The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-08-22

NAAE AAEEsAR OAN N% h-~S ~-~-
 and from the streets as bOotblack.
 The negro does not form a large element in the population of this city. It is estimated that they do not number more than fifty thousand. They live chiefly in three or four well defined districts in Manhattan and Brooklyn. In Manhattan they have been crowded over toward the West Side into the flats along the North river. The chief colony is in the vest ern side of the .'Tenderloin" region. It is bounded by Seventh avenue and Thirty-fifth and Thirty-ninth streets.
 Travellers on the Fffth-ninth street cross-town electric line are familiar
 with the location of the second district.
 Before the d6orsteps and through the
 windows of the houses on either side of that street west of the Circle can be. seen the dark faces of many negroes.
 This street is the southern boundary
 of the negro quarter second in size in the city. The northern boundary is
 Sixty-third street. The colored popula-
 tion in this region is constantly receiv-' ing additions. A small colony lives in
 Cornelia street. In Brooklyn, Bridge street is the center for the negroes.
 The recent incorporation of the Afro
 American Realty company. with cap- litalization of five hundred thousand
 dollars, revealed an effort on the part
 of number of negroes of the more in- telligent and wealthier class to estab- fish a. colony in a better neighborhood than that to which the majority of the
 unskilled class have been relegated by the landlords of the citys According to Milford H. Smith, the colored attorney of the company, it was evident that an, effort was being made to force all ne- groes, regardless of their calibre and
 character, into old buildings along the
 North river. Those of the more inteI-5 lectuaI class resented this, and deter. mined to find way to get homes in other parts of the city. Ten negroes
 formed partnership year ago and leased for a term of five years Nos. S6
 to 90 West One Hundred and Thirty fourth street and subletft to cofored families. Then they leased for the. same length of time the fiat-houses Nos. 156 and 15S West Ninety-eighth street and Nos sSO to SSS West Fifty ninth street, and, after making repairs, fol-
 lowed the same course there. This summer, he said, white persons tried to. prevent the negroes from settling in
 One Hundred and Thirty-fifth street. The company was then Incorporated and it bought the f1at-houses Nos. 30 and 32 West One Hundded and Thir-l ty-fifth street and Nos 65 and 67 West One Hundred and Thirty fourth street,
 then occupied by whites with thes inc, tention .ot turning the houses into
 homes for negroes. He asserted that
 the prejudice against his race would. operate in favor of the success of it's
 scheme for the negroes, whatever else might be said against them, paid their rents we'll This was a necessity in
 their case, for to be turned out of doors
 was serious matter, because of the
 difficulty of securing shelter elsewhere.
 He thought the methods of his eonpa-i
 ny would make the proximity of the homes of negroes less obnoxious to the
 whites, as, among other things, it would
 not tolerate the Ioafng of negroes about the entrances of its buildings. 'The
 negroes, said he. ''are not so likely to take offence at an order. of that sort
 from another negro as they would from a white landlord.
 A visitor to the offices of fhe Afro American Realty Company, in the Bo-
 reel building, No. 115 Broadway, will find choice carpets, shining mahogany furniture, walls with a green overing of refreshing shade and pictures which give the offices the appearance of those of a firm of rich corporation lawyers.
 The only indication9of the race of the occupants, aside from themselves, are
 two pictures, one on either side of the
 largest of the suite of four rooms.
 They are a steel engraving of slaves seeking refuge in the Dismal Swamp and "a portrait of Booker Washing ton. These are intended to symbolic the possibility of development of the. negro race.
 A student of local social conditions
 said the other day regarding the negro in this ity: Opportunities for the col- ored people are being restricted con-
 stantly. Practically the only employ
 ments for the better class now open are
 those of porters and operators of eleva-
 tors. The negro is regarded as untrust- worthy, the whites being generally
 steadier. The negro has not the same
 degree of persistence and is not capa-
 ble of as high grade work. New York's coIored population has been both small and thrifty. The colony is now getting larger and less thrifty. Colored people, are not prone to ask for charity. They are obliged to pay from ten to fifteen
 per cent. higher rents than whites.
 This is due to the fact that they are
 not as good tenants. They are not san-
 itary, and allow the property which they occupy to run down. For this req
 son tenement houses are not opened to
 negro occupation until they have ceased to be profitable as homes for whites, anr have run down to such an extent that it is hardly worth while to put them ir5 shape againsfor the whites" The negro in New York is limited in his efforts to secure a living almost to the occupations in which are paid the smallest wages. The negro who would rise in one os the professiots can ex- pect no employment from the white
 professors of capital, This accounts for
 the small numberin the professions. Of males, according to the last census, oS,o 7nd ;1,