Evening star., 1901-05-13
COLORED RACE PROGRESS
COMPILATION OFF STATISTICS BY A
LOCAL LEAGlE.
Report Oh business Conditions. Or
sanfzetions and Trade Relations
Morals and Education.

The Union League, a local organization OF
colored people interested in the advance
ment Of their race, has been making an in
vestigation, heretofore announced in
The Star, into the status of the colored
population in business and in maintaining
organizations. The work has been con-
Quoted by Mr.. A. f. Hilyer, with the follow
ing assistants: DIR. ]. G. Clayton, H. j.
Davis, G. w. Ellis. A. 9. Gray, l.. 6.
Fletcher, tr, Dr. X. r. Hamilton, l.. M.
Hershaw, w. i. Houston, DR.. John c. Nor
wood, Robert Pelham, jr., Edgar NJ. Kicks,
Edward w. Turner and DIR. Frank J. Webb.
The District was divided into sections
and each canvasser assigned to a section.
The report was compiled and edited by MIR.
Hilyer and published under the auspices of
the local Union League in pamphlet of
ia pages. 1t is claimed by the compiler
that this is the most comprehensive effort
on the part of persons of color TO study
their own condition yet made.
Among the conclusions reached Is that
"colored people are not disposed to patron
ize each other in those classes of business
in which the whites seriously compete for
their trade. 1t is the almost universal
testimony of coiored men i'll those classes
Of business in which they must compete
with white merchants that, as a rule, the
people of their own race shun them, and
that their patronage comes almost entirely
from the white race
This Mr. Hilyer says. is due partly to a
lack Of confidence which the masses feel
for the colored business man, and partly
to envy and jealousy, conditions which
must be overcome, in large measure, be-
fore the colored man can hope to take his
proper place In the business world Yet,
with all these drawbacks he says. a COM
mendable progress has been made in bust
ness The business movement has not yet
gained much volume, but is Widespread and
popular, embracing all sections of the Dis
tr1ct, over eighty-three different classes of
business and all classes Of the colored
population.
The statistical analysis of the business
movement was prepared by Mr.. Geo. w.
Ellis, a graduate of the Gunton Institute
OF Economics. New York city. 1t shows
that there are in the Dist rict of Columbia
l .So2 colored proprietors, of whom only
l o6O furnished sufficient data about their
business to enable him to include them in
his tabular statements OF these seventy
two have been in business less than one year
2oS IRON one to three years, ES9 from
three to five years, .l7 from five to ten.
years, 249 from ten to twenty years and
10 more than twenty years, indicating
considerable peTmanence in business They
give employment to 2SSO persons have
1864, ,761 invested. aud do an aggregate an
Eual business of more than one and three
quarter million; of dollars.
Among the more common kinds OF busi-
ness may be mentioned the following: Bar
Der shops, a.; blacksmith shops, 13; boot
and shoe repaiIers. 81; caterers, Is; con-
fectioneery and eating places, &c; contract
ors, II; dining rooms, %; dressmakers,
80; dyers and clothes cleaners, Il; cook
shops where meals are furnished, 95; ex-
p1essmen, 12S: fish snd oyster Dealers 7j;
grocers. etc, 100; hackmen, 81: hotelkeep-
ers, IA; market stands. 40: pool rooms, II;
saloons, o. There are tifty-three physicians,
twelve trained nurses, twenty-three law
yers and ten dentists.
Report on Organizations
No less nj q social study 10
the report on the organizations maintained
by the colored people. There are one bank,
one building association and four life insur-
ance companies on the plan Of small week
ly premiums. In addition to these there are
over sixty non-secret and fifteen secret or
ders, whose chief object is to care for the
sick and bury the dead. In the year 1900
these societies had membership in the
District alone above 22HN, with accumu-
lated property and cash of 1926, GOO and ex-
pended for benefits and charity over $GO,-
OOu. "
| The colored people own and maintain
three cemeteries-one Of them, Harmony"
| organized in 1879. There are eight charity
| those connected with the churches; in
Vulnerable pleasure clubs six literary So
| cieties, two Of them, the Bethel Society
organized in 1851, and the Second Baptist
Lyceum, organized in 1886. OF national
| fame; medical society a dental society
| and society of trained nurses; three
| musical organizations for the study of
| classical music besides the bands glee
| clubs and church choirs many of which
! have attained high rank; five patriotic Ave
| philanthropic and five trades union oreani-
zations: There are ninety,three colored
churches, with membership of % COO
ninety-six Sunday schools, with an enroll.
ment Of nearly 10000.
"Organtzation,' the report saws '.is the
] core OF civilization. Just in proportion as a
people show capacity to combine their
resources In organizations, Just in that nro
portion do they give evidence OF a higher
civilization There is no better index to the
development and character of a class of
people than the number and nature of the
organizations which they sustain" Accord
| ing to this test the report argues the col
| ored people of the District have made com
mendable progress.
Next to their Improvement in morals
and education, the colored people of the
District have made the most progress in The
acquisition of homes and in home hn,iId,n1
According to the census of 1880 the latest
available statistics. 2a.5 per cent Of ali the
| families in Washington owned their homes
while 10 per cent OF all the colored families
owned theirs. Many of these homes are the
centers of refinement and culture No less
| than six of them are valued above $40 00O
each. and at least two-thirds OF them above
$1,000 each Besides the families who own
homes, surrounded by many of the evf
dences OF comfort and culture in modern
home life, books, pictures newsnanars
magazines pianos. etc. One of the decided
evidences of progress of the colored nonu-
lation of Washington is to be seen in the
Improvement of their home life"