The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-07-17
THURSDAY. jolly II. 1902
SOLUTION OF THE NEGRO PROB
~ EM

The Ps,fladeiphia Times says that tht
negro population OF that city IS increas-
dng BY leaps and bounds. and stat,sti-
CLANS believe that the next decade VII
see Philadelphia the centre Of greatest
II density Of the rational negro population
ss prominent negro OF that city is quot
ed as asenority for the statement tina,
Richmond lis now the centre OF greatest
density. with washington as close sec
ond.
we have not the necessary figures al
hand, but we think this statement as to
Richmond Is incorrect
The interesting fact. however. Is that
the negro is undoubtedly moving North
ward. In 1870 there were 2,147 negroes
In Philadelphia Ten years later the
total had Increased to 1858. In 1881 the
number had increased to 1881 and In
& 1900 Il was s., 613. Our Philadelphia con-
Temporary now believes that there are
IN that city fully 10000 negroes. A ne
gro statstician in the city. who mas oeen
paying special attention to this SUBJECT
estimates the number Of his people com
j Ing to Philadelphia at 5000 year. AZ
The ONCE Of the Christian Recorder.
negro church paper. 1t Is said that tne
membership Of the African churches is
{ Increasing at the rate Of 1,4O0 year.
\ 4 Many who were further South last
YEAR said a negro who was interview
: sd. .are on the Eastern. Shore and al
through Maryland this year Those VINO
vare IN Maryland and Virginia last year
IRE now in Philadelphia He mentioned
this BIZ way of showing that the negroes
: are gradually. but surely. moving from
South to North It is further stated that
the negroes in Philadelphia are buying
4 homes and colonizing. Recently large
number Of negroes were imported to
Philadelphia to work on the ne" nltfa-
tion plants Of the city.
The Times has more than once men
toned the fact that many negroes are
leaving Virginia. This fact was discoV-
cred by representative of The Times
who last winter made a trip through the
Black Belt. Wherever he went there
was complaint that negro labor was get
ting to be very scarce. and one man
went SO far as to say in reply to
question that the real negro problem
was not what the people of that section
were going to do with the negro. but
what they were going to do without
him.
There is no disputing the fact that the
Southern people like the negro as IA
borer They have become accustomed
to him and he has become accustomed to
them. and white men and white women
4 in this part Of the country do not Know
7 what to do with white servants.
But as a sociological problem, 1t is en-
couraging that the negroes are moving
4 from the South into other sections and
gradually distributing themselves through
out the length and breadth of the land.
They have given trouble in the South
4 as voters and otherwise because of the
large numbers of them in various To-
calitIes. ana the Northern people have
not understood the question as related
Ia tf1e South because they have dealt
r,ith the negro as an individual and not
as a race en- masse. If the number OF
negroes in the South were reduced to
one-third our negro problem would be
largely solved; on the other hand as the
s negroes increase in the Northern locali-
ties the negro problem becomes more
and more national problem The
Northern people. so long as they had
no negroes to deal with. thought 1T
very. simple matter to solve the problem
! An the South 1t is a very different
I proposition when they have to deal with
the question at hand