1 he Atlanta University ublications, No, 19
The Atlanta University Piee-
ATLANTA GA
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YOUR country? How came it.yours? Before the Pilgrims
landed we were here. Here we have brought our three
gifts and mingled them with yours: a gift of story and song
—soft, stirring melody in an ill-harmonized and unmelodious
land; the gift of sweat and brawn to beat back the wilder¬
ness, conquer the soil, and lay the foundations of this vast
economic empire two hundred years earlier than your weak
hands could have done it; the third, a gift of the spirit.
Around us the history of the land has centered for thrice a
hundred years; out of the nation's heart we have called all
that was best to throttle and subdue all that was worst; fire
and blood, prayer and sacrifice, have billowed over this peo¬
ple, and they have found peace only in the altars of the God
of Right. * * * * If somewhere in this whirl and chaos of
things there dwells Eternal Good, pitiful yet masterful, then
anon in His good time America shall rend .the Veil and the
prisoned shall go free.
— W. E. Burghardt Du Bois.
The Atlanta University Publications, No. 19
Economic Co-operation
among the
Negroes of Georgia
Report of a Social Study made by Atlanta University,
with the Proceedings of the Twenty-second Annual
Conference for the Study of Negro Problems, held at
Atlanta University, on Monday, May the 28th, 1917
Edited by
Thomas I. Brown, A. M.
Professor of Economics and History in Atlanta University
1 .ie Atlant- _Ji.<. -irsity Press
.TLANTA, GA.
1917
A SPIRITUAL Atlanta University has been born and nur¬
tured that can never die. Do you ask where it is to be
found? I answer in the lives of its graduates and former
students; in their personal character; in the homes they have
created; in the schools they have taught and the churches
they have ministered to; in the communities they have helped
to raise to higher standards of social and civic life; in the
great nation whose welfare has been promoted by wise and
tactful leadership and guidance of their own less favored
masses—all these constitute the spiritual Atlanta University
that can never die, though all of the Institution that is visible
should perish.
—Horace Bumstead.
THERE is no more helpful and patriotic service than to
help cement a friendship between the two races that
shall be manly, honorable, and permanent. In this work of
moulding and guiding a public sentiment that shall forever
maintain peace and good-will between the races on terms
commendable to each, it is on the Negro who comes out of
our universities, colleges, and industrial schools that we must
largely depend. Few people realize how, under the most
difficult and trying circumstances, during the last forty years,
it has been the educated Negro who counselled patience and
self-control and thus averted a war of races. Every Negro
going out from our institutions properly educated becomes a
link in the chain that shall forever bind the two races
together in all the essentials of life.
—Booker T. Washington.
Atlanta University Publications, No. 19*
Table of Contents
Page
Program of the Twenty-second Annual Conference 4
Preface 5
Resolutions of the Conference 7
The Result of the Investigation I 9
By Thomas I. Brown
Report by Field Agent of the Conference 16
By Asa H. Gordon
Co-operation and Georgia's New Economic Conditions 20
By Monroe N. Work
Health Co-operation Between the Races 31
By Miss Rosa C. Lowe
Contribution of the Kindergarten to Child Development-_ 34
By Miss Mary De Bardeleben
The Standard Life Insurance Company 35
By Walter F. White
The Story of the Atlanta Mutual 37
By T. K. Gibson
Comments on the Tables 39
Tables _ 40
Extracts from Correspondence 54
*Note.—If the regular order were followed this report would be No. 21. But because of
the indefinite delay of the proposed No. 19, The Negro and Crime, this publication is being
given the omitted number, that there may be no danger of a hiatus in the numbering.
The Twenty=Second Annual Conference
Economic Co=operation Among the Negroes of Georgia
PROGRAM
Monday, May 28, 1917
First Session, 10:00 a. m.
President Ware, Presiding
Statement as to the Work of the Year,
Prof. Thomas I. Brown.
Report of Field Agent of the Conference,
Mr. Asa H. Gordon.
Health Co-operation between the Races,
Miss Rosa C. Lowe, General Secretary Atlanta Anti-Tuberculosis
Association.
Co-operation and Georgia's New Economic Conditions,
Prof. Monroe N. Work, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.
Second Session, 11:30 a. m.
Annual Mothers' Meeting and Exercises by Children of the Gate City Free
Kindergartens.
Address,
Miss Mary De Bardeleben, Paine College, Augusta, Ga.
Third Session, 8:00 p. m.
Exhibition and Explanation of Charts,
Prof. Thomas I. Brown.
General Discussion, led by
Ex-President, Horace Bumstead and Prof. Monroe N. Work.
Preface
Atlanta University, founded fifty years ago, stands among
the unique institutions of this country. Not forgetting the
economic and utilitarian value of a college education, she has
striven to maintain a high standard of scholarship, and has
insisted on honest, conscientious work by her students. As a
result, her graduates have splendidly represented her where-
ever they have gone, and in whatever field of endeavor they
have entered.
But intellectual culture is not the only aim sought. That the
highest end of education is culture for service is also taught
here; and the evidence of this is seen in the distinctly social
service in which the majority of the graduates are engaged.
In training mencibersof the Negro race for efficient leadership
Atlanta University has contributed, and is still contributing,
not only to the uplift of colored people of this country and else¬
where, but also to the civilization of America and of the world.
But great as is her contribution to human culture through the
regular channels of strictly academic activities this is not the
only service that she is rendering to social welfare. Through
her annual investigations relative to vital race problems, and
through conferences bearing upon the same, conducted along
scientific lines, she is aiding in the solution of the very vexed
and complex national and world problems. The purpose of
these studies is two-fold; one, to determine the factors respon¬
sible for the Negro's retardation in the midst of a highly en¬
lightened and progressive civilization; the other, to ascertain
the ways in which Negroes are meeting the social, the politi¬
cal, and the economic barriers raised against them, and to find
out what progress they are making in spite of the handicaps
under which they labor.
These investigations, conducted by colored people—students
and alumni of Atlanta University, and those of other schools,
as well as by other efficient members of the race—offer splen-
6 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
did opportunity for training in sociological research, for en¬
couraging individual and group co-operation, for stimulating
race consciousness, and for promoting racial solidarity. On
the other hand, because of the cosmopolitan nature of the con¬
ferences, and because of the spirit of frankness and amicabil¬
ity that attends them, these assemblies are mediums of en¬
lightenment for both races. Here, white people and colored
people, Northerners and Southerners meet and discuss without
restraint, and without malice or rancor, the problems affecting
both races. This meeting of the best representatives of the
two races makes for mutual understanding, and lays the basis
for inter-racial respect and sympathy.
The Atlanta University Publications, which are the official
reports of the conferences, have aroused interest not only in
this country, but also in foreign countries. They have also
stimulated, and have been made the models for, other similar
investigations. On page six, Atlanta University Publications,
"Morals and* Manners among Negro Americans," 1914, No. 18,
the editors, Messrs. W. E. Burghardt Du Bois and Augustus
Granville Dill, write as follows: ' 'In this work we have received
unusual encouragement from the scientific world, and the pub¬
lished results of these studies are used in America, Europe,
Asia, and Africa. Very few books on the Negro problem, or
any phase of it, have been published in the last decade which
have not acknowledged their indebtedness to our work. We
believe that this pioneer work in a wide and important social
field deserves adequate support. The Trustees of the John F.
Slater Fund have given us generous aid in the last six years,
which aid has been supplemented by the general funds of the
University. These latter funds are limited, however, and are
needed in many other directions. What we earnestly ask is
an endowment fund for this research work. A fund yielding
$5,000 a year might under proper supervision yield incalculable
good, and help the nation and the modern world to a righteous
solution of its problems of racial contact."
The above appeal is as urgent now as it was three years ago.
A campaign to establish a half-million-dollar endowment fund
Resolutions of the Conference
7
for the University was launched at the beginning of this year,
the jubilee of its founding. It is sincerely hoped that friends
of popular education and of universal human betterment will
consider it a high order of patriotism and a fine expression of
philanthropy to rally to our aid and thus make possible a con¬
tinuation on a larger scale of the services that Atlanta Uni¬
versity has rendered to the nation and to the world. Through
her academic activities, through her scientific sociological re¬
searches, and through her conferences, Atlanta University de¬
sires to continue the contribution of her quota to the forces
at work to make the United States and the world democratic,
not only ideally and nominally, but also in reality.
Resolutions
The following resolutions are the expression of the members,
delegates and attendants upon the session of the twenty-sec¬
ond annual Conference.
The twenty-second Atlanta University Conference for the
Study of Negro Problems has made during the year an inves¬
tigation of Economic Co-operation among the Negroes of Geor¬
gia. As a result this Conference desires to commend the
business progress that has been made by the Negroes of Geor¬
gia. On the other hand it deplores the too prevalent haphaz¬
ard method of conducting business, and the lack of regard
for neatness and cleanliness in business places, and recom¬
mends that strong efforts be made to improve in these matters
in order that Negro business enterprises may command great¬
er respect and larger patronage. With equal force it recom¬
mends that the colored people recognize and encourage such
improvement by their business patronage.
This Conference also commends interracial co-operation as
a means of meeting the grave national crisis produced by the
world war. In order to meet the new economic conditions aris¬
ing from the war there should be better educational facilities
for the colored people, so that they may have a better chance
to increase their economic efficiency and thereby become more
8 • Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
powerful factors in the life of the South and of the Nation.
The problem that faces Georgia and the South today is how
to deal with Negro migration and at the same time meet suc¬
cessfully the threatened food crisis and the growing shortage
of labor. Two ways of handling the situation have been sug¬
gested; namely, more stringent labor laws, and such co-opera¬
tion between the races as will secure to the Negro better wages
and better treatment generally. This Conference is confident
that only the latter way would be productive of good results,
and it hopes that the Georgia Chamber of Commerce and the
State Council for Defense will take the lead in bringing about
this much needed interracial co-operation throughout the State
and the South.
The devastating fire which has just visited Atlanta is sug¬
gestive of the interdependence of the two races, starting as it
did in the neglected Negro section and extending to the most
favored white section. It affords, moreover, a timely oppor¬
tunity for constructive interracial co-operation; and this Con¬
ference expresses confident expectation that in the rebuild¬
ing of the burned section those in authority will regard the
welfare of the humblest Negro as well as that of the most fa¬
vored white citizens. For it is only through the recognition
of social solidarity that health, contentment and happiness
can be realized for all.
Some question has been raised as to the loyalty of the Negro.
His past record and his present response everywhere to the Na¬
tion's appeal constitute the most irrefutable reply to this ques¬
tion. This Conference expresses a wish that the crisis through
which the nation is passing will prove a most effective method
of cementing the bonds of mutual sympathy and co-operation
between all the varied elements of our common country.
(Signed) Horace Bumstead,
Brookline, Mass.
Monroe N. Work,
Tuskegee Institute, Ala.
Rosa C. Lowe, Atlanta, Ga.
Thomas I. Brown, Atlanta, Ga.
The Result of the Investigation
Ten years ago the Atlanta University Conference conducted
an inquiry into the progress of ' 'Economic Co-operation among
Negro Americans." That study, ably directed by Dr. W. E.
B. DuBois, aroused national and international interest. Fol¬
lowing the arrangement by which the Atlanta University
studies are repeated every ten years, the twenty-second an¬
nual Conference took up this year that study; but with this
difference, that whereas the inquiry of 1907 was national in
scope the present one has been confined to the state of Geor¬
gia. Today, the colored people of Georgia are attracting
more than ordinary attention because of the great odds,
social, political, and economic, against which they are dog¬
gedly and persistently struggling. It seemed best to the
Conference, therefore, to make "Economic Co-operation
among the Negroes of Georgia" the subject of this research.
This study, though not exhaustive, is intensive. To insure
the most complete results possible the Conference, in addition
to correspondence through the mails, with business people
and other responsible persons, sent out in February Mr. Asa
H. Gordon, a member of the graduating class of 1917, to
make first-hand investigations. Mr. Gordon visited all cities
and towns having a population of ten thousand or more, and in
some instances, for special reasons, places of less than ten
thousand inhabitants. His mission was fruitful of good re¬
sults; not only from the standpoint of actual information
secured, but also from the point of view of his illuminating
report on the conduct of Negro businesses throughout the
state.
Particular effort has been made to have investigations in
Atlanta as nearly exhaustive as possible. To this end several
workers were put in the field, the work being in a large meas¬
ure performed by the members of the sociological class of the
University. The recent disastrous fire in Atlanta, which
10 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
swept the most important Negro section of the city, occurred
while our study was still in progress. Many lines of business
conducted by Negroes were destroyed; the report for Atlanta,
therefore, does not represent fully the efforts of Atlanta
Negroes in business.
The term Economic Co-operation is used in a broad sense
to include all kinds of business among Negroes, whether
owned by one or more persons, in the relation of owners and
employees with each other and with the public, and particu¬
larly the Negro public.
Certain outstanding facts have been disclosed by this study..
The first is that economic co-operation among Negroes—in
so far as co-operation is given a liberal interpretation—is on
the increase, as is evidenced by the growing number and
variety of business enterprises conducted by the members of
the race. But considered in its more specific application,
economic co-operation among colored people is yet rudimen¬
tary. Except in banking, in insurance and in secret and
benevolent societies few strictly co-operative businesses exist.
The lack of co-operation is a handicap which the race must
overcome if it would hold its own or win a larger place in the
industrial world.
This lack of co-operation arises from causes, social, eco¬
nomic, and intellectual, and represents the aftermath of
centuries of Negro slavery. To insure the perpetuity of
slavery every attempt calculated to incite solidarity and to
encourage co-operation among Negro slaves was stifled in its
conception, or strangled at its birth. On the contrary, every
effort was made to keep the slaves disunited, jealous and
suspicious of each other, and disloyalty to their own was held
up to them as a virtue and made the passport to favor from
their masters. Human nature is not changed in a day; the
effects of centuries cannot be eliminated in a few decades.
The blighting effects of slavery will for some time continue
to be a hindrance to large co-operative efforts among Negroes.
Thus, today, envy and jealousy continue to work mightily
against co-ordination of effort among colored people.
The Result of the Investigation
II
The economic aspect of this lack of co-operation has its set¬
ting in the more strictly social cause. Because of failure to
secure to a greater extent the patronage of their own people,
Negro business men, forced to do business on a relatively small
scale, and therefore denied favorable advantages incident to
the conduct of large business, cannot compete with their
white competitors who do larger business because of superior
patronage. The economic law of comparison of values works
more vigorously here than do emotional instincts. As a re¬
sult, even the better thinking element of Negroes are often
induced to give preferential support to white businesses be¬
cause of greater value received for money expended. This
constitutes in itself a retarding influence against that expan¬
sion of business which may be either the cause or the result
of co-operation.
In considering the still more scientific nature of co-operation
the intellectual factor plays an important part in retarding its
rapid progress from the naive stage. Corporate business of
any appreciable proportions calls for individuals with liberal
intellectual culture, efficient business training, and keen busi¬
ness sense. But a small percentage of college-bred Negroes
seem to enter business. Of those entering the largest percent¬
age is to be found among those operating banks and insurance
companies. Added to this dearth of the better trained men
and women in business is the lack of business education among
Negroes. As has been pointed out elsewhere in this publica¬
tion, the poor educational provision made for Negroes in this
state and in the South generally, is the main cause of this
inefficiency. The private schools for Negro higher education
are doing much to correct this criminal negligence of the
states; but these schools, largely operated by private philan¬
thropy and therefore financially circumscribed, cannot fully
meet the situation. Debarred the privilege of attendance in
regularly established business schools, and with avenues for
practical experience closed to them, the colored people are
thrown wholly upon their native resources and must necessar¬
ily show the effects of this maladministration of social justice.
12 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
Lack of probity on the part of many of those entrusted with
the conduct of co-operative concerns is another cause contrib¬
uting to the slow development of these enterprises among
Negroes. Too often those placed in charge of such interests
regard them not as sacred trusts, to be safeguarded on be¬
half of all concerned, but as offering opportunities to enhance
their own private ends; thus public interests are subordinated
to personal and selfish considerations, and occasion a more or
less popular distrust of co-operative efforts.
A second interesting disclosure brought out by this study is
the hungering of colored people for education. This disproves
the assertion of many white traducers of Negroes in the South
that, given that with which to satisfy his immediate physical
needs, the average Southern Negro is contented and is indiffer¬
ent to the immaterial and more enduring things. Despite
the limited provision made by the public for their education
they are putting forth earnest efforts to overcome this limita¬
tion. Very few cases of illiteracy have come to our attention
in these reports. Many never attended school even for a day
but have succeded in picking up the rudiments of an educa¬
tion and in some instances in educating themselves. One man
who never went to school a day has by diligent application
made himself educated; he writes a hand that is enviable for
its legibility, keeps his business accounts with accuracy, reads
and interprets history and literature, and discusses current
events with amazing intelligence. This man is the organizer
and head of the largest business in his line among Negroes in
Atlanta, and possibly in the state.
A third outstanding fact brought to view in the study is the
existence of race prejudice as a handicap to Negroes in busi¬
ness. Numerous ways in which this prejudice works have
been brought to our attention through the testimony of those
interviewed. Sometimes it takes the form of overt acts; some¬
times it works insidiously. On the other hand, there are not
a few instances cited not only of utter lack of race prejudice,
but also of hearty co-operation of white people and of their
willing assistance given to Negroes in business. In dealing
The Result of the Investigation
13
with this subject in which it might be thought that the writer's
orientation has colored the facts, it seems best to give a series
of remarks quoted from replies to the questionnaires sent out;
these quotations will appear in connection with the business
to which they appertain.
A fourth disclosure is the number of petty businesses that
are being conducted. Much time, energy, and money are
wasted thereby. This waste could be eliminated by combin¬
ing a number of these into one decent concern. The need of
co-ordination of efforts in producing, in buying, and in selling
cannot be too strongly nor too often emphasized.
In many instances it has been no easy matter to distinguish
artisans from business folks, a difficulty experienced in pre¬
vious investigations. It was our inclination to consider as
business enterprises only those having not less than three
hundred dollars invested and employing' at least one person.
But this was found to be not a safe criterion in every instance,
inasmuch as many with a fair smaller investment reported a
gross or net business, or both, greater than others with a larger
investment. As was the case in a similar study made nineteen
years ago, decisions made "have been more or less arbitrary."
The figures given in this report are largely approximations
as to the actual, scope of economic business conducted by the
Negroes of the state. In the first place, as has been already
stated, save with few exceptions, only cities and towns of a
certain size were canvassed. In the second place, of those
interviewed many refused to give the information sought;
while, in the case of those replying, facts often lacked accur¬
acy. The inaccuracy arises from one of three causes: First,
from underestimation of business, through fear of incurring
envy or hostility from certain sources, or from fear of inviting
increased taxation; second, from an over-estimation, perhaps
prompted by the desire to exaggerate the importance of the
business; third, from a positive lack of knowledge of the scope
of the individual's own business, because of imperfect book¬
keeping, or in numerous cases, through no kind of accounting
at all.
14 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
For the sake of conserving the privacy of certain informa¬
tion vouchsafed to us, where publication of such facts might
be detrimental to those giving them, we have refrained from
stating them in detail. For example, where there is found
only one person engaged in any line of business we have uni¬
formly omitted inserting in tables any striking gross business
and amount netted; such omissions are indicated by the mark
(x). The omitted figures are, however, embodied in the total
figures of the tables to which they belong.
In computing the average weekly earnings of employees in
any given industry such average is made necessarily not
on the basis of the total number of persons employed but
rather on the basis of the number whose wages are given,
these constituting in every instance the majority. All such
incomplete reports are indicated by a star (*).
Concerning the question of handicaps in business, few there
are who report freedom from the same. The most general
reported are: First, financial—lack of capital, and exorbitant
rates of interest demanded by money lenders, many reporting
from seven to eight per cent; second, lack of co-operation
among the members of the race; third, lack of reliable, effi¬
cient helpers; fourth, need of industrial education on the part
of those conducting business; fifth, race prejudice, which op¬
erates in various ways; sixth, the migration of Negroes north¬
ward. The last two seemingly constitute the greatest hand¬
icaps at present
The rapid growth of insurance companies and of fraternal or¬
ganizations is another marked feature disclosed. This growth
is indicative of three things: First, that the spirit of foresight
is being cultivated by Negroes; second, that confidence in each
other is increasing, and that as a result the spirit of co-opera¬
tion is being developed; third, that the Negro has intellectual
capacity for constructive efforts as have other people, and that
all that is needed is untrammelled opportunity for the exercise
of that capacity.
The fraternal organizations are going beyond the immediate
scope of their purposes and are entering upon broader social
The Result of the Investigation
15
activities. A fine example of this is found in the maintenance
of the Orphans' Home and Industrial School at Americus, Ga.,
by the Grand Lodge of Ancient, Free and Accepted Masons of
Georgia.
The questions, What measures have you for insuring your
employees against sickness and accident?" and "Are you fos¬
tering any means of encouraging thrift and economy among
your employees?" have been misinterpreted for the most part.
The aim of the first question was to find out whether or not
anything resembling a system of Employers' Liability is being
developed by Negro employers; the purpose of the second was
to ascertain if some kind of organization for saving, among
employees had been established anywhere. Invariably the
answer to the first, when given, was that employees carry in¬
surance policies. These appear, however, to be strictly the
result of the individual initiative of the employees. Only two
instances of the existence of an Employers' Liability have been
discovered; nevertheless it is gratifying to note the very large
number of both employers and employees who are insured
against sickness and death. In a certain undertaking estab¬
lishment in Atlanta the fifteen persons employed are carrying
both industrial and endowment policies.
The answers given to the second question are no less en¬
couraging than the first. Economy and thrift are being fos¬
tered by means of bank accounts and insurance policies. Not
a few employers write, "I encourage employees to save their
earnings; I give frequent lectures on the subject; and I set
them an example by doing myself what I advise them to do."
It is a matter of intense gratification that a people charged
with being grossly improvident should exhibit such growth in
ability to discount the future, an unmistakable evidence of tan¬
gible intellectual and moral progress. From many points of
view there is ground for encouragement in regard to the future
of the Negroes. With the many barriers raised against them
removed, so as to assure to them larger social, economic, educa¬
tional and political opportunities, no one may predict to what
degree of development the Negroes of Georgia may attain.
Report by Field Agent of the Conference
Asa h. Gordon (A.U. '17)
It was with a profound feeling of responsibility as well as with a keen
interest in the work, that I went out from Atlanta, in the early part of
this year, to make an intensive study of Negro business enterprises in
this state. The interest was due to my feeling that I was about to meet
many interesting people and see a great part of a wonderful state; and
I felt the reeponsibility because I believed that the reputation of this
particular study, with regard to scientific accuracy, would depend to a
great extent upon how closely I approximated the truth in my investiga¬
tions. In this article is an attempt to give a brief summary of what I
found.
Of course the truth about Negro business in this state is not all com¬
plimentary. I shall attempt in the short space allotted me to give a syn¬
opsis of both the good and the bad things which I noticed in going about.
I shall first call attention to the things which seemed to me to be the
chief characteristic handicaps or faults of Negro business enterprises in
this state. When I say characteristic handicaps, I do not mean that the
things mentioned are confined to Negro business in this state, but that
they are especially noticeable among our business men.
The first and most glaring defect of the Negro business man which I
noticed was his evident lack of appreciation of the artistic in business.
Every business man should be something of an artist. But the average
Negro business man in this state shows anything but art in the arrange¬
ment of his goods and the advertisement of his business. To a large ex¬
tent the owners of grocery stores, barber shops, markets and other forms
of business underrate the importance of keeping a clean, attractive busi¬
ness house and an artistically arranged stock of goods. However, I re¬
member distinctly quite a few exceptions to the general rule of disorder
and dirt. In the little town of Monticello, for example, where a few years
ago an awful lynching occurred, there is to be found one of the most ar¬
tistically arranged, cleanly kept and progressive grocery stores in the
whole state, without regard to the color of the proprietor. If, in a little
country town like Monticello, where in time of rain the famous red mud
of central Georgia usually invades every door, a clean store can be kept,
I am sure it can be kept anywhere.
The second fault which anyone who is at all observant will notice, is
the failure of the average Negro business man to make any attempt to
advertise his business properly. The average Negro business man, es¬
pecially in the small towns, seems to take it for granted that every one
knows that he is in business and will consequently come around to see
Report by Field Agent of the Conference
17
him. There are hundreds of buildings in the state owned by Negroes, or
rented and used by them for business purposes, on the outside walls of
which you may find almost everything advertised except the business of
the man inside. Race prejudice plays a part in this failure to advertise.
This we shall explain later.
A third great handicap of Negro business men in this state is the lack
of training on the part of themselves and their employees. This is partly
due to the Negro's recent advent into the business world—he has not had
time to acquire efficiency in this field. This is due largely to prejudice,
in that the failure of the white South to provide equal business educa¬
tional facilities for whites and blacks handicaps the Negro who is trying
to get a business training. Furthermore, the failure of white business
men to employ Negroes for any other than the most menial labor, pre¬
vents the Negro's getting business training outside of the school, as quite
a few so-called self-made white business men have acquired it. The in¬
troduction of business courses in Negro private schools and the gradual
growth of large Negro business concerns are the available ways of over¬
coming this difficulty.
Another great fault is the failure of Negro business men in this state
to adopt the corporation form of business activity. The real Negro cor¬
porations in this state can almost be counted on the fingers of one hand.
The failure of Negro business men to use the corporation is a drawback
because it makes him unable to compete with large white business enter¬
prises, most of which are conducted on this plan. It is often stated that
Negro business men cannot successfully organize many corporations be¬
cause the majority of Negro investors and capitalists lack confidence in the
ability or honesty of the men who essay to direct the affairs of various
corporations. To some extent this allegation is true. The scepticism of
investors is not altogether unjustified. This state of affairs is due to in¬
experience of Negroes in business and the lack of trained business men;
that is, the lack of business men with professional, college and university
training. It takes a trained man to direct successfully the complicated
affairs of a large corporation. It requires more than, ordinary moral
character and business ethics to carry honestly the responsibilities and
obligations of the chairman of a board of directors or to be the represent¬
ative of numerous stockholders. The fundamental reason, then, why we
haven't more large corporations is the lack of corporation men; that is,
the lack of able, educated, honest business leadership. -/
I have barely space to mention a handicap to Negro business due to a
special condition of the present time. The recent Negro exodus has re¬
sulted in closing many of the smaller and weaker businesses in far-south
Georgia. All along the way through Macon, Way cross, and Thomasville
we may find little shops closed because their customers have largely
moved away. These ghosts of businesses that were have greatly impressed
18 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
me with the fact of the black man's vision of a "New Freedom" in the
North.
There are a great many colored people in business who complain that
their own people do not patronize their business as they shonld. The
complaint is not made without provocation. There is much lack of confi¬
dence in Negro business enterprises which, it seems to me, can only be
accounted for by admission of the fact that three centuries of oppression
here in America has lowered the Negro's own estimate of what his own
people can do. We must admit the fact that there yet remain some Ne¬
groes who themselves believe in the superiority of the white race and the
inherent inferiority of their own people. Hence they mistrust and envy
their own business men. Education, I believe, will slowly eradicate this
evil. Some Negro professional men and so-called race leaders patronize
white businesses in preference to Negro concerns for selfish diplomatic
reasons. Their policy is narrow, cowardly, and, in the long run, suicidal.
Finally, we come to the ugliest and the most serious handicap of Negro
business in this state; namely, race prejudice. In almost all of the small
towns of the state the Negro business is pushed off on side streets and
back alleys, and of course the general run-down condition of the segregated
Negro business section increases the tendency toward the untidy and un¬
sightly business house. In many of the smaller towns any sign of marked
progress by a Negro business house is taken as a notice that that busi¬
ness should be crippled or destroyed. Hence, in a certain town which I
visited, it is said to be customary for the white city officers to revoke the
license or charter of any Negro business which does well. In almost all
places the white people will not patronize at all a Negro business which
appears to be making money for the owner. If the Negro proprietor is
making money he dare not let it appear so. This partly explains the lack
of advertising referred to before. In a few instances the white people
patronize colored businesses extremely well. However, these are usually
barber shops or some other business where the Negro acts as a servant.
We now come to the much more pleasant task of reciting some of the
unique individual successes among Negro business men whom I have met.
The Negro business man has not, as a rule, taken very much to manufac¬
turing of any kind, but I came across three quite successful manufactur¬
ing establishments. The first I shall mention is a mattress making plant
in Savannah. Here we find a "self-made" man who has built up quite a
large and successful business because he had the courage to attempt to
supply a need which he saw. This man saw that the white dealers needed
some one to make mattresses in Savannah. He believed that if he deliv¬
ered the best possible goods these people would patronize him. His suc¬
cess has justified his faith. Away down south Georgia, there is a very
small town named Moultrie. There I found a man doing an excellent
business manufacturing unique willow chairs. The average man on ar-
Report by Field Agent of the Conference
19
riving at this town would declare that business possibilities were slim in¬
deed. But the man of the chair factory saw in the wild wood growing
around an opportunity, and he has made money there. This man told me
that his success was largely due to the fact that he makes his chairs a
little different from any other chairs made anywhere. His success is an
example of what originality and faith can do even in a small town. The
other establishment which I shall mention is a broom factory in Macon.
There a Tuskegee graduate saw a local need and put up a plant to fill that
need. He complains that the colored people do not patronize him as they
should, yet he succeeds.
It is said that quite a large percentage of all the men of all races who
go into the grocery business fail. I therefore consider it quite creditable
that there are several Negro grocers in this state who have been remark¬
ably successful. In Valdosta, Georgia, there is a colored man successfully
operating a chain of four well stocked, neatly kept grocery stores. In
Americus there are three Negro grocers that do an annual business run¬
ning into the tens of thousands. The same is true of several others over
the state.
In Americus Negro business men have achieved marked success in the
shoe repairing business. There are two shops there doing an annual
business of several thousand dollars.
Here in this state not many colored people have entered into the pea¬
nut vending business. It is a paying business, as is shown by the success
of a young man in Augusta, Georgia. This colored man has a shop on
the leading business street and does a gross annual business of thousands
of dollars. This business is mostly retail. In so far as I know he is the
only peanut vender in the state who keeps all kinds of peanuts on his stand
at all times and can therefore sell a customer any kind he wishes.
It is held by some that prejudice in the South aids Negro business in
that it forces colored people to trade more and more among themselves.
This seems to be only partly true, since it is not universally true that we
find the successful businesses in the most prejudiced places. Probably
the most outstanding evidence in support of my position here is the suc¬
cess of the Negro banking institutions in Savannah. There is probably
no city south of the Mason and Dixon line in which there is less prejudice
against colored people and more business courtesy extended them than in
Savannah. Yet the largest Negro bank in the state is there. This bank
does an annual gross business of about one million dollars in spite of the
competition of numerous strong white banks and two smaller colored
banks. The success of the Wage Earner's Bank in Savannah is an ex¬
ample of what business efficiency and group confidence and loyalty can
accomplish.
One of the most striking examples of business success, it seems to me,
is that of a Negro horticulturist in the little town of Fort Valley. There
20 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
I found a man who owns less than an acre of land not far from the
Fort Valley High and Industrial School. This man cultivates high-class
pecan trees. By his own system of grafting he produces all kinds of pe¬
can trees which he sells to growers all over Georgia and near-by states.
He makes a good living and a little more on that small plot of land. We
feel sure that the Germans cannot beat that for the efficient use of land.
We could add to these examples many others showing remarkable
achievements, considering the various difficulties that Negro business men
have to overcome. However, the recital of them all would only reinforce
the truth which these suggest; namely, that Negroes in Georgia have
quite a few business men with large enough faith to believe in the ulti¬
mate ''place in the sun" for Negro business in spite of the clouds which
hover around. The faith and courage of the successful Negro business
men whom I have met have often reminded me of the indomitable cour¬
age of the wounded youth, who, looking up at the hopeless physicians
who attended him, offered to wager them five dollars that he would
recover.
Co=operation and.Georgia's New Economic Conditions
By Prof. Monroe N. Work
In charge of Division of Records and Research, Tuskegee Institute, Ala.
The South today is in the midst of new economic conditions. The im¬
mediate cause is the world war which is now being waged. With regard
to these new conditions the Negroes in some respects are the ones who are
economically and socially the most disadvantageously situated. They are
the ones who in general are the most lacking in economic efficiency.
Among them is the greatest amount of ignorance. In addition to having
recently come from, a state of slavery they now have the least advantages
in respect to education, health conservation and other things.
It is by means of co-operation that the Negroes of Georgia and other
sections of the South can successfully meet the new economic conditions.
This co-operation must be of three kinds, namely: co-operation among
individuals, group co-operation and inter-racial co-operation. The first
of these—co-operation among individuals—is the form that is most com¬
mon. The importance of this sort of co-operation is very great. It
makes for economic and social progress. It was, in the main, this form
that the 1907 session of this conference studied under the subject, "Co¬
operation Among Negro Americans." This 1907 study showed that co-op¬
eration among Negro Americans was principally through the church,
schools, benefit societies, secret societies and co-operative businesses.
One of the chief weaknesses of economic co-operation among Negroes
is that it is generally haphazard. There is not careful planning and prep-
Co-operation and Georgia's New Economic Conditions 21
aration before the co-operation is begun. The many failures of co-oper¬
ative enterprises among them are due in a large measure to this fact.
Most of the co-operative efforts which have succeeded have done so in
spite of the handicap of ignorance of the rules and principles governing
the efforts attempted. Such was, for example, the organizing in the
early eighties of Negro fraternal insurance companies. Without any ex¬
perience and with little knowledge of the technique of fraternal insurance,
Negroes went into this field and in strong competition with white insur¬
ance companies were, in the main, able to hold their own and to achieve
a fair degree of success.
The time has now come, however, when there should be less of this hap¬
hazard, undirected co-operation. Before a co-operative enterprise is un¬
dertaken, everything connected with such an enterprise should be thor¬
oughly studied and carefully planned. Here in Atlanta is perhaps the best
example in the country of a carefully thought out and planned Negro co¬
operative enterprise. I refer to the Standard Life Insurance Company.
It is scarcely necessary for me to state that which you already know of
how every detail of the planning of this company was formulated and gone
over before business operations were begun. It is this sort of careful
planning and preparation that will assist the Negro business enterprises
of Georgia to successfully meet the new economic conditions.
It is of interest just here to consider the amount of capital invested in
Negro business enterprises in Georgia. An idea of the amount is obtained
from the state's tax returns. In 1890 these returns indicated the Ne¬
groes of the state were paying taxes on some $72,596 worth of merchan¬
dise. The smallness of the assessed value of merchandise upon which
Georgia Negroes were paying taxes indicated that in general they were
not engaged in merchandising or other forms of business in any large way.
When allowance, however, is made for the difference in market and tax
value of this merchandise, and to this is added the investments in build¬
ing and equipments for running stores and investments in businesses which
do not come under the head of merchandise, it is conservative to estimate
that in 1890, the Negroes of the state had about one-half million dollars in- ~
vested in business enterprises.
The recent report of the Georgia tax returns gives the assessed value
of the merchandise held by the Negroes of the state as $264,793. When
allowance is made for the difference in tax value, etc., as already indica¬
ted, it is probable that the Negroes of the state now have something like
two million dollars invested in business. We naturally think of this as a
large sum. From the standpoint of the distance we have come and the
progress we have made in business, it is. With reference, however, to
meeting the new economic situation, it is well to know that while the
merchandise held by Negroes of the state is assessed at $264,793, the to¬
tal merchandise of the state is assessed at over 43 million dollars; that is,
22 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
the Negro business men have only six-tenths of one per cent of the state's
merchandise. Although almost half the state's population are Negroes,
the Negro business men are apparently doing but six-tenths of one per
cent of the business of the state. If they were receiving anything like
the bulk of the trade of the Negroes of the state, their merchandise
would probably be assessed at five million dollars instead of $264,000.
It is already seen that the Negro business men of the state are receiv-
" ing but a pittance of the trade of Negroes. A rough estimate indicates
that for each dollar Negroes are spending with Negro business concerns,
they are probably spending one hundred dollars with white business con¬
cerns. Or, where they are spending one thousand dollars with Negro
business concerns, they are spending one hundred thousand dollars with
white business concerns. The Negro business men and the Negro public
are mutually responsible for the small per cent of the volume of business
of Negroes which is done by Negro business men. There should be on
the one hand greater support of racial enterprises and on the other hand
the business, from the standpoint of goods furnished and service rendered,
should be worthy of support. It is well to note here that if progress is to
be developed in proportion to the number of Negroes in the state, the Ne¬
gro business men must not be content to compete only for the trade of
colored people. They must conduct such high class business, be able to sell
at such an advantage that the general public, regardless of color, will give
them their patronage. If these things are done, Negro business concerns
in Georgia will develop until instead of 5 banks in the state operated by
them, there will be 50; instead of 50 drug stores, they would have 500; in¬
stead of about 25 dealers in real estate, there would be 250; instead of 500
grocery stores there would be 5,000; instead of having two million dollars
invested in business the Negroes of the state would have 20 millions thus
invested.
We pass next to a consideration of group co-operation as a method of
enabling the Negroes of the state to meet the new economic conditions.
First of all, by group co-operation there can be greater success in Negro
business enterprises. If, for example, in Atlanta there were complete co¬
operation among all the colored people to foster and promote Negro busi¬
ness enterprises and to place them on a higher plane of efficiency, there
would result a very large increase in the number of businesses operated
by Negroes, a very large growth.of the volume of business done and the
opening of a great many more opportunities for the boys and girls of the
race to secure business positions. The general result would be a greater
prosperity for all the colored people of the city.
As a foundation for our economic efficiency we must have adequate ed¬
ucational facilities, health conservation and protection under the law.
All these things can be best obtained by group co-operation. There is
much complaint concerning the lack of educational facilities for Negroes.
Co-operation and Georgia's New Economic Conditions 23
This complaint is justified. Let us take, for example, the public schools
of the state. It is found that more than a third of the colored children
are not in school. It is also found that if the number of days of school
were divided among all the colored children in the state, there would be
48 days for each child, and that it would take a colored child 19 years to
complete an elementary course on the basis of a nine months school year.
While there is invested some 12 million dollars for white public schools,
there is invested only about one and one-half million dollars for the Ne¬
gro schools. In other words, there are $27 invested in school property
for each white child and only $3.70 for each colored child. The per cent
of children of school age is, white 55, and colored 45. For the 55 per cent
there is expended annually some $4,375,000; for the 45 per cent there is ex¬
pended only about $800,000. In other words, for each white child the
state spends annually for its education $10 and for the education of each
colored child $2. Here is great need for the concerted action of all the
colored people of the state in order that they may receive a larger share
of the state's expenditures for education.
Perhaps some one is asking, how can this group co-operation be secured,
by what method can you get the concerted action of all the Negroes in
Georgia? Virginia furnishes us an example of how this may be done.
It is true that practically every colored person belongs to some sort of
organization. Taking advantage of this fact, there was organized some
five years ago in Virginia, The Negro Organization Society. This Society
brought together representatives©? all the organizations—religious, ed¬
ucational, business, fraternal, civic and social of every character in the
state and joined them in a movement to work for the improvement of
the colored people. The purpose of the organization is as follows:
1. To build better school houses, lengthen school terms, create and
promote a general interest in education and co-operation between the
school and community.
2. To improve the health of the people by enlightening the public on
the cause and prevention of disease, by seeking to establish better health
conditions in the home and at public meeting places.
3. To wage an unceasing campaign for better homes, better morals,
and thus to develop a higher type of citizenship.
4. To secure co-operation among farmers in buying and selling pro¬
duce; enlivening their conscience to the necessity of better methods in
farming, and to encourage land buying.
In the five years of the Virginia Organization Society's existence a
wonderful work has been done in that state. Vigorous campaigns for
school improvement have resulted in many new school buildings and the
creation of better school conditions. In one y.ear 502 school terms were
lengthened. In the effort to educate the people of Virginia in disease
prevention, four annual clean up movements have been held, and as a re-
24 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
suit four hundred thousand Negroes were induced to make their homes
and surrounding premises sanitary. The Society is at present co-operat¬
ing with the Virginia Anti-Tuberculosis Association for the founding of
a tuberculosis sanitarium for Negroes. It has stimulated throughout
Virginia a desire for better education, better health, better homes, com¬
mitted the leaders and the masses to the policy of self help; it has caused
the people to raise money for community improvement; it has promoted
the business enterprises of the state, assisted in improving farming con¬
ditions and has brought about co-operation between the white people and
the colored people of the state in matters of public welfare.
It is possible for some such organization as this to be established in
Georgia. The purpose of such an organization would be to bring about co¬
operation throughout the state in an attempt to improve the general status
of the Negro, to encourage thrift, economy, property owning and home
buying; to improve industrial conditions and stimulate the patronage of
Negro business; to discourage the evils existing in the cities of the state
that prey, especially upon the Negro; to improve housing, sanitary and
neighborhood conditions; to secure, as far of possible, a just proportion
of civic benefits, such as cleaner and better streets, better schools and
school equipments, better hospital facilities and play grounds for Negro
children, and finally to secure better protection under the law. If some
such organization were effected among Georgia Negroes to work for the
uplift of all the colored people and for the general welfare of the state,
it would receive the enthusiastic support of the masses of the race and
be the means of accomplishing a great and a much needed work.
Let us pass next to a consideration of inter-racial co-operation as a
means of assisting in meeting the new economic conditions. We are in
the midst of new times; we are at the beginning of a new epoch in the
world's history. We are in the midst of a world war, the most stupen¬
dous war that ever has been waged. The social and economic foundations
of society are being profoundly shaken. No part of the world is being
more deeply affected economically than is this southland. First, there
was in 1914 the paralyzing of the cotton market and the consequent de¬
moralization of the economic life of the South. Next, there arose a great
demand for labor in the North and as a result the migration there of vast
numbers of Negroes. Lastly, there has come a request, amounting to an
order, that the South at once feed herself.
Everyone recognizes the gravity of the situation and the importance
of doing something. Now is the time for white people and black people
to get together and co-operate for the good of all. There are four im¬
portant lines along which there should be inter-racial co-operation. These
are the improving of educational facilities, bettering health conditions,
improving farming, and taking some steps with reference to migration
to the North. Attention has already been called to the fact of the need
Co-operation and Georgia's New Economic Conditions 25
of improving educational facilities and the very small amount which is
being expended for Negro education. It is well to recognize that eco¬
nomic efficiency depends to a large extent upon education. Whether the
colored people receive their just due of the educational facilities depends
upon the white people. It is too much, as the late Dr, Washington said,
to expect a colored child to get as much education for $2.00 as a white
child for $10.00.
In the matter of health conditions there is already some inter-racial
co-operation. There should be a great deal more. Bad health conditions
among colored people are causing enormous financial losses. There are
in the state about 73,000 Negroes who are seriously sick all the time, that
is, so ill that some one has to take care of them. If this sickness were
distributed among the entire Negro population of the state it would mean
that on an average each man, woman and child would be sick eighteen
days in the year. The average annual loss in earnings to the Negroes of
the state because of sickness is more than seven million dollars. They
are paying annually fifteen million dollars for doctor bills and funeral ex¬
penses.
For a long time the attitude toward bad health conditions among Ne¬
groes was, "Tf Nep-rops die, who cares?" It was not realized that any
part of the enormous financial loss caused by bad health conditions among
them fell upon the white people or upon the state. When, however, there
began to be talk of conserving the natural resources of the state, it was
pointed out that the most important part of these resources are the peo¬
ple, white and black. They are more important, more valuable than the
soil, the forests, the minerals or the waterways. It is probable that the
state of Georgia is losing each year, because of bad health conditions
among its Negro population, more than forty million dollars. It is also
probable that by improving health conditions among its Negro population
some twenty-six million dollars of this great sum could be saved. To en¬
deavor to save this vast sum to the state, and at the same time try to
make the Negro more efficient, affords a great opportunity for inter-racial
co-operation.
Let us examine more closely the matter of health improvement and ef¬
ficiency. If Georgia is to take her place economically as the empire state
^n£_thp Snnth. the efficiency of her population will have to be greatly in¬
creased. On account of bad health conditions and the lack of training in
efficiency, Georgia's Negro population is about one-half as efficient as it
is capable of being. On the other hand, because of premature deaths,
the number of years that the average Negro of the state works is about
one-half of what it should be. The average life of Negroe^iilleargia is
now about 35 years. The average length of their period of productive
worlTis about 15 years. If the average length of life for them were in¬
creased to 50 years (and this can be done by sanitary improvement), the
26 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
length of time the average Negro could work would be increased to 30
years.
Let us grasp the significance of this as a means of meeting the new
economid conditions. Georgia just now, through migration, is losing thou¬
sands of her Negro population. By improving the health conditions of
those who remain, the loss in migration to a considerable degree can be
offset. There are in Georgia about 600,000 Negroes who are engaged in
gainful occupations; that is, are helping to do the state's work and de¬
velop its resources. Now, if by education and health improvement the
efficiency of these Negro men and women can be doubled, it will be equal
to adding another 600,000 workers to the state's population. Here, then,
we see the importance of health improvement and of inter-racial co-opet-
ation to this end.
The improving of farm conditions, likewise, affords a great opportunity
for inter-racial co-operation. The increasing of the efficiency of Negro
farmers will be one of the most effective methods of meeting the new
economic conditions. There are in the state some 400,000 Negroes who
are engaged in farming for themselves or for some one else. They con¬
stitute over 50 per cent of all persons engaged in agriculture in the state,
Let us see what Georgia is doing through education to make more ef¬
ficient Negro farmers. The state is spending annually for agricultural,
technical and vocational education about $700,000. Of this amount, $667,-
287 or 96.5 per cent of the total is for the education of the whites, and
$24,667 or 3.5 per cent of the total is for the education of Negroes to pre¬
pare them for economic efficiency. That is to say, for each dollar spent
by the state to increase the economic efficiency of its white population,
only four cents is spent to increase the economic efficiency of its Negro
population. In this same connection it is important to note that the fed¬
eral government has recently enacted a provision known as the Smith-
Hughes bill, under which Georgia will have available next January the
sum of $41,500, on condition that the state appropriate an equal amount
for agricultural, industrial and home economic education. This will pro¬
vide an additional $83,000 annually for training in economic efficiency.
One of the most important ways of meeting the new economic condi¬
tions is by developing to a high degree the agricultural resources of the
state. There are in the state about 27,000,000 acres of farming lands.
Of this vast area only 12,300,000 acres, or a little more than 40 per cent
of the total, is under cultivation. On the land that is being cultivated
the average yield per acre is, for cotton one-half a bale, corn 15 bushels,
and sweet potatoes 90 bushels.
It will pay Georgia to increase the intelligence of her Negro farmers.
If this is done, they will become more efficient; they will be able to use
better methods of farming; they will raise on the land which is now be¬
ing cultivated, two bales of cotton where one is now being grown, 50
Co-operation and Georgia's New Economic Conditions 27
bushels of corn where 15 are now being grown, and 150 bushels of sweet
potatoes where 90 are now being raised. By increasing the intelligence
of Negro farmers they will be able to use improved farming machinery
to a greater extent. As a result they will be able to cultivate two acres
where they now are cultivating only one. Thus, through increased effi¬
ciency, the yield per acre and the acreage cultivated would be doubled
and Georgia's waste places would "be made to bloom as the rose."
The importance of the Negro doing better farming has a special sig¬
nificance just now because of the food crisis. Recently there has come a
request, amounting almost to an order, that the South should at once feed
herself. Instead of importing annually from other sections of the coun¬
try some seven hundred million dollars' worth of foodstuffs, she must this
year raise her own food supplies, thereby permitting the vast quantities
of foods, which have hitherto been sent down here, to go to Europe to help
feed the Allies. Georgia herself is each year importing from the West
and the North nine and one-half million bushels of wheat, more than ten
million bushels of corn and millions of dollars' worth of other produce and
foodstuffs.
I
The Negro farmers of the state are perhaps raising less foodstuffs than
the white farmers. The dependence of the Negro farmer up to the pres¬
ent time has been chiefly upon cotton. He has raised but small quanti¬
ties of other kinds of produce. An examination of the Census Reports
of what the Negro farmers of Georgia were raising showed that there
were 49,000 of their farms, or 40 per cent of all Negro farms in the state,
without any cattle; 36,000 or 30 per cent of the total without any hogs;
24,000 or 20 per cent without poultry; 26,000 or 21 per cent without corn;
35,000, or 28 per cent of all Negro farms in the state, were without gar¬
dens of any sort. Although the sweet potato is indigenous to the state
and can be raised with but little trouble and expense, there were 72,000
farms of Negroes, or 60 per cent of all their farms, upon which this veg¬
etable was not raised. So dependent were the Negroes of the state upon
cotton that for each dollar's worth of this staple which they raised, they
were raising only 40 cents' worth of other crops.
Iu order to successfully meet the present food crisis it is necessary that
there be the closest sort of inter-racial co-operation to the end that there
may be no farms in the state on which foodstuffs are not grown. If in
the present crisis either the whites or the Negroes fail to do their part,
Georgia will not be able to feed herself.
The continued migration of large numbers of Negroes to the North has
created a situation in which both races are deeply concerned, for each is
being greatly affected by it. In the discussion with reference to this
movement attention is generally called to the effect it is having upon the
farming interests of the state and in other fields of industry where a large
amount of labor is employed. On the other hand but little is said about
28 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
the effect the movement is having upon the organizations, institutions and
business of Negroes. A recent issue of the Savannah Tribune, however,
said, "Negro leaders are not encouraging migration; it is not to their di¬
rect interest to do so. Migration is depleting the churches; it is reducing
the debits of Negro insurance companies; it is taking the clients of Negro
lawyers; and is taking off the patrons of Negro merchants and other busi¬
ness men. Migration is directly detrimental to Negro business; it af¬
fects it more than it affects that of other people."
A study of the reasons advanced as to the causes of the migration
movement shows that there is more or less agreement of whites and Ne¬
groes as to the causes. Dr. James Dillard, head of the Slater Fund and
the Jeanes Foundation is making an advisory investigation of the migra¬
tion movement for the United States Department of Labor. In a recent
statement to the Atlanta Constitution on "What is Really Back of the
Negro Exodus from the South," he said, "As to the causes of the move¬
ment there is a very general agreement as to two: First, the lack of la¬
bor at the North, due to the stoppage of immigration from Europe, thus
offering the chance of employment and at higher wages; second, the
growing discontent of the Negroes and the feeling that they have little
or no chance of a square deal in the South. Other incidental causes are
sometimes mentioned, but all who have expressed themselves on the sub¬
ject agree on these two as the dominant, and, one might say, concurrent
causes."
The editorial comments of leading papers in Georgia appear to substan¬
tiate Dr. Dillard's conclusions, especially with reference to better treat¬
ment. The Macon Telegraph sometime ago said in this connection, "Our
police officers raid poolrooms for 'loafing Negroes,' bring in twelve, keep
them in the barracks all night, and next morning find that ten of them
have steady, regular jobs, and were there merely to spend an hour in the
only indoor recreation they have; our country officers hear of a disturbance'
at a Negro resort and bring in fifty odd men, women, boys and girls to spend
the night in jail—although but a bare half-dozen could have been guilty
of the disorderly conduct."
The Tifton Gazette was of the opinion that "white people have only
themselves to blame for running the Negroes out" It said, "If Georgia
is injured agriculturally and industrially, by the Negro exodus, the white
people here have no one to blame but themselves. They have allowed
Negroes to be lynched, five at a time, on nothing stronger than suspicion;
they have allowed whole sections to be depopulated of them; they have
allowed them to be whitecapped and their homes burned, with only the
weakest and the most spasmodic efforts to apprehend or punish those
guilty—when any efforts were made at all. Has not the Negro been
given the strongest proof that he has no assured right to live, to own
property, or to expect justice in Georgia?"
Co-operation and Georgia's New Economic Conditions 29
Commenting on the editorial of tHe Tifton Gazette the Atlanta Constitu¬
tion said: "The indictment is true, every word of it. The trouble incident
to the migration of Negroes from Georgia and the South is exactly as
Editor Herring has stated, and as the Constitution has time and again put
it before the people of this state. There is no secret about what must
be done, if Georgia would save herself from threatened disaster, which, in
some sections, has already become serious. Mobs and mob spirit must
be eliminated completely. But more than that, we must be fair to the
Negro. There is no use in beating about the bush; we have not shown
that fairness in the past, nor are we showing it today, either in justice
before the law, in facilities accorded for education or in other directions.
Argue it as you will, these things which we have not done are the things
which we must do, or Georgia will suffer for it in proportion as she fails."
What shall be done to check migration? What is the remedy? Here
again Dr. Dillard gives valuable information when in this same Constitu¬
tion article he says: "The burden of the testimony of all from whom I
have heard and with whom I have had an opportunity of talking here in
Atlanta as well as elsewhere, is that if the South has the desire that, the
Negro remain in the South, the remedy against the migration fever lies
in the willingness of the southern white man to remove the causes, by
raising wages and by standing up for better treatment of the Negro
people."
The remedies which Negroes themselves suggest are of special interest.
The paying of higher wages is offered as one remedy. Speaking along
this Tine the Atlanta Independent said editorially, "Advance his wages in
proportion as the cost of living advances. When meat was 15c. a pound
and flour $8.00 a barrel, the Negro received from $4.00 to $8.00 a week.
Now meat is 30c. a pound and flour is $16.00 a barrel, the Negro is receiv¬
ing the same wages. He cannot live on this and the white man cannot
expect him to remain in the South and live on the starvation wages he is
paying him, when the fields and the factories in the North and West are
offering him living wages. A Negro can no more live on $8.00 a week,
pay house rent, school his childen and feed and clothe them than a white
man can. Yet, when he goes to a better condition, because he is offered
double $8.00 a week in another section of the country, he is threatened
with a law to make him stay at home."
Other reasons urged by the Negroes as remedies are the providing of
school facilities, justice in the courts, better treatment generally and the
assurance that they will be protected under the law from mobs and other
forms of violence. Co-operation with the whites is also suggested as a
remedy. It is pointed out that now is a fitting time for the more thought¬
ful and conservative of both races to get together and devise plans for
bettering conditions.
The Georgia State Council for Defense at a recent meeting urged the
30 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
enactment of more stringent laws governing labor agents and also consid¬
ered the advisability of having the National government take steps to
check migration. The published report of the meeting stated that: ' 'There
was considerable debate as to whether or not the federal government had
any authority to place a check upon the emigration of labor from one state
to another. In this particular the opinion was expressed that, if the fed¬
eral government has the authority to draft men into the army, there is
no reason why it should not have authority to draft men into farm serv¬
ice and see to it that there is a fair and equitable distribution of labor
over the country."
The experience of the past twelve months would seem to indicate that
heavy taxes on labor agents have not checked the exodus. The Progres¬
sive Farmer in calling attention to this said, "Newspaper commercial
bodies and individuals have deplored this migration, foreseeing in it disas¬
ter to the agricultural and industrial South. Resolutions have been adop¬
ted, prohibitive taxes on labor agents imposed, and in some cases actual
violence threatened. But the Negroes are still going North. Rivers are
dammed and their flow checked more easily than can the operation of an
economic law be altered, and it is simply in obedience to such a law that
our Negroes are leaving. Prices for labor there, always higher than in
the South, have been raised to $3, $4, and even $5 a day. With farm labor
jn many sections of the South at 75c. and a dollar a day, what is more
natural than for the laborer to drift away? And who is there who shall
deny him the right to find the best market he can for his labor?"
The influential Manufacturer's Record is of the same opinion. It'says:
"Labor must have the right to move from one part of a country to another,
regardless of all local laws against 'labor agents.' There is no power in
the country to keep men from going where the rate of wages is highest,
and the South must recognize this fact. The migration of Negroes is a
serious hardship on the South, but it cannot be met by laws against labor
agents. There must be a parity of wages before the movement can be
stopped, as hard as that may be on southern farming and industries."
The problem which faces Georgia just now is how to deal with migra¬
tion and at the same time to successfully meet the food crisis. As al¬
ready indicated there are two possible ways of handling this situation.
One by having more stringent labor laws; the other by co-operation be¬
tween the races with the assurance of better wages and better treatment
of Negroes. It would appear that this latter way would be productive of
the best results. It would probably tend to check migration. The sug¬
gestion by Negroes that there be co-operation, their food conference last
week in Macon, their general response to the demand that Georgia feed
herself, all point to the fact that in the present crisis, they can be de¬
pended upon to do their part. If, under the leadership of the Georgia
Chamber of Commerce and the State Council for Defense, a general inter-
Health Co-operation Between the Races 31
racial co-operation were brought about throughout the state in the mo¬
bilizing of every agency for the maximum production of a greater food
supply, the new economic conditions would be met, and Georgia would be
able to feed herself.
Health Co=operation Between the Races
By Miss Rosa C. Lowe
Executive Secretary Anti-Tuberculosis Association, Atlanta, Ga.
It gives me a great deal of pleasure to come before you this morning to
talk to you on the subject of "Health Co-operation Between the Races."
Mr. Ware invited me last year to talk at Commencement, but I was leav¬
ing the city, and that made it impossible. I am glad however that I was
given another opportunity to come this year.
If I were a minister and were going to take a text and a Bible lesson
this morning to discuss with you, my lesson would be. taken from I Cor. 12:
12-21. This lesson, as you no doubt know, is a letter written by St. Paul
to the people at Corinth where a great deal of strife and friction had arisen
in a church in that city over the question of who was most important in
the church. This letter shows that they were one body, and that each one
as a member of that body, was dependent upon the other members; that
the hand cannot say to the foot, "I have no need of thee," nor the eye to
the ear, "I have no need of thee," but that they are all members of one
body and each having its particular function to perform; therefore, they
are all dependent one upon the other, and that when one suffers all suffer.
I would take as my text, "No man liveth unto himself, and no man dieth
unto himself." This lesson which Paul wrote to Corinth applies to hu¬
man civic life. The white man cannot say to the Negro, "I have no'
need of thee." Neither can the Negro say to the white, "I have no need
of thee." In health matters we are dependent one upon another, and it
is essential that we should co-operate in our efforts for public health.
Nearly every inhabitant of Atlanta came from a smaller town or a
country town. It has been only fifty-two years since Atlanta was burned
to the ground, and at that time it was necessary for everybody to take a
new start in life. Both races started out with great handicaps, and as
no one had any "city experience" every man's idea of building was fol¬
lowed according to his own pleasure. There were no health laws, no rules
or regulations, nor were there any building lines observed by the people
of that day. Therefore, in different sections of the city, a great many
shacks and tumble-down places were erected that are a menace to the wel¬
fare of the city from a health standpoint, as well as from a living stand¬
point; but a man who has lived in the country asks no questions as to how
the plan of his farm should be arranged. He buys the land and pays for
it. He erects his house where he pleases, and locates the stable, pigpen
32 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
and outhouses in as close proximity to the house as he pleases. He also
digs his well without regard to its relation to the stable, pigpens and
other places. Possibly after living on this farm for a number of years
with fairly good health, a scourge of typhoid fever breaks out in his fam¬
ily. He is told by an outsider that his well is entirely too close to the
stable or other outhouses. The owner becomes indignant because he is
sure that his well is the best well in the country. There has never been
any sickness before in his family, and, even though at this time every
member of the family is sick with typhoid fever, he is satisfied that the
well has nothing to do with it. Another year passes and again the family
is stricken with typhoid fever. Possibly he loses two or three members
of the family.
His interest in the farm is failing by this time, and he wishes to make
a change; therefore he moves to the city. In the city he buys a lot, pos¬
sibly 50x100 feet, and decides he will build a house on this lot and arrange
his outhouses to suit himself. He will build his house close to the front
sidewalk, because he wants plenty of space in the back for a pigpen, cow
lot, stable and well. He has only started digging the foundation for the
house when an officer stops and notifies him that he cannot build there,
as there is a building line which is required in the city, and he must move
back a certain distance. He is indignant because in the country he built
where he pleased, and he feels that this building line interferes with his
freedom as a citizen; but if he does not listen to the officer a case is made
against him and he has to pay the cost, and at last build on the building
line. Then in the erecting of his house he runs an independent schedule,
but the building inspector comes along and "calls him down" for the way
he is building his chimney, and other things, contrary to the laws of the
city. Finally the house is finished and he begins to dig his well; the au¬
thorities come and tell him it is against the law to have a well in'the city.
He must have water connections and use the city water, for the preven¬
tion of typhoid fever and other diseases. Then he begins his hogpen, and
he is told that he cannot keep hogs in the city. He wants to keep a cow
and a horse on this small lot, but the city board of health prevents that.
He finally is disgusted, thinking that the city allows no freedom whatever,
—when really it is a matter of each member being dependent upon the
others, and if one suffers all will suffer. So this man, for the sake of the
public health of the city, must abide by the laws which are agreed upon,
and which must be carried out, in order to prevent diseases. You can
well see, from the fire which occurred a few days ago, that in the build¬
ing of those shacks where the fire started there was no building line, no
rules or regulations, no system as to the erection of dwellings, but every
man built to suit his own inclination. The meaning of this is that many
people a're living in homes which are not conducive to health, and the re¬
sults can only be disastrous.
Health Co-operation Between the Races
33
Right here I want to call attention to an article which appeared in the
Atlanta Constitution yesterday, written by Mrs. William L. Peel. In re¬
ferring to the fire, Mrs. Peel says, "It is useless to call this region insan¬
itary. It is horrible. Human beings packed like sardines in a box, with¬
out the slightest effort at any provision of modern sanitation, and kept in
that condition by the greed of the landlord who can rent these shanties
to respectable and well-to-do colored people because they have nowhere
else to go. All this is well known to everybody. No argument could be
made on the subject which has not been made. No new idea could be put
into anybody's brain, no matter whose brain it was. We all know it.
Some eight years ago we inquired of the Russell Sage Foundation as to
why Atlanta was the third typhoid city in the United States, and were
told that it was due to the over-crowded condition of the colored popula¬
tion. As Atlanta grows our colored population grows also and spreads
out, needing more room but getting none.''
Then Mrs. Peel refers to the working sections of Detroit, and she sug¬
gests that there be built somewhere contiguous to the wonderful colored
universities in Atlanta, whose broad acres invite space and ventilation,
a city for them which should have light, water and transportation, rows
of modern brick cottages, with flower and vegetable gardens, schools and
churches, and every surrounding to make life pleasant and profitable.
She goes on to say that "men no longer build cities by a one-man power
in the old fashion of every man for himself. They realize that whatever
benefits one benefits the whole, and we sincerely hope and trust that at
this opportune moment we all must realize our duty to colored citizens,
our duty to each other, as well as our duty to ourselves."
Mrs. Peel has made some fine suggestions here which should be followed
out. As I said a while ago, it has been only fifty-two years since Atlanta
was burned to the ground, and at that time the Negro as a race was com¬
paratively inefficient and unable to do for himself; but within these years
he has made wonderful progress. He has raised up leaders who are
strong, able and capable people. They have organizations and institutions
which are a credit to them, and they are in position to co-operate with
the white race in health work as well as in other lines of public welfare.
I have been very much pleased and more than satisfied with the enthusi¬
asm and efficiency with which the Negroes have worked with the Anti-
Tuberculosis Association in its Educational-Health Campaign which is now
under headway. The plan of this work is as follows:
That the City of Atlanta be divided into nine sections, covering all sec¬
tions occupied by Negroes.
That nine supervisors be appointed.
That ten chairmen of committees be appointed in each of these sec¬
tions with ten women working under each, these to do house to house
visiting in every home in every section. The visitors are to go into the home
with a friendly- attitude, asking the co-operation of the family in a regu-
34 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
lar "clean-up" campaign, urging that the inside of the house be thorough¬
ly cleaned—the walls swept and windows opened, and everything that per¬
tains to unsanitary conditions removed; that the yards, under the house,
and all the premises be cleaned up and lime sprinkled over the place, —
lime to be furnished by the Anti-Tuberculosis Association to anyone who
is in need of it. The families are to be encouraged to plant gardens and
flower yards. In addition to this work in the home and on the premises,
they were told that a free clinic was coming into their neighborhood at
which every person in the district could be examined free of charge, in
order that their bodies might also.be cleansed from disease.
The organizations co-operating in this movement are: The Life In¬
surance Companies, the Kindergarten Association, the Physicians, the
Nurses' Association, the Neighborhood Union, the Churches and Minis¬
ters, the School Teachers, and the Parent-Teacher Association.
Nearly all these organizations have definite work to do and they have
done it well. We do not intend that this shall be a spasmodic effort,
but that it shall be a permanent thing, and we trust that the visitors
will continue to visit and the people continue to clean up; and we are sure
that the result will be unity of action among both white and colored.
The way in which the colored people have taken hold of this Educa¬
tional-Health Campaign has shown that they are capable of concerted
action and will efficiently carry out the duties assigned to them.
The committee of the Red Cross Society in charge of relief for the "fire
sufferers" has called a group of these same women to aid in registering
those who were victims of the fire. If you will go to the Auditorium to¬
day you will find that the whites and the colored people are working to¬
gether with one purpose, and I feel sure that more good service and co¬
operation will result from the past service just rendered. The colored
man and the white man are both being called out today in defense of our
country. We are to work as one nation in fighting the enemy, and I be¬
lieve that the present time marks a new era in the life of us all. What
I would say to you is: "Let us not grow weary in well doing, for in due
season we shall reap if we faint not."
The Contribution of the Kindergarten to Child Development
Outline of Address by Miss Mary De Bardeleben
Teacher of English, Paine College, Augusta, Ga.
I. The importance of the early years in race development. 1. Child¬
hood's dependence, therefore, on the mother. 2. The value of the kin¬
dergarten to supplement the work of the home.
II. Three factors in child development: 1. Heredity. 2. Environ¬
ment." 3. Training.
III. The work of the kindergarten in contributing—1. Proper envir¬
onment. (a) Attractive personality of the teacher, (b) Attractive sur-
The Standard Life Insurance Company 35
roundings, ventilation, light, pictures, cleanliness. 2. Training, (a)
The senses, so that the child may rightly interpret and rightly adjust him¬
self to the physical life about him. (b) The moral sense, adjustment to
the human and social phases of life—politeness, courtesy, unselfishness
in human relationships, (c) In spiritual discernment—reverence, through
study of nature, song, story, knowledge of God, sense of brotherhood,
human unity.
IV. Appeal.—The extreme need of the best things for the Negro
child, because of the fact that the Negro race is in the making. The
mother and the kindergartner, so near the heart of God, because so near
the heart of the little child, can make the race of tomorrow, through its
childhood of today, largely what they will.
The Standard Life Insurance Company
Its Foundation, Scope and Value to the Race
By Walter F. White, Cashier
(Atlanta University, 1916)
Perhaps the most distinctive institution in the Negro race, and the one
that has the broadest scope of any business enterprise fostered and man¬
aged by colored men, is the Standard Life Insurance Company of Atlanta,
Georgia. This company is the only old line legal reserve life insurance
company in the world owned, operated, and controlled by Negroes.
Standard Life is the creation of the brain of Heman E. Perry, its founder
and president. Meeting almost insurmountable obstacles put in his path
by men and women of both races, by indomitable will-power and perse¬
verance he overcame these stumbling blocks put in his path, and as a
result today Standard Life stands as a living, growing monument to his
ability as an organizer of really big business.
Mr. Perry was born on a Texas prairie, and there he received his first
insurance education as an agent for the Fidelity Mutual, the Equitable
and the Mutual Reserve. Later he went to New York and studied life
insurance in the offices of the big companies of the country, and learned
the theory on which modern life insurance is based. Then coming to /
Atlanta, he assembled a group of men in the old Y. M. C. A. Building,^
and in his simple, straight-forward and "straight from the shoulder"
manner, he told them of his plans for establishing a $100,000 old line,
legal reserve life insurance company for Negroes. Some laughed at the
project, others were afraid to enter into it, but a few, blessed with the
gift of foresight and recognizing the worth of the man advocating the
project, gave him their whole-hearted support.
An application for a charter was made, and for two years, the limit
allowed by the state of Georgia for the time between application for
36 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
charter and actively beginning work, Mr. Perry traveled thousands of miles
at his own expense striving to show the men and women of his race that
the day for their entering into really big enterprises had come. But in
spite of all his labors and trials, the two years expired with jus.t a small
amount lacking to make the necessary $100,000.
Heart-broken but not beaten, Mr. Perry set about repaying every sin¬
gle cent of money that had been paid on the stock, with interest at 4
per cent, and in doing this he depleted his own personal fortune. The
marvellous courage and perseverance of the man was shown when, imme¬
diately after he had finished this gigantic task, he set about organizing a
second Standard Life. Most of the old stockholders, because of his sac¬
rificial act in repaying money paid on stock in the first company, heartily
endorsed the new movement and their influence rapidly spread, and en¬
abled Mr. Perry to firmly establish the Standard Life Insurance Company.
As a result, Standard Life today has over $5,000,000 insurance in force,
and insurance departments of every state in which it is doing business
express their absolute approval of the management of the company. The
first public report concerning the company said that "the books of the
company were found to be in excellent condition and the affairs of the com¬
pany carefully managed."
The company is now doing business in nine states including the District
of Columbia, and in order to meet the needs of the great number of our
folks who have gone North during the recent exodus, we have already
made application for entry into several of the Northern states where the
influx has been greatest.
The Standard Life Insurance Company has met every requirement neces¬
sary to go into every state in the Union, but its main handicap at the pres¬
ent time is the lack of really capable and efficient men for selling life
insurance. As can be readily realized, one of the greatest difficulties
encountered is the fact that the Standard Life must first educate its
agents, and then educate the people themselves, into the value of old line
legal reserve insurance. The race is slowly being educated, and the field
for growth of such a company and all other companies of its type will
be greatly increased as the people more and more learn what real life
insurance is. Another very pressing need that is upon the company is
the difficulty in getting competent help for its offices. The company
needs at the present time stenographers, bookkeepers, and office clerks
of ability. Those who plan spending only a short time in the work are
not wanted, but to men and women who plan to make the work a life
vocation, and who are capable of being trained for executive positions, the
company offers a splendid opportunity. At its present rate of growth,
the Standard Life will need, ten years from today, two hundred and eighty-
four persons for executive positions, so that the chance for advancement
is absolutely unlimited. And naturally, these positions will be filled by
The Story of the Atlanta Mutual
37
those who are trained by service with the company. The opportunity for
young men and women of ability is evident.
Two of the greatest objections to colored risks by white life insurance
companies have been the assumed high mortality among Negroes and
the high lapse rate. Since entering into the field the Standard Life has
shown that both of these are absolutely without foundation, for the report
ending December 31st, 1916, shows that the lapse rate was only thirty
three per cent, a rate far lower than most of the other companies doing
business in America, and that of the expected mortality of 100 per cent
the actual mortality amounted to only 72.73 per cent.
A significant result of the Standard Life's entry into the life insurance
field is the fact that today a number of the leading companies in the
country not only accept Negro risks, but actually welcome them.
The company is now capitalized at $125,000. During 1916 the company
paid to its agents $20,311.00 in first year commissions and $255.00 in re¬
newal commissions, and $23,671.00 to medical examiners and in home office
salaries, making a total gain to the race of $44,237.00. During the year
it paid in death claims $19,013.00. At the same time it held in first mort¬
gages on improved real estate owned by colored men $57,040.00. As a re¬
sult of its efforts for the protection of • policyholders, it has accumulated
a reserve of $119,354.00.
These figures give a slight idea of the scope of the concern, and the
amount of the business. The outlook is very bright for a very healthy
growth due to the fact that the company is now reaping the benefits of
its educational activities in insurance for the past five years, and to the
fact that several of the most modern features of life insurance, such as
the complete disability clause and monthly income policies, have been in¬
corporated into its policy contracts.
The company's home office is at 200 Auburn avenue, Atlanta, Georgia,
where the company occupies eleven offices fitted up with every modern
equipment for handling the most modern, up-to-date insurance.
The History of Industrial Insurance and the Story of the
Atlanta Mutual
By T. K. Qibson, Manager Atlanta Mutual
(Atlanta University, 1905)
No subject is of greater interest or importance to the people of this
country than insurance. No business among our own people at the pres¬
ent time has a greater aggregation of money, brains and intelligence, and
no race enterprise has a wider constituency than insurance.
Before the year 1905 there was almost no legal state supervision of
Georgia companies and no requirement of bonds. Consequently, there
38 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
were many companies and organizations collecting a weekly premium and
paying, or in most cases merely promising to pay, a large weekly sick or
death benefit. There were a few honest companies in those days, but
not many. The woods were full of the "Aim flam," "you-catch-'em-and-
I-cheat-'em" variety.
In 1905. the state of Georgia through its legislature brought these com¬
panies under her control and supervision, and required each of them to
deposit $5,000 with the state treasurer for the protcetion of their policy¬
holders.
Naturally the smaller and badly managed companies were not prepared
for this law and could not very well raise the money for the deposit of
bonds. These companies began to fall, carrying down with them the
hard earned dollars of the people as well as destroying the confidence of
people in race enterprises.
In this critical hour A. F. Herndon came forward.to the help of his
race and to the succor of the enterprises of his people. With the dollars
he had accumulated by toil and sacrifice in other lines of human endeavor
he stepped forward, deposited $5,000 with the state and restored the
confidence of the people. By that act he averted a crisis which might
have swept all our race enterprises out of existence.
With his sound judgment, ability and money, he organized the Atlanta
Mutual Insurance Association, taking over by purchase eight of the fall¬
ing companies, installing new methods and paving the way for the suc¬
cessful companies of today which are operated by men of our race.
From a humble beginning in 1905 with one clerk, two agents, one branch
office and $50 worth of insurance outstanding, this company has now 100
branch offices giving employment to nearly 700 men and women and has
placed more than a million dollars worth of insurance in the best Georgia,
Alabama and Arkansas homes.
With a record of achievements unsurpassed by any company—with a
man at the head whose word has always been as good as his bond—with
a membership of representative men, women and children from every
walk in life, the Atlanta Mutual stands as a beacon light in the path of
racial progress.
Comments on the Following Tables
The seven individual tables represent cities having fifty or more busi¬
ness enterprises. Those cities having less than fifty are included in the
general state table. Of the cities having special tables particular effort
has been made to have the reports from Atlanta complete. It is re¬
gretted that the reports from Savannah are not more complete. Inade¬
quate reports from seven small towns are omitted.
Explanation of the (x) and the (*) is given on page 14. Of the three
employment agencies in Atlanta two are charitable, hence not listed
under "Nature of Ownership." In three instances there are white em¬
ployees; the smallness of the number of these does not justify separate
columns in the tables, and they are therefore included in the number of
colored employees. The report on property owned relates only to that
property which is owned and used in the conduct of business.
Attention is called to the smallness of wages generally. In the smaller
cities of the state, taken as a whole, they barely exceed seven dollars;
in the larger cities they are less„than nine dollars and a half; while in.
the state at large they are less than nine dollars. Savannah and Moultrie
are the only individual cities in which the average weekly wages are ten
dollars and over. This, perhaps, is to be explained by the fact that in
those cities the larger and more important businesses have been largely
reported to the exclusion of the smaller ones. This smallness of wages
constitutes a forcible argument in the chain of reasons for the Negro
exodus from the South.
In Contracting the weekly wages of employees may seem out of pro¬
portion to the average annual business, but this seeming inconsistency
disappears when it is remembered that contractors' employees are engaged
periodically. There are two bridge contractors in the state; they are not
included in our report.
While there is just ground for adverse criticism of the too large number
of petty businesses conducted by Negroes, there is also ample reason for
favorable comment on the increasing number of large enterprises among
them. These are found to an appreciable extent in the case of bakeries,
banking, barber shops, drug stores, general merchandise, insurance com¬
panies and fraternal organizations, laundries, and undertaking. There
are instances of investment ranging from $10,000 to $30,000, and of annual
business reaching as high as $50,000. In a certain city one man operates
a chain of three barber shops, representing over $40,000 investment, and
a gross annual business of more than $75,000. Atlanta has the distinction
of having what is generally conceded to be the largest, best equipped,
(Continued on page 54)
An Intensive Study of Negro Business in Atlanta, 1916=17
O
Kinds of Business
Amusements 3
Moving- Picture ... 1
Musical Company . . 1
Palm Garden .... 1
Bakeries 4
Banks 1
Barber Shops .... 33
Blacksmith Shops... 7
Book Stores ....
Caterers, 3
Cemetery Associations 2
Confectionery, Cigars,
Ice Cream, Soft Drinks
Soda Fountain
Contractors .
Slate Roofing
Paint ....
Brick,Stone,Concrete
Grading. .
Building. .
Plaster . .
Cooperage . .
Dressmaking
Drug Stores.
Dry Cleaning,Dye'g,etc
Employment Agencies
General Merchandise .
Groceries
Hair Cult., BeautyPar' s
3 g
o
*'■§
® CD
,o a
SO
3 a
55 •=
1-7
3
1
7
1-5
5
1-48
1-18
6
4-10
3-31
1-17
5-44
10
8-43
6-44
5-21
8-40
10-24
8-20
1-35
2-29
1-12
5-20
1-29
1-42
1-8
Nature
Owner¬
ship
$ 3,550
2,000
600
950
1,700
25,000
86,785
1,350
3,000
60
12,070
19,885
1,500
60
2,475
7,000
8,050
800
825
645
23,600
7,150
500
4,100
48,310
1,795
Value of
Property
Owned
•2
C C3
^3 >-5
I 1,500
33,433
30,000
id
c.s
$ 350
3,500
17,023
500
2,440
1,000
$1,000
13,400
1,000
275
1,345
795
2 2
<u A
> a
<! <5
<u c
>• c
<t<
$ 23,700
15,200
191,890
8,400
3,700
17,689
48,774
332,388
x
24,408
78,000
26,600
180,000
18,380
9,850
7,819
58,820
22,920
1,800
20,700
167,300
6,620
S s
S c
> B
«
$ 6,680
2,600
59,866
3,050
3,600
5,307
22,200
33,881
x
9,080
9,100
5,340
5,100
4,160
5,070
4,914
22,900
6,366
2,400
28,638
3,460
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Proprie¬
tors
£ 'o
Employ¬
ees
Average
Earnings of
Employees
bo >> S
aa|
$11 00
6 40
10 00
11 00
8 30
7 50
11 00
6 50
12 50
22 50
13 50
13 00
8 00
11 60
19 00
6 00
5 00
6 00
6 35
' 8 30
5 00
4 10
57 60
60 00
2,079 00
25 00
22 50
165 00
1 117 00
3,650 00
157 50
256 50
1,079 00
288 00
1,451 00
418 00
6 00
* 25 00
180 00
127 00
124 50
* 250 00
* 20 50
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
(Continued below)
Harness Makers . . .
1
18
1
Hospitals
1
1
Hotels
2
6-14
2
Ice
?,
4-10
2
Ins. & Frat. Organizat's
7
4-47
5
Jewelers
2
7-13
2
Junk Dealers
3
1-3
3
Laundries
1
3
1.
Lodging- Houses ....
4
3-15
4
Manufacturing ....
5
1-19
4
1
HairGoods,H'rTonics
4
1-19
3
1
Ice Cream
1
11
1
Markets
6
1-6
5
1
Fish
3
1-6
3
Meat
3
1-4
2
1
Peddlers
5
2-10
5
Coal and Wood
2
3-6
2
Fruit
1
2
1
Ice and Coal .
2
10-10
2
Photography
1
5
1
Plumbing
'4
5-40
a
Pressing Clubs ....
17
1-15
17
Printing & Publishing
4
1-12
i!
1
Real Estate & Loan . .
5
1-30
J
Repairs .
5
4-20
5
General
1
4
1
Stove . . . . .
2
14-15
2
Umbrella
1
10
1
Watch
1
20
]
Restaurants & Cafes .
94
1-28
74
20
Sign Painting
]
15
1
Shoe Shine Parlors . .
5
1-10
5
Shoemaking & Repair'g
56
1-35
5c
2
Tailoring
18
1-35
lb
2
Tailoring and Pressing
{
1-18
8
1
Transportation ....
62
1-45
59
3
Auto Truck . .
1
16
1
Drays
23
2-36
2c
Hacks
18
1-40
1>
Taxicabs
6
1-23
4
2
Vans
1'
1-45
If
1
Truck Farming ....
8
2-27
7
1
Upholstering
:
10
1
Wood and Coal Yards .
22
1-14
22
150
29,510
830
9,148
10,940
1,020
34,060
1.000
6,280
8.560
5,400
12,820
41,600
1,000
13,706
1,500
1,500
100
5,000
6,800
3,650
150,000 703,290
1,650
300
8,500
3,300
l,;
i,:
630
2,075
575
1,500
1,050
200
350
500
750
4f!0
3,760
16,100
35,000
3,250
500
2,600
29,500
2,500
2,500
10,700
900
60,250
8,400
3,150
3,150
8,080
12,815
4190,107
6,250
4,520
x
4,200
10,195
8.695
x
34,905
5.950
28,955
8,708
2,028
x
2,640
24,854
24,748
86,123
5,094
x
3,300
228,706
x
4,900
66,839
89,890
13,005
119,540
x
24,636
21,210
14,800
54,994
61,886
x
41,682
3,180
2,780
143,637
1,605
2,472
x
2,490
3,130
3,130
3.661
870
2,791
2,620
700
x
560
4,600
10,915
1,950
6,800
1,164
78,753
x
3,005
25,418
29,759
5,920
39,710
10,579
7,635
4,040
16,156
23,067
7,340
1
1
1
13
840
2
1
61
1
40
60
1
2
$ 7 00
$ 21 00
100
6
3 00
18 00
100
13
6 50
84 50
13
' 87
777
101
52
11 54
11,105 50
100
2
12 50
25 00
93
07
1
67
33
13
8
2
' 6 00
138 00
67
33
4
3 00
12 00
100
6
4 10
* 16 40
61
' 39
4
4 10
16 40
97
03
2
25
75
6
5 91
35 50
84
16
2
3 75
7 50
88
12
4
7 00
28 00
80
20
3
1 25
3 75
60
40
2
1 25
2 50
75
25
25
75
1
1 25
' l' 25
63
37
1
100
3
i
' 4 10
16 40
18
' 82
23
l
6 30
163 80
52
48
1
8
4
7 00
119 00
87
13
18
8
1
11 00
* 242 00
47
53
8
7 30
58 40
60
40
4
9 00
36 00
25
75
4
5 60
22 40
65
35
75
25
75
25
112
16
2
4 63
* 737 25
90
10
01
99
5
2
' 5 40
* 27 00
92
08
32
4
6 45
* 219 30
61
39
31
7
3
11 00
671 00
45
55
11
1
5 55
66 60
27
73
65
4
1
8 10
* 599 25
36
64
1
10 00
10 00
100
14
6 70
* 87 00
' 35
65
9
6 95
* 83 50
49
51
9
1
9 70
116 40
60
40
33
2
8 40
* 302 25
26
74
50
1
6 80
374 00
30
70
3
6 50
19 50
01
99
21
3
5 30
* 122 00
73
27
>
3
(6
S3
co
<'
a>
Gp
H"
0-
o
1-r>
z
n>
00
CO
c
co
5"
fD
3
>
5T
3
Atlanta
continued
Kind of Business
8.2
S S
p.
SO
z*
Nature
Owner¬
ship
Value of
Property
Owned
01
0)
>> s
©3
s.S
S3
a) c
> 5
«
CQ
<D_
Sf
> 5
<!<j
?!
0) C
> c
<JC
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Proprie¬
tors
£ 'o
ow
Employ¬
ees
Average
Earnings of
Employees
22-s
HI ® c
W
bo !>>
>1®
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
to
m
o
o
s
o
3
o"
n
o
o
tj
n>
o
3
>
3
o
3
OQ
2
CD
HQ
<-i
O
0)
o
CD
o
>1
9Q_
5'
MISCELLANEOUS.
1 Barber Shops, etc. .
Carpet Cleaning, Furn.
Rep'g& Upholstering
Dray and Ice ....
Grocery & Meat Market
Grocery & Restaurant
Grocery and Shoe Shop
Grocery & Soda Fount'n
Grocery,Wood & C. Yd.
Hat Blocking, Dry
Cleaning and Dyeing
Lunch Counter & Shoe
Shine Stand ...
Lunch Counter & Shoe
Shop
Lunch, Soft Drinks &
Cigars
Pressing Club & Cafe
Pressing Club and Hat
Blocking
Pressing Club, Soft
Drinks & Shoe Shining
2 Shoe Shops, etc. . ,
3 Tailoring, etc. . . .
Tile Manfg. & Tile Con¬
crete Contracting .
Wagon, Carriage Build¬
er and Blacksmith.
1-40
1-11
15
25
2-17
8
1-40
6-7
13-28
1-2
7-15
2-10
12
4
$25,960
3,300
1,200
3,000
7,700
100
600
2,600
400
800
450
75
325
150
450
110
1,100
1,100
2,000
500
Total of Atlanta
577 1-48 503 5715 $651,622$974,178$89,431
$13,400
6,400
3,000
$2,555 $3,600
$174,938
$33,839
505
50
1,300
125
200
40
300
35
13,900
3,642
x
x
x
72,660
9,968
x
x
3,280
624.
12,000
4,000
3,756
1,612
x
X
2,900
1,510
x
x
1,350
1,9C0
2,392
2,940
11,600
700
1,080
1,200
845
4,420
4,000
$3,600
76
12
1
4
15
1
1
4
2
2
1
12
8 26
8 50
8 50
3 00
5 47
' 4 00
4 05
6 50
10 80
7 00
3 75
4 33
9 00
7 25
19 50
8 50
*$718 75
110 50
17 00
12 00
114
12 00
24 30
19 50
32 40
7 00
♦ 3 75
13 00
18 00
58 00
234 00
42 50
506,198,471 $657,697 1967 407 364 71 301772295 78
'22,622 OOl
61
90
39
1 Barber Shops include Gasoline Station (1), Pool Room (1), Pressing Club (2). 2 Shoe Shops include BarberShop and Restaurant(1), Hardware
(1), Wood Yard (1). 3 Tailoring includes Shoe Shop (1), Shoe Shop and Soft Drinks (1), Taxicab Service (1).
Suburbs of Atlanta—College Park, Decatur and East Point, 1916=17
COLLEGE PARK
Blacksmith
1
32
1
$ 250
$ 3,640
X
1
$12 50
$12 50
10
90
Confectionery, ....
1
2
1
25
480
$ 288
1
100
Groceries
2
1-4
2
500
$200
5,360
1,520
2
2
1
1
100
75
Tailoring and Pressing
1
5
1
50
X
640
1
1
1
8 00
8 00
2b
Grocery, Soda Fount'n
10
and Restaurant . . .
1
4
1
650
X
1
1
1
90
Umbrella Repairing &
50
50
Ironing Board Malc'g
1
15
1
10
X
X
1
Total
7
1-32
7
$1,485
$200
$14,255
$5,872
5
2
5
1
2
$10 25
$20 50
61
39
DECATUR
Restaurant
1
7
1
$500
$1,600
$100
$1,000
$250
1
1
1
$4 00
$4 00
97
03
Restaurant and Pho¬
tography
1
15
1
200
125
780
250
1
4 60
4 60
99
01
Total
2
7-15
1
1
$700
$1,600
$225
$1,780
$500
2
1
1
$4 30
$8 60
98
02
EAST POINT
Barber Shop
1
28
1
$ 150
$ 800
$ 500
1
100
Groceries
?
1-2
?
275
$ 150
6,880
1,480
1
2
1
$2 00
$ 2 00
100
Restaurants
2
1-2
200
100
2,600
800
2
1
2
2 50
5 00
87
13
Total ... ...
5
1-28
$ 625
250
$10,280
$2,780
2
1
4
3
$2 33
7 00
96
04
Total for Suburbs. .
14
1-32
13
1
$2,810
$2,050
$225
$26,314
$ 9,152
9
3
10
1
6
$5 16
$36 10
79
21
Z
ft
OQ
CO
e
tr
(i
in
c
cr
c
•-s
cr
CO
o
>
5T
d
Total for Atlanta . . .
Total for Suburbs . . .
577
14
1-48
1-32
503
13
57
1
58
15
15
651,622
2.810
974,178
2,050
89,431
225
6,750
6198,471
26,314
657,697
9,152
1967
9
407
3
364
10
71
30
1
31
1772
6
1778
295
295
78
78
9 90
5 16
*22,622 00
36 10
61
79
39
21
Grand Total
591
1-48
516
$654,432
$976,228
$89,656
$6,750
6224,785
$666,849
1976
410
374
71
$9 89
*22,658 10
63
37
Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Albany, 1916=17
4^
m
o
o
3
o
3.
o
n
o
o
v
a>
Kind of Business
r* (3
1°
3 a
Nature
Owner¬
ship
3m
Value of
Property
Owned
tog
.5 «
■oJ
M 3
sl
2 2
0) c
> c
<!<!
tu S
> IS
<!<1
PL,
!
Q> fl
> C
<j<J
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Proprie- Employ-
tors ees
o_
go
a °
S-®
o o
Uw
Average
Earnings of
Employees
Jl«
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
Barber Shops 6
Blacksmith Shops ... 2
Drug Stores 3
General Merchandise : 4
Groceries 29
Hotels 1
Ins.& Frat. Organizat's 1
Markets 2
Photography 1
Pressing Clubs .... 6
Printing & Publishing 1
Restaurants and Cafes 12
Shoemaking & Repair'g 1
Tailoring 2
Tailoring and Pressing 3
Transportation .... 7
Undertaking 2
Upholstering 1
Wood and Coal Yards . 2
Miscellaneous 4
Soft Drinks, Lunch
and Groceries ... 1
Grocery & Shoe Rep'g 1
Harness & Shoe Shop 1
Meat Mar. & Grocery 1
1-35
18-20
1-14
1-20
1-24
5
18
1-2
4
1-15
2
2-35
6
3-5
4-10
1-18
6-23
8
6-12
1-25
6
20
25
1
$ 2,750
700
7,750
11,000
21,095
600
80,000
600
500
365
2,500
3,555
1,500
500
425
2,725
7,500
50
1,350
1,825
600
300
25
900
$ 1,000
2,500
19,770
$22,000
75,000
10,000
600
2,500
12,000
5,000
1,000
2,700
1,200
1,500
400
300
$14,800
4,490
$1,400
52,000
30,800
1,500
126,900
5,526
X
100,000
17,400
X
X
6,300
X
X
37,050
4,400
X
8,500
700
4,900
7,020
3,005
9,000
6,400
720
13,860
2,000
300
Total
90 1-35
$147,290
$110,070
$32,70012,000
$457,510
$20,351
143 37
8 16
9 00
7 73
3 50
6 17
4 00
3 33
6 06
13 00
6 00
8 50
' 5 90
5 50
8 00
6 00
5 35
4 00
6 25
$ 98 00
18 00
147 00
31 50
67 90
8 00
50 00
48 50
65 00
18 00
17 00
29 50
11 00
32 00
18 00
26 75
18 75
23
35 a
O
3
>
3
o
3
OQ
z
(II
oq
•-s
O
a
O
a
o
►i
5>"
$686 15 76 24
Economic Co=operation Among Negroes of Athens, 1916=17
PI
o
o
3
O
3
Kind of Business
31
(D (D
& &
go
3 C
Z*
Nature
Owner¬
ship
OA
Value of
Property
Owned
SfB
.S 08
Xltj
Srg
5 a
ffl ni
S-S
S'g
§«
Q**
B g
0) c
> c
<!<i
w
(h 3
o> c
© c
■ > s
«
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Proprie¬
tors
o_
SI
Sjs
o o
OW
Employ¬
ees
Average
Earnings of
Employees
bo>»
i >».
® 9i u
ea
bO J*»
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
Amusements ....
Barber Shops ....
Blacksmith Shops . .
Confectionery. . .
Drug Stores
Dry Cleaning & Dyeing
Groceries
Livery Stables . . .
Markets—Meat . . .
Pressing Clubs . . .
Restaurants and Cafes
Shoe Shops
Tailoring
Tailoring and Pressing
Tinning
Transportation . . .
Undertaking . . ,
Wheelwrights. . . .
1 Miscellaneous . . .
2-19
1-40
1-20
4
7
50
1-15
10
4
1-50
1-10
3-52
10-16
9
40
16
1-4
1
3-12
$4,000
1,820
1,525
20
10,000
•125
9,560
2,500
700
195
4,950
225
700
500
4,125
500
4,000
Total 72 1-50
500
1,200
15,825
>,000
7,200
175
5 5,800
14,356
8,020
750
15,000
x
75,314
1,800
6,000
7,210
11,100
3,050
3,750
2,220
3,236
20,850
2,400
22,250
2,910
1,500
3,406
i,500
2,195
3,550
500
1,800
1,080
1,000
1,000
930
$45,445 $29,225
$975
$205,506 $23,291
81
30 11
62 14
$6 00
9 64
6 50
9 50
7 00
3 86
6 00
4 00
5 67
4 62
8 00
9 00
6 00
7 50
5 50
6 25
30 00
134 95
39 00
38 00
7 00
69 50
12 00
12 00
22 70
55 50
16 00
36 00
18 00
15 00
22 00
12 50
$540 15
1 Miscellaneous includes Grocery and Lunch (2), Grocery and Meat (1), Grocery, Wood and Coal (2), Restaurant and Wood Yard (1).
VJi
Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Augusta,' 1916=17
Nature
Owner¬
tA
®
ship
ss
bo
e
ft
c
Kind of Business
2
CQ
S a
P
SH
W
«H
O
o
l.s
a
4J
SH
C8
PH
o
o
£
ai
Amusements
3
1-1
2
1
Bakeries
1
2
1
Banks
1
6
1
Barber Shops ....
16
3-30
16
Blacksmith Shops . . .
3
1-10
2
1
Confectionery
12
1-9
12
Drug Stores
1
6
1
Florist
1
1
1
Garage
1
1
1
General Merchandise .
3
5-20
2
1
Groceries
15
1-27
13
2
Hospitals
1
25
1
Insurance
2
8-12
2
Jewelers
1
30
1
1 Manufacturing
4
1-15
4
2 Markets
2
1-4
1
1
Peanut Vending. . . .
2
5-6
2
Photography
1
2
1
Pressing Clubs ....
3
5-6
3
Printing & Publishing
2
5-36
1
1
Real Estate
1
1
1
3 Repairs
3
10-11
3
Restaurants and Cafes
10
1-16
9
1
Shoemaking & Repair'g
7
3-20
7
Tailoring
10
2-18
9
1
Tailoring and Pressing
1
6
1
Undertaking ....
2
1-20
1
1
Vulcanizing
1
3
1
Wood and Coal Yards .
2
1-10
2
4 Miscellaneous ....
9
1-20
7
2
Total
121
1-36
104
14
3
Value of
Property
Owned
CO rrt
He
.£ s
2
I B
M cs
§ *
iSS
S-2
0) S
> c
<4
<p £
> fl
«
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Proprie¬
tors
SI
Employ¬
ees
o_
8 o
a °
S-s
O o
o®
Average
Earnings of
Employees
§11
lis
Ch£
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
O
$ 3,900
3,500
' 10,019
950
5,170
1,200
200
$ 3,500
25,000
1,000
4,100
1,500
$1,8
500
6,750
24,071
10,000
1,500
3,400
1,300
120
750
170
4,250
500
200
1,455
1,390
2,975
1,000
6.000
450
200
5,780
12,500
38,550
9,000
10,130
8,700
,200
12,500
1,200
10,000
,559
,644
,045
75
500
280
$ 6,000
43,005
9,800
19,904
3,000
1,000
1,200
50,000
135,250
x
2,137,731
1,560
16,968
13,500
3,440
x
4,250
5,200
x
2,580
20,300
9,900
20,620
3,000
46,260
7,605
2,580
4,950
3,360
14,960
5,649
2,250
860
960
6,000
3,280
9,160
8,850
52 30
146 44
$ 5 45
5 25
15 00
9 58
9 40
4 50
7 34
5 72
9 00
8 59
' 8 20
4 00
' 7 00
5 40
5 62
10 00
9 00
4 17
8 00
7 00
10 00
8 33
8 00
4 50
6 36
$8 09
$•49 00
84 00
45 00
374 00
47 00
45 00
58 70
131 50
54 00
4,114 60
147 60
16 00
' 7 00
27 00
67 50
10
18 00
71 00
48 00
105 00
50 00
50 00
8 00
9 00
89 00
$5,725 90
1 Manufacturing includes Hair Tonics (1), Ice Cream (1), Mattress (2). 2 Markets include Fish (1), Meat (1). 3Repajrs include Bicycle
(1), Furniture (1), Umbrellas (1). 4 Miscellaneous includes Auto Repairing and Plumbing (1), BarberShop, Contracting and Tinning (1) Bi¬
cycle Repairing and Brokerage (1), Grocery and Meat Market (3), Grocery and Wood Yard (2), Shoe Shop and Wood Yard (1), *
Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Columbus, 1916-17
m
o
o
3
o
3
Kind of Business
Nature
Owner¬
ship
s°
3 a
o-
Value of
Property
Owned
Me
•S §
l S
^2
u
« e
si
<D C
> C
s 2
0) 13
> a
< <
S g
v c
> a
<J<!
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Proprie¬
tors
II
O m
Employ¬
ees
£ o
om
Average
Earnings of
Employees
H
N§
cfl ^
>h r2 a)
<3) iS 0)
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
Amusements, Billiards
BarberShops
Blacksmith Shops. .
Drug Stores
General Merchandise
Groceries
Insurance
1 Manufacturing. .
2 Markets
Pressing Clubs . . .
Real Estate
3 Repairing ...
Restaurants and Cafes
Shoe Shining
Shoe Making and Re¬
pairing ....
Undertaking . .
4 Miscellaneous .
7
2-15
2-10
2-24
6
1-20
6-10
1
2-4
1-5
3
30
1-5
4
6-46
2-20
3-20
i 350
2,500
1,140
6,800
200
10,625
10,000
125
200
135
15,000
50
2,420
10
80
9,500
5,650
1,000
1,000
5,250
1,102
$1,250
1,000
1,000
8,000
3,000
525
$13,280
2,850
13,600
x
74,050
280,000
x
12,800
3,225
16,090
1,500
14,000
14,500
2,570
4,294
44
2,000
I 7 50
9 20
12 40
6 10
' 4 91
6 00
4 50
3 13
7 40
3 93
$ 15 00
128 80
74 40
36 60
59 00
12 00
9 00
40 70
66 60
27 50
Total .
$64,785 $21,352 $1,775
$453,139 $10,012
61
21
3 108 17
$ 6 43
60 79 21
1 Manufacturing includes Toilet Articles (1). 2Markets include Meat (1), Fish (2). 3Repairing includes Woodwork (1).
includes Grocery and Lunch (1), Grocery and Meat (1), Millinery and Shoe Store (1).
4 Miscellaneous
-fc»
Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Macon, 1916=17
-U
00
Kind of Business
c« _o
3 e
Nature
Owner¬
ship
(35
Value of
Property
Owned
.2
T3 h-3
g *
CD B
> S3
<•5
® C
> a
<!<!
8 ^
3 e
> H
«
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Proprie¬
tors
g-o
Employ¬
ees
Average
Earnings of
Employees
Pi
5;
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
Amusements, Billiards
Bakeries
Barber Shops ....
Blacksmith Shops . .
Boarding Houses . .
Contracting
Drug Stores
Furniture Store, Second
Hand
Groceries
Insurance & Frat. Or¬
ganizations—Indust'l
Jewelers
Markets, Fish (1)
Meats (2)
Pressing Clubs ...
Printing & Publishing
Real Estate
Restaurants and Cafes
Shoemaking & Repair'g
Tailoring
Transportation — Taxi-
cab Service . . .
Undertaking . . .
Wood and Coal Yards
1 Miscellaneous . . .
1
6
2-3f
1-11
13
10
5-20
1-23
3
5-17
6-2(
l-2(
8
1
1-1E
4-6C
2-18
1
5-10
5-7
2-20
2,000
500
9,200
250
500
$ 1,000
125
18,900
5,000
24,535
3,500
12,000
250
24,900
115
1,350
200
8,000
500
2,755
6,650
2,875
2,000
6,000
2,250
25,180
50
600
2,100
5,000
150
1,000
2,000
1,500
57,100
Total
118 1-60 10611 1 $118,760 $109,100 $2,375
$44,015
1,220
35,800
189,875
21,069
1,200
15,600
4,280
26,430
21,0(0
12,600
12,000
4,500
88,170
$536,759 $60,933
7,200
552
8,700
x
11,172
4,214
1,200
1,452
6,283
3,710
2,000
1,250
7,920
$ 7 00
11 53
6 00
29
12 00
8 78
$ 21 00
496 00
12 00
60 00
140 50
10 00
7 50
3
7 50
12 00
4 60
9 06
6 79
9 40
7 00
7
* 73 50
1,030 00
30 00
19 00
37 50
72 00
101 50
81 50
95 00
47 00
35 00
654 50
303
64 13
8 66 *$3,006 00
72
1 Miscellaneous includes Dray Lines and General Merchandise (1), Grocery and Furniture Repairing (1), Grocery and Meat Market (4), Gro¬
cery, Pressing Club and Palm Garden (1), Grocery and Shoe Repairing (1), Hotel, Theatre, Billiard Room and BarberShop (1), Hotel and Palm
Garden (1), Transportation and Furniture Store (1).
Economic Co=operation Among Negroes of Savannah, 1916=17
PI
o
o
3
O
3
n
o
Kind of Business
? S
z
Nature
Owner¬
ship
a £
Ow
Value of
Property
Owned
.5 «s
Hi C
> c
<!<!
««
SI
§3 c
> s
<i<
b a
0) A
> G
<!•<.
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Proprie¬
tors
go
Employ¬
ees
g"o
bM
On
Average
Earnings of
Employees
® *s s
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
O
3
>
3
o
3
OQ
z
n>
0Q
>-!
O
CD
CO
o»
<
CD
3
3
0>
XT
Banks
Barber Shops ....
Blacksmiths
Confectionery Shops
Contracting. . .
Drug Stores
General Merchandise
Grain Dealer ....
Grocery Stores . . .
Hotels
Ins. & Frat. Organizat's
Manf'g Mattresses
Pressing Clubs . .
Printing & Publishing
Real Estate
Restaurants and Cafes
Shoe Shine Parlors and
Shoe Shops .
Tailoring . . .
Transportation
Undertaking .
Wheelwrights.
1 Other Businesses
11-17
2-24
2-12
3-14
25
10
12
5
1-18
7
1-29
10
1-38
1-32
3
1-17
2-10
2-13
12
10-10
27
1-5
$65,000
12,200
1,750
3,150
3,500
7,000
3,000
6,450
1,000
' 700
1,090
15,300
3,000
1,705
285
675
2,000
22,500
600
2,625
$10,090
20,000
150
6,000
55,500
150
143,000
6,000
8,000
8,000
10,000
6,000
110,000
7,000
1,000
175
1552,542
35,616
11,880
17,756
31,305
357,906
9,762
19,000
8,740
2,640
4,480
75,000
10,560
$62,528
3,152
7,521
3,975
4,085
2,550
4,142
976
2,472
9,000
x
1,464
Total
70 1-38
60
8 2 $153,530 $461,508 $28,765
2342,367 $123,775
40
5
2
15
4
2
1
5
2
143
5
6
9
1
2
1
3
4
9
1
5
273
81
$17 66
10 19
10 10
4 75
18 00
10 00
5 00
12 00
4 00
5 00
13 69
8 00
8 33
5 00
7 67
4 00
$159 00
428 00
50 50
19 00
270 00
40 00
15 00
24 00
24 00
15 00
2,628 00
56 00
58 00
45 00
23 00
64 00
7 00
8 00
12 00
10 00
5 21
28 00
32 00
120 00
10 00
36 50
35
9 13 175 57 23
$11 74 $4,145 00
76
1 Other Businesses includes Dyeing and Cleaning (1), Hair Culture and Beauty Parlors (1), Jewelers (1), Laundries (1), Photography (1).
-fe.
vO
A Survey of Negro Business
in Georgia, 1916=17
Ui
O
B ^ c
° «h'+3
&
W
S-g
3.5
° S
0) 0)
bo ft
g°
«.s
Nature
Owner¬
ship
Co-op.
Value of
Property
Owned
and
Used
P o
bfi +->
.s ®
T3 n£
'3 §
WJ
U C
> a
<5<d
Average
Annual Profit
No. of
People
Empl'd
Educational
Qualifications
Average
Earnings of
Employees
Nature
of Pat¬
ronage
Proprie¬
tors
Employ¬
ees
Colored, Male
Color'd,Female
Average
Weekly
Earnings
Average
Total
Weekly
Colored %
White %
Common
School
H.S.orNor.
College 1
Common 1
School |
H.S.orNor.l
College 1
14,295
69
6
22
5
2
56
7
3
$ 7 76
$ 582 55
75
25
1
2
4
1
1
1
3 83
11 50
82
18
16,034
60
15
11
4
42
5
2
7 63
* 473 50
68
32
3,930
24
7
7
1
1
13
1
2
4 91
* 83 50
79
21
4,361
5
2
6
3
4 83
* 29 00
80
20
8,232
33
9
10
4
1
23
8
8 11
* 259 50
81
19
7,370
12
11
2
11
'l
64
36
2,900
24
3
10
3
19
' 7 78
* 163 50
72
28
12,537
35
10
15
7
1
16
11
2
5 43
* 190 00
78
22
4,860
14
3
14
2
12
3
4 47
* 71 50
66
34
1,110
6
3
2
3
6
7 16
* 43 00
85
15
1,340
20
6
9
1
i
17
5 46
* 131 00
74
26
5,410
20
10
3
l
15
3
'l
8 75
* 122 50
66
34
5,015
27
5
8
1
2
24
4
1
6 78
217 00
68
32
7
2
. 5
1
7
3 37
* 13 50
67
33
3,530
26
12
11
4
1
19
6
5 97
* 185 00
76
24
2,292
8
4
4
5
9
1
5 44
* 49 00
64
36
2,885
13
9
5
1
1
9
4
6 53
* 117 50
86
14
2,340
24
2
4
4
2
8
2
6 08
158 00
63
37
8,081
12
1
13
2
10
1
5 59
* 61 50
51
49
500
4
1
3
1
3
1
5 00
* 5 00
77
23
11,344
24
4
7
4
3
17
5
5
7 07
* 155 50
76
24
2,845
10
2
4
2
7
1
5 78
* 52 00
65
35
2,695
12
2
4
4
58
42
3,940
14
10
11
1
24
4 47
* 98 25
76
24
4,780
19
6
6
2
19
2
10 06
* 171 00
82
18
4,650
26
3
7
2
8
5
2
8 16
* 179 50
70
30
3,195
6
1
4
3
5 87
* 23 50
92
8
9,200
52
7
3
3
17
6
9 29
548 00
76
24
4,198
16
9
10
2
15
2
4 43
* 93 00
74
26
3,370
4
3
1
5 25
21 00
59
41
28
7
5
i
17
3
7 58
* 98 60
87
13
1-50
1-25
1-35
1-30
1-30
1-17
1-40
1-30
1-17
1-39
1-32
1-16
1-35
1-30
1-28
2-20
1-40
1-20
1-38
1-35
1-20
1-14
1-20
1-31
1-25
1-17
1-27
1-12
1-40
1-32
1-40
1-25
61,168
2,205
40,103
4,300
1,165
20,140
8,335
16,305
22,605
3,540
7,615
17,740
12,650
12,635
7,975
11,672
6,150
12,200
7,110
7,425
2,300
9,875
6,285
15,706
5,10 J
20,600
15,805
5,325
29,375
1,92 '
2,810
1(1,807
$29,100
3,500
62,268
20,700
550
3,100
5,950
■ 9,650
2,100
450
7,600
18,900
14,600
9,450
12,200
7 000
16,800
11,750
600
7,125
9,500
3,750
2,250
11,550
17,700
4,450
12,100
600
12,500
: 199,740
16,220
85.181
43,060
11,580
113,206
26,460
67,250
80,770
23,110
29,015
69,510
33,100
50,095
18,350
58,620
12,455
35,800
27,290
27,170
13,480
61,996
30,550
27,550
20,810
49,99J
55,740
28,900
124,700
24,590
13,940
40,430
Statesboro
14
7
1-23
13
1
$ 6,800
$ 1,700
$ 21,982
$ 7,282
17
2
6
2
1
8
7
2
7
50
* 67
50
62
38
48
Tennille
9
6
2-15
9
2,285
12,370
3,650
11
7
6
2
8
6b
* 86
faO
52
Thomaston
15
6
1-50
15
5,470
9,800
35,100
7,690
5
2
3
4
5
87
* 23
bO
71
29
Thomasville
20
9
1-29
19
1
13,348
57,070
6,778
23
2
11
2
1
12
3
1
7
82
195
bO
70
30
Thompson
14
7
1-21
13
1
4,935
1,500
32,000
3,125
12
2
6
*
10
6
90
* 76
00
74
26
Valdosta
46
18
1-25
38
8
41,070
42,900
202,194
21,772
88
14
24
6
3
55
12
3
8
30
* 822
00
65
35
Warrenton
12
8
2-30
9
3
10,380
5,000
54,868
9,090
31
12
11
2
41
1
4
96
213
60
69
31
Washington
29
11
1-30
26
3
15,580
21,800
59,960
7,695
18
5
14
1
11
1
1
5
36
* 59
00
82
65
18
Way cross
28
15
1-24
26
?
25,000
50,000
59,430
11,646
34
5
11
6
1
27
7
2
8
98
* 332
bO
35
Winder
7
5
1-10
5
2
1,495
- 4,675
1,824
4
1
8
4
3
50
* 10
bO
82
18
Total
768
1-50
690
67
11
$535,309
450,493
$2,060,307
$237,791
898
191
351
89
29
633
115
28
$ 7
09
*$6,294
50
72
28
Albany
90
23
1-35
78
7
5
147,290
142,770
457,510
20,351
143
37
. 37
5
3
100
23
5
6
41
* 686
15
76
24
Athens
72
21
1-50
67
5
45,445
30,200
205,506
23,291
81
6
80
11
3
62
14
6
28
540
lb
62
38
Atlanta and suburbs. .
600
71
1-48
521
61
16
707,232
1,115,984
6,360,685
695,349
2019
413
380
72
33
1808
332
81
9
83
* 22,992
60
63
37
Augusta
121
3f
1-36
104
14
3
97,200
151,783
2,645,868
112,281
561
149
52
30
2
146
44
5
8
09
5,725
90
76
24
Columbus
68
18
1-46
61
6
1
64,785
23,127
453,139
10,012
99
61
21
7
3
108
17
5
6
43
469
60
79
21
Macon
118
31
1-60
106
11
1
118,760
111,475
536,759
60,933
303
76
64
13
7
285
62
6
8
66
* 3,006
00
72
28
Savannah
70
30
1-38
60
8
2
153,530
490,273
2,?42,367
123,775
273
81
35
9
13
175
57
23
11
74
4,145
00
76
24
Total for Albany, etc.
1139
1-60
997
112
28
1334,242
$2,065,612
13,001,834
$1,045,992
3479
823
619
147
64
2684
549
125
$ 9
37
*37,565
40
72
28
Grand Total for State
1907
1-60
1687
179
39
1869,551
$2,516,105
15,062,141
$1,283,783
4377
1014
970
236
93
3317
664
153
$ 8 96
* 43,859
90
72.1
27.9
>
u>
c
<
a>
Z
m
ffQ
O
CO
c
co
5"
CD
3
o
0)
o
>-(
12.
S*
Note.—The above totals for Atlanta and suburbs are in excess of the totals in the special table for Atlanta and suburbs. The report from
the undertakers of Atlanta was inadvertently omitted. As a result of later information two additional reports on blacksmithing, and other fig¬
ures relating to educational qualifications, have been inserted also.
Undertakers, 7; capital invested, $52,350; land, buildings, etc., owned and used in conduct of business, $50,100; total annual business, $132,400;
total annual profit, $28,500; employees, 46; average weekly wages, $7.27; total weekly wages, $334.50.
52 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
S i
■p CU ^
C
ly'H O
H 0 h
«h rt
o «
h ,5
£ cn
P 0
©
« CO
U
<D
% pa-iojOQ
inox
aSiiioo
'JON JO "S 'H
fooipg
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WfeOOOK K f
Fraternal Organizat'ns
8
6-47
$ 90,000
4816
$ 906,856
0602
97
96
193
0358
$10 44
*$1075 50
0245
1
2
3
6
103
75
15
193
100
10
Jewelers
9
1-30
6,415
0343
12,910
0009
3
3
0006
10 67
32 00
0007
4
1
5
2
2
90
Junk
3
1-3
300
0016
4,520
0003
1
1
0002
1
1
67
33
Laundries
2
3-5
8,625
0461
13,040
0009
9
' 16
25
0046
' 5 72
' 143 00
0033
1
1
15
8
25
81
19
Lodging Houses....
4
3-15
3,300
0176
4,200
0003
4
4
0007
3 00
12 00
0003
2
i
3
4
4
100
Manufacturing . . .
13
1-19
9,063
0484
47,883
0032
*21
16
37
0069
7 76
* 264 00
0060
6
5
11
28
i
29
58
' 42
Markets
28
1-35
9,813
0525
155,005
0103
40
40
0074
6 07
* 206 30
0047
18
2
20
28
5
1
34
80
20
Peanut Vending. . . .
2
5-6
120
0006
3,440
0002
1
1
0002
7 00
7 00
0002
1
1
1
1
50
50
Peddling
5
2-10
1,050
0056
8,708
0006
3
3
0006
1 25
3 75
0001
5
5
3
3
60
40
Photography
5
2-6
4,500
0241
10,600
0007
2
3
6
0009
1
S
4
2
1
3
92
08
Plumbing
4
1-40
500
0026
■ 10,080
0007
3
1
4
0007
4 10
16 40
0004
3
3
3
1
4
14
86
Pressing Clubs ....
81
1-50
7,957
0426
91,221
0061
77
14
91
0169
5 46
* 464 30
0106
39
1
46
62
7
69
57
43
Printing & Publishing
12
1-36
48,450
2592
78,170
0052
35
20
55
0102
7 00
385 00
0088
4
1
5
10
11
30
50
87
13
Real Estate
12
1-30
72,575
3882
244,629
0162
36
3
39
0072
10 94
* 350 00
0080
3
3
3
9
23
9
33
64
36
Repairing
12
5,650
0302
16,074
0011
11
2
13
0024
7 60
* 76 00
0017
8
8
12
12
56
44
Restaurants and Cafes
249
1-35
75,123
880
4024
528,296
0351
168
240
408
0756
4 39
* 1619 95
0369
139
23
2
164
234
51
290
91
09
Shoe Shine Parlors . .
7
1-10
0047
6,460
0004
6
1
7
0013
4 75
* 28 50
0006
4
1
5
5
2
7
84
16
Shoemaking & Repair'g
144
1-60
32,675
1747
191,360
0127
105
1
106
0197
8 06
* 677 30
0154
93
12
2
107
80
7
89
60
40
Tailoring
57
1-35
24,140
1291
180,546
0120
118
20
138
0256
9 05
* 1176 50
0268
20
23
3
46
78
29
112
49
51
Tailoring and Pressing
36
1-22
7,463
0400
60,279
0040
61
5
66
0124
5 81
* 313 95
0072
20
4
2
26
35
6
41
41
59
Tinning
2
23-40
900
0048
7,000
0005
2
2
0004
6 00
12 00
0003
1
1
2
2
10
90
Transportation ....
80
1-45
47,030
2515
144,546
0096
93
2
95
0176
7 90
* 679 75
0155
52
•2
54
75
6
82
40
60
Truck Farming ....
8
2-27
41,600
2220
61,886
0041
50
5
55
0102
6 80
374 00
0085
5
'l
1
7
50
1
51
29
71
Undertaking
48
1-35
171,237
916U
345,120
0229
109
12
121
0224
8 25
* 957 60
0218
17
19
11
47
68
35
108
94
06
Upholstering
3
1-10
1,800
0096
4,500
0003
4
1
5
0009
6 25
* 25 00
0006
1
1
3
3
10
90
Wheelwright, Carriage
and Wagon Makers .
7
1-30
2,750
0147
8,380
0006
10
10
0019
6 80
68 00
0016
5
1
6
9
9
38
62
Wood and Coal Yards .
31
1-14
19,806
1059
61,882
0041
42
4
46
0085
5 46
* 207 75
0047
20
20
27
3
30
73
27
1 One each of nine busi¬
nesses
9
1-35
9,985
0534
35,856
0024
7
2
9
0017
8 31
* 66 50
0015
4
1
1
6
6
2
8
2 Miscellaneous ....
142
1-40
127,290
6820
530,527
0353
276
67
343
0636
7 42
* 2218 72
0506
70
13
5
88
227
56
8
291
Grand Total ....
1907
1-60
$1869,551
1.0000
$15,062,141
1.0000
4377
1014
5391
1.0000
8 96
*43,85990
1.00
970
236
93
1307
3317
664
153
4134
72.1
27.9
Note 1. The nine individual businesses, with their years of operation, capital, and percentage of colored patronage, are: Arboriculture, 35,
$600, 33; Book Store, 6, $3,000, 98; Florist 1, $200, 70; Grain Dealer, 5, $3,000, 70; Harness Shop, 18, $100, 40; Livery Stable, 10, $2,500, 60; Millinery,
1, $135, 85; Sign Painting, 15, , 01; Vulcanizing, 3, $450, 50. Employees (female in parenthesis) and average wage are: Book Store, 3 (1)
$7.50; Grain Dealer, 2 (1), $12.00; Harness Shop, 1; Livery Stable, 2, $6.00; Vulcanizing, 1, $8.00. Educational qualifications all common school
except in book store, where one college proprietor and two high school employees; and one high school employer as grain dealer.
Note 2. The word "Miscellaneous" refers to various combinations of businesses.
54 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
(Continued from pag-e 39)
and most sanitary barber shop in the world; it fronts two of the principal
streets of the city. The Gate City Drug Store in Atlanta, considered one
of the best drug stores owned by Negroes in the country, has trained ten
druggists who have passed the pharmaceutical boards of various Southern
states.
The Standard Life is unique among insurance companies; it is the first
and only Old Line Legal Reserve Life Insurance Company owned and
operated by Negroes. Its first annual report, 1913, showed 481 policies,
and $381,500 insurance in force; $10,293 premium income; $7,639.00 legal
reserve; $116,701 admitted assets. Its 1916 report showed 4,069 policies,
and $3,330,000 insurance in force; $114,794 premium income; $119,353 legal
reserve; $245,170 admitted assets.
With reference to the total business transacted by Negroes of the state
it seems not unreasonable to add to the amounts reported at least one-
third to the capital invested, and the same to the average annual business,
and considerably more than one-third to the average annual profit. For
obvious reasons this last item on the whole is less fully reported than
any other. This leads us to believe that the capital invested is hardly
less than two and a half millions, the annual business than twenty mil¬
lions, and the annual profit not less than two and a quarter millions.
Extracts from Correspondence
Bicycle
"Success in business has caused an increase of prejudice on the part
of white people and a decrease of patronage from them. Previously the
greater part of my business was among them; now it is equally divided
between both races."
Cemetery Associations
"When our Cemetery Association first purchased the land for their
cemetery the white people objected to the colored dead being buried
among them. One of the citizens, whose land was near the cemetery
plot, with the other white citizens of that vicinity brought an injunction
against the Association to prevent the burial of the colored dead. To
hamper the Association's progress, these citizens petitioned for a charter
to organize a town in these backwoods. After the charter was granted
to them the council of the newly made town made laws to the effect that
the Cemetery Association could not bury the dead in their own cemetery;
if they ignored the law they would be subject to prosecution in court.
The Association in turn appealed to the courts for their rights. After
two years in the Supreme Court, which decided in the Association's favor
each time, the Association, in order to be relieved of further trouble,
purchased their much frightened white neighbors' lands, which amounted
Extracts from Correspondence
55
to one hundred acres, and which cost the Association $15,000. After this
the white neighbors left the colored burying ground and everything has
gone on well since.''
Contractors
"Prejudice of certain city officials is a handicap in my business. They
are envious of my business and try to destroy it. In their inspection of
contract work being done by me they often make unfavorable report to
my white patrons, but the superior quality of the work done always re¬
futes the libelous reports."
"Lack of confidence in Negro contractors on the part of higher institu¬
tions of learning among Negroes in the Atlanta district prevents their
giving to us contracts for decent buildings. No trouble to get good labor.''
Grocery
"I believe that lack of capital, lack of patronage among members of
the race, and especially among the educated and prosperous, and lack of
business ability among the majority of our people are responsible for our
failure to make better success in business. The credit system is also a
handicap."
Ice Dealer
"The bitter opposition of a certain ice trust is my chief handicap in
business. In spite of their opposition the majority of my white patrons
continue to support me. A few finding that they were doing business
with a Negro withdrew their patronage and refused to pay me what they
owed me. I could not force payment, because I would find it difficult to
get a white man to serve warrant on one of his race on behalf of a Negro."
Jeweler
"I have had customers refuse to buy from me certain articles because
I would not use boxes of white firms. I never am loth to lose this brand
of customers."
Junk Dealer
"Jews control the junk business and they are trying to drive Negroes
out of the business. On this account license has gone up to such an
extent that few Negroes can deal in metal."
Plumbing
"About six years ago the white Journeyman Plumbers' Union and
the Master Plumbers' Union combined, and succeeded in preventing the
sale of supplies to Negroes by local merchants. I went to the leading
supply companies and attempted to buy supplies. They all refused to
sell to me. Finally a western man—a man from Missouri—came to At¬
lanta and opened a supply house. This western man sold to any one who
had the money with which to pay for the goods.
56 Economic Co-operation Among Negroes of Georgia
"The unions got up what they called an examining board. This board
would not let any Negro pass the examinations, and thus put the Negroes
out of business. Although I went up and offered to pay fifty dollars in
gold for my license it was denied me. In spite of this I attempted to do
business, the result being that I was arrested. At this time, I was
working for a young lawyer for whose father I had worked for many years.
"My case came up in the Recorder's Court where I was fined twenty-
five dollars. But this I did not have to pay, because I appealed to a
higher court. The Superior Court of the state rendered the decision
that the ruling of the examining board was unconstitutional, but that
'this did not affect me.' The court demanded of me to 'wipe' some
joints. This I did. My work was taken before the court and pronounced
good. Despite this decision, my lawyer, puzzled over the assertion that
the unconstitutionality of the examining board did not apply to me,
decided to carry the matter to the Supreme Court. This court decided
that I could do any kind of plumbing without license For a year I car¬
ried out this decision. Then the city demanded of me a $2500 bond. I
gave the bond, and was then enabled to do any kind of business in the
city of Atlanta. About four years later the city refused to accept a pri¬
vate individual as a bondsman and demanded a bond from a regular bond
company. I interviewed half a dozen companies before I found one that'
did not refuse to stand a Negro's bond. Since finding this company that
would stand my bond I have had no trouble save in securing materials."
Real Estate
"Relations with whites pleasant. They will buy from colored dealer
as readily as from white dealer; land and price are prominent factors in
deal. I have a larger number of colored patrons than whites, but about
sixty-four per cent of the money handled comes from whites."
Restaurant
"I cannot buy foodstuffs as cheaply as the white places around me that
do not do as large a business as I do. The wholesale houses sometimes
refuse to sell me goods, although I pay a separate wholesale license."
Transfer
"About six years ago I had the leading transfer business in the city—
fourteen wagons and twenty-two head of mules. I had charge of the
extra Christmas hauling for the Southern Express Company, and the
extra hauling for almost all the piano companies of the city.
"Although I had permits the police would drive my wagons away from
their stands, even from those before my own down town office. These
same officers of the law would permit white drivers to stand in the places
from which they had driven my teams. This caused me to transfer all
my teams, but one, into real estate."
I SEE that the path of progress has never taken a straight
line, but has always been a zigzag course amid the conflict¬
ing forces of right and wrong, truth and error, justice and
injustice, cruelty and mercy. * * * * I see that the great gen¬
erous American Heart, despite the temporary flutter, will
finally beat true to the higher human impulse, and my soul
abounds with reassurance and hope.
—Kelly Miller.
THE world must be made safe for democracy. Its peace
must be planted upon the tested foundation of political
liberty. We are but one of the champions of the rights of
mankind. We shall be satisfied when those rights have been
made as secure as the faith and the freedom of nations can
make them. * * * * The brotherhood of mankind must no
longer be a fair but empty phrase; it must be given a struc¬
ture of force and reality.
— Woodrow Wilson.