in the housework. In other words, the industrial
revolution of the century has aflfected domestic service
along with other sorts of labor, by separating employer
and employed into distinct classes. With the Negro the
effect of this was not apparent so long as slavery lasted ;
the house servant remained an integral part of the master's
family, with rights and duties. When emancipation broke
this relation there went forth to hire a number of trained
black servants, who were welcomed South and North ; they
liked their work, they knew no other kind, they under-
stood it, and they made ideal servants. In Philadelphia
twenty or thirty years ago there were plenty of this class
of Negro servants and a few are still left.

A generation has, however, greatly altered the face of
affiiirs. There were in the city, in 1890, 42,795 servants,
and of these 10,235 were Negroes. Who are these
Negroes? No longer members of Virginia households
trained for domestic work, but principally young people
who were using domestic service as a stepping-stone to
something else ; who worked as servants simply because
they could get nothing else to do ; who had received no
training in service because they never expected to make it
their life-calling. They, in common with their white fel-
low citizens, despised domestic service as a relic of slavery,
and they longed to get other work as their fathers had
longed to be free. In getting other work, however, they
were not successful, partly on account of lack of ability,
partly on account of the strong race prejudice against
them. Consequently to-day the ranks of Negro servants,
and that means largely the ranks of domestic service in
general in Philadelphia, have received all those whom the

138 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

harsh competition of a great city has pushed down, all
whom a relentless color proscription has turned back from
other chosen vocations ; half-trained teachers and poorly
equipped students who have not succeeded ; carpenters and
masons who may not work at their trades ; girls with com-
mon school training, eager for the hard work but respect-
able standing of shop girls and factory hands, and proscribed
by their color — in fact, all those young people who, by
natural evolution in the case of the whites, would have
stepped a grade higher than their fathers and mothers in
the social scale, have in the case of the post-bellum gen-
eration of Negroes been largely forced back into the great
mass of the listless and incompetent to earn bread and
butter by menial service.

And they resent it ; they are often discontented and
bitter, easily offended and without interest in their work.
Their attitude and complaint increases the discontent of
their fellows who have little ability, and probably could
not rise in the world if they might And, above all, both
the disappointed and the incompetents are alike ignorant
of domestic service in nearly all its branches, and in this
respect are a great contrast to the older set of Negro
servants.

Under such circumstances the first far-sighted movement
would have been to open such avenues of work and
employment to young Negroes that only those best fitted
for domestic work would enter service. Of course this is
difficult to do even for the whites, and yet it is still the
boast of America that, within certain limits, talent can
choose the best calling for its exercise. Not so with Negro
youth. On the contrary, the field for exercising their talent
and ambition is, broadly speaking, confined to the dining
room, kitchen and street. If now competition had drained
off the talented and aspiring into other avenues, and eased
the competition in this one vocation, then there would
have been room for a second movement, namely, for training

Sect 23.] Occupations in the City. 139

schools, which would fit the mass of Negro and white
domestic servants for their complicated and important
duties. Such a twin movement — the diversification of
Negro industry and the serious training of domestic ser-
vants— ^would do two things : it would take the ban from
the calling of domestic service by ceasing to make "Negro "
and " servant " synonymous terms. This would make it
possible for both whites and blacks to enter more freely into
service without a fatal and disheartening loss of self-
respect ; secondly, it would furnish trained servants — a sad
necessity to-day, as any housekeeper can testify.

Such a movement did not, however, take place, but, on
the contrary, another movement. English trained ser-
vants, the more docile Swedes and better paid white ser-
vants were brought in to displace Negro servants. One
has but to notice the coachmen on the driveways, or the
butlers on Rittenhouse Square, or the nursemaids in Fair-
mount Park, to see how largely white servants have dis-
placed Negroes. How has this displacement been brought
about? First, by getting better trained and more willing
servants ; secondly, by paying servants higher wages. The
Swedish and American servants, in most cases, know more
of domestic service than the post-bellum generation of
Negroes, and certainly as a class they are far more recon-
ciled to their lot. In the higher branches of domestic ser-
vice—cooks, butlers and coachmen — the process has been
to substitute a man at $50 to $75 a month for one at $30
to $40, and naturally again the result has been gratifying,
because a better class of men are attracted by the wages ;
thus the waiters at the new large hotels are not merely
white, but better paid, and undoubtedly ought to render bet-
ter service. In these ways without doubt domestic service
has in some respects improved in the city by a partial substi-
tution of better trained, better paid and more contented white
servants for poorly trained, discontented, and in the case
of waiters, butlers and coachmen, poorly paid Negroes.

140 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX-

Moreover, the substitution has not met with active opposi-
tion or economic resistance on the part of the Negroes,
because fully one-half of those in domestic service woald
be only too glad to get other work of any kind.

What now has been the result of these economic changes ?
The result has undoubtedly been the increase of crime, pau-
perism and idleness among Negroes : because while they are
being to some extent displaced as servants, no correspond-
ing opening for employment in other lines has been made*
How long can such a process continue ? How long can a
community pursue such a contradictory economic policy —
first confining a large portion of its population to a pursuit
which public opinion persists in looking down upon ; then
displacing them even there by better trained and better paid
competitors. Manifestly such a course is bound to make
that portion of the community a burden on the public ; to
debauch its women, pauperize its men, and ruin its homes ;
it makes the one central question of the Seventh Ward,
not imperative social betterments, raising of the standard
of home life, taking advantage of the civilizing institutions
of the great city — on the contrary, it makes it a sheer
question of bread and butter and the maintenance of a
standard of living above that of the Virginia plantation.

Nor has the whole group failed in ever>' case to answer
this question : the foregoing statistics show how, slowly and
under many discouragements, diversification of employ-
ments is taking place among the black population. This,
however, is the brighter side and represents the efforts of
that determined class among all people that surmount
eventually nearly all obstacles. The spirit of the age
however looks to-day not to the best and most energetic,
but to those on the edge, those who will become effect-
ive members of society only when properly encouraged. The
great mass of the Negroes naturally belong to this class and
when we turn to the darker side of the picture and study
the disease, poverty and crime of the Negro population,

Sect 24.] History of Occupations. 141

then we realize that the question of employment for
Negroes is the most pressing of the day and that the starting
point is domestic service which still remains their peculiar
province. First then as before said the object of social
reform should be so to diversify Negro employments as to
afford proper escape from menial employment for the
talented few, and so as to allow the mass some choice in
their lifework : this would be not only for the sake of
Negro development, but for the sake of a great human
industry which must continue to suffer as long as the odium
of race is added to a disposition to look down upon the
employment under any circumstances ; the next movement
ought to be to train servants — not toward servility and toady-
ing, but in problems of health and hygiene, in proper clean-
ing and cooking, and in matters of etiquette and good form.

To this must be added such arousing of the public con-
science as shall lead people to recognize more keenly than
now the responsibility of the family toward its servants — to
remember that they are constituent members of the family
group and as such have rights and privileges as well as
duties. To-day in Philadelphia the tendency is the other
way. Thousands of servants no longer lodge where they
work but are free at night to wander at will, to hire lodg-
ings in suspicious houses, to consort with paramours, and
thus to bring moral and physical disease to their place of
work. A reform is imperatively needed, and here, as in most
of the Negro problems, a proper reform will benefit white •
and black alike — the employer as well as the employed.

24. History of the Occupations of Negroes. — There
early arose in the colony of Pennsylvania the custom of
hiring out slaves, especially mechanics and skilled work-
men. This very soon roused the ire of the free white
workmen, and in 1708 and 1722 we find them petitioning
the legislature against the practice, and receiving some
encouragement therefrom. As long, however, as an in-
fluential class of slaveholders had a direct financial interest

142 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

in black mechanics they saw to it that neither law nor
prejudice hindered Negroes from working. Thus before
and after the Revolution there were mechanics as well as
servants among the Negroes. The proportion of servants,
however, was naturally very large. We have no figures
until 1820, when of the 7582 Negroes in the city, 2585 or 34
per cent were servants ; in 1840, 27 per cent were servants.
Some of these servants represented families, so that the
proportion of those dependent on domestic service was
larger even than the percentage indicated. In 1896 in the
Seventh Ward the per cent of servants, using the same
method of computation was 27.3 per cent.

Of those not servants, the Negroes themselves declared
in 1832, that "notwithstanding the difficulty of getting
places for our sons as apprentices to learn mechanical
trades, owing to the prejudices with which we have to con-
tend, there are between four and five hundred people of color
in the city and suburbs who follow mechanical employ-
ments." In 1838 the investigator of the Abolition Society
found 997 of the 17,500 Negroes in the county who had
learned trades, although only a part of these (perhaps 350)
actually worked at their trades at that time. The rest, out-
side the servants and men with trades, were manual
laborers. Many of these mechanics were afterward driven
from the city by the mobs.

In 1848 another study of the NegTt)es found the distribu-
tion of the Negroes as follows :

Of 3358 men, twenty-one years of age and over :

Laborers 1581

Waiters, cooks, etc 557

Mechanics 286

Coachmen, carters, etc 276

Sailors, etc. 240

Shopkeepers, traderSi etc 166

Barbers 156

Various occupations 96

3558

Sect 24.] History of Occupations. 143

Of 4249 women, twenty-one years and over there were :

Washerwomen 1970

Seamstresses 486

Day workers 786

In trades 213

Housewives 290

Servants (living at home) 156

Cooks 173

Ragpickers 103

Various occupations 72

4249

Of both sexes five to twenty years of age there were :

School children 1940

Unaccounted for 1200

At home 484

Helpless : : 33

Working at home 274

Servants 354

Laborers 253

Sweeps 12

Porters 18

Apprentices 230

4798

Besides these there were in white families 3716 servants.

Just how accurate the statistics of 1847 were it is now
difficult to say, probably there was some exaggeration from
the well-meant eflfort of the friends of the Negro to show
the best side. Nevertheless it seems as though the diver-
sity of employments at this time was considerable, although
of course under such heads as " shop keepers and traders "
street stands more often than stores were meant.

In 1856 the inquiry appears to have been more exhaus-
tive and careful, and the number of Negroes with trades
had increased to 1637 — including barbers and dressmakers.
Even here, however, some uncertainty enters, for " less than
two-thirds of those who have trades follow them. A few
of the remainder pursue other avocations from choice, but
the greater number are compelled to abandon their trades

144 2^ Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

on account of the unrelenting prejudice against their
color." The following table gives these returns :

Occupation of Philadbi.phia Nbg&obs, 1856.

Mechanical Trades.

Dressmakers 588

Barbers 248

Shoemakers 112

Shirt and dressmakers 70

Brickmakers . 53

Carpenters 49

Milliners and dressmakers 45

Tailors 49

Tanners and curriers 24

Blacksmiths 22

Cabinetmakers 20

Weavers 16

Pastry cooks 10

Plasterers 14

Sailmakers 12

113 other trades with one to nine in each 305

1637

In the light of such historical testimony it seems certain
that the industrial condition of the Negro in the last cen-
tury has undergone great vicissitudes, although it is difficult
sometimes to trace them. A diagram something like this
would possibly best represent the historical development
for a century :

1700

Such a diagram must of course be based largely upon
conjecture, but it represents as nearly as the data allow
the proportionate — not the absolute — extent to which the
Negroes of the city are represented in certain pursuits.

Sect 24.] History of Occupations. 145

In the half century 1840 to 1890 the proportion of
Negroes who are domestic servants has not greatly changed ;
the mass of the remainder are still laborers ; their oppor*
tunities for employment have been restricted by three
causes : competition, industrial change, color prejudice*
The competition has come in later years from the phenom-
enal growth of cities and the consequent hardening of
conditions of life : the Negro has especially felt this change
because of all the elements of our urban population he is
least prepared by previous training for rough, keen compe-
tition ; the industrial changes since and just before the
emancipation of the slaves have had a great influence on
their development, to which little notice has hitherto been
given. In the industrial history of nations the change
from agriculture to manufacturing and trade has been a
long, delicate process : first came house industries — spin-
ning and weaving and the like ; then the market with its
simple processes of barter and sale ; then the permanent
stall or shop, and at last the small retail store. In our day
this small retail store is in process of evolution to some-
thing larger and more comprehensive. When we look at
this development and see how suddenly the American city
Negro has been snatched from agriculture to the centres of
trade and manufactures, it should not surprise us to learn
that he has not as yet succeeded in finding a permanent place
in that vast system of industrial co-operation. Apart from
all questions of race, his problem in this respect is greater
than the problem of the white country boy or the European
peasant immigrant, because his previous industrial condition
was worse than theirs and less calculated to develop the
power of self-adjustment, self-reliance and co-operation.
All these considerations are further complicated by the fact
that the industrial condition of the Negro cannot be con-
sidered apart from the great fact of race prejudice^ — indefi-
nite and shadowy as that phrase may be. It is certain
that, while industrial co-operation among the groups of a
xo

146 The Occupations of Negroes. [Chap. IX.

great city population is very diflScult under ordinary cir-
cumstances, that here it is rendered more diflScult and in
some respects almost impossible by the fact that nineteen-
twentieths of the population have in many cases refused
to co-operate with the other twentieth, even when the
co-operation means life to the latter and great advantage to
the fonner. In other words, one of the great postulates of
the science of economics — ^that men will seek their
economic advantage — ^is in this case untrue, because in many
cases men will not do this if it involves association, even
in a casual and business way, with Negroes. And this
fact must be taken account of in all judgments as to the
Negro's economic progress.

CHAPTER X.

THE HEALTH OF NEGROES.

25. The Interpretation of Statistics. — The character-
istic signs which usually accompany a low civilization are
a high birth rate and a high death rate ; or, in other
words, early marriages and neglect of the laws of physical
health. This fact, which has often been illustrated by sta-
tistical research, has not yet been fully apprehended by
the general public because they have long been used to
hearing more or less true tales of the remarkable health
and longevity of barbarous peoples. For this reason the
recent statistical research which reveals the large death rate
among American Negroes is open to very general misappre-
hension. It is a remarkable phenomenon which throws
much light on the Negro problems and suggests some
obvious solutions. On the other hand, it does not prove,
as most seem to think, a vast recent change in the con-
dition of the Negro. Reliable data as to the physical
health of the Negro in slavery are entirely wanting ; and
yet, judging from the horrors of the middle passage, the
decimation on the West Indian plantations, and the bad
sanitary condition of the Negro quarters on most Southern
plantations, there must have been an immense death rate
among slaves, notwithstanding all reports as to endur-
ance, physical strength and phenomenal longevity. Just
how emancipation has afiFected this death rate is not clear ;
the rush to cities, where the surroundings are unhealthful,
has had a bad effect, although this migration on a large
scale is so recent that its full effect is not yet apparent ; on
the other hand, the better care of children and improvement
in home life has also had some favorable effect On the
whole, then, we must remember that reliable statistics as
to Negro health are but recent in date and that as yet no

(147)

148 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.

important conclusions can be arrived at as to historic
changes or tendencies. One thing we must of course
expect to find, and that is a much higher death rate at
present among Negroes than among whites : this is one
measure of the difference in their social advancement They
have in the past lived under vastly different conditions and
they still live under different conditions : to assume that,
in discussing the inhabitants of Philadelphia, one is dis-
cussing people living under the same conditions of life, is
to assume what is not true. Broadly speaking, the Negroes
as a class dwell in the most unhealthful parts of the city
and in the worst houses in those parts ; which is of course
simply saying that the part of the population having a
large degree of poverty, ignorance and general social
degradation is usually to be found in the worst portions of
our great cities.

Therefore, in considering the health statistics of the
Negroes, we seek first to know their absolute condition,
rather than their relative status ; we want to know what
their death rate is, how it has varied and is varying and
what its tendencies seem to be ; with these facts fixed we
must then ask. What is the meaning of a death rate like
that of the Negroes of Philadelphia? Is it, compared with
with other races, large, moderate or small ; and in the case
of nations or groups with similar death rates. What has
been the tendency and outcome ? Finally, we must com-
pare the death rate of the Negroes with that of the com-
munities in which they live and thus roughly measure the
social difference between these neighboring groups; we
must endeavor also to eliminate, so far as possible, from the
problem disturbing elements which would make a differ-
ence in health among people of the same social advance-
ment Only in this way can we intelligently interpret
statistics of Negro health.

Here, too, we have to remember that the collection of
statistics, even in Philadelphia, is by no means perfect.

Sect. 26.] The Statistics of the City.

149

The death returns are to be relied upon, but the returns of
births are wide of the true condition ; the statistics of causes
of death are also faulty.

26. The Statistics of the City. — ^The mortality of
Negroes in Philadelphia, according to the best reports, has
been as follows '}

Date.

I820-I830
I830-I840
i884>i89o

I89T-IS96

Average Annual

Deaths per xooo

Negroes.

47.6

32.5
3I.25*

28.02t

* Including stlU-birttaa ; excluding still-birtha, 39.52.

t Including atill-birtha and assuming the average Negro population, 1891-1896, at
the low figure of 41,500.* For this period, excluding still-births, 2541.

The average annual death rate, 1884 to 1890, in the
wards having over 1000 Negro inhabitants, was as follows :

Ward.

Ponrth

Fifth

Seventh

Eighth

Fourteenth

Fifteenth

Twentieth

Twenty-second

Twen^-third

Twenty-8ixth

Twenty-fleventh

Twenty-ninth

Thirtieth

Twenty-fourth and Thirty-fourth

City

39.371

Death Rate per

1000, excluding

Still-birtha,

X884-90

43.38
48.46

30.54
29.25

^2.38

20.18

18.64

15.91
18.67

18.15

39.86

19.09

21.74
35."

29.52

^ The earlier figtu-es are from Dr. Emerson's reports, in the "Condition,"
etc, of the Negro, 1838, and from the pamphlet, '* Health of Convicts.*'
All the tables, 1884 to 1890, are from Dr. John Billings* report in the
Eleventh Census. Later reports are compiled from the City Health
Reports, 1890 to 1896.

*This figure is conjectural, as the real Negro population is unknown.
Estimated according to the rate of increase from 1880 to 1890, the aver-
age anUual population would have been 42,229 ; I think this is too high,
as the rate of increase has been lower in this decade.

•«
«•

150 The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.

Separating the deaths by the sex of the deceased, we
have:

Total death rate of Negroes, 1890, (still-births

included) 52.42 per xooa

For Negro males 36.02

For Negro females ^23

Separating by age, we have :

Total death rate, 1890 (stiU-births included)

all ages . . 32.42 per looa

Under fifteen 69.24

Fifteen to twenty 13.61

Twenty to twenty-five 14.50

Twenty-five to thirty-five 15.21

Thirty-five to forty-five 17.16 "

Forty-five to fifty-five 29.41 "

Fifty-five to sixty-five 40.09

Sixty-five and over 116.49

««

The large infant mortality is shown by the average
annual rate of 171.44 (including still-births), for children
under five years of age, during the years 1884 to 1890.

These statistics are very instructive. Compared with
modern nations the death rate of Philadelphia Negroes is
high, but not extraordinarily so : Hungary (33.7), Austria,
(30.6), and Italy (28.6), had in the years 1871-90 a larger
average than the Negroes in 1891-96, and some of these
lands surpass the rate of 1884-90. Many things com-
bine to cause the high Negro death rate : poor heredity,
neglect of infants, bad dwellings and poor food. On the
other hand the age classification of city Negroes with its
excess of females and of young people of twenty to thirty-
five years of age, must serve to keep the death rate lower
than its rate would be under normal circumstances. The in-
fluence of bad sanitary surroundings is strikingly illustrated
in the enonnous death rate of the Fifth Ward — the worst
egro slum in the city, and the worst part of the city in
pect to sanitation. On the other hand the low death
te of the Thirtieth Ward illustrates the influences of

Sect 26 J The Statistics of the City. 151

good houses and clean streets in a district where the better
class of Negroes have recently migrated.

The marked excess of the male death rate points to a
great difference in the social condition of the sexes in the
city, as it far exceeds the ordinary disparity ; as, e. g.^ in
Germany where the rates are, males 28.6, females 25.3.*
The young girls who come to the city have practically
no chance for work except domestic service. This
branch of work, however, has the great advantage of being
healthful ; the servant has usually a good dwelling, good
food and proper clothing. The boy, on the contrary,
usually has to live in a bad part of the city, on poorly pre-
pared or irregular food and is more exposed to the weather.
Moreover, his chances of securing any work at all are much
smaller than the girls'. Consequently the female death
rate is but 81 per cent of the male rate.

When we turn to the statistics of death according to age,
we immediately see that, as is usual in such cases, the high
death rate is caused by an excessive infant mortality, which
ranks very high compared with other groups.

The chief diseases to which Negroes fall victims are :*

Disease.

Consumption

Diseases of the nervous system

Pneumonia

Heart disease and dropsy . .

StiU-births

Diarrheal diseases

Diseases of the urinary ox^ns
Accidents and injuries . . .
Typhoid fever

Death Rate per
100,000, 1890.

532.52
388.86
356.67

257.59
203.10

193- 19

133-75
99.07

91.64

For the period, 1 891-1896, the average annual rate was
as follows :

•This and other comparisons are mostly taken from Mayo-Smith,
"Statistics and Sociology."
* For death-rate, 1884-1890, Cf. below, p. 159.

152

Til^ Health of Negroes.

[Chap. X.

Consnmpiioii

Diaeaaes of the nerrotu STStem

Pnemnonia

Heart diaeaae and dropsy . .
Still and prematnre births . .
Tjrphoid lever

Death Rate per
100,000^ 1891-X896.

426.50
307.63
990.76
173.69

2iai2

44.98

The strikingly excessive rate here is that of consump-
tion, which is the most fatal disease for Negroes. Bad ven-
tilation, lack of outdoor life for women and children, poor
protection against dampness and cold are undoubtedly the
chief causes of this excessive death rate. To this must be
added some hereditary predisposition, the influence of
climate, and the lack of nearly all measures to prevent the
spread of the disease.

We find thus a group of people with a high, but not
unusual death rate, which rate has been gradually decreas-
ing, if statistics are reliable, for seventy-five years. This
death rate is due principally to infantile mortality and
consumption, and these are caused chiefly by conditions of
life and poor hereditary physique-
How now does this group compare with the condition of
the mass of the community with which it comes in daily
contact? Comparing the death rates of whites and
Negroes, we have :

Date.

Whites.

1 820-1830 .
1830-1840 .
1884-1890*
1891-1896!

23.7
22.69

2I.20t

Negroes.

47.6
32.5
3125
25-41 1

• Including still-births.
tBzcluding still-births.

I Assuming white po|>ulstioa, X891-96V hss incremsed in the ssme ratio as 1880-90, and
that it averaged 1,066,985 in these years.
i Assuming that the mean Negro population was 41,500.

This shows a considerable diflerence in death rates,
amounting to nearly lo per cent in 1 884-1 890, and to 4
per cent by the estimated rates of 1891-1896. If the

Sect 26.]

The Statistics of the City.

153

estimate of population on which the latter rate is based is
correct, then the difference in death rate is not larger than
'would be expected from different conditions of life/

The absolute number of deaths (excluding still-births)
has been as follows :

Year.

1891
1892

1893
1894

1895
1896

Whites.

Negroes.

22.384

983

23.233

1.072

22,621

1.034

21.960

1.030

22,645

I.I5I

22.903

1.079

Comparing the death rate by wards we have this table :

POPUUkTION AND DBATH RATB. PHII^ADBI^PHIA, 1884-90.

Wards.

FilBt

Second

Third

Poarth

Fifth

Sixth

Seventh

Eighth

Ninth

Tenth

Eleventh. ...
Twelfth

Population, 1890.

Death Rate per zooo,
excluding Still-Urths.

White.

Colored.

White.

Colored.

53,057

794

22.08

33.07

31,016

522

23.93

24.21

19.043

861

23,91

21.71

17,792

2.573

29.98

48.46

14,619

2,335

25.67

8.574

125

24.30

49.77

21.177

8,861

24.30

30.54

13.940

3.0H

24.26

2925

9,284

497

25.40

22.32

20,495

798

19.88

14.51

12,931

II

28.31

500.00

13,821

338

21.57

44.85

* The official figures of the Board of Health give no estimate of the
Negro death-rate alone. They give the following death rate for the city
including both whites and blacks, and excluding still-births:

VMir Total Number Death-rate per 1000

^^^' of Deaths. of Population.

1891 23,367 21.85

1892 24,305 22.25

1893 23,655 21.20

1894 22,680 19.90

1895 23,796 20.44

1896 23,982 20.17

Average death-rate for the six years, 20.97; by my calculation, the
rate for the whole population would be 21.63.

154

The Health of Negroes.

[Chap. X.

PoPUi^TiON AND Drath Ratb, i^A^-^-^CwiUnued,
1

Wards.

Thirteenth . . .

Fourteenth . . .
Fifteenth

Sixteenth . . .

Seventeenth . .

Eighteenth. . .

Nineteenth . . .

Twentieth . . .

Twenty-first . .

Twenty- second .

Twen^-third . .

Twenty-fourth .

Twenty-fifth . .

Twenty-sixth . .
Twenty-seventh

Twenty-eighth .
Twenty-ninth

Thirtieth. . . .
Thirty-first . .
Thirty-second

Thirty-third . .
Thir^-fourth .

Whole city

PopulAtion, 1890.

White.

17,362

19.339
50.954

16,973
19,412

29,142

55.249
43.127
26,800

43.512

34.255
41,600

35,677
60,722

30.712

45.727
53.261

28,808

32.944
29,662

32.975
22,628

1,006,590

Colored.

539

1.379

1,751
104

124

I

275

1,333

93

1,798

1,026

9W

260

1,375

2,077

644

1,476

1,789
16

382
190

1.073

39.371

Death Rate per 1000,
ezdudinflr Still-births. •

White.

20.67

21.47
20.08
28.04
28.89
24.42

23.73
20.77

19.45

17.77
18.50

17.95
24.29

19.48

31.91
15.56
20.19
22.12
21.46
14.61

13.07

«

Colored.

21.54

2a 76

22.38

20.18

46.38

64.95
90.91

51.33

ia64
56.78

15.91
18.67

35.11

33.33
18.15

39.86

15.96
19.09

21.74
57.47
13.66

18.63

29.52

* Death rate included in that of the Twenty-fourth ward.

From this table we may make some interesting compari-
sons ; take first the worst wards :

Fourth .
Fifth . .
Seventh .
Eighth .

Ward.

Whites.

29.98

2567
24.30
24.26

Negroes.*

43.38
48.46

30.54
29.25

* Total Negro ix>pulation, 16,780.

In all these wards there is a large Negro population com-
prising a considerable per cent of new immigrants ; and
these wards contain the worst slum districts and most un-
sanitary dwellings of the city. However, there are in
these same wards peculiar circumstances which decrease
the death rate of the whites : First, in the Fourth and
Fifth wards a large number of foreign immigrants whose

Sect. 26.]

The Statistics of the City,

155

death rate, on account of the absence of old people and
children, is small ; and of Jews whose death rate is, on
account of their fine family life, also small ; secondly, in the
Seventh and Eighth wards there are, as all Philadelphians
know, large sections inhabited by the best people of the
city, with a death rate below the average.
Taking another set of wards, we have :

Ward.

Ponrteenth . .
Fifteenth . . .
Twenty-sixth .
Twenty-seventh
Thirtieth . . .

Whites.

21.47
20.08

19.48
22.12

Negroes.

22.38
20.18

18.15

39.86

21.74

^ Total Negro population, 8,371.

Here we have quite a different tale. These are the
wards where the best Negro families have been renting
and buying homes in the last ten years, in order to escape
from the crowded down town wards. The Thirtieth and
Twenty-sixth wards are the best sections ; the statistics of
the Fourteenth and Fifteenth wards show the same thing
although their validity is somewhat vitiated by the large
number of Negro servants there in the prime of life.

A last set of wards is as follows :

Ward.

Twentieth . . .
Twenty-second
Twenty-third .
Twenty-eighth
Twenty-ninth .

Whites.

Negroes.*

20.77

18.64

17.77

15.91

1850

18.67

15.56

15.96

20.19

19.09

• Total Negro population, 6,277.

In most of these some exceptional circumstances make
the Negro death rate abnormally low. Generally this
arises from the fact that these are white residential wards
and the Negro population is largely composed of servants.
These, as has been before noted, have a small death rate
because of their ages, and then too, when they are sick

IJS

The Health of Negroes.

[Chap. X.
: to the hos-

tliey go home to die in the Seventh Ward, c
pitals in the Twenty-seventh and other wards.

These tables would seem to adduce considerable proof
that the Negro death rate is largely a matter of condition
of living.

When we look at the comparative deaths of the races,
by sex, we see that the forces operating among Negroes to
make a disparity between the death rates of men and
1 are largely absent among the whites.

fl...

While.

N.«™.

Tot^.

33.85

3a79

59.23

34.30

(1890, tncluding Btill-birtbs. )
The age structure reveals partially the character of the
great differences in death rate between the races. (See
page 157-)

Death Ratk op Phi[,*dbi,phia by Acb Phrioes, fob 1890.

AGE KAIODS

■ir|,.„|»»|»H.

AMO

ytv>

sow

n«o

«>»

««.

IMHM

in-M

UNDER IS

■™¥

■

■

■

IB— BO

80— 4S

30 — 45

*6 — 66

55 — 66

■1

estoviB

■

■

■

■f

■

■

■

Sect 36.] The Slalisties of the City.

%t-

3 3^^ CSEg 3t5« 3.5^5= SS

■B«5S«'fi?!?SS'£

^ Jft^SJ5 r^ ?«fe^ailKK-R?

HU5S&t3&?^52as£asi

M^SJffcaiRil R!Sfi-£Ti S5E^?«

^S?3,£|»R?a^'§&SMR?£

5S?gSS5ssl^H?^?|S?

ft? s'^^S^sS^s^E^^-^^R - ^

5S|=?«EHK?i«iSJIS»3

irejISSSSaslsjjM??!!

sJk3??Hr^^^§?«^H^s

■5 ■? ■

|«M| Sill tIjS fill il!

158 Tite Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.

Drath Rats in Philadbuhu, 1890, by "Bxsat Acb Pbkiods.

Color,

5|

Is

<

s

f

i

i

1

!i

Tol.1 white.

Toutm*le«hlt«

ToUl fcnulc whltei

Total NeffToei

TotBlfcnule NrgroeB

Native vhlln

NXlvewbllenulH

HaliTC while femalei ....

3fi.M
«.So

36.84

ill

6^34

B.8.

10.4J

ilii

13.60
.1:91
1716

'3^53

i

17.BS
Its

17.41

M-ST

For children under five, including still-births, we find
these average annual death rates, 1884-1890:

Race.

CItr.

9ewnthW«pd.

94- 00
1 7 [.44

III.04

94-79

133.63

Nothing shows more plainly the poor home life of the
Negroes than these figures. A comparison of the differ-
ences in death rate from various diseases will complete the
picture :

DSATH RaTB PRR 100,000 FROM SPRCITIEO DiSEASKS, I890.

For Whole City.

Cotiaamption

Pneumonia

Diairheal diaeajes

Diseasesof the ncTvonsayatem .

Diphtheria and croup

DiseaacB of the urinar; •ystem .
Heart diaeOK and dropaj . . .

Cancer and tumor

Diieaae of the liver

Malarial fever

Typhoid fever

Still-births

169.43

356.67

180.31

19'- 1 9

151.40

301.01

44-58

;;:;i

56-63

5.66

91-64

7a.8a

ao3.io

135.61

Other Bccidenta and injiaiea .

Sect 26.]

The Statistics of the City,

159

AvBRAGB Annual Dsath Ratb op Phu^adblphia, 1884-1890, pbr

BACH 100,000 OP Population.

For Specified Diseases.

Causes.

All causes

Scarlet fever ....

T3r^hoid fever ....

Malarial fever ....

Diphtheria

Croup

Diarrheal diseases . .

Consumption ....

Pneumonia

Measles

Whooping-cough . .

Cancer and tumor . .

Heart disease and
dropsy

Childbirth and puer-
peral diseases . . .

Diseases of liver . .
nervous system
urinary organs

Old age

Stillbirths . . .

All other causes . . .

Unknown. . . . .

Whites.

ToUl.

Total.

Native.

Poreigrn.

230.^.43

2269. 19

2562.31

1470.26

26.18

26.86

35.84

2.39

69.35

69.65

73.10

60.25

7.21

7.19

8.22

4.37

50.48

51.48

69.30

2.92

47.82

4903

66.4.1

1.66

156. 1 1

155.30

196.16

43.94

297.87

287.06

299.29

253.72

164.17

158.77

174.79

115.13

10.67

10.67

14.37

.60

11.39

10.69

14-52

.27

54.73

55.17

48.15

74.30

146.27

142. 10

37.44

154.83

10.06

9.98

9.61

11.00

27.58

28.32

24.70

38.18

318.83

315.86

373.38

15907

74.90

73.44

72.54

75.89

46.08

45.99

37.13

70.12

117.68

115.38

157.72

• • • •

656.01

646.23

743.50

381.10

iao2

10.02

10.19

9-54

Negro.

3124.81

9.82

62.31

7.68

26.46

18.78

195.40

557.36

293.62

10.67

28.17

44.38

246.25

"95
9.82

390.07
no. 1 1

48.23
172.84
890.67

10.24

The Negroes exceed the white death rate largely in con-
sumption, pneumonia, diseases of the urinary system, heart
disease and dropsy, and in still-births ; they exceed moder-
ately in diarrheal diseases, diseases of the nervous system,
malarial and typhoid fevers. The white death rate exceeds
that of Negroes for diphtheria and croup, cancer and tumor,
diseases of the liver, and deaths from suicide.

We have side by side and in intimate relationship in a
large city two groups of people, who as a mass diflFer con.
siderably from each other in physical health ; the diflFer-
ence is not so great as to preclude hopes of final adjust-
ment ; probably certain social classes of the larger group
are in no better health than the mass of the smaller group.
So too there are without doubt classes in the smaller group
whose physicial condition is equal to, or superior to the

i6o The Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.

average of the larger group. Particularly with regard to
consumption it must be remembered that Negroes are not
the first people who have been claimed as its peculiar vic-
tims ; the Irish were once thought to be doomed by that
disease — ^but that was when Irishmen were unpopular.

Nevertheless, so long as any considerable part of
the population of an organized community is, in its
mode of life and physical efficiency distinctly and no-
ticeably below the average, the community must suffer.
The suffering part furnishes less than its quota of
workers, more than its quota of the helpless and
dependent and consequently becomes to an extent a burden
on the community. This is the situation of the Negroes
of Philadelphia to-day : because of their physical health
they receive a larger portion of charity, spend a larger
proportion of their earnings for ph^'sicians and medicine,
throw on the community a larger number of helpless
widows and orphans than either they or the city can afford.
Why is this ? Primarily it is because the Negroes are as
a mass ignorant of the laws of health. One has but to visit
a Seventh Ward church on Sunday night and see an audi-
ence of 1500 sit two and three hours in the foul atmosphere
of a closely shut auditorium to realize that long formed
habits of life explain much of Negro consumption and
pneumonia ; again the Negroes live in unsanitary dwell-
ings, partly by their own fault, partly on account of the
difficulty of securing decent houses by reason of race
prejudice. If one goes through the streets of the Seventh
Ward and picks out those streets and houses which, on
account of their poor condition, lack of repair, absence of
conveniences and limited share of air and light, contain the
worst dwellings, one finds that the great majority of such
streets and houses are occupied by Negroes. In some
cases it is the Negroes' fault that the houses are so bad ;
but in very many cases landlords refuse to repair and refit
for Negro tenants because they know that there are few

Sect 26.] The Statistics of the City. 161

*
dwellings which Negroes can hire, and they will not there-
fore be apt to leave a fair house on account of damp walls
or poor sewer connections. Of modern conveniences
Negro dwellings have few. Of the 2441 families of the
Seventh Ward only 14 per cent had water closets and baths^
and many of these were in poor condition. In a city of
yards, 20 per cent of the families had no private yard
and consequently no private outhouses.

Again, in habits of personal cleanliness and taking proper
food and exercise, the colored people are woefully defi-
cient The Southern field-hand was hardly supposed to
wash himself regularly, and the house-servants were none
too clean. Habits thus learned have lingered, and a gospel
of soap and water needs now to be preached. Negroes are
commonly supposed to eat rather more than necessary. And
this perhaps is partially true. The trouble is more in the
quality of the food than its quantity, in the wasteful method
of its preparation, and in the irregularity in eating.* For in-
stance, one family of three living in the depth of dirt and
poverty on a crime-stricken street spent for their daily food :

Centi.

Milk, for child 4

One pound pork chops 10

One loaf bread 5

When we imagine this pork fried in grease and eaten
with baker's bread, taken late in the afternoon or at bed-
time, what can we expect of such a family ? Moreover,
the tendency of the classes who are just struggling out of
extreme poverty is to stint themselves for food in order to
have better looking homes; thus the rent in too many
cases eats up physical nourishment.

Finally, the number of Negroes who go with insufficient
clothing is large. One of the commonest causes of

*Cf. Atwater & Woods: Dietary Stndies with reference to the Pood
of the Negro in Alabama. (Bulletin No. 38, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture),
p. 21, and passim.

II

i62 TTie Health of Negroes. [Chap. X.

consumption and respiratory disease is migration from the
warmer South to a Northern city without change in manner
of dress. The neglect to change clothing after becoming
damp with rain is a custom dating back to slavery time.

These are a few obvious matters of habit and manner of
life which account for much of the poor health of Negroes.
Further than this, when in poor health the neglect to take
proper medical advice, or to follow it when given, leads to
much harm. Often at the hospital a case is treated and
temporary relief given, the patient being directed to
return after a stated time. More often with Negroes than
with whites, the patient does not return until he is worse
o£F than at first. To this must be added a superstitious
fear of hospitals prevalent] among the lower classes of all
people, but especially among Negroes. This must have
some foundation in the roughness or brusqueness of man-
ner prevalent in many hospitals, and the lack of a tender
spirit of sympathy with the unfortunate patients. At any
rate, many a Negro would almost rather die than trust
himself to a hospital.

We must remember that all these bad habits and sur-
roundings are not simply matters of the present generation,
but that many generations of unhealthy bodies have be-
queathed to the present generation impaired vitality and
hereditary tendency to disease. This at first seems to be
contradicted by the reputed robustness of older generations
of blacks, which was certainly true to a degree. There
cannot, however, be much doubt, when former social condi-
tions are studied, but that hereditary disease plays a large
part in the low vitality of Negroes to-day, and the health
of the past has to some extent been exaggerated. All these
considerations should lead to concerted eflForts to root out
disease. The city itself has much to do in this respect For
so large and progressive a city its general system of drainage
is very bad; its water is wretched, and in many other
respects the city and the whole State are "woefully and

Sect. 26.] The Statistics of the City, 163

discreditably behind almost all the other States in Christen-
dom."^ The main movement for reform must come from
the Negroes themselves, and should start with a crusade
for fresh air, cleanliness, healthfully located homes and
proper food. All this might not settle the question of
Negro health, but it would be a long step toward it.

The most difficult social problem in the matter of Negro
health is the peculiar attitude of the nation toward the
well-being of the race. There have, for instance, been
few other cases in the history of civilized peoples where
human suffering has been viewed with such peculiar in-
difference. Nearly the whole nation seemed delighted
with the discredited census of 1870 because it was thought
to show that the Negroes were dying off rapidly, and the
country would soon be well rid of them. So, recently,
when attention has been called to the high death-rate of
this race, there is a disposition among many to conclude
that the rate is abnormal and unprecedented, and that,
since the race is doomed to early extinction, there is little
left to do but to moralize on inferior species.

Now the fact is, as every student of statistics knows,
that considering the present advancement of the masses of
the Negroes, the death rate is not higher than one would
expect ; moreover there is not a civilized nation to-day
which has not in the last two centuries presented a death-
rate which equaled or surpassed that of this race. That
the Negro death-rate at present is anything that threatens
the extinction of the race is either the bugbear of the un-
trained, or the wish of the timid.

What the Negro death-rate indicates is how far this race
is behind the great vigorous, cultivated race about it. It
should then act as a spur for increased effort and sound
upbuilding, and not as an excuse for passive indifference,
or increased discrimination.

*Dr. Dudley Pemberton before the State Homeopathic Medical
Society.— Philadelphia Ledger^ October i, 1&96.

CHAPTER XL

THE NEGRO FAMILY.

27. The Size of the Family. — There were in the
Seventh Ward, in 1896, 7751 members of families (includ-
ing 171 persons living alone), and 1924 single lodgers.^
The average size of the family, without lodgers and
boarders, was 3.18.

Familibs According to Sizb.

Number in Family.

One . .

Two . .
Three .
Four . .
Five . .
Six . .
Seven .
Eight .
Nine . .
Ten . .
Eleven .
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen .

Totel

Lodgers . . . . •

Total population

Average size real &mily

Average size of &mily, including single

lodgers

Average size of census family

Number

of
Families.

171
1,031

470

327

183
106

76

28

25

13

2

4

3
I

I

2,441

Per Cent of
Different

Size
Families.

7.0
42.2

44.3

5.8

0.7

100

Members

of
Families.

171
2,062
1,410
1,308

636

532
224

225

130
22

48

39
14
15

7,751

1,924

9,675

3.18

3.96
5.08

With the whole population of the ward included, the
average size was about four, and counting married and

> Families who were lodging — and there were many — ^were counted as
families, not as lodgers. They were mostly young couples with one or
no children. The lodgers were not counted with the families because of
their large numbera, and the shifting of many of them from month to
month.

(164)

Sect 27.] Tlie Size of the Family, 165

single lodgers as part of the renting family, the average
size is about five.* In any case the smallness of the
families is remarkable, and is probably due to local
causes in the ward, to the general situation in the city'
and to development in the race at large. The Seventh
Ward is a ward of lodgers and casual sojourners ; newly
married couples settle ^own here until they are compelled,
by the appearance of children, to move into homes of their
own, and these in later years are being chosen in the
Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth wards, and up-
town. Some couples leave their families in the South
with grandmothers and live in lodgings here, returning to
Virginia or Maryland only temporarily in summer or win-
ter ; a good many men come here from elsewhere, live as
lodgers and support families in the country ; then, too,
childless couples often work out, the woman at service and
the man lodging in this ward ; the woman joins her
husband once or twice a week, but does not lodge regularly
there, and so is not a resident of the ward ; such are the
local conditions that aflfect greatly the size of families. *

The size of families in cities is nearly always smaller
than elsewhere, and the Negro family follows this rule ;
late marriages among them undoubtedly act as a check to
population; moreover, the economic stress is so great
that only the small family can survive ; the large fami-
lies are either kept from coming to the city or move
away, or, as is most common, send the breadwinners to the
city while they stay in the country. It is of course but

' This figure is obtained by dividing the total population of the ward
by the number of homes directly rented, viz., 1675. There is an error
here arising from the fact that some sub-renting families are really
lodgers and should be counted with the census family, while others are
partially separate families and some wholly separate. This error can-
not be eliminated.

*The excessive infant mortality also has its influence on the average
size of families. Cf. Chapter X. Whether infanticide or foeticide is preva-
lent to any extent there are no means of knowing. Once in a while such
a case finds its way to the courts.

i66

The Negro Family.

[Chap. XI.

conjecture to say how far these causes are working among
the general N^gro population of the country ; but consid-
ering that the whole race has to-day begun its great battle
for economic survival, and that few of the better class,
male or female, can expect to get married early in life, it
is fair to expect that for several decades to come the aver-
age size of the Negro family will decrease until economic
well-being can keep pace with the demands of a rising
standard of living ; and that then we shall have another
era of good-sized though not very large Negro families.^

As has before been intimated, the difficulty of earning
income enough to afford to marry, has had its ill-effects on
the sexual morality of city Negroes, especially, too, since
their hereditary training in this respect has been lax. It
is, therefore, fair to conclude that a number of the fami-
lies of two are simply more or less permanent cohabita-
tions ; and that a large number of families are centres of
irregular sexual intercourse. Observation in the ward
bears out this conclusion, and shows that fifty-eight of the
families of two were certainly unmarried persons.

The result of all these causes is shown in the following
table, although the comparison is not strictly allowable ;
the real family of the Negroes is compared with the census
family of other groups, and this exaggerates the proportion
of the smaller families among the Negroes :

Number in Family.

One

Two

Two to six . . .
Seven to ten . .
Bleven and over

Whole

Negroes

Popula-

Brookl*n,

United

Seventh

tion of

N. Y.

SUtea.

Ward.

city.

%

%

%

%^

7.0

I.9I

2.71

3.63

43.2

m •

• • •

• • •

86.5

74.67

78.37

73 33

5.8

31.09

17.53

2a97

0.7

2.53

1.39

2.07

* During the last ten years I have been bidden to a dozen or more wed-
dings among the better class of Negroes. In no case was the bridegroom
under 30, or the bride under 20. In most cases the man was about 35,
and the woman 25 or more.

Sect 27.]

The Size of the Family.

167

Further comparison with France may be made : *

Number in Family.

One . . .
Two to three
Pour to five
Six or more

Negroes

Seventh

Ward.

7.0
61.5
20.9
10.6

France.

14.0

41-3
29.8

14.5

Making allowance for the errors of this comparison, it
nevertheless seems true that the conditions of family life
in the ward are abnormal and characterized by an unusu-
ally large number of families of two persons.

There are no statistics for the Negro families of the
whole city such as would serve to eliminate the local
peculiarities of the Seventh Ward. General observation
would indicate in the Fifth and Eighth wards similar con-
ditions to the Seventh. In most of the other wards condi-
tions are diflferent, and in all probability vary widely from
these crowded central wards.. Nevertheless, throughout all
of them large families are not the rule, the number of
bachelors and lodgers is considerable, and there is some
cohabitation, although this is, in the city at large, much
less prevalent than in the Seventh Ward. It would seem,
therefore, that the indications of our study of conjugal

* The fignres relative to other groups of city Negroes as collected by
the cooference at Atlanta University are as follows:

Pamilibs

OF

<

H

Cambbidob,
Mass.

8

M

!:

u

M

e
0

£

0

0

ij
•J
<

I

2

2-6

7-10
71 and
Over.

6.79
20.06

7963
13-58

0

2.04
17.89
82.10

15.45
.41

5.10

25-51
83.68

11.22
0

4.69

17.91
78.04
17.06

.21

4.75
19.17

79-85
15.22

.18

These figures apply to only 1 137 families in the above named and other
cities. Cf. " U. S. Bulletin of Labor,'' May, 1897.

i68 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.

condition were here emphasized, and that the Negro urban
home has commenced a revolution which will either purify
and raise it or more thoroughly debauch it than now ; and
that the determining factor is economic opportunity. The
full picture of this change demands statistics of births and
marriages from year to year. These unfortunately are not
so registered as to be even partially reliable. Both the
birth and marriage rate, however, are in all probability
steadily decreasing.* The death-rate also comes in here
as a factor, not only by reason of the great infant mortality
but also on account of the excessive death-rate of the men.
In all this one catches a faint glimpse of the intricacy and
far-reaching influence of the Negro problems.

28. Incomes. — ^The economic problem of the Negroes
of the city has been repeatedly referred to. We now come
directly to the question, What do Negroes earn? In a
year about what is the income of an average family?
Such a question is difficult to answer with anything like
accuracy. Only returns based on actual written accounts
would furnish thoroughly reliable statistics ; such accounts
cannot be had in this case. The few that keep accounts
would in many cases naturally be unwilling to produce
them. On the other hand, the great mass of people in the

' The birth rate for the city is given in official returns as follows:

1894. Total for city: males, 16,185; females, 14,552. Negroes: males,
536; females, 476.

1895. Total for city: males, 15,618; females, 14,220. Negroes: males,
568; females, 524.

1896. Total for city: males, 15,534; females, 14,219. Negroes: males,
572; females 514.

Average per year for whites, 29,013.

Average per year for Negroes, 1,063.

White birth rate, 27.2 per thousand.

Negro birth rate, 25. i per thousand.

Assuming white population as 1,066,985.

Assuming Negro population as 41,500.

The Department of Health declares these returns considerably below
the truth, and the omissions among Negroes are of course large. Never-
theless, the Negro birth rate in Philadelphia is probably not high.

Sect. 28.] Incomes, 169

lower walks of life scarcely know how much they earn in
a year. The tables here presented, therefore, must be
regarded simply as careful estimates. These estimates are
based on three or more of the' following items: (i) The
statement of the family as to their earnings. Some of the
better class gave a general estimate of their average yearly
income ; most gave the wages earned per week or month
at their usual occupation. (2) The occupations followed
by tlie several members of the family ; (3) the time lost
from work in the last year or the time usually lost ; (4) the
apparent circumstances of the family judging from the
appearance of the home and inmates, the rent paid, the
presence of lodgers, etc.

In most cases the first item was given the greatest weight
in settling the matter, but was modified by the others; in
other cases, however, either this statement could not be ob-
tained or was vague, and in a few instances evidently false.
In such circumstances the second item was decisive : the
occupations followed by the mass of Negroes are paid
according to a pretty well-known scale of prices ; a hotel
waiter's income could be pretty accurately fixed without
further data. The third item was important in many
occupations ; stevedores, for instance, receive generally
twenty cents per hour ; nevertheless, few if any earn $600
a year, because they lose much time between ships and in
winter. Finally, as a general corrective to deception or
inadvertence the circumstances of home life as seen by the
investigator on his visit, the rent paid — ^an item which
could be pretty accurately ascertained — ^the number of
lodgers, the occupation of the housewife and children — all
these items served to confirm or throw doubt on the con-
clusions indicated by the other data, and were given some
weight in the final judgment.

Thus it can easily be seen that these returns may contain,
and probably do contain, considerable error. On the one
hand they cannot be as accurate as returns based on income

170

The Negro Family.

[Chap. XI.

tax reports, and on the other hand they are probably more
reliable than data founded solely on the bare statements of
those asked. The personal judgment of the investigator
enters into the determination of the figures to a larger
extent than is desirable, and yet it has been limited as
carefully as the nature of the inquiry pennitted.^

The income according to size of family is indicated iu the
next table. Prom this, making the standard a family of five,

IHCOHBS, ACCORDIMO TO SiZS OF F&MILV Ilf SSYXNTH WAKS, 1896.

.?' 5;

100 11 isi _

150 31' 69' 19,

WO »3io5, 3S, n;

»S0 3»1 9S 46 rf!

300 lo loS 49 3J

3SO 9>ai 46 30

400 4 95 39 34

*!f^ I 79 40 i6 u

7115 47 37 »6

850 .
900 .

I 17 14 8
I 45 16 17 1

3 33 19 '6 I

3 »
3 4

looo-iioo

iioo-isoo I 3 10

1500 and over ... a 6 10 i

Unknown 15 67 17.

I'oknown

3 3 5 9

of unknown sue .

hi

'M

and making some allowance for larger and smaller families,
we can conclude that 19 per cent of the Negro families in
the Seventh Ward earn five dollars and less per week on
the average : 4S per cent earn between $5 and $10 ; 26 per

' There were tnuiT funiliea who were nndoabtedir tempted to 1 in^
gente their income so as to appear better off than thef were: othcia, m
the coDtnrr. naJenUted their rcaonrccs. In most a

o 6w as it went appeared to be candid and honest.

Incomes.

Sect 28.] Incomes. 171

cent, I10-I15, and 8 per cent over $15 per week. Tabu-
lating this we have :

WERME

li).Of FAHIUES

Vo

COMPARISON.

ISCLESS

-of"

8.9

VERVPOH^I

*'%2«

9.6

POOR ^^1

85-10

1088

47. a

FAIR ^^^^^^^^^1

• 10-15

SSI

25.3

SlS-20

91

4.

tZOXOVEff

96

4.2

HE11-TIH»|

TOTAL

2276

ioa.00%

It is difficult to compare this with other groups because
of the varying meaning of the terms poor, well-to-do, and
the like. Nevertheless, a comparison with Booth's diagram
of London will, if not carried too far, be interesting:*

POVKBTV IN I^OMDOM A.ND AMONG THR NBGROSS OF TBE SSVSNTB

Wakd oi> Pbiladklphia.

&4K8.9% ZZ&%57.4% 6L5%Z6.SX 178% UK
OLOHMN VtRVMOt POOR COMFORTMU. niOOUCLAMSAHVE

H^M^VCItVNOII POOATOrMIt COnHMTABa . OMO CIRCUnnANCUtI

■Cf. Bootk'i " Lift and Labor of the People," II, ai. Id thi« case I

172

The Negro Family.

[Chap XI.

The chief difficulty of this comparison lies in the dis-
tribution of the population between the "poor" and "com-
fortable ; " probably the former class among the Negroes is
here somewhat exaggerated. At any rate, the division
between these two grades is in the Seventh Ward much
less stable than in London since their economic status is
less fixed. In good times perhaps 50 per cent of the
Negroes could well be designated comfortable, but in
time of financial stress vast numbers of this class fall
below the line into the poor and go to swell the number of
paupers, and in many cases of criminals. Indeed this
whole division into incomes of different classes is, among
the Negroes, much Jess stable than among the whites, just
as it used to be less stable among the whites of fifty years
ago than it is among those of to-day.

The whole division into "poor," "comfortable" and
"well-to-do" depends primarily on the standard of living
among a people. Let us, therefore, note something of the
income and expenditure of certain families in different
grades.' The very poor and semi -criminal class are con-
gregated in the shims at Seventh and Lombard Streets,
Seventeenth and Lombard, and Eighteenth and Naudain,
together with other small back streets scattered over the
ward. They live in one and two-room tenements, scantily
furnished and poorly lighted and heated ; they get casual
labor, and the women do washing. The children go to
school irregularly or loaf on the streets. This class does
not frequent the large Negro churches, but part of them
fill the small noisy missions. The vicious and criminal

have combined Booth's two lower classes, "lowest" and " very poor." I
■hall discuss the criminal and lowest class in Chapters XIII and XIV.
The separation of the " poor" and " very poor" in the Seventh Ward is
somewhat arbitrary. I have called all those receiving {150 aud less a
year " very poor."

•Only a few reliable budgets are subjoined, and they are typical, A
large number might have been gathered, but they would bardly have
added tnnch to these.

Sect 28.] Incomes. 173

portion do not usually go to church. Those of this class
who are poor but decent are next-door neighbors usually
to pronounced criminals and prostitutes. The income and
expenditure of some of these families follow.

Family No. i lives in one of the worst streets of the
ward, surrounded by thieves and prostitutes. There are
three persons in the family: a woman of thirty-four, with
a son of sixteen and a second husband of twenty-six. Both
the husband and son are out of work, the former being a
waiter and the latter a bootblack. They live in one filthy
room, twelve feet by fourteen, scantily furnished and
poorly ventilated. The woman works at service and
receives about three dollars a week. They pay twelve dol-
lars a month for three rooms, and sub-rent two of them to
other families, which makes their rent about three dollars.

Their food costs them about $1.00 a week and the fuel
56 cents a week during the winter. Their expenditure for
other items is varying and indefinite ; beer, however,
comes in for something. Their whole expenditure is
probably I125-I150 a year, of which the woman earns at
least $100.

Family No. 2 has a yearly budget as follows for two
persons :

Rent, @ $4 a month $48 00

Pood — Bread, pork, tea, etc., @ |i.44a week ... 74 88
Fuel, 20-47 cents a week 16 60

I139 48

Other items would bring this up to about $150 to $175.
Family No. 3, consisting of one person, reports the fol-
lowing budget, not including rent :

Pood I30 00

Puel 15 00

Clothing 10 00

Amnsements i 50

Sickness, etc 10 00

Other purposes 15 00

Total, per year $81 50

174 ^'^ Negro Family. [Chap. XL

The rent of such a family would not exceed $40, mak-
ing the total expenditure about $121.50.

Family No. 4 — four persons — man and wife and two
babies, living in one room, spend as follows :

Rent, @ I3 a month $36 00

Pood — Weekly: milk fo 28

pork 70

bread 35

I 33 69 16
Fuel, 20-98 cents a week 18 00

I123 z6

The man has work one and one-half weeks in the month
as a wire fence maker, when regularly employed, which is
about half the time. The rest of the time he takes care
of the babies while his wife works at service. The last two
families seem respectable, but unfortunate. The other two
are doubtful.

The " poor " are a degree above these cases ; they are
composed of the inefl5cient, unfortunate and improvident,
and just manage to get enough to eat, a little to wear, and
shelter. A specimen family is composed of six persons —
man and wife, a widowed daughter, two grandsons of
thirteen and eleven, and a nephew of twenty-eight They
live in three rooms, with poor furniture and of fair clean-
liness. The father and nephew are laborers, often out of
work. The mother does day's work and the daughter is at
service. They spend for :

Rent — $8 per month {9600

Food — ^$2.16 a week 112 32

Fuel--5o-84 cents a week ....•• 31 20

I239 52

Clothing, etc., will bring this total to $250 $275. This
is an honest family, belonging to one of the large Baptist
churches.

Sect 28.] Incomes. 175

Family No. 5, a mother and child, expends for

Pood I9600

Fuel 30 00

Clothing 30 00

Amnsemente 10 00

Sickness 15 00

Other purposes 25 00

Total |2o6 00

To this must be added house-rent, bringing the total to
I250 or I275.

We next come to the great hard-working laboring class
— the 47 per cent of the population which is, on the whole,
most truly representative of the mass. They live in houses
with three to six rooms, nearly always well furnished ;
they spend considerable for food and dress, and for churches
and beneficial societies. They are honest and good-natured
for the most part, but are not used to large responsibility.

No. 6, a family of three from this class — ^man, wife and
seventeen-year-old son — earn and spend as follows :

Income.

Man — hod-carrier and la-
borer, I1.25-I2.00 a day —
casual — averages $3.00 a
week I150 00

Wife — washerwoman, Oct.
to Mch., earns {5.00 to
$6.00 a week, rest of year
|i.50-|2.oo,average, I3.50, 180 00

Son — ^porter in office build-
ing, {2.50 per week and
board 6 days 125 00

Uhh 00

EXPHNSB.

Rent, I22.00 a month, of
which {14.00 is repaid by
lodgers — net rent, |8.oo I96 00

Food— I3.50-I4.00 a week 190^00

Fuel 35 00

I321 00

Clothing and all other pur-
poses, and savings . . . 134 00

>I55 00

This family occupies a seven-room house, but rents out
three of the rooms to lodgers. They have a nicely fur-
nished parlor.

176

u
re

The Negro Family.

[Chap. XI.

Three other families of the same class follow :
No. 7. Expenditure for one year, $338 (not including
rent). Number in family, adults 2, chidren 2.

Pood |iio 00

Fuel 40 00

Clothing 50 00

Amosemente 35 <x>

Sickness 40 00

Other purposes 63 00

No. 8. Expenditure for One Year, $520.00.
Number in Family ^ Adults j. Children 2,

Expenditure for

•

1

•

§

•

>

Expenditure for

•

1

•

2
§

Rent

|i6 00
16 00

I192 00
X92 00

34 00
60 00

Amuiiements . .

ft 0

Pood

U 00

Sickness and d*th
All other purposes

ID 00

Pud

50 00

ClothinflT ....

. . .

1

No. 9.

Expenditure for One Year, About t6(
Number in Family^ Adults 2^ Children 7.

x>oa

Expenditure for

•

1

•

a
0

Expenditure for

•

1

a
0

•

Rent

$200 00

240 00
72 00

Clothing

500

60 00

Food

I500
1 50

I20 00
6 00

All other purposes

%A 00

Fuel

Three other budgets are appended, representing a still
better class :

No. 10.

Total income, $840.00.

Rent $193 00

Pood 260 00

Puel 50 00

Clothing 25 00

Amusements 15 00

$542 00

This is a small family — mother and daughter — who
evidently saving money. The daughter is a teacher.

Sect. 28.] Incomes, 177

No. II. Total expenditure, exclusive of rent, $683.
Pood I378 00

Fuel 45 00

Clothing 100 00

Amusements 20 00

Sickness 50 00

Other purposes 90 00

There are four adults and three children in this family.
No. 12. Total expenditure, exclusive of rent, $805.

Pood I420 00

Puel 60 00

Clothing 150 00

Amusements 20 00

Sickness 5 00

Travel, and other purposes 150 00

This is one of the best families in the city; they keep
one servant. There are three adults and two children in
the family.

The class to which these last families belong, is often
lost sight of in discussing the Negro. It is the germ of a
great middle class, but in general its members are curiously
hampered by the fact that, being shut oflF from the world
about them, they are the aristocracy of their own people,
with all the responsibilities of an aristocracy, and yet they,
on the one hand, are not prepared for this r61e, and their
own masses are not used to looking to them for leadership.
As a class they feel strongly the centrifugal forces of class
repulsion among their own people, and, indeed, are com-
pelled to feel it in sheer self-defence. They do not relish
being mistaken for servants ; they shrink from the free and
easy worship of most of the Negro churches, and they
shrink from all such display and publicity as will expose
them to the veiled insult and depreciation which the
masses suflFer. Consequently this class, which ought to
lead, refuses to head any race movement on the plea that
thus they draw the very color line against which they
protest. On the other hand their ability to stand

19

178 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL

apart, refusing on the one hand all responsibility for the
masses of the Negroes and on the other hand seeking no
recognition from the outside world, which is not willingly
accorded — their opportunity to take such a stand is hin-
dered by their small economic resources. Even more than
the rest of the race they feel the difficulty of getting on in
the world by reason of their small opportunities for remu-
nerative and respectable work. On the other hand their
position as the richest of their race — ^though their riches
is insignificant compared with their white neighbors —
makes unusual social demands upon them. A white Phila-
delphian with $1500 a year can call himself poor and live
simply. A Negro with $1500 a year ranks with the richest
of his race and must usually spend more in proportion than
his white neighbor in rent, dress and entertainment

In every class thus reviewed there comes to the front a
central problem of expenditure. Probably few poor
nations waste more money by thoughtless and unreason-
able expenditure than the American Negro, and especially
those living in large cities like Philadelphia. First, they
waste much money in poor food and in unhealthful methods
of cooking. The meat bill of the average Negro family
would surprise a French or German peasant or even an
Englishman. The crowds that line Lombard street on
Sundays are dressed far beyond their means ; much money
is wasted in extravagantly furnished parlors, dining-rooms,
guest chambers and other visible parts of the homes.
Thousands of dollars are annually wasted in excessive
rents, in doubtful " societies " of all kinds and descriptions,
in amusements of various kinds, and in miscellaneous
ornaments and gewgaws. All this is a natural heritage of
a slave system, but it is not the less a matter of serious
import to a people in such economic stress as Negroes now
are. The Negro has much to learn of the Jew and Italian,
as to living within his means and saving every penny from
excessive and wasteful expenditures.

Sect. 29.] Property. 179

ag. Property. — We must next inquire what part of these
incomes have been turned into real property. Philadelphia
keeps no separate account of her white and Negro real
estate owners and it is very diflScult to get reliable data on
the subject. Even the house-to-house inquiry could but
approximate the truth on account of the number of houses
owned by Negroes but rented out through white real estate
agents. From the returns it appears that 123 of the 2441
families in the Seventh Ward or 5.3 per cent own property
in that ward; seventy-four other families own property
outside the ward, making in all 197 or 8 per cent of the
families who are property holders. It is possible that
omissions may raise this total to 10 per cent. The total
value of this property is partly conjectural but a careful
estimate would place it at about |i,ooo,ooo, or 4^ per
cent of the valuation of a ward where the Negroes form
42 per cent of the population.

Two estimates for the whole city represent the holdings
of the well-to^o Negroes, that is, those having $10,000
and more of property, as follows : ^®

Prom % 10,000 to % 15,000 27

** 15,000 to 25,000 10

" 25,000 to 50,000 II

" 50,000 to 100,000 4

** 100,000 to 500,000 I

53

In all, these persons represent an ownership of at least
$1,500,000. The other property holders can only be
estimated ; the total ownership of property by Philadelphia
Negroes must be at least five millions, not including

>^ These estimates are by lifelong residents of Philadelphia, who have
had uniisaal opportunity of knowing the men of whom they speak. One
says, " I have . . . prepared an estimate which I herein enclose. I
have endeavored to be as conservative as possible. There are, doubtless,
several omitted because they are not known, or if known are not now
fhoni^t of; bat I believe the estimate is approximately correct."

i8o The Negro Family. [Chap. XL

church property. Comparing this with estimates in the
past, we have : "

1821, real estate, assessed value, 1112,464; real value, |28i,i62

1832, " " " " 357.000

1838, ** " " " 322.532

1848, •• " " " 531,809

1855, real and personal estate " '' 2,685,693

1898, " ** " " " " 5,000,000

In 1849 the returns of the investigation showed that 7.4
per cent of the Negroes in the county owned property,
and 5.5 per cent in the city proper, compared with 5.3 per

^^ The figures for 1821 are from assessors* reports, quoted in the investi-
gation of 1838. The figures for 1832 are from a memorial to the Legisla-
ture, in which the Negroes say that by reference to the receipts of tax-
payers which were ''actually produced," they paid at least $2500 in taxes,
and had also {100,000 in church property. Prom this the inquiry of 1838
estimates that they owned |357,ooo outside church property. The same
study estimates the property of Negroes in 1838 as follows:

Real Estate (true value). Personal Property.

City 1241,962 1505,322

Northern Liberties 26,700 35f539

Kensington 2,255 3.825

Spring Garden 5,935 21,570

Southwark I5i355 26,848

Moyamensing 30»325 74»755

1322,532 1667,859

Encumbrances 12,906

1309,626

The report says: " This amount must, of course, be received as only an
approximation of the truth.'* Fifteen church edifices, a cemetery and
haU are not included in the above. " Condition,'' etc., 1838. pp. 7, 8.

The investigation in 1847-48, gave the following results:

Value Real Estate. Eucumbrancea.

City 1368,842 I78.421

Spring Garden 27,150 11,050

Northern Liberties 40,675 I3»440

Southwark 3i»544 5.915

Moyamensing 5ii973 20,216

West Philadelphia ii>625 Z)400

I531.809 I130.442

Sect 29-]

I^operty.

i8i

cent in the Seventh Ward to-day. In this comparison,
however, we must consider the enonnous increase in the
value of Philadelphia real estate.

Tbia property waa dlatribntcd u folltma:

Famium.

XauBaiAn.

PnOn.

2562

a87
866
73

141
44
33
30
S3

1 1.3
10.4

SpnngGardcD

Mortlien) Ubertiea

Weat Philaddphia

34.4

4rfa

315

7-4

Th« oocnpationa of the 315 frecholdet* was aa foUovs:
78 laborera.
49 tradera.
41 mechanica.

35 coachmen and hackmea.
a 8 waiters,
lobarbcn.
II profeaaiotial men.
53 femalea.

3'5
The penonal pioper^ waa as followa:

Ss

\

I

\

6

ll

II

I

TTnder|35.

570

66

6l

259

S

fc'S,

77a

160

16

404

38

63

J100-J500.

650

19

83

291

42

156

'S

Total perso-

j455,6ao

|9,S6>

J34,044

(30,402

I90i553

Ji2,o65 1632,346

Averafre.

H 78.63

*47-33

fio8.07

J105.30

(106.63

MS'S?! *i47-5*

SUtiidcal Inqidi;, «tc, p. 19.

1 82 The Kegro Family, [PHap YI

Takiflg the heads of the 123 femilies kix)vii to Etc in
the Se\'enth Ward and to own real estate 'm^ -frni^ ^nt tibey
were bom as follows :

K»J3*^«5lA» 43 = 4i = 35Sper

PeontjlTaiia 7

ICaijlaad 22

%1j:gmia 21

Sontli 12

DdawareaadNevJenej .... 8
Other parts of Umted Stales and
abroad

- 82 = 66*5 per

1*3

A oompariion between 1858 and 1&48 was made bj Needles^ ** Pti»-

gress/* etc., pp. 8, 9.

1*37- i«C- Iwna"B

Real estate, lesi incnmbfances . 1^)9,626 $401,562 #9^,75^

Honse and wmter rents .... 161,482 ^oofiyj ^^^^

Taxes 3,253

The Inquiry of 1856, pp. 15, 16, dedaies that the piefions jear the
Negroes owned:

Real and perK>nal property (true valne) )2,6^69}.(x>

Taxes paid 9,766.42

Honse, water and ground rent 396,782.27

A detailed estimate for 1897 gives the following:

Valne of BaCate. Kvmber of BaUtes. ToimL

1250,000-1500,000 I ... = .. . 1350^000

100,000 !... = ... 100,000

80,000 I ... = .. . 80,000

75.000 !...=... 75,000

60,000 I .. = ... 60,000

40,000 4 ... = .. . 160,000

35,000 3 . - . = . . . IQ5.O0O

30,000 4 ... = .. . 120,000

20,000 10 ... = .. . 200,000

15,000 II ... = .. . 165,000

10,000 16 ... = .. . 160,000

52 #1,575.000

The total of {1,575,000 is the estimated wealth of the well-to-do.
This estimate is as reliable as can be obtained, and is probiibly not fiur
from the real facts.

Sect 29.]

Property.

183

The eighty-two not bom in Philadelphia have lived there
as follows :

Over 2 and under 10 years 5

10 to 14 years 7

15 to 19
20 to 24
25 to 29
30 to 34
35 to 39
40 to 44
45 to 49
50 to 54
60 years and over

7

14

8

8
16

4
3
3
3

Unknown 4

82

Nineteen have lived less than twenty years in the city
and fifty-nine, twenty years or more.

The occupations of the 123 property owners were as
follows :

Caterers 22

Waiters 12

Porters and Janitors 10

Housewives 9

Laundresses 8

Mechanics 7

Coachmen 6

Clerks in public service .... 4

Drivers and teamsters .... 4

Upholsterers 3

Employment agents 3

Merchants 3

Stewards 3

Ministers 3

Hod-carriers and laborers ... 2

Policemen and watchmen . . 2

Hotel keepers and restaura-
teurs 3

Cooks 2

Undertakers 2

School-teachers 2

Barbers 2

Physicians 2

Shrouder of dead i

Newspaper publisher i

Real estate dealer i

Sexton I

No occupation 3

Unknown 2

123

This shows that the real estate owners are either Phila-
delphia bom or old residents and that the mass of them
are caterers and house-servants, with a sprinkling of those
representing the newer employments as clerks in public
service, merchants, and the like.

i84 The Negro Family. [Ch^ XL

Of these one hundred and twenty-three £unilies

62 own the honses they occupy.

20 own the houses they occupy, and also other real estate in

the city.
7 own the houses they occupy, own other real estate in the

city, and also own real estate elsewhere.
5 own homes outside the city, and other real estate else-
where.
22 own real estate in the city.
7 own real estate in the city and elsewhere also.

In other words, 89 own homes in the city, and 34 own
real estate somewhere.

Returns from forty of these holders indicate a total hold-
ing of $250,000, or if we add in one large estate, $650,000.
Other less definite but fairly reliable returns raise the total
ownership of property in the Seventh Ward to $1,000,000
or more. Sixty-three of the seventy-four owning property
outside the city report $49,010 in real estate." In none
of these returns has there been any account of the mort-
gage indebtedness taken, nor is there any means of ascer-
taining this debt."

On the whole the statistics show comparatively few
Negro property holders in Philadelphia. In a city where
the percentage of home owners is unusually large, over 94
per cent of the Negroes appear from the imperfect returns
available to be renters. There are several reasons for this :
first, the Negroes distrust all saving institutions since
the fatal collapse of the Freedmen's Bank ; secondly, they
have diflSculty in buying homes in decent neighborhoods ;
thirdly, the rising price of real estate, and the falling oflF of
wage and industrial opportunity for the Negro must be
taken into account Finally a curious effect of color

1' There is more property than this owned, but only the answers that
seemed reliable and definite were recorded. Most of this property is in
the country districts of the South.

1* Many efforts were made to get official data on the matter of property,
but the authorities had no way of even approximately distingoishing the
races.

Sect 29.] Property. 185

prejudice, to be discussed later, has had enormous influence
in concentrating Negro population in localities where it was
hard to buy homes. All these are cogent reasons, and yet
they are not enough to excuse the Negroes from not buying
much more property than they have. Much of the money
that should have gone into homes has gone into costly
church edifices, dues to societies, dress and entertainment
If the Negroes had bought little homes as persistently as
they have worked to develop a church and secret society
system, and had invested more of their earnings in savings-
banks and less in clothes they would be in a far better
condition to demand industrial opportunity than they are
to-day.

This does not mean that the Negro is lazy or a spend-
thrift ; it simply means misdirected energies which cause
the Negro people yearly to waste thousands of dollars in
rents and live in poor homes when they might with proper
foresight do much better.

There are some signs of awakening to this fact among
the Negroes. Lately they are just beginning to understand
and profit by the Building and Loan Associations. Forty-
one families in the Seventh Ward, or about 2 per cent,
belong now to such associations and the number is increas-
ing. Outside the Seventh Ward as large and probably a
larger percentage belong to co-operative home buying
societies. The peculiar phenomenon among the colored
people, however, is the wide development of beneficial and
secret orders. Three hundred and six families, or 17 per
cent of the Negroes of the ward, are reported as belonging
to beneficial societies and probably 25 per cent or more
actually belong. Beside these there are the petty insurance
societies, to which 1021 families or 42 per cent belong.
In more prosperous times this membership may reach 50 or
60 per cent or a total of at least 4000 men, women and
children. The beneficial and secret societies, being organ-
izations of Negroes, will be spoken of later. The petty

i86

The Xegro Family,

[i

insnracce societies are for the most pan ocodnctBd by
whites.^ Some of these are reliable enteqxises^ and by
careful nianagemect and honest dealing do soEnething to
encourage the sa\'ing spirit among the XegtoeSb It is
doubtful, howe\'er. if they form the best kind of incentKre^
and probably the>' stand in the way of the savings-bank
and building association. Only a few deserve this quali-
fied approval. The large majority are little better than
licensed gambling operations ; it is a disgrace that a great
municipality allows them to prey upon the people in the
manner thev do.** Thev usuallv rest on no sound bosiness
principles ; they take any and all risks, generally without
medical examination and depend on lapses in pa^nncnts
and bold cheating to make money. Even the best conducted
of these societies have to depend on the unretumed contribu-
tions of persons who cannot keep up their payments, to
make both ends meet.

There were in 1897 thirt\'-one insurance societies doing
business in the Seventh Ward. The following table gives
the weekly premiums required for sick and death benefits
in one society :

Rates and Death Benefits.
Weekly Dues far Benefits Payable ai Death only.

A^e.

$100

12-15

15-25
25-30

3C^35
35-40

40-45
45-50

50-53

53-55

55-58
5^-60

^04 fo.07

.P5

09

.06

.11

.07 1

13

.08 !

.15

.10

.18

.12

23

.14

.26

.15

.28

.18

35

.ao

'39

'* For an account of a partial investigation of this subject and aome
attempts at reform, see " Report of Citizens* Permanent Relief Committee,
etc., 1893-4/* pp. 31, ff. Cf. Also the work of the Star Kitchen at Seventh
and Lombard streets, Philadelphia.

Sect. 29.]

Property,

187

This is at the rate of $46.80 to $52 for a $1000 life
policy at the age of 43, which can be had in regular com-
panies for about $35. The excess represents the expense
of collection and the gambler's risk.

Sickness and Accident Benefits.
Weekly Dues for Specified Sums per Week,

Age next Birthday.

12-20
ao-25
25-30

30-35
35-40

40-43
43-45
45-48
48-50

50-53
53-55
55-58
58-60

^.00.

I5.00.

16.00.

17.00.

#8.00.

.10

.13

.16

.19

.22

.11

.14

.17

.20

-23

.12

.15

.18

.21

.24

.14

•'2

.20

.23

.26

.15

.18

.21

.24

.27

.17

.20

.23

.26

.29

.18

.21

.24

.27

.30

.19

.22

.25

.28

.31

.20

.23

.26

.29

.32

.22

.25

.28

.31

.34

.23

.26

.29

.32

.35

.24

.27

.30

.33

.37

.28

.31

.34

.37

.41

|zo.oo.

.25
.26

•27

.29
.30
.32
.33
.34
.35
.37

.38

.41
.44

Children — Age, 2 to 11 years.

Amount payable to children after their certificates have been issued for
the following periods:

Three months, one-third; six months, one-half; nine months, three-
fourths; one year, full amount.

Death benefits, ^o.

Weekly dues, 5 cents.

Upon payment of 10 cents weekly dues, children from six to eleven
years will be paid weekly sick benefits of {2.50.

Membership fee for children, 50 cents.

Membership fee for adults, $1.

Into these companies a large part of the income of many
families goes. For instance, let us examine the expendi-
tures of certain actual families for such insurance, remem-
bering that the total income of these families is in most
cases $20 to $40 a month.

Monthly.

1. A family of 2 adults and 2 children (stevedore) . . {3 29

2. A famUy of 2 adults have for 10 years paid .... i 00

3. A family of 4 adults 2 20

4. A &mU7 of 4 adults 2 40

5. A fiimily of i adult and i child 2 00

6. A fiunily of 4 adults i 84

Negro Family.

[Chap. XL

7. A family of i adult J^ 57

8. A family of 1 adults (waiter) 2 ao

9. A family of 3 adults (servant) I 50

10. A family of 5 adults and a children (laborer) ... 3 00

11. A family of 9 adults and 3 children (stevedore) . • 144
la. A family of 9 adults and I child 500

13. A family of 8 adults and 4 children 4 30

14. A family of 9 adults 4 43

15. A family of a adults a 50

16. A family of 1 adults (stevedore) 3 00

17. A family of a adults (stevedore) 3 00

18. A family of 10 adults 8 50

19. A famUy of a adults, I child (stevedore) . . 5 00

ao. A family of 5 adults, I child S 00

ai. A family of 3 adults 3 90

aa. A family of 4 adults, i child (laborer) 5 00

a3. A family of a adults, 3 children (waiter) . ... 4 60

It is impossible to get accurate returns as to the total
amount spent by the Negroes of the Seventh Ward for in-
surance in such societies, but answers to questions on this
point indicate a total expenditure of approximately $25,000
annually. For this enormous outlay something comes
back in the benefits, but probably much less than half.
The method of conducting these societies puts a premium
on dishonesty and misrepresentation and a tax on honesty
and health. A certain class of the insured get sick regu-
larly and draw benefits and are winked at by the societies
as a paying advertisement on the street. Their honest
neighbors on the other hand will struggle on and work for
years, paying regularly — iu some cases five, ten and fifteen
or more years in various societies — only to be cheated out
of their insurance by rascally agents, or conniving home
oflSces, or their own failure at the last moment to keep np
payments. Of course the sum involved is too small, and
the cheated persons too unknown and lowly to lead to liti-
gation. Let us take some examples :"

" Once ii
the public,

B while the a&aira of one of these companies are revealed ti
IS for instance, the following noted in the Public Ledger

Sect 29.] Property. 189

1. This family lost $100 paid in for insurance, by final
lapse in payments. The woman was sixty years old, and
poor.

2. This family belonged to the society ten years

and paid $12 a 'year. Finally fell seven days in arrears
with payments, and was dropped. Had received $65 in
benefits.

3. This family had paid in $50 ; was one day behind and
was dropped.

4. This family had a woman insured for $2.50 a week,
and $50 at death. She received no sick benefits at all.

October 20, 1896. The company became bankrupt, and its afibirs were
found hopelessly involved.

'* This was the scheme, according to the former agent and some of the
certificate holders. Upon the payment of ten cents a week for seven
years, the subscriber was promised |ioo, to be paid at the end of the
seventh year. In a year ten cents a week would amount to I5.20; in
seven years to I36.40. The Keystone Investment Company promised to
give |ioo for I36.40.

' ' Later the assessment was raised to fifteen cents a week. This would
amount in seven years to I54.60, for which sum |ioo was promised in
return. Some few of the certificate holders paid twenty cents a week, it
is said. This, in seven years, would amount to ^72. 80, for which sum,
according to the agreement, the certificate holder was to be paid |ioo.

*' Just how many subscribers the company had it is impossible to learn
from the officers. A gentleman, who has a store next door to the com-
pany's office, said yesterday that a great many people went there each
week to pay their assessments. They appeared to be poor people, he
said. There were a great many Negroes among them, and some of them,
he said, came from New Jersey.

« The concern started in business in 1891, and has always occupied its
present quarters, which are very unpretentious, by the way, for a financial
company of any standing. A lady residing on Girard avenue, east of
Hanover street, yesterday related her experience with the company as
follows:

*' ' I invested in certificates for my mother and my little daughter,
paying fifteen cents a week on each. The agreement was that each was
to receive |ioo at the end of seven years. I have been paying for my
little girl nearly three years, and for my mother nearly two years. It
will be two years next Christmas. The payments were made regu-
larly. On both oertifiaites I have paid in about I55.'"

190 The Negro Family. [Chap. XL

and only $20 at death. They said : " We stint ourselves
of onr victuals to keep up and then lose it all."

5. A family who put $75 into a society and lost it alL

6. A mother was in the society two years. When

she was taken sick, she sent her child to notify them ; they
took no notice of this on the ground that the notification
by a child was not l^[al, and paid her nothing.

7. This man was a member of the society fifteen

years, and his wife seven years ; paid in $354 in all and
drew out $90 in benefits ; the societ)' then " discovered "
that the man belonged to the G. A. R., and dropped him
and kept the money.

8. This man belonged to a society seven years, at $1.30
per month ; received $20 in benefits and lost the rest
through a lapse in payments.

9. This family belonged to different societies eight years
and lost all the money invested.

10. This person was a member of a society some time,
when the collector absconded with the money, and the so-
ciety refused to bear the responsibility.

11. The mother had paid $54.60 to a society for a death
benefit, but at her death the society' paid nothing.

12. The society collapsed and this person lost $75.

13. This family invested $1.23 a month with a society
for thirteen years in order to receive $200 endowment.
This was at the rate of $73.80 annually for a $1000 policy !

14. This man has paid in $88 so far, and has never re-
ceived sick or other benefits.

15. This woman had belonged to a society for years and
was once taken sick just before the agent called. When
he came he was asked to return, as the sick woman was
asleep. He did not return, and when a claim for sick
benefits was made, it was denied on the ground that the
woman had not paid her dues when the agent called.

In many other cases the matter of age is made a loop-
hole for cheating ; numbers of the Negroes do not knoip

Sect. 29.] Property. 191

their exact ages ; in such cases the insurance agent will
suggest an age, usually below the evident truth, and insert
it in the policy ; if the insured dies the physician guesses
at another age nearer the truth, and inserts it in the death
certificate. Thereupon the insurance company points to
the discrepancy, alleges an attempt to deceive on the part
of the insured, and either refuses to pay any of the policy
or generally offers to compound for a half or a third of the
amount promised. This is perhaps the most common form
of cheating outside the failure to account for the payments
of lapsed members. In some cases the home office pays
the death claim, and the local office or agent cheats the
insured.

Without doubt such societies meet outrageous attempts
at deception on the part of the insured ; and yet since their
methods of business put a premium on this sort of cheat-
ing they can hardly complain. The whole business is
nothing more than gambling, where one set of sharpers bet
against another set, and the honest hard-working but
ignorant toilers pay the bill.^*^ With all the harm that
open policy-playing and other sorts of gambling do, it is to
be doubted if their effects on character are more deleterious
than this form of insurance business. The Negroes by the
crime of the Freedmen's Bank have been long prejudiced
against banks, and this business encourages their aversion
to the slow, sure methods of saving. If the colored people
are ever to learn " forehandedness," in place of the slip-
shod chance methods of living, the savings bank must
soon replace the insurance society ; and that they could
support savings banks in abundance is shown by the fact

■As before noted, I am aware that a few of these societies do not
iHioUy deserve this sweeping condemnation, and that all of them are
defended by certain short-sighted persons as encouraging savings. My
observation convinces me, however, of the substantial truth of my con-
ciiiiioiis. Of course, aU this has nothing to do with the legitimate life
Insttunoe bcisiiiess.

^r

^ "^ m^

■ m ^ •

,^.. t-. -.-: -.*- — - -»r^._ — j.n to

-. T • ..> - >-:' ^ - " -j^ - - '- — - ' ^'^ social

... .r_ . c^— -e^ s:-:- ::;^ether, the

.. .--:::-•.= 1. c:i t-zs izuong them,

,.,^^.. ^r^'--— :.- ".li^ irlven from the

^^ _:-.ti - \-u:t:irs, porters and ser-

i.-.^iv-;- -:ii'"e no home life and

_^ Tjut.»ia..:oiis The church is the

, . r>^ jroa* ii -lese young people, and

...5^ ..i^u iinusements. Loafing and

_;icii i> ^« ^nly ^^^ entertainment
^ njtts. hM'^ They fonn a serions

Sect. 30.] Family Life. 193

of the plantation life and is practiced considerably ; in
distinctly slum districts, like that at Seventh and L,oin-
bard, from 10 to 25 per cent of the nnions are of this
nature. Some of them are simply common-law marriages
and are practically never broken. Others are compacts,
which last for two to ten years ; others for some months;
in most of these cases the women are not prostitutes, but
rather ignorant and loose. In such cases there is, of course,
little home life, rather a sort of neighborhood life, center-
ing in the alleys and on the sidewalks, where the children
are educated. Of the great m.ass of Negroes this class
forms a very small percentage and is absoluteiy with-
out social standing. They are the dregs which indicate
the former history and the dangerous tendencies of the
masses. The system of supporting men is one common
among the prostitutes of all countries, and widespread
among the Negro women of the town. Two little colored
girls walking along South street stopped before a gaudy
pair of men's shoes displayed in a shop window, and one
said : " That's the kind of shoes I'd buy my fellow ! " The
remark fixed their life history ; they were from among the
prostitutes of Middle Alley, or Ratcliffe street, or some
similar resort, where each woman supports some man from
the results of her gains. The majority of the well-dressed
loafers whom one sees on Locust street near Ninth, on Lom-
bard near Seventh and Seventeenth, on Twelfth near Kater,
and in other such localities, are supported by prostitutes and
political largesse, and spend their time in gambling. They
are absolutely without home life, and form the most dan-
gerous class in the community, both for crime and political
corruption.

Leaving the slums and coming to the great mass of the
Negro population we see undoubted effort has been made
to establish homes. Two great hindrances, however, cause
much mischief: the low wages of men and the high rents.
The low wages of men make it necessary for mothers to
13

194

The Negro Family.

[Chap. XI.

work and in numbersof cases to work away from home sev-
eral days in the week. This leaves the children without
guidance or restraint for the better part of the day — a thing
disastrous to manners and morals. To this must be added
the result of high rents, namely, the lodging system. Who-
ever wishes to live in the centre of Negro population, neat
the great churches and uear work, must pay high rent
for a decent house. This rent the average Negro family
cannot afford, and to get the house they sub-reut a part to
lodgers. As a a consequence, 38 per cent of the homes of
the Seventh Ward have unknown strangers admitted freely
into their doors. The result is, on the wliole, pernicious,
especially where there are growing children. Moreover,
the tiny Philadelphia houses are ill suited to a lodging
system. The lodgers are often waiters, who are at home
between meals, at the very hours when the housewife is off
at work, and growing daughters are thus left unprotected.
In some cases, though this is less often, servant girls and
other female lodgers are taken. In such ways the privacy
and intimacy of home life is destroyed, and elements of
danger and demoralization admitted. Many families see
this and refuse to take lodgers, and move where they can
afford the rent without help. This involves more depriva-
tions to a socially ostracized race like the Negro than to
whites, since it often means hostile neighbors or no social
intercourse. If a number of Negroes settle together, the
real estate agents dump undesirable elements among them,
which some enthusiastic association has driven from the
slums.

There are a large number of waiters, porters and ser-
vant girls in the city who naturally have no home life and
are exposed to peculiar temptations. The church is the
rallying place of the best class of these young people, and
it attempts to furnish their amusements. Loating and
promenading the streets is the only other entertainment
most of these young folks have. They form a serious

Sect 30.] Family Life. 195

problem, to which the lodging system is the only attempted
answer, and that a dangerous one. Homes and clubs
properly conducted ought to be opened for them. A
Young Men's Christian Association which would not
degenerate into an endless prayer meeting might meet the
wants of the young men.

The home life of the middle laboring class lacks many
of the pleasant features of good homes. Traces of plan-
tation customs still persist, and there is a widespread cus-
tom of seeking amusement outside the home ^ thus the
home becomes a place for a hurried meal now and then,
and lodging. Only on Sundays does the general gathering
in the front room, the visits and leisurely dinner smack of
proper home life. Nevertheless, the spirit of home life is
steadily growing. Nearly all the housewives deplore the
lodging system and the work that keeps them away from
home; and there is a widespread desire to remedy these
evils and the other evil which is akin to them, the allow-
ing of children and young women to be out unattended at
night.

In the better class families there is a pleasant family life
of distinctly Quaker characteristics. One can go into such
homes in the Seventh Ward and find all the quiet comfort
and simple good-hearted fare that one would expect among
well-bred people. In some cases the homes are lavishly
furnished, in others they are homely and old-fashioned.
Even in the best homes, however, there is easily detected
a tendency to let the communal church and society life
trespass upon the home. There are fewer strictly family
gatherings than would be desirable, fewer simple neighbor-
hood gatherings and visits ; in their place are the church
teas, the hall concerts, or the elaborate parties given by the
richer and more ostentatious. These things are of no par-
ticular moment to the circle of families involved, but they
set an example to the masses which may be misleading.
The mass of the Negro people must be taught sacredly to

196 The Negro Family. [Chap. XI.

guard the home, to make it the centre of social life and
moral guardianship. This it is largely among the best
class of Negroes, but it might be made even more con-
spicuously so than it is. Such emphasis undoubtedly
means the decreased influence of the Negro church, and
that is a desirable thing.

On the whole, the Negro has few family festivals ; birth-
days are not often noticed, Christmas is a time of church
and general entertainments. Thanksgiving is coming to be
widely celebrated, but here again in churches as much as
in homes. The home was destroyed by slavery, struggled
up after emancipation and is again not exactly threatened,
but neglected in the life of city Negroes. Herein lies food
for thought

CHAPTER XIL

THE ORGANIZED LIFE OF NEGROES.

31. History of the Negro Church in Philadelphia. —
We have already followed the history of the rise of the
Free African Society, which was the beginning of the
Negro Church in the North.* We often forget that the
rise of a church organization among Negroes was a curious
phenomenon. The church really represented all that was
left of African tribal life, and was the sole expression of
the organized eflforts of the slaves. It was natural that
any movement among freedmen should centre about their
religious life, the sole remaining element of their former
tribal system. Consequently when, led by two strong men,
they left the white Methodist Church, they were naturally
unable to form any democratic moral reform association ;
they must be led and guided, and this guidance must have
the religious sanction that tribal government always has.
Consequently Jones and Allen, the leaders of the Free
African Society, as early as 1791 began regular religious
exercises, and at the close of the eighteenth century there
were three Negro churches in the city, two of which were
independent*

» Cf. Chapter in.

' St. Thomas, Bethel and Zoar. The history of 2k>ar is of interest. It
"extends over a period of one hnndred years, being as it is an offspring
of St. Geoige's Church, Fourth and Vine streets, the first Methodist
Episcopal church to be established in this country, and in whose edifice
the first American Conference of that denomination was held. Zoar
Church had its origin in 1794, when members of St. George's Church
established a mission in what was then known as Campingtown, now
known as Fourth and Brown streets, at which place its first chapel was
bnilt There it remained until 1883, when economic and sociological

198

Organised Life 0/ Negroes. [Chap. XII.

St. Thomas' Church has had a most interesting history.
It early declared its purpose " of advancing our friends in
a true knowledge of God, of true religion, and of the ways
and means to restore our long lost race to the dignity of
men and of Christians."' The church offered itself to the
Protestant Episcopal Church and was accepted on condi-
tion that they take no part in the government of the gen-
eral church. Their leader, Absalom Jones, was ordained
deacon and priest, and took charge of the church. In 1804
the church established a day school which lasted until
1816.' In 1849 St. Thomas' began a series of attempts
to gain full recognition in the Church by a demand for
delegates to the Church gatherings. The Assembly first
declared that it was not expedient to allow Negroes to
take part. To this the vestry returned a dignified answer,
asserting that "expediency is no plea against the violation
of the great principles of charity, mercy, justice and
truth." Not until 1864 was the Negro body received into
full fellowship with the Cburch. In the century and more
of its existence St. Thomas' has always represented a high
grade of intelligence, and to-day it still represents the most
cultured and wealthiest of the Negro population and the
Philadelphia bom residents. Its membership has couse-

causes made necessary the selection of a new site. The city had grown,
and industries of a cbatacter in which the Negroes were not interested
had developed in the neighborhood, and. as the colored people were
rapidly moving to a different section of the city. It wal decided that
the church should follow, and the old building waa sold. Through the
liberality of Colonel Joseph M. Bennett a brick building was erected oa
Melon street, above Twelfth,

" Since then the congregation tas steadily increased in nuinbers, unUl
in August of this year it was found necessary to enlarge the edifice. The
corner stone of tlie new front was laid two months ago. The preaent
membership of the church ts about 550." — Public Ledger, November 15,
1897.

•See Douglass' " Annals of St. Thomas'."

* It was then turned into a private school and supported largely by wa
English educational fund.

Sect 31.] Negro Church in Philadelphia. 199

quently always been small, being 246 in 1794, 427 in 1795,
105 in i860, and 391 in 1897.*

The growth of Bethel Church, founded by Richard
Allen, on South Sixth Street, has been so phenomenal that
it belongs to the history of the nation rather than to any
one city. From a weekly gathering which met in Allen's
blacksmith shop on Sixth near Lombard, grew a large
church edifice ; other churches were formed under the same
general plan, and Allen, as overseer of them, finally took the
title of bishop and ordained other bishops. The Church,
under the name of African Methodist Episcopal, grew and
spread until in 1890 the organization had 452,725 members,
2481 churches and $6,468,280 worth of property.*

By 1813'^ there were in Philadelphia six Negro churches
with the following membership : ®

St. Thomas', P. E 560

Bethel, A. M. E 1272

Zoar, M. E 80

Union, A. M. E 74

Baptist, Race and Vine Streets 80

Presbyterian 300

2366

The Presbyterian Church had been founded by two
Negro missionaries, father and son, named Gloucester, in
1807.* The Baptist Church was founded in 1809. 'The
inquiry of 1838 gives these statistics of churches :

*St. Thomas* has suffered often among Negpx>es from the opprobrium
of being "aristocratic," and is to-day by no means a popular church
among the masses. Perhaps there is some justice in this charge, but
the church has nevertheless always been foremost in good work and
has many public spirited Negroes on its rolls.

*Cf. U. S. Census, Statistics of Churches, 1890.

* In 1809 the leading Negro churches formed a " Society for Suppress-
ing Vice and Immorality,'' which received the endorsement of Chief
Justice Tilghman, Benjamin Franklin, Jacob Rush, and others.

* " Condition of Negroes, 1838," pp. 39-4a

*Cf. Robert Jones' "Fifty years in Central Church." John Gloucester
began preaching in 1807 at Seventh and Bainbridge.

200

Organized Ltfe of Negroes. [Chap. XIL

R6.
Chardies.

Members. ^^SL

yalweof
Property.

tNrmnoe.

^Mscopalian ....

Latheran

Methodist

Ptesb3rteriaii ....
Baptist

I
I
8

2

4

100 |i,ooo

10 ' 120

2,860 2,100

325 1.500

700 ; 1,300

$3^,000
3.000

20,000
4,200

|I,000

Sioo

1,000

• • ■

Total i i6 i 3,995 J6.020

$114,000 1 l7,ioo

Three more churches were added in the next ten years,
and then a reaction followed."** By 1867 there were in all
probability nearly twent>' churches, of which we have
statistics of seventeen :"

Statistics of Nbgro Churchbs, 1867.

Name.

RE.--

St. Thomas'
Methodist—

Bethel . . .

Union . . .

Wesley . .

Zoar. . . .

John Wesley ....

LitUe Wesley . . .

Pisgah

Zion City Mission .

Little Union ....
Baptist—

First Baptist ....

Union Baptist . . .

Shiloh

Oak Street

Presbyterian —

First Presbyterian .

Second Presbyterian
Central Presbyterian

Poonded.

Number of
Members.

Value of
Propeily.

1792

. •

...

1794
1827

1817

1,100
467
464

fco,ooo
40,000
21,000

1794

400

12,000

1844

42

3.000

182 1

3'o

11,000

183 1

116

4.600

1858
1837

90
200

4.500

. • •

1809

360

5,000

• •

1842
1827

400
4Q5
137

7,000

16,000

• • •

1807
1824
1844

200

• •

240

8,000

• • •

16,000

I600

850

700

• • •

No rq^ulsr

500
430

600
600

...

Since the war the growth of Negro churches has been
by bounds, there being twenty-five churches and missions
in 1880, and fifty-five in 1897.

"In 1847 there were 19 churches; 12 of these had 3974 members; 11
of the edifices cost $67,000. ** Statistical Inquiry/* 1848, pp. 29, 3a

In 1854 there were 19 churches reported and 1677 Sunday-school
scholars. Bacon, 1856.

" See Inquiry of 1867.

Sect. 32.] Function of the Negro Church. 201

So phenomenal a growth as this here outlined means
more than the establishment of many places of worship.
The Negro is, to be sure, a religious creature — most primi-
tive folk are — ^but his rapid and even extraordinary
founding of churches is not due to this fact alone, but is
rather a measure of his development, an indication of the
increasing intricacy of his social life and the consequent
multiplication of the organ which is the function of his
group life — ^the church. To understand this let us inquire
into the function of the Negro church.

32. The Function of the Negro Church. — ^The Negro
church is the peculiar and characteristic product of the
transplanted African, and deserves especial study. As a
social group the Negro church may be said to have ante-
dated the Negro family on American soil ; as such it has
preserved, on the one hand, many functions of • tribal
organization, and on the other hand, many of the family
functions. Its tribal functions are shown in its religious
activity, its social authority and general guiding and
co-ordinating work ; its family functions are shown by the
fact that the church is a centre of social life and inter-
course ; acts as newspaper and intelligence bureau, is the
centre of amusements — indeed, is the world in which the
Negro moves and acts. So far-reaching are these functions
of the church that its organization is almost political. In
Bethel Church, for instance, the mother African Methodist
Episcopal Church of America, we have the following
officials and organizations :

The Bishop of the District \

The Presiding Elder >■ Executive.

The Pastor . . . . • J

The Board of Trustees Executive Council.

General Church Meeting Legislative.

The Board of Stewards \

The Board of Stewardesses >- Financial Board.

The Junior Stewardesses )

The Sunday School Organization . . . Educational System.
Ladies* Auxiliary, Volunteer Guild, etc. Tax Collectors.

202 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.

Uahen' Association Police.

Class Leaders ■%

Local Preachers | Shcriflb and Magistratca.

Choir Music and Amnsement.

Allen Guards Militia.

Missionary Societies Social Reformers.

Beneficial and Semi-Secret Societies, etc. Corporations.

Or to put it diflferently, here we have a mayor, appointed
from without, with great administrative and legislative pow-
ers, although well limited by long and zealously cherished
custom ; he acts conjointly with a select council, the trustees,
a board of finance, composed of stewards and stewardesses,
a common council of committees and, occasionally, of all
church members. The various functions of the church are
carried out by societies and organizations. The form of
government varies, but is generally some form of democracy
closely guarded by custom and tempered by possible and
not infrequent secession.

The functions of such churches in order of present
emphasis are :

1. The raising of the annual budget.

2. The maintenance of membership.

3. Social intercourse and amusements.

4. The setting of moral standards.

5. Promotion of general intelligence.

6. Efforts for social betterment.

I. The annual budget is of first importance, because
the life of the organization depends upon it The amount
of expenditure is not very accurately determined before-
hand, although its main items do not vary much. There
is the pastor's salary, the maintenance of the building,
light and heat, the wages of a janitor, contributions to
various church objects, and the like, to which must be
usually added the interest on some debt The sum thus
required varies in Philadelphia from $200 to $5000. A
small part of this is raised by a direct tax on each mem-
ber. Besides this, voluntary contributions by members

Sect. 32.] Function 0/ the Negro Church. 203

roughly gauged according to ability, are expected, and a
strong public opinion usually compels payment. Another
large source of revenue is the collection after the ser-
mons on Sunday, when, amid the reading of notices and
a subdued hum of social intercourse, a stream of givers
walk to the pulpit and place in the hands of the trustee or
steward in charge a contribution, varj'ing from a cent to a
dollar or more. To this must be added the steady revenue
from enteitainments, suppers, socials, fairs, and the like.
In this way the Negro churches of Philadelphia raise
nearly $100,000 a year. They hold in real estate $900,000
worth of property, and are thus no insignificant element in
the economics of the city,

2. Extraordinary methods are used and efforts made to
maintain and increase the membership of the various
churches. To be a popular church with large membership
means ample revenues, large social influence and a leader-
ship among the colored people imequaled in power and
effectiveness. Consequently people are attracted to the
church by sermons, by music and by entertainments ; finally,
every year a revival is held, at which considerable numbers
of young people are converted. All this is done in perfect
sincerity and without much thought of merely increasing
membership, and yet every small church strives to be large
by these means and every large church to maintain itself
or grow larger. The churches thus vary from a dozen to
a thousand members.

3. Without wholly conscious effort the Negro church
has become a centre of social intercourse to a degree
unknown in white churches even in the country. The
various churches, too, represent social classes. At St.
Thomas' one looks for the well-to-do Philadelphians, largely
descendants of favorite mulatto house-servants, and conse-
quently well-bred and educated, but rather cold and reserved
to strangers or newcomers ; at Central Presbyterian one
sees the older, simpler set of respectable Philadelphians

204 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.

with distinctly Quaker cTiaracteristics — pleasant but con-
servative ; at Bethel may be seen the best of the great
laboring class — steady, ho nest 'people, well dressed and well
fed, with church and family traditions; at Wesley will be
found the new arrivals, the sight-seers and the strangers to
the city — hearty and easy-going people, who welcome all
comers and ask few questions ; at Union Baptist one may
look for the Virginia servant girls and their young men;
and so on throughout the city. Each church forms its
own social circle, and not many stray beyond its bonnds.
Introductions into that circle come through the church, and
thus the stranger becomes known. All sorts of entertain-
ments and amusements are furnished by the churches r
concerts, suppers, socials, fairs, literary exercises and debates,
cantatas, plays, excursions, picnics, surprise parties, cele-
brations. Every holiday is the occasion of some special
entertainment by some club, society or committee of the
church ; Thursday afternoons and evenings, when the ser-
vant girls are free, are always sure to have some sort of
entertainment. Sometimes these exercises are free, some-
times an admission fee is charged, sometimes refreshments
or articles are on sale. The favorite entertainment is a
concert with solo singing, instnimenta! music, reciting, and
the like. Many performers make a living by appearing at
these entertainments in various cities, and often they are
persons of training and ability, although not always. So
frequent are these and other church exercises that there are
few Negro churches which are not open four to seven nights
in a week and sometimes one or two afternoons in addition.
Perhaps the pleasantest and most interesting social
intercourse takes place on Sunday ; the weary week's work
is done, the people have slept late and had a good break-
fast, and sally forth to church well dressed and complacent.
The usual hour of the morning service is eleven, but
people stream in until after twelve. The sermon is usually
short and stirring, but in the larger churches elicits little

Sect. 32.] Function of Ike Negro Church.

205

response other than an "Amen" or two. After the sermon
the social features begin ; notices on the various meetings
of the week are read, people talk with each other in sub-
dued tones, take their contributions to the altar, and lin-
ger in the aisles and corridors long after dismission to laugh
and chat until one or two o'clock. Then they go home
to good dinners. Sometimes there is some special three
o'clock service, but usually nothing save Sunday-school,
until night. Then comes the chief meeting of the day ;
probably ten thousand Negroes gather every Sunday night
in their churches. There is much music, much preaching,
some short addresses ; many strangers are there to be
looked at ; many beaus bring out their belles, and those
who do not gather in crowds at the church door and escort
the young women home. The crowds are usually well
behaved and respectable, though rather more jolly than
comports with a puritan idea of church services.

In this way the social life of the Negro centres in his
church — baptism, wedding and burial, gossip and court-
ship, friendship and intrigue — all lie in these walls. What
wonder that this central club house tends to become more
and more luxuriously furnished, costly in appointment
and easy of access !

4. It must not be inferred from all this that the
Negro is hypocritical or irreligious. His church is, to be
sure, a social institution first, and religious afterwards, but
nevertheless, its religious activity is wide and sincere. In
direct moral teaching and in setting moral standards for
the people, however, the church is timid, and naturally so,
for its constitution is democracy tempered by custom.
Negro preachers are often condemned for poor leadership
and empty sermons, and it is said that men with so
much power and influence could make striking moral re-
forms. This is but partially true. The congregation does
not follow the moral precepts of the preacher, but rather
the preacher follows the standard of his flock, and only

2o6 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap, XII.

exceptional men dare seeic to change this. And here it
must be remembered that the Negro preacher is primarily
an executive officer, rather than a spiritual guide. If one
goes into any great Negro church and hears the sermon
and views the audience, oue would say : either the sermon
is far below the calibre of the audience, or the people are less
sensible than they look ; the former explanation is usually
true. The preacher is sure to be a man of executive ability,
a leader o£ men, a shrewd and affable president of a large and
intricate corporation. In addition to this he may be, and
usually is, a striking elocutionist ; he may also be a man of
integrity, learning, and deep spiritual earnestness; bul these
last three are sometimes all lacking, and the last two in many
cases. Some signs of advance are here manifest: no min-
ister of notoriously immoral life, or even of bad reputation,
could hold a large church in Philadelphia without eventual
revolt. Most of the present pastors are decent, respectable
men ; there are perhaps one or two exceptions to this, but the
exceptions are doubtful, rather than notorious. On the whole
then, the average Negro preacher in this city is a shrewd
manager, a respectable man, a good talker, a pleasant com-
panion, but neither learned nor spiritual, nor a refonner.

The moral standards are therefore set by the congrega-
tions, and vary from church to church in some degree.
There has been a slow working toward a literal obeying of
the puritan and ascetic standard of morals which Method-
ism imposed on tlie freedmen ; but condition and tem-
perament have modified these. The grosser forms of im-
morality, together with theatre-going and dancing, are
specifically denounced ; nevertheless, the precepts against
specific amusements are often violated by church members.
The cleft between denomiuations is still wide, especially
between Methodists and Baptists, The sermons are usually
kept withiu the safe ground of a mild Calvinism, with
much insistence on Salvation, Grace, Fallen Humanity
and the like.

Sect. 33.] Condition of the Churches. 207

The chief function of these churches in morals is to con-
serve old standards and create about them a public opinion
which shall deter the offender. And in this the Negro
churches are peculiarly successful, although naturally the
standards conserved are not as high as they should be.

5. The Negro churches were the birthplaces of Negro
schools and of all agencies which seek to promote the in-
telligence of the masses ; and even to-day no agency serves
to disseminate news or information so quickly and effect-
ively among Negroes as the church. The lyceum and
lecture here still maintain a feeble but persistent exist-
ence, and church newspapers and books are circulated
widely. Night schools and kindergartens are still held in
connection with churches, and all Negro celebrities, from a
bishop to a poet like Dunbar, are introduced to Negro
audiences from the pulpits.

6. Consequently all movements for social betterment are
.apt to centre in the churches. Beneficial societies in end-
less number are formed here ; secret societies keep in touch ;
co-operative and building associations have lately sprung
up ; the minister often acts as an employment agent ; con-
siderable charitable and relief work is done and special
meetings held to aid special projects." The race problem
in all its phases is continually being discussed, and, indeed,
from this forum many a youth goes forth inspired to
work.

Such are some of the functions of the Negro church, and
a study of them indicates how largely this organization has
come to be an expression of the organized life of Negroes
in a great city.

33. The Present Condition of the Churches. — ^The
2441 families of the Seventh Ward were distributed among
the various denominations, in 1896, as follows:

" Cf. Publications of Atlanta University No. 3, " Efforts of American
Negroes for Social Betterment.''

2o8 Organized Life of Negroes, [Chap. XII.

Families.

Methodists 842

Baptists 577

Episcopalians 156

Presbyterians 74

Catholic 69

Shakers 2

Unconnected and unknown 721

2441

Probably half of the "unconnected and unknown"
habitually attend church.

In the city at large the Methodists have a'decided majority,
followed by the Baptists, and further behind, the Episco-
palians. Starting with the Methodists, we find three
bodies : the African Methodist Episcopal, founded by Allen,
the A. M. E. Zion, which sprung from a secession of
Negroes from white churches in New York in the eighteenth
century ; and the M. E. Church, consisting of colored
churches belonging to the white Methodist Church, like
Zoar.

The A. M. E. Church is the largest body and had, in
1897, fourteen churches and missions in the city, with a
total membership of 3210, and thirteen church edifices,
seating 61 17 persons. These churches collected during the
year, $27,074.13. Their property is valued at $202,229
on which there is a mortgage indebtedness of $30,000
to $50,000. Detailed statistics are given in the table
on next page.

These churches are pretty well organized, and are con-
ducted with vim and enthusiasm. This arises largely
from their system. Their bishops have been in some in-
stances men of piety and ability like the late Daniel A.
Payne. In other cases they have fallen far below this
standard; but they have always been men of great influ-
ence, and had a genius for leadership— else they would not
have been bishops. They have large powers of appoint-
ment and removal in the case of pastors, and thus each

S«ct- 33]

Condition of the Churches.

gS338SSS8 'SS 'g

SHS^sslissilKj

;3ggHSBSS88S

laasj^^gSiSu

JfLSStTTRR^

stirs..

2IO Organized Life of Negroes. [Cbap. XIL

pastor working under the eye of an inspiring chief,
strains every nerve to make his church a successftil
organization. The bishop is aided by several presiding
elders, who are traveling inspectors and preachers^ and
give advice as to appointments. This system results in
great unity and power ; the purely spiritual aims of the
church, to be sure, suffer somewhat, but after all this pecu-
liar organism is more than a church, it is a government of
men.

The headquarters of the A. M. E. Church are in Philadel-
phia. Their publishing house, at Seventh and Pine, pub-
lishes a weekly paper, and a quarterly review, besides some
books, such as hymnals, church disciplines, short treatises,
leaflets and the like. The receipts of this establishment
in 1897 were $16,058.26, and its expenditures $14,119.15.
Its total outfit and property is valued at $45)513.64, wiUi
an indebtedness of $14,513.64.

An episcopal residence for the bishop of the district has
recently been purchased on Belmont avenue. The Phila-
delphia Conference disbursed from the general church
funds in 1897, $985 to superannuated ministers, and $375
to widows of ministers. Two or three women missionaries
visited the sick during the year and some committees erf
the Ladies' Mission Society worked to secure orphans'
homes." Thus throughout the work of this church there

^ An acconnt of the present state of the A. M. E. Church from its own
lips is interesting, in spite of its somewhat turgid rhetoric. The foUow-
ing is taken from the minutes of Philadelphia Conference, 1897:

RBFORT ON STATB OP THE CHURCH.

'' To the Bishop and Conference: We your Committee on State of the

Church beg leave to submit the following:

** Every truly devoted African Methodist is intensely interested in the
condition of the church that was handed down to us as a precious heir-
loom from the hands of a God-fearing, self-sacrificing ancestry; the
church that Allen planted in Philadelphia, a little over a century ago has
enjoyed a marvelous development. Its grand march through the pro-
cession of a hundred years has been characterized by a series of brilliant

Sect. 33.]

Condition of the Churches.

211

is much evidence of eDthusiasm and persistent progress."
There are three churches in the city representing the
A. M. E. Zion connection. They are:

Wesley Fifteenth and Lombard Sta.

Mount Zion Fifty.fifth above Market St.

Union Ninth St. and Girard Ave.

, completely refuting the foul calumnies cast against it and
overcoming every obstacle that endeavored to impede its onward march,
giving the strongest evidence that God was in the midat of her; sbe
should not be moved.

■' From the humble t>eginnings in the little blacksmith shop, at Sixth
and Lombard streets, Philadelphia, the Connection has grown until we
have now fifty-five annual conferences, beside mission fields, with over
fonr thousand churches, the same number of itinerant preachers, near six
hundred thousand commnnicants, one and a half million adherents, with
six regularly organized and well-manned departments, each doing a
magnificent work along special lines, the whole under the immediate
supervision of eleven bishops, each with a marked individuality and all
laboring together for the further development and perpetuity of the
church. In this the Mother Conference of the Connection, we have
every reason to be grateful to Almighty God for the signal blessings He
has so graciously poured out upon us. Tbe spiritual benedictions have
been many. In response to earnest effort and faithful prayers by both
pastors and congregations, nearly two thousand persons have professed
faith in Christ, during this conference year. Five thousand dollars have
been given by the membership and friends of the Connectional interests
to carry on the machinery of the church, besides liberal contributions for
the cause of missions, education, the Sunday-school Union and Church
Bxtension Departments, and beside alt this, the presiding elder and
paators have been made to feel that the people are perfectly willing to do
what they can to maintain the preaching of the word, that tends to
elevate mankind and glorify God.

"The local interests have not been neglected; new churcbes have been
built, parsonages erected, church mortgages have been reduced, aniiliary
■ocieties to give everybody in the church a chance to work for God and
bmnanity, have been more extensively organized than ever before.

" The danger signal that we see here and there cropping out, which
is calculated to bring discredit upon the Church of Christ, is the unholy
ambition for place and power. The means ofttimes used to bring about
the desired results, cause the blush of shame to tinge the brow of

"Cf..f. .g*-, the account of the founding of new missions iu the

of the Philadelphia Conference, J896.

ti2 Organised IJfe of Negroes. [Chap. XIL

No detailed statistics of these churches are available ;
the last two are small , the first is one of the largest and

Christian manhood. God a]wa:}rs bos and always will select those He
designs to use as tbe leaders of liis Cbnrch.

" Political methods that are in too many instances resorted to, are con-
trwy to the teaching and spirit of the Gospel of Christ. Fitneaa and
■obriety will always be found in, the lead.

"Through mistaken sympathy we find that several incompetent men
have found their way into the ministerial ranks; men who can neither
manage tlie financial nor spiritual interests of any church or bring success
along any line, who are continuously on the wing fi'om one conference to
the other. The time has come when the strictest scrutiny must be exer-
cised as to purpose and fitness of candidates, and if admitted and found
to be continuous failures, Christian charity demands that they be given
an opportunity to seek a calling where they can make more success than
in the ministry. These danger signals that Sash up now and then must
be observed and everything contrary to the teachings of God's word and
the spirit of the discipline weeded out. The church owes a debt of
gratitude to the fathers who have always remained loyal and true; who
labored persistently and well for tbe upbuilding of the connection, that
they can never repay.

" Particular care shouM be taken that no honorable aged minister of
onr great Church should be allowed to suffer for the necessaries of life.
Wc especially commend to the conridcration of every minister the
Ministers' Aid Association, which is now almost ready to be orgaoiied,
the object of which is to help assuage the grief and dry the tears of those
who have been left widowed and fatherless.

" Our Publication Department is making heroic efforts for the larger
circulation of our denominational papers aud hterature generally. These
efibrts ought to be, and must needs be heartily seconded by the Church.
Lord Bacon says: ' Talking makes a ready man, writing an exact man,
but reading makes a full man.' We want our people at large to be brim-
ful of information relative to the growth of the church, the progress of
the race, the upbuilding of humanity and the glory of God.

"Our missionary work must not be allowed to retrograde. The banner
that Allen raised must not be allowed lo trail, but must go forward until
the swarthy sons of Ham everywhere shall gaze with a longing and
loving look upon tbe escutcheon that has emblazoned on It, as its motto:
' The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of man.' and the
glorious truth flashing over the whole world that Jesus Christ died to
redeem the universal family of mankind. Disasters and misfortunes
may come to us, but strong men never quail before adversities. The
clouds of to-day may be succeeded by the sunshine of to-morrow. "

4
4

Sect. 33.]

ConditioH of the Churches.

213

most popular in the city ; the pastor receives #1500 a year
and the total income of the church is between $4000 and
$5000. It does considerable charitable work among its
aged members, and supports a large sick and death benefit
society. Its property is worth at least $25,000.

Two other Methodist churches of different denomina-
tions are : Grace U, A, M, K., Lombard street, above Fif-
teenth ; St. Matthew Methodist Protestant, Fifty-eighth
and Vine streets. Both these churches are small, although
the first has a valuable piece of property.

The Methodist Episcopal Church has six organizations
in the city among the Negroes ; they own church property
valued at $53,700, have a total membership of 1203, and an
income of $16,394 '" ^^97. Of this total income, $1235,
OT -/yi per cent, was given for benevolent enterprises.
These churches are quiet and well conducted, and although
not among the most popular churches, have nevertheless
a membership of old and respected citizens,

Cou>RED M. E. CHDRCHas IN PhiladeIiPhu, 1897.

CllDTCh.

E

5

II

ill

■5

1

•5

si
lb

1*-

1

li

1

i

Mnbridgc Street
Fnakfoi^ . . .

^

t>3l2

t'i'

is

(■90

■s

Ts*

130

..

(V6
'77

1

Wderloti ilTT«t ,
Zo«r

*.™

35"

Tolml

<»>

Ut}<\ sm I U9.T«

fc-™

hio. IjyM

^5.^

mss IfxJM

There were in 1896 seventeen Baptist churches in Phila-
delphia, holding property valued at more than $300,000,
having six thousand members, and an annual income of,
probably, $30,000 to $35,000. One of the largest churches
has in the last five years raised between $17,000 and
$18,000.

Organized Uje oj Negroes. [Chap. XII.
Coi^KBD Baptist Chdkchss of PaiijiiiitUHiA, 1S96.

Choreh.

Membct-
.hip.

Propmy.

Missions,
Local and

Anntikl

„^^„tj

,s

1

SO
305

57

1,0CX>

700

iiO.000
50.000
50,000
*S,ooo

ilooo

»4,8a>
a.ooo
50.000

40,000

J7.OO
'58.10

3.00
5.50

i<»
973

Cherry Street

1

Macedonia

Bethsaida

GcrmBiitown

Grace

S3.600

HolyTrinity

Second, Nicetown .....

Cherry Street Mission ....
Tabernacle

Total

5.583 It396,8a>

The Baptists are strong in Philadelphia, and own many
large and attractive churches, such as, for instance, tlie
Union Baptist Church, on Twelfth street ; Zion Baptist, in
the northern part of the city ; Monumental, in West Phila-
delphia, and the staid and respectable Cherry Street Chnrch.
These churches as a rule have large membership. They
are, however, quite different in spirit and methods from the
Methodists ; they lack organization, and are not so well
managed as business institutions. Consequently statistics
of their work are very hard to obtain, and indeed in many
cases do not even exist for individual chnrches. On the
other hand, the Baptists are peculiarly clannish and loyal
to their organization, keep their pastors a long time, and
thus each church gains an individuality not noticed in
Methodist churches. If the pastor is a strong, upright
character, his influence for good is marked. At the same
time, the Baptists have in their ranks a larger percentage
of illiteracy than probably any other church, and it is
often possible for an inferior man to hold a large church

4

Sect 33.] Condition of the Churches. 215 ^^^^^^^

for years and allow it to stagnate and retrograde. The
Baptist policy is extreme democracy applied to church
affairs, and no wonder that this often results in a per-
nicious dictatorship. While many of the Baptist pastors
of Philadelphia are men of ability and education, the
general average is below that of the other churches — a
fact due principally to the ease with which one can enter
the Baptist ministry." These churches support a small
publishing house in the city, wliich issues a weekly paper.
They do some charitable work, but not much."
There are three Presbyterian churches in the city :

.....

McmtKn.

Value of

Annual

98

430
'05

J75.OOO
50,000
3S.00O

1,800
..538

Paiwinage.
Parsonage.

First African ...

Central Church is the oldest of these churches and has
an interesting history. It represents a withdrawal from
the First African Presbyterian Church in 1844. The con-
gregation first worshiped at Eighth and Carpenter streets,

" Baptists themselves recognize this. One of the speakers in a recent
asfiociatian meeting, as reported by the press, "deprecated the spirit
shown by some churches in spreadingtheir differences to their detriment
as church members, and in the eyes of tbeir white brethren; and he recom-
mended that unworthy brethren from other States, who sought an asylum
of rest here, be not admitted to local pulpits except iu cases where the
^^m ministers so applying are personally known or vouched for by a resident
^B paslor. The custom of recognizing as preachers mea incapable of doing
^H good work in the pulpit, who were ordained in the South after they had
^H failed in the North, was also condemned, and the President declared that
^H the times demand a ministry that is able to preach. The practice of
^^1 licensing incapable brethren for the ministry, simply to please them, waa
^B also looked upon with disfavor, and it was recommended that applicants
^* for ordination he required to show at least abiUty to read intelligently
• theWordofGodorahyron.-'

"One movement deserves nolice—the Woman's Auxiliary Society,

churches in this city, vii., the Cherry Street, Holy Trinity, Union,
Hicetown and Gennantown, and does general missionary work.

«

2i6 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.

and in 1845 purchased a lot at Ninth and Lombard,
where they still meet in a quiet and respectable house of
worship. Their 430 members include some of the oldest
and most respectable Negro families of the city. Probably
if the white Presbyterians had given more encouragement
to Negroes, this denomination would have absorbed the
best elements of the colored population ; they seem, how-
ever, to have shown some desire to be rid of the blacks, or
at least not to increase their Negro membership in Phila-
delphia to any great extent. Central Church is more
nearly a simple religious organization than most churches ;
it listens to able sermons, but does little outside its own
doors. *^

Berean Church is the work of one man and is an insti-
tutional church. It was formerly a mission of Central
Church and now owns a fine piece of property bought by
donations contributed by whites and Negroes, but chiefly by
the former. The conception of the work and its carrying
out, however, is due to Negroes. This church conducts a
successful Building and Loan Association, a kindergarten,

"See, Jones* " Fifty Years in Central Street Church,** etc The system

and order in this church is remarkable. Each year a careful printed

report of receipts and expenditures is made. The following is an abstract

of the report for 1891:

Receipts,

Finance Committee $977 39

Pew Rents 709 75

Legacy 760 77

Other Receipts 329 54

I2777 45

Expenditures,

Pastor*s Salary f 1000 00

Other Salaries 476 00

Repayment of Loan 409 00

Interest on Mortgage . . 60 96

Donations to General Church 31 57

General Expenses, etc. 759 23

$2736 76

Balance % 40 69

Sect. 33.]

Condition of the Churches.

217

a medical dispensary and a seaside home, beside the num-
erous church societies. Probably no church in the city,
except the Episcopal Church of the Crucifixion, is doing
so much for the social betterment of the Negro.'* The
First African is the oldest colored church of this denomina-
tion in the city.

The Episcopal Chwrcli has, for Negro congregations, two
independent churches, two churches dependent on white
parishes, and four missions and Sunday-schools. Statistics
of three of these are given in the table on page 218,

The Episcopal churches receive more outside help than
others and also do more general mission and rescue work.
They hold $150,000 worth of property, have 900-1000
members and an annual income of S7000 to $8000. They
represent all grades of the colored population. The
oldest of the churches is St. Thomas. Next comes the
Church of the Crucifixion, over fifty years old and perhaps
the most effective church organization in the city for
benevolent and rescue work. It has been built up virtually
by one Negro, a man of sincerity and culture, and of
peculiar energy. This church carries on regular church
work at Bainbridge and Eighth and at two branch mis-
sions ; it helps in the Fresh Air Fund, has an ice mission, a
vacation school of thirty-five children, and a parish visitor.
It makes an especial feature of good music with its vested
choir. One or two courses of University Extension lectures
are held here each year, and there is a large beneficial and
insurance society in active operation, and a Home for the
Homeless on Lombard street. This church especially
reaches after a class of neglected poor whom the other
colored churches shun or forget and for whom there is
little fellowship in white churches. The rector says of this
work :

"Pot hutoiy and detailed account of tbia work see Anderaon'a
" PreBbyteriimisni and the Negro," Pbila., 1897.

Organited Lift <if Ntgrets. [Cllap. XIL

'ia^ltiqmnaQS

•mm—m |Bm»o

|>)II3<Uld IWOi

HiW»|WVpn»«Jiil3Ja I.

% %

% 8

I 5

3. S

II

ll

lis

^.1

lif

«=1

=11 ^ ^s; ijS

Sect. 33.] Condition of tke Churches.

219

" As I look back over nearly twenty years of labor in one
parish, I see a great deal to be devoutly thankful for.
Here are people struggling from the beginning of one
year to another, without ever having what can be called
the necessaries of life. God alone knows what a real
struggle life is to them. Many of them must always be
'moving on,' because they cannot pay the rent or meet
other obligations.

" I have just visited a family of four, mother and three
children. The mother is too sick to work. The eldest
girl will work when she can find something to do. But
the rent is due, and there is not a cent in the house. This
is but a sample. How can such people support a church
of their own ? To many such, religion often becomes
doubly comforting. They seize eagerly on the promises
of a life where these earthly distresses will be forever

" If the other half only knew how this half is living — how
hard and dreary, and often hopeless, life is — the members
of the more favored half would gladly help to do all they
could to have the gospel freely preached to those whose
lives are so devoid of earthly comforts.

" Twenty or thirty thousand dollars (and that is not
much), safely invested, would enable the parish to do a
work that ought to be done and yet is not being done at
present. The poor could then have the gospel preached to
them in a way that it is not now being preached."

The Catholic church has in the last decade made great
progress in its work among Negroes and is determined to
do much in the future. Its chief hold upon the colored
people is its comparative lack of discrimination. There is
one Catholic church in the city designed especially for
Negro work — St, Peter Clavers at Twelfth and Lombard —
formerly a Presbyterian church; recently a parish house
has been added. The priest in. charge estimates that 400
or 500 Negroes regularly attend Catholic churches in various

aao Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XIL

parts of the city. The Mary Drexel Home for Colored
Orphans is a Catholic institution near the city which is
doing much work. The Catholic church can do more than
any other agency in humanizing the intense prejudice of
many of the working-class against the Negro, and signs of
this influence are manifest in some quarters.

We have thus somewhat in detail reviewed the work of
the chief churches. There are beside these continaally
springing up and dying a host of little noisy missions which
represent the older and more demonstrative worship. A
description of one applies to nearly all; take for instance
one in the slums of the Fifth Ward:

" The tablet in the gable of this little church bears the
date 1837. ^^^ sixty years it has stood and done its work
in the narrow lane. What its history has been all this
time it is diflBcult to find out, for no records are on hand,
and no one is here to tell the tale.

" The few last months of the old order was something like
this: It was in the hands of a Negro congregation.
Several visits were paid to the church, and generally a
dozen people were found there. After a discourse by a
very illiterate preacher, hymns were sung, having many
repetitions of senseless sentiment and exciting cadences.
It took about an hour to work up the congregation to a
fervor aimed at When this was reached a remarkable
scene presented itself. The whole congregation pressed
forward to an open space before the pulpit, and formed a
ring. The most excitable of their number entered the
ring, and with clapping of hands and contortions led the
devotions. Those forming the ring joined in the clapping
of hands and wild and loud singing, frequently springing
into the air, and shouting loudly. As the devotions pro-
ceeded, most of the worshipers took off their coats and
vests and hung them on pegs on the wall. This continued
for hours, until all were completely exhausted, and some
had fainted and been stowed away on benches or the pulpit

Sect. 34-] Societies and Co-operative Business. 221

platform. This was the order of things at the close of sixty
years' history. * * ♦ When this congregation vacated
the church, they did so stealtliily, under cover of darkness,
removed furniture not their own, including the pulpit, and
left bills unpaid," "

There are dozens of such little missions in various parts
of Philadelphia, led by wandering preachers. They are
survivals of the methods of worship in Africa and the West
Indies. In some of the larger churches uoise and excite-
ment attend the services, especially at the time of revival
or in prayer meetings. For the most part, however, these
customs are dying away.

To recapitulate, we have in Philadelphia fifty-five Negro
churches with 12,845 members owning $907,729 worth of
property with an annual income of at least $94,968. And
these represent the organized efforts of tiie race better than
any other organizations. Second to them however come
the secret and benevolent societies, which we now consider.

34. Secret and Beneficial Societies, and Co-operative
Business. — The art of organization is the one hardest for
the freedman to learn, and the Negro shows his greatest
deficiency here ; whatever success he has had has been
shown most conspicuousiy in his church organizations,
where the religious bond greatly facilitated union. In
other organizations where the bond was weaker his success
has been less. From early times the precarious economic
condition of the free Negroes led to many mutual aid
organizations. They were very simple in form : an initia-
tion fee of small amount was required, and small regular
payments ; in case of sickness, a weekly stipend was paid,
and in case of death the members were assessed to pay for
the funeral and help the widow. Confined to a few mem-
bers, all personally known to each other, such societies

"Rev. Charles Daniel, in the Nazatene. The writer hardly docs
justice lo the wdid wltcberj of those bymuB sung thus rudely.

228 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.

were successful from the beginning. We hear of them in
the eighteenth century, and by 1838 there were 100 such
small groups, with 7448 members, in the city. They paid
in $18,851, gave $14,172 in benefits, and had $10,023 ^"^
hand. Ten years later about eight thousand members
belonged to 106 such societies. Seventj'-six of these had
a total membership of 5187. They contributed usually 25
cents to 37 j4 cents a month; the sick received $1.50 to
$3.00 a week, and death benefits of $10,00 to $20.cx) were
allowed. The income of these seventy-six societies was
$16,814.23 ; 681 families were assisted,"

These societies have since been superceded to some
extent by other organizations; they are still so numerous,
however, that it is impractical to catalogue all of them ;
there are probably several hundred of various kinds in
the city.

To these were early added the secret societies, which
naturally had great attraction for Negroes. A Boston
lodge of black Masons received a charter direct from Eng-
land, and independent orders of Odd Fellows, Knights of
Pythias, etc., grew up. During the time that Negroes
were shut out of the public libraries there were many
literary associations with libraries. These have now dis-
appeared. Outside the churches the most important
organizations among Negroes to-day are : Secret societies,
beneficial societies, insurance societies, cemeteries, building
and loan associations, labor unions, homes of various sorts
and political clubs. The most powerful and flourishing
secret order is that of the Odd Fellows, which has two
hundred thousand members among American Negroes. In
Philadelphia there are 19 lodges with a total membership
of II 88, and $46,000 worth of property. Detailed statis-
tics are in the next table : "

*Cf. report of inquiries in aboTe years.

" Prom Report of Fourth Annual Meeting of the District Grand t,odgc
of Pennsylvania. G. U. of O. P., 1896.

Sect 34.] SocuHes and Co-operative Business,

VpoDd tv^AaxA iwoA

■pinwn|»»«I«

Pf||5||lll|5iS5:ll|

■^»»*"i F"ni»A

pya|i|l:^M::U

'•— "—

i?S3>^3 '3^3.833 8 - X

|=5|5;|*S«8 ::::::=: |

FIU mwKBV sionai

cp^'iSS,

:pi|:||:::;:|5:::S|

p,^^K,

|:::5:|:|l|::|l|: :5 |

„„a-;=.

|i;il:ii||iiiii::f|

TRfl JOlpiKJinnooiv

»88a8A?g8E!?8 -888 ■ -B %

Ittfioa «»mUo

"" "

■p»lJna««oPF*

:::::;■ :« «

":::::-:—: ::---: :; -

-iBjii9ain»a

:-::;-" ::—::-:-::: -

i-^-^iff^'- «-""-"■ : :£ E

■«j»(nasK

a5gE'8.Kff2R'*'ftRK='Eraa-r8. £

lll}Htllll«.:««tl ;

'

illlslisikililll'-

•84

Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.

This order owns two halls in the city worth perhaps
$40,000. One is occupied by the ofBcers of the Grand
Lodge, which employs several salaried officials and clerks.
The order conducts a newspaper called the Odd Fellow^
Journal.

There are 19 lodges of Masons in the city, 6 chapters,
5 command cries, 3 of the Scottish Rite, and i drill corp.
The Masons are not so well organized and conducted as
the Odd Fellows, and detailed statistics of their lodges are
not available. They own two halls worth at least $50,000,
and probably distribute not less than $3000 to $4000 annu-
ally in benefits.

Beside these chief secret ordeis there are numeroos
others, such as the American Protestant Association, which
has many members, the Knights of Pythias, the Galilean
Fishermen, the various female orders attached to these,
and a number of others. It is almost impossible to get
accurate statistics of all these orders, and any estimate of
their economic activity is liable to considerable error.
However, from general observation and the available
figures, it seems fairly certain that at least foiir thoiisand
Negroes belong to secret orders, and that these orders
annually collect at least $23,000, part of which is paid out
in sick and death benefits, and part invested. The real
estate, personal property and funds of these orders amount
to no less than $125,000.

The function of the secret society is partly social inter-
course and partly insurance. They furnish pastime from
the monotony of work, a field for ambition and intrigue,
a chance for parade, and insurance against misfortune.
Next to the church they are the most popular organizar
tions among Negroes.

Of the beneficial societies we have already spoken in
general. A detailed account of a few of the larger and
more typical organizations will now suffice. The Quaker
City Association is a sick and death benefit society, seven

t

4

Sect 34.] Societies and Co-operative Business. 225

years old, which confines its membership to native Phila-
delphians. It has 280 members and distributes $1400 to
$1500 annually. The Sons and Daughters of Delaware
is over fifty years old. It has 106 members, and owns
$3000 worth of real estate. The Fraternal Association
was founded in 1861 ; it has 86 members, and distributes
about $300 a year. It "was formed for the purpose of
relieving the wants and distresses of each other in the
time of affliction and death, and for the furtherance of
such benevolent views and objects as would tend to estab-
lish and maintain a permanent and friendly intercourse
among them in their social relations in life." The Sons
of St Thomas was founded in 1823 and was originally
confined to members of St. Thomas Church. It was
formerly a large organization, but now has 80 members,
and paid out in 1896, $416 in relief. It has $1500 invested
in government bonds. In addition to these there is the
Old Men's Association, the Female Cox Association, the
Sons and Daughters of Moses, and a large number of other
small societies.

There is arising also a considerable number of insur*
ance societies, differing from the beneficial in being con-
ducted by directors. The best of these are the Crucifixion
connected with the Church of the Crucifixion, and the
Avery, connected with Wesley A. M. E. Z. Church ; both
have a large membership and are well conducted. Nearly
every church is beginning to organize one or more such
societies, some of which in times past have met disaster
by bad management. The True Reformers of Virginia, the
most remarkable Negro beneficial organization yet started,,
has several branches here. Beside these there are number-^
less minor societies, as the Alpha Relief, Knights and
lyadies of St. Paul, the National Co-operative Society, Col-
ored Women's Protective Association, Loyal Beneficial, etc^
Some of these are honest efforts and some are swindling
imitations of the pernicious white petty insurance societies.

15

326 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XII.

There are three building and loan associations conducted
by Negroes. Some of the directors in one are white, all
the others are colored. The oldest association is the Cen-
tury, established October 26, 1886. Its board of directors
is composed of teachers, upholsterers, clerks, restaurant
keepers and undertakers, and it has had marked success.
Its income for 1897 was about $7000. It has $25,000 in
loans outstanding.

■"^ The Berean Building and Loan Association was estab^
lished in 1888 in connection with Berean Presbyterian
Church; 13 of the 19 oflScers and directors are colored.
Its income for 1896 was nearly $30,000, and it had $60,000
in loans ; 43 homes have been bought through this asso-
ciation."

The Pioneer Association is composed entirely of Negroes,
the directors being caterers, merchants and upholsterers.
It was founded in 1888 and has an office on Pine street.
Its receipts in 1897 ^^^^ $9000, and it had about $20,000
in loans. Nine homes are at present being bought in this
association.

There are arising some loan associations to replace the
pawn-shops and usurers to some extent. The Small Loan
Association, for instance, was founded in 1 891, and has the
following report for 1898 :

Shares sold I1144 00

Assessments on shares 114 40

Repaid loans 4537 50

Interest 417 06

Cash in treasury 275 54

Dividends paid 222 67

Loans made 4626 75

Expenses 82 02

The Conservative is a similar organization, consisting of
ten members.

*>This association has issued a valuable little pamphlet called " Helpfiil
Hints on Home," which it distributes. This explains the object and
methods of building and loan associations.

Sect 34,] Societies and Co-operative Business.

X2J

This account has attempted to touch only the chief and
characteristic organizations, and makes no pretensions to
completeness. It shows, however, how intimately bound
together the Negroes of Philadelphia are. These associa-
tions are largely experiments, and as such, are continually
reaching out to new fields. The latest ventures are toward
labor unions, co-operative stores and newspapers. There
are the following labor unions, among others : The Caterers'
Club, the Private Waiters' Association, the Coachmen's
Association, the Hotel Brotherhood (of waiters), the Cigar-
makers' Union (white and colored), the Hod-Carriers' Union,
the Barbers' Union, etc.

Of the Caterers' Club we have already heard." The
Private Waiters' Association is an old beneficial order with
well-to-do members. The private waiter is really a skilled
workman of high order, and used to be well paid. Next
to the guild of caterers he ranked as high as any class of
Negro workmen before the war — indeed the caterer was
but a private waiter further developed. Consequently this
labor union is still jealous and exclusive and contains
some members long retired from active work. The Coach-
men's Association is a similar society; both these organiza-
tions have a considerable membership, and make sick and
death benefits and social gatherings a feature. The Hotel
Brotherhood is a new society of hotel waiters and is con-
ducted by young men on the lines of the regular trades
unions, with which it is more or less affiliated in many
cities. It has some relief features and considerable social
life. It strives to open and keep open work for colored
waiters and often arranges to divide territory with whites,
or to prevent one set from supplanting the other. The
Cigar-makers' Union is a regular trades union with both
white and Negro members. It is the only union in Phila-
delphia where Negroes are largely represented. No friction

"See ju/ro, p. 119 £F,

aa8 Organised Life of Negroes. [Chap. XIL "

is apparent. The Hod-Carriers' Union is large and of consid-
erable age but does not seem to be very active. A I^eague of
Colored Mechanics was formed in 1897 but did not accom-
plish anything. There was before the war a league of this
sort which flourished, and there undoubtedly will be
attempts of this sort in the future until a union is effected."

The two co-operative grocery stores, and the caterers*
supply store have been mentioned." There was a dubious i
attempt in 1896 to organize a co-operative tin-ware store!
which has not yet been successful."

With all this effort and movement it is natural that the I
Negroes should want some means of communication. This j
they have in the following periodicals conducted wholly by \
Negroes :

"The College Settlement was interested in this organitation, but the I
movemeiit was evidentlj' premature.

" See supra, p. 117 and p. 119.

"An interesting advertisement of this venture la appended; it is m.1
curiouB mixture of business, exhortation and eimplicitj. The preaenifl
state of the enterprise is not known ;

"NOTICE TO ALL.

"WE CALL, YOUR ATTENTION
"To This Work.

"THE UNION TIN-WARH MAmjFACTURING CO.

" Is now at work, chartered nndet the Uws of the States of New Jersej I
and Peuusylvania.

" The purpose of said Company Is to manufscture everything in the 1
TIN-WARE LINE that the law allows, and to seU stock all over the
United States of America; and put in members enough in every city to
open a Union Tin-Ware Store, and if the promoter finds that be has
not enough members in a city to open a Tin- Ware Store, then be shall
Open it with money from the factory, SHARES are Jio.oo, tbey can be
paid on installment plan; and you do not have any monthly dues to pay,
but on the 30th of every December or whenever the Stockholder*
appoint the time, the dividend will be declared.

" Wc will make this one of the grandest organizations ever witnessed
by the Race, if you lend us your aid. This Store will contain Groceries,
Dry Goods and Tin-Ware, and you can do your dealing at your own
store. This factory will give you work, and learn you a trade."

Sect 34,] Societies and Co-operative Business.

229

nety-

A. M. E. Church Review, quarterly, 8vo, about 1
five pages.

Christian Recorder, eight page weekly newspaper. (Both
these are organs of the A. M. E. Church.)

Baptist Christian Banner, four pag;e weekly newspaper.
(Organ of the Baptists.)

Odd Fellows' Journal, eight page weekly newspaper.
(Organ of Odd fellows. )

Weekly Tribune, eight page weekly newspaper, seven-
teen years established.

The Astonisher, eight page weekly newspaper, (German-
town).

The Standard-Echo, four page weekly newspaper, (since
suspended).

The Tribune is the chief news sheet and is filled generally
with social notes of all kinds, and news of movements
among Negroes over the countrj'. Its editorials are usually
of little value chiefly because it does not employ a respon-
sible editor. It is in many ways however an interesting
paper and represents pluck and perseverance on the
part of its publisher. The Astonisher and Standard
Echo are news sheets. The first is bright but crude.
The Recorder, Banner and Journal are chiefly filled
with columns of heavy church and lodge news. The
Review has had an interesting history and is probably the
best Negro periodical of the sort published; it is often
weighted dowu by the requirements of church politics, and
compelled to publish some trash written by aspiring candi-
dates for office; but with all this it has much solid matter
and indicates the trend of thought among Negroes to some
extent. It has greatly improved in the last few years.
Many Negro newspapers from other cities circulate here
and widen the feeling of community among the colored
people of the city.

One other kind of organization has not yet been men-
tioned, the political clubs, of which there are probably

230 Organised Life of Negroes. [CUap. XII.

fifty in the city. They will be considered in another

chapter,

35. Institutions. — ^The chief Negro institutions of the
city are : The Home for Aged and Infinned Colored Per-
sons, the Douglass Hospital and Training School, the
Woman's Exchange and Girls' Home, three cemetery
companies, the Home for the Homeless, the special schools,
as the Institute for Colored Youth, the House of Industry,
Raspberry street schools and Jones' school for girls, the
Y. M. C. A., and University Extension Centre.

The Home for the Aged, situated at the comer of GiranJ
and Belmont avenues, iwas founded by a Negro lumber
merchant, Steven Smith, and is conducted by whites and
N^Toes. It is one of the best institutions of the kind
property is valued at $400,000, and it has an annual
income of $20,000. It has sheltered 558 old people since
its foundation in 1864.

The Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training School is
a curious example of the difficult position of Negroes : for
years nearly everj' hospital in Philadelphia has sought to
exclude Negro women from the course in nurse-training,
and no Negro physician could have the advantage of
hospital practice. This led to a movement for a Negro
hospital ; such a movement however was condemned
by the whites as an unnecessary addition to a bewilder-
ing number of charitable institutions ; by many of the
best Negroes as a concession to prejudice and a draw-
ing of the color line. Nevertheless the promoters
insisted that colored nurses were efficient and needed
training, that colored physicians needed a hospital, and
that colored patients wished one. Consequently the Doug-
lass Hospital has been established and its success seems tt>
warrant the effiart."

^ Since the opening of the hospttsl colored nnraea have
trouble in white institutions, and one colored ptaysici&n has been

I

I

Sect. 35-]

Insiiiutions.

2%^

The total income for tlie year 1895-96 was $4,656.31;
sixty-one patients were treated during the year, and thirty*
two operations perfonned ; 9S7 out-patients were treated.
The first class of nnrses was graduated in 1897.

The Woman's Exchange and Girls' Home is conducted
by the principal of the Institute for Colored Youth at 756
South Twelfth street. The exchange is open at stated
times during the week, and various articles are on sale.
Cheap lodging and board is furnished for a few school
girls and working girls. So far the work of the exchange
has been limited but it is slowly growing, and is certainly
a most deserving venture."*

The exclusion of Negroes from cemeteries has, as before
mentioned, led to the organization of three cemetery com-
panies, two of which are nearly fifty years old. The Olive
holds eight acres of property in the Twenty-fourth Ward,
claimed to be worth $100,000. It has 900 lot owners ; the
Lebanon holds land in the Thirty-sixth Ward, worth at
least '$75,000. The Merion is a new company which
owns twenty-one acres in Montgomery County, worth per-
haps $30,000. These companies are in the main well-
conducted, although the affairs of one are just now some-
what entangled.

The Home for the Homeless is a refuge and home for
the aged connected with the Church of the Crucifixion.

appointed intern in a large hospital. Dr. N. F, Mossell was chip&y
instmniental in founding the Douglass Hospital.

■■In connection with ttiis work, Bethel Church often holds small
receptions for servant girls on tlielr days off, wheti refreslitnenta are
terved and a pleasant time is spent. The following is a note of a dmilar
enterprise at another church: "The members of the Bereaa Union
bave opened a ' Y ' parlor, where young colored girls employed as domes-
tics can spend their Thursday afternoon both pleasantly and profitably.
The parlor is open from 4 Qlitil 10 p. m,, every Thnrsday, and member*
of the Union are present to welcome thetn. A light supper is served for
ten cents. The evening is spent in literary exercises and social talk.
The parlor is in the Berean Church, South College avenue, near Twen-
Ueth street."

332 Organised Ufe of Negroes. [Chap, XII.

It is supported largely by whites but not entirely. It has
an income of about $500. During 1896, 1108 lodgings
■were furnished to ninety women, 8384 meals given to
inmates, 2705 to temporary ledgers, 2078 to transients, and
812 to invalids.

The schools have all been mentioned before. The
Young Men's Christian Association has had a checkered
history, chiefly as it would seem from the wrong policy
pursued ; there is in the city a grave and dangerous lack of
proper places of amusement and recreation for young men.
To fill this need a properly conducted Young Men's
Christian Association, with books and newspapers, baths,
bowling alleys and billiard tables, conversation rooms and
short interesting religious services is demanded ; it would
cost far less than it no^ costs the courts to punish the
petty misdemeanors of young men who do not know how to
amuse themselves. Instead of such an institution however
the Colored Y. M. C. A. has been virtually an attempt to
add another church to the numberless colored churches of
the city, with endless prayer-meetings and loud gospel
hymns, in dingy and uninviting quarters. Consequeutly
the institution is now temporarily suspended. It had
accomplished some good work by its night schools, and
social meetings.

Since the organization of the Bainbridge Street Univer-
sity Exteusion Centre, May 10, 1895, lectures have been
delivered at the Church of the Crucifixion, Eighth and
Bainbridge streets, by Rev. W, Hudson Shaw, on English
History; by Thomas Whitney Surette, on the Develop-
ment of Music; by Henry W, Elson, on American His-
tory, and by Hilaire Belloc, on Napoleon. Each of these
lecturers, except Mr. Belloc, has given a course of six
lectures on the subject stated, and classes have been held
in connection with each course. The attendance has
been above the ;

I
I

1 the city.

,ge as compared with other Centres

Sect, 36,] The Experiment of Organisation.

233

Beside these efEorts there are various embrj'onic institu-
tions : A day nursery in the Seventh Ward by the Woman's
Missionary Society, a large organization which does much
charitable work ; an industrial school near the city, etc.
There are, too, many institutions conducted by whites for
the benefit of Negroes, which will be mentioned in another
place.

Much of the need for separate Negro institutions has in
the last decade disappeared, by reason of the opening of
the doors of the public institutions to colored people.
There ate many Negroes who on this account strongly
oppose efforts which they fear -will tend to delay further
progress in these lines. On the other hand, thoughtful
men see that invaluable training and discipline is coming
to the race through these institutions and organizations, and
they encourage the formation of them.

36. The Experiment of Organization. — Looking back
over the field which we have thus reviewed — the churches,
societies, unions, attempts at business co-operation, institu-
tions and newspapers — it is apparent that the largest hope
for the ultimate rise of the Negro lies in this mastery of
the art of social organized life. To be sure, compared
with his neighbors, he has as yet advanced but a short
distance ; we are apt to condemn this lack of unity, the
absence of carefully planned and laboriously executed
efiFort among these people, as a vohiutary omission — a bit
of carelessness. It is far more than this, it is lack of social
education, of group training, and the lack can only be sup-
plied by a long, slow process of growth. And the chief
value of the organizations studied is that they are
evidences of growth. Of actual accomplishment they
have, to be sure, something to show, but nothing to boast
of inordinately. The churches are far from ideal asso-
ciations for fostering the higher X\i^ — rather they combine
too often intrigue, extravagance and show, with all their
Tvork, saving and charitj' ; their secret societies are often

234 Organized Life of Negroes. [Chap. XIL

diverted from their better ends ^by scheming and dishonest
officers, and by the temptation of tinsel and braggadocio p
their beneficial associations, along with all their good work^
have an unenviable record of business inefficiency and
internal dissension* And yet all these and the other agen-
cies have accomplished much, and their greatest accom-
plishment is stimulation of effort to further and more
effective organization among a disorganized and headless
host All this world of cooperation and subordination
into which the white child is in most cases bom is, "we
must not forget, new to the slave's sons. They have been
compelled to organize before they knew the meaning of
organization ; to cooperate with those of their fellows to-
whom co-operation was an unknown term ; to fix and fsusten
ideas of leadership and authority among those who had
always looked to others for guidance and command. For
these reasons the present efforts of Negroes in working
together along various lines are peculiarly promising for
the future of both races.

CHAPTER XIII.

I

THE NEGRO CRIMINAL.

37, History of Negro Crime in the City.' — From his
earliest advent the Negro, as was natural, has figured
largely in the criminal annals of Philadelphia. Only such
superficial study of the American Negro as dates his
beginning with 1S63 can neglect this past record of crime
in studying the present. Crime is a phenomenon of organ-
ized social life, and is the open rebellion of an individual
against his social environment. Naturally then, if men
are suddenly transported from one environment to another,
the result is lack ^of harmony with the new couditious;
lack of harmony with the new physical surroundings lead-
ing to disease and death or modification of physique ; lack
of hannony with social surroundings leading to crime.
Thus very early in the history of the colony characteristic
complaints of the disorder of the Negro slaves is heard.
In 1693, July II, the Governor and Council approved an
ordinance, " Upon the Request of some of the members of
Council, that an order be made by the Court of Quarter
Sessions for the Conntie of Philadelphia, the 4th July
instant (proceeding upon a presentment of the Grand Jurie
for the bodie of the sd countie), agt the tumultuous gath-
erings of the Negroes of the towne of Philadelphia, on the

' Throughout this chapter the basis of induction is the number of
prisoners received at different institutions and not the prison population
at particular times. This avoids the misbikea and distortions of the
latter method. (Cf Fallen er : "Crime and the Census;" Publications
of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, No. 190)-
Many writers on Crime among Negroes, as f. g., F. L. Hoffman, and all
who use the Eleventh Census uncritically, have fallen ii
mistakes and exaggerationB by carelessness on this point.

236 The Negro CriminaL [Chap. XIII.

first dayes of the weeke, ordering the Constables of Phila-
delphia, or anie other person whatsoever, to have power to
take up Negroes, male or female, whom they should find
gadding abroad on the said first dayes of the weeke, with-
out a ticket from their Mr. or Mris., or not in their Compa,
or to carry them to gaole, there to remain that night, and
that without meat or drink, and to Cause them to be pub-
lickly whipt next morning with 39 Lashes, well Laid on,
on thdr bare backs, for which their sd. Mr. or Mris. should
pay i5d. to the whipper," etc *

Penn himself introduced a law for the special trial and
punishment of Negroes very early in the history of the
colony, as has been noted before.* The slave code finally
adopted was mild compared with the legislation of the
period, but it was severe enough to show the unruly char-
acter of many of the imported slaves.*

Especially in Philadelphia did the Negroes continue to
give general trouble, not so much by serious crime as by
disorder. In 1732, under Mayor Hasel, the City Council
^* taking under Consideration the frequent and tumultuous
meetings of the Negro Slaves, especially on Sunday, Gam-
ing, Cursing, Swearing, and committing many other Dis-
orders, to the great Terror and Disquiet of the Inhabitants
of this city," ordered an ordinance to be drawn up against
such disturbances.* Again, six years later, we hear of the
draft of another city ordinance for " the more Effectual
suppressing Tumultuous meetings and other disorderly
doings of the Negroes, Mulattos and Indian servts. and
slaves." • And in 1741, August 17, "frequent complaints
having been made to the Board that many disorderly per-
sons meet every ev'g about the Court house of this city,

' "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," I, 380-81.

'See Chapter III, and Appendix B.

*Cf. ''Pennsylvania Statutes at Large,** Ch. 56.

*** Watson's Annals,** I, 62.

« Ibid,

Sect. 37.]

History of Negro Crime.

237

and great numbers of Negroes and others sit there with
milk pails and other things late at night, and many disor-
ders are there committed against the peace and good gov-
ernment of this city," Council ordered the place to be
cleared " in half an hour after sunset." '

Of the graver crimes by Negroes we have only reports
here and there which do not make it clear how frequently
such crimes occurred. In 1706 a slave is arrested for
setting fire to a dwelling; ia 1738 three Negroes are
hanged in neighboring parts of New Jersey for poisoning
people, while at Rocky Hill a slave is burned alive for
killing a child and burning a bam. Whipping of Negroes
at the public whipping post was frequent, and so severe
was the punishment that in 1743 a slave brought up to be
whipped committed suicide. In 1762 two Philadelphia
slaves were sentenced to death for felouy and burglary ;
petitions were circulated in their behalf but Council was
obdurate.'

Little special mention of Negro crime is again met with
until the freedmen under the act of 1780 began to congre-
gate in the city and other free immigrants joined them.
In 1809 the leading colored churches united in a society to
suppress crime and were cordially endorsed by the public
for this action. After the war immigration to the city
increased and the stress of hard times bore heavily on the
lower classes. Complaints of petty thefts and murderous
assaults on peaceable citizens now began to increase, and
in numbers of cases they were traced to Negroes. The better
class of colored citizens felt the accusation and held a
meeting to denounce crime and take a firm stand against
their own criminal class. A little later the Negro riots
commeuced, and they received their chief moral support
from the increasing crime of Negroes ; a Cuban slave

'/ii'rf., pp. 62-63.

'"Pennsylvania Colonial Records," 11, 375; IX, 6; "Wabon'i Ad-
nals," I, 309.

S38

The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.

brained his master with a hatchet, two other murders by
Negroes followed, and gam^bling, drunkenness and debauch-
ery were widespread wherever Negroes settled. The
terribly vindictive insurrection of Nat Turner in a neigh-
boring State frightened the citizens so thoroughly that
when some black fugitives actually arrived at Chester from
Southampton County, Virginia, the Legislature was
hastily appealed to, and the whole matter came to a climax
in the disfranchisement of the Negro in 1837, and the riots
in the years 1830 to 1840."

Some actual figures will give us an idea of this, the
worst period of Negro crime ever experienced in the city.
The Eastern Penitentiary was opened in 1829 near the close
of the year. The total number of persons received here for
the most serious crimes is given in the next table. This
includes prisoners from the Eastern counties of the State,
but a large proportion were from Philadelphia : '"

1819-34 .
1835-39 ■
1840-44 ,
1845-49 .
1850-54 -

a3-8

8.17 (1830)
7.39(1840)

7.39 ( 1840)
4 83 ( 1830)
4-83(1850)

Or to put it differently the problem of Negro crime in
Philadelphia from 1830 to 1850 arose from the fact that
less tlian one-fourteenth of the population was responsible
for nearly a third of the serious crimes committed.

These figures however are apt to relate more especially
to a criminal class. A better measure of the normal
criminal tendencies of the group would perhaps be found
in the statistics of Moyamensing, where ordinary cases of
crime and misdemeanor are confined and which contains

» Cf. Chapter IV.

10 Reports Eastern Peuitentiaiy.

Sect. 37.]

History oj Negro Crime.

239

only countj' prisoners.
prison are :

The figures for Moyamensing

™„

ToUl

While

PrisonerB

"ofTltaT'

'SSf

IS

■s

48.19

33.01

\m%\

1846-55

Total

264a

.783

Here we have even a worse showing than before ; in
1896 the Negroes fonning 4 per cent of the population fur-
nish 9 per cent of the arrests, but in 1850 being 5 per cent
■of the population they furnished 32 per cent of the prisoners
received at the county prison. Of course there are some
considerations which must not be overlooked in interpreting
these figures for 1836-55. It must be remembered that
the discrimination against the Negro was much greater
then than now : he was arrested for less cause and given
longer sentences than whites." Great numbers of those
arrested and committed for trial were never brought to trial
so that their guilt could not be proven or disproven ; of
737 Negroes committed for trial in six months of the year
1837, it is stated that only 123 were actually brought to
trial ; of the prisoners in the Eastern Penitentiary-, 1829 to
1846, 14 per cent of the whites were pardoned and 2 per
cent of the Negroes. All these considerations increase the
statistics to the disfavor of the Negro." Nevertheless
making all reasonable allowances it is undoubtedly true
that the crime of Negroes in this period reached its high
tide for this city.

The character of the crimes committed by Negroes
compared with whites is shown by the following table,

" Average length of senteiices for whites in Eastern Penitentiary
during nineteen years, 3 years S taontba 2 days ; for Negroes, 3 years
3 months 14 days. Cf. " Health of Convicts" (pani.), pp. 7, 8.

"/ftW., "Condition of Negroea," 1838, pp. 15-18; "Condition," etc.,
1848, pp. a6, 27.

240

The Negro Criminal. [Chap. Xltt

which covers the offences of 1359 whites and 718 N^^roes
committed to the Eastern Penitentiar\% 1 829-1 846. If wc
take simply petty larceny we find that 48. 8 per cent of the
whites, and 55 per cent of the N^^roes were committed for
this offence."

Kinds of Crime.

Whites.

I I

Offences vs, the person

Ofiences vs. property with violence .
Offences vs. property without violence
Malicions o&nces vs. property . . .
Offences vs. Currency and forgery . .
Miscellaneous

Number.

Per Cent.

Number. : Per CcbL

166

11.4 ;

89

IJ.4

191

. I3-I '

165

22.9

873

59.8

432

6a2

22

. 1-5

14

a.o

167

: "5

7

I.O

40

. 27.0

1 _ _ _

II

1.5

All offences

1359

100

718

100

38. Negro Crime Since the War. — Throughout the
land there has been since the war a large increase in crime^
especially in cities. This phenomenon would seem to
have sufficient cause in the increased complexity of life»
in industrial competition, and the rush of great numbers
to the large cities. It would therefore be natural to sup*
pose that the Negro would also show this increase in
criminality and, as in the case of all lower classes, that he
would show it in greater ^degree. His evolution has, how-
ever, been marked by some peculiarities. For nearly two
decades after emancipation he took little part in many of
the great social movements about him for obvious reasons.
His migration to city life, therefore, and his sharing in the
competition of modem industrial life, came later than was
the case with the mass of his fellow citizens. The Negro
began to rush to the cities in large numbers after 1880,
and consequently the phenomena attendant on that
momentous change of life are tardier in his case. His rate
of criminality has in the last two decades risen rapidly,
and this is a parallel 'phenomenon to the rapid rise of the

" '* Condition of Negroes/* 1849, PP- 28, 29. " Condition," etc, 1838^
pp. 15-18.

Sect, 38.] Negro Crime Since the War. 341

white criminal record two or three decades ago. Moreover,
in the case of the Negro there were special causes for the
prevalence of crime : he had lately been freed from serf-
dom, he was the object of stinging oppression and ridicule,
and paths of advancement open to many were closed to
him. Consequently the class of the shiftless, aimless, idle,
discouraged and disappointed was proportionately larger.

In the city of Philadelphia the increasing number of
bold and daring crimes committed by Negroes in the last
ten years has focused the attention of the city on this sub-
ject There is a widespread feeling that something is
wrong with a race that is responsible for so much crime,
and that strong remedies are called for. One has but to
visit the corridors of the public buildings, when the courts
are in session, to realize the part played in law-breaking by
the Negro population. The various slum centres of the
colored criminal population have lately been the objects of
much philanthropic effort, and the work there has aroused
discussion. Judges on the bench have discussed the mat-
ter. Indeed, to the minds of many, this is the real Negro
problem."

That it is a vast problem a glance at statistics will
show ;'" and since 1880 it has been steadily growing. At
the same time crime is a difficult subject to study, more

11 " The Isrge proportion of colored men who, in April, bad been before
the criminal court, led Jud^ Gordon to make a suggeation when he yea-
terday discharged the jurors for the term. ' It nould certainly seem,' said
the Court. ' that the philanthropic colored people of the conmiuiiity, of
whom there are a great man; excellent and intelligent citizens sincerely
interested in the welfare of their race, ought to see what is radically
wrong that produces this state of affairs and correct it, if possible.
There is nothing in history that indicates that the colored race has a pro-
pensity to acts of violent crime; on the contrary, their tendencies are
moot gentle, and they submit with grace to subordination.' " Philadel-
phia Record, April »9. 1893; Cf, Record, May 10 and ijf Xedger, May 10,
and Times, May i%, 1893.

'* Except as otherwise noted, the statistics of this section are from the
official reports of the poUce department.

242

The Negro CriminaL [Chap. XIIL

difficult to analyze into its sociological elements, and most
difficult to cure or suppress. It is a phenomenon that
stands not alone, but rather as a symptom of countless
wrong social conditions.

The simplest, but crudest, measure of crime is found
in the total arrests for a period of years. The value of
such figures is lessened by the varying efficiency and dili-
gence of the police, by discrimination in the administration
of law, and by unwarranted arrests. And yet the fignres
roughly measure crime. The total arrests and the number
of Negroes is given in the next table for thirty-two years,
with a few omissions :

Arrssts IX Pmz*ADai«PHiA, 1864-96.

Date.

J864 ....

1865 ... •

1869 ....

1870 ....

1873 ....

1874 ....

1875 . . . .

1876 . . . .

1877 . . . .

1879 . . . •

j88o . . . .

1881 . . . .

1882 . . . .

1883 ... .

1884 . . . .

1885 ... .

1886 . . . .
J8S7 . . . .

1888 . . . .

1889 . . . .

1890 . . . .

1891 . . . .

1892 . . . .

1893 ... .

1894 . . . .

1895 ... .

1896 . . . .

Total

Number

Arrested.

34,221
43,226

38,749

31,717
30,400

32,114
34,553

44,220
40,714

44,097
45,129

46, 130

45.295
49,468

51,418

57,951
46,899

42,673
49, 148
53,184
52.944
57,297
61,478

60,347
58,072

ToUl

Negroes

Arrested.

Percentftfe
of Negroes.

3. "4

9.1

2,722

6.3

2,907

7.5

2,070

6.5

1,380

4.5

1.257

3.9

1.539

4.5

2,524

• • •
5.7

2,360

5.8

2,204

4.98

2,327

5.II

2,183

4.73

2,022

4.46

2,134

4.31

2,662

5.II

3.256

• • ■
5.61

2,910

6.20

2,614

6.10

3.167

6.44

3,544

6.66

3,431

6.48

4,078

7. II

4,805

7.81

5,137

8.5

5,302

9.1

We find that the total arrests in the city per annum have
risen from 34,221 in 1864 to 61,478 in 1894, an increase of

Sect. 38.] Negro Crime Since the War.

243

80 per cent in crime, parallel to an increase of 85 per cent
in population. The Negroes arrested have increased from
3114 in 1864 to 4805 in 1894, an increase of 54 per cent in
crime, parallel to an increase of 77 per cent in the Negro
population of the city. So, too, the percentage of Negroes
in the total arrests is less in 1894 than in 1864. If, how-
ever, we follow the years between these two dates we see
an important development: 1864 was the date bounding
the ante-bellum period of crime; thereafter the proportion of
Negro arrests fell steadily until, in 1874, the Negroes came
as nearly as ever furnishing their normal quota of
arrests, 3.9 per cent from 3.28 per cent (1870) of the popu-
lation. Then slowly there came a change. With the
Centennial Exposition in 1876 came a stream of immi-
grants, and once started the stream increased in speed by
its own momentum. With this immigration the propor-
tion of Negro arrests arose rapidly at first as a result of the
exposition ; falling off a little iti the early eighties, but with
1885 rising again steadily and quickly to over 6 per cent
in 1888, 6.4 per cent in 1890, 7 per cent in 1893, 8.5 per
cent in 1895, 9 per cent in 1896. This is, as has been said
before, but a rough iudication of the amount of crime for
which the Negro is responsible ; it must not be relied on
too closely, for the number of arrests cannot in any city
accurately measure wrongdoing save in a very general way;
probably increased efficiency in the police force since 1864
has had large effect ; and yet we can draw the legitimate
conclusion here that Negro crime in the city is far less,
according to population, than before the war ; that after the
war it decreased until the middle of the seventies and then,
coincident with the beginning of the new Negro immigra-
tion to cities," it has risen pretty steadily.

These same phenomena can be partially verified by sta-
tistics of Moyamensing prison. If we take the tried and

" Cf. Chapters IV and VII.

«44

77^ Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIIL

untried prisoners committed to this county prison from
1876 to 1895 we find the same gradual increase of crime :

M0YAMBN8XNO Prison.
Both THed and Untried Prisoners.

Date.

1876 ...

1877 ...

1878 ...

1879 ...

1880 ...

1881 . . .

1882 ...

1883 .. .

1884 ... .

1885 ... ,

1886 ...

1887 ... .

1888 .. .

1889 . . .

1890 ...

1891 ...

1892 . . . ,

1893 . .

1894 .. .

1895 •. -

Total

1876-1885
1886-1895

Totel

Receptions

Negroes.

21,736
22,666

1.530
1.460

22,147

1.356

20,736

1. 136

22,487

i.c^

22,478

1,168

24.176

1,274

23.245

I.I75

25.081

1,218

24,725

1.427

27,286

1,708

28.964

1,724

21,399
18,476

llip

20,582

1,611

22.745

1.723

22,460

1,900

25.209

2,254

25,777

2,452

22,584

2.317

464,959

31,180

229,477

12,774

235,482

18.406

7.8

6-44

6.X9

5.48
4-58
5.19
5.27

4.86

5.77
6.36

5.97

6.54
7.24

7.83
7.57

8.46

a86

9.51
ia26

6.70

5.57
7.81

If we compare in this table the period 1876-85 with that
of 1886-95 w^ fi^^ ^^^ ^^ proportion of Negro criminals
in the first period was 5.6 per cent, in the second 7.8 per
cent

The statistics of inmates of the House of Correction^
where mild cases and juveniles are sent, for the last few years
go to tell the same tale :

Year.

189I
1892

1893
1894

1895

Total
Receptions

Ncgfrocs.

5907
5297

6579
7548

274
254

1055
672

ofNci^roes

4.6

4.8

• •

16.0
8.9

Sect 38.] Negro Crime Sime the War. 245

Gathering up the statistics presented let us make a
rough diagram of some of the results. First let us scan
the record of the Negro in serious crime, such as entails
incarceration in the Eastern Penitentiary. In these figures
the Philadelphia convicts are not separated from those in
the eastern counties of the state prior to 1885. A large
proportion of the prisoners however are from Philadelphia ;
perhaps the net result of the error is somewhat to reduce the
apparent proportion of Negroes in the earlier years.
Taking then the proportion of Negro prisoners received to
total receptions since the founding of the Penitentiary we
have this diagram :

Proportion op Nbgroks to Total CopmcTs Received at thh
Eastern Penitentiaby, 1819-1895.

A

^m

J

\

^H

\

■

^ / 1

lb

^ J m

^^-^^^^^ m

—

—

^ m

■

1630 lUG 1840 IS'tS IS50 1855 1S60 IS«5 1870 IS75 1880 1885.1890 1695' ^^H

PAOPOItTiaH Of NEGKOTaTOTAk^CftlMlNAU. ^^^H
"•' ■ " ' „.POMl.AriOtt OF PHILADELPHIA. ^^^^H

The general rate of criminality may be graphically repre- ^^|
jented from the proportion of Negroes in the county prison, ^^^

246

TTie Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.

although changes in the J policy of the courts make the
validity of this somewhat uncertain :

«20

1830

"1640 ilSo i860 1870 ielo" 1600 OiDO

PROPORTION OF NEGROES IN M0YAMENSIN6 PRISON TO TOTAL PfflSONOIS

--^^ ». .. TOTAL POPULATION OF CITY
PROPORTION ETC. ESTIMATED FROM ARRESTS.

It thus seems certain*^ that general criminality as
represented by commitments to the county prison has
decreased markedly since 1840, and that its rapid increase
since 1880 leaves it still far behind the decade 1830 to 1840.
Serious crime as represented by commitments to the peni-
tentiary shows a similar decrease but one not so marked
indicating the presence of a pretty distinct criminal class.

>' The chief element of uncertainty lies in the varying policy of the
courts, as for instance, in the proportion of prisoners sent to different
places of detention, the severity of sentence, etc. Only the general
conclusions are insisted on here.

Sect. 38.] Negro Crime Since the War.

247

COITVICTS COMiaTTBD TO THS BaSTSRN PSITITBNTIARY.

Years.

1835-39

1855-59
1860-64

1865-69

1870-74

1875-79
1880-84

1885-89*
I890-95*

Total Com-

mitments.

Negroes.

878

356

941

126

909

129

1474

179

129I

174

2347

275

2282

308

1583

223

1418

318

Percentage
of Negroes.

40.5
13.4
14.2

12. X

13.4
II.7

13.5
14.09

22.43

*Only convicts from Philadelphia; the statistics for the year 1891 are not available
and are omitted.

The record of arrests per looo of Negro population
1864 to 1896 seems to confirm these conclusions for that
period:

W)NffM

BSPksM

lOOtaiM

78 ^tM
68

aOhiM

SSPbiM

W5

\

\

^^

■V

4

/

L

119.

50

1669 1670 1875 1880 1885 1890

NEGRO ARRESTS TO EVERY 1000 OF NEGRO POPULATION.

WHITE - " 1000 - WHITE

1895

The increase in crime between 1890 and 1895 is not
without pretty adequate explanation in the large Negro

248

The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIII.

immigration cityward and especially in " the terrible
business depression of 1S93 " to which the police bureau
attributes the increase of arrests. The effect of this would
naturally be greater among the economic substrata.

This brings us to the question, Who are the Negro
criminals and what crimes do they commit? To obtain
an answer to this query let us make a special study of a
typical group of criminals.

39. A Special Study in Crime." — During ten years
previous to and including 1895, there were committed to
the Eastern Penitentiary, the following prisoners from the
city of Philadelphia :

Dm*,

ToUl CoD-

Ne«™..

per Cent of
N.gro«.

347
269
»7i

319
38s

40
45
53
39
46
63

42

74
69

70

12.78

19.71
»313

30.97
34-56

I'ssi :::■:;::::'■■■: :

14.9

Jssa ;::::::::::::;: :

is^* ::::::::;:;::: :

isii :.:::::.;

1893

'89s

Total

3.«>'

541

i8.a average.

Tillable. Thniughiiii

Let ns now take the 541 Negroes who have been the
perpetrators of the serious crimes charged to their race
during the last ten years and see what we may learn.
These are all criminals convicted after trial for periods

"For the collection of the material here compiled, lam indebted to
Mr. David N. Fell, Jr. , a student of the Senior Class, Wharton School,
University of Pennsylvania, in the year 'g6-'97. As before noted the
figures in this Section refer to the number of prisoners received at the
Eastern Penitentiarj, and not to the total prison population at any par-
dciilar time.

Sect. 39.]

A Special Study in Crime.

249

varying from six months to forty years. It seems plain in
the first place that the 4 per cent of the population of
Philadelphia having Negro blood furnished from 1885 to
1889, 14 per cent of the serious crimes, and from i8go to
1895, 22yi per cent. This of course assumes that the
convicts in the penitentiary represent with a fair degree of
accuracy the crime committed. The assumption is not
wholly true ; in convictions by human courts the rich
always are favored somewhat at the expense of the poor,
the upper classes at the expense of the unfortunate
classes, and whites at the expense of Negroes. We know
for instance that certain crimes are not punished in Phila-
delphia because the public opinion is lenient, as for
instance embezzlement, forgery, and certain sorts of
stealing; on the other hand a commercial community
is apt to punish with severity petty thieving, breaches of
the peace, and personal assault or burglary. It happens,
too, that the prevailing weakness of ex-slaves brought up
in the communal life of the slave plantation, without
acquaintanceship with the institution of private property,
is to commit the very crimes which a great centre of
commerce like Philadelphia especially abhors. We must
add to this the influences of social position and connections
in procuring whites pardons or lighter sentences. It has
been charged by some Negroes that color prejudice plays
some part, but there is no tangible proof of this, save
perhaps that there is apt to be a certain presumption of
guilt when a Negro is accused, on the part of police, public
and judge." All these considerations modify somewhat
our judgment of the moral status of the mass of Negroes.
And yet, with all allowances, there remains avast problem
of crime,

The chief crimes for which these prisoners were con-
victed were :

" Witness the case of Marion StuTvesant accused of tbe murder of the
librarian, Wilson, in 1S97.

The Negro Criminal [Chap. XUI.

Theft

Seriona aasaults on penons .
Robber}' and burglary . . .

Rape

Other aexnal crimes . . . .

Homicide

All oUier Crimea

Following these crimes from year to year we have :

Crime.

t

i

1

t

1

1

1
7

\

1

1

1

1

Theft, etc

Robbeiy and bnigloiy . . .

SeriouB aasaulta

Homicide

Sexual crimes

All others

ao
6

8
9

V

'1

II

3
7

.3
5

i;

A

'4
5
9
5
4

39

S

4

3^
M
19

5

23

3

8

a:

11
'11

47
11

Total

4.

45

53

ifi

47

64

A3

73

67

7.

541

The course of the total serious crime for this period may
be illustrated by this diagram:

Drawing a similar ^diagram for the different sorts of
crime we have : ,

Sect 39.] A special Study in Crime.

/

\

\

A

\

/y

—w

\,

y

'/?-

\

10-

.^'^

\

.--'■

'

//

\

m-

^

.--•'

^

.->•

X

— «=

.......

'-'.■.Z

^'.l;::

In ten years convictions to the penitentiary for theft
have somewliat increased, robbery, burglary and assault
have considerably increased, homicide has remained about
the same, and sexual crimes havb decreased. Detailed
statistics are given in the following table :
Criubs of 541 Convicts in Eastbkn PsNirsitnAKy, 18S5-1895.

Crt.,..

1

1

1

3
7

i

33

3
5

;
4

I

•

i
—

S
a

I

I

i

6
5

39
4
S

3

■

1

6

13

27
5
?

3

;
4

1

6
11

1
■

9
10

1
i

I

1

Assault and battery

A^ravated assault and battery ■ ■

3
3
4

9

Manslaughter

1

Assault to murder

Assault to steal

Larceny

Robbery

■

1

3
5

1
6

38
6

E^&^ent :::::;:::

'j

Rape

Incest

KeepinR bawdy house

Enticing female child

;■

False firelence

Mayhem^. . . ."

Indecent exposure

■.

Toul ... ....

40

45

53

40

47

64

73

67

70

252 The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIIL

The total crime can be classified also in this way :

Crimes against property 328 60.63 P^' cent.

" •* persons 157 29.02 **

'• " persons and property . 8 1.48 "

Sexual crimes 4S 8.87 "

541 loa percent.

Let us now turn from the crime to the criminals. 497 of
them (91.87 per cent) were males and 44 (8.13 per cent)
were females. 296 (5471 per cent) were single, 208 (34.45
per cent) were married, and 37 (6.84 per cent) were widowed.
In age they were divided as follows :

Age.

15-19 . . .

20-24 . . .

25-29 . . .

30-39 • • •

40-49 . . .

50-59 • • .
60 and over

Total .

56. 19 J
24.03'
\% 34.08
.91 J
loa

The mass of criminals are, it is easy to see, young single
men under thirty. Detailed statistics of sex and age and
conjugal condition are given in the next tables.

Agk and Sex op Convicts in Eastern Penitentiary.

Negroes, 1885-1895.

Ages.

15-19 . .

20-24 . .

25-29 . .
30-34 . .

35-39 . .

40-44 . .

45-49 . .

50-59 • .
60 and over

Total

Males.

Females.

53

5

153

17

119

13

80

5

45

2

21

I

II

I

3

•

15

•

497

44

ToUl.

58
170

%

47
22

12

3
IS

541

Sect 39.] A special Study in Crime.

253

CONJXX^AX, COimmON op COKVICtS IN BAST8RN PEinTSZCTIARY.

Males.

Females.

Age.

Single.

BCarried.

Widowed

Single.

Married.

Widowed.

15-19 ....

48

5

0

4

I

0

90-24 • •

X17

35

0

7

9

Z

«5-29 .

59

54

8

3

zo

0

30-34 . .

30

38

6

0

4

I

35-39 • -

IZ

39

4

0

0

2

40-49 . •

8

16

8

0

2

0

50-59 . •

3

3

4

0

0

0

60 and over .

0

2

3

0

0

0

The convicts were bom in the following States:

Philadelphia 114

Other parts of Pennsylvania 48

New Jersey 21

Maryland • 99

Virginia 77

Delaware 37

District of Columbia 55

North Carolina 19

New York iz

South Carolina 9

Georgia 8

Other parts of the North 13

*• " " South 22

The West 13

Foreign Countries 15

541

Altogether 21 per cent were natives of Philadelphia;
217 were bom in the North, and 309, or 57 per cent, were
bom in the South. Two-thirds of the Negroes of the city,
judging from the Seventh Ward, were born outside the
city, and this part furnishes 79 per cent of the serious
crime. 54 per cent were bom in the South and this part
furnishes 57 per cent of the crime, or more, since many
giving their birthplace as in the North were really born in
the South.

The total illiteracy of this group reaches 26 per cent or
adding in those who can read and write imperfectly, 34 per
cent compared with 18 per cent for the Negroes of the

^54

The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIIL

city in 1890. In other words the illiterate fifth of the
Negro population furnished a third of the worst criminals.

Ii«i«iT9RACY OP Convicts in thk Eastern Statb Pbnitbntiaky.

Year.

1885 .

1886 .

1887 .

1888 .

1889 .

1890 .

1892 .

1893 .

1894 .

1895 .

• • •

Total

Read and Write.

Number. Per Cent.

20

25

27

25
26

43
33
55
49
55

358

50.0

55.55

50.94
64.10

56.52
68.25

78.57

74.32
71.01

78.57

66.17

Read and Write
Imperfectly.

Number. Per Cent.

6

4

13
6

10

3
o

o

o

o

15.0

8.88

24.53

15.38

21.74

4.76

o

o

o

o

42

7.76

TotaUy IlUtexmte.

Number. Per Cent.

14
16

ID

X7

9

19
20

15

141

35-0

35-55

24.53

20.51

ai.74

26.98

21.43

25.68

28.99
21.43

26.06

Naturally as the general intelligence of a community
increases the general intelligence of its criminals increases,
though seldom in the same proportion, showing that some
crime may justly be attributed to pure ignorance. The
number of criminals able to read and write has increased
from 50 per cent in 1885 to 79 per cent in 1895. The
number of colored men from fifteen to thirty who can
read and write was about 90 per cent in the Seventh Ward
in 1896. This shows how little increased intelligence
alone avails to stop crime in the face of other powerful
forces. It would of course be illogical to connect these
phenomena directly as cause and effect and make Negro
crime the result of Negro education — in that case we
should find it difiicult to defend the public schools in most
modem lands. Crime comes either in spite of intelligence
or as a result of misdirected intelligence under severe
economic and moral strain. Thus we find here, as is
apparently true in France, Italy and Germany, increasing
crime and decreasing illiteracy as concurrent phenomena
rather than as cause and effect. However the rapid
increase of intelligence in Negro convicts does point to
some grave social changes : first, a large number of young

Sect 39.] A Special Study in Crime.

255

Negroes are in such environment that they find it easier to
be rogues than honest men ; secondly, there is evidence of
the rise of more intelligent and therefore more dangerous
crime from a trained criminal class, quite different from
the thoughtless, ignorant crime of the mass of Negroes.

A separation of criminals according to sex and age and
the kind of crime is of interest. (See p. 256 for males.)

Crimikals in Eastern Statb Pbnitsntiary.— Fkmai,ks, by Aca

AND CRIMB.

Ages.

15-19
20-24

25-29
30-34

35-39
40-44
45-49

crimes.

3

5
10

II

3
I

I

I

a .

IS

I-

IJ

<

3
I

o

s

■

•s

a

d V ai

o

H

IS

I

The women are nearly all committed for stealing and
fighting. They are generally prostitutes from the worst
slums. The boys of fifteen to nineteen are sentenced
largely for petty thieving :

Whole number of male convicts, 15-19 years of age . .

Convicted for larceny 27

assault and fighting 8

sexual crimes 5

burglary 5

** other crimes 8

53

ti

II

II

II

II

II

i(

— 53

Making a similar table for two other age periods we have :

Men, 25-39 Yean.

Larceny 45

Assault 33

Burglary and robbery .... 22

Sexual crimes 13

Homicide 4

Other crimes 3

Men, ao-24 Years.

Larceny 62

Assault 41

Burglary and robbery .... 30

Sexual crimes 6

Other crimes 14

153

119

2S^

The N^ro CrimiHaL [Chap. XUL

1

■nomoqv

"

-l»™i

-

-wamliawuoipBi

■" •

"

"

'»noq^p..Q|

M..M

•msq.<.K

"

"

"

"

-«a3ia« »^«

" ■ ■"

n

-i.«(cl.no3

"

■«pWH

m~ ««. .

^

,0*8.oa

" . . -"

"'

""

-sd»)I

"■"*

su

■sii»H<.Hin»«V

«- Mfl-d-n- .

^

.(BK.P03

-.^M« ■ ■"'^

■s

■£ia^Ha-s

ft

-^.,^■.8

a

'maoniftwev

^SSir"-""-

•£

UnwETV pJliasiMv

S

■.Bod»AP>I«3n03

«

■I«igoninB«V

"

spooo

""""■■•

'"

-/MiiaapaBiiOBAiV

""*"" ■ • ■ ■

■iuaan

fr^Sffl?—"-

&

i

iiiiiiiil

1

Sect. 39.] A Special Study in Crime. 257

There is here revealed no especial peculiarity: stealing
and fighting are ever the besetting sins of half-developed
races.

It would be very instructive to know how many of the
541 criminals had been in the hands of the law before.
This is however very diflScult to ascertain correctly since
in many, if not the majority of cases, the word of the
prisoner must be taken. Even these methods however
reveal the startling fact that only 315 or 58 per cent of
these 541 convicts are reported as being incarcerated for
the first time. 226 or 42 per cent can be classed as
habitual criminals, who have been convicted as follows :

Three time*

Pour

Five

Six

Seven

Nine

Ten

Eleven

Twelve

105

46.5 per cent.

60

26.5

24

II.O

19

8.0

9

4.0

4

z.8

I "

I

- 2.2

ti

2

I -*

226

100 per

cent.

When we realize that probably a large number of the
other convicts are on their second or third term we begin
to get an idea of the real Negro criminal class.'*

^*The following Negroes were measured by the Bertillon system in
Philadelphia during the last three years:

1893 64 (Whites loi).

1894 66 (Whites 248).

1895 56 (Whites 267).

1896 75 (Whites 347).

The arrests by detectives for five years are given on the follovring
page (258).

17

258

The Negro Criminal. [Chap. XIH.

A few other facts are of interest: if we tabulate crime
according to the illiteracy of its perpetrators, we have :

Larceny 31 per cent of illiteracy.

Assault, burglary and homicide . . 54
Sexual crimes 55

IC

<(

Ct

IC

Or in other words, the more serious and revolting^ the
crime the larger part does ignorance play as a cause. If
we separate prisoners convicted for the above crimes
according to length of sentence, we have :

Under five years 464 90.5 per cent.

Five and under ten years 40 8.0

Ten years and over 9 z.5

<<

<<

513

Of the 49 sentenced for 5 years and over, 18 or 37 per

Crimes op Nbgrobs Arrbstbd by Dbtbctivbs, 1878-1892.

Crimes.

Fugitives from justice .

Larceny

Pickpocket

Burglary

Professional thief . . .

Sodomy

Misdemeanor

Absconding

Assault to kill

Stabbing

False pretense

Forgery

Receivmg stolen goods .

Murder

Abortion

Breach of peace ....

Abandonment

Oamblinp^ house ....
Fornication and adultery

Infanticide

House robbery

Lottery

Embezzlement

Perjurp^

Seduction

BawHv house

1887.

10

7
I

I

I
3

I
I

Z888.

10

4

4

4

2

I
I
8
I
I

• • •

X889.

2

17

I

2

2

• • •

8
I

1890.

4
19

3
I

2

I

5

189X.

4
18

2
2

3

2

I

189a.

4i

13

4
3

Sect, 4a] Some Cases of Crime. 259

cent were illiterate ; of those sentenced for less than 5
years 160 or 35 per cent were illiterate.

From this study we may conclude that young men are
the perpetrators of the serious crime among Negroes ; that
this crime consists mainly of stealing and assault ; that
ignorance, and immigration to the temptations of city life, ■
are responsible for much of this crime but not for all; that
deep social causes underlie this prevalence of crime and
they have so worked as to form among Negroes since 1864
a distinct class of habitual criminals ; that to this criminal
class and not to the great mass of Negroes the bulk of the
serious crime perpetrated by this race should be charged,

40. Some Cases of Crime. — It is difficult while studying
crime in the abstract to realize just what the actual crimes
committed are, and under what circumstances they take
place. A few typical cases of the crimes of Negroes may
serve to give a more vivid idea than the abstract statistics
give. Most of these cases are quoted from the daily news-
papers.

First let us take a couple of cases of larceny:

Edward Ashbridge, a colored boj, pleaded guilty to tile larcenj' of a
quart of milk, the property of George Abbott. The boy's moiher said
he was incorrigible, and be was committed to tbe House of Refuge.

William Dnimgoole, colored, aged t!i.irty-one years, of Lawrenceville,
Vs., was shot in the hack and probably fatally wounded late yesterday
afternoon by William H. McCalley, a detective, employed in the store of
John Wanamaker, Thirteenth and Chestnut streets. Dnimgoole, it is
alleged, stole a pair of shoes from the store, and was followed by
McCalley to the corner of Tbineenlh and Chestnut streets, where he
placed him under arrest. Dramgoole broke away from tbe detective's
grasp, and running down Thirteenth street turned into Drury
street, a small thoroughfare above Sansom street. McCalley started in
pursuit, calling upon him to stop, but tlie fugitive darted into an alley-
way, and when his pursuer came up within a few yards of him, he
threatened to "do him up" if he followed him any further. McCalley
drew his revolver from bis pocket, and as Drumgoole again broke into a
run he pointed the weapon at bis legs and Qred. Drumgoole fell to the
ground, and when McCalley came up to him he was unable to rise.
McCalley saw at a glance that, instead of wounding him in the leg, as he
had intended, the bullet had lodged in the man's back. He hurriedly

The Negro CrimmaL [Chap. XIII.

■ought Baaistance, and had the wounded man talcea to the Jefferaon
Hoapital. McCalley then eurreudered bimiclf to Reserve Policenun
Powell, and wa« taken to the Central Station,

Fighting and quarreling among neighbors and associates

is common in the slum districts :

Etta Jones, colored, aged twenty-one years, residing on Hirat sticet,
■trave Fifth, was stabbed near her home last night, it is alleged, by Lottie
Lee, also colored, ai Second and Race streets. The other woman wu
taken to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where ber injuries were found to
consist of several cuts on the left shoulder and side, none of which are
dangerous. Her assailant was arrested later by Policeman Dean and
locked up in the Third and Uuion streets station house. The assaalt u
•aid by the police to have been the outcome of an old grudge.

Joseph Cole, colored, aged twenty-four years, residing in Gillia' alley,
wu dangerously slabbed shortly before midnight on Saturday, as ia
alleged, by Abraham Wheeler, at the latter's house, on Hirst street. Cole
was taken to the Pennsylvania Hospital, where it was found the knife
had penetrated to within a short distance of the right lung. Wheeler Sed
(rom the house after the cutting and eluded arrest until yesterday after-
noon, when he was captured by Policeman Mitchell, near Fifth and
Lombard streets. When brought to the station house Wheeler denied
having cut Cole, but acknowledged having struck him because he was
insulting his wife. He was locked up, however, to await the result of

Sometimes servants are caught pilfering:

Theodore Grant, colored, residing on Burton street, at
pledge a woman's silk dress for {15 at McFillen's, Seven
Market streets, several days ago. The pawnbroker refused, under b{»
rule, to take women's raiment from a man, and told Grant to bring the
owner. Grant went away and returned with Ella Jones, a young colored
woman, who consented to take (7 for the dress. Since that time C. F.
Robertson, residing at Sixtieth and Spruce streets, made complaint to the
police of the loss of the dress, and as the result of an investigation made
by Special Policemen Gallagher and Bwing, Grant and Ella Jones were
arrested yesterday charged with the larceny of the silk dress, which was
recovered. Grant admitted to the special policemen that Ella bad given
him the dress to pavm, but asserted that be had nothing to do with the
matter except to offer to pledge the article. At a hearing before Magi»
trate Jennon, at the City Hall, jeaterday, Mr. Robertson stated that the
girl had made a statement to him, saying that Grant had induced her to
take the dress. He said the girl had been perfectly trustworthy up to the
time of her acquaintance with Grant, and bad been left in full charge of
the house, and that nothing was ever mined. He Mid he also eapcctcd

-4

Sect 40,] Some Cases 0/ Crime. 361

to sbow that Grant had beeti concerned in two or three robberies. Ella
Jones, a neatly dressed girl, who said ah,e came from Maryland, stated to
the magistrate that Grant had been coming to see her for about a year
past. She said be had been importuning her to take something and let
him pawntt, so that he could raise some n^oney, until she finally consented.
Alter she started to go to her mistress' room to get the dress her heart
failed and she turued back, but he persuaded her, telling her that Mrs.
Robertson would not miss it, and then she took tb« dress. Mr. Robertson
informed the magistrate, and Ella assented to the statement, that Grant
had taken every cent of her earnings from her for weeks past and had also
pawned all of her clothing, so that at the present time she was pennilesa
and bad not a single garment except what she wore. The magistrate said
it was undoubtedly a hard case, but be would have to hold Grant and Ella
on the charge of larceny, and Grant under additional bail for a further
hearing next Thursday on the charges referred to by Mr. RobertsoD. The
police aay that Grant, who is a smooth-faced, cross-eyed mulatto, is ■
" crap fieod," and that whatever money be has managed to obtain by
threats and cajolery from hisvictim.BHa Jones, has gone into the pocket*
of the small-fry gamblers.

There is growing evidence of the appearance of a set
of thieves of intelligence and cunning : sneak thieves,
confidence-men, pickpockets, an<i "sharpers." Some typi-
cal cases follow :

Marion Shields and Alice Hoffman, both colored and residing on
Fitzwaler street, above Twelfth, had a further hearing yesterday t»efore
Magistrate South, at the City Hall, and were held for trial on the charge
of pilfering wearing apparel, money, vases, umbrellas, surgical instru-
ments, and other portable property from physicians' offices and house*,
where they had made visits, under the pretence of desiring to hold
consultations with the doctors. The Magistrate said there were ten
cases against Marion Shields individually on which she would be placed
under fisoo bail, and six cases against both women ou which the bail
would be {1500. For her frankness, Marion Shields was given the tighter
sentence, one year in the Eastern Penitentiary, and Alice Hoffman wa*
sentenced to eighteen months in the same institution.

Two daring thieves yesterday entered the jewelry store of Altiert
Baudschopfs', 468,^ North Eighth street, and secured a number of
articles of jewelry from under the very eyes of the proprietor. They
had lell the store and proceeded leisurely down the street iiefore the
jeweller discovered his loss, with the result that before an alarm could be
given the thieves had traveled a considerable distance. One of the meo
was captured after a long chase, but the other's whereabouts is unknown.
About half-past one o'clock two colored men entered the store and upon
their request were shown trays of Tarious articles. One of the men
engaged the proprietor in conversation while the other continued to

262 The Negro Criminal. [Cliap. XIII.

inspect the jewelry. They said they did not intend buying then and
would call again and opening Ibe door walked hurriedly down the street.
Mr. Baudschopfs says the men got away with a goId-Glled watch cose, a
silver watch, three gold lockets, each set with a small diamond ~ two
dozen ladies' gold rings, not jewelled; a gold scarf pin and a man's gold
watdl.

A crime for which Negroes of a certain class have
become notorious is that of snatcliiiig pocketbooks on the
streets :

While passing down Eleventh street, near Mount Vernon, shortly afier
nine o'clock, Mrs. K. Nichnn, of 1947 Wuruock street, was approached
from behind by a Negro, who snatched a pockelbook containing Ji from
ber hand and ran down a small thoroughfare towards Tenth street. Very
few pedestrians were upon the street at the time, but two men, who were
attracted by the woman's scream, started in pursuit of the thief. The
latter had too much of a start, however, and escaped,

William Williams, colored, of Dayton, O.. was locked up iu the Cen-
tral Station yesterday, by Reserve Policeman A Jones, on the charge of
snatching a pocketl>ook from the hands of Mrs. Mary Tevis, of 141
MiEQin street. The theft occurred at Eighth and Market streets. After
securing the pocketbook Williams ran until he reached the old oflice of
the city solicitor, at Sixth and Locust streets. He was followed by
Reserve Jones, who captured him in the cellar of the building. Williams
was taken to Eighth and Sansom streets to await the arrival of the patrol
wagon, and while getting into the vehicle the pocketbook dropped from
out of his trousers.

Detectives Boud and O'Lcary and Special Policeman Duffy, of the
Eighth and Lombard streets station, arrested last night Sylvester Archer,
of FifUi street, below Lombard, William Wbittington, alias " Pig^y," of
Florida street, and William Carter, of South Fifteenth street, all colored
and about twenty-one years of age, on the charge of assault upon and
robbery of Mrs. Harrington Fitzgerahl, wife of the editor of the Evening
Item. The assault occurred on Monday at noon. As Mrs. Fitzgerald
was passing Thirteenth and Spruce streets, a purse which she carried in
her hand, and which contained Jio, was snatched from her by one of
three colored men. They took advantage of the crowd to strike her after
the robbery had been perpetrated and escaped before her outcry was
heard. When the men were brought to the Central Station last night
and questioned by Captain of Detectives Miller, Whittiugton, it is said,
confessed complicity in the crime. He told the captain that they had
been following a baud up Thirteenth street, and as they reached Spruce
street Carter said, "There's a pocketbook; I'm going to get it," "All
right; get it," came the response. Carter ran up to Mrs. Fitzgerald and
and in a moment shouted, " I've got it ! " Then he and Archer ran up
Thirteenth street. Each man has a criminal record, and the picture of

Sect, 40.] Some Cases 0/ Crime. 263

each is in the Rogaes' Gallery. Carter has just completed a six months*
sentence forpane-anatcbinK, while Willianis and Archer have each served
time for larceny.

So frequent have these crimes become that sometimes
Negroes are wrongfully suspected; whoever suatches a

pocketbook on a dark night is supposed to be black.

A favorite method of stealing is to waylay and rob the
frequenters of bawdy houses ; very little of this sort of
crime, naturally, is reported. Here are some cases of such
"badger thieves," as they are called :

William Lee, colored, and Kate Hughes, a white woman, were con-
victed of robbing Vincenzo Monacello of f lo. Lee was sentenced to three
years and three months in the Eastern Penitentiary and his accomplice
to tliree years in the county prison. Mary Roach, jointly indicted with
them, was acquitted. Monacello testified that, while walking along
Christian street, between Eighth and Ninth streets, on Thursday night
of last week, he was accosted by Mary Roach and accompanied her t»
her home on Esses street. Here he met Lee and Kate Hughes and
they all drank cousiderable beer. Later in the night he started with
Kate Huglies, at her suggestion, to a house further up the street While
on their way the prosecutor said he was struck in the face with a brick
by Lee, after which the money was stolen from him. Mary Roach took
the stand against the other two defendants and the case against her wa*

Ella Jones, colored, claiming to be from Baltimore, was arrested yes-
terday by Policeman Dean on the charge of the larceny of a $10 bill from
Joseph Gosch, a Pole, who came from Pittsburg on Sunday, and claims
that while be was looking for lodging he was taken to the woman's house
and robbed.

From pocketbook snatching to highway robbery is but
a step :

Before Judge Yerkes, in Court No. 1, Samuel Buckner, a young colored
man, was convicted of robbing George C. Goddard of a gold watch and
chain and a pocketbook containing ^3. He was sentenced to ten years
in the Eastern Penitentiary. Mr. Goddard, with his bead swathed in
bandages, was called to the stand. He said that a few minutes past mid-
night of November 18 he was returuiug to his home, No. tiw Spruce
street, after a visit. He placed his hand in his pocket, drew out his key
and was about to mount the steps when a dark form appeared from Dean
street, a small, poorly. lighted thoroughfare, next door but one to his
t.-,-- anil at the same instant he was struck a violent blow full in the

264

Tlie Negro Criminal.

[Chap. XIII.

Aicewitb a brick. He sanlcjto tbe pavement uncouscioos. When be
recovered liis senses he was in the Peiinavlvsnia Hospital. There wss >
long, deep cut on his right cheek, another across the forehead, both eyes
were blackened and swoltea, and his nose was also bruised. At the same
time he discovered the loss of hia pocketbook and jewelry. Judge Yerkes
reviewed the lactsorthe case, and in imposing sentence said: " Wheiiyoa
committed this oiTence you were absolutely indifferent as to the conse-
quences of your cowardly attack. You rifled this man's person of all hii
valuables and left bitn lying unconscious on the pavement, an^ for augbt
you knew he might have been dead. It is necessary not only th«t society
be protected &om the depredations of such fiends ns you, but also that an
example be made of such ruIHans. The sentence of the Court is that yon
undergo an imprisonment of ten years at labor in the Eastern Peniten-
tiary, and stand committed until this sentence shall be complied with."
The official reconi shows that Buckner was arrested on December 11.
1893, by policeman Logan, of the Lombard street station, on Ihe charge
of the larceny of a purse frota Mrs. Caroline Lodge, of 7416 North
Pineenth street, on the street, and was sentenced December 14, 1893, by
Judge Biddle, to one year's imprisonment.

Cases of aggravated assaults, for various reasons, are
frequent :

Rube Warren, colored, thirty years, of Foulkrod and Cedar streets,
was held in fiooo bonds, by Magistrate Bisenbtown, for au alleged aggra-
vated assault and battery on Policeman Haug, of the Ftunkford sta-
tion, during a dog light about a month ago. The policeman attempted to
stop the fight when Warren, it is charged, assisted by several compan-
ions, assaulted him, broke his club and took awsy his revolver. Daring
the free fight that followed, in which other policemen took part, Warren
eseajjed and went to Baltimore. There, it is said, he was sent to prison
for thirty days. As soon as be mas released he went back to Frankford,
where he was arrested on Saturday night.

William Braxton, colored, aged twenty-eight years, of Irving street,
above Thirty-seventh, was yesterday held in jSoo bail for a further hear-
ing, charged with having committed au aggravated assault on William
Keebler, of South Thirtieth street. The assanit occurred about three
o'clock yesterday morning ou living street, near Thirty-seventh, where
the colored folks of the neighborhood were having a party. Keebler and
two friends, none of whom were colored, forceil their company on the
invited guests, it is said, and a fi.ght ensued. Keebler was found a short
time afterward lying in the snow with one eye almost gouged out. He
was conveyed to the University Hospital and the police of the Woodland
avenue station, under Acting Sergeant Ward, upon being notified of the
affair, hurried to the Irving street house and arrested twenty of the guests
just in the height of their merrymaking. Alt of them, however, were
discharged at the hearing, upon Braxton's being recognized as the

I

4

Sect. 40.]

Some Cases oj Crime.

265

who struck Ecebler. The physician at tlie IiospiUl says that the injured
maa will very likely lose the siglit of one eye.

Gambling goes on almost openly iu the slum sections
and occasions, perhaps, more quarreling and crime than
any other single cause. Reporters declared iu 1897 that —

" Policy playing is rampant in Philadelphia. Under the very noses of
the police officials and, it is safe to iay, with the knowledge of some of
them, policy shops are conducted openly and with amazing audacity.
They are doing a. ' land office ' business. Hundreds of poor people every
day place upon the iufatuating lottery money that had better be spent for
food and clothing. They actually deny themselves the necessaries of life
to gamble away their meagre income with small chance of getting any
return. Superintendent of Police Linden, discussing the general subject
of policy playing with a Ledger reporter, said: 'There are not words
enough in the dictionary to express my feelings upon this matter. I
regard policy as the worst evil in a large city among the poor people.
There are several reasons for this. One is that women and children may
play. Another ia that players may put a few cents on the lottery. Policy
may do more barm than all the saloons and "speak easies " in the city.
The price of a drink of liquor is five or ten cents and the cost of a
" growler " ia ten cents, but a man or a woman can buy two cents' worth
of policy. The effect of this is obvious. Persons who have not the price
of a drink may gamble away the few pennies they do possess in a policy
shop. Then the drain is constant. Policy "fiends" playtwlce aday, risk-
ing from two ceuts to a dollar upon the chance. They become so infatu-
ated with the play that they will spend their last cent upon it in the hope
of making a "bit." Many children go hungry and with insufficient cloth-
ing as a result of policy playing. I have heard of young children engag-
ing in this sort of gambling. Of course the effect of this is very bad. The
policy evil is, to my mind, the very worst that exists in our large cities ■*
affecting the poorer classes of people.' " "

^ Although the police lieutenants have reported to the Superinten-
dent that few policy shops exist, the Ledger has information which leads
it to state that such is not the fact. Many complaints against the evil
have been received at this office. A reporter found it easy to locate and
gain admittance to a number of bouses where policy is written. A policy
writer who is thoroughly informed as to the inside working of the system
is authority for the statement that at no time in recent years has policy
playing been so prevalent or the business carried on as openly as it is now.

While the locations of the policy shops are well known and the writera
familiar to many persons, the backers, who, after all, ate the substantial
pari of the system, are bard to reach, for they exercise an unusual cun-
ning in the direction of the business. There are several backers in

The Negro Criminal.

[Chap. XIII.

Once in a while gambling-houses are raided:

Twenty-three colored men, wb-o were srruted in a raid of the police
DD an alleged gambling bouse, on Rodman sUeet, above Twelfth, had

Pbitadelphia of greater or less pretenaioDS, but a yonng man wbo resides
uptown aad operates principally in the tenHtory north of Giratd areiiue,.
is said to be the heaviest backer of tbegarae.iti this city. He owubbixIj
or seventy "' books." and his income from their combined receipts is
sufficient to support himself and several relatives in magnificent style.

A Ledger reporter spent one day last week looking up the policy sbopa
ID one of tbe seclioiiB where this backer operates. He found, in addition
to several places where policy is written, the rendezvous of tbe writers
and tbe headquarters of tbe policy king himself.

The writers wbo hold ' books" from the backer in question lueet
twice every day, Sundays eicepted, in a mean, dirty little house over-
looking the Reading tracks, just beiow Montgomery avenue. They
enter by the rear through a narrow alley leading off Delhi street, several
yards below Montgomery avenue. At noon and at 6 o'clock in the eve-
ning tbe writers hurry to tb is* rendezvous.

vals, and the business-like
and back gate is enough to
policeman on this beat and i
e proceedings hi

gathering at this point at regalar ititer-
ntier in which tbey go tbrough the alley
■act the attention of the Twelfth District
ise his suspicious. Whether be notices it
been going on for months.

Each writer, when be reaches this central point, turns in his " book "
and receipts. There are two drawings daily, hence tbe two meetingm.
Two relatives of tlie b.icker receive the "book;" and the money. A
copy of each writer's " book " and all the money are Carried by one of
these men to the bouse of an ei special policeman, a few squares amy.
and there turned over to the backer, who has received a telegram from
Cincinnati stating the numbeis that have come out at that drawing.

The " books " are carefully gone over, to see if there are any " bits."
If there are they arc computed, and the backer sends to each writer the
amount necessary to pay his los<:es. The numbers that appear at each.
drawing are printed with rubber stamps in red ink. on slips of white
paper and given to the writers to distribute among tbe players.

These drawings are usually carried to the rendezvous by the ex police-
man. The backer pockets the half day's receipts, mounts bis bicycle
and rides away.

To establish beyond a doubt the character of the building in which
the writera meet, the reporter made bis way into it ob the afternoon Iq'
question. It is a well-known policy shop, condacted by a colored man,
who has been writing policy for years, He is president of a colored
political club, with headquarters near by. On the occasion of the viut
the back gate was ajar. Pushing it open, the reporter walked in without
challenge. — From the Public Ledger, December j,

I
i

i

Sect 40.] Some Cases of Crime. 267

B hearing yesterday, before Magistrate South, at the City Hall. Oue wan,
residing on Griacom street, testified that the house was supposed to be a
"club," and that it was customary to pay a dollar before admission could
be secured, and that be had been gambling at " crap " and a card game
known as " live-up." and had lost $18. He said there was a president,
tuaishal and sergeant at-arms. He pointed out Boiling. Jordan and
Phillips as the principals. Special Policeman Dufiy testified that the
crowd wa3 playing "crap " with dice on the floor when he headed the
raid on Monday night. He said he had notified Boiling, as the head of
the house, three mouths ago. when he bad heard that gambling was going
on there, to stop it. On crosa-eiaminatiou the witness Eaid be did not
know tbat it was a social club called the " Workingmen's Club." Patrol-
man William Harvey testified thai be went to the house on last Saturday
night and got in readily, and was not called on to pay a dollar initiation
fee, as had been claimed was the rule. He said he played " sweat " and
lott twenty-five cents, but did not win anything. He said Boiling was
ranning the game. He said that when he entered the bouse aomehody
called out "Sam's got a new man," and that was all that was said.

More and more frequently in the last few years, have
crime, excess, and disappointment led to attempted
suicide :

policeman Wynne, of the Fifth and Race streets station, last evening
found an unknown colored woman lying unconscious in an alleyway at
Delaware avenue and Race street Beside the woman was an empty
bottle labeled heiiitne. Wynne immediately summoned the patrol wagon
and had the woman removed to tbe Pennsylvania Hospital, where her
condition was said to be critical. The ph ysicians said there was no doubt
the woman bad drunk tlie contents of tbe bottle, and narcotics weie at
once administered to counteract the effect of the poison. At midni^^ht
tbe woman showed signs of returning consciousness and it was Uiought
that she would recover. Tbe police have no ctue to her identity, as she
could not tell her name, and tbe alleyway where she was found is sur-
rounded by business bouses, and no one could be found who knew her.

It is but fair to add that many unsustained charges of
crime are made against Negroes, and possibly more in
proportion than against other classes. Some typical cases
of this sort are of interest :

W. M. Boley, colored, thirty years old, who said he resided in Mayes-
ville, South Carolina, was a defendant before Magistrate Jermon. at tbe
Cily Hall, yesterday, on tbe charge of assault with intent to steal.
Detective Gallagher and Special Policeman Thomas testified that their
attention was attracted to the prisouer by bis actions in a crowd at tbe

268 The Negro Critninal. [Chap. XIII.

New York train gate at Broad street station on Saturday. He had with
him several parcels which he laid on the floor near the gate, and they
aaid they saw him make several attempts to pick women's pockets, and
arrested him. The man however proved by documentary ev.dence that
he was a clergyman, a graduate of Howard University, and financial
agent of a Southern school. He was released.

Under instructions from Judge Pinletter, a jury rendered a verdict of
not guilty in the case of George Queen, a young colored man, charged
with the murder of Joseph A. Sweeney and John G. O'Brien. 2>r.
Frederick G. Coxson, pastor of the Pitman Methodist Episoopal
Church, at Twenty-third and Lombard streets, testified that on the nif^t
in question he was about to retire, when he heard a disturbance on
the street Upon going out he saw three young men, two of whom were
leading the other and persuading him to come with them. At the
same time the prisoner, Queen, came along in the middle of the street,
walking leisurely. Immediately upon seeing him the three men attacked
him, and were shortly afterward joined by three others, and the entire
crowd, among whom were Sweeney and O'Brien, continued beating and
striking the colored man. Suddenly the crowd scattered and Queen was
placed under arrest ; he had fatally stabbed two of his assailants. This
testimony showed that the accused was not the aggressor, and without
hearing the defence Judge Pinletter ordered the jury to render a verdict
of not guilty. The case, he said, was one of justifiable homidde, tibe
defendant having a right to resist the attack by force. The judge farther
said he thought the case would have a tendency to repel the brutal attacks
made on ino£Eensive persons in the community, and to make the streets
safe for every man to walk on at any hour without fear.

Leaving for a moment the question of the deeper social
causes of crime among Negroes, let us consider two closely
allied subjects, pauperism and the use of alchoholic liquors.

CHAPTER XIV.

PAUPERISM AND ALCOHOLISM.

41. Pauperism. — Emancipation and pauperism must
ever go hand in hand ; when a group of persons have
been for generations prohibited from self-support, and self-
initiative in any line, there is bound to be a large number
of them who, when thrown upon their own resources, will
be found incapable of competing in the race of life. Penn-
sylvania from early times, when emancipation of slaves in
considerable numbers first began, has seen and feared this
problem of Negro poverty. The Act of 1726 declaredr
" Whereas free Negroes are an idle and slothful people and
often prove burdensome to the neighborhood and afford ill
examples to other Negroes, therefore be it enacted * *

* * that if any master or mistress shall discharge or
set free any Negro, he or she shall enter into recognizance
with sufficient securities in the sum of ,^30 to indemnify
the county for any charge or incumbrance they may bring
upon the same, in case such Negro through sickness of
otherwise be rendered incapable of self-support."

The Acts of 1 780 and 1 788 took pains to provide for Negro
paupers in the county where they had legal residence, and
many decisions of the courts bear upon this point. About
1820 when the final results of the Act of 1780 were being
felt, an act was passed " To prevent the increase of pauper-
ism in the Commonwealth ; " it provided that if a servant
was brought into the state over twenty-eight years of age
(the age of emancipation) his master was to be liable for
his support in case he became a pauper-'

Thus we can infer that much pauperism was prevalent
among the freedmen during these years although there are-

* See Appendix B for these various lawl.
(a69>

270

Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.

no actual figures on the subject In 1837, 235 of the
1673 inmates of the Philadelphia County Almshouse were
Negroes or 14 per cent of paupers from 7.4 per cent of the
population. These paupers were classed as follows :*

Males.

Under 21 years 18

21 to 50 ** 57

50 to 75 " 18

Unknown 13

106

Females.

Under 18 years 33

18 to 40 " 59

40 to 60 *' 17

60 " and over ... 10

Unknown 10

129

<(

«

ii

II

(I

<(

t<

55

<i

it

28

c<

24

(<

Lunatics and defective 16 males, 31 females,

Defective from exposure 11

Consumption, rheumatism, etc. ... 9

Pleurisy, typhus fever, etc 12

Destitute 13

Paupers 32

Unclassed 13

Women lying-in, children and orphans,

106 males, 129 females.

Ten years later there were 196 Negro paupers in the
Almshouse, and those receiving outdoor relief were reported
as follows "?

In the City:

Of 2562 Negro families, 320 received assistance.
In spring Garden:

Of 202 Negro families.
In Northern Liberties:

Of 272 Negro families.
In Southwark:

Of 287 Negro families,
In West Philadelphia:

Of 73 Negro families.
In Moyamensing:

Of 866 Negro families, 104 received assistance.
Total, of 4262 Negro families, 442 received assistance, or 10 per cent.

3 received assistance.

6 received assistance.

7 received assistance.
2 received assistance.

• '* Condition," etc, 1838.
•"Condition," etc., 1848.

Sect 41.]

Pauperism.

271

This practically covers the available statistics of the past ;
it shows a large amount of pauperism and yet perhaps not
more than could reasonably be expected.

To-day it is very difficult to get any definite idea of the
extent of Negro poverty ; there is a vast amount of alms-
giving in Philadelphia, but much of it is unsystematic
and there is much duplication of work; and, at the
same time, so meagre are the records kept that the
real extent of pauperism and its causes are very hard to
study/

The first available figures are those relating to lodgers at
the station-houses — t. e. persons without shelter who have
applied for and been given lodging :*

1891, total lodgers . . 13,600, of whom 365, or 2.7 per cent were Negroes.

1892,

«893»
•894,
J895,
1896,

. 11,884,
. 20,521,
. 43.726,
. 45,788,
. 46,121,

345, or 2.9

622, or 3.0

1247, or 2.9

2247. or 4.9

2359, or 5.0

Somewhat similar statistics are furnished by the report
of arrests by the vagrant detective for the last ten years :

1887
1888
1889
1890
1891
1892

1893
1894

1895
1896

total arrests, 581.

574-
588.

523.
554.
505.
586.
688.

557.
629.

Neg^roes

• 55 9-5 per cent.

. 48 8.4

.36 6. 1

.48 9.1

. 47 8.5

. 65 12.9

. 67 ii.o

. 66 9.6

. 56 lO.O

. 59 9.3

The Negro vagrants arrested during the last six years
iMrere thus disposed of :

^ Cf. The " Civic Club Digest " for general information.
^Prorn reports of police department. Many | other ofiBlcial reports
might be added to these, but they are easily accessible.

272

Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.

DiBpoaal.

Given temporary shelter . . .
Transported from city ....
Arrested fol- vagrancy, beggary,

etc

Arrested for vicious conduct,

etc

Sent to House of Refugee . . .
Sent to societies and institutions

X89X.

X893.

X893.

x«9*.

1895.

31

27

29

39

26

3

3

5

4

3

5

10

4

4

3

15

10

16

II

14

3

14

7

3

5

0

3

6

6

7

X896.

3a

3

5

o

13

These records give a vague idea of that class of persons
just hovering between pauperism and crime— tramps,
loafers, defective persons and unfortunates — a class difficult
to deal with because made up of diverse elements.

Turning to the true paupers, we have the record of the
paupers admitted to the Blockley Almshouse during six
years:

ADni,TS--SlZTKBN YSARS OP AGB AND OVBR.

Year.

189I
1892

1893
1894

1895
1896

ToUl

Receptions

Negroes.

<^64

569

6231

537

6451

567

6108

569

6318

606

6414

593

Per Cent of

8.8

9-3

9-3
9.a

CHII.DRBN UNDSR SiZTBBN YBARS OP AGB.

Year.

1891
1892

1893
1894

1895
1896

ToUl

Receptions

Neproes.

380

3!

262

38

295

38

304

35

401

4»

410

51

Per Cent of

ia.3

14.5
12.9

II.I

ras
IS.4

In 1 89 1, 4.2 per cent of the whites admitted were
insane and 2.3 per cent of the Negroes; in 1895^
8.3 per cent of the whites and 8.6 per cent of the
Negroes:

Sect. 41.]

Pauperism.
Thb Insank.

273

Year.

189I
1892

1893
1894
1895

Whites.

Total
Receptions

6195
5694
5884

55^9
5712

Insane.

264

450
427
441

463

Negroes.

ToUl
Receptions

569

537

567

569
606

Insane.

13
45

39
38
52

We have already seen that in the Seventh Ward about
9 per cent of the Negroes can be classed as the " very poor,'*
needing public assistance in order to live. From this we
may conclude that between three and four thousand Negro
families in the city may be classed among the semi-pauper
class. Thus it is plain that there is a large problem of
poverty among the Negro problems; 4 per cent of the
population furnish according to the foregoing statistics
at least 8 per cent of the poverty. Considering the
economic difficulties of the Negro, we ought perhaps to*
expect rather more than less than this. Beside these per-
manently pauperized families there is a considerable number
of persons who from time to time must receive temporary
aid, but can usually get on without it In time of stress
as during the year 1893 ^^^8 class is very large.

There is especial suffisring and neglect among the children
of this class of people : in the last ten years the Children's
Aid Society has received the following children : •

From 1887 to iSgj. Negroes, lotaL

Received from judges and magistrates (so-called delin-
quents) 19 181

Deserted babies 7 55

Orphans 4 147"

Hidf-orphans, including those with mothers in delicate
health and worthless fathers ; also both parents

worthless 12 44S

From Blockley Almshouse 7

*Prom the Society records, by courtesy of the ofiBlcers.
iS

12

362

3

45

26

151

274 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap, XIV.

From Blockley Almshouse (foundlings)

From Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Children . .
From County Poor Boards

no 1389

The total receptions during these ten years have been
1389, of which the Negroes formed 8 percent. This but
emphasizes the fact of poor family life among the lower
classes which we have spoken of before.

A little better light can be thrown on the problem of
poverty by a study of concrete cases ; for this purpose 237
families have been selected. They live in the Seventh
Ward and are composed of those families of Negroes
whom the Charity Organization Society, Seventh District,
has aided for at least two winters.^ First, we must notice
that this number nearly corresponds with the previously
estimated per cent of the " very poor." ® Arranging these
families according to size, we have :

Number in Family. Families. Persons.

I 48 48

2 . . . 61 123

3 54 162

4 -SI 124

5 19 95

6 10 60

II I II

Unknown 9 ?

Total 234 638

The reported causes of poverty, which were in all cases
verified by visitors so far as possible, were as follows :

Yprom the C. O. S. records, Seventh District, by courtesy of Miss
Burke.

^This coincidence in figures was entirely unnoticed until both had
been worked out by independent methods.

Sect. 41.] Pauperism. 275

IiAckof work . 115 families.

Sicknem, accident, or physical disability ... 39 "

Death of bread-winner aud old age i\ "

Probable gambling, criminal sbifilessness, etc., i6 "

Desertion of bread-winner 15 "

LaiincBs and improvidence 10 "

Intemperate use of alcoholic liquors . . . . 8 "

Financial reverses 7 "

334 fiunilies.

From as careful a consideration of these cases as the
necessarily meagre information of records and visitors
permit, it seems fair to say that Negro poverty in the
Seventh Ward was, in these cases, caused as follows :

By sickness and misfortune 40 per cent.

By lack of steady employment ... .30 "
By laziness, improvidence and intemperate drink 30 "
By crime to '■

Of course this is but a rough estimate ; many of these
causes indirectly influence each other ; crime causes sick-
ness and misfortune ; lack of employment causes crime ;
laziness causes lack of work, etc.

Several typical families will illustrate the varying con-
ditious encountered :

No. I, — South Eighteenth street. Four in the family;
husband intemperate drinker; wife decent, but out of
work.

No. 2. — South Tenth street Five in the family; widow
and children out of work, and had sold the bed to pay for
expense of a sick child.

No. 3, — Dean street. A woman paralyzed; partially sup-
ported by a colored church.

No. 4- — Carver street. Worthy woman deserted by her
husband five years ago ; helped with coal, but is paying
the Charity Organization Society back again.

No. 5. — Hampton street. Three in family; living in
three rooms with three other families. " No push, and
improvident."

376

Paupet

■- and Alcoholhm. [Chap. XIVJ

No. 6. — Stockton street. The woman has just had aaJ
operation performed in the hospital, and cannot work yeL T

No. 7. — Addison street. Three in family; left their work
in Virginia through the misrepresentations of an Arch
street employment bureau ; out of work.

No. 8. — Richard street. Laborer injured by falling of a
derrick ; five in the family, His fellow workmen have
contributed to his support, but the employers have given
nothing.

No. 9. — Lombard street. Five in family; wife white;
living in one room; hard cases; rum and lies; pretended
one child was dead in order to get aid.

No. 10. — Carver street. Woman and demented son; she
was found very drunk on the street ; plays policy.

No. II. — Lombard street. Worthy woman sick with aJ
tumor ; given temporary aid.

No. 12. — Ohio street. Woman and two children deserted |
by her husband ; helped to pay her rent.

No. 13. — Rodman street. A widow and child ; out of '
work. "One very little room, clean and orderly."

No. 14. — Fothergill street Two in the family; the man
sick, half-crazy and lazy; "going to convert Africa and
didn't want to cook ; " given temporary help.

No. 15. — Lombard street. An improvident young couple
out of work ; living in one untidy room, with nothing to
pay rent.

No. 16. — Lombard street A poor widow of a wealthy I
caterer ; cheated out of her property ; has since died.

No. 17. — Ivy street A family of four; husband was a
stevedore, but is sick with asthma, and wife out of work ;
decent, but improvident.

No. 18, — Naudain street Family of three; the man, I
who is decent, has broken his leg ; the wife plays p<jlicy.

No. 19, — South Juniper street Woman and two chil-
dren ; deserted by her husband, and in the last stages of
consumption.

Sect. 42.]

The Drink Habit.

277

No, 30. — Radcliffe street. Family of three; borrowed of
Charity Organization Society $1.00 to pay rent, and re-
paid it in three weeks.

No. 31. — Lombard street. " A genteel American white
woman married to a colored man ; he is at present in the
South looking for employment; have one child;" both
are respectable.

No. 22. — Fothergill street. Wife deserted him and two
children, and ran off with a man; he is out of work;
asked aid to send his children to friends.

No. 23. — Carver street. Man of twenty-three came from
Virginia for work ; was rnn over by cars at Forty-fifth
street and Baltimore avenue, and lost both legs and right
arm ; is dependent on colored friends and wants something
to do.

No. 24. — Helmuth street. Family of three; man out of
work all winter, and wife with two and one-half days' work
a week ; respectable.

No. 25. — Richard street. Widow, niece and baby; the
niece betrayed and deserted. They ask for work.

43. The Drink Habit. — The intemperate use of intoxi-
cating liquors is not one of the Negro's special offences ;
nevertheless there is considerable drinking and the use of
beer is on the mcrease. The Philadelphia liquor saloons
are conducted under an unusually well-administered system,
and are not to so great an extent centres of brawling and
loafing as in other cities ; no amusements, as pool and
billiards, are allowed in rooms where liquor is sold. This
is not an unmixed good for the result is that much of the
drinking is thus driven into homes, clubs and "speak-
easies." The increase of beer-drinking among all classes,
black and white, is noticeable ; the beer wagons deliver
large numbers of bottles at private residences, and much is
carried from the saloons in buckets.

An attempt was made in 1897 to count the frequenters
of certain saloons in the Seventh Ward during the hours

V

Pauperism and AUohoHsm. [Chap. XIV.

from 8 to lo on a Saturday night. It was impracticable to
make this count simultaneously or to cover the whole ward,
but eight or ten were watched each night,* The results
area rough measurement of the drinking habits in this ward.

There are in the ward 52 saloons of which 26 were
watched in districts mostly inhabited by Negroes. In these
two hours the following record was made:

Persons entering the saloons :

Negroes — male, 1373 ; female, 213. Whites — male,
1445; female, 139.

Of those entering, the following are known to have
carried liquor away :

Negroes — male, 238; female, 125. Whites — male, 375 ;
female, 81.

3170 persons entered half the saloons of the Seventh
Ward in the hours from 8 to 10 of one Saturday night in
December, 1897 ; of these, 1586 were Negroes, and 1584
were whites; 2818 were males, and 352 were females.'"
Of those entering these saloons at this time a part carried
away liquor — mostly beer in tin buckets ; of those thus
visibly carrying away liquor there were in all 719; of
these 363 were Negroes, and 356 were whites ; 513 were
males, and 206 were females.

The observers stationed near these saloons saw, in the
two hours they were there, 79 drunken persons.

The general character of the saloons and their frequenters
can best be learned from a few typical reports. The nuni-
bers given are the official license numbers ;

No. 516. Persons entering saloon :
Men — white, 40; Negro, 68. Women — white, 12 ;
Negro, 12.

■I am indebted to Dr. S. M. LindBay and the student* of the Wliartoa
School for the carrying out of this plan.

'".No comparison of the number of Nigroes and wkites for Ifae ward
can be made, because many of the saloons omitted are frequented bj
whites principally.

Sect. 42.] The Drink Habit. 279

Persons carrying liquor away :

Men — ^white, 8 ; Negro, 16. Women — ^white, i ; Negro, 3.

Drunken persons seen, 12.

General character of saloon and frequenters : — " A small
comer saloon, kept by a white man. The saloon appears
to be a respectable one and has three entrances : one on
Thirteenth street and the two on a small court The majority
of the colored patrons are poor people^and of the working
class. The white patrons are, for the greater part, of the
better class. Among the latter very few were intoxicated.'*

No. 488. Persons entering:

Men — ^white, 24 ; Negro, 102. Women — ^white, 2 ;
Negro, 3.

Carrying liquor away, la ; drunken persons seen, 8.

General character : — " The saloon was none too orderly;
policemen remained near all the time; the Negro men
entering were as a rule well dressed — ^perhaps one-third
were laborers; the white men were well dressed but
suspicious looking characters."

No. 515. Persons entering :

Men — ^white, 81 ; Negro, 59. Women — white, 4 ;
Negro, 10.

Persons carrying liquor away :

Men — ^white, 15 (one a boy of 12 or 14 years of age) ;
Negro, II. Women — white, 4; Negro, 8.

Drunken persons seen, 2 (to one nothing was sold).

General character of saloon and frequenters : — " There
were two Negro men and seven white men in saloon
when the count was started. The place has three doors
but all are easily observed. Trade is largely in distilled
liquors, and a great deal is sold in bottles — z, * barrel
shop.' "

No. 527. Persons entering saloon :

28o Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV,

8 to 9 p. M. 9 to lo P. x. Total.

Men, White 49 54 104

<(

Negro 29 37 68

Women, White 3 3 6

Negro 5 2 7

<<

88 97 185

Persons carrying liquor away:

Men, White 6 11 17

" Negro 4 9 13

Women, White o i i

" Negro 4 o 4

Boys, ** I o I

15 21 36

Drunken persons seen, none.

General character of saloon and frequenters : — " Quiet|
orderly crowd — quick trade — ^no loafing. Three boys were
among those entering."

No. 484. Persons entering saloon :

Men — ^white, 70; Negro, 32. Women — ^white, 10;
Negro, I.

Persons carrying liquor away :

Men — white, 10; Negro, 12. Women — ^white, 4;
Negro, o.

Drunken persons seen, 11, six of whom were white and
five black. '^ I cannot say that the saloon was responsible
for all of them, but they were all in or about it"

This saloon is in the worst slum section of the ward and
is of bad character. Frequenters were a mixed lot, " fast,
tough, criminal and besotted."

No. 487. Persons entering :

Men — white, 79; Negro, 129. Women — white, 13;
Negro, 34.

Persons carrying liquor away :

Men — white, 15 ; Negro, 25. Women — ^white, 5 ;
Negro, 8.

The Drink Habit.

Frequented by a sharp class
Near the notorious 'Middle

Sect. 42.]

" No drunken men seei
of criminals and loafers.

Alley.' "

No. 525.

Total Negroes entering, 14 ; total whites entering, \t,.

" No loafers about the front of the saloon. Streets well
lighted and neighborhood quiet, according to the policeman.
There was a barber shop next door and a saloon on the
corner ten doors below. Very few drunken people were
seen. Trade was most brisk between eight and nine
o'clock. In two hours one more Negro than white entered.
Two more Negroes, men, than whites carried away liquor.
One white man, a German, returned three times for beer in
a kettle. Two Negro women carried beer away in kettles ;
one white woman (Irish) made two trips. All women
entered by side door. The saloon is under a residence,
three stories, comer of Waverly and Eleventh streets.
Waverly street has a Negro population which fairly
swarms — good position for Negro trade, Proprietor and
assistant were both Irish. The interior of the saloon was
finished in white piue stained to imitate cherry. Ex-
tremely plain. Barkeeper said, 'A warm night, but we
are doing very well.' One beggar came in, a colored
' Auntie;' she wanted bread, Jnot gin. Negroes were well
dressed, as a rule, many smoking. The majority of
frequenters by their bustling air and directness with which
they found the place, showed long acquaintance with the
neighborhood ; especially this corner."

■ No. 500. Persons entering saloon :

e; Men — white, 40 ; Negro, 73. Women — white 4 ;

Negro, 6.

Persons carrying liquor away :
*■ Men — white, 6 ; Negro, 23. Women — white, 5;
Negro, 4.

Drunken persons seen, i.

sSa

Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.

General character of saloon and frequenters: — "Four
story building, plain and neat ; three entrances ; iron
awning ; electric and Welsbach lights. Negroes generally
tidy and appear to be pretty well-to-do. Whites not so
tidy as Negroes and generally mechanics. Almost all
smoke cigars. Liquor carried away openly in pitchers and
kettles. Three of the white women, carrying away liquor,
looked like Irish servant girls. Some of the Negroes
carried bundles of laundry and groceries with them."

Few general conclusions can be drawn from this data.
The saloon is evidently not so much a moral as an economic
problem among; Negroes ; if the 1586 Negroes who went
into the saloons within two hours Saturday night spent five
cents apiece, which is a low estimate, they spent $79.30.
If, as is probable, at least $100 was spent that Saturday
evening thioughout the ward, then in a year we would not
be wrong in concluding their Saturday night's expenditure
was at least $5000, and their total expenditure could
scarcely be less than $10,000, and it may reach $20,000— a j
large sum for a poor people to spend in liquor. I

43. The Causes of Crime and Poverty. — A study of j
statistics seems to show that the crime and pauperism of
the Negroes exceeds that of the whites ; that in the main,
nevertheless, it follows in its rise and fall the Suctuations
shown in the records of the whites, i. e. , if crime increases
among the whites it increases among Negroes, and vice
versa, with this peculiarity, that among the Negroes the
change is always exaggerated — the increase greater, the
decrease more marked in nearly all cases. This is what we
would naturally expect: we have here the record of a low
social class, and as the condition of a lower class is by its
very definition worse than that of a higher, so the situation
of the Negroes is worse as respects crime and poverty than
that of the mass of whites. Moreover, any change in social
conditions is bound to affect the poor and unfortunate more
than the rich and prosperous. We have in all probability 1

Sect, 43.] The Causes of Crime and Poverty.

283

an example of this in the increase of crime since i8go ;
we have had a period of financial stress and industrial
depression ; the ones who have felt this most are the poor,
the unskilled laborers, the ineiBcient and unfortunate, and
those with small social and economic advantages; the
Negroes are in this class, and the result has been an increase
in Negro crime and pauperism ; there has also been an
increase in the crime of the whites, though less rapid by
reason of their richer and more fortunate upper classes.

So far, then, we have no phenomena which are new or
exceptional, or which present more than the ordinary social
problems of crime and poverty — although these, to-be sure,
are difficult enough. Beyond these, however, there are
problems which can rightly be called Negro problems:
they arise from the peculiar history and condition of the
American Negro. The first peculiarity is, of course, the
slaver^' and emancipation of the Negroes. That their
emancipation has raised them economically and morally is
proven by the increase of wealth and co-operation, and the
decrease of poverty and crime between the period before
the war and the period since ; nevertheless, this was mani-
festly no simple process: the first effect of emancipation
was that of any sudden social revolution : a strain upon
the strength and resources of the Negro, moral, economic
and physical, which drove many to the wall. For this reason
the rise of the Negro in this city is a series of rushes and
backslidings rather than a continuous growth. The second
great peculiarity of the situation of the Negroes is the fact
of immigration ; the great numbers of raw recruits who
have from time to time precipitated themselves upon the
Negroes of the city and shared their small industrial oppor-
tunities, have made reputations which, whether good or bad,
all their race must share ; and finally whether they failed or
succeeded in the strong competition, they themselves must
soon prepare to face a new immigration.

Here then we have two great causes for the present

284 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XI\^

condition of the Negro : Slavery and emancipation with I
their attendant phenomena of ignorance, lack of discipline,
and moral weakness ; immigration with its increased com-
petition and moral influence. To this must be added a
third as great — possibly greater in influence than the other
two, namely the environment in which a Negro Ends him-
self— the world of custom and thought in which he must
live and work, the physical surrounding of house and
home and ward, the moral encouragements and discourage-
ments which he encounters. We dimly seek to define this
social environment partially when we talk of color prejudice ,
— but this is but a vague characterization ; what we want I
to study is not a vague thought or feeling but its concrete I
manifestations. We know pretty well what the surround-
ings are of a young white lad, or a foreign immigrant who I
comes to this great city to join iu its organic life. We
know what influences and limitations surround him,
what he may attain, what his companionships are, what his
encouragements are, what his drawbacks.

This we must know in regard to the Negro if we would
study his social condition. His strange social environment
must have immense effect on his thought and life, his work
and crime, his wealth and pauperism. That this environ-
ment differs and differs broadly from the environment of
his fellows, we all know, but we do not know just how it
differs. The real foundation of the difference is the wide-
spread feeling all over the land, in Philadelphia as well as
in Boston and New Orleans, that the Negro is something
less than an American and ought uot to be much more
than what he is. Argue as we may for or against this
idea, we must as students recognize its presence and its
vast effects.

At the Eastern Penitentiary where they seek so far as
possible to attribute to definite causes the criminal record
of each prisoner, the vast influence of environment is
shown. This estimate is naturally liable to error, but the J

Sect 43.] The Causes of Crime and Poverty. 285

peculiar system of this institution and the long service and
wide experience of the warden and his subordinates gives
it a peculiar and unusual value. Of the 541 Negro prison-
ers previously studied 191 were catalogued as criminals by
reason of " natural and inherent depravity. " The others
were divided as follows :
Crimes due to

(a) Defects of the law :

Laxity in adminiatration 53

Unsuitable laws for minor offences 48

Inefficient police 22

License given to the young 16

Inefficient laws in regard to saloons 11

Poor institutions and lack of institutions 12

142

{b) Immediate environment:

Association 53

Amusements 16

Home and family influences 25

94

(c) Lack of training, lack of opportunity, lack of

desire to work 56

{d) General environment 6

{e) Disease 16

(/) Moral weakness and unknown 36

114

This rough judgment of men who have come into daily
contact with five hundred Negro criminals, but emphasizes
the fact alluded to ; the immense influence of his peculiar
environment on the black Philadelphian ; the influence of
homes badly situated and badly managed, with parents
untrained for their responsibilities ; the influence of social
surroundings which by poor laws and inefficient adminis-
tration leave the bad to be made worse ; the influence of
economic exclusion which admits Negroes only to those
parts of the economic world where it is hardest to retain
ambition and self-respect ; and finally that indefinable, but
real and mighty moral influence that causes men to have

286 Pauperism and Alcoholism. [Chap. XIV.

a real sense of manhood or leads them to lose aspiration
and self-respect

For the last ten or fifteen years young Negroes have
been pouring into this city at the rate of a thousand a
year ; the question is then what homes they find or make,
what neighbors they have, how they amuse themselves,
and what work they engage in ? Again, into what sort of
homes are the hundreds of Negro babies of each year
bom? Under what social influences do they come, what
is the tendency of their training, and what places in life
can they fill ? To answer all these questions is to go far
toward finding the real causes of crime and pauperism
among this race ; the next two chapters, therefore, take up
the question of environment.

CHAPTER XV.

THE ENVIRONMENT OF THE NEGRO.

44. Houses and Rent. — The inquiry of 1848 returned
quite full statistics of rents paid by the Negroes.* In
the whole city at that date 4019 Negro families paid
$199,665.46 in rent, or an average of $49.68 per family
each year. Ten years earlier the average was $44 per
family. Nothing better indicates the growth of the Negro
population in numbers and power when we compare with
this the figures for 1896 for one ward ; in that year the
Negroes of the Seventh Ward paid $25,699.50 each month
in rent, or $308,034 a year, an average of $126.19 per
annum for each family. This ward may have a somewhat
higher proportion of renters than most other wards. At
the lowest estimate, however, the Negroes of Philadelphia
pay at least $1,250,000 in rent each year.'

The table of rents for 1848 is as follows (see page 288):
We see that in 1848 the average Negro family rented by
the month or quarter, and paid between four and five dol-
lars per month rent The highest average rent for any
section was less than fifteen dollars a month. For such
rents the poorest accommodations were afforded, and we
know from descriptions that the mass of Negroes had small
and unhealthful homes, usually on the back streets and
alleys. The rents paid to-day in the Seventh Ward,

according to the number of rooms, are tabulated on
page 289.

» "Condition," etc., 1848, p. 16.

' Not taking into account sub-rent repaid by sub-tenants ; subtracting
this and the sum would be, perhaps, |i, 000,000— see infra^ p. 291.
That paid by single lodgers ought not, of course, to be subtracted as it
has not been added in.

(287)

The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

ss

■pidiapsiiiu JBAI

■»lUa<in ""»quoN

■ ^ ?

S 3 ff « ^ S

i

l-MsSil :

8 a 5 a 8 ■

^ s s 9 d: :
1'= s^*^^ ■

|-|sa|S3S:

lllllllllllll^PH

1

Sect 44-]

Houses and Rent.

389

NSGKO HOKBS. ACCOKDTNG TO RSNIS AirS ROOKS.*

Seventh Ward, miadelphia.

1154.00
65.00
679.00
67.50

eat pcry»r per fimll* . |ii6.iq
Ent per ycmr per iiidlTldaaI.til.Bj

Total rent per motilh . . . .111,699.50

ToUl rent per ynr Jjrjg.oj^oo

Aver, rent per montb per family, tio.so+ ,

' The returns as to rents paid are among the most reliable of the statiB-
tica gathered. The amount of rent is alnaTS well-known, and there are

290 TTie Enmronment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

Condensing this table somewhat we find that the Neg^roes
pay rent as follows :

Under I5 per month 490 families, or 21.9 per cent.

f5 and nnder |io 643 " " 28.7

|io " •* I15 380 ** " 17.0

I15 ** " |2o 252 " " 11.3

|20 " " I30 375 " " 17^

I30 and over 95 " " 4-i

The lodging system so prevalent in the Seventh Ward
makes some rents appear higher than the real facts warrant.
This ward is in the centre of the city, near the places of
employment for the mass of the people and near the centxe
of their social life ; consequently people crowd here in
great numbers. Young couples just married engage lodg-
ing in one or two rooms ; families join together and hire
one house ; and numbers of families take in single lodgers ;
thus the population of the ward is made up of

Families owning or renting their homes and living
alone 738, or 31

Families owning or renting their homes, who take
lodgers or sub-renters 937, " 38

Families sub-renting under other families 766, " 31

Total individuals . . . . ' 7751 100

Total families 2441

Individuals lodging with families 1924

Total individuals 9675

The practice of sub-renting is found of course in all
degrees : from the business of boarding-house keeper to the

0

few motives for deception. Moreover in Philadelphia there is a tendency
to build rows and streets of houses with the same general design. Thete
rent for the same sum, and thus particular instances of false report are
easily detected. One feature of the returns must be noted, f. ^., the large
number of cases where high rents are paid for one- and two-room tene-
ments. In nearly all of these cases this rent is paid for large front bed-
rooms in good localities, and often includes furniture. Sometimes a
limited use of the family kitchen is also included. In such cases it is
misleading to call these one-room tenements. No other amngement,
however, seemed practical in these tables.

Sect 44.]

Houses and Rent.

291

case of a family which rents oat its spare bed-chamber. In
the first case the rent is practically all repaid, and must in
some cases be regarded as income ; in the other cases a
small fraction of the rent is repaid and the real rent and
the size of the home reduced. Let us endeavor to deter-
mine what proportion of the rents of the Seventh Ward
are repaid in sub-rents, omitting some boarding and lodging-
houses where the sub-rent is really the income of the house-
wife. In most cases the room-rent of lodgers covers some
return for the care of the room. The next table gives
detailed statistics ;

Pkoportion of Rxnt Rspaid in Sob-kent.
Negroes of Seventh Ward, nUade^hia.

Monlhly Rent Paid: Doltani

J

B

s.

I

^es^s^r'"

1

g

1
9

I

1
s

1

3

s

1
1

18

37
4

4

I

1

1
S

t6

i
3

3

:

i

8
4S
17
24

6

S

1
1

8

a

8

1

16
S
=3

7

'3

If

1

1

ii
4

31
"7
55
7

33

i

14

i,
1

g
■s

7

9
33
31

ii
19

14
13

:

1

1
1

Sub-rent:
Dalian.

One-dghth reji'd
OnMiith f'
One-fonrth "
One-thiri *•
One-half
Two-thirds "
Three- fourths "
Pour-fiOhs "
Whole rent "
More than the
whole lent re-
paid

Unknown . . .

Total families .

Approximate

total of Bub-

rent repaid

monthly . . -

6

8

"l

6
10

'3

I
63

"9

99

170
243
i|

94
937

61.DS

9.16
460.51
871-33
1748-75

48,00

3167.00

8813.14

It appears from this table that nearly #9000 is paid by
the sub-renting families and lodgers to the renting families.
A part of this ought to be subtracted from the total rent

292 The Enmronment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

•

paid if we would get at the net rent ; just how much,
however, should be called wages for care of room, or
other conveniences furnished sub-renters, it is difficult to
say. Possibly the net rent of the ward is $20,000, and of
the city about $1,000,000.*

The accommodations furnished for the rent paid must
now be considered. The number of rooms occupied is the
simplest measurement, but is not very satisfactory in this
case owing to the lodging system which makes it difficult
to say how many rooms a family really occupies. A very
large number of families of two and three rent a single
bedroom and these must be regarded as one-room tenants,
and yet this renting of a room often includes a limited
use of a common kitchen ; on the other hand this sub-
renting family cannot in justice be counted as belonging
to the renting family. The figures are:

839 families live in i room, including families lodging, or 55.2 per cent.

170
127

754

The number of families occupying one room is here
exaggerated as before shown by the lodging system ; on
the other hand the number occupying six rooms and more
is also somewhat exaggerated by the fact that not all
sub-rented rooms have been subtracted, although this has
been done as far as possible.

Of the 2441 families only 334 had access to bathrooms
and water-closets, or 13.7 per cent. Even these 334 fami-
lies have poor accommodations in most instances. Many
share the use of one bath-room with one or more other
families. The bath-tubs usually are not supplied with hot
water and very often have no water-connection at all. This
condition is largely owing to the fact that the Seventh

* Here, again, the proportion paid by single lodgers most not be sub-
tracted as it has not been added in before.

2 rooms or 4.4

" " 3 ** or 15.7 "

u «4 ^ «« I or 12.7 "

** " 6 '* or more or 32.0 *•

Sect. 44,] Houses and Rent. 293

Ward belongs to the older part of Philadelphia, built

when vaults in the yards were used exclusively and bath-
rooms could not be given space in the small houses. This
was not so unhealthful before the houses were thick
and when there were large back yards. To-day, however,
the back yards have been filled by tenement houses and the
bad sanitary results are shown in the death rate of the ward.

Even the remaining yards are disappearing. Of the
1751 families making returns, 932 had a private yard
12 X 12 feet, or larger ; 312 had a private yard smaller than
12 X 12 feet ; 507 had either no yard at all or a yard and
outhouse in common with the other denizens of the tene-
ment or alley.

Of the latter only sixteen families had water-closets. So
that over 20 per cent and possibly 30 per cent of the Negro
families of this ward lack some of the very elementary
accommodations necessary to health and decency. And
this too in spite of the fact that they are paying compara-
tively high rents. Here too there comes another consider-
ation, and that is the lack of pub lie urinals and water-closets
in this ward and, in fact, throughout Philadelphia. The
result is that the closets of tenements are used by the
public. A couple of diagrams will illustrate this; the
houses of older Philadelphia were built like this :

A HOME

B OUTNOUSE

C YARD

D PASSAGE TO STREET

When, however, certain districts like the Seventh Ward
became crowded and given over to tenants, the thirst for

398

The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV-

■naooaiwoj.

^S?5H15HUr:

1

■l«,Oi'MniOB

tSSSS-fffs-^*

s

i

1

■OMOo^aa

5,

s.

■jMopua

-

■n»Bi8

. - . .- .---». .

■IIMIIW

,^«a

-""- ■- -

00

■OMWHIJ,

■ ■- ■ ."->"-"-"

■upux

s

1IU3IB

. .- , too*~>a «« . « .

"X

« , ft -»«**-oS r-ioB ^

■»"[«

- -06mr-g^- f; . "it

Si

■waiB

. .^,.«;.„»,.- .

■u,.«

„„„„,^™»=„,. .

?

■xta

"-■S.S^Sff??"' -

8.

■s»W

S»»a?S?,?!^»""--

S

-inoH

'R?«S5'S«t='°---'

s

■-.«

jai-S8?2.~2" ■-"

4

~j

R%SJ=-"°---- ■

E

■»ao

Ij'OJ'O , " .-*

•e.

1

I

One . .
Two . .
Three .
Four .
Five . .
Six . .
Seven .
EiKht .
Nine. .
Ten . .
Eleven.
Twelve bi
Unknown

Sect. 44.]

Houses and Rent.

295

usually a parlor, diniug room and kitchen on the first floor
and two to four bedrooms, of which one or two are apt to
be rented to a waiter or coachman for $4 a month, or to a
married couple at $6-10 a month. The more elaborate
houses are on Lombard street and its cross streets.

The rents paid by the Negroes are without doubt far
above their means and often from one-fourth to three-fourths
of the total income of a family g-oes in rent. This leads to
much non-payment of rent both, intentional and uninten-
tional, to frequent shifting of homes, and above all to
stinting the families in many necessities of life in order to
live in respectable dwellings. Many a Negro family eats
less than it ought for the sake of living in a decent
house.

Some of this waste of money in rent is sheer ignorance
and carelessness. The Negroes have an inherited distrust
of banks and companies, and have long neglected to take
part in Building and L,oan Associations, Others are .simply
careless in the spending of their money and lack the
shrewdness and business sense of differently trained peoples.
Ignorance and carelessness however will not explain all
or even the greater part of the problem of rent among
Negroes. There are three causes of even greater impor-
tance : these are the limited localities where Negroes may
rent, the peculiar connection of dwelling and occupation
among Negroes and the social organization of the Negro.
The undeniable fact that most Philadelphia white people
prefer not to live near Negroes' limits the Negro very
seriously in his choice of a home and especially in the
choice of a cheap home. Moreover, real estate agents
knowing the limited supply usually raise the rent a dollar
or two for Negro tenants, if they do not refuse them
altogether. Again, the occupations which the Negro
follows, and which at present he is compelled to follow, are

'The sentiment has greatlj lesaeued in iuteusitj duriug the last two
decades, but it is stiU strotig ; cT. Mctiou 47.

296 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

of a sort that makes it necessary for him to live near the
best portions of the city ; the mass of Negroes are in the
economic world purveyors to the rich — ^working in private
houses, in hotels, large stores, etc.* In order to keep this
work they must live near by; the laundress cannot brings
her Spruce street family's clothes from the Thirtieth Ward,
nor can the waiter at the Continental Hotel lodge in
Germantown. With the mass of white workmen this same
necessity of living near work, does not hinder them from
getting cheap dwellings ; the factory is surrounded by
cheap cottages, the foundry by long rows of houses, and
even the white clerk and shop girl can, on account of their
hours of labor, afford to live further out in the suburbs
than the black porter who opens the store. Thus it is
clear that the nature of the Negro's work compels him to
crowd into the centre of the city much more than is the
case with the mass of white working people. At the same
time this necessity is apt in some cases to be overestimated,
and a few hours of sleep or convenience serve to persuade
a good many families to endure poverty in the Seventh
Ward when they might be comfortable in the Twenty-
fourth Ward. Nevertheless much of the Negro problem in
this city finds adequate explanation when we reflect that
here is a people receiving a little lower wages than usual
for less desirable work, and compelled, in order to do that
work, to live in a little less pleasant quarters than most
people, and pay for them somewhat higher rents.

The final reason of the concentration of Negroes in
certain localities is a social one and one peculiarly strong :
the life of the Negroes of the city has for years centred in
the Seventh Ward ; here are the old churches, St. Thomas,
Bethel, Central, Shiloh and Wesley ; here are the halls of
the secret societies ; here are the homesteads of old families.
To a race socially ostracised it means far more to move to

* At the same time, from long custom and from competition, their
Teages for this work are not high.

Sect 44.] Houses and Rent. zij-j

remote parts of a city, than to those who will in any part
of the city easily form congenial acquaintances and new ties.
The Negro who ventures away from the mass of his people
and their organized life, finds himself alone, shunned and
taunted, stared at and made uncomfortable ; he can make
few new friends, for his neighbors however well-disposed
would shrink to add a Negro to their list of acquaint-
ances. Thus he remains far from friends and the con-
centred social life of the church, and feels in all its
bitterness what it means to be a social outcast. Con-
sequently emigration from the ward has gone in groups and
centred itself about some church, and individual initiative
is thus checked. 'At the same time color prejudice makes
it difficult for groups to find suitable places to move to —
one Negro family would be tolerated where six would be
objected to ; thus we have here a very decisive hindrance
to emigration to the suburbs.

It is not surprising that this situation leads to consider-
able crowding in the homes, i. e., to the endeavor to get as
many people into the space hired as possible. It is this
crowding that gives the casual observer many false notions
as to the size of Negro families, since he often forgets that
every other house has its sub-renters and lodgers. It is
however difEcult to measure this crowding on account of
this very lodging system which makes it very often un-
certain as to just the number of rooms a given group of
people occupy. In the following table therefore it is likely
that the number of rooms given is somewhat greater than is
really the case and that consequently there is more crowd-
ing than is indicated. This error however could not be
wholly eliminated under the circumstances ; a study of the
table (page 298) shows that in the Seventh Ward there are
9303 rooms occupied by 2401 families, an average of 3.8
rooms to a family, and 1.04 individuals to a room. A
division by rooms will better show where the crowding
comes in.

398

The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

■.

tnooa l"10i

JSpHtjHftS;

1

„,^^»..H

l-?s&='s'?3**""*

1

■UMO.,ua

s.

s,

■1r,„^^

■'"'■'•■

^

■BMWg

■naayia

'uu>inod

-""- - ■

I

■ojsuiiu

■W13«X

-m.j-, inavnrt.- ,

■s,
s

■oaASIH

, . - .<^a r^v6«B .*. ,

■nax

B .«-l-in»>p-«jr->OH ■*

■aniS

--«„„J3-, .„,

■m*ra

. .t~.5.««»-- .

■ojAas

'""!?-?»^=2"-'" •

?

™

■"-•S.fftSlTJ?-'" -

»

■a.iid

»«>«2';'S,?!:"""-"

5

■.noj

^J^SS'S*?:"--'

■«.MX

SS^SSJ2-2" .--

■o«x

^■8,33= ""»-"-- ■

8

■ano

»"=" - ■'

-s.

1

;;;-::;:;;;i;

1

One . .
Two . .
Thiee .
Four .
Five . .
Six . .
Seven .

Ten . .
ElevcD .
Twelve at
Unknown

Sect. 45.] Sections and IVards.

Families occupying five rooms and less: 1648, total rooms
per family, 2.17 ; total individuals per room, 1.53.

Families occupying three rooms aud less: 1350, total rooms
per family, 1.63 ; total individuals per room, 1.85.

The worst cases of crowding are as follows ;

One cea

.of 9 ■■

iniro

Five casta of 7

I ■

Six cases of 5 "

I '

Twenty
Onecas
Onecas

■five cases of 5 persona
e of 9 persons in 2. roo
e of 16 " 3 '

Ouecas
Oneca»

e of 13 "

BOfll "

3 ■
3 '

As said before, this is probably something under the real
truth, although perhaps not greatly so. The figures show
considerable overcrowding, but not nearly as much as is
often the case in other cities. This is largely due to the
character of Philadelphia houses, which are small aud low,
and will not admit ^many inmates. Five persons in one
room of an ordinary tenement would be almost suHocating.
The large number of one- room tenements with two persons
should be noted. These 572 families are for the most part
young or childless couples, sub-renting a bed-room and
working in the city.'

45. Sections and W^ards, — The spread of Negro popu-
lation in the city during the nineteenth century is worth
studying. In 1793,' one-fourth of the black inhabitants
— or 538 persons — lived north of Market street and south
of Vine, and were either in the homes of white families as

' One room under such circumstances may not bj Any means denote
excessive poverty or indecency ; the room is nsnall]' tented in a good
locality and is well furnished. Cf. t

' During the plague of that year a census of the inhabitants r
ing in the city was taken. Five-sisths of the Negroes remained, so the
3 gives a good idea of the distribution of the Negro population.
The results are published In the report printed afterward by order of
Councils.

300

The Enznranment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

servants, or in the alleys, as Shively's, Pewter Platter,
Croomb's, Sugar, Cresson's, etc. Between Market and South
lived one-half of the blacks, crowded in a region that cen-
tred at Sixth and Lombard : in Strawberry alley and lane,
Elbow lane. Grey's alley, Shippen's alley, etc., besides in
the families of the whites on Walnut, Spruce, Pine, etc.
The remaining fourth of the population was in Southwark,
south of South street, and in the Northern Liberties, north
of Vine. Details are given in the next table :

NUMBBR AND DISTRIBUTION OP THB NBGRO INHABITANTS OP PHII^A-

DBLPHiA IN 1793 — October to Dbcbmber.

(Taken from the Census of the Plague Committee.)
Bbtwbbn Markbt and Vzitb Strbbts.

Streets, etc.

Market

Water

Front

Second

Third

Fourth

Fifth

Sixth

Seventh

Eighth

Ninth

Arch

Race

Vine (south side) .

New

Church alley . . .

Negroes.

63
31
40
29

37
42
24
32
8

13

3
56
38

9

3

2

streets, etc

Quarry

Cherry alley . .
South alley . • .
North alley . . .
Sugar alley . . .
Appletree alley .
Cresson's alley .
Shively's alley .
Pewter Platter alley
Croomb's alley .
Baker's alley . .
Brooks' court . .
Priest's alley . .
Says alley . . .

Total.

streets, etc.

Water .
Front.
Second
Third.
Fourth
Fifth . ,
Sixth .
Seventh
Eighth .
Ninth .

Bbtwbbit Markbt and South Strbbts.

Negroes. Streets, etc.

... 12 Penn

. . . 129 Chestnut ....

. . . 116 Walnut

... 66 Spruce

... 81 Pine

... 63 South (north side)

... 37 Strawberry lane .

... o Strawberry alley

... 16 Elbow lane . . .

... o Beetles' alley . .

• • •

4

I

4

14

7
10

II

3
5

7

I

6
6

538

II

50

83
66

31
32

4

2

10
5

Sect 45.]

Sections and Wards.

301

streets, etc.
Grcy*s alley . .
Norris alley . .

Dock

Union

C3rpres8 alley . .

Pear

Lombard ....
Bmslie's alley . .
Laurel court . .
Shippen*8 alley .

Negroes. Streets, etc.

13 Willing*s alley .

4 Blackberry alley

5 Carpenter. . . .
32 Gaskill

I Georges to South

5 Little Water . .
57 Stamper's alley .

6 Taylor's alley . .
I York court . . .

26

Total

North Baif I^ibbrtixs.

Streets, etc

Water

Front

Second

Third

Fourth

Fifth

Vine (north side) . . .

Callowhill

Noble, or Bloody lane .
Artillery lane (or Duke)

Negroes.
I
59

I

3
I

18

10

4
26

Streets, etc.

Green . . .
Coates • • .
Brown . . .
Cable lane .
St John . .
St. Tammany
Willow. . .
Wood's alley
Crown . • .

District of Southwarx.

Streets, etc

Swanson

South Penn

Front

Second

Third

Fifth

Cedar court (south side)

Shippen

Almond

Catharine

Negroes. Streets, etc.

22 Christian . . . . .

3 Queen

15 Meade's alley • . .

22 German

34 Plumb

5 Moll TuUer's alley

19 George

50 Ball alley

9 Crabtree alley . • .

33

Total.

Summary.

Negroes.

I
2

7

7

5

5
8

I
7

1007

Negroes.
6

3*

15

I

6

2
I
I

3

Total ... 233

Negroes.
6

5
10

3

5

4
8

3

2

I58

Between Market and Vine streets 538

Between Market and South streets 1007

North of Vine street .... 233

South of South street 258

Total

Total inhabitants of county by census of 1790 . .

. . 2036
. . 2489

302

The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

The changes from 1793 to 1838, nearly a half century,
may thus be shown:

Place.

1793.

X838.

City

Northern Liberties

Kenaimrton ... . .

1545—75.0%

8462—60%
878)

359 1744— 15 Jt
507.

2^}3385--a5*

Spring Garden .

Southwark

} 258—13.5%

Moyamensing

Total

2036

i3»59i+5«» servants.

Thus we see in 1838 that the centre of Negro population
had gone southward toward Moyamensing. The Cedar,
Locust, Newmarket, Pine and South Wards, as they were
then calledj had the bulk of the population, and they cor-
responded approximately to the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and
Eighth Wards of to-day.

Ten years later than this, in 1848,* we have a more
detailed ^cgojunt of the distribution of the Negroes in the
various sections of the city. They were mostly crowded
into narrow courts and alleys. The colored population
north of Vine and east of Sixth streets consisted of 272
families with 1285 persons. One hundred and one families
of these (415 persons) lived on Apple street and its courts,
and in PaschalPs alley (now Lynd street). Apple street
itself, including Hick's court, had 37 families, with 138
persons, living in 16 houses ; ShotwelPs row, on the same
street, had 16 families with 65 persons in 7 houses; the
rooms were about 8 feet square. Paschall's alley contained
48 families with 212 persons, in 28 houses ; one house had
7 families, 33 persons, living in 13 rooms, 8 feet square.
The rent of the whole house was $266 per year ; " yet all
of them \i. ^., these families] have comfortable beds and
bedding."

About a third of the total Negro population of Moya-

* The figures for 1838 and 1848 are from the inquiries of those dates ;
cf. census of 1840.

Seclions and Wards.

303

Sect. 45.]

measing (the district "south of Cedar street and west of
Passyunk road ") was crowded into the space between Fifth
and Eighth streets, and South and Fitzwater ; for instance :

FomlUu. Families.

Sliippen strec
Bedford street
Small street .

Baker street ai

Seventh and South streets . . 14

SpaSbrd street 16

Freytag's alley 9

Prosperous alley 11

" It is in this district and ii

63

Black Horse alley 5

Button's court 9

Yeager'g court 9

Dicterson's court 5

Britton's court 5

Ct7der's court 4

Sherman's court 13

ToUl 302

1 the adjoining portion of the
city, especially Mary street and its vicinity, that the great
destitution and wretchedness exist." The personal property
of 176 of the above 302 families is returned as $603,50, or
$3.43 per family ; 15 families (4a persons) on Small street
(Alaska street) above Sixth, have their whole property val-
ued at $7. Most of these Negroes were rag-pickers, and 29
out of 42 families were not natives of the State. Mary
street and its courts had 80 families, with 281 persons living
in 35 houses. Some were industrious and temperate, but
there was " much surrounding misery." In Gile's alley
(from Cedar to Lombard street) were 42 families, 147 per-
sons, in 20 houses. Eighty-three of these persons were not
natives of the State, and 13 of the families received public
charity, A description of this district in 1847 is inte-
resting :

"The vicinity of the place we sought was pointed out
by a large number of colored people congregated on the
neighboring pavements. We first inspected the rooms,
yards and cellars of the four or five houses next above
Baker street on Seventh. The cellars were wretchedly
dark, damp and dirty, and were generally rented for twelve
and a half cents per night. These are occupied by one or
more families at the present time, but in the winter season
when the frost drives those who in summer sleep abroad in

304 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

fields, in boardyards and in sheds, to seek more efiectual
shelter, they often contain from twelve to twenty lodgers
per night Commencing at the back of each house are
small wooden buildings roughly put together, about six
feet square, without windows or fireplaces, a hole about a
foot square being left in front along side of the door to let
in fresh air and light, and to let out foul air and smoke.
These desolate pens, the roofs of which are generally leaky,
and their floors so low that more or less water comes in on
them from the yard in rainy weather, would not give com-
fortable winter accommodations to a cow. Although as
dismal as dirt, damp and insufficient ventilation can make
them, they are nearly all inhabited. In one of the first we
entered, we found the dead body of a large Negro man
who had died suddenly there. This pen was about eight
feet deep by six wide. There was no bedding in it, but a
box or two around the sides furnished places where two
colored persons, one said to be the wife of the deceased,
were lying either drunk or fast asleep. The body of the dead
man was on the wet floor beneath an old torn coverlet'* ^

In 1853 ^ similar description of the crime, filth and
poverty of this district shows us that the present slums
do not compare with those in misfortune and deprav-
ity." Much of this poverty and degradation could in
1847 be laid at the door of the new immigrants, and
although some of the immigrants were in good circum-
stances, yet in general most of the poverty was found
where most of the immigrants were. The immigrants
formed the following percentages of the total population in
1847:

City 47.7 per cent.

Moyamensing ... 46.3 "

Southwark 55.9 "

West Philadelphia 34.3 "

Spring Garden 31.4 **

Northern Liberties 14.2 **

^0 ** Condition of Negroes," 1848, pp. 34-41.

11 << Mysteries and Miseries of Philadelphia." (Pamphlet.)

Sect. 45.] Sections and JVards. 305

The historic centre of Negro settlement in the city can

thus be seen to be at Sixth and Lombard. From this point
it moved north, as is indicated for instance by the estab-
lishment of Zoar Church in 1794. Immigration of foreign-
ers and the rise of industries, however, early began to turn
it back and it found outlet in the alleys of Southwark and
Moyamensing. For a while about 1840 it was bottled up
here, but finally it began to move west. A few early left
the mass and settled in West Philadelphia ; the rest began
a slow steady movement along Lombard street. The
influx of 1876 and thereafter sent the wave across Broad
street to a new centre at Seventeenth and Lombard. There
it divided into two streams ; one went north and joined
remnants of the old settlers in the Northern Liberties and
Spring Garden. The other went south to the Twenty-
sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth Wards. Meantime the
new immigrants poured in at Seventh and Lombard, while
Sixth and Lombard down to the Delaware was deserted to
the Jews, and Moyamensing partially to the Italians,
The Irish were pushed on beyond Eighteenth to the
Schuylkill, or emigrated to the mills of Kensington and
elsewhere. The course may be thus graphically repre-
sented (see page 306) :

This migration explains much that is paradoxical about
Negro slums, especially their present remnant at Seventh
and Lombard. Many people wonder that the mission and
reformatory agencies at work there for so many years have
so little to show by way of results. One answer is that
this work has new material continually to work upon,
while the best classes move to the west and leave the dregs
behind. The parents and grandparents of some of the
best families of Philadelphia Negroes were born in the
neighborhood of Sixth and Lombard at a time when alt
Negroes, good, bad and indiiferent, were confined to that
and a few other localities. With the greater freedom of
domicile which has since come, these slum districts have

3o6

The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

sent a stream of emigrants westward. There has, too, been

a general movement from the alleys to the streets and

&om the back to the front streets. Moreover it is untrue

Migration of tbb Nbcro Forci.«.Tioii, 1790-18901

HENSINCtON

NECROES

i IRISH

that the slums of Seventh and Lombard have not greatly
changed in character ; compared with 1840, 1850 or even
1S70 these slums are much improved in every way. More

Seel. 45.]

Sections and Wards.

307

I

and more every year the unfortunate and poor are beings
sifted out from the vicious and criminal and sent to better
quarters.

And yet with all the obvious improvement, there are still
slums and dangerous slums left. Of the Fifth Ward and ad-
joining parts of the Seventh, a city health inspector says :

" Few of the houses are underdrained, and if the closets
have sewer connections the people are too careless to keep
them in order. The streets and alleys are strewn with
garbage, excepting immediately after the visit of the street
cleaner. Penetrate into one of these houses and beyond
into the back yard, if there is one (frequently there is not),
and there will be found a pile of ashes, garbage and filth,
the accumulation of the winter, perhaps of the whole year.
In such heaps of refuse what disease germ may be breed-
ing?""

To take a typical case :

"Gillis' Alley, famed in the Police Court, is a narrow
alley, extending from Lombard street through to South
street, above Fifth street, cobbled and without sewer con-
nections. Houses and stables are mixed promiscuously.
Buildings are of frame and of brick. No. — looks both
outside and in like a Southern Negro's cabin. In this
miserable place four colored families have their homes.
The aggregate rent demanded is $32 a month, though the
owner seldom receives the full rent. For three small dark
rooms in the rear of another house in this alley, the tenants
pay, and have paid for thirteen years, $11 a month. The
entrance is by a court not over two feet wide. Except at
midday the sun does not shine in the small open space in
the rear that answers for a yard. It is safe to say that not
one house in this alley could pass an inspection without
being condemned as prejudicial to health. But if they are
so condemned and cleaned, with such inhabitants how long
will tliey remain clean?" "

a Iracl published by the Civic Club,

3o8

The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

Some of the present characteristics of the
where Negroes live are given in the following

chief all^rs

tahle:

'Unas t.uiunj.

" f I- - it s « f I

•DoiMMQa

i \\

sli I'

■ I !l I 'I i I ',

:5|

I'll

\* i. «- ad. £

9 E fl !^B 1 sS t s

S I -3 iS

Tli«0 s.iiUV

I • I SI -= I

'IJnos ,nniH

J*l

til I'?

Ill

i S I 5 5 85

i I I i J|

Se; £ D ^ iJ £

■«mni» (uiiM qjS

Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusemenls. 309

The general characteristics and distribution of the Negro
population at present in the different wards can only be
indicated iu general terms. The wards with the best Negro
population are parts of the Seventh, Twenty-sixth, Thir-
tieth and Thirty-sixth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Twenty-
fourth, Twenty-seventh and Twenty-ninth. The worst
Negro population is found in parts of the Seventh, and in
the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth. In the other wards either
the classes are mixed or there are very few colored people.
The tendency of the best migration to-day is toward the
Twenty-sixth, Thirtieth and Thirty-sixth Wards, and West
Philadelphia.

46. Social Classes and Amusements. — Notwithstanding
the large influence of the physical environment of home
and ward, nevertheless there is a far mightier influence to
mold and make the citizen, and that is the social atmos-
phere which surrounds him : first his daily companionsliip,
the thoughts and whims of his class; then his recreations
and amusements; finally the sitrronnding world of Ameri-
can civilization, which the Negro meets especially in his
economic life. Let us take up here the subject of social
classes and amusements among Negroes, reserving for the
next chapter a study of the contact of the Whites and
Blacks.

There is always a strong tendency on the part of the
community to consider the Negroes as composing one
practically homogeneous mass. This view has of course
a certain justification: the people of Negro descent in
this laud have had a common history, suflfer to-day com-
mon disabilities, and contribute to one general set of
social problems. And yet if the foregoing statistics have
emphasized any one fact it is that wide variations in
antecedents, wealth, intelligence and general efficiency
have already been differentiated within this group.
These differences are not, to be sure, so great or so patent
as those among the whites of to-day, and yet they un-

3IO The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

doubtedly equal the difference among the masses of the
people in certain sectioas of the land fifty or one hundred
years ago; and there is no surer way of misunderstanding the
Negro or being misunderstood by him than by ignoring
manifest differences of condition and power in the 40,cxx)
black people of Philadelphia. ■

And yet well-meaning people continually do this. They I
regale tlie thugs and ■whoremongers and gamblers of '
Seventh and Lombard streets with congratulations on what
the Negroes have done in a quarter century, and pity for
their disabilities ; and they scold the caterers of Addison
street for the pickpockets and paupers of the race. A
judge of the city courts, who /or years has daily met a
throng of lazy and debased Negro criminals, comes from
the bench to talk to the Negroes about their criminals : he
warns them first of all to leave the slums and either forgets
or does not know that the fathers of the audience he is
speaking to, left the slums when he was a boy and that the
people before him are as distinctly differentiated from the
criminals he has met, as honest laborers anywhere differ
from thieves.

Nothing more exasperates the better class of Negroes
than this tendency to ignore utterly their existence. The
law-abiding, hard-working inhabitants of the Thirtieth
Ward are aroused to rigliteous indignation when they see
that the word Negro carries most Philadelphians' minds to
the alleys of the Fifth Ward or the police courts. Since
so much misunderstanding or rather forgetfulness and care- J
lessness on this point is common, let us endeavor to lr>' and I
fix with some definiteness the different social classes which ■
are clearly enough defined among Negroes to deserve
attention. When the statistics of the families of the
Seventh Ward were gathered, each family was put in one
of four grades as follows :

Grade r. Families of undoubted respectability earning
sufficient income to live well ; not engaged in menial

Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements.

3"

service of any kind ; the wife engaged in no occupation
save that of house-wife, except in a few cases where she
had special employment at home. The children not com-
pelled to be bread-winners, but found in school ; the family
living in a well-kept home.

Grades. The respectable working-class ; in comfortable'
circumstances, with a good home, and having steady
remunerative work. The younger children in school.

Grade J. The poor; persons not earning enough to
keep them at all times above want; honest, although not
always energetic or thrifty, and with no touch of gross
immorality or crime. Including the very poor, and the
poor.

Grade 4. The lowest class of criminals, prostitutes and
loafers; the " submerged tenth."

Thus we have in these four grades the criminals, the
poor, the laborers, and the well-to-do, ** The last class
represents the ordinary middle-class folk of most modern
countries, and contains tlie germs of other social classes
which the Negro has not yet clearly differentiated. Let
us begin first with the fourth class.

The criminals and gamblers are to be found at such
centres as Seventh and Lombard streets. Seventeenth and
Lombard, Twelfth and Kater, Eighteenth and Naudain,
etc. Many people have failed to notice the significant
change which has come over these slums in recent years ;
the squalor and misery and dumb sufEering of 1840 has
passed, and in its place have come more baffling and sinister
phenomena: shrewd laziness, shameless lewdness, cunning

'* It will be noted tliat tliis classificatiou differa materially Troni the
economic division in Chapler XI. In that case grade four aad a part of
three appear as the " poor ; " grade two and the rest of grade three, as
the " fair to comfortable ; " and a few of grade two and grade one as the
well-to-do. The basis of division there was almost entirely according to
income ; this division brings In moral considerations and questions of
expenditure, and consequently reflects more largely the persona] jadg>
raent of the investigator.

312 ' The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

crime. The loafers who line the curbs in these places are
no fools, but sharp, wily men who often outwit both the
Police Department and the Department of Charities. Their
nucleus consists of a class of professional criminals, who
do not work, figure in the rogues' galleries of a half-dozen
cities, and migrate here and there. About these are a set
of gamblers and sharpers who seldom are caught in serious
crime, but who nevertheless live from its proceeds and aid
and abet it. The headquarters of all these are usually the
political clubs and pool-rooms; they stand ready to entrap
the unwary and tempt the weak. Their organization, tacit
or recognized, is very effective, and no one can long watch
their actions without seeing that they keep in close touch
with the authorities in some way. Affairs will be gliding
on lazily some summer afternoon at the corner of Seventh
and Lombard streets ; a few loafers on the comers, a pros-
titute here and there, and the Jew and Italian plying their
trades. Suddenly there is an oath, a sharp altercation, a
blow ; then a hurried rush of feet, the silent door of a
neighboring club closes, and when the policeman arrives
only the victim lies bleeding on the sidewalk ; or at mid-
night the drowsy quiet will be suddenly broken by the
cries and quarreling of a half-drunken gambling table ;
then comes the sharp, quick crack of pistol shots — a scur-
rying in the darkness, and only the wounded man lies
awaiting the patrol-wagon. If the matter turns out seri-
ously, the police know where in Minster street and Middle
alley to look for the aggressor ; often they find him, but
sometimes not."

The size of the more desperate class of criminals and
their shrewd abettors is of course comparatively small, but
it is large enough to characterize the slum districts.
Around this central body lies a large crowd of satellites

^ The investigator resided at the CoUege Settlement, Seventh and I>>m-
bard streets, some months, and thus had an opportunity to observe this
slum carefully.

Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusemenis. 313

and feeders: young idlers attracted by excitement, shift-
less and lazy ne'er-do-wells, who have sunk from better
things, and a rough crowd of pleasure seekers and liber-
tines. These are the fellows who figure in the police
courts for larceny and fightings and drift thus into graver
<:rinie or shrewder dissoluteness. They are usually far
more ignorant than their leaders, and rapidly die out from
disease and excess. Proper measures for rescue and reform
might save many of this class. Usually they are not
natives of the city, but immigrants who have wandered
from the small towns of the South to Richmond and
Washington and thence to Philadelphia. Their environ-
ment in this city makes it easier for them to live by crime
or the results of crime than by work, and being without
ambition — or perhaps having lost ambition and grown
bitter with the world — they drift with the stream.

One large element of these slums, a class we have barely
mentioned, are the prostitutes. It is difficult to get at any
satisfactory data concerning such a class, but an attempt
has been made. There were in 1896 fifty-three Negro
■women in the Seventh Ward known on pretty satisfactory
evidence to be supported wholly or largely by the proceeds
of prostitution ; and it is probable that this is not half the
Teal number ;'° these fifty-three were of the following ages :

ao to 24 II

as to J9 9

30 to 39 ' 17

40 to 49 3

Unkm

Total 53

Seven of these women had small children with them and
liad probably been betra)-ed, and had then turned to this

" These Sgnres were taken dnriog llie inquirf by the visitor to the

3H

The Environmenl of Ike Negro. [Chap. XV.

sort of life. There were fourteen recognized bawdy
houses in the ward ; ten of them were private dwellings
where prostitutes lived and were not especially fitted up,
although male visitors frequented them. Four of the
houses were regularly fitted up, with elaborate furniture,
and in one or two cases had young and beautiful girls on
exhibition. All of these latter were seven or eight room
houses for which $26 to $30 a month was paid. They are
pretty well-known resorts, but are not disturbed. In the I
slums the lowest class of street walkers abound and ply '
their trade among Negroes, Italians and Americans, One
can see men following them into alleys in broad daylight.
They usually have male associates whom they support
and who join them in " badger " thieving. Most of them
are grown women though a few cases of girls under sixteen
have been seen on the street

This fairly characterizes the lowest class of Negroes.
According to the inquiry in the Seventh Ward at least
138 families were estimated as belonging to this class out
of 2395 reported, or 5.8 per cent. This would include
between five and six hundred individuals. Perhaps this
number reaches 1000 if the facts were known, but the
evidence at hand furnishes only the number stated. In the
whole city the number may reach 3000, although there is
little data for an estimate."

The next class are the poor aud unfortunate and the
casual laborers ; most of these are of the class of Negroes
who in the contact with the life of a great city have 1
failed to find an assured place. They include immi- |
grants who cannot get steady work ; good natured, but
unreliable and shiftless persons who cannot keep work or
spend their earnings thoughtfully ; those who have suffered
accident and misfortune ; the maimed and defective classes,

" This includes not simply the actual criminal cIrss, but ita aidcTB and |
■bettors, and the class intimately associated with it It would, for
instance, include much more than Charles Booth's class A in London.

Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusemenfs. 315

and the sick ; many widows and orphans and deserted
wives ; all these form a large class and are here considered.

It is of course ver>- difficult to separate the lowest of this
class from the one below, and probably many are included
here who, if the truth were known, ought to be classed
lower. In most cases, however, they have been given the
benefit of the doubt. The lowest ones of this class usually
live in the slums and back streets, and next door, or in
the same house often, with criminals and lewd women.
Ignorant and easily influenced, they readily go with the
tide and now rise to industry and decency, now fall to
crime. Others of this class get on fairly well in good
times, but never get far ahead. They are the ones who
earliest feel the weight of hard times and their latest
blight. Some correspond to the "worthy poor" of most
charitable organizations, and some fall a little below that
class. The children of this class are the feeders of the
criminal classes. Often in the same family one can find
respectable and striving parents weighed down by idle,
impudent sons 'and wayward daughters. This is partly
because of povert>', more because of the poor home life. In
the Seventh Ward 30^^ per cent of the families or 728
may be put into this class, including the very poor, the
poor and those who manage just to make ends meet in
good times. In the whole city perhaps ten to twelve
thousand Negroes fall in this third social grade.

Above these come the representative Negroes ; the mass
of the servant class, the porters and waiters, aud the best
of the laborers. They are hard-working people, proverb-
ially good-natured ; lacking a little in foresight and fore-
handedness, and in " push," They are honest and faithful,
of fair and improving morals, and beginning to accumulate
property. The great drawback to this class is lack of
congenial occupation especially among the young men and
women, and the consequent wide-spread dissatisfaction and
complaint. .\s a class these persons are ambitious ; the

3-6

The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

majority can read and write, many have a common school
training, and all are anxious to rise in the world. Their
wages are low compared with corresponding classes of
white workmen, their rents are high, and the field of
advancement opened to them is very limited. The best
expression of the life of this group is the Negro church,
where their social life centres, and where they discuss
their situation and prospects.

A note of disappointment and discouragement is often
heard at these discussions and their work suffers from a
growing lack of interest in it. Most of them are probably
best fitted for the work they are doing, but a large
percentage deserve belter ways to display their talent, and
better remuneration. The whole class deserves credit for i
its bold advance in the midst of discouragements, and for I
the distinct moral improvement in their family life during '
the last quarter century. These persons form 56 per cent
or 1,252 of the families of the Seventh Ward, and include
perhaps 25,000 of the Negroes of the city. They live in
5-10 room houses, and usually have lodgers. The houses
are always well furnished with neat parlors and some
musical instrument. Sunday dinners and small parties,
together with church activities, make up their social inter-
course. Their chief trouble is in finding suitable careers
for their growing children. 1

Finally we come to the 277 families, 11.5 per cent of ]
those of the Seventh Ward, and including perhaps 3,000
Negroes in the city, who form the aristocracy of the Negro
population in education, wealth and general social effi-
ciency. In many respects it is right and proper to judge a
people by its best classes rather than by its worst classes or
middle rank.s. The highest class of any group represents
its possibilities rather than its exceptions, as is so often
assumed in regard to the Negro. The colored people are
seldom judged by their best classes, and often the very
existence of classes among them is ignored. This

Sect, 46.3 Social Classes and Amusemenls,

317

partly due in the North to the aaomalous position of those
who compose this class ; they are uot the leaders or the
ideal-makers of their own group in thought, work, or
morals. They teach the masses to a very small exteut,
mingle with them but little, do not largely hire their
labor. Instead then of social classes held together by
strong ties of mutual interest we have in the case of the
Negroes, classes who have much to keep them apart, and
only community of blood and color prejudice to bind them
together. If the Negroes were by themselves either a
strong aristocratic system or a dictatorship would for the
present prevail. With, however, democracy thus prema-
turely thnist upon them, the first impulse of the best, the
wisest and richest is to segregate themselves from the mass.
This action, however, causes more of dislike and jealousy
on the part of the masses than usual, because those masses
look to the whites for ideals and largely for leadership. It
is natural therefore that even to-day the mass of Negroes
should took upon the worshipers at St. Thomas' and
Central as feeling themselves above them, and should dis-
like them for it. On the other hand it is just as natural
for the well-educated and well-to-do Negroes to feel them-
selves far above the criminals and prostitutes of Seventh
and Lombard streets, and even above the servant girls and
porters of the middle class of workers. So far they are
justified ; but they make their mistake in failing to recog-
nize that however laudable an ambition to rise may be, the
first duty of an upper class is to serve the lowest classes.
The aristocracies of all peoples have been slow in learning
this and perhaps the Negro is no slower than the rest, but
his peculiar situation demands that in his case this lesson be
learned sooner. Naturally the uncertain economic status,
even of this picked class makes it difficult for them to
spare much time and energy in social reform ; compared
with their fellows they are rich, but compared with white

318

The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV.

Americans they are poor, and they can hardly ful611 their
duty as the leaders of the Negroes until they are captains
of industry over their people as well as richer and wiser.
To-day the professional class among thein is, compared
with other callings, rather over-represented, and all have a
struggle to maintain the position they have won.

This class is itself an answer to the question of the
ability of tlie Negro to assimilate American culture. It is
a class small in numbers and not sharply diEEerenttated
from other classes, although sufficiently so to be easily
recognized. Its members are not to be met with in the
ordinary assemblages of the Negroes, nor in their usual
promenading places. They are largely Philadelphia bom,
and being descended from the house-servant class, contain
many mulattoes. In their assemblies there are evidences
of good breeding and taste, so that a foreigner would
hardly think of ex-slaves. They are not to be sure people
of wide culture and their mental horizon is as limited as
that of the first families in a country town. Here and
there may be noted, too, some faint trace of careless moral
training. On the whole they strike one as sensible,
good folks. Their conversation turns on the gossip of
similar circles among the Negroes of Washington, Bos-
ton aud New York ; on questions of the day, and, less
willingly, ou the situation of the Negro. Strangers
secure entrance to this circle with difficulty and only by
introduction. For an ordinary white person it would
be almost impossible to secure introduction even by a
friend. Once in a while some well-known citizen meets a
company of this class, but it is hard for the average white
American to lay aside his patronizing way toward a Negro,
and to talk of aught to him but the Negro question ; the
lack, therefore, of common ground even for conversation
makes such meetings rather stiff and not ofteu repeated.

fty-two of these families keep servants regularly ;

Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amusements,

319

live in well-appointed homes, which give evidence of taste
and even luxury.^

Something must be said, before leaving this subject, of
the amusements of the Negroes. Among the fourth grade
and the third, gambling, excursions, balls and cake-walks
are the chief amusements. The gambling instinct is wide-
spread, as in all low classes, and, together with sexual
looseness, is their greatest vice ; it is carried on in clubs,
in private houses, in pool-rooms and on the street Public
gambling can be found at a dozen different places every
night at full tilt in the Seventh Ward, and almost any
stranger can gain easy access. Games of pure chance are
preferred to those of skill, and in the larger clubs a sort of
three-card monte is the favorite game, played with a dealer
who gambles against all comers. In private houses in the
slums, cards, beer and prostitutes can always be found. In
the public pool-rooms there is some quiet gambling and
playing for prizes. For the new comer to the city the
only open places of amusement are these pool-rooms and
gambling clubs ; here are crowds of young fellows, and

V A compariaon of the size of fieunilies in the highest and lowest class
may be of interest:

Number in Family.

One

Two

Three . . . .
Four ...

Five

Six

Seven

Eight . . . . •

Nine

Ten

Eleven ....
Twelve or more

Total.

Pint Gmde.

22 —

66 — 24 i^
54 — 19%

48)
18 j

1

20

7
5

o

5

277

Fourth Grade.

17 —
58-
27 —
21

6
6

}-

12%
20%

[—24^

o
o
o

2%

0%

138

Average size of family, first gxade, 4.075^; fimrth grade, 2.08%.
This certainly looks like the «m^— * ^ *l»* ^Hett, and is hardly an
argument for the extinctioii ^

320 The Environment of the Negro. [Chap. XV^

#
once started in this company no one can say where they

may not end.

The most innocent amusements of this class are the balls
and cake-walks, although they are accompanied by much
drinking, and are attended by white and black prostitutes^
The cake-walk is a rhythmic promenade or slow dance, and
when well done is pretty and quite innocent Excursions
are frequent in summer, and are accompanied often by much
fighting and drinking.

The mass of the laboring Negroes get their amusement in
connection with the churches. There are suppers, iajxSy
concerts, socials and the like. Dancing is forbidden by
most of the churches, and many of the stricter sort would
not think of going to balls or theatres. The younger sct^
however, dance, although the parents seldom accompany
them, and the hours kept are late, making it often a dissi--
pation. Secret societies and social clubs add to these
amusements by balls and suppers, and there are numbers
of parties at private houses. This class also patronizes fre-
quent excursions given by churches and Sunday-schools
and secret societies ; they are usually well conducted, but
cost a great deal more than is necessary. The money
wasted in excursions above what would be necessary for a
day's outing and plenty of recreation, would foot up many
thousand dollars in a season.

In the upper class alone has the home begun to be
the centre of recreation and amusement There are alwaj^
to be found parties and small receptions, and gatherings at
the invitations of musical or social clubs. One large ball
each year is usually given, which is strictly private. Guests
from out of town are given much social attention.

Among nearly all classes of Negroes there is a large un-
satisfied demand for amusement. Large numbers of servant
girls and young men have flocked to the city, have no homes,
and want places to frequent The churches supply this need
partially, but the institution which will supply this want

Sect. 46.] Social Classes and Amtisements, 321

better and add instruction and diversion, will save many
girls from ruin and boys from crime. There is to-day little
done in places of public amusement to protect colored
girls from designing men. Many of the idlers and rascals
of the slums play on the affections of silly servant girls,
and either ruin them or lead them into crime, or more
often live on a part of their wages. There are many cases
of this latter system to be met in the Seventh Ward.

It is difficult to measure amusements in any enlightening
way. A count of the amusements reported by the Tribune^
the chief colored paper, which reports for a select part of
the laboring class, and the upper class, resulted as follows
for nine weeks:**

Parties at homes in honor of visitors 16

** ** homes 11

** ** ** with dancing 10

Balls in halls 10

Concerts in churches . 7

Church suppers, etc 7

Weddings 7

Birthday parties 7

Lectures and literary entertainments at churches ... 6

Card parties 4

Pairs at churches 3

Lawn parties and picnics 3

These, of course, are the larger parties in the whole city^
and do not include the numerous small church socials and
gatherings. The proportions here are largely accidental >
but the list is instructive.

'* These weeks were not consecutive but taken at random.

21

CHAPTER XVI.

THE CX)NTACT OF THE RACES.

47. Color Prejudice. — Incidentally throughout this
study the prejudice against the Negro has been again and
again mentioned. It is time now to reduce this somewhat
indefinite term to something tangible. Everybody speaks
■of the matter, everybody knows that it exists, but in just
what form it shows itself or how influential it is few agree.
In the Negro's mind, color prejudice in Philadelphia is
that widespread feeling of dislike for his blood, which keeps
him and his children out of decent employment, from cer-
tain public conveniences and amusements, from hiring
houses in many sections, and in general, from being recog-
nized as a man. Negroes regard this prejudice as the chief
cause of their present unfortunate condition. On the other
hand most white people are quite unconscious of any such
powerful and vindictive feeling ; they regard color preju-
dice as the easily explicable feeling that intimate social
intercourse with a lower race is not only undesirable but
impracticable if our present standards of culture are to
be maintained ; and although they are aware that some
people feel the aversion more intensely than others, they
cannot see how such a feeling has much influence on the
real situation, or alters the social condition of the mass of
Negroes.

As a matter of fact, color prejudice in this city is
something between these two extreme views: it is not
to-day responsible for all, or perhaps the greater part of
the Negro problems, or of the disabilities under which the
race labors ; on the other hand it is a far more powerful
social force than most Philadelphians realize. The prac-

(32«)

Sect 47.] Color Prejudice. 333

tical results of the attitude of most of the inhabitants
of Philadelphia toward persons of Negro descent are as
follows :

1. As to getting work :

No matter how well trained a Negro may be, or how
fitted for work of any kind, he cannot in the ordinary
course of competition hope to be much more than a menial
servant

He cannot get clerical or supervisory work to do save in
exceptional cases.

He cannot teach save in a few of the remaining Negro
schools.

He cannot become a mechanic except for small transient
jobs, and cannot join a trades union.

A Negro woman has but three careers open to her in
this city : domestic service, sewing, or married life.

2. As to keeping work :

The Negro suflFers in competition more severely than
white men.

Change in fashion is causing him to be replaced by whites
in the better paid positions of domestic service.

Whim and accident will cause him to lose a hard-earned
place more quickly than the same things would affect a
white man.

Being few in number compared with the whites the
crime or carelessness of a few of his race is easily imputed
to all, and the reputation of the good, industrious and
reliable suffer thereby.

Because Negro workmen may not often work side by
side with white workmen, the individual black workman
is rated not by his own efficiency, but by the efficiency of
a whole group of black fellow workmen which may often
be low.

Because of these difficulties which virtually increase
competition in his case, he is forced to take lower wages
for the same work than white workmen.

324 The Contact of the Races. [Chap.XVL

3. As to entering new lines of work :

Men are used to seeing Negroes in inferior .positions ;
when, therefore, by any chance a Negro gets in a better
position, most men immediately conclude that he is not
fitted for it, even before he has a chance to show his fitness.

If, therefore, he set up a store, men will not patronize
him.

If he is put into public position men will complain.

If he gain a position in the commercial world, men will
quietly secure his dismissal or see that a white man suc-
ceeds him.

4. As to his expenditure :

The comparative smallness of the patronage of the
Negro, and the dislike of other customers makes it usual
to increase the charges or difficulties in certain directions
in which a Negro must spend money.

He must pay more house-rent for worse houses than
most white people pay.

He is sometimes liable to insult or reluctant service in
some restaurants, hotels and stores, at public resorts,
theatres and places of recreation ; and at nearly all barber-
shops.

5. As to his children :

The Negro;;^finds it extremely difficult to rear children in
such an atmosphere and not have them either cringing or
impudent : if he impresses upon them patience with their
lot, they may grow up satisfied with their condition ; if he
inspires them with ambition to rise, they may grow to
despise their own people, hate the whites and become
embittered with the world.

His children are discriminated against, often in public
schools.

They are advised when seeking employment to become
waiters and maids.

They are liable to species of insult and temptation
peculiarly trying to children.

Sect 47.]

Color Prejudice.

335

6. As to social intercourse :

In all walks of life the Negro is liable to meet some
objection to his presence or some discourteous treatment ;
and the ties of friendship or memory seldom are strong
enough to hold across the color line.

If an invitation is issued to the public Jfor any occasion,
the Negro can never know whether he would be welcomed
or not ; if he goes he is liable to Lave his feelings hurt and
get into unpleasant altercation ; if he stays away, he is
blamed for indifference.

If he meet a lifelong white friend on the street, he is in
a dilemma ; if he does not greet the friend he is put down
as boorish and impolite ; if he does greet the friend he is
liable to be flatly snubbed.

If by chance he is introduced to a white woman or man,
he expects to be ignored on the next meeting, and usually is.

White friends may call on him, but he is scarcely
expected to call on them, save for strictly business matters.

If he gain the affections of a white woman and marry
her he may invariably expect that slurs will be thrown on
her reputation and on his, and that both his and her race
will shun their company.'

When he dies he cannot be buried beside white corpses.

7. The result :

Any one of these things happening now and then would
not be remarkable or call for especial comment ; but when
one group of people suffer all these little differences of
treatment and discriminations and insults continually, the
result is either discouragement, or bitterness, or over-sensi-
tiveness, or recklessness. And a people feeling thus cannot
do their best.

Presumably the first impulse of the average Philadelphian

would be emphatically to deny any such marked and

blighting discrimination as the above against a group of

citizens in this metropolis. Every one knows that in the

* Cf. Section 49.

326 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVL

past color prejudice in the city was deep and passionate ;
living men can remember when a Negro could not sit in a
street car or walk many streets in peace. These times
have passed, however, and many imagine that active
discrimination against the Negro has passed with them.
Careful inquiry will convince any such one of his error.
To be sure a colored man to-day can walk the streets of
Philadelphia without personal insult; he can go to
theatres, parks and some places of amusement without
meeting more than stares and discourtesy ; he can be
accommodated at most hotels and restaurants, although his
treatment in some would not be pleasant All this is a
vast advance and augurs much for the future. And yet all
that has been said of the remaining discrimination is but
too true.

During the investigation of 1896 there was collected a
number of actual cases, which may illustrate the discrimi*
nations spoken of. So far as possible these have been
sifted and only those which seem undoubtedly true have
been selected.*

I. As to getting work.

It is hardly necessary to dwell upon the situation of the
Negro in regard to work in the higher walks of life : the
white boy may start in the lawyer's ofBce and work
himself into a lucrative practice; he may serve a
physician as ofBce boy or enter a hospital in a minor
position, and have his talent alone between him and

' One of the questions on the schedule was : "Haye you had any
difficulty in getting work ? " another : " Have yon had any difficolty in
renting houses?" Most of the answers were vague or general. Those
that were definite and apparently reliable were, so for as possible,
inquired into further, compared with other testimony and then used as
material for working out a list of discriminations; single and isolated
cases without corroboration were never taken. I believe those here
presented are reliable, although naturally I may have been deceived in
some stories. Of the general truth of the statement I am thoronghly
convinced.

Sect. 47.]

Color Prejndici

327

I

affluence and fame ; if he is bright in school, he may
make his mark in a university, become a tutor with some
time and much inspiration for study, and eventually fill
a professor's chair. AH these careers are at the very
outset closed to the Negro on account of his color; what
lawj'er would give even a minor case to a Negro assistant?
or what university would appoint a promising; young
Negro as tutor? Thus the young white man starts in life
knowing that within some limits and barring accidents,
talent and application will tell. The young Negro starts
knowing that on all sides his advance is made doubly
difficult if not wholly shut off, by his color. Let us come,
however, to ordinary occupations which concern more
nearly the mass of Negroes. Philadelphia is a great indus-
trial and business centre, with thousands of foremen,
managers and clerks— the lieutenants of industry, who
direct its progress. They are paid for thinking and for
skill to direct, and naturally such positions are coveted
because they are well paid, well thoiight-of and carry some
authority. To such positions Negro boys and girls may
not aspire no matter what their qualifications. Even as
teachers and ordinary clerks and stenographers they find
almost no openings. Let us note some actual instances:

A young woman who graduated with credit from the
Girls' Normal School in 1892, has taught in the kinder-
garten, acted as substitute, and waited in vain for a per-
manent position. Once she was allowed to substitute in a
school with white teachers ; the principal commended her
work, but when the permanent appointment was made a
white woman got it.

A girl who graduated from a Pennsylvania high school
and from a business college sougjht work in the city as a
stenographer and typewriter. A prominent lawyer under-
took to find her a position ; he went to friends and said,
" Here is a girl that does excellent work and is of good
character ; can you not giv 'e-

328

The Contact of the Rates. [Chap. XVI. I

diately answered yes. "But," said the lawyer, "I will be I
perfectly frank with you and tell you she is colored ;" and '
not iu the whole city could he hud a man willing to
employ her. It happened, however, that the girl was so
light in complexion that few not knowing would have |
suspected her descent. The lawyer therefore gave her i
temporary work in his own office until she found a position 1
outside the city. " But," said he, " to this day I have not
dared to tell my clerks that they worked beside a Negress."
Another woman graduated from the high school and the
Palmer College of Shorthand, but all over the city has met !
with nothing but refusal of work. I

Several graduates in pharmacy have sought to get their
three years required apprenticeship in the city and in only
one case did one succeed, although they offered to work for
nothing. One young pharmacist came from Massachusetts
and for weeks sought in vain for work here at any price;
" I wouldn't have a darky to clean out my store, much
less to stand behind the counter," answered one druggist
A colored man answered an advertisement for a clerk in 1
the suburbs. " What do you suppose we'd want of a '
nigger?" was the plain answer. A graduate of tlie
University of Pennsylvania in mechanical engineering,
well recommended, obtained work in the city, through an
advertisement, on account of his excellent record. He
worked a few hours and then was discharged because he
was found to be colored. He is now a waiter 9t the
University Club, where his white fellow graduates dine,*
Another young man attended Spring Garden Institute and
studied drawing for lithography. He had good references
from the institute and elsewhere, but application at the
five largest establishments in the city conld secure him no
work, A telegraph operator has hunted in vain for an
opening, and two graduates of the Central High School

Negro's success

, poiuled out hy a

s typifying the educated

Sect. 47-]

Color Prejudice.

339

I

have suok to menial labor. " What's the use of an educa-
tion ? " asked one. Mr. A has elsewhere been employed

as a traveling salesman. He applied for a position here by
letter and was told he could have one. When they saw
him they had no work for him.

Such cases could be multipiied indefinitely. But that is
not necessary ; one has but to note that notwithstanding
the acknowledged ability of many colored men, the Negro
is conspicuously absent from all places of honor, trust or
emolument, as well as from those of respectable grade in
commerce and industry-.

Even in the world of skilled labor the Negro is largely
excluded. Many would explain the absence of Negroes
from higher vocations by saying that while a few may now
and then be fonnd competent, the great mass are not fitted
for that sort of work and are destined for some time to
form a laboring class. In the matter of the trades, how-
ever, there can be raised no serious question of ability ;
for years the Negroes filled satisfactorily the trades of the
city, and to^iay in many parts of the South they are still
prominent. And yet in Philadelphia a determined preju-
dice, aided by public opinion, has succeeded nearly in
driving them from the field:

A , who works at a bookbinding establishment on

Front street, has learned to bind books and often does so
for his friends. He is not allowed to work at the trade in
the shop, however, but must remain a porter at a porter's
wages.

B is a brushmaker ; he has applied at several estab-
lishments, but they would not even examine his testi-
monials. They simply said : " We do not employ colored
people."

C is a shoemaker ; he tried to get work in some of

the large department stores. They "had noplace" for him.

D was a bricklayer, but experienced so much trouble

in getting work that he is now a m

330 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVL

£ is a painter, but has found it impossible to get

work because he is colored.

F is a telegraph line man, who formerly worked in

Richmond, Va. When he applied here he was told that
Negroes were not employed.

G is an iron puddler, who belonged to a Pittsbuig

union. Here he was not recognized as a union man and
could not get work except as a stevedore.

H was a cooper, but could get no work after repeated

trials, and is now a common laborer.

I is a candy maker, but has never been able to find

employment in the city ; he is always told that the white
help will not work with him.

J is a carpenter ; he can only secure odd jobs or

work where only Negroes are employed.

K was an upholsterer, but could get no work save in

the few colored shops, which had workmen ; he is now a
waiter on a dining car.

L was a first-class baker ; he applied for work some

time ago near Green street and was told shortly, "We
don't work no niggers here."

M is a good typesetter ; he has not been allowed to

join the union and has been refused work at eight different
places in the city.

N is a printer by trade, but can only find work as a

porter.

O— — is a sign-painter, but can get but little work.

P is a painter and gets considerable work, but never

with white workmen.

Q is a good stationary engineer, but can find no

employment ; is at present a waiter in a private family.

R was bom in Jamaica ; he went to England and

worked fifteen years in the Sir Edward Green Economizing
Works in Wakefield, Yorkshire. During dull times he
emigrated to America, bringing excellent references. He
applied for a place as mechanic in nearly all the large iron

Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 331

working establishments in the city. A locomotive works
assured him that his letters were all right, but that their
men would not work with Negroes. At a manufactory of
railway switches they told him they had no vacancy and
he could call again ; he called and finally was frankly told
that they conld not employ Negroes. He applied twice to
a foundry company: they told him: "We have use for
only one Negro — a porter," and refusing either further con-
versation or even to look at his letters showed hira out.
He then applied for work on a new building ; the man
told him he could leave an application, then added : " To
tell the truth, its no use, for we don't employ Negroes."
Thus the man has searched for work two years and has not
yet found a permanent position. He can only support his
family by odd jobs as a common laborer.

S is a stonecutter ; he was refused work repeatedly

on account of color. At last he got a job during a strike
and was found to be so good a workman that his employer
refused to dismiss him.

T was a boy, who, together with a white boy came

to the city to hunt work. The colored boy was very light
in complexion, and consequently both were taken in as
apprentices at a large locomotive works ; they worked
there some months, but it was finally disclosed that the
boy was colored ; he was dismissed and the white boy
retained.

These all seem typical and reliable cases. There are, of
course, some exceptions to the general rule, but even these
seem to confirm the fact that exclusion is a matter of preju-
dice and thoughtlessness which sometimes yields to determi-
nation and good sense. The most notable case in point is that
of the Midvale Steel Works, where a large number of Negro
workmen are regularly employed as mechanics and work
alongside whites.' If another foreman should take charge
there, or if friction should arise, it would be easy for all

• Cf. Section 93.

332 The Contact of the Races, [Chap. XVI.

this to receive a serious.* set-back, for ultimate success in
such matters demands many experiments and a widespread
public sympathy.

There are several cases where strong personal inflnence
has sectired colored boys positions ; in one cabinet making
factory, a porter who had served the firm thirty years,
asked to have his son learn the trade and work in the
shop. The workmen objected strenuously at first, but the
employer was firm and the young man has been at work
there now seven years. The S. S. White Dental Company
has a colored chemist who has worked up to his place and
gives satisfaction. A jeweler allowed his colored fellow-
soldier in the late war to learn the gold beaters' trade and
work in his shop. A few other cases follow :

A was intimately acquainted with a merchant

and secured his son a position as a typewriter in the
merchant's office.

B , a stationary engineer, came with his employer

from Washington and still works with him.

C , a plasterer, learned his trade with a firm in

Virginia who especially recommended him to the firm
where he now works.

D is a boy whose mother's friend got him work

as cutter in a bag and rope factory ; the hands objected
but the friend's influence was strong enough to keep him
there.

All these exceptions prove the rule, viz., that without
strong effort and special influence it is next to impossible
for a Negro in Philadelphia to get regular employment in
most of the trades, except he work as an independent
workman and take small transient jobs.

The chief agency that brings about this state of affairs
is public opinion ; if they were not intrenched, and strongly
intrenched, back of an active prejudice or at least passive
acquiescence in this effort to deprive Negroes of a decent
livelihood, both trades unions and arbitrary bosses would be

S5ct47.]

Color Prejudice.

333

powerless to do the harm they now do ; where, however, a
large section of the public more or less openly applaud the
stamina of a man who refuses to work with a "Nigger," the
results are inevitable. The object of the trades union is
purely business-like ; it aims to restrict the labor market, just
as the manufacturer aims to raise the price of his goods.
Here is a chance to keep out of the market a vast number
of workmen, and the unions sei^e the chance save in cases
where they dare not as in the case of the cigar-makers and
coal-miners. If they could keep out the foreign workmen
in the same way they would ; but here public opinion
within and without their ranks forbids hostile action. Of
course, most unions do not flatly declare their discrimi-
nations; a few plainly put the word "white" into their
constitutions ; most of them do not and will say that they
consider each case on its merits. Then they quietly black-
ball the Negro applicant. Others delay and temporize and
put off action until the Negro withdraws ; still others
discriminate against the Negro in initiation fees and dues,
making a Negro pay $100, where the whites pay $25. On
the other hand in times of strikes or other disturbances
cordial invitations to join are often sent to Negro work-

At a time when women are engaged in bread winning to a
larger degree than ever before, the field open to Negro
women is unusually narrow. This is, of course, due largely '
to the more intense prejudices of females on all subjects,

■Two newspaper c1ippiag9 will illustrate theattitudeof the workmen;
the fint relates to the ChineK appreiiti<:es taken iato the Baldwiu Loco-
motive Works:

The aaaouncement that the Baldwins had taken five Chinese appren-
tices made quite a stir among labor leaders. Some of them worked
themselves Into quite a fever of indignation. Charles P. Patrick, grand
organizer of the Boilermakers' Uuioa, was quite outspoken oa the

He said: "All this plan of patting Chinamen in to leam trsdes sonnda
nice and charitable to the Christian League, but how does it sound to tb«
ean of American mechanics who are walking the streets in search of

334

The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI. ,

and especially to the fact that women who work dislike to I
be in any way mistaken for menials, and they regard Negro
women as menials par excellence.

A , a dressmaker and seamstress of proven ability,

employmetit f 1 have traveled all over tbia countrf and Mexico, and I .
have never before seen Cbinameu given places over the beads of Ameri-
cans. In the West and in Mexico, Chinese labor is plentifnl, but the '
Chinamen are given only menial positions. They are servants, helpers
in the mines and laborers. I never before heard of a Chinaman being
given a place as an apprentice in a shop.

" Our government excludes Chinese labor from this conntry, yet here
is the Christian League seeking to put forbidden immigrantsinapoatioa
where they, with their peculiarly cheap, even beggarly style of living,
can compete with American labor. I have only been in this dty for *
few days, but I venture to say I have seen more beggars and men out of
work around Eighth and Market streets than I have seen in the whole
City of Mexico."

Missionary Frederic Poole disposed of this argument in a few words.
He said: " It is not my idea, nor the idea of Mr. Converse, that these
men should at any time compete with American worldngmen. It is not
the wish of the men themselves. Mr. Converse would not have given
them employment had any such thing been intended.

" To-dsy China is building a vast railroad to Pelcin that will open np
all the wealthy and fertile region of Central China. The enterprise is
under the direction of tbc government It will be io operation in about
four years. Men of intelligence will be needed for engineers, and th«te
my five prot^g^ will find their life work. It is not unlikely that the
Chinese Government will send for them before their apprenticeship is

John H. Converse was rather interested when he learned of objections
to his Chinese apprentices. " We might have expected such objections
from professional agitators," he said, "but I do not think you will leam
of any among our employes."

Continuing, he said: "The Baldwin Locomotive Works is now con-
structing eight locomotives for the Chinese Government, which will be
the first to run over the great new railroad being butit from Pekin to
Tien-Tsin. American workingmen would be very narrow indeed if they
cannot see that it is to their own immediate advantage that Chinese
mechanics fit to look after American locomotives shall be trained st once,
for the time is coming when thousands of American workingmen may be
kept busy from the extension of railroad building in China.

" These five boys are Philadelphians. Tbej were not brou{;ht here,
and every broad-minded mechanic will believe that their appreoticeahip
In our shops, should they, as they probablj will, return to Cliinft, tnnat
mean something for tbe AmericBU locomotive. They are the first to be

Sect. 47.]

Color Prejudice.

335

sought work in the large department stores. They all
commended her work, but could not employ her on account
of her color.

B is a typewriter, but has applied at stores and

admitted to a locomotive works in this country, and the tiewa will in all
likelihood create h more friendly feeling in the railroad department of
the Chinese Government for American products."

Mr. Converse said that his firm had no thought of extending tbe privi-
lege beyond the present number of Cbinese apprentices. — Philadelphia
Public Ledger, January 5, 1S97.

No Negro apprentices have ever been admitted.

The other clipping is a report of the di»cassioQ in the anaaal meeting
of the Federation of Labor;

The Negro question occupied the major portion of the session, and
a heated discussion was brought on by a resolution by Henry Lloyd,
reaffirming the declarations of the Federation that all labor, without
regard to color, is welcome to its ranks — denouncing as untrue in fact
the reported statements of Booker T. Washington that the trades unions
were placing obstacles in the way of the material advancement of the
Negro, and appealing to the records of the Federation Conventions
as complete answers to such false assertions.

This resolution caused much spirited discussion. Delegate Jones, of
Augnsta, Ga., spoke, claiming that the white laborer could not compete
with the Negro laborer, though organization would improve conditions
materially. President Gompera took part in the discussion, explaining
that the movement was not against the Negro laborer, but against the
cheap laborer, and that the textile workers of the East had been com-
pelled to contribute most of their means to teach laborers in the South
the benefits of organization.

He also made the point that the capitalist would profit by the failure
of the Negro laborers to organize, thus making the Negro an impediment
to labor movements.

C. P. Frahey, a Nashville delegate, insisted that the Negro was not the
-eqtiftl of the white man socially or industrially. He grew warm in speak-
ing of President Compters' remarks regarding the Negro in the labor
movement, and stated that the President had not revoked the commission
of a National Organizer who had patronized a non-union white tiarber
shop in preference to a union Negro barber shop.

The organizer had simply been allowed to resign and uo publicity had
been'given the matter. In answer to a qnestioii desiring the name of the
party, ;Fr«hey stated it was Jesse Johnson, president of the pressmen.

James O'Connell and P. J. McGuire spoke for the resolution. The
tatter!, insisted that Booker T. Washington was attempting to pnt the
NegTo|before the public as the victim of groee injtistice, and himself as the

33^

The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVlI

offices in vain for work ; " very sorry " they all say, but
they can give her no work. She has answered many
advertisements without result.

C has attended the Girls High School for two

years, and has been unable to find any work ; she is wash- _
ing and sewing for a living now.

D is a dressmaker and milliner, and does beai£

work. " Your work is very good," they say to her, " buq
if we hired you all of our ladies would leave."

E , a seamstress, was given work from a

once, to do at home. It was commended as satisfactory,
but they gave her no more.

F had two daughters who tried to get work as

stenographers, but got only one small job.

G is a graduate of the Girls High School, with I

excelJeut record ; both teachers and influential friends!
have been seeking work for her but have not been able to I
find any.

H a girl, applied at seven stores for some work |

not menial ; they had none.

I started at the Schuylkill, on Market street, andl

applied at almost every store nearly to the Delaware, for 1
work ; she was only offered scrubbing.'

Moses of the race. VL. D. Rathford insisted that drawing the color line
would be a blow to the miners' organization.

W. D. Mahon charged that Jones was not a representative ofSontbeni
trades uniouisni, having just joined the ranks. Jones then, in his own
defence, declared he did not oppose the Negro, but did contend that the
Negro laborer was lower than the white, citing an Atlanta case, where
whites and blaclcs had been jointly employed and the whites struck.

He wanted to know if there bad been any efforts made in the East to
organize Chinese who came in conflict with the union labor. PresideDt
Gompers then ruled that the discussion must cease.

The resolution which had caused the heated debate was adopted, and
the delegates went into executive session. — Publu Ltdsrr, E>eccmber
17, 1897.

■From the facts tabulated, it appears that one-twendetb of the colored
domestic servants of Philadelphia have trades, while in addition to tbi»
one-tenth have bad some higher school tinning uid ue prestiiaabty

Sect. 47.]

Color Prejudice.

337

3. So much for the difficulty of getting work. In
addition to this the Negro is meeting difficulties in keeping
the work he has, or at least the better part of it. Out-
side of all dissatisfaction with Negro work there are whims

fitted to be something more than ordinary domestics. Why then do they
not enter these fields instead of drifting itito or deliberately choosing
domestic service as a means of livelihood? The answer is simple.
In a majority of cases the reason why thejr do not enter other fields
is because they are colored not because they are incompetent. Many
initances might be cited in proof of Ihis, were proof needed. The
following cases are only some of those that were personally encountered by
the investigator in one ward of one city-
One very fair young girl, apparently a white girl, was employed as a
cleric in one of the large department atoies for over two years, so that
there was no question of her competency as a clerk. At the end of this
time it was discovered that she had colored blood and she was promptly
discharged. One young woman who had been a teacher and is now a
school janitress, teaching occasionally wlien extra htlp is needed, states
that she had received an appointment as typewriter in a certain Philadel-
phia office, on the strength of her letter of application and when she
appeared and was seen to be a colored girl, the position was refused her.
She said that her brother— whom people usually take to be a white mail
— after serving in the barbershop of a certain hotel for more than ten
years, was summarily discharged when it was learned that he was of
Negro birth. One woman, who was a seamstress and dressmaker, stated
that she had on several occasions gotten work from a certain church
home when she wore a heavy veil, on making her application at the
office, but that on the first occasion when she wore no veil her applica-
tion was refused and had been every time since. Of course many of the
wen in domestic service have had similar experiences. Ten men out
of one hundred and fifty-sis had trades, but none of them were members
of the trades unions.

Mt. McGuire, vice-president of the Federation of Labor, stated to the
present investigator that the Federation claims that colored men tnay
be members of any trade union represented in the Federation. But what
this profession amounts to may be judged from Mr, McGuire's further
statement, quoted verbatim: "A majority are willing to have them
admitted, but a strong minority will oppose it. Not a word will be said
against it in discussion, but quietly at the ballot they will rule them ouL"
How this profession of admission, which amounts to practical exclu-
sion, looks from the workingmaa's point of view is shown in the experi-
ence of a first-rate colored carpenter and builder in the Seventh Ward
vho was induced to apply for admission to the Carpenters' Union. He
Mked wa officer of the Ac Carpenters and

338

Tlie Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.

and fashions that affect his economic position ; to-day
general European travel has made the trained English
servant popular and consequently well-shaven white men-
servants, whether Englisli or not, find it easy to replace

Jtdnen, one of the allied societies of the American Federation of Labor,
if it would be of anj nse for him to spptj' to the Union for membership.
"If yott know yonr trade and are a carpenter in good and regnlar
standing, I see do fcaaon why joa sboold not become a member," said
the officer. " ' So he sent me to the present 5ecretary of the association,
and when I put the question to him. he said. ' Well, he didn't know
whether I could join or not, because they had never had s colored man
in tbe Union, but be would report it to the association here [Philadelphia]
and would write to headquarters in New Vork to see if it would be admi»-
«ible lo eater a colored man.' He put it on the ground of my color, yon
see." This application was made in December, 1896. The applicant was
told that the matter would be acted on ta the Union on a certain night in
January. 1897. and every attempt was made to send a man to report that
particular meeting, but without success. What occurred is not hard 10
guem, however, since tbe colored carpeuter whose case was then conad-
ered has received no word from tbe Union from that day to this. Be has
calle<l at the secretaiy's office three or four times and left word that he
would like to hear what action was taken regarding his application fof
admission to the Union, but December i, 1897, he had received no answer
to his application made in Deceuber, 1896.

The effect of tliis is well illustrated by the case of a young colored
•' waiter man " on Pine street, whose case may be taken as typical. He
had studied three years at Hampton, where he had learned in that lime
the stone-cotter's trade. He could practice this in Georgia, be said, but
in tbe South stone-cutters get only f z.oo a day as compared with {3.50,
sometimes 14,00 a day, in the North. So he came North with the promise
of a job of stone -cutting for a new block of buildings to be erected by ■
Philadelphian be had met in Georgia. Hcreceivcdtj.soaday. but when
the block was done he conld get no other job at slone-cntting and to
went inlo domestic service, where he is receiving J6.35 a week instead of
the (11,00 a week he should be receiving as a stone-cutter.

The effect on domestic service is to swell its already over-full ranks with
discontented young men and women whom one would naturally expect
to find rendering half-hearted service because they consider their domestic
work only a temporary makeshift employment. One sometimes hears it
aaid that " our waiter has graduated from such and such a school, but we
notice that he is not even a very good waiter." Such comments give rise
to the speculation as to the success in ditch digging which would be likely
to attend upon the labors of college professors, or indeed, how many of
the young wbitc men who have graduated from college and from law

Sect. 47.]

Color Prejudice.

339

Negro butlers and coachmen at higher wages. Again,
though a man ordinarily does not dismiss all his white
mill-hands because some turn out badly, yet it repeatedly
happens that men dismiss all their colored servants and
■condemn their race because one or two in their employ
have proven untrustworthy. Finally, the antipathies of
lower classes are so great that it is often impracticable to
mix races among the ser\'ants. A young colored girl
went to work temporarily in Gennantown ; " I should like
so much to keep you permanently," said the mistress, " but
all my other servants are white." She was discharged.
Usually now advertisements for help state whether white
or Negro servants are wanted, and the Negro who applies
at the wrong place must not be surprised to have the door
slammed in his face.

The difficulties encountered by the Negro on account of
sweeping conclusions made about him are manifold ; a
large building, for instance, has several poorly paid Negro
janitors, without facilities for their work or guidance in its
prosecution. Finally the building is thoroughly overhauled
or rebuilt, elevators and electricity installed and a well-paid
set of white uniformed janitors put to work under a re-
sponsible salaried chief. Immediately the public concludes
that the improvement in the service is due to the change
of color. In some cases, of course, the change is due to a
widening of the field of choice in selecting servants ; for
assuredly one cannot expect that one twenty-fifth of the
population can furnish as many good workmen or as
uniformly good ones as the other twenty-four twenty-fifths.
One actual case illustrates this tendency to exclude the

scboola would show themselves excellent waiters, particular! y if they
took up tlie work simply ss a temporary expedient. A "match" between
Vale and Hampton, where mental activities must be confined to the
walls of the butler's pantry, and where there were to be no " fumbles "
with soup plates, might bring out interesting and suggestive points.

IsABBi. Eaton,

340

The Contact of the Races. [Chap. X\'I.

N^ro without proper consideratiou from even menial
employment :

A great church which has a number of members among: I
the most respectable Negro families in the city has recently |
erected a large new building for its offices, etc., m the cit>".
As the building was nearing completion a colored clerg}'-
man of that sect was surprised to hear that uo Negroes
were to be employed in the building; he thought that a
peculiar stand for a Christian church to take and so he went
to the manager of the building ; the manager blandly
assured him that the rumor was tniej and that there was
not the shadow of a chance for a Negro to get employment
under him, except one woman to clean the water closet
The reason for this, he said, was that the janitors and help
were all to be uniformed and the whites would not wear
uniforms with Negroes. The clergj'Uian thereupon went
to a prominent member of the church who was serving on
the building committee ; he denied that the committee had
made any such decision, but sent him to another member
of the committee ; this member said the same thing and
referred to the third, a blunt business man. The business

man said ; " That building is called the Church

House, but it is more than that, it is a business enterprise,
to be nm on business principles. We hired a man to run
it so as to get the most out of it. We found such a man
in the present manager, and put all power in his hands.'*
He acknowledged then, that while the committee had
made no decision, the question of hiring Negroes had come
up and it was left solely to the manager's decision. The
manager thought most Negroes were dishonest and untrust-
worthy, etc. And thus the Christian church joins hands
with trades unions and a large public opinion to force
Negroes into idleness and crime.

Sometimes Negroes, by special influence, as has been
pointed out before, secure good positions; then there are
other cases where colored men have by sheer merit and

Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice.

pluck secured positions. In all these cases, however, they
are liable to lose their places through no fault of their own
and primarily on account of their Negro blood. It may be
that at first their Negro descent is not known, or other
causes may operate ; in all cases the Negro's tenure of
office is insecure :

A worked in a large tailor's establishment on

Third street for three weeks. His work was acceptable.
Then it became known he was colored and he was dis-
charged as the other tailors refused to work with him.

B , a pressman, was employed on Twelfth street, but

a week later was discharged when they knew he was
colored ; he then worked as a door-boy for five years, and
finally got another job in a Jewish shop as pressman.

C was nine years a painter in Stewart's Furniture

Factor)', until Stewart failed four years ago. Has
applied repeatedly, but could get no work on account of
color. He now works as a night watchman on the streets
for the city.

D was a stationary engineer; his employer died,

and he has never been able to find another.

E was light in complexion and got a job as driver ;

he " kept his cap on," but when they found he was colored
they discharged him.

F was one of many colored laborers at an ink

factory. The heads of the firm died, and now whenever a
Negro leaves a white man is put in his place.

G worked for a long time as a typesetter on Tag-

gart's Times; when the paper changed hands he was
discharged and has uever been able to get another job ; he
is now a janitor.

H was a brickmason, but his employers finally

refused to let him lay brick longer as his fellow workmen
were all white ; he is now a waiter.

L learned the trade of range-setting from his

employer ; the employer then refused him work and he

The Contact of the Races. [Chap. X\T.|
; be has taught four appren- \

342

went into business for himself ;
tices.

M is a woman whose husband was janitor for a

firm twenty years; when they moved to the new Betz
Building they discharged him as aU the janitors there were
white ; after his death they could find no work for his boy.

N was a porter in a book store and rose to be head

postmaster of a sub-station in Philadelphia which bandies
#250,000, it is said, a year ; he was also at the head of a
very efficient Bureau of Information in a large department
store. Recently attempts have been made to displace
him, for no specified fault but because "we waul his place
for another [whitej man."

O is a well-known instance ; an observer in 1898

wrote : " If any Philadelphian who is anxious to study the
matter with his own eyes, will walk along South Eleventh
street, from Chestnut down, and will note the most tasteful
and enterprising stationery and periodical store along the
way, it will pay him to enter it. On entering he will, accord-
ing to his way of thinking, be pleased or grieved to see that
it is conducted by Negroes. If the proprietor happens to be
in he may know that this keen-looking pleasant young
man was once assistant business manager of a large white
religious newspaper in the city. A change of management
led to his dismissal. No fault was found, his work was
commended, but a white man was put into his place, and
profuse apologies made.

"The clerk behind the counter is his sister; a neat lady-
like woman, educated, and trained in stenography and
typewriting. She could not find in the city of Fhiladel- I
phia, any one who had the slightest use for such a colored j
woman.

" The result of this situation is this little store, which is
remarkably successful. The proprietor owns the stock,
the store and the building. This is one tale of its sort with
a pleasant ending. Other tales are far less pleasing."

Sect. 47.]

Color Prejudice

343

Much discouragement results from the persistent refusal
to promote colored employes. The humblest white
employe knows that the better he does his work the more
chance there is for him to rise in the business. The black
employe knows that the better he does his work the longer
he may do it ; he cannot often hope for promotion. This
makes much of the criticism aimed against Negroes,
because some of them want to refuse menial labor, lose
something of its point. If the better class of Negro boys
could look on such labor as a stepping-stone to some-
thing higher it would be different ; if they must view it as
a Hfework we cannot wonder at their hesitation:

A has been a porter at a great locomotive works for

ten years. He is a carpenter by trade and has picked up
considerable knowledge of machinery ; he was formerly
allowed to work a little as a machinist ; now that is stopped
and he has never been promoted and probably never will be.

B has worked in a shop eight years and never been

promoted from his porter's position, although he is a capa-
ble man.

C is a porter ; he has been in a hardware store six

years ; he is bright and has repeatedly been promised
advancement but has never got it.

D was for seven years in a gang of porters in a

department store, and part of the time acted as foreman.
He had a white boy under him who disliked him ;
eventually the boy was promoted but he remained a
porter. Finally the boy became his boss and discharged
him.

K , a woman, worked long in a family of lawyers ; 3

white lad went into their office as office-boy and came to
be a member of the firm ; she had a smart, ambitious son
and asked for any sort of office work for him — anything in
which he could hope for promotion. " Why don't you
make him a waiter?" they asked.

•^ has for twenty-one years driven for a lumber

344 The Coniact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.

firni ; speaks Gennan and is very useful to them, but they
have never promoted him.

G was a porter ; he begged for a chance to work up ;

offering to do clerical work for nothing, but was refnsied.
White companions were repeatedly promoted over his head.
He has been a porter seventeen years.

H was a servant in the family of one of the membeis

of a large dry goods firm ; he was so capable that the
employer sent him down to the store for a place which
the manager very reluctantly gave him. He rose to be
registering clerk in the delivering department where he
worked fourteen years and his work was commended.
Recently without notice or complaint he was changed to
run an elevator at the same wages. He thinks that pres-
sure from otherinembers of the firm made him lose his work.

Once in a while there are exceptions to this rule. The ,
Pennsylvania Railroad has promoted one bright and persis- ,
tent porter to a clerkship, which he has held for years.
He had, however, spent his Ufe hunting chances for promo-
tion and had been told " You have ability enough, George,
if you were not colored ."

There is much discrimination against Negroes in wages.'

' In the case of the Colored people, the number of mother wage-
eamen more than doubles the number of widows. This ts due to the
small aveTBge wage of the Colored husband— the suiallest among the
twentj'-seTeu nationalities. The laundress is the economic supplement
of the porter. ... It is not because the Colored husband of this
district neglects his responsibility asa wage-winner thai so many Colored
women are forced into supplemental toil, for 9S.7 per cent of the Colored
husbands are wage-earners, and only 91.2 per cent of the American, 90.J
per cent of the Irish, 96 per cent of the German, 93.7 per cent of the
Italian, 93.1 per cent of the French. The Danes, 80 per cent; Cana-
dians, 81.8 per cenl; Russians, 85.7 per cent, and Hungarians, 88,8 pet
cent, have the smallest percentages. Of the more largely represented
nationalities, the French most nearly approach the Colored people in the
percentage of their wives who are wage-eamera; but while the Ptench
percentage is ai.6 per cent, the Colored people's percentage is 53,6 per
Dr. W. Laidlaw in the " Report of a Sociological Canvatsof the

Nineteenth Assembly District," a slum section of New York dty, i& J

.897.

Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 345

The Negroes have fewer chances for work, have been used
to low wages, and consequently the first thought that
occurs to the average employer is to give a Negro less than
he would offer a white man for the same work. This is
not universal, but it is widespread. In domestic service
of the ordinary sort there is no difference, because the
wages tire a matter of custom. When it comes to waiters,
butlers and coachmen, however, there is considerable
difference made ; while white coachmen receive from
$50-$75, the Negroes do not get usually more than
$30-$6o. Negro hotel waiters get from $i8-$20, while
whites receive $20-$30. Naturally when a hotel manager
replaces $20 men with $30 men he may expect, outside
any question of color, better service.

In ordinary work the competition forces down the wages
outside mere race reasons, though the Negro is the greatest
sufferer; this is especially the case in laundry work,
"I've counted as high as seven dozen pieces in that wash-
ing," said a wearj- black woman, " and she pays me only
$1.25 a week for it." Persons who throw away $5 a
week on gew-gaws will often haggle over twenty-five cents
with a washerwoman. There are, however, notable excep-
tions to these cases, where good wages are paid to persons
who have long worked for the same family.

Very often if a Negro is given a chance to work at a
trade his wages are cut down for the privilege. This gives
the workingman's prejudice additional intensity:

A got a job formerly held by a white porter ; the

wages were reduced from $12 to $8.

B worked for a firm as china packer, and they said

he was the best packer they had. He, however, received
but ft6 a week while the white packers received $12.

C has been porter and assistant shipping clerk in an

Arch street store for five years. He receives |6 a week
and whites get $8 for the same work.

D is a stationary engineer ; he learned his trade

346

The Conlacl of the Races. [Chap. XVI.

i

with this firm and has been with them ten years. Formerly
he received fg a week, now J10.50 ; whites get $12 for the
same work.

E is a stationary engineer and has been in his place

three years. He receives but $9 a week.

F works with several other Negroes with a firm of

electrical engineers. The white laborers receive $2 a
day : "We've got to be glad to get S175"

G was a carpenter, but could get neither sufficient

work nor satisfactory wages. For a job on which he
received $15 a week, his white successor got $18.

H , a cementer, receives $1.75 a day; white work-
men get $2-$3. He has been promised more next fall,

I , a plasterer, has worked for oue boss twenty-seven

years. Regular plasterers get $4 or more a day ; he does
the same work, but cannot join the union and is paid as a
laborer — $2.50 a day.

J works as a porter in a department store ; is mar-
ried, and receives $8 a week. " They pay the same to
white unmarried shop^rls, who stand a chance to be
promoted."

3. If a Negro enters some line of employment in which
people are not used to seeing him, he suffers from an
assumption that he is unfit for the work. It is reported
that a Chestnut street firm once took a Negro shop girl,
but the protests of their customers were such that they had
to dismiss her. A great many merchants hesitate to
advance Negroes lest they should lose custom. Negro
merchants who have attempted to start business in the city
at first encounter much difficulty from this prejudice:

A has a bakery ; white people sometimes enter and

finding Negroes in charge abruptly leave.

B is a baker and had a shop some years on Vine

street, but prejudice against him barred him from gaining
much custom.

C is a successful expressman with a large business ;,

Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 347

he is sometimes told by persons that they prefer to
patronize white expressmen.

D is a woman and keeps a hair store on South

street. Customers sometimes enter, look at her, and leave.

E is a music teacher on Ivombard street. Several

white people have 'entered and seeing him, said : " Oh \ I
thought you were white — exctise me ! " or " I'll call again I "

Even among the colored people themselves some preju-
dice of this sort is met. Once a Negro physician could
not get the patronage of Negroes because they were not
used to the innovation. Now they have a large part of the
Negro patronage. The Negro merchant, however, still
lacks the full confidence of his own people though this is
slowly growing. It is one of the paradoxes of this question
to see a people so discriminated against sometimes add to
their misfortunes by discriminating against themselves.
They themselves, however, are beginning to recognize this,

4, The chief discrimination against Negroes in expendi-
ture is in the matter of rents. There can be no reasonable
doubt but that Negroes pay excessive rents:

A P^id $13 a month wlere the preceding white

family had paid $10.

B paid $16; "heard that former white family paid

$12."

C paid $25 ; " heard that former white family paid

$20."

D paid $12; neighbors say that former white family

paid $9.

E paid $85, instead of $r8.

F paid $12, instead of $ro.

G the Negro inhabitants of the whole street pay J12

to $14 and the whites $9 and $10. The houses are all
alike.

H , whites on this street pay $i5-Ji8 ; Negroes pay

Not only is there this pretty general discrimination in

348 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.

rent, but agents aud owners will not usually repair the
houses of the blacks willingly or improve them. In
addition to this agents and owners in many sections utterly
refuse to rent to Negroes on any terms. Both these sorts
of discrimination are easily defended from a merely business
point of view ; public opinion in the city is such that the
presence of even a respectable colored family in a block
will affect its value for renting or sale ; increased rent to
Negroes is therefore a sort of insurance, and refusal to
rent a device for money-getting. The indefensible cnielty
lies with those classes who refuse to recognize the right of
respectable Negro citizens to respectable houses. Real
■estate agents also increase prejudice by refusing to dis-
criminate between different classes of Negroes. A quiet
Negro family" moves into a street- The agent finds no
great objection, and allows the next empty house to go to
any Negro who applies. This family may disgrace and
scandalize the neighborhood and make it harder for decent
families to find homes."

In the last fifteen years, however, public opinion has so
greatly changed in this matter that we may expect much
in the future. To-day the Negro population is more widely
scattered over the city than ever before. At the same time
it remains true that as a rule they must occupy the worst
houses of the districts where they live. The advance
made has been a battle for the better class of Negroes. An
■ex-Minister to Hayti moved to the northwestern part of
the city and his white neighbors insulted him, barricaded
their steps against him, and tried in every way to make
him move; to-day he is honored and respected in the
■whole neighborhood. Many such cases have occurred ; in

• Undoubtedly certain classes of Negroes bring much deserved criti-
cism on tliemseWes by irregulat payment oc default of rent, and by the
poor care they lake of property. They must not. however, be con-
fonnded with the better classes who make good customers ; this is again
ft place for careful discrimination.

Color Prejudice.

Sect. 47-]

others the result was different An estimable young Negro,
just married, moved with his bride into a little street. The
neighborhood rose in arms and besieged the tenant and the
landlord so relentlessly that the landlord leased the house
and compelled the young couple to move within a month.
One of the bishops of the A. M, B. Church recently moved
into the newly purchased Episcopal residence on Belmont
avenue, and his neighbors have barricaded their porches
against his view.

5. The chief discrimination against Negro children is in
the matter of educational facilities. Prejudice here works
to compel colored children to attend certain schools where
most Negro cliildren go, or to keep them out of private
and higher schools.

A tried to get her little girl into the kindergarten

nearest to her, at Fifteenth and Locust, The teachers
wanted her to send it down across Broad to the kinder-
garten chiefly attended by colored children and much
further away from its home. This journey was dangerous
for the child, but the teachers refused to receive it for six
months, until the authorities were appealed to.

In transfers from schools Negroes have difficulty in
getting convenient accommodations; only within compara-
tively few years have Negroes been allowed to complete
the course at the High and Normal Schools without diffi-
culty. Earlier than that the University of Pennsylvania
refused to let Negroes sit in the Auditorium and listen to lec-
tures, much less to be students. Within two or three years
a Negro student had to fight his way through a city dental
school witli his fists, and was treated with every indignity.
Several times Negroes have been asked to leave schools of
stenograpliy, etc., on account of their fellow students. In
1893 a colored woman applied at Temple College, a church
institution, for admission and was refused and advised to
go elsewhere. The college then offered scholarships to
churches, but would not admit applicants from colored

350

The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.

churches. Two years later the same woman applied again.
The faculty declared that they did not object, but that the
students would ; she persisted and was finally admitted
with evident reluctance.

It goes without saying that most private schools, mnsic
schools, etc., will not admit Negroes and in some cases
have insulted applicants.

Such is the tangible form of Negro prejudice in Phila-
delphia. Possibly some of the particuUir cases cited can
be proven to have had extenuating circumstances uuknowa
to the investigator ; at the same time many not cited would
be just as much in point. At any rate no one who lias with
any diligence studied the situation of the Negro in the city
can long doubt but that his opportunities are limited and
his ambition circumscribed about as has been shown. There
are of course numerous exceptions, but the mass of the
Negroes have been so often refused openings and discour-
aged in efforts to better their condition that many of them
say, as one said, " I never apply — I know it is useless."
Beside these tangible and measurable forms there are
deeper and less easily described results of the attitude of
the white population toward the Negroes : a certain
manifestation of a real or assumed aversion, a spirit of
ridicule or patronage, a vindictive hatred in some, absolute
indifference ia others ; all this of course does not make
much difference to the mass of the race, but it deeply
wounds the better classes, the very classes who are attain-
ing to that to which we wish the mass to attain. Notwith-
standing all this, most Negroes would patiently await the
effect of time and coramonsense on such prejudice did it
not to-day touch them in matters of life and death ;
threaten their homes, their food, their children, their hopes.
And the result of this is bound to be increased crime,
inefficiency aud bitterness.

It would, of course, be idle to assert that most of the
Negro crime was caused by prejudice ; the violent economic

I

4

Sect. 47.]

Color Prejudice.

351

and social changes which the last fifty years have brought
to the American Negro, the sad social history that preceded
these changes, have all contributed to unsettle morals and
pervert talents. Nevertheless it is certain that Negro
prejudice in cities like Philadelphia has been a vast factor
in aiding and abetting all other causes which impel a
half-developed race to recklessness and excess. Certainly
a great amount of crime cau be without doubt traced to the
discrimination against Negro boys and girls in the matter
of employment Or to put it diflferently, Negro prejudice
costs the city something.

The connection of crime and prejudice is, on the other
hand, neither simple nor direct. The boy who is refused
promotion in his job as porter does not go out and snatch
somebody's pocketbook. Conversely the loafers at Twelfth
and Kater streets, and the thugs in the county prison are
not usually graduates of high schools who have been
refused work. The connections are much more subtle and
dangerous ; it is the atmosphere of rebellion and discontent
that unrewarded merit and reasonable but unsatisfied
ambition make. The social environment of excuse, listless
despair, careless indulgence and lack of inspiration to
work is the growing force that turns black boys and g^rls
into gamblers, prostitutes and rascals. And this social
environment has been built up slowly out of the dis-
appointments of deserving men and the sloth of the un-
awakened. How long can a city say to a part of its citizens,
" It is useless to work ; it is fruitless to deserve well of
men; education will gain you nothing but disappointment
and humiliation? " How long can a city teach its black
children that the road to success is to have a white face ?
How long can a city do this and escape the inevitable
penalty ?

For thirty years and more Philadelphia has said to its
black children ; " Honesty, efficiency and talent have little
to do with your success ; if you work hard, spend little and

352 The Contact of the Races. [Cliap. X\'I,

are good you may earn your bread and butter at those sorts
of work which we frankly confess we despise ; if you are
dishonest and lazy, the State will furnish your bread free."
Thus the class of Negroes which the prejudices of the city
have distinctly encouraged is that of the crimiaal, the lazy
and the shiftless ; for them the city teems with institutions
and charities ; for them there is succor and sympathy ; for
them Philadelphians are thinking and planning; but for
the educated and industrious young colored man who
wants work and not platitudes, wages and not alms, just
rewards and not sermons — for such colored men Philadel-
phia apparently has no use.

What then do such meu do? What becomes of the
graduates of the many schools of the city ? The answer
is simple: most of those who amount to anything leave
the city, the others take what they cau get for a livelihood,
I^et us for a momentglance at the statistics of three colored
schools : '

1. The O. V. Catto Primary School.

2. The Robert Vaux Grammar School.

3. The Institute for Colored Youth.

There attended the Catto school, 1867-97, 59^5 pupils.
Of these there were promoted from the full course, 653.
129 of the latter are known to be in positions of higher
grade ; or taking out 93, who are still in school, there
remain 36 as follows: 18 teachers, 10 clerks, 2 physicians,
2 engravers, 2 printers, i lawyer and i mechanic

The other 524 are for the most part in service, laborers
and housewives. Of the 36 more successful ones fully half
are at work outside of the city.

Of the Vaux school there were, 1877-89, 76 graduates.
Of these there are 16 unaccounted for ; the rest are ;

Teachers 27

Musidaoa 5

Merchants 3

Barbera

Clerks ,
Phjsicia

• Kindly furnished by the principals of these school*.

Sect. 47.] Color Prejudice. 353

Mechanic i Deceased 8

Clergymen 3 Housewives 5

47

From one-half to two-thirds of these have been compelled
to leave the city in order to find work ; one, the artist,
Tanner, whom France recently honored, conld not in his
native land much less in his native city find room for his
talents. He taught school in Georgia in order to earn
money enough to go abroad.

The Institute of Colored Youth has had 340 graduates,
1856-97 ; 57 of these are dead. Of the 283 remaining 91
are unaccounted for. The rest are :

Teachers 117 Electrical Engineer . . i

Lawyers 4 Professor . i

Physicians 4 Government clerks ... 5

Musicians 4 Merchants 7

Dentists 3 Mechanics 5

Clergymen 2 Clerks 23

Nurses 2 Teacher of cooking . . i

Editor I Dressmakers 4

Civil Engineer i Students 7

192

Here, again, nearly three-fourths of the graduates who
have amounted to anything have had to leave the city for
work. The civil engineer, for instance, tried in vain to
get work here and finally had to go to New Jersey to teach.

There have been 9, possibly 11, colored graduates of the
Central High School. These are engaged as follows :

Grocer i Porter i

Clerks in service of city . 2 Butler i

Caterer i Unknown 3 or 5

It is high time that the best conscience of Philadelphia
awakened to her duty ; her Negro citizens are here to
remain ; they can be made good citizens or burdens to the
community ; if we want them to be sources of wealth and
power and not of poverty and weakness then they must be

354 "^^ Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.

given employment according to their ability and encour-
aged to train that ability and increase their talents by the
hope of reasonable reward. To educate boys and girls and
then refuse them work is to train loafers and rogues.'"

From another point of view it could be argued with
much cogency that the cause of economic stress, and conse-
quently of crime, was the recent inconsiderate rush of
Negroes into cities ; and that the unpleasant results of this
migration, while deplorable, will nevertheless serve to
check the movement of Negroes to cities and keep them in
the country where their chance for economic development is
widest. This argument loses much of its point from the
fact that it is the better class of educated Philadelphia-
bom Negroes who have the most difficulty in obtaining
employment. The new immigrant fresh from the South is
much more apt to obtain work suitable for him than the
black boy born here and trained in efficiency- Neverthe-
less it is undoubtedly true that the recent migration has
both directly and indirectly increased crime and competi-
tion. How is this movement to be checked ? Much can
be done by correcting misrepresentations as to the oppor-
tunities of city life made by designing employment
bureaus and thoughtless persons ; a more strict surveillance
of criminals might prevent the iuflux of undesirable
elements. Such efforts, however, would not toucli the
main stream of immigration. Back of that stream is the
world-wide desire to rise in the world, to escape the
choking narrowness of the plantation, and the lawless
repression of the village, in the South. It is a search for
better opportunities of living, and as such it must be dis-
couraged and repressed with great care and delicacy, if at
all. The rea! movement of reform is the raising of
economic standards and increase of economic opportunity
in the South. Mere land and climate without law and

w Cf. on this point the interesting article of John Stevens Durham in
the Atlantic Monthly, 1898.

J.

Sect 48.] Benevolence. 355

order, capital and skill, will not develop a country. When
Negroes in the South have a larger opportunity to work,
accumulate property, be protected in life and limb, and
encourage pride and self-respect in their children, there
will be a diminution in the stream of immigrants to
Northern cities. At the same time if those cities practice
industrial exclusion against these immigrants to such an
extent that they are forced to become paupers, loafers and
criminals, they can scarcely complain of conditions in the
South. Northern cities should not, of course, seek to
encourage and invite a poor quality of labor, with low
standards of life and morals. The standards of wages and
respectability should be kept up ; but when a man reaches
those standards in skill, efficiency and decency no question
of color should, in a civilized community, debar him from
an equal chance with his peers in earning a living.

48. Benevolence." — In the attitude of Philadelphia
toward the Negro may be traced the same contradictions
so often apparent in social phenomena; prejudice and
apparent dislike conjoined with widespread and deep
sympathy ; there can, for instance, be no doubt of the
sincerity of the efforts put forth by Philadelphians to help
the Negroes. Much of it is unsystematic and ill-directed
and yet it has behind it a broad charity and a desire to
relieve suffering and distress. The same Philadelphian
who would not let a Negro work in his store or mill, will
contribute handsomely to relieve Negroes in poverty and
distress. There are in the city the following charities
exclusively designed for Negroes :

Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, Belmont
and Girard avenues.**

u No attempt has been made here to make any intensive study of the
efforts to help Negroes, which are widespread and commendable; they
need, however, a study which would extend the scope of this inquiry
too far.

» Founded, and supported in part, by Negroes. Cf Chap. XII.

356 The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.

Home for Destitute Colored Children, Berks street and
Old Lancaster road.

St. Mary Day Nursery, 1627 Lombard street.

The Association for the Care of Colored Orphans, Forty-
fourth and Wallace streets.

Frederick Douglass Memorial Hospital and Training
School, 1512 Lombard street."

Magdalen Convent House of the Good Shepherd (Roman
Catholic), Penn and Chew streets, Germantown.

St. Mary's Mission for Colored People, 1623-29 Lombard
street.

Raspberry Street School, 229 Raspberry street.

The Star Kitchen, and allied enterprises. Seventh and
Lombard streets.

Colored Industrial School, Twentieth street, below
Walnut.

Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, for Indians and Colored
People, ComwelPs Station, Pa.

Men's Guild House, 1628 Lombard street.

House of St. Michael and All Angels, 613 North Fort)--
third street.

The Industrial Exchange Training School and Dormi-
tory, 756 South Twelfth street"

Fifty-nine of the charities mentioned in the Civic Club
Digest discriminate against colored persons. Fifly-one
societies profess to make no discrimination ; in the case of
the larger and better known societies this is true, as, for
instance, the Home Missionary Society, the Union Benevo-
lent Association, the Protestant Episcopal City Mission,
the Charity Organization Society, the Children's Aid
Society, the Society to Prevent Cruelty to Children, etc.
Others, however, exercise a silent policy against Negroes.
The Country Week Association, for instance, would rather
Negroes should not apply, although it sends a few away

'* Pounded, and supported in part, by Negroes. Cf. Chap. XIL

If (( ((

f( II

II II

Sect 48.] Benevolence. 357

each summer. Colored applicants at the building of the
Young Woman's Christian Association are not very
welcome. So with many other societies and institutions.
This veiled discrimination is very unjust, for it makes it
seem as though the Negro had more help than he does.
On the other hand between donors, prejudiced persons,
friends of the Negro, and the beneficiaries, the managers of
many of these enterprises find it by far the easiest method
silently to draw the color line.

Fifty-seven other charities make no explicit statement as
to whether they discriminate or not To sum up then :

Charitable agencies exclusively for Negroes 14

•* Whites 59

which profess not to discriminate,

but in some cases do 51

which make no statements, but usu-
ally discriminate 57

181

On the whole it is fair to say that about one half of
the charities of Philadelphia, so far as mere numbers
are concerned, are open to Negroes. In the difierent
kinds of charity, however, some disproportion is notice-
able. Of direct almsgiving, the most questionable and
least organized sort of charity, the Negroes receive
probably far more than their just proportion, as a study
of the work of the great distributing societies clearly
shows. On the other hand, protective, rescue and reforma-
tory work is not applied to any great extent among them.
Consequently, while actual poverty and distress among
Negroes is quickly relieved, there are only a few agencies
to prevent the better classes from sinking or to reclaim
the fallen or to protect the helpless and the children.
Even the agencies of this sort open to the Negroes are not
always taken advantage of, partly through ignorance and
carelessness, partly because they fear discrimination or be-
cause they are apt to be treated the same whether they be
from Addison street or Middle alley.

358

The Contact oj the Races. [Chap. X\T.l

Much of the benevolence of the whites has been checked
because the classes on whom it has been showered have
not appreciated it, and because there has been no careful
attempt to discriminate between difEereut sorts of Negroes.
After all, the need of the Negro, as of so many unfortunate
classes, is " not alms but a friend."

There are a few homes, asylums, nurseries, hospitals and
the like for work among Negroes, which are doing excel-
lent work and deserve commendation. It is to be hoped
that this sort of work will receive needed encouragement

4g. The Intermarriage of the Races. — For years much
has been said on the destiny of the Negro with regard to
intermarriage with the whites. To many this seems the
difficulty that differentiates the Negro question from all
other social questions which we face, and makes it seem-
ingly insoluble ; the questions of ignorance, crime and ■
immorality, these argue, may safely be left to the influence J
of time and education ; but will time and training ever \
change the obvious fact that the white people of the
country do not wish to mingle socially with the Negroes
or to join blood in legal wedlock with them ? This prob-
lem is, it must be acknowledged, difficult. Its difficulty
arises, however, rather from an ignorance of surrounding
facts than from the theoretic argument. Theor>' in such
case is of little value; the white people as members of the
races now dominant in the world naturally boast of their
blood and accomplishments, and recoil from an alliance
with a people which is to^ay represented by a host of
untrained and uncouth ex-slaves. On the other hand,
whatever his practice be, the Negro as a free AmeticaB
citizen must just as strenuously maintain that marriage is
a private contract, and that given two persons of proper
age and economic ability who agree to enter into that
relation, it does not concern any one but themselves as to
whether one of them be white, black or red. It is thus
that theoretical argument comes to an unpleasant stand- J

Sect. 49'] '^^^ Intermarriage of the Races.

still, and its further pursuit really settles nothing, nay,
rather unsettles much, by bringing men's thoughts to a
question that is, at present at least, of little practical impor-
tance. For in practice the matter works itself out : the
average white person does not marry a Negro ; and the
average Negro, despite his theory, himself marries one of
his race, and frowns darkly on his fellows unless they do
likewise. In those very circles of Negroes who have a
large infusion of white blood, where the freedom of mar-
riage is most strenuously advocated, white wives have
always been treated with a disdain bordering on insult,
and white husbands never received on any terms of social
recognition.

Notwithstanding theory and the practice of whites and
Negroes in general, it is nevertheless manifest that the
white and black races have mingled their blood in this
country to a vast extent. Such facts puzzle the foreigner
and are destined to puzzle the future historian. A serious
student of the subject gravely declares in one chapter that
the races are separate and distinct and becoming more so,
and in another that by reason of the intermingling of
white blood the "original type of the African has almost
completely disappeared ; " '* here we have reflected the
prevailing confusion in the popular mind. Race amalga-
mation is a fact, not a theory ; it took place, however,
largely under the institution of slavery and for the most
part, though not wholly, outside the bonds of legal
marriage. With the abolition of slavery now, and the
establishment of a self-protecting Negro home the question
is, what have been the tendencies and the actual facts with
regard to the intermarriage of races? This is the only
question with which studeuts have to do, and this singu-
larly enough has been the one which they, with curious
unanimity, have neglected. We do not know the facts

"Hoffman's "Race Traits and Tendencies," etc.,

I and 177.

j6o The Contact of the Races, [C;:;:p. XVl'

with regard to the mingling of white and black blood in
the past save in a most general and unsatisfactory way ;
we do not know the facts for to-day at all. And yet, of
course, without this knowledge all philosophy of the
situation is vain ; only long observation of the course of
intermarriage can furnish us that broad knowledge of facts
which can serve as a basis for race theories and final con-
clusions/*

The first legal obstacle to the intermarriage of whites
and blacks in Pennsylvania was the Act of 1726, which
forbade such unions in terms that would seem to indicate
that a few such marriages had taken place. Mulattoes early
appeared in the State, and especially in Philadelphia, some
being from the South and some from up the State. Sailors
from this port in some cases brought back English, Scotch
and Irish wives, and mixed families immigrated here at the
time of the Haytian revolt. Between 1820 and i860 many
natural children were sent from the South and in a few
cases their parents followed and were legally married here.
Descendants of such children in many cases forsook the
mother's race ; one became principal of a city school, one
a prominent sister in a Catholic church, one a bishop, and
one or two oflScers in the Confederate army.** Some mar-
riages with Quakers took place, one especially in 1825,
when a Quakeress married a Negro, created much com-
ment. Descendants of this couple still survive. Since
the War the number of local marriages has considerably
increased.

In this work there was originally no intention of treating
the subject of intermarriage, for it was thought that the data
would be too insignificant to be enlightening. When,

'^ Hoffman has the results of some intermarriages recorded, bnt thej
are chiefly reports of criminals in the newspapers, and thus manifestlj
unfair for generalization.

>* Prom a personal letter of a life-long Philadelphian, whose name I am
not at liberty to quote.

Sect 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races.

361

however, in one ward of the city thirty-three cases of
mixed marriages were found, and it was known that there
were others in that ward, and probably a similar proportion
in many other wards, it was thought that a study of these
thirty-three families might be of interest and be a small
contribution of fact to a subject where facts are not easily
accessible.

The size of these families varies, of course, with the
question as to what one considers a family ; if we take the
" census family," or all those living together under circum-
stances of family life in one home, the average size of the
thirty-three families of the Seventh Ward in which there
were intermarried whites was 3.5. If we take simply the
father, mother and children, the average size was 2.9.
There were ninety-seven parents and children in these
families, and twenty other relatives living with them,
making 117 individuals in the families. Tabulated they
are as follows :

Number of
Ptfrsons in the

Number of Persons in the Census Family.

Total

Real

Families.

Total Indi-
viduals in

Real Family.

2

3

4

5

6

13

Real
Family.

Two ....
Three . . .
Pour . . .

II

•

4
5

I

•

6

I

• • •

• • *

2

• • •

. . •

I
I

• *

I

• •
• • ■

• •

17
6

6

3
I

18
24

15
6

Five ....

Six .

• • •

• •

• • •

Total Census
. Families.

II

9

7

3

2

I

33

97

Total Indiyid-

uals in Census

Family.

22

27

28

15

12

13

117 ,
Individuals in
Census Family.

Of the intermarried whites there are four husbands and
twenty-nine wives. Let us first consider the families
having the four white husbands :

362

The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI.

Four Whits Husbands.

No. X.

No. a.

No. 3-

No. 4.

Age

48

52

31

32

Birthplace . .
No. of yean res-

Philadelphia.

Georgia.

Cuba?

?

ident in Phil-

adelphia . .
Reads and

48

7

?

12

Writes?

Reads.

Yes.

Yes.

Yes.

Occupation . .

Street car dri-
ver, laborer.

Motorman on
electric cars.

Tobacconist

Painter.

No. of Children

\iy this Mar-

riage ....

4

0

0

0

Social grade . .

Third.

Second.

Fourth.

?

Thbir Four Nbgro Wivss.

Na 1.

No. 2.

No. 3.

No. 4.

Age

38

29

30

28

Birthplace . .

Maryland,

Georgia.

?

Virs^nia.

Years resident

in Philadel-

phia . . • .

25

7

?

IX

Reads and

Writes . . . No.

Reads.

Yes.

Yes.

Occupation . . Housewife and

Housewife.

Housewife.

Cook.

day's-work.

Children by this

Marriage . .

4

0

0

0

Social grade .

Third.

Second.

Fourth.

?

The third family may be simply a case of cohabitation,
and not enough is known of the fourth to make any judg-
ment The second family lives in a comfortable home and
appears contented. The first family is poor and the man
lazy and good-natured.

The twenty-nine white wives were of the following ages :

15 to 19 X

ao to 24 7

25 to 29 • 8

30 to 39 8

40 to 49 3

50 and over x

Unknown i

ToUl

29

Sect 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races. 363

They were born as follows :

Philadelphia 6 Hungary

IreUnd 6 Virginia

Bngland 3 Maxyland

Scotland 2 Delaware ......

New York 2 Unknown

Germany 2 —

Canada i Total 29

By rearranging this table we have for the known cases^:

Bom in Philadelphia 6

•* *• the United States 11

•• •• *• North 8

" " •* South 3

*• *• foreign lands 15

Those not bom in Philadelphia have resided there as
follows :

Less than i year i

One to three years • ^ .• I

Five to ten years 3

Over ten years 8

Unknown 10

Bom in Philadelphia 6

29

These wives are occupied as follows :

Housewives • • 18

" and day's-work 3

Waitresses • 2

No occupation or unknown 3

Cook I

Merchant 1

Service .' z

29

Only one of these women was reported as illiterate, and
in the case of three no return was made as to illiteracy.

Fourteen of these wives had no children by this mar-
riage ; 6 had i child, 6 had 2 children, 3 had 3 children ;

364

The Contact of the Races, [Chap. XVI.

making 27 children in all. Of the 14 having no children
5 were women under twenty-five recently married ; 2 were
women over forty and probably past child-bearing. Several
of the remaining 7 were, in all probability, lewd.

Of the colored husbands of these white wives we have
the following statistics :

Age^vi to 24 2

25 to 29 5

30 to 39 12

40 to 49 7

^fWA//a^— Philadelphia ... 5

Maryland .... 5

Vii^nia 5

District of Columbia 3

Delaware 2

Kentucky .... i

New Jersey .... i

Texas i

50 and over i

Unknown 3

Total 29

North Carolina .... i

Massachusetts .... i

Alabama i

New York i

Unknown 3

Total 29

Born in Philadelphia 5

" " North .... 8

•• South 19

(<

Illiteracy— Qbu read and write 33

Illiterate 4

Unknown 3

Total 29

Occupations —

Waiter

Porter

Barber

Steward

Cook

Restaurant Keeper .
Helper and Engineer

9

3

2

2
2
2
I

Baker and Merchant .
Stationary Engineer .

Laborer

Stevedore

Caterer

Messenger

Bootblack

Unknown

Total 29

The social grade of thirty-two of these families is thought
to^be as follows :

First grade, four families. These all live well and are

Sect 49*] ^^ Intermarriage of the Races.

365

comfortable ; the wife stays at home and the children
at school. Everything indicates comfort and content-
ment.

Second grade, fifteen families. These are ordinary work-
ing-class families ; the wife in some cases helps as a bread
winner ; none of them are in poverty, many are young
couples just starting in married life. All are decent and
respectable.

Third grade, six families. These are poor families of
low grade, but not immoral; some are lazy, some unfor-
tunate.

Fourth grade, seven families. Many of these are cases
of permanent cohabitation and the women for the most
part are or were prostitutes. They live in the slums mostly,
and in some cases have lived together many years. None
of them have children, or at least have none living with
them at present

Let us now glance a moment at the 31 children of
these mixed marriages : 27 bom of white mothers by
Negro husbands, and 4 of Negro mothers by white
husbands:

Age.

Under i year
1-2

3-5

6-10 . . . .

11-15 . . . .
16-19 • • • .
20-29 . . . .

Total

Male.

o

2

4

3

3
2

2

16

Pemmle.

3

3

3

5
I

15

Total.

3
5
7
8

4

2

2

31

Of school age, 5-20 14

Number in school 12

Namber over 10 who are illiterate o

At work, I, as porter.

The homes occupied by these families and the rents
paid monthly are :

366

The Contact of the Races. [Chap. XVI-

Number of Rooms.

I (tenant)
I (lodging)

2

3

4

5

6

8 or more

Total

voder.

16-xo.

#11-15.

|z6-90.

Over ^M.

2

3

2

5

4

4
2

3

I

2
2

3

5

7

13

I

7

Total
PamUlM.

4
3

9

4

2

6

2

3

33

One family owns real estate (building lots).

One family belongs to a building and loan association.

The data here presented constitute too narrow a basis for
many general conclusions even for a single city. Of the 2441
families in the ward these families represent 1.35 per cent
There are two or more other cases in the Seventh Ward
not catalogued. If this percentage holds good in the
remaining parts of the city there would be about one
hundred and fifty such marriages in the city ; there are no
data on this point.

It is often said that only the worst Negroes and lowest
whites intermarry. This is certainly untrue in Philadel-
phia ; to be sure among the lowest classes there is a large
number of temporary unions and much cohabitation. In
the case of the Seventh Ward several of such cases were
not noticed at all in the above record as they savor more of
prostitution than of marriage. On the other hand it is an
error certainly in this ward to regard marriages of this sort
as confined principally to the lower classes ; on the con-
trary they take place most frequently in the laboring
classes, and especially among servants, where there is the
most contact between the races. Among the best class of
Negroes and whites such marriages seldom occur although
one notable case occurred in 1897 in Philadelphia, where
there could be no question of the good social standing of
the parties.

Sect. 49.] The Intermarriage of the Races, 367

As to the tendencies of the present, and the general
result of such marriages there are no reliable data. That
more separations occur in such marriages than in others is
very probable. It is certainly a strain on affections to
have to endure not simply the social ostracism of the whites
but of the blacks also. Undoubtedly this latter acts as a
more practical deterrent than the first For, while a
Negro expects to be ostracized by the whites, and his
white wife agrees to it by her marriage vow, neither of
them are quite prepared for the cold reception they invari-
ably meet with among the Negroes. This is the con-
sideration that makes the sacrifice in such marriages
great, and makes it perfectly proper to give the aphoristic
marriage advice of Punch to those contemplating such
alliances. Nevertheless one must candidly acknowledge
that there are respectable people who are thus married and
are apparently contented and as happy as the average of
mankind. It is difficult to see whose concern their choice
is but their own, or why the world should see fit to insult
or slander them.

CHAPTER XVII.

NEGRO SUFFRAGE.

50. The Significance of the Experiment. — The indis-
criminate granting of universal suffrage to freedmen and
foreigners was one of the most daring experiments of a too
venturesome nation. In the case of the Negro its only
justification was that the ballot might serve as a weapon of
defence for helpless ex-slaves, and would at one stroke
enfranchise those Negroes whose education and standing
entitled them to a voice in the government. There can be
no doubt but that the wisest provision would have been an
educational and property qualification impartially enforced
against ex-slaves and immigrants. In the absence of such
a provision it was certainly more just to admit the
untrained and ignorant than to bar out all Negroes in spite
of their qualifications ; more just, but also more dangerous.

Those who from time to time have discussed the results
of this experiment have usually looked for their facts in
the wrong place, i, ^., in the South. Under the peculiar
conditions still prevailing in the South no fair trial of the
Negro voter could have been made. The "carpet-bag"
governments of reconstruction time were in no true sense
the creatures of Negro voters, nor is there to-day a Southern
State where free untrammeled Negro suffrage prevails. It
is then to Northern communities that one must turn to
study the Negro as a voter, and the result of the experi-
ment in Pennsylvania while not decisive is certainly
instructive.

51. The History of Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania. —
The laws for Pennsylvania agreed upon in England in
1682 declared as qualified electors " every inhabitant in the
said province, that is or shall be a purchaser of one

(368)

Sect. 51.] Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania. 369

hundred acres of land or upwards, .... and every person
that hath been a servant or bondsman, and is free by his
service, that shall have taken up his fifty acres of land,
and cultivated twenty thereof;" and also some other
taxpayers.*

These provisions were in keeping with the design of
partially freeing Negroes after fourteen years service and
contemplated without doubt black electors, at least in
theory. It is doubtful if many Negroes voted under this
provision although that is possible. In the call for the
Convention of 1776 'no restriction as to color was men-
tioned,' and the constitution of that year gave the right
of suffrage to " every freeman of the full age of twenty-one
years, having resided in this State for the space of one
whole year."* Probably some Negro electors in Penn-
sylvania helped choose the framers of the Constitu-
tion.

In the Convention of 1790 no restriction as to color was
adopted and the suffirage article as finally decided upon
read as follows :

** Article III, Section i. In elections by the citizens,
every freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having
resided in the State two years next before the election, and
within that time paid a State or county tax, which shall
have been assessed at least six months before the election,
shall enjoy the rights of an elector." *

Nothing in the printed minutes of the convention indi-
cates any attempt in the convention to prohibit Negro
suffrage, but Mr. Albert Gallatin declared in 1837: **I
have a lively recollection that in some stages of the discus-
sion the proposition pending before the convention limited

^ *' Minutes of the Conventions of 1776 and 1790," (Ed. 1825) pp. 32-33;
Cf. p. 26.
» Ibid., pp. 38-39.
» Ibid,, p. 57.
* Ibid,, p. 300. Cf. *' Purdon's Digest," sixth edition.

24

370 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVIL

the right of suffrage to * free white citizens/ eta, and that
the word white was struck out on my motion." *

It was alleged afterward that in 1795 the question came
before the High Court of Errors and Appeals and that its
decision denied the right to Negroes. No written decision
of this sort was ever found, however, and it is certain that
for nearly a half century free Negroes voted in parts of
Pennsylvania.*

As the Negro population increased, however, and ignor-
ant and dangerous elements entered, and as the slavery
controversy grew warmer, the feeling against Negroes
Increased and with it opposition to their right to vote. In
July, 1837, the Supreme Court sitting at Sunbury took np
the celebrated case of Hobbs et al. against Fogg. Fogg
was a free Negro and taxpayer, and had been denied the
right to vote by Hobbs and others, the judges and inspec-
tors of election in Luzerne County. He brought action and
was sustained in the Court of Common Pleas, but the
Supreme Court under Judge Gibson reversed this judgment
The decision rendered was an evident straining of law and
sense. The judge sought to refer to the decision of 1795,
but could cite no written record ; he explained the striking
out of the word " white " in the constitutional convention
as done to prevent insult to " dark colored white men,**
and held that a Negro, though free, could never be a
freemaiL^

All doubt was finally removed by the reform constitu-
tional convention of 1837-38. The article on suffiage
as reported to the convention May 17, 1837, was pKiacti-
cally the same as in the Constitution of 1790.* This

» "Proceedings and Debates of the Convention of 1837,** X, 45. Cf.
Pnrvis in "Appeal of 40,000 Citizens.'* The printed minutes give onlj
the main results with few details.

•6 Watts, 553-560, "Pennsylvania Reports.** "Proceedings* etc..
Convention 1837-8, II, 476.

T 6 Watts, 553-60, *' Pennsylvania Reports.**

• "Proceedings and Debates,** I, 233.

Sect 51.] Negro Suffrage in Pennsylvania. 371

article was taken up June 19, 1837. There was an
attempt to amend the report and to restrict the suffrage
to " free white male " citizens. The attempt was de-
fended as being in consonance with the regulations of
other States, and with the real facts in Pennsylvania,
since **In the county of Philadelphia the colored man
could not with safety appear at the polls." • The amend-
ment, however, met opposition and was withdrawn. The
matter arose again a few days later but was voted down by
a vote of 61 to 49. *®

The friends of exclusion now began systematic eflforts to
stir up public opinion. No less than forty-five petitions
against Negro suffrage were handed in, especially from
Bucks County, where a Negro had once nearly succeeded
in being elected to the legislature. Many petitions too
in favor of retaining the old provisions came in, but it was
charged that the convention would not print petitions in
favor of Negro suffrage, and some members did not wish
even to receive petitions from Negroes."

The discussion of the Third Article recurred January 17,
1838, and a long argument ensued. Finally the word
^* white " was inserted in the qualifications of voters by a
vote of 77 to 45. A protracted struggle took place to
soften this regulation in various ways, but all efforts failed
and the final draft, which was eventually adopted by
popular vote, had the following provisions : "

"Article III, Section I. In elections by the citizens,
every white freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having
resided in this State one year, and in the electoral district
where he offers to vote ten days immediately preceding
such election, and within two years paid a State or county
tax, which shall have been assessed at least ten days

• " Proceedings and Debates," II, 478.

w/W^., Ill, 82-92.

" Ibid,, Volumes IV-IX.

w Ibid,, IX, 320-397, X, 1-134.

372

Negro Suffrage.

[Chap. XV

before the election, shall enjoy the rights of an elector."
This disfranchisement lasted thirty-two years, until
passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. The Constitution
of 1S74 formally adopted this change.'* Since 1870 the
experiment of iintrammeled Negro suEfrage has been made
throughout the State.

53. City Politics. — About 55CX) Negroes were eligible
to vote in the city of Philadelphia, in 1870. The quesrion
first arises, Into what sort of a political atmosphere were
they introduced, and -what training did they receive for
their new responsibilities?

Few large cities have such a disreputable record for mis-
government as Philadelphia. In the period before the
war the city was niled by the Democratic party, which
retained its power by the manipuktion of a mass of
ignorant and turbulent foreign voters, chiefly Irish, Riots,
disorder, and crime were the rule in the city proper and
especially in the surrounding districts. About the time of
the breaking out of the war, the city was consolidated and
made coterminous with the county. The social up-
heaval after the civil war gave the political power to the
Republicans and a new era of misrule commenced. Open
disorder and crime were repressed, but in its place came
the rule of the boss, with its quiet manipulation and cal-
culating embezzlement of public funds. To-day the gov-
ernment of both city and State is unparalleled in the
history of republican government for brazen dishonesty
and bare-faced defiance of public opinion. The supporters
of this government have been, by a vast majority, white
men and native Americans ; the Negro vote has never
exceeded 4 per cent of the total registration.

" "Purdon," sixth edition,

" The Constitution of 1874 gave the right of suffrage to " Every mate
eitiien of the United Stales of the age of twenty-one jears, , . . .'
— Debates, etc., I, 503. etc. See Index "Constitution of PennsTlvkiUs,'
Article VIII; and also the Act of 6 April, 1870.

%

Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage.

Manifestly such a political atmosphere was the worst
possible for the new untutored voter. Starting himself
without political ideals, he was put under the tutelage of
unscrupulous and dishonest men whose ideal of government
was to prostitute it to their own private ends. As the
Irishman had been the tool of the Democrats, so the
Negro became the tool of the Republicans. It was natural
that the freedman should vote for the party that emanci-
pated him, and perhaps, too, it was natural that a party
with so sure a following, should use it unscrupulously.
The result to be expected from such a situation was that
the Negro should learn from his surroundings a low ideal
of political morality and no conception of the real end of
party loyalty. At the same time we ought to expect indi-
vidual exceptions to this general level, and some evidences
of growth.

53. Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage. — The experi-
ment of Negro suffrage in Philadelphia has developed
three classes of Negro voters: a large majority of voters
who vote blindly at the dictates of the party and, while
not open to direct bribery, accept the indirect emoluments
of office or influence in return for party loyalty ; a consid-
erable group, centering in the slum districts, which casts a
corrupt purchasable vote for the highest bidder ; lastly, a
very small group of independent voters who seek to use
their vote to better present conditions of municipal life.

The political morality of the first group of voters, that
is to say, of the great mass of Negro voters, corresponds
roughly to that of the mass of white voters, but with this
difference : the ignorance of the Negro in matters of gov-
ernment is greater and his devotion to party blinder and
more unreasoning. Add to this the mass of recent immi-
grants from the South, with the political training of re-
construction and post-bellum days, and one can easily see
how poorly trained this body of electors has been.

Under such circumstances it is but natural that political

374

Neg-ro Suffrage.

[Chap. XVIL 1

morality and knowledge should be even slower in spread-
ing; among Negroes than, wealth and general intelligence.
One consequently finds among those of considerable intelli-
gence and of upright lives such curious misapprehens
of political duties as is illustrated by the address of the
Afro-American league to the mayor of the city, Febniary|
8, 1897 :

" Mr, Mavor:— We desire firat and foremost, to tender you our pro-
fouod thanks for the honor of this cordial reception. We regard it. sir,
as proof of the recognition on your part of that just and most admiiable
custom of our country's gDvemment, which permits the subjects, howeTcl I
humble may be their condition in life, to see their ruler as veil as fed |
the workings of hts power.

" We are here to state to your excellency that the colored c
Philadelphia are penetrated with feelings of inexpressible grief a
manner in which tliey have thus far been overlooked and ignored by the
Republican party tn this city, in giving out work and otherwise distribU'
ting the enonnous patronHge in the gift of the party. We arc tbctefoa*
here, sir, to earnestly beseech of you as a faithful Republican and cmr
worthy chief executive, to use your potent influence as well as the good
offices of your municipal government, if not inconsistent with the public
weal, to procnre for the colored people of this city a share at least, of the
pubhc work and the recognition which they now ask for and feel to be
justly due to them, no less as citizens and taxpayers, than on a Tiasisof
their voting strength of something over 14,000 in the Republican party
here in Philadelphia.

" As the chosen organ of this body of men I am actuated by a due seme
of tbetr earnestness of purpose lu this matter and I regret to be inade-
quate to the task of convincing you. Mr. Mayor, of the deep interest
which is being universally manifested by the colored element in Philadel-
phia in this somewhat important question. The colored people neither
ask for nor expect extremes; we only claim that our loyal fidelity to the
Republican party should couuL, at some time, for some benefits to at least J
a reasonable number of the colored race wben our friends are tnstiilledfl
into place and power; and, cherishing as we do. sir, the most implidtl
confidence in your justice as the chief executive of this great city, 1
firmly believe that this most unfair treatment of which our people nc
complain, would not fail, when brought thus toyourattet:
you in our humble behalf We, therefore, have here to present for your J
candid consideration a paper conlaiiiing the names of some worthy
reliable men of our race and Ibey aie respectfully urged for appointtnent fl
as indicated on the face of tliat paper, and out of a desire, Mr, Mayor, IbI
facilitate your efforts should you take favorable action upon this ttn
these men, 11' we will state, have been selected as near as possible

i

4

Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffi-age.

fvcTy section of the city, as well as upon the proof of their fitness for the
places named."

The organization which here speaks is not large or
nearly as representative as it claims to be ; it is simply a
small faction of "outs " who are striving to get " in." The
signiticant thing about the address is the fact that a con-
siderable number of fairly respectable and ordinarily
intelligent citizens should think this a perfectly legitimate
and laudable demand. This represents the political
morality of the great mass of ordinary Negro voters. And
what more does it argue than that they have learned their
lesson well and recited it bluntly but honestly? What
more do the majority of American politicians and voters
to-day say in action if not in word than : " Here is my
vote, now where is my pay in office or favor or influence ?"
What thousands are acting, this delegation had the charm-
ing simplicity to say plainly and then to print.

Moreover one circumstance makes this attitude of mind
more dangerous among Negroes than among whites ;
Negroes as a class are poor and as laborers are restricted to
few and unremunerative occupations; consequently the
bribe of office is to them a far larger and alluring tempta-
tion than to the mass of whites. In other words here are
a people more ignorant than their fellows, with stronger
tendencies to dishonesty and crime, who are offered a far
larger bribe than ordinary men to enter politics for personal
gain. The result is obvious : " Of course I'm in politics,"
said a Negro city watchman, "it's the only way a colored
man can get a position where he can earn a decent living."
He was a fireman by trade, but Philadelphia engineers
object to working with " Niggers,"

If this is the result in the case of an honest man, how
great is the temptation to the vicious and lazy. This
brings us to the second class of voters — the corrupt class,
which sells its votes more or less openly.

The able-bodied, well-dressed loafers and criminals who

376

Negro Suffrage.

[Chap. XVIL

infest the sidewalks of parts of the Fifth, Seventh and ,
other wards are supported partly by crime and gambling,
partly by the prostitution of their female paramours, but
mainly from the vast corruption fund gathered from oflSce-
holders and others, and distributed according to the will of
the party Boss. The Public Ledger said in i8g6 :

'' It is estimated that the Republican City Committee realized uearl)- tT
not all of f too, ooo from the i)^ per cent assessment levied upon tannicipal
officeholders for this campaign. Of this sum {40,000 has be«n paid for
the eighty thousand tax receipts to qualify Republican voters. This leaves
f6o,ooo at the disposal of David Martin, the Combine leader." ■*

How is this corruption fund used? Without doubt a
large part of it is spent in the purchase of votes. It is of
course difficult to estimate the directly purchasable vote
among the whites or among the Negroes. Once in a while
when "thieves fall out" some idea of the bribery may
be obtained; for instance in a hearing relative to a Third
Ward election :

William Reed, of Catharine street, below Thirteenth, was first on the
stand. He was watcher in the Fifteenth Division on election day.

" Did you make up any election papers for voters?" asked Mr. Ingham.

" I marked up about seventy or eighty ballots; 1 got %3a off of Robert*'
brother, and used f 100 altogether, paying the restoutof my own pocket."

" How did you spend the money ?"

" Oh, well, there were some few objectionable characters there to make
trouble. We'd give 'em a few dollars to go away and attend to tbeit
business." Then he addressed Mr. lugham directly. " Von know how it

" I'd give 'em a dollar to buy a cigar. And if they didn't waat to p«y
%i for a cigar, why, they could put it in the contribution box at cburcb."

" Was this election conducted in the usual way?" inquired Mr. Steir.

'■ Oh, yes, the way they're conducted in the Third Ward — with vote
buying, and all the rest of it."

" Did the other side have any money to spend?" |

" Saunders had (;i6 to the division."

" What did your side have f"

" Oh, we had about (60 ; there was money to bum. But our tnotMjr
went to three people. The other fellows saved theirs. I spent mine —
like a sucker."

4
t

" October 5, 1

Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Su^rage.

James Brown, a McKinley -Citizen worlcer, began his testimonj indig-

" Election? Why Reed and Morrow, the judges of the election, run
the whole ahootin' match," he declared. " It was all a farce. I brought
voters up; and Reed would take 'em a way from me. When we chal-
lenged anybody, Reed and the othera would have vouchers ready."

" Did (hey use money ?"

"There was a good deal of money through the division.
even allowed to mark ballots for our own people who asked for help.
The judge would ask 'em if they could read and write. When they said
' yes,' he'd tell 'em they were able to mark their own ballot There were
even some people who wanted to mark their own ballots. Reed would
simply grab 'em and mark their ballots, whether they liked it or not."

Lavinia Brown, colored, of the rear of 1306 Kater street, said that Mr.
Bradford was judge on election day, of the Sixteenth Division, and that
on the morning of the election she coolced bis breakfast. She said that
I. Newton Roberts came to the home, and in ber presence gave Bradford
a roll of notes, at the same time throwing her f 2, but she did not know
for what purpose he gave it.

George W, Green, colored, of 1224 Catharine street, said he was a
watcher at the polls of the Siiteenth Division. He told of fraud and
how the voters were treated.

" Were you offered any money ?"

" Yea, sir. Lincoln Roberts came
but I turned him down and would nc
that crowd." Continuing, he said:
lenged, but it did not amount to
would tell the police to eject them.
not live in the ward. This condition

over to me and shoved foo at me,
t take it, because I didn't belong to
'• Seven or eight men were chal-
inytliing, because Lincoln Roberts
He also vouched for men who did
of affairs continued all day."
Several other witnesses followed, whose testimony was similar to
Green's, and who declared that money was distributed Ireely by the
Roberts faction to buy over voters. They said that challenges were dis-
regarded, and that the election was a larce. Voters were kept out, and
when it was known that any of Saunders' adherents were coming a rush
would be made, making it impossible for that side to enter the booth.

Philip Brovra. a McKinley -Citizen watcher, said that the election was
a fraud. He saw Mr. Roberts with a pile of money, going around shout-
ing, "That's Ihe stuff Uiatwins !'■ WhenaBked what the judgewasdoing
all this time he said:

"Why. the judge belonged to Mr. Roberts, who had full control of the
polling place all day."

William Hare, of [346 Zater street, proved an interesting witness. His
story if as follows :

" Mr. Lincoln Roberts brought my lax receipt and told me to come
aronnd to the club. I went and was given a bnndle of tax receipts,

378

Negro Suffrage.

[Chap. XVII.

marked for other men, aod told to deliver them, The next day bein^
election day I made it a point to watch, and saw that every xcitax to wham
I gave a receipt came to the pioLa and voted for Mr. Roberts, I saw Mr.
Newton Roberts mark the ballots over six times myself. "

Many of the men mentioned here are white, and this
happened in a ward where there are more white than Ne-
gro voters, but the same open bribery goes on at every
election in the slum districts of the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh
and Eighth Wards, where a large Negro vote is cast. In a
meeting of Negroes held in 1896 one politician calmly
announced that " through money from my white ^ends I
control the colored vote in my precinct," Another man
arose and denounced the speaker pretty plainly as a trick-
ster although his allegation was not denied. This brought
on general discussion in which there were uncontradicted
statements that in certain sections votes were bought for
" fifty cents and a drink of whisky " and men " driven in
droves to the polls." There was some exaggeration here
and yet without dotibt many Negroes sell their votes
directly for a money consideration. This sort of thing is
confined to the lowest classes, but there it is widespread.
Such bribery, however, is the least harmful kind because
it is so direct and shameless that only men of no character
wonld accept it

Next to this direct purchase of votes, one of the chief
and most pernicious forms of briber)' among the lowest
classes is through the establishment of political clubs,
which abound in the Fourth, Fifth, Seventh and Eighth
Wards, and are not uncommon elsewhere, A political clnb
is a band of eight or twelve men who rent a club house
with money furnished them by the boss, and support them-
selves partially iu the same way. The club is often named
after some politician — one of the most notorious gambling
hells of the Seventh Ward is named after a United States
Senator — and the business of the club is to see that its
precinct is carried for the proper candidate, to get "jobs"
for some of its "boys," to keep others from arrest and to

I

Sect. 53-] Somt^ Bad Results of Negro Suffrage.

secure bail and discharge for those arrested. Such clubs
become the centre of gambling, drunkenness, prostitution
and crime. Every night there are no less than fifteen of
these clubs in the Seventh Ward where open gambling goes
on, to which almost any one can gain admittance if properly
introduced ; nearly every day some redhanded criminal
finds refuge here from the law. Prostitutes are in easy
reach of these places and sometimes enter them. Liquor
is furnished to " members " at all times aud the restrictions
on membership are slight. The leader of each club is boss
of his district ; he knows the people, knows the ward boss,
knows the police; so long as the loafers and gamblers
under him do not arouse the public too much he sees that
they are not molested. If they are arrested it does not
mean much save in grave cases. Men openly boast on the
streets that they can get bail for any amount. And cer-
tainly they appear to have powerful friends at the Public
Buildings. There is of course a difference in the
clubs ; some are of higher class than others and
oflSces as bribes ; others are openly devoted to gambling
and receive protection as a bribe ; one of the most notorious
gambling houses of the Seventh Ward was recently raided,
and although every school boy knows the character of the
proprietor he was released for "lack of evidence." Still
other clubs are simply winter quarters for thieves, loafers
and criminals well known to the police. There are of
course one or two clubs, mainly social and only partially
political, to which the foregoing statements do not apply
— as for instance the Citizens' Club on Broad street, which
has the best Negroes of the city in its membership, allows
no gambling and pays its own expenses. This club,
however, stands almost alone and the other twelve or
fifteen political clubs of the Seventh Ward represent a
form of political corruption which is a disgrace to a
/ilized city. In the Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Wards
there are ten or twelve more clubs, and probably in the

38o

Negro Suffrage.

[Cliap. XVII.

whole city the Negroes have forty such places with a
possible memberehip of five or six hundred. The influence
of these clubs on the young immigrants, on growing boys,
on the surrounding working people is most deplorable. At
the polls they carry the day with high-handed and often
riotous proceedings, voting " repeaters " and " colonists "
often with impunity.

Among the great mass of Negro voters, whose votes
cannot be directly purchased, a less direct but, in the long
run, more demoralizing bribery is common. It is the same
sort of bribery as that which is to-day corrupting the white
voters of the land, viz :

[a) Contributions to various objects in which voters are
interested.

(A) Appointment to public office or to work of an\' kind
for the city.

Men accept from political organizations, contributions to
charitable and other objects which they would not think of
accepting for themselves. Others less scrupulous get con-
tributions or favors for enterprises in which they are
directly interested. Fairs, societies, clubs and e^-en
churches have profited by this sort of political corruption,
and the custom is by no means confined to Negroes.

A better known method of political bribery among the
mass of Negroes is through apportionment of the public
work or appointment to public office. The work open to
Negroes throughout the city is greatly restricted as has
been pointed out. One class of well-paid positions, the
city civil -service, was once closed to them, and only one
road was open to them to secure these positions and that
was unquestioning obedience to the "machine." The
emoluments of office are a temptation to most men, but
how much greater they are for Negroes can only be realized
on reflection : Here is a well-educated young man, who
despite all efforts can get no work above that of porter
at $6 or $8 a week. If he goes into "politics," blindly

Sect. 53.] Some Bad Results of Negro Suffrage.

votes for the candidate of the party boss, and by hard,
steady and astute work persuades most of the colored
voters in his precinct to do the same, he has the chance of
being rewarded by a city clerkship, the social prestige of
being in a position above menial labor, and an income of
$60 or $75 a month. Such is the character of the grasp
which the " machine " has on even intelligent Negro
voters.

How far this sort of bribery goes is illustrated by the
fact that 170 city employes are from the Fifth Ward and
probably forty of these are Negroes. The three Negro
members of the machine in this ward are all office-holders.
About one-fourth of the fifty-two members of the Seventh
Ward machine are Negroes, and one-half of these are office-
holders. The Negro's record as an office-seeker is, it is
needless to say, far surpassed by his white brother and it is
only in the last two decades that Negroes have appeared as
members of councils and clerks."

In spite of the methods employed to secure these offices
it cannot as yet justly be charged that many of the Negro
office-holders are unfitted for their duty. There is always
the possibility however that incompetent Negro officers
may increase in number; and there can be no doubt but
that corrupt and dishonest white politicians have been kept
in power by the influence thus obtained to sway the Negro
vote of the Seventh and Eighth aud other wards. The
problem of the Negro voter then is one of the many prob-
lems that baffle all effi5rts at political reform in Philadelphia :
the small corrupt vote of the slums which disgraces repub-
lican government ; the large vote of the ma.sses which
mistaken political ideals, blind party loyalty and economic
stress now holds imprisoned and shackled to the service of
dishonest political leaders.

>*Cf. "A Woman's Municipal Campbign.
of Pol. and Soc Science.

' Pablicationa of Amer. Acad.

363

Negro Suffrage.

[Chap. XVII.

54. Some Good Results of Ne^o SufTrage. — It 15
wrong to suppose that all the results of this hazardous
experiment in widening the franchise have been evil.
First the ballot has without doubt been a means of protec-
tion in the hands of a people peculiarly liable to oppression.
Its first bestowal gained Negroes admittance to street-cars
after a struggle of a quarter century ; and frequently since
private and public oppression has been lightened by the
knowledge of the power of the black vote. This fact has
greatly increased the civic patriotism of the Negro, made
him strive more eagerly to adapt himself to the spirit
of the city life, and has kept hira from becoming a socially
dangerous class.

At the same time the Negro has never sought to use his
ballot to menace civilization or even the established prin-
ciples of this government. This fact has been noticed by
many students but it deserves emphasis. Instead of being
radical light-headed followers of everj' new political pana-
cea, the freedmen of Philadelphia and of the nation have
always formed the most conservative element in our politi-
cal life and have steadfastly opposed the schemes of infla-
tionists, socialists and dreamers. Part of this conservatism
may to be sure be the inertia of ignorance, but even such
inertia must anchor to some well-defined notions as to what
the present situation is ; and no element of our political
life seems better to comprehend the main lines of our
social organization than the Negro. In Philadelphia he
has usually been allied with the better elements although
too often tliat " better" was far from the best. And never
has the Negro been to any extent the ally of the ■worst
elements.

In spite of the fact that unworthy officials could easily
get into office by the political methods pursued by the
Negroes, the average of those who have obtained office has
been good. Of the three colored couucilmen one has re-
ceived the endorsement of the Municipal League, while

The Paradox af Refo

Sect. 55-]

the others seem to be up to the average of the councilmen.
One Negro has been clerk in the tax office for twenty years
or more and has an enviable record. The colored police-
men as a class are declared by their superiors to be capable,
neat and efficient. There are some cases of inefficiency —
one clerk who used to be drunk most of his time, another
who devotes his time to work outside his office, and many
cases of inefficient watchmen and laborers. The average
of efficiency among colored officeholders however is good
and much higher than one might naturally expect.

Finally, the training in citizenship which the exercise of
the right of suffrage entails has not been lost on the Phila-
delphia Negro. Any worthy cause of municipal reform
can secure a respectable Negro vote in the city, showing
that there is the germ of an inte:lligent independent vote
which rises above even the blandishments of decent remu-
nerative employment. This class is small but seems to be
growing.

55. The Paradox of Reform. — The growth of a higher
political morality among Negroes is to-day hindered by
their paradoxical position. Suppose the Municipal League
or the Woman's School-board movement, or some other
reform is brought before the better class of Negroes to-day;
they will nearly all agree that city politics are notoriously
corrupt, that honest women should replace ward heelers on
school-boards, and the like. But can they vote for such
movements? Most of them will say No; for to do so will
throw many worthy Negroes out of employment: these
very reformers who want votes for specific reforms, will not
themselves work beside Negroes, or admit them to posi-
tions in their stores or offices, or lend them friendly aid in
trouble. Moreover Negroes are proud of their councilmen
and policemen. What if some of th&se positions of honor
and respectability have been gained by shady "politics" —
shall they be nicer in these matters than the mass of the
whites? Shall they surrender these tangible evidences of

384 Negro Suffrage. [Chap. XVIL

the rise of their race to forward the good-hearted but hardly
imperative demands of a crowd of women? Bspecially,
too, of women who did not apparently know there were
any Negroes on earth until they wanted their votes ? Such
logic may be faulty, but it is convincing to the mass of
Negro voters. And cause after cause may gain their re-
spectful attention and even applause, but when election-
day comes, the "machine" gets their votes.

Thus the growth of broader political sentiment is hin-
dered and will be until some change comes. When indus-
trial exclusion is so broken down that no class will
be unduly tempted by the bribe of oflSce ; when the apos-
tles of civil reform compete within the ward Boss in
friendliness and kindly consideration for the imfortunate ;
when the league between gambling and crime and the city
authorities is less close, then we can expect the more rapid
development of civic virtue in the Negro and indeed in the
whole city. As it is to-day the experiment of Negro suf-
frage with all its glaring shortcomings cannot justly be
called a failure, but rather in view of all circumstances a
partial success. Whatever it lacks can justly be charged
to those Philadelphians who for thirty years have surrend-
ered their right of political leadership to thieves and trick-
sters, and allowed such teachers to instruct this untutored
race in whose hand lay an unfamiliar instrument of civili-
zation.

,'-^

CHAPTER XVIIL

A FINAL WORD.

56. The Meaning of All This. — ^Two sorts of answers
are usually returned to the bewildered American who asks
seriously: What is the Negro problem? The one is
straightforward and clear: it is simply this, or simply
that, and one simple remedy long enough applied will in
time cause it to disappear. The other answer is apt to be
hopelessly involved and complex — ^to indicate no simple
panacea, and to end in a somewhat hopeless — ^There it is ;
what can we do ? Both of these sorts of answers have some-
thing of truth in them : the Negro problem looked at in
one way is but the old world questions of ignorance,
poverty, crime, and the dislike of the stranger. On the'
other hand it is a mistake to think that attacking each of
these questions single-handed without reference to the
others will settle the matter: a combination of social
problems is far more than a matter of mere addition, — the
combination itself is a problem. Nevertheless the Negro
problems are not more hopelessly complex than many
others have been. Their elements despite their bewildering
complication can be kept clearly in view : they are after
all the same diflSculties over which the world has grown
gray : the question as to how far human intelligence can
be trusted and trained; as to whether we must always
have the poor with us ; as to whether it is possible for the
mass of men to attain righteousness on earth ; and then to
this is added that question, of questions : after all who are
Men ? Is every f eatherless biped to be counted a man and
brother ? Are all races and types to be joint heirs of the
25 (385)

386 A Final Word. [Chap. XVHL

new earth that men have striven to raise in thirty centuries
and more? Shall we not swamp civilization in barbar-
ism and drown genius in indulgence if we seek a mythical
Humanity which shall shadow all men ? The answer of
the early centuries to this puzzle was clear : those of any
nation who can be called Men and endowed with rights are
few : they are the privileged classes — ^the well-bom and the
accidents of low-birth called up by the King. The rest,
the mass of the nation, the pdbel^ the mob, are fit to follow,
to obey, to dig and delve, but not to think or rule or play
the gentleman. We who were bom to another philosophy
hardly realize how deep-seated and plausible this view of
human capabilities and powers once was ; how utterly in-
comprehensible this republic would have been to Charle-
magne or Charles V. or Charles I. We rather hasten to
foiget that once the courtiers of English kings looked upon
the ancestors of most Americans with far greater contempt
than these Americans look upon Negroes — and perhaps,
indeed, had more cause. We forget that once French
peasants were the * * Niggers " of France, and that German
princelings once discussed with doubt the brains and
humanity of the bauer.

Much of this— or at least some of it — ^has passed and the
world has glided by blood and iron into a wider humanity,
a wider respect for simple manhood unadorned by ancestors
or privilege. Not that we have discovered, as some hoped
and some feared, that all men were created free and equal,
but rather that the difiEerences in men are not so vast as we
had assumed. We still yield the well-bom the advantages
of birth, we still see that each nation has its dangerous
flock of fools and rascals ; but we also find most men have
brains to be cultivated and souls to be saved.

And still this widening of the idea of common Human-
ity is of slow growth and to-day but dimly realized. We
grant full citizenship in the World-Commonwealth to the
"Anglo-Saxon" (whatever that may mean), the Teuton

Sect 56.] The Meaning of All This. 387

and the Latin; then with just a shade of reluctance we
extend it to the Celt and Slav. We half deny it to the yel-
low races of Asia, admit the brown Indians to an ante-room
only on the strength of an undeniable past ; but with the
Negroes of Africa we come to a full stop, and in its heart
the civilized world with one accord denies that these come
within the pale of nineteenth century Humanity. This
feeling, widespread and deep-seated, is, in America, the
vastest of the Negro problems ; we have, to be sure, a
threatening problem of ignorance but the ancestors of most
Americans were far more ignorant than the freedmen's
sons ; these ex-slaves are poor but not as poor as the Irish
peasants used to be ; crime is rampant but not more so,
if as much, as in Italy; but the di£Eerence is that the
ancestors of the English and the Irish and the Italians /
were felt to be worth educating, helping and guiding
because they were men and brothers, while in America! a
census which gives a slight indication of the utter disap-
pearance of the American Negro from the earth is greeted
with ill-concealed delight.

Other centuries looking back upon the culture of the
nineteenth would have a right to suppose that if, in a land
of freemen, eight millions of human beings were found to
be dying of disease, the nation would cry with one voice,
" Heal them ! " If they were staggering on in ignorance, it
would cry, "Train them!" If they were harming themselves
and others by crime, it would cry, " Guide them !" And
such cries are heard and have been heard in the land ; but
it was not one voice and its volume has been ever broken
by counter-cries and echoes, " Let them die!" " Train them
like slaves !" " Let them stagger downward !"

This is the spirit that enters in and complicates all
Negro social problems and this is a problem which only
civilization and humanity can successfully solve. Mean-
time we have the other problems before us — we have the
problems arising from the uniting of so many social

388 A Final Word. [Chap. XVIII.

questions about oue centre. In such a situation we need
only to avoid underestimating the difficulties on the one
hand and overestimating them on the other. The prob-
lems are difficult, extremely difficult, but they are such as
the world has conquered before and can conquer again.
Moreover the battle involves more than a mere altruistic
interest in an alien people. It is a battle for humanity
and human culture. If in the hey-dey of the greatest of
the world's civilizations, it is possible for one people
ruthlessly to steal another, drag them helpless across the
water, enslave them, debauch them, and then slowly
murder them by economic and social exclusion until they
disappear from the face of the earth — if the consumma-
tion of such a crime be possible in the twentieth century,
then our civilization is vain and the republic is a mockery
and a farce.

But this will not be ; first, even with the terribly
adverse circumstances under which Negroes live, there is
not the slightest likelihood of their dying out ; a nation
that has eudured the slave-trade, slavery, reconstruction,
and present prejudice three hundred years, and uuder it
increased in numbers and efficiency, is not in any immedi-
ate danger of extinction. Nor is the thought of voluntary
or involuntary emigration more than a dream of men who
forget that there are half as many Negroes in the United
States as Spaniards in Spain. If this be so then a few
plain propositions may be laid down as axiomatic :

I. The Negro is here to stay.

a. It is to the advantage of all, both black and white,
that every Negro should make the best of himself.

3. It is the duty of the Negro to raise himself by every
effort to the standards of modern civilization and not to
lower those standards in any degree,

4. It is the duty of the white people to guard their civil-
ization against debauchment by themselves or others;
but in order to do this it is not necessary to hinder and

i

Sect. 57.}

The Duty of the Negroes.

retard the efforts of an earnest people to rise, simply
because they lack faith in the ability of that people.

5. With these duties in mind and with a spirit of self-
help, mutual aid and co-ope ration, the two races should
strive side by side to realize the ideals of the republic aud
make this truly a land]|of equal opportunity for all men,

57. The Duty of the Negroes, — That the Negro race
has an appalling work of social reform before it need hardly
be said. Simply because the ancestors of the present white
inhabitants of America went out of their way barbarously
to mistreat and enslave the ancestors of the present black
inhabitants, gives those blacks no right to ask that the civil- "-
ization and morality of the land be seriously menaced for
their benefit. Men have a right to demand that the mem-
bers of a civilized community be civilized; that the fabric
of human culture, so laboriously woveu, be not wantonly or
ignorantly destroyed. Consequently a nation may rightly
demand, even of a people it has consciously and intention-
ally wronged, not indeed complete civilization in thirty or
one hundred years, but at least every effort and sacrifice
possible on their part toward making themselves fit mem-
bers of the community within a reasonable length of time;
that thus they may early become a source of strength and
help instead of a national burden. Modern society has
too many problems of its own, too much proper anxiety as
to its own ability to sur\'ive under its present organization,
for it lightly to shoulder all the burdens of a less advanced
people, and it can rightly demand that as far as possible
and as rapidly as possible the Negro bend his energy to the
solving of his own social problems — contributing to his
poor, paying his share of the taxes and supporting the
schools and public administration. For the accomplish-
ment of this the Negro has a right to demand freedom for
self-development, and no more aid from without than is
really helpful for furthering that development. Such aid
must of necessity be considerable ; it must furnish schools

390 A Final Word. [Chap. XVIIL

and reformatories, and relief and preventive agencies ; but
the bulk of the work of raising the Negro must be done by
the Negro himself, and the greatest help for him will be
not to hinder and curtail and discourage his efforts.
Against prejudice, injustice and^wrong the Negro ought to
protest ^energetically and continuously, but he must never
forget that he protests because those things hinder his own
eflForts, and that those eflForts are the key to his future.

And those eflForts must be mighty and comprehensive,
persistent, well-aimed and tireless ; satisfied with no partial
success, lulled to sleep by no colorless victories ; and, above
all, guided by no low selfish ideals ; at the same time they
must be tempered by common sense and rational expecta-
tion. In Philadelphia those eflforts should first be directed
toward a lessening of Negro crime ; no doubt the amount *
of crime imputed to the race is exaggerated, no doubt
features of the Negro's environment over which he has no
control, excuse much that is committed ; but beyond all
this the amount of crime that can without doubt rightly be
laid at the door of the Philadelphia Negro is large and is a
menace to a civilized people. Eflforts to stop this crime
must commence in the Negro homes ; they must cease to
be, as they often are, breeders of idleness and extravagance
and complaint. Work, continuous and intensive; work,
although it be menial and poorly rewarded ; work, though
done in travail of soul and sweat of brow, must be so im-
pressed upon Negro children as the road tojsalvation, that
a child would feel it a greater disgrace to be idle than to
do the humblest labor. The homely virtues of honesty,
truth and chastity must be instilled in the cradle, and
although it is hard to teach self-respect to a people whose
million fellow-citizens half-despise them, yet it must be
taught as the surest road to gain the respect of others.

It is right and proper that Negro boys and girls should
desire to rise as high in the world as their ability and just
desert entitle them. They should be ever encouraged and

Sect 57.] The Duty of the Negroes. 391

urged to do so, although they should be taught also that
idleness and crime are beneath and not above the lowest
work. It should be the continual object of Negroes to
open up better industrial chances for their sons and daugh-
ters. Their success here must of course rest largely with
the white people, but not entirely. Proper co-operation
among forty or fifty thousand colored people ought to
open many chances of employment for their sons and
daughters in trades, stores and shops, associations and
industrial enterprises.

Further, some rational means of amusement should be
furnished young folks. Prayer meetings and church
socials have their place, but they cannot compete in attrac-
tiveness with the dance halls and gambling dens of the
city. There is a legitimate demand for amusement on the
part of the young which may be made a means of educa-
tion, improvement and recreation. A harmless and beauti-
ful amusement like dancing might with proper effort be
rescued from its low and unhealthful associations and
made a means of health and recreation. The billiard
table is no more wedded to the saloon than to the church
if good people did not drive it there. If the Negro homes
and churches cannot amuse their young people, and if no
other efforts are made to satisfy this want, then we cannot
complain if the saloons and clubs and bawdy-houses send
these children to crime, disease and death.

There is a vast amount of preventive and rescue work
which the Negroes themselves might do : keeping little
girls ofif the street at night, stopping the escorting of
unchaperoned young ladies to church and elsewhere,
showing the dangers of the lodging system, urging the
buying of homes and removal from crowded and tainted
neighborhoods, giving lectures and tracts on health and
habits, exposing the dangers of gambling and policy-
playing, and inculcating respect for women. Day-nurseries
and sewing-schools, mothers' meetings, the parks and

392 A Final Word. [Chap. XVHL

airing places, all these things are little known or appre-
ciated among the masses of Negroes, and their attention
should be directed to them.

The spending of money is a matter to which Negroes
need to give especial attention. Money is wasted to-day
in dress, furniture, elaborate entertainments, costly church
edifices, and " insurance " schemes, which ought to go
toward buying homes, educating children, giving simple
healthful amusement to the young, and accumulating
something in the savings bank against a " rainy day." A
crusade for the savings bank as against the " insurance "
society ought to be started in the Seventh Ward without
delay.

Although directly after the war there was great and
remarkable enthusiasm for education, there is no doubt but
that this enthusiasm has fallen off, and there is to-day
much neglect of children among the Negroes, and failure
to send them regularly to school. This should be looked
into by the Negroes themselves and every effort made to
induce full regular attendance.

Above all, the better classes of the Negroes should
recognize their duty toward the masses. They should not
forget that the spirit of the twentieth century is to be the
turning of the high toward the lowly, the bending of
Humanity to all that is human ; the recognition that in
the slums of modern society lie the answers to most of our
puzzling problems of organization and life, and that only as
we solve those problems is our culture assured and our
progress certain. This the Negro is far from recognizing
for himself; his social evolution in cities like Philadel-
phia is approaching a mediaeval stage when the centri-
fugal forces of repulsion between social classes are be-
coming more powerful than those of attraction. So hard
has been the rise of the better class of Negroes that
they fear to fall if now they stoop to lend a hand to
their fellows. This feeling is intensified by the blindness

Sect 58.]

TIte Duty 0/ ifie WJiites.

393

of those outsiders who persist even now in confounding
the good and bad, the risen and fallen in one mass.
Nevertheless the Negro must learn the lesson that other
nations learned so laboriously and imperfectly, that his
better classes have their chief excuse for being in the
work they may do toward lifting the rabble. This is
especially true in a city like Philadelphia which has so
distinct and creditable a Negro aristocracy ; that they do
something already to grapple with these social problems
of their race is true, but they do uot yet do nearly as much
as they must, nor do they clearly recognize their responsi-
bility.

Finally, the Negroes must cultivate a spirit of calm,
patient persistence in their attitude toward their fellow
citizens rather than of loud and intemperate complaint.
A mau may be wrong, and know lie is wrong, and yet
some finesse must be used in telling him of it. The white
people of Philadelphia are perfectly conscious that their
Negro citizens are not treated fairly in all respects, but it
will not improve matters to call names or impute unworthy
motives to all men. Social reforms move slowly and yet
when Right is reinforced by calm but persistent Progress
we somehow all feel that in the end it must triumph,

58. The Duty of the Whites. — There is a tendency on
the part of many white people to approach the Negro
question from the side which just now is of least pressing
importance, namely, that of the social intermiugling of
races. The old query : Would you want your sister to
marry a Nigger? stil! stands as a grim sentinel to stop
much rational discussion. And yet few white women have
been pained by the addresses of bl ack suitors, and those who
have, easily got rid of them. The whole discussion is little
less than foolish ; perhaps a century from to-day we may
find ourselves seriously discussing such questions of social
policy, but it is certain that just as long as one j
deems it a serious mesalliance to marry with anoth

394 A Final Ward. [Chap. XVIIL

so long few marriages will take place, and it^will need
neither law nor argument to guide human choice in such a
matter. Certainly the masses of whites would hardly
acknowledge that an active propaganda of repression was
necessary to ward ofiF intermarriage. Natural pride of
race, strong on one side and growing on the other, may be
trusted to ward off such mingling as might in this stage of
development prove disastrous to both races. All this tiiere-
fore is a question of the far-off future.

To-day, however, we must face the fact that a natural
repugnance to close intermingling with unfortunate ex-
slaves has descended to a discrimination that very seriously
hinders them from being anything better. It is right and
proper to object to ignorance and consequently to ignorant
men ; but if by our actions we have been responsible for
their ignorance and are still actively engaged in keeping
them ignorant, the argument loses its moral force. So with
the Negroes : men have a right to object to a race so poor
and ignorant and inefficient as the mass of the Negroes ;
but if their policy in the past is parent of much of this
condition, and if to-day by shutting black boys and girls
out of most avenues of decent employment they are in-
creasing pauperism and vice, then they must hold them-
selves largely responsible for the deplorable results.

There is no doubt that in Philadelphia the centre and
kernel of the Negro problem so far as the white people are
concerned is the narrow opportunities afforded Negroes for
earning a decent living. Such discrimination is morally
wrong, politically dangerous, industrially wasteful, and
socially silly. It is the duty of the whites to stop it, and
to do so primarily for their own sakes. Industrial freedom
of opportunity has by long experience been proven to be
generally best for all. Moreover the cost of crime and
pauperism, the growth of slums, and the pernicious in-
fluences of idleness and lewdness, cost the public far more
than would the hurt to the feelings of a carpenter to work

Sect 58.] The Duty of the Whites. 395

beside a black man, or a shop-girl to stand beside a darker
mate. This does not contemplate the wholesale replacing
of white workmen for Negroes out of sympathy or philan-
thropy ; it does mean that talent should be rewarded, and
aptness used in commerce and industry whether its owner
be black or white ; that the same incentive to good, honest,
efifective work be placed before a black office boy as before
a white one — ^before a black porter as before a white one ;
and that unless this is done the city has no right to com-
plain that black boys lose interest in work and drift into
idleness and crime. Probably a change in public opinion
on this point to-morrow would not make very much
difference in the positions occupied by Negroes in the city :
some few would be promoted, some few would get new
places — the mass would remain as they are ; but it would
make one vast difference : it would inspire the young to
try harder, it would stimulate the idle and discouraged and
it would take away from this race the omnipresent excuse
for failure : prejudice. Such a moral change would work
a revolution in the criminal rate during the next ten years.
Even a Negro bootblack could black boots better if he
knew he was a menial not because he was a Negro but
because he was best fitted for that work.

We need then a radical change in public opinion on this
point ; it will not and ought not to come suddenly, but
instead of thoughtless acquiescence in the continual and
steadily encroaching exclusion of Negroes from work in
the city, the leaders 'of industry and opinion ought to be
trying here and there to open up new opportunities and
give new chances to bright colored boys. The policy of
the city to-day simply drives out the best class of young
people whom its schools have educated and social oppor-
tunities trained, and fills their places with idle and vicious
immigrants. It is a paradox of the times that young men
and women from some of the best Negro families of the
city — families bom and reared here and schooled in the

396 A final Word. [Chap. XVIBL

best traditions of this municipility have actually had to go
to the South to get work, if they wished to be aught but
chambermaids and bootblacks. Not that such work may
not be honorable and useful, but that it is as wrong to
make scullions of engineers as it is to make engineers of
scullions. Such a situation is a disgrace to the city — a
disgrace to its Christianity, to its spirit of justice, to its
common sense ; what can be the end of such a policy but
increased crime and increased excuse for crime? Increased
poverty and more reason to be poor ? Increased political
serfdom of the mass of black voters to the bosses and
rascals who divide the spoils ? Surely here lies the first
duty of a civilized city.

Secondly, in their efforts for the uplifting of the Negro
the people of Philadelphia must recognize the existence of
the better class of Negroes and must gain their active aid
and co-operation by generous and polite conduct Social
sympathy must exist between what is best in both races and
there must no longer be the feeling that the Negro who
makes the best of himself is of least account to the city
of Philadelphia, while the vagabond is to be helped and
pitied. This better class of Negro does not want help or
pity, but it does want a generous recognition of its diflS-
culties, and a broad sympathy with the problem of life as
it presents itself to them. It is composed of men and
women educated and in many cases cultured ; with proper
co-operation they could be a vast power in the city, and the
only power that could successfully cope with many phases
of the Negro problems. But their active aid cannot be
gained for purely selfish motives, or kept by churlish
and ungentle manners ; and above all they object to being
patronized.

Again, the white people of the city^must remember that
much of the sorrow and bitterness that surrounds the life
of the American Negro comes from the unconscious preju-
dice and half-conscious actions of men and women who do

Sect. 58.] The Duty of the Whites. \ 397

not intend to wound or annoy. One is not compelled to
discuss the Negro question with every Negro one meets or
to tell him of a father who was connected with the Under-
ground Railroad; one is not compelled to stare at the
solitary black face in the audience as though it were not
human ; it is not necessary to sneer, or be unkind or boor-
ish, if the Negroes in the room or on the street are not all
the best behaved or have not the most elegant manners ; it
is hardly necessary to strike from the dwindling list of
one's boyhood and girlhood acquaintances or school-day
friends all those who happen to have Negro blood, simply
because one has not the courage now to greet them on the
street The little decencies of daily intercourse can go
on, the courtesies of life be exchanged even across the
color line without any danger to the supremacy of the
Anglo-Saxon or the social ambition of the Negro. With-
out doubt social differences are facts not fancies and can-
not lightly be swept aside ; but they hardly need to be
looked upon as excuses for downright meanness and
incivility.

A polite and sympathetic attitude toward these striving
thousands; a delicate avoidance of that which wounds and
embitters them ; a generous granting "of opportunity to
them ; a seconding of their efforts, and a desire to reward
honest success — all this, added to proper striving on their
part, will go far even in our day toward making all men,
white and black, realize what the great founder of the
city meant, when he named it the City of Brotherly Love.

i

<\

;i

APPENDICES,

(399)

400

Appendix A.

>

1-4

CO

o

W

i

CO

O

w

Q
W

CO

Q

W

Q

I

i

I

I

CO

» S

i4

B

a

O

tS4

O

CO

>

^ s

w

H

O

as
O

o

g

o

^

H

as
S

g

M

S

P
2

n

M

Q

I

8

.C

I

««^.ftorH»<>0 5 2 5»3'«ji8 u HMr'

Schedules.

401

s

I

i!
i«

o

•••
0

t
s

fl

t-1

%
8

I

5855*'

I

.a
§

s

•

1

►.

s

B

1

•

u

Si
a

bo

I

0

•••

•O OS

33

Sa V

3^1

96

f*5 *o t*5^> I*}

402 Appendix A.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.

INVBSTIGATION INTO THE CONDITION OP THB NBGROBS OP

Phii.aobi.phia.
Instructions for Family Schedule,

A family schedule must be made out for every group
of two or more related persons living under conditions of
family life. Boarders, lodgers and servants, are to be
entered on separate individual schedules. • Hotels, etc.,
should be entered on an institution schedule, and the in-
mates on family and individual schedules.

Question i. Enter here the number of persons in the family, exclusive
of lodgers, boarders, visitors or servants.

Question 2. Pacts for the head of the family should be entered in the
first column, and he or she should be designated as Head^ whether
man, woman, married or single. Give the other members the term
whidb will indicate their relation to the head; as wife, son, daughter,
sister, etc, or mother (/. e, mother of head of fiimily), etc

Question 3. Abbreviate to M. (male), or P. (female).

Question 4. Give exact years, as, 17, 29, 31, 43, etc, and do not say
'* about *' 25, 30, 35, 40. Enter chiloren less than one jrear old on
the ist of December, in twelfths of a month, as 6-12, 3-12, etc; or if
not one month old, as 0-12.

Questions. Enter as married (mar.), single (sing.), widowed (wid.),
and separatd (sep.).

Question 6. Give State and town.

Questions 7 and 8. Give approximate number of years.

Question 1 1. This refers to the children of the family.

Questions 12 and 13. Write *' Graduate— Girls* High, '96*'; or "Attend-
ant Institute for Colored Youth, x yrs.,** etc. Schools higher than
common schools are here referred to. Answer this for allmemben
of the familv.

Questions 14 and 15. This is an important inquiry. Simple as it appeaxs,

it is always difficult in census work to get satisfactory replies to this

question. Inaccuracy and insufficiency of statement are the most

prominent evils to be avoided:

Por instance, remember: we want to know not what a man ** works in,"

but just what he does.
We want to distinguish between : the owner or director of a busineM
and one who works at it; between waiters and head- waiters; between
cooks in private families and in hotels; between coachmen, hackmen,
and dra3mien ; between merchants and pedlars, and those who keep
stands.
Do not say:

'* Printer,** but "compositor," or ** pressman ;** not '•mechanic,"
but "carpenter** or "plumber;" not "agent,** but "real-estate
agent;** not "merchant** or "pedlar,** but "dry-goods merchant "
or "pedlar — tinware'*; not "clerk** but "salesman in hardware-
store," "stenographer,** "bookeeper,** etc.

Schedules, 403

Describe women. who keep house at home as ''housewives;** those
who keep house for others as " housekeepers.** If the woman does
her own nouswork, and in addition pursues a gainful occupation, as
dressmaking, enter: ** housewife — oressmaker,** or "housewife —
day 's- work-out * '
Dauehters, etc., who help with housework, should be entered:
** nousework — no pay.** Those who do nothing should be entered
as **no occupation.** Children, too young to have an occupation,
should be entered ** at home,** or ** at school.**

Question 17. Answer only one of these— preferably one of the first two.
Seek to approximate the truth as nearly as possible.

Question 22. Tnis refers to sickness that was severe enough to interfere
seriously with daily work.

Question 23. Give the name of the disease or ailment.

Question 25. Give dates as nearly as possible, and addresses.

Question 26. Enter either the reason given or the reason surmised, or
both.

Question 28. Give street and number.

Question 30. Give names of societies.

Question 32. This question is optional, and is onlj for those who are able
to give their expenditure in some detail. Fill only one of the three
columns for eacn particular item (e, g, rent y early , food weekly ^ etc.)
and seek by reference to written accounts to make this report accu-
rate. Remember that incofne, expenditure and savings must balance.

Question ^. Enter this under one of the following heads: A. Athlet-
ics (bicycling, baseball, etc). B. Music. C. Church entertainments.
D. Indoor games (cards, billiards, etc.). E. Balls. P. House-
parties. G. Picnics and excursions. H. Theatres.
Remember to enter here the actual chief amusement, not merely the
one the person likes best, but does not often enjoy.

Question 35. Give relationship to head of family.

Where the question only applies to certain members of
the family, put a cross in the spaces where there are no
answers expected. Where no information is given, put
"unknown," or ** unanswered."

Finally, remember that the information given is confi-
dential ; the University of Pennsylvania will strictly guard
it as such, and allow no one to have access to the schedules
for other than scientific purposes. We ask, under these
conditions, careful, accurate, and truthful answers.

404

Appendix A.

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Condition op thb Nbgross op Phii«adbi.phia, Ward Sbvbn.

Individual Schedule^ 2,

DBCBMBBR I, X896. No.-

I

2

3
4

5
6

7
8

9
10

II

12

13
14
15

16

17
18

19
20

21

22

23

24

2<;

26
27
28
29

30
31

32

33
34

Relationship to head of family ?

Sex?

Age at nearest birthday ?

Conjugal condition ?

Place of birth ?

Length of residence in Philadelphia ?

Length of residence in this house ?

Able to read ?

Able to write ?

Months in school during last school year? . ...
Graduate or attendant at any time of any higher

school?

Attendant of any industrial school ?

Occupations since November 1,1891?

Present occupation ?

Place of work ?

{weekly ?
monthly ?
yearly ?

Weeks unemployed at above occupation during last
twelve months ?

Weeks employed at any other occupation during last
twelve months ?

Name of such other occupation ? . . . . ...

Average weekly earnings at such other occupation ? .

Number of days sick during last twelve months ?

Nature of illness ?

Sound and healthy in mind, sight, hearing, speech,
limbs and body ?

When and where have attempts been made to find
other employment ?

Why was application refused ? ....

Amount of real estate owned ?

Situation of such real estate ?

Amount of other property ?

Member of what building, secret, beneficial or insu-
rance societies, or labor union ?

Average monthly dues to such societies ? . . . .

Budget:

Tot«3 income for one year ?

Expenditure for one year ?

Expenditure for I W'kly.

Rent ....
Food . .
Fuel ....
Clothing . .

Monthly.

Yearly.

Total expenditure for one year ?
Total savings for one year ?

Expenditure for ; Wkly.

Amusements .
Tobacco ....
Alcoholic drinks
Sick's and dt'h.
All other pur-
poses ....

Monthly.

Tcarty.

Chief form of amusement ?

Member or attendant of what church ?

Remarks.

See Instructions for Family Schtdak^ i

Schedules.

405

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Condition op the Nbgroes op Phiiju3BI«phia, Ward Sbvbn.

Home Schedule^ $,

DXCBMBBR Z, Z8<)6. NC

Investigator.

I

2

3

4

5
6

7
8

9

10

II
12

13
14

15
16

17
18

19
20

21

22

Material of hotise ?

Stories in house above basement ?

Nnmber of homes in house ? . . . .

In which story is this home ?

Number of rooms in this home ?

Is this home rented directly of the landlord ?
Number of boarders in this home ? . .

Number of lodgers in this home ?

Number of servants kept ? . . . .

Total number of persons in this home ? . . .

House owned by

Rent paid monthly ? . . . .

Rent received from sub-letting ? . .

Bath-room?

Water-closet?

Privy?

Yard, and size ?

Where is washing hung to dry ?

Light?

Ventilation and air ?

Cleanliness?

Outside sanitary conditions ?

Thb Homb.

23
24

25
26

27
28

Use?

Dimensions? . . . .
Outside windows ? .

Furniture?

Occupants at night?
Additional rooms ? .

Room
No. X.

Room
No. a.

Room
No. 3.

Room
No. 4.

Room
No. 5.

Room
No. 6.

When and where have you had difficulty in renting houses ?

4o6 Appendix A.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR HOME SCHEDULE.

Every structure in which persons live is a dwelling for the purposes of
this investigation, whether wholly so occupied or not In each dwelling
there will be one or more homes; for each such home a Home Schedule
must be made out, and at its top the schedule number of the correspond-
ing family or individual inserted.

Question 4. If it occupies the house, put ** whole house.**
Questions 14, 15, 16, 17. Answer Yes or No, Note whether these facili-
ties are used by one or more homes ?
Questions 19, 20, 21, 22. Answer excellent, good, fair or bad.
Question 26. This refers primarily to the living room. Note the presence
of the following articles: piano, organ, parlor-suit, sewing-machine,
bookshelves, couch, centre-table, rocking-chair, etc.

Schedules.

407

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA.
Condition op thb Nbgrobs or Phii«adbi«phia, Waiu) Sbvbn.

House Servant Schedule y 4,

Dbcbmbbr 1, 1896. No..

Investigator.

I

2

3
4

5
6

7
8

9
10

II

12

13

14

15
16

17
18

19
20

21

22

23
24

25

26

27

Street and number? . . .
Occupation of employer?
Sex?.

Age at nearest birthday ?

Conjugal condition?

Any home in the city ?

Address of same ?

Place of birth ?

Ntmiber of days sick in last twelve mouths ? . . . .

Nature of illness ?

Able to read ?

Able to write ?

Graduate or attendant at any time of any higher

school?

Occupations since November I, 1891?

Present occupation ?

Length of service here ?

Weekly earnings ?

Is board given m addition to this ?

Is lodging given in addition to this ? . . ...

Ntmiber of hours free each month ? . . . . ...

Who besides yourself is supported by your wages ? .
How much is given for this purpose weekly ? . . . .

Member or attendant of what cnurch ?

When and where have you attempted to get other

employment?

Why was application refused ?

What is yotu: chief amusement ?

Budget:

Tot^ income for one year:

Bzi>enditure for

Clothing . . .
Amusement . .
I/xiging ....

W'kly.

Monthly.

Yearly.

Expenditure for

Sickness ....
Dues to Societies
All other pur-
poses

W'kly.

Monthly.

Yearly.

28

Total expense for one year ?

Total savings?

Amotmt of property owned ?

For Instructions, see Family Schedule, x.

4o8

Appendix A,

UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA.
Condition op thb Nbgrobs op Phiuldblphia, Ward Sbvhn.
Street Schedule^ 5. Street^ between Streets.

DBCS1CBB& I, 1896.

I

2

3
4

5
6

7
8

9
10

II

12

13

14

15
16

17
18

^9
20

21

22

General Character?
Width ?

Paved with ?

Street-car line ? . .

Character of houses ?^

Stories in houses ?

Material of houses ? . . .

Proportion occupied as dwellings ? .
Proportion of whites to Blacks ? .

Nationality of Whites ?

Cleanliness of street?

Width of sidewalks ?

Lighted by ?

Hydrants?

Schools?

Churches?

Saloons ?

Pool-rooms?

Public institutions ?

Public conveniences?

Shops?

Remarks?

Schedules. 409

INSTRUCTIONS FOR STREET SCHEDULE.

A *' street " in this Schedule is meant to designate not necessarily the
whole street which bears one name— as Lombard from river to river—but
rather such parts of streets as have a common character; thus four or five
Schedules would be necessary for the distinctive parts of Lombard Street,
two for Juniper, several for Pine, one for Wetherill.

I. Characterize the street conciselv; as, ''respectable residence

street,** or ** blind alley with tumble-down brick houses."
4. Answer by Yes or No,
y Note whether the hotises are dwellings, stables, etc. , respectable,

suspicious, etc.
8. Estimate carefully: as one-third dwellings, or one-half back

yards, etc.
9 and 10. Ask a policeman, or one or two of the persons dwellinjg^

there. Do not depend on your own observation, unless it

extends over some time.
IX. Answer by excellent^ good ^ fair ^ or bad.

14. Give ntmiber.

15. Give names.

16. Give number, names and denomination.
17 and 18. Give number.

19. This includes hospitals, clubs, missions, manufactories. Note

clubs of all sorts carefully, and ascertain their character if
possible. Enter all these institutions b^ name.

20. This refers to public water-closets, baths, unnals, and lavatories.
31. Give approximate distribution and character of shops.

22. Make nere any concise statement that will throw light on the
street and its inhabitants.

4IO

Appendix A.

UNIVERSITY OP PENNSYLVANIA.
Condition op thk Nbgrobs op Phxi^dblphia, Ward Shvrn.

Institution Schedule^ 6.

DBCBliBBR X, 1896. No.

InircfltlgaUx'.

I

2

3

4

5
6

7
8

9
10

II

12

13
14

15
16

Name? ...

Street and number ?

Character?

Proprietors?

Number of members or partners?
Amount of capital invested ? . .

Real estate owned ?

Value of same ?

Taxes paid last year on same ? . .
Value of other property ? . . . .
Income last twelve months ? . .

Source of said income ?

Expenditures last twelve montiis?
Objects of expenditures? ....

History ?

Description and remarks: ....

INSTRUCTIONS FOR INSTITUTION SCHEDULE.

This includes all institutions conducted by Negroes wholly or partially,
or wholly or partially in the interest of the Negroes; as, e. ^., lurches,
missions, clubs, shops, stands, stores, agencies, societies, associations^
halls, newspapers, etc.

Find out the object of the enterprise (philanthropic, social, busineaa,
etc. ), the capital invested, the property owned, taxes paid, income for
past twelve months, character and amount of expenditure, sort of aaar-
ters occupied, and persons connected, etc., aiming, in all cases, to collect
essential facts.

Especially try and find out whether the enterprise is that of one per-
son, of a partnership, or is a co-operative enterprise among a large num-
ber. If in any degree co-operative, bring out the extent, character and
objects of the co-operation.

APPENDIX B.

LEGISLATION, ETC., OF PENNSYLVANIA IN REGARD TO

THE NEGRO.

1682. Negro Serfdom Recognized. The charter of the Free
Society of Traders of Pennsylvania recognizes the slavery of
Blacks. Slaves were to be freed after fourteen years of service,
upon condition that they cultivate land allotted to them, and
surrender two-thirds of the produce annually. — Hazard's An-
nals (Ed. 1850), 553.

1693, July II' Tumults of Slaves. Action of City Council
of Philadelphia against tumults by slaves. — Penna. Col. Rec,
I, 380-81.

1700. Slave Marriages, Penn proposes a bill regulating
slave marriages; bill is lost in Council. — Bettle, 368; Thomas,
266.

1700, November 27. Trial of Slaves, **An Act for the
Trial of Negroes.'* Introduced by Penn. This act provided
that Negroes accused of high crime should be tried by two
justices of the peace and six freeholders; rape of white women
to be punished by death, and attempts by castration; Negroes
were not to carry arms without special license; over four Ne-
groes meeting together on Sundays or other days **upon no
lawful business of their masters or owners ' ' were to be whipped.
— Statutes-at- Large, ch. 56. (Disallowed January 7, 1706.)

1700, November 27. Traffic with Slaves. ** An Act for the
Better Regulation of Servants'in this Province and Territories."
Trafl&c with slaves forbidden, among other things. — Statutes-
at- Large, ch. 49.

1700, November 27. Duty on Slaves. **An Act for Grant-
ing an Impost upon Wines, Rum, Beer, Ale, Cider, etc. , Im-
ported, Retorted and Sold in this Province and Territories.'*
§2. . . . ** for every Negro, male or female, imported, if
above sixteen years of age, twenty shillings; for every Negro
under the age of sixteen, six shillings. — Statutes-at-Large,
ch. 85.

(411)

412 Appendix B.

1706, January 12. Duty an Slaves, "An Act for Raising a

Supply *' Imported Negroes, except those who

lived at least two years in Jersey, 40^. (or lof. ?) per head. —
Statutes-at-Large, ch. 164.

1706, January 12. Trial of Negroes. **An Act for the Trial
of Negroes." Practically the same as the Act of 1700; attempt
to rape and robbery of ;^5 or more, punished by branding and
exportation. — Statutes-at-Large, ch. 143. (Repealed by Act of
1780, q. V.)

1708. Protest to Legislature. Protest of Mechanics against
hiring out of Negroes. — Scharf-Wescott : History of Phila-
delphia, I, 200.

1 7 10, December 28. Duty Ad. ** An Impost Act, laying a
Duty on Negroes. . . ." — ^40^. on Negroes imported. —
Carey and Bioren, I, 82.

171 1, February 28. Duty Act. ** An Impost Act, laying a
Duty on Negroes. . . ." 40^. on Negroes not imported for
importers own use. — Statutes-at-Large, ch. 181. (Disallowed
20 February, 17 14.)

17 1 2, Petition for Emancipation. Petition of Southeby for
Abolition of Slavery. — DuBois* Slave Trade, p. 22.

171 2. Negro Plot. Negro plot in New York. — Ibid.

1712, June II. Dufy Act. ** A Supplementary Act to. . ."
the Act of 1810. — Carey and Bioren, I, 87-88. (Disallowed
in 1713.)

1712, June7. Prohibitory Duty Ad. **An Act to Prevent
the Importation of Negroes and Indians into this Province."
;^20 prohibitory duty laid on slaves imported, because of
their plots and insurrections. — Statutes-at- Large, ch. 192. Cf.
DuBois' Slave Trade, p. 22. (Disallowed 1713.)

1 7 13. Assiento Treaty. Contract for importing slaves into
Spanish West Indies signed by Great Britain. — DuBois' Slave
Trade, pp. 207-9.

17 15, May 28. Duty Ad. *' An Act for Laying a Duty on
Negroes Imported into this Province.** £s duty; slaves of
immigrants not to be sold for a year. — Statutes-at- Large, III,
lai. (Disallowed 21 July, 1719.)

1 7 18, February 22. Duty Ad. ** An Act for Continuing a
Duty on Negroes. . . ." ;^5 duty; slaves of immigrants
not to be sold for 16 months. — ^Statutes-at-Large, III, 164.

Legislation^ etc. 413

1 72 1, February 24. Duty Act, **An Act for Continuing
several Acts. . . .'* Act of 1718 continued. — Statutes-at
Large, III, 238.

1 72 1, August 21. Traffic with Negroes, ** A Supplementary
Act to a Law. . . .'* On Public Houses. No liquors to
be sold Negroes or Indians without leave. — Statutes-at-Large,
III, 250.

172 1, August 26. Police Regulation. **An Act for Pre-
venting Accidents that May Happen by Fire.** Slaves shoot-
ing squibs or guns in Philadelphia without license to be
whipped. — Statutes-at-Large, III, 254.

1722, May 12. Duty Act, ** An Act for Laying a Duty on
Negroes. . . .'* ;^5 duty, as in 1718. — Statutes-at-Large,

III. 275.

1722. Petitio7i of White Laborers, Laborers petition Gen-
eral Assembly against employment of Blacks. Assembly
resolves: That the principle is dangerous and injurious to the
republic and not to be sanctioned. — Watson's Annals, I, 98.

1726, March 5. Duty Act, ** An Act for Laying a Duty
on Negroes. . . ." Act of 1722 continued from 1726 to
1729. — Statutes-at-Large, IV, 52.

1726, March 26. Status of Negroes Defined, **An Act
for the Better Regulation of Negroes in this Province.'*

** Whereas, it often happens that Negroes commit felonies
and other heinous crimes, which by the laws of this Province
are punishable by death, but the loss of such cases falling
wholly on the owner, is so great a hardship that sometimes
may induce him to conceal such crimes, or convey his Negro
to some other place and so suffer him to escape justice to the
ill example of others to commit like offences.

** Be it resolved, etc., That Negroes convicted of capital crime
be valued and paid for out of money collected as duty on their
importation.'* . . .

§ III. ** Whereas, free Negroes are an idle and slothful peo-
ple and often prove burdensome to the neighborhood and
afford ill examples to other Negroes. Therefore, Be it enacted
that if any master or mistress shall discharge or set free any
Negro, he or she shall enter into recognizance with sufficient
securities in the sum of ;^30 to indemnify the county for any
charge or incumbrance they may bring upon the same in case

414 Appendix B.

such Negro, through sickness or otherwise, be rendered incap-
able of self-support."

In case of freedom by will, the executor or administrator
was required to give the bond, or such slaves should not be
regarded as free.

Any Negro becoming free under age, 21, might be bound to
service until of age.

The Act further provided penalties for the harboring of
Negroes by each other; for trading or dealing with each other
without license — all on pain of being sold into slavery if unable
to pay fine; also provided penalty of ;^ioo for anybody who
should marry a Negro and white person; ;^3o for Negro
caught living in marriage relation with white person, in such
cases Negro to be sold into slavery for life.

§ XI of Act prohibited masters, etc., from allowing Negro
slaves to hire their own time.

One section also imposed a duty of ;^io on imported
slaves. — Statutes-at-Large, IV, 59.

1729, May 10. Duty Act, ** An Act for Laying a Duty on
Negroes Imported into this Province.'* £2 duty. — Statutes-
at-Large, IV, 128.

1732, April 17. Slave Tumults. Philadelphia Council order
Ordinance drawn to prevent tumults of slaves on Sundays. —
Watson's Annals, I, 62.

1738* July 3. Slave Tumults, Draft of Ordinance to sup-
press tumults of slaves considered in Philadelphia City Coun-
cil.— Ibid., I, 62.

1741, August 17. Tumults of Negroes. Order made by
Philadelphia City Councils to suppress disorders of NegTX)es
and others on court house square at night. — Watson's Annals,
I, 62-63.

1 76 1, March 14. Duty Act. ** An Act for Laying a Duty on
Negro and Mulatto Slaves imported into this province." ;^io
duty? Continued in 1768; repealed in 1780. — Carey and Bioren,

L 37i» 451-

1 761, April 22. Duty Act. ** A Supplement to. . . . '•

the Act of I'j^ii.—Ihid., 371, 451.

1768, February 20. Duty Act. Acts of 1761 re-enacted. —
Dallas, I, 490.

1773, February 26. Duty Act. **An Act for Making

Legislation^ etc. 415

Perpetual the Act. . . . *' of 1 761. Additional ;^io duty
provided for. — Dallas, I, 671.

1775. Bill on Importation, Bill to prohibit importation of
slaves vetoed by Governor. — Settle.

1778, September 7. Recovery of Duties, **An Act for the
Recovery of the Duties on Negro and Mulatto Slaves. . . . *'
— Dallas, I, 782.

1779, February 5. Plan of Emancipation. Supreme Ex-
ecutive Council recommends a plan of gradual emancipation to
Assembly.

1780, March i. Slavery Abolished. ** An Act for the Grad-
ual Abolition of Slavery.**

§1,2. General condemnation of slavery.

§ 3. No child bom hereafter in Pennsylvania to be a slave.

§ 4. Children of slaves born hereafter to be bound to service
until twenty-eight years of age.

§ 5. All slaves to be registered.

§ 7. Negroes to be tried for crime like other inhabitants.

§ 10. None to be slaves except those registered.

§ 14. Acts of 1725, 1761 and 1773 repealed. — Carey and
Bioren, ch. 881.

1786. Petition for Potter's Field, Petition of Philadelphia
Negroes to Council for leave to enclose Potter's Field as a
Negro burial ground. — Penna. Col. Rec. XIV, 637.

1788, March 29. Act of 1780 Amended. ** An Act to Ex-
plain and Amend an Act Entitled * An Act for the Gradual
Abolition of Slavery.* **

§ 2. Slaves of immigrants to be free.

§ 3. Slaves not to be removed from without their consent
given before two justices.

§ 4. Persons possessed of children liable to serve till twenty-
eight years old must register them.

§ 5. Slave trading forbidden under penalty and forfeiture.

§ 6. Slaves serving for a term of years not to be separated
from parents. — Carey and Bioren, ch. 394.

1790, September 2. Negro Suffrage. Constitution of Penn-
sylvania. Art. Ill, Sec. i . In elections by the citizens, every
freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided in the
State two years next before the election, and within that time
paid a State or county tax, which shall have been assessed at

4i6 Appendix B.

least six months before the election, shall enjoy the rights of
an elector. — Pardon's Digest, 6th ed.

1793, April II. Dufy on Slaves. ** An Act to Establish a
Board of Wardens for the Port of Philadelphia. . . . "

§ 22. Of passengers entering port only slaves to pay head
money. — Carey and Bioren, ch. 178.

1800. Petitum to Congress. Petition of Negroes to Leg^isla-
ture and Congress against slave-trade. — DuBois' Slave-Trade,
p. 81-83.

1821, April. Act vs. Pauperism. ** An Act to Prevent the
Increase of Pauperism in the Commonwealth.*'

§ I. If any black indentured servant over twenty-eight
years of age is brought into the State, his master is liable for his
charge if he becomes a pauper. — Laws of Penna., 1821.

1826, March 25. Act vs. Kidnapping. *'An Act to Give
Effect to the Provisions of the Constitution of the United States,
Relative to Fugitives from Labor, for the Protection of the Free
People of Color, and to prevent Elidnapping."

§ I. Fine of $50o-$20oo and imprisonment seven to twenty-
one years for kidnapping.

§ 2. Aiding and abetting punished.

§§ 3-6. Claimed fugitives to be arrested on warrant and taken
before a judge. Oath of alleged owner or of interested per-
sons not received as evidence. — Laws of Penna., 1826. Of
Prigg vs. Penna., 16 Peters, 500, U. S. Reports.

1827, April 17. Sales of Fugitives. **An Act to Prevent
Certain Abuses of the Laws Relative to Fugitives from Labor."
No sales of fugitive slaves to be made in the State of Pennsyl-
vania.— Laws of Penna., 1827.

1832. Restriction on Immigration. Bill in Legislature to
make free Negroes carry passes. Cf , p. 27.

1837, July. Negro Suffrage. Pennsylvania Supreme Court
at Sunbury ; case of Hobbs et al. vs. Fogg. Judgment of Com-
mon Pleas Court reversed and Negro declared not a ** free-
man" in the meaning of Constitution. — Penna. Reports, 6
Watts, 553-60.

1838. Negro Suffrage. Revised Constitution of Pennsyl-
vania, Art. Ill, Sec. i. **In elections by the citizens, every
white freeman of the age of twenty-one years, having resided
in this State one year, and in the election district where he

Legislation^ etc. 417

ofiEers to vote ten days immediately preceding such election, and
within two years paid a State or county tax, which shall have
been assessed at least ten days before the election, shall enjoy
the right of an elector." — Purdon's Digest, Sixth Ed.

1854, May 8. ** An Act for the Regulation and Continuance
of a System of Education by Common Schools.'*

The Controllers and Directors of the several school districts
of the State are hereby authorized and required to establish
within their respective districts separate schools for Negro and
Mulatto children wherever such schools can be located so as to
accommodate twenty or more pupils; and wherever such
schools shall be established and kept open four months in
every year the Directors and Controllers shall not be compelled
to admit such pupils into any other schools of the district. —
Laws of Penna., 1854.

1863, March 6. Immigration. Petition against immigration
of freedmen to Pennsylvania denied by Senate committee of
Legislature. — Pamphlet, Phila. Library.

1867. Separate Seats in Cars. Pennsylvania Supreme
Court; case of West Chester and Philadelphia Co. vs. Miles.
Held that separation of Negroes to assigned seats for good
order, is not illegal on railways, etc. — Penna. Reports, 5 Smith,
209.

1867, March 22. Civil Rights. Negroes to have same rights
on railway cars as white citizens. — Brightley's Purdon, Eleventh
Ed., 1436.

1870, April 6. Negro Suffrage. § 10 of Act says : ** That
so much of every Act of Assembly as provides that only white
freemen shall be entitled to vote or to register as voters, or as
claiming to vote, at any general or special election in this
Commonwealth, be and the same is hereby repealed ; and that
hereafter all freemen, without distinction of color, shall be en-
rolled and registered according to the provisions of the act ap-
proved April 17, 1869.** — Laws of Penna., 1870.

1874. Negro Suffrage. New Constitution removes restric-
tions as to color.

1874, April 10. Civil Rights. Pennsylvania Supreme Court;
case of Drew vs. Peer. Damages given Negroes for ejectment
from a theatre. — 12 Norris, 234.

1878, March 15. Civil Rights. Pennsylvania Supreme
27

^>

418 Appendix B.

Court; case of Central Railroad of New Jersey vs. Green and
wife. Damages granted for compelling Negroes to go from one
car to another on railway. — Penna. Reports, 5 Norris, 421, 427.

1881, June 8. Mixed Schools. § i. It shall be unlawful for
any school director, superintendent, or teacher to make any
distinction whatever on account of, or by reason of, the race or
color of any pupil or scholar who may be in attendance upon
or seeking admission to, any public or common school main-
tained wholly or in part under the school laws of the common-
wealth.— Brightley's Purdon, Eleventh ed., p. 292.

1887, May 19. Civil Rights. **An Act to Provide Civil
Rights for all People, Regardless of Race or Color." '%i. Beit
enacted^ etc.^ that any person, company, corporation, being
owner, lessee or manager of any restaurant, hotel, railroad,
street railway, omnibus line, theatre, concert hall or place of
entertainment or amusement, who shall refuse to accommodate,
convey or admit any person or persons on account of race or
color over their lines or into their hotel or restaurant, theatre, con-
cert hall or place of amusement, shall upon conviction thereof
be guilty of a misdemeanor and be punished by a fine of not
less than fifty or more than one hundred dollars." — I^ws of
Penna., 1887, pp. 130-31.

1895, J^ly 2. Life Insurance. Life insurance companies are
not allowed to make any discriminations as to premiums, divi-
dends, or otherwise, between insured of the same class and ex-
pectation of life. — Penna. Laws, 1895, p. 432.

APPENDIX C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

/. Getieral Works.

Publications of Atlanta University :

No. I. Mortality Among Negroes in Cities.

No. 2. Social and Physical Condition of Negroes.

No. 3. Eflforts of Negroes for Social Betterment.

— Atlanta, Ga., 1896-98.

Edward Bettle. Notices of Negro Slavery as Connected
with Pennsylvania. In Mem. Hist. Soc. of Pennsylvania, I.

Charles Booth. Life and Labour of the People. London,
1892.

M. Carey and J. Bioren. Laws of Pennsylvania, 1700-1802.
Philadelphia, 1803.

A. J. Dallas. Laws of Pennsylvania, 1700-1781. Philadel-
phia, 1797.

W. E. Burghardt DuBois. Suppression of the Slave Trade.
New York, 1896.

The Study of the Negro Problems. Annals of the

Amer. Acad, of Pol. and Soc. Science. Philadelphia, 1898.

The Negroes of Farmville, Va. (U. S. Bureau

of Labor Bulletin , January, 1898.)

[Benjamin Franklin.] An Essay on the African Slave
Trade. Philadelphia, 1790.

[Friends.] Germantown Friends' Protest Against Slavery,
1688. (Facsimile copy) Philadelphia, 1880.

[Friends.] The Appeal of the Religious Society of Friends
in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, etc. ... on behalf of the
Colored Races. Philadelphia, 1858.

[Friends.] A Brief Statement of the Rise and Progress of
the Testimony of the Religious Society of Friends against
Slavery and the Slave Trade. Philadelphia, 1843.

Samuel Hazard. The Register of Pennsylvania. Phila-
delphia, 1828-36.

420 Appendix C.

Hull House Maps and Papers. New York, 1895.

Samuel M. Janney. History of the Religious Society of
Friends. Philadelphia, 1859-67.

Walter Laidlaw, Editor. The Federation of Churches and
Christian Workers in New York City. First and Second
Sociological Canvasses. New York, 1896-1897.

Marion J. McDougal. Fugitive Slaves. Boston, 1891.

Edward Needles. An Historical Memoir of the Pennsyl-
vania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. Phila-
delphia, 1848.

William C. Nell. Services of Colored Americans in the
Wars of 1776 and 181 2. Reprinted, Philadelphia, 1894.

Statutes-at-Large of the State of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia.

Pennsylvania Colonial Records. Philadelphia.

Robert Proud. History of Pennsylvania. Philadelphia,
1797-98.

R. Mayo-Smith. Statistics and Sociology. New York, 1896.

Allen Clapp Thomas. The Attitude of the Society of
Friends toward Slavery, etc. (Reprinted from Vol. VIH,
American Society of Church History.) New York, 1897.

Census of the United States, First to the Eleventh. Wash-
ington, 1790-1898.

George W. Williams. History of the Negro Race in Amer-
ica from 1619 to 1880. New York, 1883.

Joseph T. Willson. The Black Phalanx. Hartford, 1889.

Carroll D. Wright. Slums of Great Cities. Seventh Special
Report of the United States Department of Labor. Washing-
ton, 1894.

//. Books and Pamphlets Relating to Philadelphia Negroes,

Benjamin C. Bacon. Statistics of the Colored People of
Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1856.

Ibid,, Second Edition, with Statistics of Crime.

Philadelphia, 1859.

A Brief History of the Movement to Abolish the Slums of
Philadelphia. Philadelphia. (Pam.)

Collection of Reports of Charitable Institutions for Colored
Persons. Philadelphia. (Ridgeway Library.)

Bibliography. 421

Colored Enlistments. Philadelphia. (Pam. Philadelphia
Library Co.)

Colored People in Philadelphia. Philadelphia. (Pam. Phila-
delphia Library Co.)

Colored Regiments. Philadelphia. (Pam. Philadelphia
Library Co.)

Education and Employment Statistics of the Colored People
of Philadelphia. (MS. in Library of Historical Association.)

Dr. E. O. Emerson. Vital Statistics of Philadelphia (in
American Journal of Medical Sciences, July, 1848.)

[Friends.] A Brief Sketch of the Schools for Black People
and Their Descendants Established by the Religious Society of
Friends, in 1770. Philadelphia, 1867.

A. Mott. Biography of Colored People. Philadelphia.
(Pam. Philadelphia Library Co.)

Edward Needles. Ten Years* Progress, or a Comparison of
the State and Condition of the Colored People in the City and
County of Philadelphia from 1837 to 1847. Philadelphia, 1849.

Daniel A. Payne. History of the A. M. E. Church. Nash-
ville, 1 89 1.

Report of the Committee Appointed for the Purpose of
Securing to Colored People in Philadelphia the Right to the
use of the Street Cars. Philadelphia, 1865. (Pam.)

Report of the Committee on the Comparative Health, Mor-
tality, Length of Sentences, etc., of White and Colored Con-
victs. Philadelphia, 1849.

Frederick W. Spiers. The Street Railway System of Phila-
delphia, etc. Johns Hopkins University Studies. Ser. 15,
Nos. 3-5. Baltimore, 1897.

The Present State and Condition of the Free People of
Colour of the City of Philadelphia and Adjoining Districts, etc.
Philadelphia, 1838.

A Statistical Inquiry into the Condition of the People of
Color of the City and Districts of Philadelphia. Philadelphia,
1849.

Trades of the Colored People. Philadelphia, 1838.

John F. Watson. Annals of Philadelphia. Philadelphia,
1830.

A. W. Wayman. My Recollections of A. M. E. Ministers.
Philadelphia, 1882.

422 Appendix C.

Why Colored People in Philadelphia Are Excluded from the
Street Cars. Philadelphia, 1866. (Pam. Two Editions.)

[John Woolman.] Considerations on Keeping Negroes.
Philadelphia, 1784.

///. Books and Pamphlets Written by Philadelphia Negroes.

Act of Incorporation, Causes and Motives of the African
Episcopal Church of Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1810.

Richard Allen. (First Bishop of A. M. E. Church.) The
Life, Experience and Gospel Labours of the Rt. Rev. Richard
Allen, etc. Written by himself. Philadelphia, 1833.

Richard Allen and Jacob Tapsico. The Doctrine and Discip-
line of the A. M. E. Church. Philadelphia, 1819.

Matthew Anderson. Presbyterianism and Its Relation to
the Negro. Philadelphia, 1897.

Appeal of Forty Thousand Colored Citizens, Threatened with
Disfranchisement, to the People of Pennsylvania. Philadel-
phia, 1838. (Pam.)

Jeremiah Asher. Autobiography. Philadelphia, 1862.

E. D. Bassett. Handbook on Hayti. Philadelphia.

J. J. G. Bias. Synopsis of Phrenology. Philadelphia, 1859.

Lorenzo Blackson. Autobiography. Philadelphia, 1861.

C. H. Brooks. Manual and History of the Grand United
Order of Odd Fellows. 360 pp. Philadelphia, 1864.

Robert Campbell. A Pilgrimage to My Motherland; an Ac-
count of a Journey among the Egbas and Yorubas of Central
Africa. Philadelphia, 1861.

W. Y. Catto. History of the Presbyterian Movement. Phil-
adelphia, 1858.

Levi J. CoflSn. The Relation of Baptized Children to the
Church. Philadelphia, 1890. 106 pp.

Martin Robinson Delaney. Condition, Elevation, Emigration
and Destiny of the Colored People of the United States, etc.
Philadelphia, 1852.

William Douglass. Sermons Preached in the African Prot-
estant Episcopal Church of St. Thomas', Philadelphia. Phila*
delphia, 1854.

William Douglass. Annals of St. Thomas' Church. PhU*
adelphia, 1862.

Bibliography. 423

John S. Durham. To Teach the Negro History. Philadel-
phia, 1898.

Frances E. W. Harper. Miscellaneous Poems. Boston,
1854.

. Forest Leaves. Baltimore, 1855.

. lola l>roy: A Novel. Third Edition.

Philadelphia, 1892. 280 pp.

Absalom Jones. A Thanksgiving Sermon. ... On
Account of the Abolition of the African Slave Trade, etc.
Philadelphia, 1808. (Pam.)

Robert Jones. Fifty Years in the Lombard Street Central
Presbyterian Church. Philadelphia, 1894. 170 PP«

H. T. Johnson. The Divine Logos. Philadelphia, 1890.

Jarena Lee. Journal. Philadelphia, 1849.

. The Color of Solomon. Philadelphia, 1895.

93 PP-

Minutes of the First Annual Convention of the People of

Colour. Philadelphia, 1831. (Pam.)

Minutes of Third Annual Convention of Free Negroes.
Philadelphia, 1833. (Pam.)

Mrs. N. T. Mossell. The Work of Afro- American Women.
Philadelphia, 1894. 178 pp.

Proceedings of Convention of Colored Freemen of Pennsyl-
vania. Philadelphia. (Pam.)

Robert Purvis. Remarks on the Life and Character of James
Forten. (Pam.)

William Still. The Underground Railroad. Philadelphia,
1872. 780 pp.

Benjamin T. Tanner. An Apology for African Methodism.
Baltimore, 1867. 468 pp.

. Theological Lectures. Nashville, 1894.

185 pp.

. An Outline of History and Government for

A. M. E. Churchmen. Philadelphia, 1884. 206 pp.

Qoseph Willson.] Sketches of the Higher Classes of Colored
Society in Philadelphia. Philadelphia, 1841.

• I

i

H

I-

SPECIAL REPORT

ON

Negro Domestic Service

In the Seventh Ward

Philadelphia

BY

ISABEL EATON, A. M.

Ftlloa of th* ColUgi StttUmtuts AssoeUUiou

I.

INTRODUCTION.

This paper is an attempt to give the most accurate facts
obtainable bearing upon the question of colored domestic ser-
vice in Philadelphia. It endeavors to show the relation of the
colored domestic to the general domestic service problem on
the one hand, and to the great mass of the Negro people on.
the other. The purpose, scope and methods of the work are
the same as those already explained at length by Dr. W. E. B.
Du Bois in the introduction to this volume, constituting the
general report of the investigation conducted by the University
of Pennsylvania.

The section treating Domestic Service is no unimportant divi-
sion of the general subject. On the contrary, it is probably of
more consequence than any other single aspect of the problem,
since the number of domestic servants among colored wage-
earners is shown by the last census to be greater in thirty-two
out of forty-eight Slates than the number engaged in any other
occupation ; while in many cases it is greater than the number
engaged in all other employments taken together. Indeed this
predominance of domestic service over all other occupations fol-
lowed by the Negroes, is recorded of every State in the Union,
excepting the Southern States, where agriculture stands first
and domestic service second. It will doubtless be surprising
to many r that the census record shows that each of the

Northern and Western States, with the single exception of Dela-
ware, has more colored people in domestic service than in any
other occupation, while in nearly seven in every ten of these
States colored domestic service more than outnumbers the
aggregate of all other occupations of colored people. The
record for the State of Pennsylvania as given by the last
oensus shows the following facts concerning occupations of
TUtgfO^ ^^f^ State:

438 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

Ms In.

p™i«.

Main.

Female*.

Pennsylvania

37,534

15.704

aa-505

I4,»97

It appears from this that very nearly 60 percent of thecolored
workingmen of Pennsylvanta are engaged in domestic ser-
vice ; while over gi per cent of the colored workingwomen of
the State are in service. A graphic presentation of these facts
makes clear the large proportion of the Negro population
of Pennsylvania employed in domestic service:

Proportion of Colokbd Domestic Servants in pBNNsvi,VAittA

AS Compared with Whoi-E Wubking Coujrbid Popu-
—Eleventh Census.

li DOMESTIC senvicB

O ALL OTHER OCCUPATIONS '

In the city of Philadelphia nearly the same preponderance of
domestic service in relation to other occupations of the colored
people is found.

In this investigation a separate schedule, for domestic service
was used. ' Like the other schedules, it was prepared under the
direction of Dr. S. M. Lindsay, Assistant Professor of Sociology
at the University of Pennsylvania, and was carefully revised by
the national Department of Labor at Washington, as well as by
prominent statisticians in New York and elsewhere. The facts
here given were collected during a nine-months residence at
the Philadelphia College Settlemeur, which is located in the
heart of one of the most densely populated Negro quarters of
the city.

This schedule was used throughout the residence streets of
the Seventh Ward, and elsewhere in the ward limits wherever

' See Appendix A.

Introduction, 429

colored domestics were employed. ' This ward includes among
its inhabitants all grades of wealth and comfort, from the
houses with a coachman and coachman's assistant, a butler and
butler's assistant, and a retinue of female domestics as well, to
those houses where only one woman is employed, who does
* 'general housework,'* sometimes including not only cooking
and laundry work, but also the furnace work, removal of ashes,
''cleaning the front,'* and other outside work usually delegated
to a man. And thus, since nearly all degrees of wealth are
represented in the district investigated — that is to say, from
the present point of view, all grades of service-employing fami-
lies— it is probable that all grades of colored domestic service
have been encountered in this survey.

In this house to house canvass, every domestic scheduled,
with a very few exceptions, was personally interviewed. Oc-
casionally the butler or waiter would answer for the cook, if
both chanced to have served long in the same family, or
sometimes the lady of the house would herself supply the
answers, but in every case, the information given was such as
to warrant belief in its reliability. To the domestic servants
personally interviewed in this way, have been added the far
greater number scheduled by Dr. DuBois in his canvass of the
homes of the colored people within the ward limits. Alto-
gether 677 men have been recorded and 161 2 women, making
a total of 2289 domestics, male and female, either working or
living in the Seventh Ward.

' For map showing the ward boundaries see page 59.

II.

ENUMERATION OP NEGRO DOMESTIC SERVANTS.

Recent Reform in Domestic Service. — Reform in the ad-
nninistration of the household has been called a "belated
reform/' one that has been so long a time in gaining the ear of
intelligent people that it must somehow make up for lost
time and gain a little on other reforms before it can hope to
come abreast of the progress of the age. In view of the fact
that college-bred women in greater numbers are assuming
responsibility for the administration of the household, at the
same time that reform of domestic service is being agitated,
it is natural to think that the one thing partly accounts for the
other. It is certainly true that the question is now for the first
time being treated scientifically by some of the most intelligent
women in the country. The Civic Club of Philadelphia, has
done honorable pioneer work in attempting to establish a
standard of work and wages for domestic servants, and other
similar clubs are following in their footsteps. Also, there is
beginning to be a literature on the subject, best represented by
Charles Booth's Study of Household Service in the eighth vol-
ume of his ** Life and Labour of the People," and by the admi-
rable work entitled *' Domestic Service" by Miss Lucy M.
Salmon, Professor of History at Vassar College. In the
latter work, which is easily the best authority on this much
discussed but little understood subject, the doctrine of sur-
vival through adaptation is for the first time applied to the
economics of the household. One result has been the con-
viction that much of the friction in the modem household
arises from its lack of adaptation to the civilization of to-day,
and will disappear when domestic service gets in line with
the march of progress and ceases to try to meet modem
needs by the employment of mediaeval methods. The higher
is dependent on the lower, and as our social reforms deal
with the houses and food of the poor for the sake of higher
things than mere physical well being, so all our reforms must

(430)

Enumeration of Negro Domestic Servants, 431

begin at the bottom and work up. We may take courage that
reforms in domestic service and in household economics will
spread, since they have now ceased to be regarded as impos-
sibilities, and the problems involved are being fairly faced.
With the widening of woman's mental horizon, has come
a realizing sense of the truth regarding household work, that
"in no other occupation is there so much waste of labor and
capital, and in no other would a fraction of this waste be over-
looked."

This report endeavors to contribute to the problem the
results of a study of facts concerning the domestic work of
Negroes in Philadelphia.

Enumeration. — In presenting these facts, we shall begin
with an enumeration of Negro domestics.

The first table shows the number of colored domestic ser-
vants' in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia by sex and age
periods:

TABI^E I.

{Domestic Service. )

Number of Coi«orbd Domestic Servants in Ward Seven by

Sex and Age Periods.

Age.

Ten to twenty .
Twenty-one to thirty
Thirty -one to forty
Forty-one and over
Age unknown . . .

Total

Male.

677

Female.

48

274

305

698

165

364

150

262

9

14

I6I2

From this statement it will be seen that of the colored ser-
vice in the ward about 30 per cent is furnished by men and 70
per cent by women. In the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia
there were found to be 9675 colored persons, of whom 2289
are here seen to be domestic employes, or 23.7 per cent of the

> In this study of the condition of the colored people of Philadelphia,
all persons scheduled as "domestic servants " are connected with private
establishments, waiters in hotels, etc., being classified with public
service.

432 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service,

total colored population of the ward. It is a little over 30 per
cent of all the colored wage-earners of the ward.*

This per cent in domestic service agrees very nearly with the
following table taken from the eleventh census, showing the
proportion of Negro wage-earners engaged in domestic service
the country over to be 31.4 to the hundred.*

Table prom Ei.bvbnth Census op the United States Showing

Percentages op Dipperent Elements op the Pofui^ation

Engaged in Dipperent Occupations.

Native Whites.
Percent.

Poreigrn Bom.
Per cent.

Nefj^ro.
Percent.

Professions

Agriculture

Trade and transportation ....
Manufactures

5.5
41.0

17.0

22.9

13.6

2.2

25.5
14.0

31-3
27.0

I.I

57 .a
4.7
5.6

31.4

Personal service

Total

100. 0

100.0

100.0

When public waiters and waitresses in hotels and restaurants,
as well as janitors and caretakers, are included in the count of
domestic servants, it brings the ratio up nearly to 41 per cent
of the whole number of colored wage-earners in the ward.

After considering what per cent of the colored people are
domestics, it is interesting to notice what part of domestic ser-
vice is colored. So we turn from the ratios just given, to con-
sider what proportion of the total of domestic service in the
United States is performed by colored people. When we think
of American domestic service as a whole, we have a more or

^The 2289 domestics which constitute 34 per cent of the 661 1 Negroes
in the Seventh Ward engaged in gainful occupations are those actoally
investigated in the special inquiry into domestic service. The niiiDb«r
may not include all the domestics in the ward and does not include
many classes of persons enumerated under "domestic and personal ser-
vice" in the table on page 108 of this volume.

^ Domestic service is classified in the census under " personal service,*'
and includes persons classified elsewhere in this investigation, such as
hotel proprietors, but the number of Negroes thus included is smal], and
the error of comparison, therefore, small.

Enumeration of Negro Domestic Servants, 433

less clear conception of a g^eat army of the colored race in the
south, of the Irish and Germans in the north, of the Swedes
in the middle west, and of the Chinese on the Pacific Coast.
The census of 1890 gives the relative numbers of native white,
foreign white and colored (including Chinese) domestic em-
ployes in the United States as follows:

BI.KMBNTS OF THB POFUI^ATION ENGAGED IN DOMESTIC SERVICE.

{From the Eleventh Census of the United States,)

Geographical Section.

Pacific Coast . . . .

Eastern

Middle*

Western

Border ^near the Ma-

son-Dixon line) . .

Southern

United States

Number.

Native
White.

176,194

Foreign
White.

I75,«I9

Colored.

42,049

Per cent.

Native
White.

37.58
39"
44.71
59.98

31.65
16.77

41.65

For'gn
White.

35.83
55.22

44.62
33.11

6.62
3.10

29.55

Col'd.

t26.59

5.67

10.67

6.91

61.73
80.13

28.80

* Includes New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

fThia term includes also Chinese who are reckoned in the census as "colored."

These figures attribute nearly 29 per cent of the domestic
service of the country to the colored, who comprise only I2j4
per cent of the population.

The colored perform about three times as much domestic
service in proportion to their numbers as the whites do. From
this it will be seen that while the study of domestic service in
any consideration of the condition of the colored people is
important, the study of the Negro domestic is equally impor-
tant in any careful consideration of the domestic service prob-
lem. It will be noticed that the per cents for the middle sec-
tion of States show only 10.67 per cent of the domestic service
performed by colored people. The large urban populations
of the New York cities doubtless reduce this below what it
would be if only Pennsylvania and New Jersey were consid-
ered, as city servants are mostly drawn from our foreign white
population, but if the rate be accepted as true for the city of
38

434 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

Philadelphia (though it is doubtless much too low for a city
which has the largest colored population of any city in the
United States, except New Orleans and Washington), if it be
accepted for Philadelphia, where 4 per cent of the population
is colored, we shall find that the Negro domestics ''run ahead
of their ticket '* here also in this matter of household service.
The probable reason for this disproportion is not fat to seek
when we remember the unpopularity of domestic service which
keeps whites out, and reflect that the colored prejudice which
is known to operate against the Negro in nearly all depart-
ments of labor excepting drudgery, actually works in his favor in
the matter of domestic service, where the competence of Negro
waiters and the superior skill of Negro cooks is generally ad-
mitted. Hence, Negro labor, following the line of least resist-
ance, flows in enlarged streams into the channel of domestic
service.

in.

SOURCES OP THE SUPPLY AND METHODS OF HIRING.

The question next arises as to the chief sources of Philadel-
phia's large supply of colored service. Are these people
Southern Negroes, or Philadelphia bom ? The quality of ser-
vice rendered and the standard of excellence may depend in
some degree upon circumstances of birth and training. Hence
the facts in regard to nativity as shown in Table II, which fol-
lows, are worth considering:

TABLE II.

NATFsaTv OP Colored Domestic Servants in Philadelphia.

Number and Per Cent by Sex and Birthplace.

Birthplace.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

New Jersey

Delaware

Maryland

Virginia

West Virginia .

District of Columbia . . .

North Carolina

South Carolina

Georgia

South Georgia

West Georgia

Ohio

Missouri

Kentucky

Tennessee

Louisiana ........

Mississippi

Alabama

West Indies

New York

Maine

Massachusetts

Connecticut

Rhode Island

North Rhode Island . . . .

Canada

Florida

Texas

Hungary

Scotland

South America

Unknown

Total

Number of
Males.

78

37
18

34
102

199

5

50
36

7

4
28

2

o

o

o

2
I

o

2

8
I

5
I

2

o

I

2

o

o

o

o

37

677

Number of
Females.

ToUl
Number.

215

293

94
50

131
68

99
359
439

133
461

638

14

85
68

19
135
104

5

12

II

15

51

79

3

5

5

5

2

2

I

I

4

6

2

3

2

2

2

4

4

ID

19
18

I

2

2

7

4

5

0

2

I

I

2

3

0

2

2

2

I

I

I

I

I

I

72

109

1612

2289

Total
Per cent.

12.08 \_« __

3.
5.08

27.90/

04

5.90
4.50

390

(435)

436 special Report on Negro Domestic Sermce,

These facts show clearly that the greater part of Philadel-
phia's colored domestic service is supplied from Maryland and
Virginia, particularly from the latter State. It will be noticed
that less than one-fifth of it (18.5 per cent) is supplied from
Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, while very nearly
one-half (48.4 percent) comes from the two States of Maryland
and Virginia. Some interesting indications in regard to nativ-
ity and quality of service as measured by length of service
with the same employer, are brought out later in Table
XXV.

Methods of Hiring. — Philadelphia is as much at the mercy
of employment bureaus, and the frequently untrustworthy
recommendations of previous employers, as are other large
cities. Yet these and the method of advertising are the only
ways open to the employer for accomplishing what has been
called the ** inevitable annual change of employes." The col-
ored people in domestic service seldom seek employment through
the Philadelphia intelligence oflBces or by applying in answer
to advertisement unless it is particularly stated that colored
help is acceptable or preferred. They generally ofiFer the recom-
mendations of former employers, though many of them, seldom
the best ones, offer their services from door to door and are
employed upon the recommendation of personal appearance and
general bearing. The colored man's avoidance of the employ-
ment bureau is largely due to the fact that extortionate fees
are usually charged him. He patronizes a few bureaus kept
by colored people whom he trusts ; and his unwillingness to
answer advertisements needs no explanation but the remark
already offered.

Personnel of Colored Domestic Service. — In regard to
the personnel of domestic service, the facts in Philadelphia cor-
respond with those for all employes the world over ; Negro
domestic servants are for the most part women rather than men,
and young rather than middle-aged or old people. An examina-
tion of Table I will show that only about 30 in 100 of Philadel-
phia's colored domestics are men, while a study of the census
figures of 1890 shows only 16 men in 100 in domestic service
the country over; and the disproportion in English household
service is even greater, there being only 7 men in 100 Lon-
don servants. The sexes thus engaged in domestic work in

Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 437

Philadelphia, in the United States and in London are here
compared in tabular form:

TABLE III.

Sax IN DOMBSTIC SBRVICK OP DiPPBRBNT LOCAUTIBS COMFA&BD.

LocaUty.

Male.
Per cent.

Female.
Per cent.

Colored Domestic Service in Philadelphia

Domestic Service in United States (eleventh census)

Domestic Service in London (Charles Booth, Vol.

8. p. 211)

29.6
15.8

6.7

70.4
84.2

93.3

"1 tr •**/.•.•.•••.•.•.«...•

A comparison of the two columns shows very clearly that
domestic work which has long been considered as '' women's
work *' is still being done largely by women. A comparison
of the items of the first column of Table II with each other
shows that, taking the country over, where the domestic service
is represented largely by Irish, German, English, Swedish and
Norwegian elements as well as Negroes, the proportion of men
servants falls to only about one-half that of colored men ser-
vants in Philadelphia. This again is probably to be accounted
for by the fact that so many avenues of employment which are
closed to colored men are open to men among the white
foreign element which makes up the greater part of American
service. In our shops and markets and in our building trades,
on our trolley cars and our delivery wagons we see Irish and
German and Swedish men, but no Negroes. The result upon
domestic service of this closing of so many doors to the colored
man is twofold. Many of them, being unable to better them-
selves financially by leaving service for other employments,
remain in household work much longer than they otherwise
would do, and when they marry many of them ** turn waiter"
because household service is one of the best paid employments
open to the blacks. Thus colored men servants tend to remain
in ser\'ice longer than whites do and the frequent addition to
their ranks, of married colored men also tends to increase the
ratio of men servants among Negro domestics as well as to
raise the average age.

Next to the small number of men in domestical
fact that a greater proportion of colored thai

438 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

domestics, a study of the personnel of domestic service reveals
peculiarities concerning the age of servants. Nearly all house-
hold servants are comparatively young. This has been found
to be true everywhere, where records have been made, and
more especially among whites than among blacks. The colored
people in service are older on the average than the whites (as
would be expected from facts just given). Nearly one>half
of all the colored domestics in the Seventh Ward of Phila-
delphia, both men and women, are included in the age period
between twenty-one and thirty years as may be seen by refer-
ence to Table I. The average age among them is 31.9 years
for the men, and 29.6 for the women, the combined average for
both sexes being 30.3 years. This shows that Philadelphia's
colored domestics are comparatively young people, but an ex-
amination of the age of London servants shows also 30.5 years
as the average age of the men and 28.2 years as the average
age of the women in service there. While the United States
Census of 1890 shows men servants the country over to average
29.1 years, the women average only 26.8 years. These average
ages are given in tabular form for convenience of comparison.

TABLE IV.

AVBRAGS AGB in DOMHSTIC SBRVICK OP DiPPBRBNT LOCAI.ITIBS

COMPARBD.

I^ocality.

Colored Domestic Service in Philadelphia ...

General Domestic Service in London (computed
from Charles Booth's Diagram^

General Domestic Service in United States (com-
puted from eleventh census)

Male. Female.

Aver. Age. ^ Aver. Age.

39.6

28.2
26.8

Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 439

-TT

Diagram A.
Engush Domestic Service.

— -

\

w

80

20

A

202S30U4049S0UWUTDT9
Taken from Booth's " Life and Labonr of the People," Vol. 8, p. 2

440 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

Diagram B.
Showing AGES of Pessons

no

*>

»

—

—7-

-\

-i—

— 1

—

nn

no

—

—

1

withSimiuwMapbyBootx 1

-—

eo

—

— -

—

60

—

20

ZS 30 33 40

60 65 TO T3 00

Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 441

m

M

^

=

— 1

^

—

—

=

=

=

=

z^

=

=

330

=

=

E

=

D

lAGBAM C. 1

310

:=;

=r

s

^

—

—

290

—

^

—

^z.

ZZl

OF PhIIADQJHIA'''A6E5 OFAaCOlOBED

Hale Wage Earners in SaheWard

200
270
2M
250

=

1

E

=

=

^

—Do
-Au

m.Seb
COWB

VICE

edH*

LEWiU

I Em

HERS

230

220

210

=

=

1

^

__

=

^

=

=

=

: —

m

Y_

—

—

—

~V~^

'^

—

—

m:

~r~

_-

MO

120

liq

«0

40

55 60 U 70 75 M

442 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

But while these are average ages, the very g^eat excess of
the younger age periods over the older ones may be more clearly
seen by the diagrams A, B and C, contrasting the ages of
domestic men servants with the ages of all other male wage
earners. Diagram A shows these differences of age, as exhib-
ited in London, between men in household service and all of
occupied London. Diagram B shows the contrast as it exists
between men servants in the United States and all the occupied
men in the total population. Diagram C contrasts ages of col-
ored male servants in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia and
those of all occupied colored males in that ward. What these
three maps mean is that the ratio which the young men in
domestic service bear to the whole number of men in domestic
service is greater (by as much as the diagram indicates in each
case) than the ratio which the young men in all occupations
bear to the whole number of men in all occupations. In Lon-
don, according to Mr. Booth's diagram, there is an excess of
youth in service between ages of fifteen and thirty-three, after
which age the males in household work fall behind those
otherwise occupied. In America, according to diagram B,* the
excess of young men in service begins at fifteen, lasting till
nearly the age of thirty-nine, after which the proportion of men
in service is less than that of men otherwise occupied. In the
Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, according to diaojam C, we
notice an interesting variation from the comparatively dose
agreement of diagrams A and B. The greatest excess of youth
in service, here, as in A and B, is also at about twenty-three
to twenty-five years, but diagram C seems to show that in
Negro wage-earning in cities, the disproportionately large
number of men in domestic service holds good for every age
except that period which marks a man's greatest physical
strength, the period between thirty and forty years. The ex-
cess of colored men of that age in other occupations is no
doubt due to the large number of colored men of great physi-
cal strength who act as stevedores, porters, etc., between the
ages of thirty and forty. The sudden bend at thirty-five in
the domestic service line, in diagram C, is due to the fact that
the last age period recorded was ** forty -one years and over/*

' Computed on census figures and after Mr. Booth's method.

Sources of Supply and Methods of Hiring. 445

and, therefore, includes a few old servants about sixty. If
each decade had been recorded, the curve would be more
gradual, perhaps crossing the other between forty and forty-
five. The excess of sixty-seven points on the forty-five-year
line is almost equal to the excess at twenty-five years, and is,
therefore, probably in need of modification, though there is little
doubt of its indicating a real condition of Negro labor in
cities.

The fact that the highest point of excess of youth in these
three diagrams is reached at twenty-three to twenty-five years
is significant, and suggests the query why it is that domestic
service so clearly attracts the young of both sexes and of all
races. It is safe to say that one of the most prominent deter-
mining causes is necessity for immediate income. Many
young men and women are obliged by circumstances to under-
take some form of work which, while requiring no capital and
no particular course of training, still yields an immediate
return, which is certain to provide them at least their board
and lodging, with a small amount for living expenses. This
is the chief reason why the first employment of young men
and women just beginning to support themselves is so often
** going out to service.**

IV.

GRADES OP SBRVICB AND WAGES.

In his study of household service in the eighth volume of
** Life and Labour of the People," Mr. Charles Booth distin-
guishes three grades or divisions among women in domestic
service. The lowest group is made up of those employed in
the ** roughest single-handed places." The next group is
made up of those in single-handed places, but of a better class;
while the third group ** includes those employed in many mid-
dle class homes and in the large establishments of the wealthy,
it being scarcely possible to make any practical division
between these two classes of servants." Each group merges
imperceptibly into the next above it, so that it is practically
impossible to separate them in statistical enumeration. If
another grade be supplied between the second and third given
here — a grade found in well-to-do Philadelphia families, where
two women servants are employed — this grading of London
service applies very fairly to the condition of colored service
in Philadelphia. A considerable number of families in Phila-
delphia employ but one woman servant, and hire no extra help
to do laundry work, house cleaning or outside work. The one
woman does the *' cooking, washing, ironing, and drags up all
the ashes, tends furnace, cleans the front, and does every sin-
gle thing " — as one woman put her own case. A second sort
of household has only one domestic, but also hires extra ser-
vice for laundry work, etc. Then follows the large number of
houses where two women servants are kept, cook and ** second
girl," sometimes with and sometimes without the weekly
extra service; and finally, the establishments with many
domestics, each having his or her own special duties. The
only classification of househould servants which is at all prac-
ticable in this inquiry, is that into sub-occupations or special-
ized kinds of work resulting from division of labor within
domestic service. Such a classification of colored domestic
service in Philadelphia shows seven sub-divisions of the work
engaging the labor of men servants, while there are no fewer
than twelve in which women are employed. These are here
given in tabulated form:

(444)

Grades of Service and Wages.

445

TABLE V.

Sub-occupations in Philadbi^phia Domestic Service {Seventh

Ward) by Number and Sex.

Malb.

Bell and errand boys, etc. . . 23

Butler 109

Coachman 76

Waiter 387

Cook 47

Valet 4

General work 31

PBMAI.K.

Bell and errand girls, etc. . . 34

Child's nurse 21

Chambermaid 114

Waitress 44

Waitress and chambermaid . 22

Lady's maid 4

Laundress 2^

Cook 365

Cook and laundress 3

Chambermaid and laundress . 5

**Janitress** 4

General housework 96^

Work Required of Various Sub-occupations. — The work
usually assigned to each of these sub-classes is known in a gen-
eral way by everyone. In one of the appendices to her book
on ** Domestic Service," Miss Salmon publishes a circular letter
from one of the committees of the Philadelphia Civic Club to the
members of the club, submitting standards of work and wages
for the various classes of sub-occupations among domestic
servants. A single paragraph may be quoted, which gives the
duties of one sub-occupation minutely and accurately, though
all sorts of cross-classifications occur in practice, the waitress
often being also chambermaid or laundress:

** Waitresses at $3.00 or $3.50 per week; must understand
care of dining-room, of silver, glass and china; care and atten-
tion in waiting on table, care of parlor and halls and answer-
ing the doorbell properly.*'

The requirements for cooks, laundresses, chambermaids,
nurses, etc., are given with equal accuracy of detail, but this
is so generally understood that it is not necessary to dwell on
the point here. The term **janitress" may need a word of
explanation; this was what the hall servant and generally use-
ful domestic at a large private boarding school called herself,
and there were several others who seemed best classed with
her. The duties of the butler in many cases extend to those
of steward, and he is often to a large degree responsible for the
selection and purchase of the food materials used in his
particular establishment. The colored butler thus honorably

446 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

commissioned, generally styles himself "butler and sic
though he has not, in any case thus far personally encoiv
the responsibility of engaging and paying the other sr
as is the case with the English steward. The Phil
use of the word is evidently a modification of the
term and bears a quite difierent significance.

The wages paid for these services vary in accor^l
many modifying influences, as will be shown. Dfn
vice, however, is generally acknowledged to be w-
compared with other occupations which are open
A cook receiving $4.50 a week, the average pay in
save as much in a year as the average teacher
public schools, as is shown by a comparison o:
teacher's salary, based on 6512 records,^ and tht
made on the authority of cashiers of banks in
that domestics as a class save more than do factf
question of the savings of colored domestics i^
latter part of this report.

Table VI, which follows, shows the range *
men in the various sub-divisions of colored dot:
also the average wage in each class of service
Table VII represent the statements of the w
in regard to their earnings.

TABLE VI.
Range op Wagss and Averagb Wagbs 01-

VANTS IN PHII^ADBX^HIA

Sub-occupation.

Bell-boy, etc.
Butler . . .
Coachman .
Waiter . . .
Cook ....
Valet . , .
General work

Range of

tf I 00-

6 25-

5 00

2 0:1
I »

7 <>

1 c

* Computed on basis of reports from all individual
sub-occupation.

fThe fig^ures given indicate the lowest and highf-
reported by those interviewed in a canvaaa of 6j^
Philadelphia.

^ Iv. M. Salmon, *' Domestic Service/* p.

Grades of Service and Wages,

447

The figures here given of course represent the weekly pay for
the services classified; but such sums as$i.oo as the weekly
pay for the service of a cook, or $2.00 as that of a waiter
should be recognized as unusual and as recording facts which
are far from typical, which represent the extreme of underpay
oflFered only under extraordinary circumstances, probably to a
young and inexperienced boy or to an aged or otherwise inelBB-
cient cook.

Table VII gives the same set of facts in regard to the earn-
ings of women servants:

TABLE VII.
Rangb op Wagbs and Avbragb Wagbs op

SERVANTS IN PHILADBI^PHIA

COU>RBD WOMBN

Sub-occupation.

Errand girls, etc

Child's nurse

Chambermaid

Waitress

Waitress and chambermaid

Lady's maid

Laundress

Cook

Cook and laundress ....
Chambermaid and laundress

Janitress

General work

Range of Wages.

Average Weekly.f

*|o 00— %2 50

$2 GO

I 50— 10 00

3 35

I 50— 4 00

3 17

I 50— 4 GO

3 31

2 CO— 3 50

3 17

3 50— 4 GO

363

2 50— 7 00

4 04

2 50— 10 GO

4 02

3 50— 5 00

4 00

3 25— 4 00

358

2 00— 7 00

4 g6

I CO— 5 00

3 24

* That is to say, ' ' living and tips."

t The average is the actual average for all cases recorded.

These two tables show that in domestic service, as in every
other department of the economic world, it is the ojfice of skill
or of trust which is the best paid. The ojfices of skill and trust
among the men are those of butler and valet, or trusted per-
sonal attendant. Frequently the coachman is also butler.
Comparison of the average pay of butlers with that of waiters
or general work of * * utility men, * * as they are called, shows very
clearly the higher pay for skilled work. Men-cooks* wages are
here seen to below in comparison with the butlers' or coachmen's,
— this for several reasons: first, because in so small a number
as were encountered one man receiving only $1.00 brings down
the average appreciably; further, because in the wealthiest

448 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

establishments almost no men-cooks were encountered. The
majority of men-cooks reporting were employed in boarding
houses, where presumably the pay was not allowed for on a
lavish scale; but, finally and chiefly, wages of men-cooks are
lower because a man servant who is a cook practically com-
petes with the woman -cook. The services of an excellent
woman can be gotten for $4.50 or $5.00, while no woman
can take the place of a butler or coachman; hence butlers'
wages are not affected by woman's competition. Doubtless
the same tendency operates to lower the wages of waiters, now
that such capable waitresses can be obtained. The same ten-
dency is noticeable in England, where Mr. Booth says the but-
ler is ** giving place to the neat parlor-maid.'* In Table VII,
showing women's wages, the skilled specialists are cooks and
laundresses, while the office of trust is held by the jani tress,
and these are seen to head the list in the matter of pay, being
the only women domestics who receive on the average more
than $4.00. The Boston Employment Bureau publishes a list*
showing the same thing. The average wages of cooks in
Boston is given as $4.45, while chambermaids receive $3.86,
waitresses $3.76, second girls $3.34 and general servants $3.16.
The factotum, who does everything from cooking to furnace
work and house cleaning, is evidently not considered a skilled
hand, nor paid as such.

Secondly, these two tables also show clearly a very large dif-
ference between the pay of men and of women in domestic
service; the men receiving on the average close upon 100 per
cent more than the women. Miss Salmon's averages,* showing
the wages of men and of women domestics throughout the
country, are $167.96 yearly for women and $373.36 yearly
for men. The difference here is more than 100 per cent.
These figures, therefore, emphasize this difference between
men's pay and women's pay, showing that men servants are
generally paid moie than double the wages which women
accept.

Are wages in domestic service affected by race or color ?
How do theory and practice agree in this matter of wages ?

• L. M. Salmon, ** Domestic Service,'* p. 90.

• L. M. Salmon, " Domestic Service," p. 88, or see Table X, following.

Grades of Service and Wages,

449

How nearly does the wage which ought to be paid agree
with the actual average pay of domestics? A comparison
of the figures given in Table VII, with the standard
of wages suggested by the ladies of the Philadelphia Civic
Club in the letter already quoted, is interesting as showing the
close agreement between pay which the best intelligence of
the city believes to be just and the actual average wages of
Philadelphia domestics. The following table compares these
average wages with the Civic Club estimates:

TABLE VIII.

Comparison op ''Theorbticai, Wagbs'' with Actuai, Waobs of

Domestics in Phu^adbi^phia.

Cooks . . .
Waitresses . .
Chambermaids
Child's nurse
Laundress . .
Seamstress . .

or
Lady's maid .

}

Civic Club Bstimate.

At $3 50 or |4 CO per week.

<<
<«
II

II

3 00
3 00
3 00
3 50

3 50

II
II
II
II

II

3 50
3 50

3 50

4 00

4 00

I*
II
II

II

II

II
II
<i
(I

II

Actnml Average Wage
of Colored Domeatica.

|4 02
3 31

3
3
4

17
35
04

3 63

This agreement points to the probability that among women
in domestic service at least, there is no difference between
** white pay and black pay/* however much of it there may be
in other departments of work in Philadelphia ; for the Civic
Club estimate is given for the whole field of service, white as
well as black. Among men servants, however, there probably
is a variation in wages determined largely by color. This first
became evident on Rittenhouse Square," where the colored
butlers encountered were receiving on the average $36.90
monthly — (a slightly better wage than that of the Seventh
Ward employes doing the same work), while the white but-
lers, according to the statement of one of their number, ** gene-
rally get $40.00 to $45.00 a month in the houses that keep one
man. Where there are two men — two white men — the first

^^Rittenhouse Square is not in the Seventh Ward, but being probably
the most fashionable quarter of the city, was investigated for purposes of
comparison.

29

450 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

may get $50.00 and the second $45.00 ; but there are not many
houses that pay $50.00." "

The variation in pay of colored and white butlers is probably
partly due then to the fact already stated that there are rela-
tively fewer white than colored men in service ; thus giving
different ratios of supply and demand for white and colored
men servants. But the matter of fashion counts much. It
doubtless has more influence in determining the pay of an
employee, who is as much in evidence as is the butler or coach-
man, than it has in fixing the pay of an " invisible employee"
like the cook. The question of personal appearance and fashicm
holds also as between different grades of white employees, as
will be seen from Mr. Booth's statements, that in London *'a
second footman of five feet six inches would command J^to to
j^22, while one of five feet ten inches or six feet would not take
under jf 28 or jf 30. Again, a short first footman could not
expect more than ;^3o, while a tall man would command
j^32to £\o.^' The same principle operating in Philadelphia
often obliges colored men, like short footmen in London, to take
what they can get. There is a relatively smaller demand for
them for these two reasons, and so their pay varies from white
men's pay, while among the women those cooks and maids,
who are the most skillful, are in greatest demand ; so that
color makes less difference in the women's wages.

Does ** imported service" affect wages of colored domes-
tic servants in Philadelphia ? There can be little doubt that in
household service, where hardly anything else could have
affected their secure hold on at least this one branch of employ-
ment, fashion has militated against the colored people of Phila-
delphia. A Spruce street colored butler said, * * What are you

^1 The remainder of this conversation gives a side light on the reason
for this difference in men's wages. The investigator, seeing this butler
was communicative, said, " The colored butlers get less than that, I sap-
pose you know, only $30 or $35, and a few get %\o. Don't yon think
they make as good or better butlers and waiters than you white men do ?'*
He laughed and said, *' Yes, they're better at that than we are, and '* —
in a half-confidential, half-amused tone — '* they aren't so lazy as we are.
We're lazy, but they are always anxious to please, and they work harder
'an we do." " Well, why don't they get the same pay, then ? " *' WcU,"
he said, stiffening, " but even if they do, you don't expect a white man
is going to work for what a nigger will take. You can't expect tkoL*^

Grades of Service and Wages.

451

going to do when you're shut out of your work? I don't
know no other country. I was bom here. The colored are
shut out more than when I come to Philadelphia in '65. The
foreigners shut us out of even our ordinary work we've always
done in service, I don't know why ; because the colored
people are just as good help as they ever was. And the worst
is it throws them into the slums when they can't get their work.
I've been praying the Lord to help our people," etc. A white
butler on Rittenhouse Square sums up the situation from what
might be called the impersonal point of view: '* You see they
(the employers) go to Europe and bring home Englishmen,
and that knocks out the Negro." Many colored women —
natives — say that it is harder now than formerly to get good
places, because there are so many more white girls — foreigners —
seeking household work.

It is dijBBcult to reduce to figures information on this point,
but the following enumeration which shows the distribution of
colored service with reference to the fashionable quarter seems
to confirm the opinions of the butlers quoted, or at least to
indicate that the people who employ the greatest number of
servants employ fewer colored people than are to be found in
plainer establishments.

TABLE IX.
Distribution op Coi«ored Service with Reference to the

Fashionable Quarter.

Seven Blocks East of Broad Street.

Seven Bloclu West of Broad Street.

On
Spruce
Street.

106 domestics, or 65 per cent
of all colored domestic
servants on Spruce Street.

58 domestics, or 35 per cent of
all colored domestic ser-
vants on Spruce Street

On

Pine
Street

99 domestics, or 58 per cent
of all colored domestic
servants on Pine Street.

71 domestics, or 42 per cent of
all colored domestic ser-
vants on Pine Street.

The smaller number of colored domestics employed in the
fashionable section is noticeable both on Pine and Spruce
streets, the number to the east of Broad on Spruce being very
nearly double that in the more fashionable region to the west.
The greater divergence of the ratios east and west is where we
should expect it in accordance with the butler's theory — that

452 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

is on Spruce, the more fashionable street." On the whole, it
seems probable that the fashion of importing English and
French service has an appreciable effect in the direction of
complicating Philadelphia's Negro problem,

** Importation " from the butler's point of view is easily ex-
plained. The willingness of English butlers to come to
America is doubtless largely, indeed almost wholly, due to the
fact that their absolute money wages are so much higher here
than in England. Few of them are political economists enough
to realize that $600 in America may be worth only half that
sum in England. So glittering an offer as that of ** double
his present salary," is eagerly accepted by the majority of
Englishmen of a certain grade of intelligence and this has
quite definite results upon the domestic service of our large
cities in America.

In the table which follows, the annual money wages of
domestic servants in London are contrasted with the general
yearly average wages for men's and women's work in thirty-
seven of our States and also with the wages of colored domestic

servants in Philadelphia.

TABLE X.

Tablb Comparing English and American '*Monbv Wagbs.*'

{Annual Amounts Over and Above Board and Lodging, )

8ub-occupation.

I^ondon. *

Colored Domestics
in Philadelphia.

United States.t

PhlUdelphia.

{ Gen'l Servant
Women. < Housemaid

(Cook

( Brrand boy . . .
Men. •< Pootm'n, Coach'n
(Bntler

$77 50

82 50

109 50

5500
175 00

300 00

$168 48
164 84
•09 04

1357a

446 16
/428 48 (Colored)
1 540 00 (White)

Average

women's

wages,

$'6796.
Average
men's
wages
l373 36

Average

woman's

wagea,

Si79 9«.

Average
colored
men's
wagea,

$335 40

* Charles Booth, Vol. viil, pp. 217 and 223.
t Salmon, " Domestic Service," p. 28.

" In corroboration of this belief that colored men are displaced by im-
ported English and foreign men servants comes the statement made to
the investigator by the business manager of the Continental Hotel. He
says that the Continental, which at the change of seasons often adds at
one time as many as thirty colored waters and bellmen to its force, •'can
always get as many colored waiters as are wanted at a few hours' notice,'*
which certainly indicates that there are many unemployed colored men
in Philadelphia who are anxious to work but are crowded out in the
snpply and demand adjustments.

Grades of Service and Wages. 453

The comparison here offered shows that in the most of the
sub-occupations of domestic service the actual sums paid are
twice as large in America as in London.

The range of wages in England as given by Mr. Booth, also
strengthens the belief that American wages must sound very
large to English ears. '* The actual wages earned,'* says Mr.
Booth, on page 217 of his eighth volume, ** begin as low as one
shilling a week, this amount being received in three cases (out
of a total of 1692 servants), while forty-two more were paid
less than ^5 per annum — at the other end of the scale we find
three servants all over thirty years old, receiving from ^26 to
£2)^ a year, three more receiving ^20 and ;^39, others re-
ceiving from ^15 to ^20.'' To an American this sounds far
from lavish although it is of course impossible to know how
much this money is worth until we know the cost of staple
articles in London. Still to a servant who has been receiving
even £2f^ a year ($180), our highest women's wage ($520 yearly)
would doubtless present remarkable attractions.

Do board and lodging enter into, or affect, wages? A
comparison of the items of Table X shows a very large dif-
ference between the pay of American men servants and
American women servants. This seems hardly to be accounted
for by the fact that a much larger per cent of women in domes-
tic service than of men receive board and lodging in addition
to wages. Miss Salmon's investigation estimates that only 60
per cent of the men servants receive board and lodging while
98 per cent of the women do.

In the Philadelphia investigation the facts upon this point
seem to indicate that the amount of wages is only slightly
affected, if at all, by the question of board and lodging. When
these are given in addition to wages they apparently do not
stand, in the mind of either employer or domestic, as part pay-
ment for service. A comparison of the pay of women-cooks
who lodge at their place of work, with that of women-cooks
who lodge at home will illustrate this. The average pay of
those who lodge at their place of work and therefore receive
board and lodging in addition to wages, is $4. 13 as contrasted
with $3.95 received by those who go home at night. Here the
difference will be seen to be in the opposite direction from what
we should expect if board and lodging are reckoned as part of

454 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

the wages of cooks. The same facts hold good for the other
sab-occupations among colored domestic servants in the ward,
which would seem to indicate that in Philadelphia, at least board
and lodging are customarily given or not according as it suits
the convenience or the preference of mistress or maid, but are
not, except rarely, considered a part of the wages paid for
service. Many employers doubtless believe that the service
rendered by girls who lodge in their place of work is better,
and they may perhaps consider the board and lodging given,
as added pay for better quality of service. Be this as it may,
the actual money wages do not appear to be aflFected by it in
Philadelphia, where, as will be seen by the following table,
only 50 per cent of the colored women in service and only 24
per cent of the colored men lodge at their employers* establish-
ments.

TABLE XI.

Number and Pbr Cbnt op Cou>rbd Dobcbstic Sbrvants, by Sbx,
IN Seventh Ward, Who Lodge at Place op Work.

I«odgins^ Place.

Malx.

PRMALB.

No.

Per Cent.

No.

Percent,

At employers* house

At home or lodgings

38

118

24.4
75.6

207

201

50.7
49-3

Total

156

100.0

408

lOO.O

To the thoughtful and thrifty colored domestic this ought to
suggest an easy way of saving a good bit for the ** old folks at
home" if they can only see it that way, for they reduce the
home expenses both for meals and for rent in many cases, by
lodging at place of work, while they themselves receive the
same money wages and very likely higher ones, whether their
board and lodging comes out of their employer or is drawn
from their own home circle.

The majority of the single colored girls in service board and
lodge in their employers' establishments; only 38.7 per cent
of them going home at night, while most of the married
women in service, as is natural, do go home from work, only
27.5 per cent of them lodging in the employers* house. Of

Grades of Service and Wages, 455

the men reporting in regard to lodging place 29lper cent of the
single men sleep at their places of work, while 71 per cent
have lodgings elsewhere. Of the married men only 17.6 per
cent lodge at the place of work while 82.4 per cent lodge at
home.

V.

SAVINGS AND EXPENDITURE.

The question of the savings of Seventh Ward domestics
would naturally be discussed here. Table XII shows the
facts upon this point. It is based upon the records of those
who have been personally interviewed. In this table the
"societies " referred to are either sick benefit, death benefit, or
insurance societies, which are all very popular with the colored
people. Their tendency to use this method of saving rather
than to deposit in the bank is shown in many ways. They
frequently express their distrust of banks and banking. One
girl sums up her philosophy by saying, *' I save in my pocket.
I'm a very poor spender, but I bank a little too, only the banks
are so shaky I'm afraid of them. A friend of mine lost $600
in the Keystone and I lost $100 and came near putting in
$50.00 just the day before the bank broke. Yes, I'm afraid of
banks." A waiter working on Spruce near Broad says, ** I've
quit banking. I lost $300 in the Keystone." This distrust
of banks is traced by excellently qualified judges as far back
as the Freedman's Bank trouble, and it seems probable that
that first wave of distrust has been followed by a second one,
and that to the Philadelphia colored people the failure of the
Keystone stands for the same thing nearer home.

Table XII shows proportion of colored domestics who are
saving and who, therefore, not only are not a burden to the
community, but are adding something to the sum total of its
power. It shows also the methods of saving employed.

It will be noticed that the men do more banking in propor-
tion than the women do, and less saving '* at home" or by
means of the benefit societies. Three men use the bank where
one woman does, while three women save at home to one man
who does. It is also noticeable that the percentages of those
who do not save at all are about equal in both columns
of Table XII.

(456)

Savings and Expenditure.

457

TABLE XIL

Savings of Colored Dombstics in Philadbi^phia.
{ By Sex and by Method of Saving, )

Method of Savlnff.

Per Cent of
Men Who Sare.

Per Cent of
Women Who Save.

Savic

ig in bank only

28.3

9.7

«<

in society only

20.7

30.2

c<

in bank and in society . .

18.6

15.9

(t

in society and owns prop-

erty

3.5

1.2

It

at home

6.2

15.9

<<

at home and society . . .

1.4

4.2

««

in building association . .

2.1

.7

<<

in bank and owns prop-

erty

• •

I.O

4(

in bank and society and
owns property or has

built a home ....

4.2

1.2

Not saving this year

• •

4.4

<<

ai ail . • • • • . .

15.0

15.6

In contrast with this 15 per cent which saves nothing,
may be mentioned a few cases which seem particularly note-
worthy as examples of unusual thrift :

1. The case of a young chore-man twenty years old, who
said, ** No, he wasn't saving any thing to speak of." And it
would have passed at that, had not his employer said, ** Why,
Henry, you know you bring me $2.00 every month to save for
you.*' And it came out that from the $14.00 he earned
monthly he was regularly sending $5.00 each month to his aged
mother and saving $2.00. The month before his report was
taken he had sent $10.00 to his mother because she had had a
•destructive fire at home and needed new articles.

2. The case of a man-cook thirty-one years old, who has been
in his present situation over seven years, and earns $8.00
weekly. Prom this amount he has supported his family and
built a home which he now owns. He also has a good bank
account which, he says, his wife doesn't know about. He's
** going to surprise her with it when he gets a good bit; or, if
lie dies she will have something to keep her." This man also
has membership in two benefit societies.

458 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

3. The case of a young woman twenty-nine years of age^
who receives $4.00 a week for cooking. She sends $10.00 a
month to her mother who is a consumptive invalid and also
** puts by *' $2.00 every month.

4. A chambermaid, a widow fifty-three years old, who says,
"I've got a little home in Virginia I bought and paid for
myself.' ' She earns $3.00 a week. She also has a bank account
and belongs to a sick benefit society.

5. The case of a young woman of twenty-two years wha
* * banks half she earns every week. * ' She earns $3. 50 weekly and
saves $91.00 a year from her total yearly earnings, $182.00.

6. The case of a butler earning $35.00 a month, who owns
five lots in Richmond, two more in New Jersey and one in
Essington.

7. Another butler forty years old, who has been
twenty-three years in the same family. He is paid
$40.00 a month. He owns a Maryland stock farm which
his uncle manages for him, several lots of land in south
Philadelphia, has a term policy on which he pays $93.00 yearly
and has membership in a sick benefit which insures him $10.00-
a week in case of illness.

Perhaps the most popular way of saving among the colored
servants of Philadelphia is now by means of the ** society."
Of all those reporting on savings 48.4 per cent of the men and
52.7 per cent of the women are saving in these societies^
Whether this per cent of patronage of societies by domestic ser-
vants is greater or less than that for the whole community, very
nearly two-thirds of all the women who save at all do so through
one or more societies while the greater part of the other one-
third do their saving at home, **in their pockets.'*

These societies, when they are ftoMa/dc insurance companies,
often furnish fair investments to their contributors. A policy
drawing a fee of $1.30 monthly when paid up entitles its holder
to $10.00 a week in case of sickness. A policy drawing eighty
cents a month entitles its holder to $5.00 a week, sick benefit.
These represent the sick benefit rates paid by two of the best
and most reliable societies. The great value of such companies
to such individuals as are subject to frequent illness and have
no home for a refuge is clear at a glance. But it often hap-
pens that colored people who have iron constitutions will go

Savings and Expenditure, 459

into these societies and contribute year after year, reaping no*
benefit because they are never ill, and loath to stop paying
their fees and begin to deposit in the bank for fear they should
be ill. The fact that this sort of membership in sick benefits
is a very had investment was pointed out to a certain waiter on
Pine street who had paid $30.00 a year for ten years into his
two societies, but had never drawn a cent from either because he
had never been sick. The fact that, had he banked his money
he would have had now in hand the sum of $300, could not
be denied, but this certainty was not suflBcient to stifle the
feeling that if he dropped the societies he ** would lose all he
had put in*' and the question arising, ** suppose I «AawW be
sick?" which was not to be satisfactorily answered by state-
ments of probabilities. The same thing, grown to greater
proportions, is seen in the case of one quite aged butler, wha
for sixteen years has held policies in seven societies and has
never drawn, except when his wife died. Many instances
might be cited of domestics who have belonged to two or more
societies for six years or more and have never drawn though
their policies were paid up. Several instances were encountered
of domestics who were saving in societies and also in the bank,
and who when they were sick drew all their money out of the
bank and ** never thought of the society " and so did not draw
at all, but exhausted their bank accounts and were then,
presumably, helped by friends. One woman who had been
insured in one society for seventeen years and also held a sick
benefit, exhausted her whole bank account and only drew on
the society for two weeks (although she was ill some months)
because she * 'didn't think of it'* till she had spent all the
money she had in the bank. All which goes to show how
difl&cult it is for a people long unused to any financial responsi-
bility to adjust their minds to it and how easy a matter it is
for unscrupulous persons or societies to take advantage of their
simplicity.

Assistance Given by Domestic Servants. — In connection
with wages and savings may be considered the matter of
assistance to dependents. Many colored domestics in Phila-
delphia either wholly support or very materially help toward
the support of parents or other members of the family. Even,.

460 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

in many cases, taking entire care of more distant relatives,
outside the immediate home circle.

The answers to Question 21 of the schedule (** Who besides
yourself is supported by your wages?") were separated into
four grades : (i) those wholly supporting one or both parents;
<2), those helping parents ; (3), those wholly supporting others
than parents ; (4), those helping, but not wholly supporting,
others than parents.

In this matter, the men generally do less proportionately
than the women. Of 187 men reporting on this point, 13,
that is 7 per cent, are of the first class, who furnish from their
earnings the whole support of one or both parents ; 40 (or 21.4
per cent) are of the second class, and are helping one or both
parents; 25 (or 13.4 per cent), are of the third class, and are
supporting some other member of the family, generally some
younger brother or sister ; while 16 (or 8.6 per cent) are of the
fourth class, and are helping, though not wholly supporting,
some other member of the family; 8 (or 4.3 per cent) are doing
more than one of these things; e. g., one young fellow 0^
twenty years who earns only $3.00 a week, is responsible for
the support of his father's entire family, seven in number, as
the father drinks and can not be depended upon. One waiter,
twenty-eight years old, receives $20.00 a month and is help-
ing his own father and mother and both his wife's parents
also. His wife too is earning, so what it practically amounts
to is that the two young people are between them taking care
of the four old people. The facts gathered in the Seventh
Ward show 50.3 per cent of the men in domestic service are
contributing toward the support of parents or others while
49.7 per cent have no one but themselves to look out for. These
facts and similar ones for colored women domestics are here
tabulated, 187 men in all reported on this subject and 420
women.

Table XIII presents approximately the actual condition
in regard to responsibilities assumed for the help or support
of parents and others. Whether the following table, which
will show the proportion of wages thus given, is equally
reliable, is an open question. It is difficult to estimate at a
moment's notice what one spends or gives for any one object
To determine with any degree of accuracy the amount

Samngs and Expenditure,

461

TABLE XIII.

Number and Pkrcsntagb op Coi^orbd Dombstic Sbrvants in Phil-
ADBi«PHiA Having Parbnts or Othbrs Dbpbndbnt on Thbm.

{607 Cases.)

Men. i Number
\ Per cent .

Mu

aJS

Support
Parents

Help
Parents.

u

li

Help
Others.

> 0

13

40

25

16

94

7

21.4

13.4

8.6

50.3

26

121

46

48

241

6.2

28.8

II

II.4

57.4

MfiU

93

49.7
179

42.6

spends in a year for clothing is not always an easy thing to do.
So the answers g^ven must involve a large amount of involun-
tary misstatement. The following table, therefore, may be
taken with allowances. It gives the result of many averages
thus hastily struck by the domestics interviewed, and shows
the number and percentage of colored servants who regularly
give one-half, more than one-half or less than one-half their
wages toward the support of those dependent on them.

TABLE XIV.

NUMBBR AND PBRCBNTAGB OP Coi«ORBD DOMBSTiC SBRVANTS OF

Phii,adbi«phia ^Supporting Othbrs, by Sbx and
Proportion op Wagbs Givbn.

Men.

Women.

( Number .

\ Per cent .
Number
Per cent

{

GlTinjc One-half
Total Bamings.

3.7 (of 187)
7.1 (of 420)

Giving Iress than
One-half.

22

II.8

71
16.9

Giving More than
One-half.

7

3.7
29

6.9

Many who do help their parents and others report that
they **can not estimate how much it takes." Fifteen, how-
ever, who give no estimate as to proportion of wages given,
1MIP very plainly that it ** takes all I make," or, it ** takes every-
-•no* to clothe me." One married man of forty

462 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

is supporting his ** sister's little girl,** who, he says, is " like
an adopted child to us. Her father and mother are living but
they have three or four besides her to support." This man
earns thirty dollars a month, on which he supports his own
family and his sister's little girl, and is also saving in the bank
and has a one-dollar fee in a sick benefit society.

One young ** waiter-man,** earning twenty-five dollars a
month, is *' making a home for his mother** and helping three
sisters besides. But none of these cases appear in Table XIV,
since none of them could give any kind of an estimate of the
proportion of earnings given. That considerable was given in
each of these cases, however, is obvious, and many similar
instances might be cited. It is almost invariably true of bell-
boys and errand-boys and girls that they take their entire
earnings home to their parents to swell the general store. One
young bell-boy said that he ** took all he earned home to his
mother except twenty -five cents he kept himself and she saved
)that for him.**

Summary. — A large part of the earnings of the colored
domestics of the ward are thus seen to go towards the support
•of parents and dependents. This generosity towards their
own will be attested, it is believed, by everyone who has had
any considerable knowledge of the colored people. When one
remembers that the same thing is noticeably true of the Jews,
the thought naturally occurs that it is perhaps an instinct of
self-preservation, which reveals itself among oppressed races.

Again, that with a majority of Negroes, some part of their
earnings are steadily ** put by for a nest ^zz^^ — to use one of
their own quaint expressions — will doubtless be similarly at-
tested. There is of course much extravagance among
Negroes. Much is doubtless spent for amusement,
much certainly goes for finery. These outlays are compara-
tively large with some among the colored domestics of Phila-
delphia, although the facts which came to the knowledge of
the investigator during these nine months in Philadelphia
seemed to indicate that, speaking broadly, the colored domes-
tics of that city are a thrifty class of people.

VI.

AMUSEMENTS AND RECREATIONS.

There can be little doubt that the monotony of the life of
a domestic employee is one of the chief obstacles in the
way of many competent workers who, but for this, might
«nter service as a permanent employment. Although
household work is less arduous than many other forms of man-
ual labor, yet it is true of it more than of almost any other occu-
pation that it demands practically the whole of the worker's
time. Nearly all of the restaurant waiters interviewed have
**only two hours at a time," and it will readily be understood
that with their leisure so broken they find it difl&cult to employ
it to any very great advantage, either in the direction of study
or of recreation. The liberty of the * * private waiter ' ' (except on
his day out) is even less than that of the hotel waiter. House-
hold work is a ceaseless round, which like woman's work, is
**never done.*' And the private domestic, even when given con-
siderable liberty and free time while within the household,
must always hold himself in readiness to answer any call at a
moment's notice. All this is a very serious objection in the
minds of most young people, who, as has been seen, constitute
the greater part of domestic service everywhere. Without doubt
it deters many whites as well as blacks, and many rural as well
as urban people from entering household service. Indeed, it
is probable that it determines in a very considerable degree
the personnel of domestic service in England as well as through-
out the United States, and somewhat modifies its character in
the matter of permanence, as many English girls prefer factory
work, and many girls in our cotton -growing and grape-raising
regions, as well as in our factory towns, prefer field and factory
work when it is to be had, and only fall back into the ranks
of domestic service when the season is passed or factory work
slack. Of the restlessness of household servants in England,
Mr. Booth says : " ** Many of this class (the middle grade)

^ Charles Booth, vol. 8, chapter on Household Service.

(463)

464 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

only go to service when factory work is slack,
almost universally stipulate for one whole day's lu
in every month — indeed, with most of them, this seem-
the one thing which makes the servant's life worth livii:
The dullness and monotony of a domestic servant's liu
to be the most generally pressing question. The denia'
more Sundays and evenings out and a monthly hoH
Careful mistresses assert that they find that even qni-
girls fresh from the country chafe under any restrii.
the manner in which they shall spend thdr leisure, u-.
ing out late alone."

The same tendencies are noticeable throoghoii;
domestic service, both with native whites, foreign
colored domestics. This dissatisfaction is shown
less attempts of domestics to enter other occupatii
American domestic employees the country over, 2
found to have been engaged in other occupation>
picking, grape and cotton- picking and factory
these people are now employed in domesti
Salmon believes, means not so much a prefereiu-
that it is a sort of demiere ressort to be taken ir
better paid or more popular work offers. For
of work named the employees get wages so '
them to live for a considerable time in id!
popularity among young people in many plai

Among the colored people in the dty of
domestics report in regard to other occnpatio'
91, or 17.4 per cent, have done, or attempted
nity to do, other work than domestic servi.
able that the employment which has occ
cent of colored domestics has been very »'
from the field and actory work attractin;-
general. Among colored city domestics,
women before entering service has very
making, typewriting or teaching, while
as porters, or drug clerks, or have pract
fessions. One man was encountered w'
Hampton and from a law school as w

>* L. M. Salmon, " Domettic Servle*," p. 1

Amusements and Recreations, 465

cutters, brick masons and carpenters were found who had
drifted or been forced into the ranks of domestic service.

The chief diflFerence between the case of these Negro domes-
tics in the city and the case of the grape-pickers and factory
hands both in England and America who have tried to leave
service for other work, is indicated by the widely different char-
acter of the work sought in each case. The grape- and cotton-
pickers and the factory hands leave service only temporarily,
lured by the high wages and the ** liveliness ** of the work,
fully expecting all the time to return to service when the har-
vesting is over and their wages spent; while the colored city
employees who attempt to get other work wish to leave domestic
service permanently. They wish to do this partly because they
consider that service savors of slavery and that they are de-
graded by it, and being ambitious of achieving respectability,
they attempt to better their social standing by becoming teachers
or dressmakers; partly also because they hope for higher wages
from teaching and other work than they receive as domestics.
The difference between the proportion of servants the country
over who have done other work and the proportion of colored
domestics in Philadelphia who have done or attempted to do
other work is a large one. Twenty-eight per cent of general
domestic service as ;contrasted with 17.4 per cent of colored
domestic service shows a difference which is almost in the ratio
of five to three. And also it must be remembered — and this
accentuates the difference still further — that the colored ser-
vants who have tried to get other work and failed have also
been counted, since the attempt showed their restlessness in
service and their desire to leave it. There must be some reason
for this apparent willingness to remain in service on the part of
the colored people. In answer to the schedule question, * * Have
you ever tried to do other work ?** a large number of domes-
tics replied, ** I never go any place I*m not sure of, — I won't
give them a chance to refuse me.'* One girl who had taught
for four years and who thinks she lost her place at the end of
that time from prejudice on the part of the school-committee,
says, without the slightest apparent touch of resentment, ** The
reason I don't try to teach is because I know I'd have trouble,
and I can save as much this way." Another ex- teacher has
now been a chambermaid for several years for the same reason.

30

466 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service,

One Philadelphia carpenter and builder says, "We have five
granddaughters — my son's children — ^from twenty-three years
old to fourteen; and what can we do with them? They can't
get teachers' places, though they are good students. Dress-
making is about played out. Service ? They don't want to do
that. Typewriting is about the only hope, and the oldest one was
refused that the other day."

One man, now a waiter, was formerly a stock clerk for the
Eureka Silk Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, and held his place
there for seven years. At the end of that time he applied by
letter for a similar position in Philadelphia, and was told to
'*come along; everything was satisfactory; his record was
good and they would try him." When he appeared in person

they inquired, ** Are you Mr. ?"...** Well, we have

another applicant on file who is coming around to-day. If we
don't decide on him we'll let you know." He left his address
and has not heard from the firm since. He says, *' Waiting is
all we can get to do, and lots will refuse us that. No man as
dark as I am could get work at one of the large apartment
];iouses. They want a * bright skin.' It is the same in many
hotels, and families, too." Another man states that when he
applied for office work the clerk to whom he addressed his
remarks looked at him and did not answer him at all ; while
yet another, a fine looking young man of the type called a
** brown skin," said he had been refused clerk's work with
insults, which ** it would be impossible for him to repeat before
a lady — words he would not soil his lips with." Fortunately,
however, this is becoming less common. When colored domes-
tics are refused it appears to be generally with the simple state-
ment that white help is preferred. It should be said here that
among those who said that they had never attempted anything
except domestic employment, fifty-two, or about lo per cent,
have even been refused domestic work when applying for it.
Some of these were inclined to charge the refusal to race preju-
dice; some attribute it to the fact that unintelligent employers
class all colored people together; or, to put it in their own words,
* * If the mistresses has bad luck with one colored girl they wont
never have another. They think all colored is alike." Still
others think it is not a race question at all, but merely one of
supply and demand. As one man put it, " There isn't work

Amusements and Recreations, 467

enough or places enough to go round ; that's it." There are
many well-authenticated cases also of ** light " colored people
who have retained their places from two to fifteen years, under
the impression, on the part of the employer, that they were
white people ; but on the discovery of the slight tincture of
African blood, although it could not be detected, and although
the work had been entirely satisfactory, their situations were
immediately forfeited. Such instances might be multiplied
indefinitely, as they were encountered upon every hand.

In consideration of all this, it appears highly probable that
the Negroes are deterred in many cases from attempting to
obtain other work, from unwillingness to run the risk of insult
or failure. The moral certainty of ** having trouble *' is prob-
ably sufficient to account for the comparatively low percentage
of colored domestics who have attempted to leave service, while
the well-known fact that so many industries are closed against
the race would account in large measure for the scarcity of
those who have actually been engaged in other employments.
These facts are sufficient to explain the 10.6 per cent difierence
in the two percentages compared.

Judging by the character of the work sought by the domes-
tics who have left or attempted to leave service, it seems fair
to conclude that while the monotony of service and the low pay,
as compared with harvest wages, are the chief things that rural
American servants have against it, probably the chief objection
of colored city domestics against service is the social stigma
which rightly or wrongly attaches to it. It savors to them of
the degradation of their slavery days, while they believe that
to be a teacher, is to achieve immediate social position and
become a respected member of the community. Colored city
domestics seek other work, therefore, from the desire to escape
social degradation first, from the desire for greater personal
freedom next, and finally from the hope of higher remuneration.

But while the social stigma is the city Negro's chief objec-
tion to domestic service there can be no doubt that from his
point of view this dullness of the life is one of its most serious
drawbacks — the most serious probably with the exception of the
one already named. That the monotony of service is as keenly
felt by the colored people, as by any other domestics, may
easily be inferred both from the well-known fact of the natural

468 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

joyousness and gaiety of the Negro's disposition, and also from
the fact shown in Table XI, that so large a proportion of them,
as compared with other domestics, stipulate for the freedom of
their evenings. It was found from schedules relating to 564
cases, that 75.6 per cent of all the Negro men servants inter-
viewed and 49,3 per cent of all the women servants go home
from work. When this is contrasted with the per cent of
domestic servants the country over, who go home from work,
we find a remarkable divergence. In general service " 40 per
cent of the men and only 2 per cent of the women lodge at
home, that is to say, outside the establishment of the employer.
This seems to show clearly the greater tendency of the colored
domestic to escape from the solitary confinement to which our
present system of household management condemns all the
servants in ** single handed** places. It should be marked,
however, that the per cents relating to Philadelphia colored
people here are based on less than 600 schedules, while those
relating to general service are based upon over 2500. Also, it
is much oflener the case among colored domestics that they
work in the same city in which their families and friends live,
while many white women domestics have no home nearer than
Ireland or Sweden, and so they naturally lodge at their work-
ing places, while the colored women as naturally lodge at home
when it is possible to do so.

Questions will arise as to the amount of leisure time usually
granted to colored domestics and how this leisure is employed.

It would be impossible to tabulate the statements returned in
answer to the question, ** Number of hours free each month,'*
but it may be said in general that a very great number of dif-
ferent arrangements obtain even in this one ward of one city.
The most of them include one afternoon each week and the
evening or the afternoon and evening of alternate Sundays. For
the greater number of both men and women domestics report
this amount of leisure while some are allowed only one
afternoon and every third Sunday or one afternoon and eveiy
fourth Sunday. Still a considerable number are given the
usual afternoon of a week day and every Sunday
as well. Some have their afternoon and alternate

^ L. M. Salmon, " Domestic Service,'' p. 92. Baaed on 91^

Amtisements and Recreations. 469

and one or more evenings, and a considerable number have
this arrangement with the freedom of all their evenings.
While still others have two afternoons weekly and alternate
Sundays. The whole holiday every month which is so dear to
the English household servant is not found in American
domestic service. No Negro employee in the Philadelphia
ward investigated reported such a whole holiday, however
liberal might be the leisure granted in the shape of parts of
different days ; and Miss Salmon's treatment of the subject
mentions no whole day of leisure for domestics, but states that
*'in the case of more than 1000 employees at least one after-
noon each week is given, while more than 400 employers give
a part of Sunday."

The question how their leisure is employed was answered by
only 257 colored domestics, of whom 206 were women and only
51 were men. It will be seen from the tabulation of these
returns that the Negro church is very closely bound up with
the problem of the recreations of the Negro people, and in this
connection a word of explanation is necessary to acquaint the
general reader with the status of the Negro church. To quote
from a well-known American scholar and writer who is an
authority upon race questions: ** Among most people the
primitive sociological group was the family or at least the clan.
Not so among American Negroes ; such vestiges of primitive
organization among the Negro slaves were destroyed by the
slaveship. In this country the first distinct voluntary organi-
zation of Negroes was the Negro church. The Negro church
came before the Negro home ; it ante-dates their social life, and
in every respect it stands to-day as the fullest, broadest expres-
sion of organized Negro life. . . . We are so familiar with
churches, and church work is so near to us, that we have scarce
time to view it in perspective and to realize that in origin and
functions the Negro church is a broader, deeper and more com-
prehensive social organism than the churches of white Ameri-
cans. The Negro church is not simply an organism for the
propagation of religion ; it is the centre of social, intellectual
and rdigioQS life of an organized group of individuals. It pro-
iriUbt aocial intercourse, it provides amusements of various

4 newspaper and intelligence bureau, it
'* directs the picnic and excursion, it

470 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service,

furnishes the music, it introduces the stranger to the community,
it serves as a lyceum, library and lecture bureau ; it is, in fine,
the central organ of the organized life of the American Negro,
for amusement, relaxation, instruction and religion. To main-
tain its pre-eminence the Negro church has been forced to
compete with the dance-hall, the theatre and the home as an
amusement-giving agency. Aided by color proscription in
public amusements, aided by the fact mentioned before — ^that
the church among us is older than the home — the church has
been peculiarly successful, so that of the 10,000 Philadelphia
Negroes whom I asked, * Where do you get your amusements ? '
fully three-quarters could only answer, * From the churches. " ' "
This centralization of amusements about the church shows
itself very conspicuously in the following tabulation based on
257 records :

TABLE XV.
LsisuRS Tuck op Coi^orbd Dombstics— How £icfi.oybd.

Usual Recreatioo.

Church and church entertaimeuts and
at home

Church and visits to friends

Church and home (occasional concert
or theatre)

Church and study

Theatre, concerts, balls, bicycling, etc.

Home resting (women " home resting
and sewing")

Malb.

Pa

No.

Per Gent.

No.

4
II

7.8
21.6

69
22

4
10

5

7.8

19.6

9.8

15
29

10

17

33.4

61

51

206

33-5
10.7

7.3

14. 1

4.8

39.6

If these figures may be taken as typical nearly 57 per cent of
the Negro men and nearly 66 per cent of the Negro women in
domestic service look to the churches and the church entertain-
ments for all their recreations except those engaged within
the precincts of their own homes, such as home studies, music
and social visits. Indeed the number who depend upon the

>^ Dr. W. B. B. DuBois, in the ''College Settlement News,*' Philadcl-
phia, July, 1897. See also page 197 etseq,^ in this yolume.

Amusements and Recreations, 471

church in this matter should be even greater than these figures
indicate, since it is true that many of those reporting that they
spend their leisure " at ttome, resting," or *' at home, sewing
and clearing up," also in i^ost cases report in answer to ques-
tion twenty-three of the schedule, the church of which they
are members and whose regular services they regularly attend.
Of the seventeen men reporting that their leisure is spent in
*' resting up " only two report that they attend no church and
of the sixty-one women thus classified only four attend no church.
If we count these ** at home " domestics then where they really
belong, with the church-goers, we shall have 93.2 per cent of
the women and 86.3 per cent of the men among domestics who
depend on the church for their lectures, libraries, musicales,
festivals, etc., as well as for their religious instruction and
uplift. This gives a combined average of 91.8 per cent of all
colored domestics whose usual entertainment and instruction is
of this kind.

A comparison of the per cents of those whose leisure is
chiefly devoted to study shows that 19.6 per cent of the men
are so classified to 14. i per cent of the women. Nearly a
third of the women so classed are music students; and if these
are counted out we shall have only 9.7 per cent of the women
domestics devoting their leisure chiefly to study and reading.
One young waiter, a West Indian, was devoting his spare time
to the study of English and meantime was taking his directions
from his employer in French. Another waiter reported that
he read **the classics" in his spare hours, and still another
confessed to a fondness for "the poets " while at the same time
he offered a pleasing contrast to many of the poets he admired,
in having his collar and white tie and complete costume quite
faultlessly neat and well ordered. The mistress of one house-
hold says, " Our waiter has the education of a gentleman,"
but on the other hand one employer whose judgments were
evidently free from bias says, '' Our man may be a good lawyer
but he certainly is not a good waiter." This was however
the only adverse criticism offered in regard to any of the
domestics who were students and readers. It appears that
educated domestics are generally no worse workers than others,
if they are no better. In at least two cases it appeared that
the educated domestic did better household work than others.

472 special Report an Negro Domestic Serznce.

These were a cook and maid whose employer said both her
girls read a great deal and apparently spent their time upon
good literature; her cook was then reading '' Hyperion," she
said. The question naturally followed, ** Is shea good cook ?"
*' Yes, I have never had a more efficient girl " was the ready
reply, ** and I have employed both white and colored. These
are two of the cleanest girls I have ever had in the house."

Several of the women servants reported their leisure devoted
chiefly to ** literaries," all of which, so far as the investigator
was able to learn, were connected with the churches. These
students and readers among domestic servants doubtless are
the more ambitious ones who are anxious to improve every
opportunity with the hope of finally working their way out of
service. This high per cent of readers among colored domestics,
20 per cent of the men and 10 per cent of the women, ought
not to be surprising however, when we remember that 10 per
cent of these people have had some training higher than the
common school and might therefore be expected to have lit-
erary taste.

In regard to the home-keeping domestics, if the first and last
classes in Table XV be combined, we find 41.2 per cent of home-
keeping women domestics who are either at home or at their
churches during their leisure time. At the Pennsylvania
Hospital the investigator was informed by one of the officials
in charge that more late passes were given to the white than
to the colored servants, and there are about equal numbers of
each race employed.

The church affiliation of colored domestic servants in Phila-
delphia may be given in this connection. Reports from 548
persons were received on this point, 400 women and 148 men.
The following table shows the various denominations by
number and per cent :

Amusements and Recreations.

473

TABLE XVI.

Church Affiuation op Coi«orbd Domestics in thb Sbvsnth

Ward op Phii^dbi«phia.

Chttrch.

lilethodist

Baptist

Episcopal

Presbyterian ....

•Catholic

Attending all churches
Attending no church

Totol

MXN.

WOMBN.

No.

Per Cent,

Per Cent.

63

42.6

184

46.0

52

35.1

160

40.0

14

9.4

24

6.0

5

3.4

7

1.7

10

6.8

18

4.5

2

1.4

6

1.5

2

1-3

I

0.3

148

ICO.

400

100.

These per cents are united into combined averages and rep-
resented in graphic form in the following diagram :

Diagram Showing Church Appiuation op thb Colored Domestic

Servants op the Seventh Ward op Philadei«phia.

o 10 2o 90 4-0 so eo 70 80 90 lOo

^

HenfOOIST baptist EPISCOPIM; PUSSeYTERIAN CATNOUC^ ALLOTHCM.

VII.

LBNGTH AND QUALITY OP NBGRO DOMESTIC SBRVICK.

In regard to length of service, we have 284 reports from
men employed in domestic service, and 591 from women, 875
altogether.

Of these 213 are from men personally interviewed, and since
this question was uniformly asked, these 213 reports will rep-
resent the service of the rank and file of men servants.

The remaining 71 were recorded upon the family schedules,,
and were obtained, therefore, from the statements of their
parents or sisters, and since no question regarding length of
service appears in the family schedule, this information was
evidently volunteered. Prom this fact it seems probable that
the length of service in these 71 cases was put forward as being
something unusual, as indeed it is, including as it does, 7 rec*
ords of 10 to 15 years service with one family, 12 records of 16
to 20 years, and 10 records of over 20 years of service, one
coachman having served 41 years in the same family. In view
of the nature of this information it has been kept separate
from the other records and dealt with by itself in order to>
avoid misrepresentation of facts.

The service periods shown in these 71 records range from 2
to 41 years, the average service period being 11 years and 5
months.

TABLE XVII.

(Domestic Service,)

Sbrviqb Periods of Sbventy-onb " Long-sbrvicb Mbn" in Tea

Seventh Ward op Phu^dbItPhia.

A^rv1r>e PeHods Mti Tesn^

1-5

6^

i»-i5

x6-ao

Ovcrao

Number of men servants

20

33

7

la

ZO

The following table (No. XVIII) gives the nativity of
these 71 "long-service men.*'

(474)

Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 475

TABI^E XVIII.
{Domestic Service.)

NaTIYITY op SBVBNTY-ONB " LONG-aERVICB M8N '* IN TH8 SSVBNTa

Ward op PHn^ADiti,FHiA.

t

Birthplace.

Number.

Percent

Philadelphia

6

7

7

15
30

5
3
4

3

I

9.9
2I.I

Pennsylvania

District of Columbia

Maryland

Virsdnia

28.2

Delaware

New Jersey

North Carolina • •

The South

7.0

4.2
5.6
4.2
1.4

New York

*•■♦

Total

71

100.

Here the 18.4 per cent from Philadelphia agrees with the
Philadelphia percentage in Table II, and also the 28.2 per cent
from Virginia corresponds very nearly with the parallel record
in that table which shows 27.9 per cent of the total domestic
service of Philadelphia coming from Virginia. Turning to
consider the pay of these long-service men, it is found that of
these 71 men 20 are coachmen, while 51 are "private waiters."
The following table gives their range of wages and average
wages. The general average wage will be seen to approach
close upon $9.00 a week.

TABI^B XIX.
(Domestic Service, )

Wagbs op Sbvbnty-onb " LoNG-ssRvicB " Men in ths Sbvbnth

Ward op Phxladblphia.

Sttboccupation.

Range of Wages.

Avenge Weekly Wage.

Coachman

Private waiter . . .

$S 00-I14 00 (weekly)
4 00- 10 00 •*
General average wage

I1074
8 10
tS 84 (weekly)

476 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

With these facts concerning service periods, nativity and
wages of "long-service men,*' it may be interesting to compare
the same facts for the men of the rank and file. With the
** rank-and-file men " the service periods vary fix)m a few days
to 31 years, the average period being 4 years 6 months and
some days, a considerable contrast with the 11 years and 5
months of the long-service men.

In the following table the nativity of the long-service men
and that of the rank-and-file men are brought together:

TABLE XX.

{^Domestic Service,)

Nativitv of " Rank-amd-Filb Mbn" Cobcparbd with Na
OP " LoNG-SBRvics Men" in thb Ssvbnth Wakd.

Birthplace.

Per Cent of
RAnk-and-File Men.

Per Cent of
Long-senrice Men.

Philadelphia

Pennsylvania

District of Columbia . .

Maryland

Virginia

Delaware

New Jersey

North and South Carolina . .

7.2
15. 1

34.2

6.6
2.6

5.3

2:5 }*-

9-9
21. 1

28.2

7.0

4.2

5.6

In this table as in previous ones, Maryland and Virginia are
seen to be far in the lead in the matter of furnishing the
domestic service of the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia. Here
indeed, the Virginia record rises to a number almost twice as
g^eat as that furnished by both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania
taken together; although the percentage from the State here
practically agrees with that of the long-service men. The
facts in regard to range of wages and average wages of coach*
men and private waiters in the ''rank and file*' of service in
the Seventh Ward are given in Table XXI, which follows:

Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 477

TABLE XXI.
{Domestic Service,)

Raose of Wai;ei.

fc 00 to |I4 00
100 to 8 00
General average

I853

6 14

$6 55 (weekl7)

A comparison of this with the average pay of the "long-
service men" (whose average coachman's wage is $10.74,
while their average waiter's wage is J8. 10 and their general
average wage is $8.84, nearly $9.00), would seem to point to
the possibility that length of service may have some occult
connection with length of pocketbook, and |that the " giving
satisfaction" may not be all on one side of the line in the
domestic service question. Of course it is true that a bad ser-
vant can not command high wages, also it is impossible to
transform a poor servant into a good one by paying him high
wages; but, on the other hand, it is true that good service can
not be obtained without paying good wages for it.

Schedules giving service periods of colored women employed
in the Seventh Ward show 591 records, only six of which were
volunteered as unusual, as in the case of the long-service men
given above; in view of the smallness of this number these six
schedules have not been dealt with separately; but the women
who have served five years and over have been isolated, irre-
spective of the manner in which the information was obtained,
and their statements separately treated as in the case of the
long- service men.

These " long- service women " who have served five years
and more show 178 records; the range of service periods is
from five to thirty-five years, the average being six years and
eight months.

The range of service periods of "rank-and-file women"
varies from one day to five years, while their average service
period is found to be three years and six months, only about
one-half the service period of the long-service women.

1
J

478 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

Their nativity and that of the "rank-and-file women " are
:given together for purposes of contrast and show the following^
facts:

TABLE XXn.

(Domestic Sennce.)

Nattvity of " Long-sbrvics Women" Compared with Natzvitt
OP "Rank-and-Pilb Wombn " IN Sbvbnth Ward.

Birthplace.

Per Cent of
IfOng-aendce Women.

Per Cent of
RAnk-and-Pile Women.

Philadelphia ....
Pennsylvania . .
District of Colombia
;Maryland ....

Virginia

Delaware

New Jersey . . .
N. and S. Carolina .

South

Scattering

8.3 r°-^

3.0
27.1

6.8
3.0
3.7
1.5

100.

4.6
20.5
34.8

6.5

4-1
4.3
4.2
2.2

100.

According to this record a g^reater proportion of ** long-
service women" come from Philadelphia and Pennsylvania,
which is not the case in Table XX, contrasting nativity of
^he men.

The following tables show the range of wages and average
wage for each of the classes of women servants here considered:

TABLE XXIII.
(Domestic Sendee,)

^AGBS OF *'LONG-SBRVICB WOMBN " IN THB SBVBNTH WaRD 09

Phii,adbi<phia.

Sub-occupation.

Range of Wages.

Avermge Wage.

Weekly. BConthly.

Cook (or laundress)

Chambermaid (or waitress) . . .
General housework

|3 00- |7 00
3 00- 4 00
I 50- 10 00
Gen*l average wage

U 31 |l8 22

3 50 15 17
3 50 15 17
3 67 15 90

Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 479
following 4J^ weeks have beea

(In this table and the
reckoned to a month.)

TABLE XXIV.
(Domestic Service.)

„...,..^.

Aienj^ Wage.

Weekly. Manthl/.

Cook

General

|2 50-|>o 00

I 50- 4 00

I 00- 4 00

Gen'l average wage

f3 99 #17 =9
3 *I '3 9;
399 IJ96
3 26 H "

By comparing the last two tables it will be seen that the
wage varies less between long service and ordinary service
women than in the case of the men. The ordinary cook's
wage, $3-99, compares more favorably with $4.21, the long-
service cook's wage, than does $8.58. the ordinary coachman's
wage, with $10.74, the wage of the long-service coachman, and
the contrasts throughout will be seen to be less pronounced in
the women's than in the men's wages.

But if the wage of ordinary service and long service varies
less among the women than among the men, it must be remem-
bered that the length of service varies less among the women
than among the men. The average service periods of two
classes of men servants are four years six months, and eleven
years five months, the one being two and one-half times as great
as the other; while the average service periods of the two
classes of women are three years six months, and six years
eight months, the one being not quite twice the other; hence,
the narrower variations in wages of women as compared with
those of men would corroborate the theory of the close connec-
tion of quality of service and consequent length of service
with high wages, rather than weaken that theory. Also it
is'tme that in spite of the occasionally greater range in the
wagespaidto the "rank and file," theaverage wages of the long-
e domestics, both men and women, are uniformly greater

480 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

than the average wages paid to the *' rank and file." Combin-
ing the average service periods of the long service domestics
with those of the '* rank and file " gives us a combined average
of six years and one month as the average service period of
colored men servants, and four years and five months as the
average service period of colored women servants in Philadel-
phia. Again, uniting these averages of servants of both sexes
in Philadelphia, gives the combined average service period for
ail colored domestics in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia. This
combined average service period is 4.96 years, that is to say,
five years lacking less than one month. It is based on 875
records:"

This offers a decided contrast with the average length of ser-
vice of domestics the country over, which average service
period. Miss Salmon states, *' is found to be less than one
year and a half." "

This contrast in service periods may be made clearer by the
following graphic representation, showing length of service
period of Negroes and of general domestic service in the United
States, given in terms of a common unit of length.

Length op Ssrvick.

jQENl SERVICE
(all oomcstics in us)

COLMEO OOMCSTIC SCRVICC^
(in pmilaoclpmia)

These service periods will be seen to stand to each other in
the ratio of about 3 to 10, and may have some connection
with the relative numbers of white and Negro domestics. It
may be that the Negro service period is three times as long as
the average service period, because there are three times as

"Some time after the beginning of the investigation it was fonnd to be
practicable to get two records of length of service ftom each individual
interviewed by adding the question, *« How long were you in your last
place ?*» This question was then uniformly asked, which accounts for
875 records of length of service from only 616 people petsonally
interviewed. It must also be noted that the average is high, partly
because the number of cases is small and includes a few cases of excep-
tionally long-service periods.

" L. M. Salmon, " Domestic Service," p. 109.

Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Sendee. 481

many Neg^o servants proportionately, and therefore three times
as many chances for capable servants to be found among them.
Another possible explanation of the longer period of colored
domestics may be their greater docility as servants. As one
employer whose name is well known in Philadelphia circles
has said of colored domestics: '*If you get a good class of
colored people they are the most faithful, honest and biddable
servants in the world." This docility which is a recognized
trait of the Negro character, has doubtless been developed by
slavery, and it is not unlikely that it has been still further culti-
vated in these later days by their knowledge that losing their
places in service may mean inability to get work of any kind
for an indefinite period. However, if we may judge from the
remarks of a certain colored waitress upon length of service,
the Negroes feel that there is a point beyond which docility
and a respectful bearing cease to be virtues. As she had
held her own situation for twenty-two years, her remark may
fairly be taken as unaffected by personal considerations. She
said : "Yes, they say long service is good service, but some-
times you can't stay at places ; some of the ladies an* gentle-
men's not very pleasant J*^ An employer, on the same point,
says : "It isn't the servants any more than it is the mistresses
who are responsible for the frequent changes of place." She
thinks that "it varies with the individual, not with the race."
Many of the employers who discussed the subject with the
investigator said that their experience was that colored servants
were ** more respectful " (six said this), " less impertinent " (2),
" very anxious to please " (2), " more agreeable and obliging
and have nicer manners " (4).

A third possible explanation of the longer period of service
among colored domestics may be found in the fact frequently
adduced by their employers, that they "are much more likely
than white girls to become attached to the family" — so they
naturally stay longer in one place than others do. Another
employer says: "When they become fond of you they are
very staunch friends, ' ' and yet another, says of them : * * They
are fmu:h more loyal and infinitely more affectionate than white
servants. They have shown me absolute loyalty in service."
This is significant as being the testimony of a Northern woman
who had "never seen a colored servant" before she was

3T

482 special Report on Negro Domestic Service,

married and who employed them for the first time on coming
to Philadelphia and now, after sixteen years, "would never
have any one else."

The question whether one State or one section furnishes
better domestics than another State or section is interesting^,
and has its bearing on the point under discussion. It is pos-
sible that the Philadelphia colored people represent a higher
grade socially and intellectually, than the Negroes of the
South — and so, in searching for an explanation of the connec-
tion between length of service and quality of service it may be
suggestive and valuable here to compare the facts already
tabulated in regard to nativity with the facts in regard to
ordinary and extraordinary service, to see if any indication
may be forthcoming as to the locality which furnishes the
best quality of colored domestic service, whether Philadelphia
and Pennsylvania or the South. Such a comparison may cast
light on the moot question whether Philadelphians are more
likely to be well served by Philadelphia colored people or by
Southerners. In the table given below, therefore, the per cent
of Philadelphia colored people among long service and ordinary
domestics is compared with the corresponding per cent of
Virginia-bom colored domestics. Virginia has been chosen to
represent the South because it is the Southern State furnishing
the greatest number of domestic servants in the Seventh* Ward
and is perhaps the State coming most sharply into competition
with the native colored domestics.

TABLE XXV.

Comparing Quality op Servicb (as Impubd in Length of Sb&-

vicB Period) op Coi«orkd Domestic Servants

OP Virginia and Pennsyi«vania.

Rank-and-Pilx Dokrstxcs.

LOirO-SB&VICB DOICRSTICS.

Birthplace.

Av. Service

Period.

3 vrs. 6 mo9.

(Women.)

Av. Service
Period,

4 3rrs. 6 mos.
(Men.)

Av. Service

Period,

6yr8. 8 mos.

(Women.)

Av. Service
Period,

XI jr%. 5 mo*.
(Men.)

Philadelphia . . .
Pennsylvania . . .
Virginia

-«}x8.8
34-8

34.a

27.1

38.3

Proportion between
Pennsylvania and
Virginia ....
(Approximately. )

H

H

if

H

Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service, 483

The proportions of Pennsylvania and of Virginia service here
shown, are approximately represented by the fractions ^, |^,
^ and ^. where the numerator in each case stands for Phila-
delphia servants employed in the Seventh Ward, and the
denominator stands for Virginia servants there employed.
When these fractions are reduced to the same scale they become
\^m^ lifM, tHM and fif^. Here, as will be seen, the
first and smallest fraction stands for the shortest service period
(three years and six months); the second fraction for the next
longer service period, and so on. The values of these fractions
will be seen to increase progressively, excepting the last, so
that the greater values correspond with the longer service
periods. The values of these fractions then, when taken in
connection with the increasing service periods, would seem to
indicate that the greater the proportion of Philadelphia domes-
tics as compared with the proportion of Virginia domestics, the
more valuable is the service ; that is to say that Philadelphia-
bom colored people appear to render the more efficient service.
It should be said that the fourth fraction in the above compar-
ison, to be consistent with the theory offered, should be larger
than the third, but it must be remembered that the fourth frac-
tion is based upon only seventy-one records and is therefore
less likely to represent the facts accurately than the others
which are based on a much greater number of records.

Such indications as the above, approach nearer to accurate
treatment of the question of quality of service rendered than it
is possible to get through quoting opinions of employers. The
subject is hard to treat at all adequately for the reason that all
statements of degrees of excellence or of incompetency must be
based on the shifting sands of opinion and upon the opinions
of many different people, having different traditions, different
education and home influences, different degrees of insight and
different standards of excellence. Statements so conditioned
must necessarily be relative and impossible to reckon up and
number with any semblance of statistical precision. Still the
opinions of the employers of colored domestics in the Seventh
Ward of Philadelphia, a large proportion of whom have em-
ployed both white and colored help, should have a certain
interest and value, even though they are not reducible to
figures.

484 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

Fifty-five employers " in the Seventh Ward stated their views
in regard to the qualities of Negro domestics and many varying
opinions, both favorable and unfavorable, were expressed.
The balance of testimony from these fifty-five employers, how-
ever, seems to be largely in favor of the colored people rather
than whites, both in regard to the service offered and in the
attitude of the employee toward the employer. Only one
employer stated that she preferred white to colored ; she was
employing colored help at that time only because she had not
been able to secure satisfactory white girls. Twenty employers
say that they find colored domestics quite as neat as whites,
while two find them not as neat and five find them more so ;
'*much cleaner than the Irish both in their work and in their
persons; **they keep their kitchen and their own room cleaner."
Ten employers think they stay for as long or longer a
service period, while seven think they do not stay as long as
the whites. Fourteen employers think they render as good
service as whites, and eleven think their service better, or "a
great deal better;** while one — although employing three col-
ored servants — thinks the whites do better work and says she
has colored servants ** because they look more like servants."
She also thinks they drink more than the whites, an opinion
which, so far as the present investigator can learn, she is
unique in holding, since all the other employers who discussed
the point held the opposite view.

One gentleman, the business manager of one of the large
first-class apartment hotels which employs thirty dining room
men, names their freedom from intemperance as one of the
chief reasons why he * 'decidedly prefers colored help. " * * They
give more attention to their work,** he says, **are better waiters
and they drink less. They can be counted upon on pay day
the same as any other day, while white serving men are likely
to go and drink up their pay and be useless for the rest of the
day.** The business manager of the Continental says the
same thing, as do also all the hotels which employ colored
service.

A very few employers think colored domestics **are lazy and
neglect their work,** while more than four times as many say

^ Most of whom have employed both white and Negro domestics.

Length and Qualiiy of Negro Domestic Serx^. 485

that they are *' indastrioas** and *' good workers," ** splendid
workers," *• a great deal better workers and decidedly better
cooks than the whites." One employer says on this point:
'*No, I have not found them lazy, at least no more so than
others ; there are good ones and bad ones among both white
and colored." Skill in cooking was mentioned by only six
employers, all of whom think colored cooks superior to other
servants in this respect.

Further judgments are: '* They are excellent servants and
have an intuitive knowledge of what you want; " **theyi/(i»
all the things white servants wait to be told to do." Several
employers agree on these points, but one says: " They have
to be told to do everything, but if you keep after them, you
can get the things done." The testimonial of one cook upon
the virtues of "her madam" will show this matter from the
domestic point of view. This cook says, "My madam gives
me the key, and she never comes down to see if Tm here In
the morning; she knows I'll be here; and she never comes Into
the kitchen to see if meals are getting along, because she
knows when half-past six o'clock comes she can trust her
girls to have it ready right then." One mistress said: " Trust
them, and I have found they always prove themselves worthy
of trust." Eighteen employers concur in the view that they
are trustworthy and do not disappoint confidence; while three
think them unreliable and untrustworthy, as compared with
white servants. On this subject one employer on Spruce street
said: " I think the colored people are much maligned in regard
to honesty, cleanliness and trustworthiness; my experience of
them is that they are immaculate in tvtty vftLy, and they are
perfectly honest; indeed, I can't say enough that is good atxmt
them." These sentiments were held by several other employ'
eis, one on Broad street using almost the same words; " I
think the colored people are vtry much maligned in this mat*
ter of honesty and trustworthiness; I have two c^^ored men
sow who are as honest as the sun, and my ax>k, wh/> also 4<mhi
an the marketing, is ytry indnstriotis and nMt^cfult'^^iwiiMk'
bag. She is a good, fatthfnl crtzinrt, and Vi^y KtMUefuV

In regard to the qtsestion of the pilfering of 6m4 kft from
the table, the concensus of opinion is heavily agaittst the
colored people. There are only three empV/yers who have

484 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

Fifty-five employers " in the Seventh Ward stated their views
in regard to the qualities of Neg^o domestics and many varying
opinions, both favorable and unfavorable, were expressed.
The balance of testimony from these fifty-five employers, how-
ever, seems to be largely in favor of the colored people rather
than whites, both in regard to the service offered and in the
attitude of the employee toward the employer. Only one
employer stated that she preferred white to colored ; she was
employing colored help at that time only because she had not
been able to secure satisfactory white girls. Twenty employers
say that they find colored domestics quite as neat as whites,
while two find them not as neat and five find them more so ;
'*much cleaner than the Irish both in their work and in their
persons; **they keep their kitchen and their own room cleaner."
Ten employers think they stay for as long or longer a
service period, while seven think they do not stay as long as
the whites. Fourteen employers think they render as good
service as whites, and eleven think their service better, or ''a
great deal better;'* while one — although emplo3ring three col-
ored servants — thinks the whites do better work and says she
has colored servants '* because they look more like servants."
She also thinks they drink more than the whites, an opinion
which, so far as the present investigator can learn, she is
unique in holding, since all the other employers who discussed
the point held the opposite view.

One gentleman, the business manager of one of the large
first-class apartment hotels which employs thirty dining room
men, names their freedom from intemperance as one of the
chief reasons why he * 'decidedly prefers colored help. " * * They
give more attention to their work," he says, "are better waiters
and they drink less. They can be counted upon on pay day
the same as any other day, while white serving men are likely
to go and drink up their pay and be useless for the rest of the
day." The business manager of the Continental says the
same thing, as do also all the hotels which employ colored
service.

A very few employers think colored domestics "are lazy and
neglect their work," while more than four times as many say

^ Most of whom have employed both white and Negro domestica.

Length and Quality of Nrgrn Dontrstic Sent'ir. 487

same as if we'd just come to that place. In suinmer placet

I've seen them so triflin' — fooling away their lime, aud racrrly

because the proprietor don't see theni." The same spirit was

shown by a woman cook on Broad street, who took pleasure

in doing good work always for "her lady," whoHc kindness

she enlarged upon with a warmth that showed a strong fiSec-

This woman said: " When uiy time comes to go home

"' be a pleasant thought that I have done nil I

:^ -mployer." These two cases imply not

C r-j t^ ■ act, but an entire honesty of pur*

^-^ :;r^ <>i ••t be cited.

""ing and manners of colored

of their employers, The

lat they are "more will*

nts. As one employer

Irisli order you out of

^rc respect ful and

-alile and obliKing

'oyer, and adds;

^d at the time

she said, ' it

ouldn't do it

•tpared and

'nine sooo

it up the

top." tiut

iir\ in the

I obliging

Died by no

Jnivcrtlly,

and colored

jcy are better

nat whiten yon

, and always em-

, but they Wirrc so

-led coI'>fe<l MTvants.

Infinitely cleaner than

and pcTKonally; they are

. mannered— more agreeable to

ibem cap«>/Ie of tile veiy blgbett

^ -^

488 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

cultivation of manner. One of our men has the education of
a gentleman and is improving himself constantly; the other is
ignorant, but is exceedingly refined and modest in manner.
Of course they have faults; they are fickle, changing^ from
place to place, even when they are fond of their employers, and
they have quick tempers, but they are truthful and honest; we
have never lost a thing by them. We keep them by prefer-
ence, and shall continue to do so."

Several employers agree in regard to this instinct of the
colored people for good manners. One who constantly em-
ploys nine servants, and in the last twenty-five or thirty years
has had only one set of white servants says: " There is much
more to them than people think; our first man servant has as
many of the instincts of a gentleman, as anyone I ever saw."
This is high praise. ** They have a native, deep-seated refine-
ment and very lovely manners," says another who has em-
ployed them for fifteen years.

A judgment which was frequently encountered and alwa3rs
among those employers who had had experience of both
white and colored servants was, that colored servants are "just
like other people of their own class." One employer says on
this point: " I don't find a bit of difierence; some are very neat
and some are very untidy; it depends entirely on the girl."
Another says: "There are good ones and poor ones among
both; it varies with the individual, not with the race."
Another, in charge of a large institution, employing many
servants of whom half are white and half colored, says: " My
experience has been very satisfactory with the colored ; they
are less impertinent, but in most respects are much like white
people of their own class. One is about as faithful as the other,
and in the matter of neatness they are just like other people ;
it is six of one and half a dozen of the other,' As to trust-
worthiness I have found certain ones are perfectly reliable —
just as with other human beings." Those who are interested
in this subject will doubtless see that, although these opinions
of employers have no statistical value, they will have 2i prac-
tical value for many readers, and especially if they open the
eyes of the Philadelphia public, or even a small part of it, to
the hitherto apparently unsuspected fact that there are g^des
among colored people, just as there are among white people;

I
\

Length and Quality of Negro Domestic Service. 489

and among colored servants as among white servants; that
they are ''just like other human beings;" some of them
trustworthy, and others not; some of them "perfectly reli-
able," and others the opposite of what that phrase expresses,
exactly as with white people of their own class. To class
the whole race together, or to class all colored domestics to-
gether, is to make a serious mistake.

VIIL

CONJUGAI* CONDITION, IIJJTBRACT AND HBAI«TH OP NEGRO

DOMESTICS.

Conjugal Condition. — ^The following table gives the facts in
the matter of conjugal condition of colored domestics in the
Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, by sex and age periods. It is
based upon 2289 records (see page 491):

Comparing the conjugal condition of Negro domestics with
that of all domestics, we have:

TABLE XXVL

CoNjuGAi, Condition in All, American Dombstic Sbrvicb
parbd with conjugai, condition among colored
Dombstic Sbrvants in Philadblphia.

Conjunl Conditiosi.

(All American
Domestic Servants.)

Malr.

FXICALB.

Per Cent.

Percent.

Single

Married

Widowed

46.18

49-96

3-59

.27

69.85
12.84

16.32
.99

Divorced

100. 00

100.00

Conjugal Condition.

(Colored Domestic

Servants in Philadelphia.)

MAX.B.

Pbmalb.

Per Cent.

Percent.

SitJirle .

44.6

51.0

2.8

.7
.9

100.00

47.5

33.1

17.4

1.9
.1

Married

Widowed

Divorced

Unknown ... -..-.,.

loaoo

(490)

Conjugal Condition,^ Illiteracy and Health. 491

t

o

a
£

M
O

<

o

o

I

o

XJ

•

1

«.

^

^

^

c«

S8

n

NO Ci
COM

U

^4

^o

M

11

J^

«^

^

•

h;8

0 0

2>oq

M

2co

CI

00 •-•

•

CO

•0

CO

M

<

\

s «

P5

1

0 0

5^

NO

lO

•s

>R.

M^

«^

^

■E

00 M

M

to

£ 10

J?

to

•

3

to

Mot5

M

CI

•

-««■

.r*^

^^

«*•

f^

1

^8

M

^8

§8

o^

5-

1 1

^

^

Unknown

Conj.Cond.

6

i

Divor

or

Separa

0 0

COO

•

0 0

« CO

•

M

M

M

2*

0 0

^ rO

\ONO

2q

0

s

d

rO

00

^

•

•8

>j^

^

^

^

t

-5.

*J

M>0

M

%

•

^

«w vr^

^

>R.

a

NO 00

5^

M

c«

I

•

a

•
•

•
•

•
•

•
•

1

•

•

•

•

•2

•

•

•

1.

e
8

5

s

i

•2

1

1

»%

^

a

&

J

S

3

s

s

1

•0

M

M

M

CO

M

492 Special Report on Negro Domeslic Service,

This comparisoD of the conjugal condition of ^hite and of
colored domestics may advantageously be reduced to graphic
form for clearness. The first of these diagrams presents the
facts of conjugal condition among American domestics ser-
vants of all nationalities, as recorded in the eleventh ceasas,
while the second presents the same facts relating to colored
domestic servants in Philadelphia.

CoNjrcAi. Condition in All American Douasnc Ssrvick.
(Figures of Eleventh Cenau.')

Conjugal Condition in ColorKd Dombsttc Shrvick in Pbiladklpkia.

A study of census statistics in connection with the results of
this investigation, seems to show a remarkably close parallel
between the conjugal statistics of men servants, white and
colored. The disproportionate number of single while women
is accounted for by the great number of unmarried foreign
born white women in American domestic service. This study
of the conjugal condition of domestic servants seems to corrob-
orate the opinion of those employers who found colored people
" very much like other human beings."

Illiteracy. — The following table of illiteracy is based apoD
576 reports;

Conjugal Condition^ Illiteracy and Health. 493

TABLE XXVIII.

IZAiTBRACY Among Domestic Servants, Nsgross, of thb Sbvbnth

Ward, Phii,adbi.phia.

Male

Female.

TotaIm

No.

Percent

lUiterate.

Cannot read or wnte

Cannot write

10
5

109

7

3
22

60
44

267
II

7
31

7o\
49/

376
18

10

53

20.7

Literate

Able to read and write

Having a trade

Having a trade and some higher

school training

Having higher ^ool training

65.3
3.1

1.7
9.2

Total

156

420

576

100. 0

This table shows 9.6 per cent of the men and 24.8 per cent
of the women in domestic service to be illiterate in some degree,
with a total percentage of 20.7 illiterate, either wholly or in
part, while 80 per cent of the colored men and women in domestic
service have at least a common school education. Fourteen
per cent of the total count will be seen to have had some train-
ing above that of the common schools, or to have attended an
industrial school.

The illiteracy of Negro servants is about 2 per cent greater
than that of the total Negro population of the Seventh Ward.
This is doubtless to be accounted for by the fact that 70 per cent
of colored domestic servants are women, and the illiteracy of col-
ored women is uniformly greater than that of colored men.
This will be seen by glancing at the per cents of illiteracy for
colored men and women servants, 9.6 per cent as opposed to
24.8 per cent, and in the total population i4«2 per cent as opposed
to 24.1 percent. In the whole population the sexes are about
evenly balanced in numbers, hence in the general average for
the illiteracy of the whole population, the rates for each sex
would bear an equal part in the general result. A comparison
of these averages shows that the men in domestic service are
somewhat less illiterate than the men in the whole popula-
tion, while the women in domestic service appear to be slightly
behind the women of the whole population.

494 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service,

The question will arise as to the relative illiteracy of Negro
domestics and of other domestics the country over. It is inter-
esting to make the comparison. The census of 1890 gives the
percentage of male illiterates in domestic and personal service
as 18.9. This is the rate for all men servants in America, ten
years old and over and includes all nationalties, the native
whites, foreign-bom whites and colored. It is less creditable
than the record of the Philadelphia colored population by
nearly five points, the record for Philadelphia's male Neg^roes
ten years old and over being but 14.2 per cent. And it is
only about half as creditable as the record of colored domestic
men-servants, their per cent of illiteracy amounting to only
9.6. (The margin of error in the last is probably large, how-
ever, since it is computed upon but 156 cases.) The census
shows for female domestic service the country over, including
both native and foreign white, and colored women over ten
years of age, a per cent of illiteracy amounting to 24.75.
Among colored women servants in Philadelphia 24.80 are
lound to be illiterate. The whole colored population of Phila-
delphia improves slightly upon this, showing for its women
and girls 24.1 per cent of illiteracy.

Ii«i«iT9RACY OP Colored Dombstics (Phii,adbi«phia) and of aix
American Dombstics, Compared by Sex.

i

y A I c I COUDRCD OOMQTKS I
"~^ J (PMILA)

^tmicoiioiori ^

mitir I COLORED DOMCSnCS
f"^^J (PHILA)

lUlHRMy) AlUMMICMI

L ooMesnes,

This comparison seems to indicate that the grade of intelli-
gence of women servants, white and colored, is practically the
same, while the colored men servants are of a higher grade of
intelligence than are white men servants. The investigator is
inclined to think that the average of illiteracy for colored men

Conjugal Condition^ Illiteracy and Health. 495

servants, though computed on so few records, fairly represents
the real conditions. It is not difficult to account for the great
difference in records of colored and of white men servants when
one remembers the fact so often referred to, of the crowding
out of competent and educated colored men, who have been
clerks, teachers and skilled workmen, and who at one time or
another, have found themselves in a position where they were
obliged to take domestic service or nothing. Large numbers
of such men in the ranks of domestic service would bring down
the percentage of illiteracy very decidedly. That it should
reach the point of 9.6 per cent is very creditable to the colored
men servants if the figures are correct, since the per cent of
illiteracy for native white males is not quite four points ahead
of it, being given by the census as 5.83 per cent.

Health Statistics for Domestic Servants. — The questions
** Number of days sick in last twelvemonths?'* "Nature of
illness ?* ' were answered by 547 domestic servants. The tabula-
tion of their reports follows:

TABLE XXIX.
{Domestic Service,^

SiCKNBSS AND HEALTH DURING LaST TwBLVB MONTHS, BY SBX.

Health
Record.

Malb.

Female.

Total.

No.

Per Cent.

No.

Per Cent.

No.*

Percent.

Not sick at

all during
last twelve

months .
Ill one week

121

79.6

293

74.2

414

75.7

or less . .
ni more than

7

4.6

33

8.4

40

7.3

one week

24

15.8

69

17.4

93

17.0

Total . .

152

100.

395

100.

547

loa

Prom this table it is seen that 80 per cent of the men have
not been ill at all during the year; while among the women 74
per cent have been exempt from illness. It is noteworthy that
the slightest illness appears to have been conscientiously
reported upon, since very nearly one-third of the men reporting

496 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

illness were cases of colds or other such slight troubles as kept
them ill only a day or two; while rather more than one- third
of the women also scrupulously reported such insignificant
illnesses. In this paper, however, the example of the Commis-
sioner of Labor has been followed and " colds " have not been
counted at all. Wherever, therefore, an illness of one or two
days is reported, it is of more serious nature than a mere cold.

Of the 547 person^ reporting, 3.1 per cent report serious ill-
ness of which 2.6 per cent belongs to the women and the remain-
ing .5 per cent to the men.

The most prevalent troubles are consumption, la grippe,
quinsy, sore throat, rheumatism, neuralgia, chills and fever, or
dyspepsia and 'inflammation," which latter term appears to
be a general name for all discomforts of the inner domestic
from indigestion to peritonitis and sudden death.

Of those reporting illness seven of the thirty-one men will be
seen to have been ill one week or less ; while thirty-three of the
102 women were ill one week or less. One maid reports a
severe attack of la grippe but she *' worked all the same " losing
not one day of work in the year. And Table VII will show
that this is no uncommon fact but that several of those report-
ing illness lose no time from work. While the women's sick
list shows thirty-three ill one week or less, it shows sixty-nine
who have had longer periods of illness. Among the longest
periods reported are the following : **Out of work for three
months on account of trouble with the eyes, an operation for
cataract;" another, out three or four months on account of
weak lungs, says : '' I never can work more than a few weeks
to a time; " another, laid up three months with a sprained
ankle; another, '*sick from March to Christmas with rheu-
matism ; " another, "four months sick with rheumatism, but
worked ; ' ' another, five months sick with nervous shock
caused by sudden death of her husband in an accident ; one
man has chills and fever from time to time all the year
round; another, "had rheumatism all winter but lost no
working time." A comparison of the length of illness tabu-
lated below will show that the records just quoted are unusoaL
Table XXIX gives the complete record of those who report
illness within the past twelve months.

Conjugal Condition^ Illiteracy and Health. 497

TABLE XXX.

{^Domestic Service.)

PERSONS Sick or Injured, by Sbz, by Kind of Aii^mbnt or Injury

▲ND BY Length op Ii.uvsss.

Male.

Pbmalb.

Kind of

No.
I

•

I
I

•

I
I

Period of Illness.

No.

I

I*

Period of Illness.

AllIUCULf CkC

Days.

Weeks.

Mos.

Days.

Weeks.

Mos.

Abscess

<<

Accident (to hand) .

Asthma

Biliousness . . . :
Chills and fever . .
Consumotion . . .

•

•

•
•

•

3 or 4

t

8

•

2

I

I

•

2

•
•

3

•
• • ■

•

2

•
•

3

■

2

• • *

•
•

3

•
•

3
3

<i

<f

CraniDS

I

t

10

I'VAncDsia • ■ • • a

*^/"i^K"** • • • •

•* and kidney

trouble .

Erysipelas ....

Eyes, inflammation

" operation for

cataract , .

I

• • ■

X

Hi

• • •

2

3

I^elon

• • •

4

• • •

6

• • •

• ■ •

6

Headache .... -

I

2

Tniurv to back . » t

6

• •

3

I

Internal ailment
it «

•

I
4

5

2

• • •

• • •

2

Lagrippe

(1

I

2

• • •

• t •

• • ■

• • •

tt

<<

3

4

5
8

<t

K

It

<l

Malarial fever . .

I

• •

3

• • .

Neuralgia

• • •

2

• Broken leff.

t Intermittent (" lotet no time**).

X ** Few days."

{Unknown ("worked all tima^

I Unknown.

\ Remit of heavy liftiag.

••Hemorrhage.

ft Unknown ("wofksdatlilp

3a

498 special Report an Negro Domestic Service.

TABLE XXX,.— Continued.

Kind of
Ailment, etc.

Neuralgia

it

<4

Neuritis .
Ch>eration (surgical),
Pleurisy
Quinsy

i<
li
II

Rheumatism
II

• • •

II
II
II
<i

Shock (nervous) .
Sprained ankle
Stomach' ' inflamma
tion" of

II
II

(t

It
II

« %

1 1

It II

Tape-worm removed
Typhoid fever

Unknown
•I

II
II
II
II
•I
II
ti
II
II
II
II

Total

No.

I
I

I
I
I
I

3

2

I
I
I
I

2
I

31

Malb.

Period of Illness.

Days.

Weeks.

I

2

• • •

10

• • •

Mos.

I

2

2 or 3

PBMAI.B.

No.

Period of Illnesa.

Days.

ID

«

2

3

2
3

5

9
6

I

3

3

3
I

102

Weeks.

3

4

5
10

z6

2

3

4

a

I
2

I
2

3

4
3to9

5

3

I

2

3

4
6

I
2

3

* Week (•• worked all time ").
t *' All winter but worked all time.
X Pew days.

Conjugal Condition^ Illiteracy and Health, 499

This table is found to aggregate 415 weelcs of illness during
the year, to be distributed among 547 persons, giving an aver-
age loss of work time for illness of about four-fifths of a week
per individual during the year."

Health of colored domestic servants in the Seventh Ward
during the last twelve months is shown in the diagram which
follows:

9 Colored

'MALE

n

ftMALE

iw

TOTftL,

_

m

D'

■■ It vaxj be of interest to compare this result with the following table
taken from Professor Mayo Smith's " Statistics and Sociology," which
table, the anthor saya, is " based upon the experience of the laigcst and
most important Friendly Society in England, which givea aid to memben
when they are ill, the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows, comprising
400,000 members." The table b as follows :

Average Sickness per lodiTldiul
Aie. Per ADoam (in Weeks).

Hkle. Penule.

15-aoyeara 666 .666

ao-15 " 737 .737

aSMS " 995 -995

45-65 " a-736 »-75i

15-65 " 1.314 1-334

Omitting the 45-65 period, which is not &irlr companble with the
ages of colored domestic servants (their averse ^e being 30.3), It
will be seen that the average illness among the English working people
is nearly the same as that among colored domestics of the lame age.
The English Siclc Benefit Society showing an average of .799 aa com-
pared with .759 for colored servants, th? slight difierence being totlie
advantage of the colored servanta.

IX.

IDEAI3 OP BETTERMENT.

In view of the general purpose of this investigation, it is
proper to discuss in conclusion the question of the improve-
ment of Philadelphia Negro domestic service. In the first
place, what remedies or improvements in domestic service have
already been tried with any measure of success ? The answer
to this question should indicate the lines along which prog^ress
may be expected.

The only two scientific studies of the subject up to the pres-
ent time, are those of Mr. Charles Booth and of Miss Salmon,
who in 1897 published her 300-paged book entitled '* Domestic
Service." Mr. Booth's treatment of the subject is purely sta-
tistical, simply stating and grouping facts; it has no theory of
betterment to offer. But Miss Salmon, besides giving statistics
of American domestic service, also treats the question in its
historical aspects and considers it philosophically and practi-
cally, with an eye to its probable future development and to
possible remedies for present difficulties.

Hence the best, perhaps the only answer, to the above ques-
tion now to be found in print is that given by Miss Salmon in
the closing chapters of her book; and a brief abstract of those
chapters is therefore given here, with her permission.

Before suggesting any plan of betterment, Miss Salmon enu-
merates and discards various *' doubtful remedies," such as the
removal of all difficulties by the application of the golden rule,
employing the system of servicejbooks in vogue in Germany,
introducing domestic training in the public schools, and other
methods. All these plans fail, says the author, because they
assume that the adjustment to be made is a purely personal
one, whereas larger relations — political, economic, industrial
and social — are, in point of fact involved; and she believes that
reform in domestic service, if it is to succeed, ** must be accom-
plished along the same general economic lines as are reforms
in other great departments of labor." She shows that domestic
service, though apparently isolated from other departments of

(500)

Ideals of Betterment. 501

the world's work, has been powerfully affected by inventions,
by political revolutions and social changes, by the commercial
development of the country and the introduction of the factory
S3rstem, which took out of the household once and for all the
making of men's garments, many kinds of woolen wear, boots
and shoes, hats, gloves, etc., together with the preparation of
many kinds of food now made chiefly in factories, — cheese,
canned vegetables, ice cream, etc.

Having shown that domestic labor is not isolated but forms
an integral and closely interwoven part of the social fabric, the
author turns to consider possible remedies which can succeed
only as they harmonize with the all-pervasive economic ten-
dencies of modem times. Miss Salmon first enumerates these
tendencies and declares them to be:

** I. The tendency toward concentration of capital and labor
in industry, shown in pools, trusts, department stores, etc.

*' 2. The tendency toward specialization in every department
of labor.

** 3. The tendency toward collective action growing from (i)
and (2).

*' 4. The tendency toward profit-sharing and similar methods
constantly becoming more far-reaching.

** 5. The tendency toward greater industrial independence of
women.'*

The first of the remedies suggested by Miss Salmon as run-
ning in harmony with these tendencies is specialization of
household employments. This is an important point deserving
of most careful consideration. It is true that all advancement
yet made in household employments has involved division of
labor and unconscious co-operation; as for instance, when spin-
ning and weaving once done by the women at home, was
removed to the factory ; next, when the sewing machine took
the making of underclothing largely out of the home and made
of it the ** white goods" industry. Cheese, a home product
till i860, is now wholly factory made.

It is important to notice that all these articles, both of food
and clothing, though at first more expensive when factory
made, are now both better and more cheaply made outside the
household. The presumption is that other ^^ '«* &

transition state (such for example, as

502 special Report on Negro Domestic Sendee,

preserves, jellies, pickles, bread, cake, pastry, pressed meats,
condensed milk, butter, etc.)* would soon be among those things
made both better and more cheaply out of the house than within,
were the demand for them sufficient. These things, if
purchased through women's exchanges, are more expensive
only because the '* demand for them has thus far been limited."
The author believes that their cheapening would follow upK>n
their greater demand, together with improved quality, as has
been the case with clothing, etc. She shows further that the
delivery of practically all articles of food ready for the final
application of heat is possible through business enterprise and
scientific experiment, and believes that this would go a long
way toward solving the * 'servant question" by taking most of
the domestics out of the house and thus lessening the strain
of personal relations of employer and employee. Employers
would welcome such a change. The situation would be
improved for the employees also, since many women could
retain their homelife and at the same time earn money
and support their families. '^ This change, it is pointed out,
"is in direct line with the tendency toward specialization
everywhere else found, in that it enables each person to do
exclusively that thing which she can do best; it allows the
concentration of labor and capital and thus economizes and
secures the largest results; it retains the woman's homelife
without sacrificing her bread-winning opportunities; it
improves the quality of products, thus made under the most
favorable conditions; it brings the work of every cook
into competition with the work of every other cook and thus
incites improvement; it applies the principle of unconscious
co-operation and thus harmonizes with other business activi-
ties."

That the laundry department also could thus be taken outside
the household will not be questioned, since Troy laundries
already do many articles better and more cheaply than can be

"Along list of bread-winners among women is given (••Domestic
Service," page 219 ^/j^^.) showing how women are wholly or partly
supporting their families by preparing in their homes articles of food for
sale in neighboring large cities, each woman usually making large
quantities of only one or two articles, e. g., Saratoga potatoes, sold in
large quantities to grocers, jams and pickles, chicken salad, cake, etc.

Ideals of BettermenL 503

done at home. Troy prices would lessen with increased demand
and competition among laundries.

The care of lawns, gardens and orchards in summer, and of
furnaces in winter, also tends to become a business in itself;
and many cases are recorded of men who care for eight or ten
different furnaces, or who have charge of from ten to fifteen
lawns or gardens, and of women who wash windows once a
week, for a large number of families.

There are many reasons why this tendency should develop.
It has much in its favor, while the only objection to it — that the
cost of living would be increased — is not valid, since it is cer-
tain that the added expense would only be temporary, as in the
case of factory-made garments, and would finally operate
decidedly to cheapen living expenses.

The second possible remedy suggested is profit-sharing, and its
application to housework is interesting. " It is possible," says
Miss Salmon, "to fix a sum, as $50 or $100 for monthly
expenses, including food, fuel, lights, a pro-rata for guests, etc.
If by care in the use of materials the expenses amount to but
$45 or $90 monthly, the $5 or $10 saved can be divided accord-
ing to a proportion previously agreed upon, between the em-
ployer and the employees; the cook, who is in a position to save
most, receiving the greatest percentage of the bonus."

Domestics thus become interested partners in the concern and
with most satisfactory results. Miss Salmon states that this is
not untested theory but has been successfully practiced and
actually does place the household on a business basis.

A third possible remedy proposed is thorough education in
household science. It is maintained that the organization of a
great professional school fully equipped for the study of
domestic science and open only to graduates of the leading
colleges and universities, would start household science in the
right direction, — that in which advancement in all other occupa-
tions has been made, — and thus make possible true progress and
farther harmonious development in this ** Jxilated industry." "

The result, should these remedies be applied on a large
scale, Miss Salmon believes would Ih; far reaching and of inesti-
mable value. She says: ''This rea/ljustmcnt of work and the

^So called by MIm A/l/]«ti)« \n a xtn'M%\\, A/J/ireiw,

504 special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

willingness of large numbers of women to work for remuneration
would be as productive of improvement in all household affairs
as division of labor has been elsewhere. A far-reaching benefit
is suggested by Maria Mitchell when she says: — 'the dress-
maker should no more be a universal character than the
carpenter. Suppose every man should fed it his duty to do his
own mechanical work of all kinds—would society be bene*
fited? — would the work be well done? Yet a woman is
expected to know how to do all kinds of sewing, all kinds of
cooking, all kinds of||any ''woman's work," and the conse-
quence is that life is passed in learning these only, while the
universe of truth beyond remains unentered.' It must be said
in conclusion," the author continues, "that little can be ac-
complished in domestic reform except through the use of means
which already exist, developing these along lines marked out
by industrial progress in other fields."

This brief extract gives the gist of the best thought thus bx
devoted to the subject. Now, we must ask ourselves, how can
all this be applied to Negro domestic service in Philadelphia ?
What facts now existing in service there can be laid hold of and
developed along these lines of progress observed in other fields
of industry ?

Most of the facts of Negro domestic service which are amen-
able to such adaptation and development are to be found under
the head of specialization of employments. Considerable out-
side service is already being done by colored people in Phila^-
delphia. The degree to which laundry work, for example, has
been removed from the household may be seen by the fact
that there are but thirty-one private laundresses in the ward,
while 1097 colored women in the ward support their families
by taking in washing or doing "day's work," as they call
washing by the day at the employer's house. There is every
evidence that sending out the washing instead of keeping a
laundress as one of the regular domestics is more satisfactory
both to employer and employee; for the laundress would rather
do the work at home, and often must do it there or not at all,
when there are young children in her family, while the em-
ployer gains a peaceful Monday and Tuesday by having the
work done out, besides saving the slight but constant expense
of coal and washing supplies. Aside from these 1097 individual

Ideals of Betterment. 505

laundresses in the ward, there are also two regular laundries
managed by Negro families, where all the working members
of the family are busily employed for six days in the week
with the work of a large number of families. Such colored
people as these are justly jealous of the work given to China-
men, while many native Negroes cannot get work to do. There
is no doubt that successful and excellent laundries would grow
up under the management of Philadelphia colored men and
women if employers could be satisfied to ''put the washing
out'' and to admit the possibility of having clothing laun-
dered on some other week dayithan that which was usual in
the Pl3rmouth colony. The domestic economy of America
to-day is more complex than was that of the Plymouth colony,
and we can very easily make due allowance for the fact, by
letting our laundresses choose their own '' Monday.''

Another branch of domestic work showing the specializing
tendency is that known as '' general work," which with men
servants usually denotes care of furnaces, cleaning the front of
the house, etc. Nearly all of these men do such work for a con-
siderable number of families and devote their entire time to it.
One man was encountered who was in charge of the furnaces
and " outside work " of not less than eight different establish-
ments. In this direction employers could easily co-operate to
effect further specialization, as only a little over two per cent of
Negro male wage-earners are at present general workers. It was
observed that such men were found almost exclusively in the
more fashionable and wealthy quarter, while elsewhere the
waiter manservant undertook the outside work as part of his
duty. The specializing tendency in this department of Negro
service is much less marked than in the laundry work. Still
progress in the right direction is practicable, since the tendency,
though not greatly developed, still exists.

A much more significant fact in the matter of specialization
of work is the presence in the Seventh Ward alone, of eighty-
three colored caterers and cateresses, whose employment by
families who entertain to any extent surely diminishes the
need in those families for the services of such large numbers
of domestics as would otherwise be employed by them. The
use of such outside professional help is dearly a development
in the right direction and the service thusflecored is manifestly

5o6 Special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

better, because skilled. It is equally evident that it is cheaper
to employ a caterer periodically than to keep an extra number
of trained domestics permanently employed in the household
for such occasions. Here again, then, specialization is found
actually at work among the colored people of Philadelphia.

A fourth instance of it which is found in the city is worth
citing. This is a Woman's Exchange. The preparation of
foods, such as fruit in glass jars, preserves, jellies, pickles,
etc., and the making of simple garments, underwear, aprons,
shirt waists, baby's caps, etc., are the kinds of work spe-
cialized upon by the "Exchange for Women's Work," lo-
cated at 756 South Twelfth street, in connection with the
parsonage of Bethel Church. This Exchange is outside the
Seventh Ward, but is so notable a case of the tendency here
discussed that it seems well to mention it. The articles ofiered
for sale are of excellent quality and are sold at moderate
prices. The investigator has noticed, in a high grade pro-
vision store on Chestnut street, not far from Rittenhouse
square, that jellies, jams and fruits are o£fered for sale bearing

conspicuous sale cards marked, ** Miss 's Pickled

Peaches," ** Miss 's Currant Jelly," etc. This suggests

that there might be an exchange for colored women's work at
such provision stores and high grade groceries if the proprietors
could be induced to co-operate, as many of them doubtless
could be by judicious and business-like suggestions from their
leading customers or from some well known and influential
organization of women. Colored women who have unusual
skill in the preparation of any kind of foods might in this way
be able to place their goods advantageously, greatly to their
own benefit and also to that of the community of which they
form often an unemployed part.

To sum up : the facts of colored domestic service which can
be laid hold of and developed along the lines of specialization
of household work then, are these facts connected with
** Extra Service " : (i) Laundry work can be done more con-
veniently and as cheaply or more cheaply outside of the house
than within it, and many excellent laundresses among the
married colored women are anxious to get such work to do.
(2) ** Outside work," furnace work, etc., can similarly be done
by men making it their business, and a man servant thus be

Ideals of Betterment, 507

left free for other duties or dispensed with altogether. (3)
Patronage of caterers rather than the employment of supernu-
merary domestics is a step tending to simplify household work
in large establishments and the employment of competent
colored caterers a step tending to simplify the problem of
unemployed colored men in Philadelphia. (4) Anything tend-
ing to extend the patronage of exchanges for women's work,
and by inducing competition in such work, to cheapen articles
so offered for sale, is a step in the direction of taking food
preparation outside the household, and anything tending to
secure a steady sale for the work of skilled colored cooks in
such exchanges is a step in the direction of solving the
"colored unemployed** problem of Philadelphia with all the
degradation and suffering implied in that problem.

In regard to the second possible remedy proposed by Miss
Salmon, it can only be said that the method of profit-sharing
is as practicable with colored as with white or foreign em-
ployees— ^perhaps more so since colored domestics are prover-
bially ** anxious to please."

The third possible remedy suggested — thorough education
in household affairs — aims to remove the odium now attaching
to domestic service and to attract competent people to the
employment by raising it to the rank of a profession. The
Philadelphia colored people have already thought this subject
through for themselves. A woman physician who is well
known in Philadelphia, one of the most intelligent and interest-
ing women of either race, said to the present investigator: ** If
domestic service were made more honorable, more tolerable,
more human, it would not be so unpopular. If we* had good
training-schools for service it would become an honorable
branch of business. Mr. Booker Washington believes in ' put-
ting brains into common work,' and that is just what I say
about domestic labor. If a girl is taught to cook skillfully and
to buy economically she becomes a dignified laborer. A trained
worker is always honorable and dignified. I have often said
there should be a school to train domestics. Many girls want
to work who can't get the'opportunity. If you ask them * What
do you understand doing ? — What do you represent ?' they say, * I
don't know how to do anything well;' it is a most lamentable
answer and a most common one. But they want to learn; if

508 . special Report on Negro Domestic Service.

you ask, ' Would you go and work for fifty cents a week and be
trained?* they will say: *yes, willingly.* And I believe that
we should have a school of instruction with a regular course,
where graduates who reach a certain degree of excellence get a
certificate of efficiency. I^t this school be an employment
bureau also. Such an arrangement would be a help both ways,
to the employees and to the competent among the employed."

That this idea of Dr. *s could be made workable seems

unquestionable when we study the situation in London as
shown by Mr. Booth. There the girls bom the workhouse
schools, who have only the merest rudiments of training in
household a£fairs, are nevertheless in such demand in London
service that, as Mr. Booth says:" "There is no difficulty in
finding places for the girls from the workhouse schools as the
demand far exceeds the supply." The M. A. B. Y. S. (Metro-
politan Association for Befriending Young Servants) has organ-
ized an employment bureau, where these young servant girls
may be engaged, and at this office the protection of the girl is
insured by obliging the mistress to sign a form of agreement
stating the number in her family, work required, wages paid,
privileges granted, etc. The detailed workings of this bureau
and its friendly connection with the girls after their places are
secured are set forth fully in Mr. Booth's book. The chief
thing to be noted here is the remarkable demand which actu-
ally exists for girls having any training at all, which fact leaves
little doubt that the training does distinctly add to the value
of the servant. A training school for domestic training could
easily be established in Philadelphia in connection with institu-
tions alre&dy organized. The best known colored institute in
the city of Philadelphia is already doing admirable work in
manual training and the teaching of trades from the building
trades to millinery and dressmaking. Would it not be practi-
cable to add courses in domestic science and economy, chemis-
try and sanitation, etc., to which only graduates of the institute
should be admitted and where certificates should be granted only
to graduates attaining a certain rank in Iheir work, both theo-
retical and practical ? An employment bureau in connection

** " Life and Labour of the People," Charles Booth, Vol. 8, p. 215 and
following.

Ideals of BettennenL 509

with such a training school could be undertaken on a fair
business basis by some philanthropic or civic association, to
insure fair treatment, as is done by the M. A. B. Y. S. in
London. Such a plan would undoubtedly be facilitated by the
presence at the head of this particular institution at the present
time of one of the most gifted and progressive women in Phila-
delphia, whose views on domestic service are the leading ones
in modem domestic reform.

In closing this paper it may be well to point out that these
suggestions, all of which are in line with the views of the
best thinkers upon the subject of reform in the administration
of household matters, would obviate in large measure the
greatest difficulties in the domestic service of to-day. What
are these difficulties? In England the two greatest, in the
opinion of Mr. Booth, are the dullness of the domestic servants'
life and the difficulty of the personal relations between employer
and employed. The same is true of American domestic ser-
vice, with the added drawback of loss of social standing, which
in this country is the greatest objection of all, though hardly
consciously felt in England. When the domestic becomes a
'^trained worker, honorable and dignified," this great objec-
tion will be removed, and it is clear that minimizing the num-
ber of domestics employed within the household would do
away in large measure with the difficulty of the personal rela-
tions between mistress and maid, while the domestid^ thus set
free to perform their special work according to their own
methods, and in their own homes, would have no more reason
to complain of the dullness of such life than a dressmaker or
milliner would have. With the removal of these obstacles,
better ability would enter domestic service, and the industry
would become more honorable as well as more endurable and
attractive to domestics, who we sometimes forget are also
human beings, and naturally wish to live the lives of human
beings.

INDEX.

Abolition of slavery, 15, 16, 22, 30, 412, 415.

AboUtion Society, 20, 22, 31.

Addison street, 61, 357.

Adger, Robert, 36, 121.

African M. E. Church, 21, 208-10, 473.

African M. £. Zion Church, 211-13.

Afro- American League, 374.

Age of l^egroes, 55, 56, 57, 64, 65, 65n, 431.

Allen, Richard, 18, 19, 21, 23.

Alleys, 60.

Alleys, blind, 294.

Alleys where Negroes live, 308.

Amalgamation, 358/f.

Amendments, 14n and 15n, 372.

Amusements, 309/f, 320-21, 463-C4.

Anglo-Saxons, 386.

Aristocracy among Negroes, 176-77, 316-19.

Arrests, 242, 243, 247.

Artists, Negro, 36.

Assientio treaty, 14, 412.

Augustin, Peter, 32, 34.

Bakers, Negro, 118.

Baptist Church among Negroes, 213-15, 473.

Barbers, 115-16.

Bath-rooms and water-closets, 292-94.

Beneficial Societies, Negro, 185, 221-22, 224-26, 457-59.

Benevolence, 355/f.

Benevolent institutions for Negroes, 355-56.

Benezet, Anthony, 12, 23, 83, 84.

Bethel Church, 201.

Bettle, Edward, 27.

Bird school, 84.

Birthplace of Negroes, 73/f, 77-78, 80/f.

Birth rate, 168.

Blockley almshouse, 272.

Bogle, Robert, 32, 33-4.

Bribery in voting, 373, 375/f.

(5«i)

512 Index.

Budgets of families, 173/f.

Building and Loan Association, 185, 226.

Cake walks, 320.

Candy and notion stores, 117.

Caterers' Association, 119.

Caterers, decline of Negro, 120.

history of Negro, 32, 32/f, 36, 119.
Catholic Church among Negroes, 219-20.
Catto, Octavius V., 39-42.
Catto School, 352.
Cemeteries, Negro, 121, 231.
Central Church, 215-16.
Charities, color discrimination in, 35C-57.
Charity Organization Society, 274-75.
Cherry Street Church, 214.
Children's Aid Society, 273-74.
Children, destitute, 273-74.
Church afi&liations, 208.
Churches, activities of, 207.

annual budget of, 202-3.

condition of, 207-8.

Negro, 199, 200.

Negro and amusements, 194, 4G0-70.

Negro, history of, 197/f.

typical organization of, 201-2.
Cigar stores, 117.
Cities, migration to, 354.

Northern, Negroes in, 8.

rush of Negroes to, 240.
City population, Negro, 50-3.
Citizens' Club, 379.
Civic Club of Philadelphia, 430, 445.
Civil rights, 417, 418.
Clarkson, Mayor, 18.
Classes among Negroes, 39G.
Clerks, Negroes as, 131-33.
Clothing of Negroes, 161-62.
Clubs, political, 378-80.
Coates Street School, 84.
Color discrimination, 394-96.

in charities, 356-57.

in discharging employes, 341-42.

in getting work, 323-24, 326-29, 464-67, 484-89.

in promotion of Negro employes, 343-44.

in rents, 295-97, 347-48.

in schools, 349-50.

Index. 513

Color discrimination, in trades, 129n, 329-31.

typical cases of, 327/f.

in wages, 139, 323, 344-46, 449-51.

in woman's work, 333-36.
Color line in work, 339-40.
Color prejudice, 145-46, 282-86, 464-67, 484-89
Condition of Negroes, 31, 36, 37.
Condition of slaves, 15.
Conjugal condition, 66/f, 70-71.
Confidence-men, 261.
Convention of Negroes, 24n, 31.
Co-operative Caterers' Supply Store, 119.
Co-operative stores, 117, 228.
Correction, House of, Negroes in, 244.
Court of Errors and Appeals on Suffrage, 370.
Crime, 390, 413.

according to years, 251.

causes of, 140, 285.

character of, 250.

and illiteracy, 253-55, 258-59.

history of Negro, 253/f.

improper charges of, 267-68.

kinds of, 240.

of Negroes, 235, 236, 237, 238, 238-40.

punishment of, 249.

recent increase of, 241, 247-48.

serious, 250-51.

since the war, 240/f.

special study of, 248/f.
Criminal class, 257.
Criminals, 31, 235/f.

age of, 253-55.

birthplace of« 253.

conjugal condition of, 253.

sex of, 252.
Crucifixion, Church of, 217-19.
Death rate, 149, 150-51, 152-55, 157, 158-59.

by wards, 149.
Dentists, 115.

Derham, Negro physician, 18.
Desertion of husbands and wives, 67.
Det^tives, Negroes arrested by, 258n.
Dickinson, Anna, 38.

Discrimination, see Prejudice and Color discrimination.
Diseases of Negroes, 151-52, 495.
Distribution of Negroes, 37, 81.

33

514 Index.

Distribution of Negroes in the city, 299-304.
Domestic service, ideals for betterment of, 500/f.

grades of, 444-45.

lack of opportunities for recreation in, 467-68.

proportion of Negroes in, 137, 427, 428.

quality of, 474/f.

reform of, 430.

Miss Salmon's suggestion for improving, 500-611.

special report on, 425/f.

profit sharing in, 503.

specialization in, 501-3, 504-7.

See also &ervan%9.
Douglass, Frederick, 38.

Hospital, 230-31.
Drink habit, 277-82.
Duties of slaves, 14, 16, 411, 412, 413.
Duty of Negroes, 389/f.
Duty of Whites, 393/f.
Education of Negroes, 83/f, 93, 95.
Emancipation, 15, 16, 22, 39, 412, 415.
Employment agencies, 118.
Environment of Negroes, 284-86.
Episcopal Church among Negroes, 217-19.
Estates, value of, 182n.
Excess of young people, 55.

in domestic service, 438.
Excursions, 320.

Expenditures of Negroes, 178, 392, 456-62.
Exploitation of the Negro, 192.
Extinction of the Negro, 388.
Families, size of, 164/f, 274, 319n.
Family fesflvals, 196.
Females, excess of, 53-5, 65.
Food of Negroes, 161, 173/f.
Forten, James, 23, 24.
Foundlings, 273-74.
Fico African Society, 19, 20, 21, 23.
Free Masons, 224.
Free Negroes, 16, 20.

Friends and slavery, 11, 12, 13, 14, 16, 24.
Fugitive slaves, 25.

sale of, 410.
Function of churches, 201, 203-5.
Gallatin, Albert, 369.
Gambling, 265-67, 379.
Gibson, Judge, on suifrage, 370.

Index. 515

Gordon, Judge J. G., on crime, 241n.

Graduates, Negro, occupations of, 352-53.

Graduates, Negro, of scKSols, occupations of, 362-3.

Grocery stores, 116-17.

Hayti, revolt in, 22-23.

Hazel, Mayor, 236.

Health of Negroes, 147/f, 160-63.

Health, see also Hervani9,

Heredity in disease, 162.

History of Negroes in Philadelphia, 10/f.

Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Persons, 230.

Home for the Homeless, 231-32.

Home life, 71, 72, 192-96.

Homes by size and inhabitants, 291, 297-99.

Homes of laboring class, 294-95.

of poor, 203-94.
House to house inquiry, 62-3.
Houses and rents, 287-90.
Housing of the poor, 293-94.
Humanity, idea of, 386.
Humphreys, Richard, 87.
Illiteracy and crime, 253-55, 258-69.

of Negroes, 83/f, 85, 87, 88, 91, 92, 92n.
Illiteracy, see also BervantH,
Immigrants, 73/f, 75, 76, 417.

foreign, 26, 44.

Negro, 304.
Immigration of Negroes, 416, 417.
Incomes of Negroes, 168-71.
Increase of Negroes in U. S., 49-50.

Negro population, 46-48, 64.

Whites, 46, 47, 48.
Infusion of white blood, 358/f, 359.
Insane among Negroes, 273.
Insurance, life, 418.
Insurance Societies, Negro, 226.

petty, character of, 186.

expenditures for, 187-88.
losses by, 188-91.

rates of, 186-87.

sick and death benefits of, 186-87.
Intermarriage of races, 358/f.

in Ward Seven, 361-66.

statute on, 360.
Intermarried persons, white and black, age of, 362, 364.

birthplace of, 362, 363.

5i6 Index,

Intermarried persons, character of, 366-67.

children of, 363, 365.

illiteracy of, 363, 364.

occupations of, 363, 364.

rooms and rents paid bj, 365-66.

social grades of, 364-65.
Jones, Absalom, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 198.

Henry, 32, 34, 35.
Juan, a slave, 29.
Kelley, W. D., 38.
Kidnapping of Negroes, 416.
Kieth, 11.

Laboring class among Negroes, 175-76, 315-16.
Lawyers, 114-15.

Legislation of Pennsylvania on Negroes, 411/f.
Length of residence of Negroes, 79, 80.
Liquors, alcoholic, expenditure for, 282.
Literature concerning Philadelphia Negroes, 420.

of Philadelphia Negroes, 422.
Literary societies, 45.
Loan associations, 226.
Lodgers, 164-65, 271.
Lodging system, 194.
Lombard street, 58, 60, 61, 294, 295.
Marriage, 13, 68-70, 71, 72, 165-66.
Marriage of whites and blacks, 358/f.
Marriage rate, 168.
Marriages, slave, 411.
Maryland, migration from, 75, 435-36.
Mechanics, Negro, 412, 413.

opposition of white, 412, 413.
Membership of churcfhes, 203.
Methodist Church and the Negroes, 18, 19.

among Negroes, 208-13.
Merchants, Negro, 116/f, 122, 124-25.
Methods of inquiry, 1.
Middle alley, 60.

Middle classes among Negroes, 315-16.
Midvale Steel Works, 129, 332.
Migration of laborers, annual, 135.
Ministers, Baptist, 112.
Methodist, 112.
Negro, 111, 112, 205-6.
Minton, Henry, 32, 34, 35.
Miscegenation, 358/f.
Missions, Negro, 220-21.

Index. 517

Mixed marriages^ 358/f.

Mixed schools, 417.

Movement of Negro population, 305-6.

Moyamensing prison, Negroes in, 238, 239, 243, 244, 246.

Mulattoes, 203« 359.

"Negro Plot" in New York, 412.

Negro problems, 5, 385/f .

"Negro," use of term, In.

Newspapers and periodicals, Negro, 45, 126, 229.

Night schools, 86, 94.

Number of Negroes, 13, 14, 17, 26, 49-51, 62, 59, 68-64.

Occupations, 97/f, 109-10, 142-45.

history of, 141/f.

of graduates of schools, 352-53.
Odd Fellows, 222-24.
Officeholders, Negro, 380-81.
Organizations of Negroes, 197/f, 233-34.
Ownership of property, 179/f.
Pauperism, 413-14, 416.

Negro, 269/f.
Paupers in almshouse, 272.

typical families of, 274-77.
Penitentiary, Eastern, Negroes in, 238, 246, 247, 248.
Penn, Wm., and slavery, 11, 18.
Pennsylvania Hall, 29.
Physicians, 113-14.
Pocketbook snatching, 262-63.
Policemen, Negroes as, 132.
Policy playing, 266.
Political clubs, 378-80.
Politics of Philadelphia, 372.
Poor class among Negroes, 172-74, 314-15.
Potters' field, 415.
Poverty, causes of, 275, 282-86.
Preachers, Negro, 111, 112, 205-6, see also Uini^i^^.
Prejudice, color, 322/f, 375.

against Negroes in business, 346-47.

connection with crime, 350-66.

results of, 325-26, 350-55.

see also Color d\9cirimina%\oin.
Prejudice, unconscious, 396-97.
Presbyterian Church among Negroes, 216-17.
Professions, learned, Negroes in, 111/f.
Property-holders, 182/f.

birthplace of, 182.

length of residence of, 183.

51 8 Index.

Property-holders, occupations of, 183.

Property of Negroes, 31.

Prosser, 32, 34.

Prostitutes, 313-14.

Quaker City Association, 224-25.

Quakers, see FriendB.

Raspberry street school, 84, 87.

Ratcliffe alley, 60.

Reform in politics, 383/f .

Religion of churches, 205-6.

Rent, 287-90.

Rent, discrimination in, 295-97, 347-48.

extravagance in, 295.
Riots against Negroes, 26-29, 32, 45n, 237-38.
Robbery, highway, 263.
Saloons, 277-82.

conducted by Negroes, 117-18.
Sandiford, R., 16.
Schedules used, 2, 400/f
School attendance, 84/f , 89, 90.
Schools, abolition of separate, 418.

Negro, 20, 83, 84, 85.

separate, mixed, 417, 418.
Secret societies, 185, 221/f.
Separate cars, 417, 418.

schools, 88, 89, 417.
Serfdom, Negro, 369, 411.
Serfs, white, 1
Servants, domestic, 136/f.

age of, 431, 438-42.

amusements of, 463-64.

birthplace of, 435-36, 475, 476, 478.

board and lodging of, 141, 453-55.

character by birthplace, 482-83.

by race and color, 432, 433.

character of, 481-82, 485-87.

church affiliations of, 472-73.

attempts of, to change occupation, 465, 466.

conjugal condition of, 490-92.

employment of leisure time of, 469/f.

health of, 495-99.

illiteracy of, 492-94-95.

imported, 139, 338-39, 450-53.

influence of fashion on, 451.

leisure time of, 468-69.

length of service of, 474-76, 480-81.

Index, 519

SServants, domestic, methods of hiring, 436.

number of, 431.

opinion of employers on, 484/f .

savings of, 456-59.

sex of, 431, 436-37.

support of dependents by, 460-62.

training of, 603-4, 507-9.

wages of, 446-48, 475, 477, 478, 479.

work required of, 445.
Service, see Domestio Service and ServiMia.
Seventh Ward, 1, 58, 59-62.
Sex of Negroes, 56, 64.
Sexual morality, 166.
Shirley, Thomas, 84.
Slave, importation of, 415.
Slaves, duty on, 412, 414, 416.

in Philadelphia, 17.

traffic with, 411, 413.

trial of, 411, 412.

tumults of, 411, 414.
Slave trade, petition vs., 416.
Slums, Negro, 303, 307, 308.
Smith, Stephen, 36.
Social classes among Negroes, 6, 7, 8, 309/f.

intercourse between the races, 326.
Soldiers, colored, 23, 24, 38, 39.
Status of Negroes, 413.
Stevens, A. F., 110.
Still, William, 36.
Street cars, discriminations on, 38.
St. George's Church, 19.
Study of the Negro in Philadelphia, 43, 44.
St. Thomas Church, 22, 198-99.
Sub-renting, 290-92.
Suffrage, history of Negro in Pennsylvania, 368, 369.

Negro, 22, 30, 416, 417.

attempt to restrict, 369-70.
bad results of, 373/f .
good results of, 382/f.
Judge Gibson on, 370.
in convention of 1837—371-72, 415, 416.
in the North, 368.
Suicide, 267.
Swedes and slavery, 11.
Tanner, Henry O., Negro artisty 368.
Teachers, 113.

520 Index.

Thieves, "badger" and sneak, 201, 263.
Traders, Free Society, 11.
Trades, Negroes in, 14, 15, 33, 126/f, 829-8]
Trades Unions, 128-29, 336-38n.

and Negroes, 332-33.

among Negroes, 227-28.
Trial of Negroes, 13.
True Reformers, Order of, 225.
Undertakers, Negro, 118.
United States, proportion of Negroes in, 51.
University Extension, 232.

of Pennsylvania, 1, 349.
Upholsterers, Negro, 119.
Vagrants, 271-72.
Vaux School, 84, 352.
Virginia, migration from, 75.
Wages, 133.

color discrimination in, 139, 449-51.

difference in male and female, 448.

of servants, 446-48.
Wain, Congressman, 22.
Wards of Philadelphia, 59.
Water-closets and baths, 161.
Wealth of Negroes, 179-80.
Widows. 67, 70.
Woman's Exchange, 231, 506.
Woolman, 12.

Work, color discrimination in, 394-96.
Y. M. C. Association, 195, 232.
Zoar Church, 22.

publications

OF THE

Tllnipereit^ of penns^lpania

Group /. — Annual Publications,

University Catalostte (published in December).

Pasdcnli of the Departments of Philosophy (Graduate School), Law,
Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine; also Circulars of
Information concerning courses offered in the College, as follows:
Illustrated Descriptive Circular; A* Admission to College; Bf Arts
and Science; C* Finance and Economy (Wharton School); D,
Biology; E* Music; Pf Teachers' Courses; Q* Architecture; If*
Mechanical Bngineering; I* Electrical Engineering; K* Civil
Engineering; L, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering; M, Social
Work; Ny Commerce, Diplomacy and International Law; Ot Busi-
ness Practice and Banking.

Report of tlie Provost (published in January).

Group IL'-^Serial Publications,

Series in Pliilologyy Utermture and Arciittology.

Series in Pliilosopliy.

Series in Political Economy and Public Law.

Series in Botany.

Series in Zoology.

Series in Mathematics.

Series in Hygiene.

Series in Astronomy.

University Bulletin (monthly).

Group IIL — Occasional Publications,

Reports of the fluseums of ArcluDoiogy and Paleontology.
Theses presented for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

*Group IV.— Affiliated Publications.

Annals of the American Academy of Political and Sodal Science.

Americana Qermanlca (quarterly).

Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European

History (occasional).
American Law Register (monthly).

EXPI^NATORY.

Qroup I consists of publications issued annually tmder the direct
auspices of the Provost and Trustees.

The University Catalogue is a volume of about 500 pp. It contains
detailed information concerning all departments, lists of officers and
students, with addresses, etc. No charge is made for the Catalogue, but
in all cases requests for a copy by mail must be accompanied by ten cents
in stamps to cover postage.

• Itar «BGhaas« purposea onlr.

(i)

ii Publications of ike University of Pennsylvania.

The Fasciculus of each department contains information concerning
that department only; while the lettered Circulars of Information, coher-
ing the several courses offered in the College, are in like manner re-
stricted as to their contents. The Fasciculi and College Circulars are
published separately after the University Catalogue, the Fasciculi being
practically reprints from the Catalogue. Single copies are mailed free
upon request.

The Report of the Provost, made by him annually to the Corporation,
constitutes a general review of University activities during the year, and
contains inter alia reports from the Treasurer and the several Deans.
Single copies are mailed free upon request.

Orotip II consists of a number of serial publications in the several
fields of literature, science and philolog^y. They are issued in separate
series at irregular intervals (for the most part), and represent the results
of original research by, or under the direction of, members of the stafi
of instruction of the University. A complete list of these publications
to date, with prices attached^ is printed at length following. They are
published under the supervision of the University Publication Committee.

Qroiip 111 consists of occasional publications, such as reports of the
various University departments (where printed separately), and certain
theses presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree
Doctor of Philosophy.

Qroup IV consists of affiliated publications, issued as separate peri-
odicals, not under the control of the University, but edited in part by
officers of the University of Pennsylvania. Copies are obtainable only
through the medium of exchange (see below).

EXCHANGE BUREAU.

The University of Pennsylvania desires to extend its system of exchang-
ing publications with other similar institutions and learned societies,
both at home and abroad.

For convenience in correspondence, the following statement is made:

To those educational institutions and learned societies which issue only
annual catalogues, reports, or similar publications, the University of
Pennsylvania offers in exchange all those of its own publications classed
under Group 1 and III, or as many of them as may be specified.

To those educational institutions and learned societies publishing also
results of original investigations, the University of Pennsylvania offien
in exchange any one of its equivalent series in Groups II and IV, or as
many of them as may be mutually agreed upon in order to maintain a
proportionate ratio of exchange.

In establishing a system of exchanges with any other institution, the
University of Pennsylvania binds itself to the following regulations:

All publications agreed upon to be forwarded from Philadelphia to
address furnished, immediately upon issue, free of expense to our corre-
spondent.

Publications of the University of Pennsylvania, iii

In return the University requests compliance with the following:
All publications to be forwarded to ''Library of the University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pa.," marked '* Exchange Bureau " in lower
left-hand comer, immediately upon issue, free of expense to us.

i^TOrders for single numbers, or sets of Serial Publications tmder
Qroupll* should be sent to Ginn & Co., Sellinfr Agents y Tremont Place,
Boston, Mass.

General correspondence relating to the publications should be ad-
dressed to

J. Harti^by Msrrick, Assistant Secretary^

Station B, Philadelphia, Pa.

Philology, Literature, and Archaeology

Volnme J.
I. Poetic and Verse Criticism off tiie Reign off Elizabeth. By Felix

E. SCHELLING, Profensor of English Literature. |l.oo.

a. A Fras^ment of the Babylonian •• Dibbarra" Epic. By Morris
Jastrow, Jr., Professor of Semitic Langi:ages. 60 crnts.

J. a. Tlp6^ with the Accusative. 6. Note on a Passage in the An-
tigone. By William A. Lambkrton, Professor of the Greek Language
and Literature. 50 cents.

4. The Qambling: Qames of the Chinese in America : Fan fan and
Pak kop piu. By Stewart Culin, Curator of the Museum of
Archaeology and Paleontology. 40 cents.

Volame II.
I. Recent Archcologlcal Explorations in the Valley off the Dela-
ware River. By Charles C. Abbott, Sometime Curator of the
Museum of American Archaeology. 75 cents.

a. Observations on the Platform at Persepolls. By Morton W.

Easton, Professor of English and Comparative Philology. 25 cents.
J. The Articular Infinitive in Demosthenes. By William A. Lam-

BERTON, Professor of the Greek Language and Literature, (/n/r^-

ra^ton.)

4. The Life and Writings of Qeorge Qascoigne. By Fxux E. Schil-
UNG, Professor of English literature, ^i.oo.

Volome III,

I. Assyriaca. By Hermann V. Hilprecht, Professor of Assyrian and Com-
parative Semitic Philology, and Curator of Babylonian Antiquities, f 1.50.

a. A Primer off Mayan Hieroglyphics. By Daniel G. Brinton, Pro-
fessor of American Archfeology and Lingobtics. $1.20,

Volume IVm

I. Readings in Qower. By Moa"^ ~~ Vnkmoi of English

and Comparative Philology.

iv Publications of the University of Pennsylvania.

a. Social Changes in England In the Sixtcentii Centory as Re-
flected in Contemporary Engiiah Uteratore. By Edwakd P.
Chbynky, Auistaot Pirofessor of History. |i.oa

J. The War off the Theatres. By Jusiah H. Pennimam, Instnctor in
English. |i.oa

Foimne F. $9.ao.

Two Phiya off Mignel Sanchez (sumamed «« El Divine ")• By

Hugo A. Rknnskt, Professor of Romance Languages and LUeratnict.

Foiame VI. $9.oo,
M, The Antiquity off Man in the Delaware Valley.
^. Exploration off an Indian Ossuary on the Choptank River,

Dorchester Co., Md. With a description of the crania discovered

by E. D. G>pe ; and an examination of traces of disease in the bones,

hf Dr. R. H. Harte.
c. Exploration of Aboriginal Shell Heaps on York River, Maine.

By Henry C. Mbrcbk, Curator of the Museum of American Arch*

seology.

Foinme VII.

I. La Ingratltud Por Amor (Comedla de Don Quillen de Castro).

By Hugo A. Rknnbrt, Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures.
Ii.oo.

Philosophy

I. * Sameness and Identity. By George Stuart Fullerton.

a. * On the Perception off Small Diffferences. With special reference to

the Extent, Force, and Time of Movement. By James McKben Cattkll

and George Stuart Fullerton.

Political Economy and Public Law

I. *The Wharton School Annals of Political Science. March, 1SS5.
a. The Anti-Rent Agitation in the State off New York. 1839-1846.

By Edward P. Chbyney. 50 cents.
J. Ground Rents in Philadelphia. By Edward P. Allimson and B.
Penrose. 25 cents.

4. The Consumption of Wealth. By Simon N. Patten. 50 cents.

5. «Prison Statistics off the United States ff6r 18S8. By Roland P.

Falkner.

6. *The Principles off Rational Taxation. (Read at a meeting of the

Association, November 21, 1889.) By SiMON N. Patten.

7. The Federal Constitution of Qemiany. With an Historical Intro-

duaion. Translated by Edmund J. James. (Second edidon) 50 cents.

• Out of print.

Publications of the University of Pennsylvania, v

8. The P^erml Constitution of Switxerland. Translated by Edmund

J. James. 50 cents.

9. Mhir Slieep mnd tlie Tariff. By Wiluam Draper Liwis.

10. Tlie Qemian Bundesratll. A Study in Comparative Constitutional

Law. By Jamrs Harvey Robinson. 75 cents.

11. The Tlieory of Dynamic Economics. By Simon N. Patten. |i.oo.
I a. Tlie Referendum in America. A Discussion of Law-Making by

Popular Vote. By Ellis P. Oberholtzrr. I1.50.
I J. Currency Reform. By Joseph French Johnson. 25 cents.

Botany.

Volnme I— No. x. $a.ao.

(Plates I-XIII.)

I. A Monstrous Specimen of Rudl>ecicla liirta» L. By J. T. Roth-
rock.

a. Contributions to the History of Dionsea lluscipula* Ellis. By
J. M. Macfarlane.

3* An Abnormal Development of the inflorescence of Dionsea. By
John W. Harshbergkr.

4* MansTOve Tannin. By H. Trimble.

5. Observations on Epigsa repens* L. By W. P. Wilson.

6. A Nascent Variety of Brunella vulgaris, L. By J. r. Rothrock.

7. Preliminary Observations on the Movements of the Leaves of

Melilotus alba, L., and other plants. By W. P. Wilson, and J.
M. Greenman.

Volnme I—No, a. $9.00*

(Plates XI V-XV II.)

Maize : A Botanical and Economic Study. By John W. Harsh*
berger.

Toiame I— No, 3. $a.oo.

(Plates XVIIIXXXVI.)

I. A Chemico-Physiological Study of Splrogyra nitlda. By

Mary E. Fknningtcin.
a. On the Structure and Pollination of the Flowers of Eupato-

rium ageratoldes and E. coelestinum. By Laura B. Cross.

J. Contributions to the Ufe- History of AmphicarpsMi monoica.

By Adeline F. Schively.

*Ovt of print.

vi Publications of the University of Pennsylvania.

Vol. II—No. I.

(PUtcs I-XII.)

1. Observations on Conopholis Americana. By Lucy L. W. Wilson.

(With Plates I-VI.)

2. Recent Observations on AmphicariMBa Monoica. By Adeune F.

SCHIVELY.

3. Water Storas:e and Conduction in Senedo PrsKOx, D. C,

from Mexico. By John W. Haeshberger.

4. Structure of tlie Coric Tissues in Roots of some Rosaceous

Qenera. (With Plates.) By Martha Bunting.

5. Structure and Development of internal Phloem in Qelsemium

Sempervirens, Alt. By Caroline B. Thompson.

6. Comparative Studies on the Rate of Circumnutation of some

Fiowerins: Plants. By Elizabeth A. Simons.

7. 01>servations on the Development of some Embryo«sacs. By

Randolph £. B. McKenney.

8. The Occurrence and Structure of Hybrids between Drosera

filiformls and D. Intermedia. By John M. Macfarlans.

9. Statistical information on the i>roduction of Fruits and Seeds

in Certain Plants. By John W. Harshberger.

Zoology.

Volnme I— No* x. $9.00.

I. The Correlations of the Volumes and Surfaces of Organisms.

By John A. Ryder. (Plate I.)

a. The Growth of Eugiena Vlridls when Constrained Principally
to Two Dimensions of Space. By John A. Ryder. (Plate II.)

3. Descriptions of Three New Polyclueta from the New Jersey
Coast. By J. Percy Moore. (Plates IIMV.)

Foiame I— No. a. $9.00.
On the Embryos of Bats. By Harrison Allen. (Plates V-VIII.)

Volnme II.

(Paper, li.oo; cloth, $1.25.)

Syllabus of Lectures on the Vertebrata. By Edward D. Cops,
with an Introduction by Henry Fairfield Osbom.

Volnme III.
*Some Collected Scientific Papers of the late John A. Ryder,

* Out of print.

Publications of the University of Pennsylvania. vii

Mathematics

No. X. 40 eenta^
' «. Contributions to the Qeometry off the Triangle. By R. J.

Alky.

k Properties off the Locus r = Constant, in space off n Dimen-
sions. By Paul R. Mkyl.

Hygiene.

Noa» x-a. 40 cents.

The Biological Relation between Bacteria and the More Highly
Organized Flora of Running Streams. By David H. Bkkgey.

Comparative Studies upon the Pseudo-diphtheria, or Hoffmann
Bacillus, the Xerosis Bacillus, and the Lofffler Bacillus.

By David H. Bergky.

Astronomy.

Volume /.

I. (In Preparation. See Announcements following.)

a. Results off Observations with the Zenith Telescope, ffrom
October i, 1896, to August 16, i898. B> Charles L. Dooliitle.
I1.50.

viii Publications of the University of Pennsylvania.

ANNOUNCEMENTS.

The Publication Commi^ee of the University of Pennsylvania an-
nounces the early issue of the following monographs in the several
University Series. When published, they will be placed on sale through
the agency of Messrs. Ginn & Co., Tremont Place, Boston, Mass.

Philology, Literature, and Archaeology

The Rise of Pormal Satire in England under Classical Influence.

By Raymond M. Aldkn. (In press.)

Palatalization In the Old English Dialects. By Clarence G. Child.
(In preparatioD.)

Hindu Logic as Preserved in China and JafMUi. By Sadajira Sugiura.
(In preparation.)

Political Economy and Public Law

The Philadelphia Negro: A Social Study. By William £. Burk.
HARDT Dubois (Assistant in Sociology, 1896-97). (In press.)

Railway Co-Operation in the United States; Its Evolution and

Its Needs. By Charles S. Langstroth and Wilson Stilz. (Two
monographs. In press.)

Philosophy.

Splnozistic Immortality. By George Stuart Fullerton. ( In press.)

Astronomy.

I. Description and Determination off the Longitude off the Flower
Astronomical Observatory. By Charlf^ L. Doolittls.

, - .„,.jliilillil

3 9015 01995 7128

THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

>^i"vv-»\ ni ( r'rt)*! u*.( v

Reviewed by Preservation
1995

DO NOT REMOVE

OR
MUTILATE CARD