WAGES AND EFFICIENCY OF WAGE-EARNERS
The question of wages and working efficiency are so closely related
that they can be better treated together than separately. The material
for this part of the monograph has been gathered from three sources,
namely: a personal canvass, the records of employment agencies for
personal and domestic help, and the statement of union rates published
by the New York Bureau of Labor Statistics. It has not been possible
to calculate the time loss by the worker, and therefore any estimate
of annual income based upon the figures given must be made on the
assumption of a full year of work. This, of course, is not the actual
case, especially with many wage-earners in domestic and personal
service.
I. WAGES IN DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE
The Employment Agencies' Law of New York City requires that each
agency keep a careful and accurate record of the wages of those for
whom they secure situations, as well as written references from former
employers of each applicant. Since inspectors from the Bureau of
Licenses have access to these records at any time, they are probably
carefully kept. The material on wages which has been taken largely
from these sources has been arranged to show the number of individuals
who receive a specified wage, beginning at less than $4.00 and running
by $1.00 groups up to $9.00 and over. There follows (p. 80) a table
covering 682 males in twenty-four occupations and 2,138 females in
twenty-five occupations from 1906 to 1909. It will be noted that in
some cases two occupations are given under one heading such as
elevator and switchboard, or cook and laundress. In these cases, the
individual is paid the same for the two branches of work; so far as
the wage is concerned it is one occupation. It is significant that out
of a total of 682 males, 513, or 75.2 per cent, received wages under
$6.00 per week and that 141, or 20.7 per cent, received between $6.00
and $8.99 per week, while only 4.1 per cent received $9.00 or more per
week. With the females, the showing is even more unfavorable. Out of a
total of 2,138 females, 1,971, or 92.2 per cent, received less than
$6.00 per week, and of these 1,137, or 53.2 per cent, received less
than $5.00 per week. Of those receiving $6.00 or more per week, only 8
out of 2,138, or .04 per cent, received as much as $9.00 or more per
week.
Of course, many of these wage-earners are furnished their meals in
addition to wages; some have meals and room. In some cases question
may arise about the effect of lodgings furnished by the employer upon
the wages paid his domestic help, but both from the testimony of the
employment agent and from statements made in the records, it does not
appear that wages are different whether the servants "sleep in" or
"sleep out." There are no data to show whether or not consideration of
car-fare had any effect on the wages.
An inspection of the list of occupations for which these wages are
given and the fact that they were employed in private families (see
Table XVIII below) show that comparatively few of these wage-earners
had opportunity to receive any considerable money from tips. This is
especially true of the females. We may take, therefore, the figures of
the table as probably giving an accurate statement of the wages
received in domestic service in New York City during the four years,
1906 to 1909.
When one considers the probable dependents on many of these
wage-earners, the high rents and high cost of food, he is not
surprised to find that about half of these families take lodgers (see
p. 64), and that a majority of the women are bread-winners (see p.
73). He sees the poorly-paid domestic service on the one side and on
the other the cost of living as high walls bounding a narrow,
restricted road that leads to a low standard of living and to social
and economic disease. Table XVIII shows the picture in full relief:
TABLE XVIII. WEEKLY WAGES BY GROUPS OF WAGE-EARNERS FOR SELECTED
OCCUPATIONS IN DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE, NEW YORK CITY,
1906-1909.[A]
MALE
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
|Less |$4.00|$5.00|$6.00|$7.00|$8.00|$9.00|
Occupations. |than | to | to | to | to | to | and |Total.
|$4.00|$4.99|$5.99|$6.99|$7.99|$8.99|over.|
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
Bartenders | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1
Bellmen | 3 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4
Blacksmiths | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 2
Butlers | -- | 4 | 18 | 4 | 11 | 4 | -- | 41
Butler and cook | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 3
Coachmen | -- | 1 | 2 | -- | 1 | -- | 1 | 5
Cooks | -- | 2 | 3 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 14 | 28
Elevator | -- | 20 | 141 | 20 | 3 | -- | -- | 184
Elevator and | | | | | | | |
switchboard | -- | 1 | 21 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 23
Elevator and hallboy | -- | -- | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2
Firemen | 1 | 1 | 10 | -- | 10 | 2 | 2 | 26
Furnacemen | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 2
Gardeners | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 5
Hallmen and doormen | 5 | 26 | 15 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | 49
Housemen | 2 | 7 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 29
Janitors | -- | 3 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 14
Kitchenmen | 6 | 21 | 11 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | 41
Errand and office | | | | | | | |
boys | 1 | 8 | 3 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 13
Pantrymen | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1
Porters | 1 | 2 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 47
Stablemen | 4 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4
Switchboard | -- | 7 | 7 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 16
Usefulmen | 5 | 31 | 31 | 5 | 1 | -- | -- | 74
Waiters | -- | 22 | 31 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 68
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------
Total | 29 | 160 | 324 | 53 | 64 | 24 | 28 | 682
Percent | 4.2 |23.5 |47.5 | 7.8 | 9.4 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 100
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-------
FEMALE
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
|Less |$4.00|$5.00|$6.00|$7.00|$8.00|$9.00|
Occupations. |than | to | to | to | to | to | and |Total.
|$4.00|$4.99|$5.99|$6.99|$7.99|$8.99|over.|
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
Chambermaid | 13 | 56 | 18 | -- | 2 | 1 | -- | 90
Chamb. and cook | -- | 1 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4
Chamb. and laundress | 1 | 6 | 9 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 18
Chamb. and seamstress | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1
Chamb. and waitress | 32 | 197 | 80 | -- | 2 | 1 | -- | 310
Cleaner | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | 4
Cook | -- | 30 | 131 | 38 | 49 | 12 | 7 | 267
Cook and general | | | | | | | |
housework | -- | 2 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5
Cook and laundress | 1 | 54 | 104 | 5 | 3 | -- | -- | 167
Cook and waitress | -- | 5 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8
Errand girl | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1
General housework | 82 | 472 | 399 | 22 | 4 | -- | -- | 979
Laundress | 3 | 28 | 23 | 4 | 2 | -- | -- | 60
Laund. and general | | | | | | | |
housework | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1
Laund. and waitress | -- | 4 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 6
Maid | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | -- | -- | 17
Maid (house and | | | | | | | |
parlor) | 1 | 4 | 2 | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 8
Maid (kitchen) | 5 | 13 | 5 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 23
Maid and seamstress | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1
Nurse | 13 | 9 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 24
Pantry girl | -- | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 3
Switchboard | -- | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2
Waitress | 10 | 78 | 46 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | 137
Dishwasher | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1
Sick nurse | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
Total | 165 | 972 | 834 | 78 | 64 | 17 | 8 | 2138
Percent | 7.7 |45.5 |39.0 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 0.8 | 0.4 | 100
----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+-----+------
[A] Day's work, 1 at $1.00 a day, 7 at $1.25 a day, and 15 at
$1.50 a day.
The earnings in hotel service play such an important part in the
income of males of the Negro group, that some special note was taken
of wages for waiters and bellmen. Records of 249 waiters in Manhattan
and 46 waiters in Brooklyn showed that they received $25.00 per month,
not including tips. Forty-nine bellmen received $15.00 to $20.00 per
month, exclusive of tips. Out of these wages lodging and car-fares
must usually be paid, and besides uniforms and laundry are not small
items of expense.
2. WAGES IN OTHER OCCUPATIONS
The wages of skilled trades do not affect the larger part of the Negro
population, because so small a percentage are engaged in these
occupations, as reference to the occupational tables in Chapter IV
will show. But the numbers are increasing, for there is a constant
struggle of Negro wage-earners to rise to these better-paid
occupations. Colored carpenters have a local branch of the Amalgamated
Carpenters and Joiners Union; there is a street-pavers union, with
about a third of the membership Colored men, and the Mechanics
Association is composed of Negro artisans of all kinds who wish mutual
help in securing and holding work. Since Negroes who are union men are
reported to receive the same wages as white workmen, the approximate
union wages in 1909 for such skilled occupations as had a considerable
number of Negro males will be a good index. The approximate number of
Negro union members in 1910 and union wages in 1909 were about as
follows:[63] Asphalt pavers and helpers, Negro union members 350, rate
of wages, pavers $2.50 per day, helpers $1.75 per day; rock-drillers
and tool sharpeners, Negro members 240, employed by the hour, average
daily earnings $2.77; cigar-makers, Negro members 165, piece-workers,
average daily earnings $2.00; carpenters, Negro members 40, rate of
wages $4.50 per day; stationary engineers, Negro members 35, rate of
wages, $3.00-$3.50 per day, average weekly earnings, $21.00;
bricklayers, Negro members 21, rate of wages $0.70 per hour, average
daily earnings $5.60; plasterers, Negro members 19, rate of wages
$5.50 per day; printers (compositors), Negro members 8, average
weekly earnings, $24.00; coopers, Negro members 2, average daily
earnings $2.50; lathers, Negro members 7, average daily earnings
$4.50; sheet-metal workers, Negro members 1, rate of wages $4.50 per
day. It is evident that compared with the large number of Negro
workers few are engaged in the skilled trades, join the unions, and
thus enter into the more highly-paid occupations.
3. EFFICIENCY OF WAGE-EARNERS
The efficiency of wage-earners attaches itself to the question of
wages. For domestic and personal service, a rich deposit of first-hand
material was available in the written testimonials, secured by
employment agencies, from the former employers of each applicant
seeking work. This is a requirement of the Employment Agencies' Law.
The investigator found two employment agencies which had used a
printed blank for securing this testimony from former employers of
applicants. These blanks asked four questions which are pertinent to
the matter of efficiency, and an additional space was left for further
remarks. The questions called for answers on the following points: (1)
length of time employed, whether applicant was (2) capable, (3) sober
or temperate and (4) honest.
In all, 10,095 such blanks were sent out by the agencies during
1906-1909. About 3,000 were returned. Of these about 1,800 replies
were excluded from this tabulation because they were received from
employers outside of New York, because they were not completely filled
out, or were not signed by the parties replying. For this study, 1,182
cases were used. Of these 139 were returned by the Post Office
Department as unclaimed, 21 were returned unanswered, while 20 replied
that the parties were never in their employ. So there were left 902
complete cases.
These give a fair indication of the whole. The first point of
efficiency is the length of service to one's employer. The records of
100 males do not furnish a sufficient number of cases for any sweeping
generalization, yet considerable light is given by the percentages.
These show that 30 out of the 100 remained with one employer less than
five months; that 24 remained six to eleven months, and 17 from one
year to one year and eleven months, while 25 were in one place for
more than two years. Special mention may be made of the five following
cases: One of them remained five years, one seven years, one six
years, one eight years, and one ten or eleven years, with the same
employer.
For the females, the percentages will apply well to all who are
wage-earners in domestic and personal service. Here, also, the largest
percentage, 24.1 per cent, remained in one place from six to eleven
months; 21.3 per cent remained three to five months; 16.7 per cent
remained one year to one year and eleven months, and fair percentages
obtain for the longer terms of service: namely, 5.2 per cent two years
to two years and eleven months, and 9 per cent three years or more. Of
those in one place of service for three or more years, five remained
four years; two, four years and a half; nine, five years; three, six
years; four, seven years; two, eight years; one, twelve years; three,
fifteen years, and one, "eighteen years off and on;" in all, a total
of thirty in 802 cases that were in one place of employment more than
three years.
When the shifting life of such a great city and the mobile character
of modern wage-earners, especially in domestic and personal service,
are considered, and when it is remembered that the Negro population
because of unusual need of adjustment to city life feels particularly
this unstable current of influence, this showing of lengthy service
for occupations which have weak tenures of service in all countries
can be interpreted in no other way than favorable for the reputation
of Negro domestic help.
The table, next following, gives the detailed length of service for
the cases covered by the 902 testimonials:
TABLE XIX. SHOWING LENGTH OF SERVICE FOR 902 WAGE-EARNERS IN SELECTED
OCCUPATIONS OF PERSONAL AND DOMESTIC SERVICE, NEW YORK CITY,
1906-1909.
-------------------------+-------------+-------------+---------------
| Male. | Female. | Total.
+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+---------
| No. |Percent| No. |Percent| No. |Percent
-------------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+---------
Under 3 months | 19 | 19 | 149 | 18.6 | 168 | 18.6
From 3 to 5 months | 11 | 12 | 171 | 21.3 | 182 | 20.2
From 6 to 11 months | 24 | 24 | 193 | 24.1 | 217 | 24.1
1 yr. to 1 yr. 11 mos | 17 | 17 | 134 | 16.7 | 151 | 16.7
2 yrs. to 2 yrs. 11 mos | 11 | 11 | 42 | 5.2 | 53 | 5.9
3 yrs. and over | 14 | 14 | 72 | 9.0 | 86 | 9.5
Not stated | 4 | 4 | 41 | 5.1 | 45 | 5.0
-------------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+---------
Total | 100 | 100.0 | 802 | 100.0 | 902 | 100.0
-------------------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+-----+---------
The above favorable conclusion, seemingly biased and against the
current opinion, is further borne out by the other replies as to
whether the employee had been capable, sober or temperate, and honest.
Some allowances should be made in weighing employers on these last
points. Many when asked to speak of former employees have either
probably forgotten points of inefficiency, or do not wish to stand in
the way of subsequent employment, or desire to aid the party in
securing such employment. Sometimes also answers are strong
commentaries on the hard character of the employers. But when these
things are given due weight there still remains a decided balance in
favor of the Negro employee. For, of the 100 males, 27 were certified
as very capable; 68 as capable, 4 as fairly so, and only one out of
100 received the condemnation, "decidedly no." As to their sober or
temperate character, 9 were regarded as excellent, 78 employers said
"yes," one replied "fairly so," 11 returned the cautious statement "so
far as I know" or "I think so," and one did not answer. As to honesty,
they received on the whole good certificates; 12 of the 100 were
considered very honest, 81 honest, 4 were placed in the cautionary
class, while 3 employers gave no statement on this point.
The testimony for female help shows a tendency as favorable. Taking
the percentages which are more significant than the crude numbers,
25.4 per cent were considered very capable, 8.9 per cent very
temperate, and 28.2 per cent very honest. 59 per cent of the replies
said "Yes" as to their capability, 81.9 per cent said "Yes" as to
temperateness and 62.8 per cent gave an affirmative answer on honesty.
This makes the decidedly affirmative replies 84.4 out of the hundred
capable, 90.8 of the hundred temperate, and 91 out of the hundred
honest. Of the employers' testimony, classified as "fairly so," there
were 10.5 per cent under capable, 0.1 per cent under "sober or
temperate," and 0.4 per cent under honest. Those replying "so far as I
know" or "I think so," 0.5 per cent were under capable, 6.5 per cent
under sober or temperate, and 7.1 per cent under honest. Those classed
under "No" and "Decidedly no" show 2.4 per cent not capable, 0.5 per
cent not sober or temperate, and 0.7 per cent not honest. Considering
this mass of testimony in whatever light one may, coming as it does
entirely from the employers, and applying to that part of the Negro
group which probably has the lowest standard of intelligence and
economic efficiency and independence, the conclusion is made decidedly
trustworthy that Negro wage-earners in domestic and personal service
in New York City are capable, sober and honest.
Table XX, following, gives in full the classified replies of
employers:
TABLE XX. OPINIONS OF FORMER EMPLOYERS OF 902 NEGRO WAGE-EARNERS IN
DOMESTIC AND PERSONAL SERVICE, NEW YORK CITY, 1906-1909.
-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Capable. |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Male. | Female. | Total. |
+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Very | 27 | 27 | 204 | 25.4 | 231 | 25.6 |
Yes | 68 | 68 | 473 | 59 | 541 | 60 |
Fairly so | 4 | 4 | 84 | 10.5 | 88 | 9.8 |
"So far as I know," or | | | | | | |
"I think so." | -- | -- | 4 | 0.5 | 4 | 0.4 |
No | -- | -- | 17 | 2.1 | 17 | 1.9 |
Decidedly no | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.3 | 3 | 0.3 |
Not stated | -- | -- | 18 | 2.2 | 18 | 2.0 |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Total | 100 | 100 | 802 | 100 | 902 | 100 |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Total percent | 11.1 | 88.9 | 100 |
-------------------------+-------------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Sober or temperate. |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Male. | Female. | Total. |
+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Very | 9 | 9 | 71 | 8.8 | 80 | 8.9 |
Yes | 78 | 78 | 657 | 82 | 735 | 81.5 |
Fairly so | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0.2 |
"So far as I know," or | | | | | | |
"I think so." | 11 | 11 | 52 | 6.5 | 63 | 7.0 |
No | -- | -- | 4 | 0.5 | 4 | 0.4 |
Decidedly no | -- |- -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Not stated | 1 | 1 | 17 | 2.1 | 18 | 2.0 |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Total | 100 | 100 | 802 | 100 | 902 | 100 |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Total percent | 11.1 | 88.9 | 100 |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
-------------------------+-----------------------------------------+
| Honest. |
+-------------+-------------+-------------+
| Male. | Female. | Total. |
+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
| No. | % | No. | % | No. | % |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Very | 12 | 12 | 226 | 28.2 | 238 | 26.4 |
Yes | 81 | 81 | 504 | 62.9 | 585 | 64.9 |
Fairly so | -- | -- | 3 | 0.4 | 3 | 0.3 |
"So far as I know," or | | | | | | |
"I think so." | 4 | 4 | 57 | 7.1 | 61 | 6.8 |
No | -- | -- | 6 | 0.7 | 6 | 0.6 |
Decidedly no | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Not stated | 3 | 3 | 6 | 0.7 | 9 | 1.0 |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Total | 100 | 100 | 802 | 100 | 902 | 100 |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
Total percent | 11.1 | 88.9 | 100 |
-------------------------+------+------+-----+-------+-----+-------+
These testimonials furnish a body of evidence contrary to the current
opinion of criticism and blame, and direct attention to other causes
for whatever unsatisfactory part that Negroes are playing in this line
of service in the City. These causes may be looked for in the
increasing number of European immigrants; in the growing ambition and
effort of Negro wage-earners, sharing the feeling of all native-born
Americans, to get away from personal and domestic service and to enter
fields of work with better wages, shorter hours, and more
independence.[64] To this may be added the increasing custom,
indicating prejudice of well-to-do Americans, of giving preference to
European servants.[65]
The efficiency of Negro skilled workmen is indicated in the replies of
37 employers, summarized in Chapter IV. (See p. 77, _supra_.) If they
had ever employed Negroes, they were asked whether in comparison with
white workmen Negro workmen were:
1. Faster, equal or slower in speed.
2. Better, equal or poorer in quality of work done.
3. More, equally or less reliable.
The consensus of opinion expressed was that the Negro workmen whom
they had employed measured up to the white, and there was a general
belief that Negroes usually had to be well above the average to secure
and hold a place in the skilled trades.
To make a summary of the wages and efficiency: In comparison with the
cost of living, Negro men receive very inadequate wages in domestic
and personal service except three or four occupations that afford
"tips." The small number of skilled artisans who are equal to or above
the average white workman and can get into the unions, receive the
union wages.
Women for the most part are in the poorly paid employments of domestic
and personal service. The small wages of the men and the number of
women engaged in gainful occupations (See Chapter IV) show that the
women must help earn the daily bread for the family. Their low income
power forces these families to the necessity of completing the rent by
means of lodgers, deprives children of mothers' care, keeps the
standard of living at a minimum, and thus makes the family unable to
protect itself from both physical and moral disease.
Although popular opinion may be to the contrary, testimonials signed
by former employers show that the large majority of Negroes in
domestic and personal service are capable, temperate, and honest, and
remain with one employer a reasonable time, considering the shifting
condition of city life, the mobility of such wage-earners and the weak
tenure of domestic and personal service in a modern city.
FOOTNOTES:
[63] Bureau of Labor Statistics of New York, _Annual Report_, 1909,
pp. 444-595. Figures for Negro members of unions are from Ovington,
_op. cit._, pp. 97-99. Miss Ovington's table seems to show that in 16
occupations the number of Negro members of unions increased from about
1,271 in 1906 to about 1,358 in 1910.
[64] On this point the writer has talked with a number of Negroes who
were serving or had served in domestic and personal service. Some of
them have gone so far as to enter small business enterprises for
themselves. They often remarked: "I want to be my own boss."
[65] From several reliable sources has come testimony concerning
employers who formerly had Negro servants, and gave them up for
reasons similar to that of one lady who said: "It is going out of
fashion to have Colored help any longer." _Cf._ also, Ovington, _op.
cit._, pp. 75-86.
PART II
THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS IN NEW YORK CITY
CHAPTER I
THE CHARACTER OF NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES
1. THE BUSINESS PROMISE
It is a far cry from satisfying an employer to pleasing the public.
The one requires the obeying of the orders of a boss, the other calls
for initiative and self-direction. Business enterprise involves
judgments of the whims, wishes and wants of prospective customers and
skill in buying goods or supplying services to satisfy their demands.
The wage-earner needs his labor only. The business promoter must
secure capital and establish credit. The employee has only the stake
of a present place, and has little hindrance from going to another job
in case of disappointment. The business man risks name, time, labor
and money in the commercial current and has only his experience left,
if he loses his venture.
Therefore, the Negro two and a half centuries under the complete
control of a master could hardly be expected in one generation to
acquire the experience, develop the initiative, accumulate the
capital, establish the credit and secure the good-will demanded to-day
in carrying on great and extensive business enterprises, such as find
their headquarters in New York City, the commercial heart of the
continent. Besides, the handicaps of the social environment, due to
the prejudices and differences of the white group by which he is
surrounded, and to previous condition of servitude, have had their
commercial and industrial consequences. Again, speaking for New York
City, many of the Negroes who were leaders in whatever business was
carried on up to about 1884 were the prominent workers in activities
for race liberation and manhood privileges, thus subtracting energy
and time from business pursuit. The movement may be likened in a rough
way to that of English workingmen before and after about 1848; the
first period being a struggle for the liberty of labor and the second
period aiming to fill that liberty with manhood and economic content.
This study, then, of what the Negro is doing along business lines in
New York City does not show a number of large operations when compared
with what goes on in America's greatest commercial Metropolis. But the
findings are highly significant for what they disclose of business
capacity and possibility. There has been a business development among
Negroes in such a competitive community that is both substantial and
prophetic.
2. A HISTORY OF THE NEGRO IN BUSINESS
The economic propensity to higgle and barter appeared early among the
Negroes of the New Amsterdam Colony. As early as 1684 the Colonial
General Assembly passed a law that "no servant or slave, either male
or female, shall either give, sell or truck any commodity whatsoever
during the term of their service." Any servant or slave who violated
the law was to be given corporal punishment at the discretion of two
justices and any person trading with such servant or slave should
return the commodity and forfeit five pounds for each offense.[66] And
further action was taken in 1702 which rendered all bargains or
contracts with slaves void and prevented any person from trading in
any way with a slave, without the consent of the owner of such
slave.[67] The penalty for violation was to forfeit treble the value
of the commodity and payment of five pounds to the owner of the slave.
In 1712, probably after the terror of the Negro riot of that year, it
was decreed that no Negro, Indian or mulatto _who should be set free,
should hold any land or real estate, but it should be escheated_.[68]
The provisions of the two acts of 1684 and 1702 about trading with
slaves were revised and re-enacted in 1726.[69]
The character of much of this trade is shown by city regulations which
forbade the sale of great quantities of "boiled corn, peaches, pears,
apples, and other kinds of fruit." These wares were bought and sold
not only in houses and outhouses but in the public streets. The Common
Council in 1740 declared the same to be a nuisance and prohibited it
with a penalty of public whipping. The Council gave as one of its
reasons that it was productive of "many dangerous fevers and other
distempers and diseases in the inhabitants in the same city," but
those coming to market by order of their masters were excepted from
the prohibition. The effect of the latter traffic upon the health of
the city was purposely not discerned.[70] The act of 1726 was again
re-enacted in 1788.[71] From time to time faithful slaves of the West
India Company were set free. These usually began tilling the soil for
themselves and probably marketed their products in the town.
Slaves, therefore, had little or no opportunity to share in the
trading operations of the Colony. State emancipation by the acts of
1799, 1817, and 1827, however, was finally secured, and with the
coming of this boon there was liberty to engage in the traffic of the
growing metropolis. There is conclusive evidence that considerable
numbers of Negroes did embrace the opportunity.
The volumes of the Colored American from 1838 to 1841 contain a number
of advertisements and references to business enterprises run by
Negroes. The newspaper itself was a considerable undertaking and job
printing was also "executed with dispatch." In 1837, George Pell and
John Alexander opened a restaurant in the one-hundred block in Church
Street.
In 1838, there were two boarding houses in this same block, and two
boarding houses in Leonard Street and one each in Spruce and Franklin
and Lispenard Streets. The next year two other boarding houses were
started, one on South Pearl Street and the other near the beginning of
Cross Street, and in 1840 two more entered the list, on Sullivan and
Church Streets. The drug store of Dr. Samuel McCune Smith and the
cleaning and dyeing establishment of Bennet Johnson, both in the
one-hundred block on Broadway, were well known and successful
enterprises of the day.
B. Bowen and James Green both had small stores for dry goods and
notions in 1838, the former on Walker Street and the latter on
Anthony. While the same year a hair-dressing establishment on Leonard
Street, a coal-yard on Duane Street, a pleasure garden on Thomas
Street and three tailors, whose location could not be ascertained,
were enterprises of promise.
In 1839 and 1840, there were a pleasure garden and saloon in Anthony
Street and a similar establishment on King Street, with an "Amusement
House" on Spring Street, and near it Brown and Wood ran a
confectionary and fruit store. Richard Carroll ran a bathing
establishment in Church Street. A coal-yard in Pearl Street, a watch
and clock maker, three private schools, and a "dry-goods store of the
female Trading Association," complete the list of firms that was
contained in the record of the period.
A number of these enterprises are known to have continued for a number
of years after 1840. Testimony of witnesses[72] as late as the time of
the Civil War shows that a number of the above-named enterprises were
in existence as late as 1860.
Also that second-hand clothing shops were frequently run by Negroes,
and barber-shops and restaurants of excellent equipment were evidences
of activity comparable with the earlier period. Thomas Downing kept a
restaurant at the corner of Wall and Broad Streets and from it amassed
considerable wealth bequeathed to his children.
In 1869, the Negro caterers had such a large share of this business
that the dozen leading ones came together and formed the Corporation
of Caterers which was a sort of pool to control the conduct of the
business and which was so enlarged after three years under the name of
the United Public Waiters Mutual Beneficial Association, that the
original purpose was largely sidetracked.[73]
There is little direct evidence available for the period from about
1875 to 1909. The census of 1900 gave a return of Negroes in
occupations which may indicate proprietors of establishments, but
there is no way of ascertaining whether they owned, operated or were
employed in such lines of business. There were in all 488 distributed
as follows: Among the males, boarding and lodging-house keepers 10,
hotel-keepers 23, restaurant keepers 116, saloon keepers 27, bankers
and brokers 5, livery-stable keepers 9, merchants and dealers 162
(retail 155, wholesale 7), undertakers 15, clock and watchmakers and
repairers 2, manufacturers and officials 36, and photographers 22. The
females included boarding and lodging-house keepers 50, milliners 9,
and photographers 2. A goodly number of Negro enterprises are very
probably represented in this list. That this is true is evident from
the large number of enterprises in the various lines of business that
were found by the canvass of 1909. We may safely infer that the period
was one of considerable growth in both the number and variety of
business establishments. We shall, therefore, turn our attention to
the result of the canvass of the last-named year.
3. THE NATURE OF THE ESTABLISHMENTS IN 1909
The first question which naturally arises is how many Negro business
enterprises were in Manhattan in 1909. At the meeting of the National
Negro Business League in New York City in 1908, a paper was read on
"The Negro Business Interests of Greater New York and Vicinity." This
paper gave a total of 565 enterprises. But as this included 100
dressmaking and 14 stenography and typewriting, this estimate
doubtless included some cases that upon closer analysis could not have
been designated as business establishments.
A Negro business directory of New York City in 1909 gave names and
addresses of 567 establishments. Upon investigation some of these
could not be found at addresses given. From his own canvass, the
writer estimates the number of bona-fide business enterprises in
Manhattan to have been about 475. Of this number, records of 332 were
secured and the remainder were either visited or certified by reliable
testimony. Of the 332 records, 15 have been excluded either because
the firm has ceased to do business or the records were too incomplete
for use in this monograph; eight of the remainder were corporations
and will be treated below separately. This left 309 establishments
upon which to base conclusions. These establishments were so
distributed as to be fully representative of the whole. According to
the kind of service or goods offered to the public, these 309
establishments were as follows:
Barber shops 50
Groceries 36
Restaurants and lunch rooms 26
Tailoring, pressing, etc. 24
Coal, wood and ice 19
Hotel and lodging houses 17
Employment agencies 14
Express and moving vans 12
Undertakers and embalmers 11
Pool and billiard Rooms 10
Dressmaking and millinery 8
Hairdressers 8
Printers 5
Saloons and cafés 5
Miscellaneous 48[74]
----
Total 309
Two facts are evident. The largest number of the enterprises are the
outgrowth of the domestic and personal service occupations and they
are mainly enterprises that call for small amounts of capital.
4. OWNERSHIP OF ESTABLISHMENTS
The Negro goes into business mainly as an independent dealer. In the
large majority of cases he does not enter into a partnership and even
when he does, there are rarely more than two partners. Out of the 309
enterprises in 1909, there were only 49 partnerships and 44 of these
were firms of two partners only. There were only three firms with
three partners each, one firm with four members and one with five
members. To these may be added the eight corporations mentioned above.
Some light is thrown upon the Negro's business enterprises by knowing
the birth-place of proprietors, the length of time they had resided in
New York City and the occupations in which the proprietors were
engaged previously to going into business.
The birth-place of proprietors should be considered in connection with
the length of their residence in New York City, because the two facts
point to the same conclusion concerning the economic and other stimuli
of the environment. So far as birth-place is concerned, the most
striking fact is that out of 330 proprietors whose birth-places were
ascertained, 220, or 66.66 per cent, were born in Southern states and
the District of Columbia, and 65, or 19.7 per cent, in the West
Indies. The following Southern states furnished the specified 220
proprietors: Virginia 96, South Carolina 31, Georgia 27, North
Carolina 25, Maryland 15, Florida 12, the District of Columbia 5,
Delaware 3, Kentucky 2, and Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Texas
1 each. Besides the Southern and West Indian-born Negro business men,
other sections were represented as follows: South America 7, New
Jersey 7, New York State 7, Pennsylvania 5, New York City 8, Illinois
2, Bermuda 2, Canada 2, Africa, Indiana, Kansas, Maine, and
Massachusetts 1 each.
This proportion of Southern-born proprietors is 0.84 of one per cent
less than the proportion of Southern-born in the total Negro
population.[75] The 19.7 per cent West Indian is about 10.3 per cent
larger than the West Indian proportion in the total Negro population.
If the 7 natives of South America be added, the proportion would be
12.4 per cent larger. This condition can hardly be explained on the
ground that West Indian Negroes reach New York with more capital, nor
is it because West Indians secure employment that is better paid, for
they, like the native-born Negroes, are confined to domestic and
personal service. It is due both to the better general education of
the average West Indian and to the fact that he has been reared in an
environment of larger liberty which has developed in him an
independence and initiative that respond more readily to the new
surroundings. Conversation with numbers of them elicited the
information that they had come to this country with the idea of saving
money and entering business for themselves.
Facts about the length of residence before January 1st, 1910, of 363
proprietors are no less illuminating than their birth-places. Both
show the influence of environment, for we do not find that the
majority entered business immediately after taking up their residence
in the Metropolis. Exclusive of 50 doubtful and unknown and 11 who
were born in New York City, only 11 of the 363 had been in the city
less than 2 years, 18 had resided in the city between 2 years and 3
years 11 months, and 33 between 4 years and 5 years eleven months--in
all, only 62 had entered business after a residence of less than six
years. Of course this is partly due to the time it took to save or
secure the necessary capital but that this is not the only reason for
long residence previous to entering business is shown by the fact that
of the 62 who began after less than six years residence, 14 ran
barber-shops and 11 had grocery stores, enterprises which require at
least a small outlay of capital.
In harmony with this view of the matter the inquiry showed further
that 161 proprietors had lived in New York City between 6 years and 9
years 11 months; 108 had been in the city between 10 years and 19
years 11 months; 43 had resided there between 20 years and 29 years 11
months; while 28 had lived in the city 30 years or more.
Considerable weight must then be given to the opinion that is in line
with the showing of the West Indian--that Negroes entering business in
New York City need to live some time in the atmosphere of such a
progressive, liberal community to catch the spirit of its initiative
and enterprise.
In support of the conclusion the full table showing length of
residence of proprietors of the several classes of enterprises is
given (p. 103).
Besides the birth-place of proprietors and the length of their
residence in New York City, their occupations previously to their
entering upon their present lines of business throw considerable light
upon the character of ownership. The natural expectation would be to
find connection between the previous occupation of the proprietor and
the present business in which he is engaged. In a number of cases this
cannot be clearly made out as is the case of 16 brokers and 11
undertakers. Very probably this expectation would not be fulfilled in
the cases of many Negroes, because domestic and personal service has
been largely the opportunity of employment and the source of savings
through which the prospective business venture could be launched. For
example, 11 proprietors have been waiters or waitresses; of these
one hotel and lodging-house proprietor, and one restaurant keeper were
in enterprises closely connected with their previous occupations;
there were three grocers and one coal, wood and ice dealer:
enterprises less closely connected. Two pool and billiard-room
proprietors, one conductor of a tailoring establishment, one
employment agent and one establishment in the miscellaneous class
completed the list of those formerly employed as waiters and
waitresses. This makes a striking comparison with three hotel and
lodging-house keepers and with five restaurant and lunch-room
proprietors who formerly were cooks. That many did follow such a
natural line of advance from employee to employer is shown in that 80
out of the 309 were previously connected with the same line of
business in which they were engaged in 1909 either on a smaller scale
or as an employed promoter. A few had tried one line of business
before and had changed to that in which they were found. Such was the
case with nine who had previously been restaurant keepers, and six who
had been in the grocery business. In no case did a proprietor report
that he had been an inheritor of independent means or a gentleman of
leisure, and had thus found the road which had led him into business.
TABLE XXI. LENGTH OF RESIDENCE IN NEW YORK CITY, BEFORE JANUARY, 1910,
OF PROPRIETORS OF 309 NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909.
----------------------------+----------------------------------------
|Length of residence in New York City of
| proprietors.
+------+-------+-------+-------+--------+
Class of establishment. | Less |2 yrs.-|4 yrs.-|6 yrs.-|10 yrs.-|
| than |3 yrs. |5 yrs. |9 yrs. |19 yrs. |
|2 yrs.|11 mos.|11 mos.|11 mos.|11 mos. |
----------------------------+------+-------+-------+-------+--------+
Barber shops | 1 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 21 |
Brokers | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 8 |
Coal, wood and ice | 1 | 1 | -- | 3 | 6 |
Dressmaking and millinery | 4 | 1 | -- | 1 | 4 |
Employment agencies | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 5 |
Express and moving vans | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 4 |
Groceries | -- | 1 | 10 | 12 | 15 |
Hairdressers, etc. | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | 2 |
Hotels and lodging houses | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 8 |
Pool and billiard rooms | 1 | -- | 2 | 3 | 2 |
Printers | -- | -- | 1 | -- | 2 |
Restaurant and lunch rooms | -- | 3 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
Saloons and cafés | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 2 |
Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 2 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 8 |
Undertakers | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 4 |
Miscellaneous | -- | 1 | 3 | 16 | 12 |
----------------------------+------+-------+-------+-------+--------+
Total | 11 | 18 | 33 | 61 | 108 |
----------------------------+------+-------+-------+-------+--------+
----------------------------+-----------------------------------------
|Length of residence in New York City of
|proprietors.
+--------+-------+--------+--------+------
Class of establishment. |20 yrs.-|30 yrs.|Born in |Doubtful|
|29 yrs. | and |New York| and |Total.
|11 mos. | over. | City. |Unknown.|
----------------------------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------
Barber shops | 10 | 4 | -- | 1 | 58
Brokers | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 18
Coal, wood and ice | 3 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 21
Dressmaking and millinery | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 11
Employment agencies | 4 | -- | -- | 5 | 17
Express and moving vans | 3 | 3 | -- | 4 | 15
Groceries | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 46
Hairdressers, etc. | 1 | -- | -- | 4 | 9
Hotels and lodging houses | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 19
Pool and billiard rooms | 2 | -- | -- | 1 | 11
Printers | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8
Restaurant and lunch rooms | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 33
Saloons and cafés | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | 6
Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 24
Undertakers | 3 | -- | 1 | 5 | 14
Miscellaneous | 4 | 6 | 1 | 10 | 53
----------------------------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------
Total | 43 | 28 | 11 | 50 | 363
----------------------------+--------+-------+--------+--------+------
5. SIZE OF BUSINESS ENTERPRISES
The size of business enterprises was measured in three ways: (1) the
number of employees besides proprietors; (2) the floor space occupied
and (3) the rental paid for the place in which the business was
carried on. Obviously all the enterprises could not be measured by all
three tests. For example, the amount of floor space occupied and
monthly rental paid by a brokerage firm might not bear so close a
relation to size as the number of employees, nor would rental alone be
an index of size of a coal, wood and ice business, since cellars,
which call for smaller rental than other space, are used. But each
enterprise was covered by more than one of the measurements, so that a
fair estimate is given of its size.
In ascertaining the number of employees, the attempt was made to
include only those who had no part in the ownership, but who gave a
large part or all of their time to some work connected with the
enterprise. As far as possible this was confined to paid employees,
but in a few cases the question of wages of those employed could not
be successfully ascertained on account of reticence of the employer.
No record was made of whether or not the time of the proprietor was
also put into the business since in this respect there was great
variation among establishments.
Only a small proportion, 77 out of 309 establishments, were without
employees. Yet very few, 21 in all, employed five or more persons. The
largest number, 87, had only one regular employee, 65 establishments
had two employees, 29 had three and 16 had four persons regularly
employed. The number of employees of 14 firms was not ascertained.
Floor space occupied by many establishments is a good index of size,
especially in New York City. Of course, in the case of such
establishments as brokers, employment agencies and express and
moving-van firms that require an office only, this is not a criterion.
But for many other establishments in a city where square feet of floor
space is carefully figured upon in the cost of the product, such a
measure has considerable value in estimating business enterprises. In
securing the measurement of floor space in the different
establishments it was not possible to make an actual measurement in
many instances. In some cases the proprietors knew accurately the
length and breadth of the place they occupied; in other cases where
measurements could not be taken estimates of length and breadth were
made, taking a rough view of the frontage and depth of the building or
apartment occupied.
A goodly number of enterprises, such as dressmakers, milliners,
shoemakers and tailoring "bushelers" carried on their business in the
front room of a ground-floor flat and lived, often with families, in
the rear rooms. In those cases, only the floor space of the room used
for business purposes was included in the estimate.
Establishments to the number of 17 were estimated as having less than
150 square feet of floor space; six of these were offices of brokers
and express and moving-van firms. The greatest number of
establishments, 186 in all, were estimated to occupy between 150 and
499 square feet of floor space. Thirty-one establishments occupied
between 500 and 999 square feet of floor space; 17 between 1,000 and
1,999 square feet; 4 between 2,000 and 2,999 square feet; 10 between
3,000 and 4,999 square feet; 8 occupied 5,000 or more square feet; 36
were not known--a total of 309 establishments.
Thus, it is seen that the typical Negro business enterprise occupies
small floor space, since 234, or 75.7 per cent, of the 309
establishments occupied 999 square feet or less. Table XXII (p. 107)
is included to show the details as to floor space in square feet
occupied by each class of establishment.
Monthly rental is also a fair indication of the size of a business
establishment. In a few cases in which the proprietor said he was
owner of the building, a rental was estimated for the portion of the
building used for the particular enterprise; in the cases, mentioned
above, where the proprietor lived in the rear rooms only a part of the
whole rental was estimated as a charge upon the business
establishment. So that the figures here given are good measurements of
their kind. The facts about 86 establishments could not be secured.
With the remaining 223, we meet again the evidence of small size of
typical establishments, for 180 establishments, or 80.7 per cent, had
a monthly rental of $39 or less, and 30 others had a monthly rental
between $40 and $79; 16 out of the 223 establishments had a rental of
$80 or more per month, and of these 7 paid $150 or more per month.
TABLE XXII. ESTIMATED SQUARE FEET OF FLOOR SPACE OF 309 NEGRO BUSINESS
ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909.
-----------------------------+--------------------------------
| Estimated square feet of floor
| space.
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
| | | | 1000 |
| Less | 150 | 500 |sq. ft.|
Class of establishment. | than |sq. ft.|sq. ft.| to |
| 150 | to 499| to 999| 1999 |
|sq. ft.|sq. ft.|sq. ft.|sq. ft.|
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Barber shops | -- | 44 | 3 | 2 |
Brokers | 3 | 11 | 2 | -- |
Coal, wood and ice | 2 | 8 | 3 | 1 |
Dressmaking and millinery | -- | 4 | 2 | -- |
Employment agencies | 1 | 10 | 1 | -- |
Express and moving vans | 3 | 4 | 1 | -- |
Groceries | 1 | 29 | 4 | 1 |
Hairdressing, etc. | 1 | 3 | -- | 1 |
Hotels and lodging houses | -- | -- | -- | 1 |
Pool and billiard rooms | -- | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Printers | -- | 3 | 2 | -- |
Restaurants and lunch rooms | 1 | 19 | 3 | 1 |
Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | 1 | 1 |
Tailoring, pressing, etc. | -- | 20 | 1 | -- |
Undertakers | -- | 3 | 4 | 2 |
Miscellaneous | 5 | 27 | 3 | 2 |
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
Total | 17 | 186 | 31 | 17 |
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+
-----------------------------+---------------------------------------
| Estimated square feet of floor
| space.
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------
| 2000 | 3000 | 5000 | |
|sq. ft.|sq. ft.|sq. ft.| |
Class of establishment. | to | to | and |Unknown.|Total.
| 2999 | 4999 | over. | |
|sq. ft.|sq. ft.| | |
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------
Barber shops | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 50
Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | 16
Coal, wood and ice | -- | -- | -- | 5 | 19
Dressmaking and millinery | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 8
Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 14
Express and moving vans | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 12
Groceries | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 36
Hairdressing, etc. | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 8
Hotels and lodging houses | 3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 17
Pool and billiard rooms | -- | 2 | -- | 1 | 10
Printers | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5
Restaurants and lunch rooms | -- | 2 | -- | -- | 26
Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 5
Tailoring, pressing, etc. | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 24
Undertakers | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 11
Miscellaneous | 1 | -- | 1 | 9 | 48
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------
Total | 4 | 10 | 8 | 36 | 309
-----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------
Judging, then, by the number of employees, by the square feet of floor
space occupied and by the monthly rental paid, the typical Negro
enterprise is a small retail establishment.
To summarize this chapter: Negroes have had to begin business on a
small scale because large capital was lacking and extended experience
is yet to be gained. They have, however, even from the days of the
Colony, when they were held as slaves, shown a decided propensity for
trade, and since state emancipation this has been increased by a
desire for economic independence and has expressed itself in
enterprises in several lines of business. The variety and number of
enterprises have increased with the years. In 1909, Southern born and
West Indian Negroes comprised nearly all who had entered business, the
latter far in excess of their proportion in the Negro population. This
is probably due to initiative developed in an atmosphere freer than
that from which the Southern Negro comes. Although confined largely to
domestic and personal service occupations, Negroes have had the thrift
and initiative to enter many lines of business into which neither the
experience nor the capital derived from such employment would be
expected to lead. In size, the typical Negro business enterprise has
from one to two paid employees, has a floor space of less than one
thousand square feet, and pays a rental of between fifteen and forty
dollars per month.
FOOTNOTES:
[66] _New York Colonial Laws_, p. 157.
[67] _Ibid._, pp. 519-21.
[68] Williams, _op. cit._, vol. i, p. 142.
[69] _New York Colonial Laws_, vol. ii, p. 310.
[70] _Minutes of the Common Council of New York_, vol. iv, pp. 497-98.
[71] _New York State Laws, Eleventh Session_, p. 675.
[72] S.R. Scottron in _Colored American Magazine_, Oct., 1907, and
several others interviewed by the writer.
[73] _Vide_, pp. 68-69.
[74] The 48 miscellaneous establishments were distributed as follows:
boot and shoe repairing 6, hand laundries 6, cigar, tobacco and
confectionery retailers 5, boot-blacking and hat-cleaning firms 5,
fruit and vegetable dealers 4, cigar manufacturers 3, house-cleaning
firms 3, garages 2, upholstering and mattress-making establishments 2,
watch and jewelry dealers 2, bakeries 2, and bicycle repairer,
photographer, hat-cleaner and repairer, hardware and notions, painter
and plasterer, tea, coffee and spices retailer, fish retailer and
storage firm, one each.
[75] _Cf._ Part 1, Chapter III, pp. 58-59.
CHAPTER II
THE VOLUME OF BUSINESS
Indications of the volume of business are in accord with the
conclusions from the size of Negro business enterprises. Volume of
business was measured (1) by the valuation of tools, fixtures, _etc._,
used in the conduct of the business, (2) by the amount of merchandise
kept on hand, if the business was such as required a stock of goods,
and (3) by the total gross receipts of the business during the two
years, 1907 and 1908.
I. VALUATION OF TOOLS AND FIXTURES
Wood and ice dealers need to invest very little in tools and fixtures.
Fourteen out of 19 coal, wood and ice dealers had less than ten
dollars so invested. They needed only shovels, baskets and push-carts.
The estimated valuation of tools and fixtures of the largest number of
establishments fell between $50 and $399; 90 were estimated to be
between $50 and $199, and 63 were estimated to be between $200 and
$399. Besides these, 37 establishments--1 broker, 5 employment
agencies, 1 grocery, 5 hairdressers, 9 restaurants and lunch rooms, 2
"busheling" tailors and 14 miscellaneous had tools and fixtures
estimated, with allowance for depreciation, to be worth more than $10
and less than $50. It is important to note, however, that while the
numbers with estimated valuation of tools and fixtures between $400
and $1,499 is only 50, those estimated at $1,500 and over number 33.
TABLE XXIII. ESTIMATED VALUATION OF PLANT, TOOLS AND FIXTURES OF 309
NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909.
------------------------+------------------------------------------
|Estimated valuation of plant, tools and
| fixtures.
------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Class of | Less | $50 | $200 | $400 | $600 | $800 |
establishment. | than | to | to | to | to | to |
| $50. | $199.| $399.| $599.| $799.| $999.|
------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Barber shops | -- | 3 | 27 | 8 | 5 | 3 |
Brokers | 1 | 5 | 4 | -- | -- | -- |
Coal, wood and ice | 14 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Dressmaking and | | | | | | |
millinery | -- | 6 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- |
Employment agencies | 5 | 5 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- |
Express and moving | | | | | | |
vans | -- | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Groceries | 1 | 22 | 11 | 2 | -- | -- |
Hairdressers, etc. | 5 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | -- |
Hotels and lodging | | | | | | |
houses | -- | -- | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- |
Pool and billiard | | | | | | |
rooms | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Printers | -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 1 |
Restaurant and lunch | | | | | | |
rooms | 9 | 10 | 3 | 1 | -- | -- |
Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Tailoring, | | | | | | |
pressing, etc. | 2 | 18 | 2 | -- | 1 | -- |
Undertakers | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 1 | -- |
Miscellaneous | 14 | 17 | 8 | 3 | -- | -- |
------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Total | 51 | 90 | 63 | 23 | 10 | 6 |
------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
------------------------+-------------------------------------------
|Estimated valuation of plant, tools and
| fixtures.
------------------------+------+------+------+------+--------+------
Class of |$1000 |$1200 |$1500 |$2000 |Doubtful|
establishment. | to | to | to | and | and |
|$1199.|$1499.|$1999.| over.|unknown.|Total.
------------------------+------+------+------+------+--------+------
Barber shops | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | 2 | 50
Brokers | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 16
Coal, wood and ice | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 | 19
Dressmaking and | | | | | |
millinery | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8
Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 14
Express and moving | | | | | |
vans | 1 | -- | -- | 4 | -- | 12
Groceries | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 36
Hairdressers, etc. | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8
Hotels and lodging | | | | | |
houses | 2 | -- | 2 | 7 | 2 | 17
Pool and billiard | | | | | |
rooms | -- | -- | 4 | 3 | -- | 10
Printers | 1 | -- | -- | 2 | -- | 5
Restaurant and lunch | | | | | |
rooms | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 26
Saloons and cafés | -- | 1 | -- | 3 | 1 | 5
Tailoring, | | | | | |
pressing, etc. | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 24
Undertakers | 2 | -- | 1 | 4 | -- | 11
Miscellaneous | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 5 | 48
------------------------+------+------+------+------+--------+------
Total | 10 | 1 | 8 | 25 | 22 | 309
------------------------+------+------+------+------+--------+------
Judged, then, from the valuation of tools and fixtures, the
magnitude of Negro business enterprises is considerable and falls into
three classes: one of comparatively small valuation, 184 estimated
below $400; one class of medium valuation, 50 estimated between $400
and $1,499; and one of comparatively large valuation, 33 at $1,500 and
over.
The details of these valuations of tools and fixtures are given in
full in Table XXIII (p. 110).
2. THE AMOUNT OF MERCHANDISE ON HAND
Next to valuation of tools and fixtures, the amount of merchandise
kept in stock is a good index of the magnitude of the business done by
many enterprises. Of course, the business of brokers, express and
moving-van firms, employment agencies, and some miscellaneous
enterprises could not be measured by the amount of stock kept on hand.
Also barber shops and pool and billiard rooms sometimes keep a small
stock of cigars, tobacco, _etc._ So these firms can not be so
measured. The statements about merchandise on hand were accurately
estimated either from figures on the books of the firm or from rough
inventories of the stock on hand made with the assistance of the
proprietor.
Negro business enterprises for the most part are small retail
enterprises and do business on the scale of establishments of this
type. They have not yet accumulated the capital nor gained the credit
to engage in wholesale trade or to carry a stock of merchandise large
in quantity or variety such as an extensive patronage demands. But
they do handle a considerable amount of business with the small
capital they have to invest. When this is compared with the gross
receipts for 1907 and 1908 the showing is very creditable.
TABLE XXIV. ESTIMATED VALUATION OF MERCHANDISE ON HAND IN 241 NEGRO
BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909.
----------------------------+------------------------------------------
|Estimated valuation of stock on hand.
+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Class of | Less | $50 | $100 | $200 | $400 | $600 |
establishment. | than | to | to | to | to | to |
| $50. | $99. | $199.| $399.| $599.| $799.|
----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Barber shops | 14 | 2 | 3 | 1 | -- | -- |
Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Coal, wood and ice | 13 | 2 | 2 | 2 | -- | -- |
Dressmaking and millinery | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 1 |
Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Express and moving vans | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Groceries | -- | 1 | 4 | 14 | 8 | 7 |
Hairdressers, etc. | 3 | -- | -- | 2 | -- | -- |
Hotels and lodging houses | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- |
Pool and billiard rooms[A] | 3 | -- | -- | 1 | -- | -- |
Printers | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Restaurants and lunch rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- |
Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 5 | 4 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Undertakers | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 1 | -- |
Miscellaneous | 12 | 4 | 4 | 8 | -- | 1 |
----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
Total | 52 | 13 | 14 | 33 | 15 | 9 |
----------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+------+
----------------------------+----------------------------------------------
|Estimated valuation of stock on hand.
+------+------+------+--------+-------+--------
Class of | $800 |$1000 |$2000 |Doubtful|Refused.|Totals.
establishment. | to | to | and | and | |
| $999.|$1999.| over.|unknown.| |
----------------------------+------+------+------+--------+--------+-------
Barber shops | -- | -- | -- | 30 | -- | 50
Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Coal, wood and ice | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 19
Dressmaking and millinery | 1 | -- | -- | 5 | -- | 8
Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Express and moving vans | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Groceries | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 36
Hairdressers, etc. | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 8
Hotels and lodging houses | -- | -- | -- | 14 | 1 | 17
Pool and billiard rooms[A] | -- | -- | -- | 5 | 1 | 10
Printers | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 5
Restaurants and lunch rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | --
Saloons and cafés | -- | 3 | -- | -- | -- | 5
Tailoring, pressing, etc. | -- | -- | 1 | 14 | -- | 24
Undertakers | -- | -- | 2 | 1 | 4 | 11
Miscellaneous | 1 | -- | -- | 18 | -- | 48
----------------------------+------+------+------+--------+--------+-------
Total | 3 | 4 | 3 | 62 | 16 | 241
----------------------------+------+------+------+--------+--------+-------
[A] Cigars and tobacco.
For, of the 302 enterprises for which estimates of stock on hand were
obtained 159 firms, including 46 barber-shops and 9 pool and billiard
rooms that kept small stocks of cigars and tobacco, had a stock of
merchandise on hand estimated at less than $50; 20 others ranged
between $50 and $99; 38 others had stock on hand in amounts between
$100 and $299, while 23 fell between $300 and $599. Thirteen
enterprises kept a stock estimated between $600 and $1,000; six ran
from $1,000 up, while seven were unknown. In a word, classified by
amount of merchandise kept on hand, the firms fell into three classes,
the largest class was composed of those having a stock valued at less
than $50, the next class grouped those between $50 and $600, and the
third and smallest class contained those with stock on hand valued at
$600 and above. It will be of help to see in detail how enterprises in
each class were grouped according to estimated valuation of
merchandise on hand, so Table XXIV showing this is given (p. 112).
3. GROSS RECEIPTS IN 1907 AND 1908
The final and concluding item in measuring the magnitude of Negro
business enterprises is the amount of gross receipts of the firms
covering a given period of time. For this purpose the years 1907 and
1908 were selected, the first because the greater part of it was
before the panic of 1907, the second instead of 1909 because a
completed year at the time this canvass was made. A close study of the
accompanying table shows that the panic had considerable effect upon
the gross receipts of these firms. For example, in 1907, 32 firms had
gross receipts less than $1,000; in 1908, 38 firms were in the same
group; in 1907, 37 firms did a business of between $1,000 and $1,999;
in 1908, 38 firms had the same fortune. And even this does not always
show the falling off in gross receipts of the individual firm unless
the decrease was sufficient to carry it into a lower group.
Of the total 309 Negro enterprises, 118 were established too recently
to have gross receipts in 1907 and 1908, and 63 did not furnish
sufficient evidence, so they are classed as doubtful and unknown. This
leaves, therefore, 128 enterprises about which sufficient statements
of gross receipts were secured to justify discussion. The figures for
these, however, were carefully ascertained. For 115 establishments the
exact figures were taken from records kept by the firms for the years
1907 and 1908, or the larger part of those years, while the other 13
are estimates based upon careful statements from proprietors and
employees of their receipts for months or weeks at different seasons
of the two years.
Compared with the general retail lines in New York City the magnitude
of Negro business is creditable when judged by gross receipts. Of the
128 establishments, 87 in 1907 and 85 in 1908 handled a gross business
of $2,999 or less; 32 firms in 1907 and 38 firms in 1908 had gross
receipts between $3,000 and $10,000; and 9 firms in 1907 and 5 firms
in 1908 carried on business operations which ranged in gross receipts
above $10,000, four of these in 1907 and two in 1908 being $15,000 or
more. Considering the amount of merchandise kept on hand and the
valuation of tools and fixtures, this business showing indicates that
the small amount of capital invested is handled with considerable
energy and ability to carry on such an amount of gross business.
It should be noted also that out of 69 establishments in 1907, which
had gross receipts less than $2,000, 14 were barber shops, 8 were
coal, wood and ice dealers, 4 were employment agencies, 3 were express
and moving-vans, 9 were tailors, pressers, _etc._, and 8 were
miscellaneous--a total of 46. And in 1908, out of 76 establishments
with gross receipts under $2,000, 18 were barber-shops, 8 were ice,
coal and wood dealers, 4 were employment agencies, 3 were express
and moving-vans, 10 were tailors and pressers, and 9 were
miscellaneous--making a total of 52. The majority of the more
important classes of business firms such as brokers, barber shops,
grocers, printers, hotel and lodging-house keepers, restaurant and
lunch-room proprietors, saloon and café firms and undertakers have
gross receipts from $2,000 a year and over.
TABLE XXV. GROSS RECEIPTS FOR 1907 AND 1908 OF 309 NEGRO BUSINESS
ENTERPRISES IN MANHATTAN.
KEY:
A: Doubtful and unknown.
B: Established since 1907.
-----------------------+--------------------------------------------------
|Gross receipts of Negro business enterprises.
-----------------------+---------+---------+---------+---------+---------+
| Less | $1000 | $2000 | $3000 | $4000 |
Class of | than | to | to | to | to |
establishment. | $1,000. | $1,999. | $2,999. | $3,999. | $4,999. |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
|1907|1908|1907|1908|1907|1908|1907|1908|1907|1908|
-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
Barber shops | 3 | 5 | 11 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | -- | -- |
Brokers | 2 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | -- | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
Coal, wood and ice | 6 | 6 | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Dressmaking and | | | | | | | | | | |
millinery | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- |
Employment agencies | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Express and moving vans| 2 | 3 | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- |
Printers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- |
Groceries | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 2 |
Hotels and lodging | | | | | | | | | | |
houses | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Pool and billiard rooms| -- | -- | 2 | 1 | -- | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | -- |
Restaurants and | | | | | | | | | | |
lunch rooms | -- | -- | 2 | 3 | -- | -- | 3 | 2 | -- | -- |
Tailoring, | | | | | | | | | | |
pressing, etc. | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- |
Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Undertakers | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | -- |
Hairdressers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- |
Miscellaneous | 7 | 9 | 1 | -- | 3 | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 2 |
-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
Totals | 32 | 38 | 37 | 38 | 18 | 9 | 15 | 15 | 5 | 6 |
-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+
-----------------------+-------------------------------------------------
|Gross receipts of Negro business enterprises.
-----------------------+---------+---------+---------+-----+-----+-------
| $5,000 | $10,000 | | | |
Class of | to | to | $15,000 | | |
establishment. | $9,999 | $14,999.| above. | | |
+----+----+----+----+----+----+ | |
|1907|1908|1907|1908|1907|1908| A | B |Totals.
-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-------
Barber shops | 2 | 2 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 | 13 | 50
Brokers | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | 5 | 16
Coal, wood and ice | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 7 | 4 | 19
Dressmaking and | | | | | | | | |
millinery | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 8
Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 8 | 1 | 14
Express and moving vans| -- | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | 4 | 2 | 12
Printers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | 5
Groceries | 5 | 6 | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 10 | 10 | 36
Hotels and lodging | | | | | | | | |
houses | 2 | 2 | 1 | -- | -- | -- | 3 | 8 | 17
Pool and billiard rooms| -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 5 | 10
Restaurants and | | | | | | | | |
lunch rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 20 | 26
Tailoring, | | | | | | | | |
pressing, etc. | 1 | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 13 | 24
Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5
Undertakers | 1 | 5 | 3 | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 3 | 11
Hairdressers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 3 | 8
Miscellaneous | 1 | 1 | -- | 1 | 1 | -- | 10 | 24 | 48
-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-------
Totals | 12 | 17 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 63 | 118 | 309
-----------------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+-----+-----+-------
The full showing of classified gross receipts of the 309
establishments is given in Table XXV (p. 115).
Measured, then, by valuation of tools, fixtures, _etc._, by
merchandise on hand, and by gross receipts in 1907 and 1908, Negro
enterprises with a small command of capital and credit do a
comparatively large gross amount of retail business.
CHAPTER III
DEALING WITH THE COMMUNITY
The severest test of a business enterprise is its relation to the
community, both the commercial houses with which it deals and the
consuming public to whom it sells. With the former a firm must
establish credit, with the latter it must build up confidence. Credit
is established by the prompt payment of bills, the length of time a
firm has been in operation allowing time to make a good reputation and
its business methods in dealing with its suppliers. The confidence of
customers is secured by the care and accuracy with which orders are
filled, the length of time the firm has been in a certain locality and
patrons have dealt with it and by the whims and prejudices of the
community or locality.