The Seattle Republican. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1???-1915, 1900-03-23
Negro In Business.

Atlanta university, an institution
for the higher education of the
Negro, has collected figures re-
garding the part taken by freed
men in the business life of the
South.
The range Of inquiry was not
like that Of a census, but was linn
tied to localities that could be
reached promptly by letter. The
term business man. was inter
preted to include all men with
stocks of goods to sell and such
others as had at least $500 each in
invested capital 1t did not in
clude BARRIERS, except where there
was $500 or more invested in a
shop. 1t included blacksmiths and
wheelwrights who kept stocks of
wagons or other goods on sale.
The report shows that there are
about 5000 Negro business men in
the United States. Definite re-
ports, however, were received from
only 1906. Of these 136 are in
Alabama, 324 in Georgia, 1913 in
South Carolina, 131 in Tennessee,
159 in Texas, and los in Virginia.
of those engaged in business 1872
are listed as grocers, 166 as general
merchandise dealers, 1862 as master
BARRIERS, 80 as green-grocers and
dairymen, "a as caterers, 48 as
builders and contractors, AZ as
dealers in meat, and 40 as mer-
chant tailors. The 1852 BARRIERS
have 100000 capital invested.
There are 17,480 Negro BARRIERS
reported, most of them working for
wages or as proprietors of small
shops. Of the Negro merchants
in the country 598 are covered in
the report. They represent
total investment of 81 1928, 243.
The 1906 business men reported
have $5,691, 1877 invested. On these
returns it is estimated that the
total capital invested by the Ameri-
can Negro in business is $8,784,-
637. Seventy-nine per cent Of the
investments is in sums Of less than
l$2500. Only twelve establish
ments reach the sum Of $4,000 or
more. Of the 1876 educated Ne
groes in business, thirty started
with borrowed capital, and the
others with money saved.
An interesting feature of this
report is the tracing of the differ
ent classes Of the old slaves into
business. It is found that of the
1906 Negroes covered by the re-
port 462 came from the house-ser-
want class, which took up naturally
the work Of BARRIERS, restaurant
keepers, expressmen, butchers, ca
terers, liverymen, bakers, and mil
liners; 81, from the feld-hand
class, gravitating to the work of
market gardeners, green-grocers,
dairymen, florists and lumber mill
owners, 176, from the plantation
mechanic class, taking up the work
Of builders, blacksmiths, brick
makers, jewellers, shoe dealers, ma
chinists, timers, paper hangers
and painters; 695, from the trading
class, that is, from the old slaves
who were employed in a way to
bring out the bargaining or mer-
camille instinct.
The compiler Of the reports rea-
sons that naturally business Of all
vacations was far removed from
slavery; even the ante-bellum
plantation owner was hardly al
good business man, and his slaves
were at best sharers in monarch
ical communism" Therefore, it is
contended, for a Negro to go into
business means much-hard labor,
thrift in saving, ability to learn a
new vocation, and the comprehen-
sion Of social movements.
Negroes have gone into business,
not by concerted or guided action,
but spontaneously here and there
in the country and in the city, North
and South. The reports show that
the Negro business man has met
with greatest success in the District
of Columbia and in states like Ala
bama, Georgia, South Carolina and
| Tennessee.