The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1902-01-31
NEGRO POPULATION IN CITIES AND
THE NORTH.

The negro pOpulaIlon IN the United
States is gradually extending more and
more northward. 1t is probable hat 1t
exceeds a million in the northern states
now. 1t is remarkable how great in this
country has been the urban population
the population in towns and cities. 1t
is so great, so rapid az to be regarded
as phenomenal. The negroes are not be-
hind the whites in rushing to the towns
and drifting into cities But it is not
best for them, we believe. 1t is GER
family not best for them in taking their
places in the great cities. Professor
Kelly Miller writes in the New York
Forum for February. and it it a north
Crn view in a northern monthly Of
standing:
The negro has Joined h procession
from sheer force OF imitation. AL
though he has no fixed status in the
Industrial regime of CITY life, he is at
tracted by its aIlurements as a moth
by the glare of a candle. He is COM
Ie!Ied to loiter around the ragged edge
,d industry. and a obtain only such
kind of employment as white men are
unwilling to accept. He inevitably sinks
to the bottom OF the social medium. and
1Crms the dregs of municipal life. The
Individual of exceptional endowment
will rise to d commanding place: but
his elevation. so far. has had little in
fuence upon the industrial lot of the
mass below. The aimless drifting into
the alleys and crime-dens Of the large
cities constitutes the most lamentable
feature of the negro problem"
The north will get its fill of this mi
grafton before the end comes. The
south is in every way adapted to the
negroes by every consideration. for its
climate, it's people. its opportunities for
we'll behaved. sober and industrious
negroes, offer advantages and blessings
not to be found elsewhere. The last
census turns on the light as to the drift
Of the negro population. In fifty-one
cities there is a population exceeding
1000 in each. and in some it is much
larger. Some of these are southern. In
these forty-one cities the negroes reach
q million. Think of that. Professor
Miller noting this great increase. saws:
This exceeds the total city popula-
Tor in the United States in 1880. when
there were twenty-siX cities above the
5000 limit. with an aggregate Of 5000
Nouls. The social n industrial back
Wardness of the negro cannot be more
strikingly illustrated thar by this com
parison. 1t will require almost super
human effort to bring these people up
TO the level of opportunity and effici-
ency maintained by their white fellow
citizens.
There are fifteen cities containing
more than 10000 negroes, with a total
population of 7O0,O 00. Five Of these
titles exceed so. 900. namely. Washing
ton, with Sc. 702; Baltimore. with 1929;
New Orleans, with INA: Philadelphia
with 81. 613. and New York. with 6e.666.
The increase in these fifteen cities in
the last decade has been 20 per cent.
Several cities have shown surprising
rapidity of growth. The negro popula-
sion increased So per cent. in Philadel-
phia; Ill per cent. in Chicago. "A per
cent. in Memphis. and 68 ner cent. in
New York"
The negroes do not succeed any bet
ter as a class in the north. if so well.
The vagrancy continues. The climate is
very ~unfavorable to a great many and
they die out with raUidity. The negro
population in the north Is COMPOSED
more Of women than lei The follow
ing shows how an intelligent northern
student of the situation "up there" re-
cards this excess of females. Professor
Miller writes:
while the negro man has no fixed
place in the industrial order of the large
cities, there is an almost de-
mand for competent colored female ser
wants in the domestic industries. There
are on the average 120 negro females
to every 100 negro males in the large
centres. Washington mas an excess of
O,e00, and Baltimore CT 5000. negro re-
males. This d~isproCoTjon is q most
serious factor In the urban life or the
negro. and one hat must be taken into
account in the formulation of plans for
his social betterment.'
In the south the races live together
in peace and kindness. Bad whites as
lad blacks are not a desirable part of
the population. LawleAsness breeds dis
trust and brings guilt. Now and then
trouble occurs. but it IS sporadic. local
and transient. Good, well-disposed ne
sroes of both sexes always fare we'll
and receive naught but friendly treat
n.ent. The New Orleans Picayune has
this. and we all know it is correct and
precise:
Negroes who obey the laws. and per-
form their ordinary duties are never
disturbed unless it be by some individ-
ual criminal. and they have all the pro-
lection that the laws and enlightened
public sentiment. expressed in force
when needed, can give them.
Such are the relations between the
two races in these southern states. and
any statements to the contrary are
either the ofsprings OF ignorance or Of
willful malignity."
A class Of northern writers who are
prone to sin and lying "as the sparks