The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-16
A Negro Convention In New York.

To-day tnere meets az Inc ram IdIuen
in Fifty-eighth street the sixth annual
convention Of the National Negro Bust
ness League, of which Mr.. BOOKER T.
WASHINGTON is the president. The
purpose Of this league is "to inform the
world Of the progress the negro is ma
king in business in every part OF the
world and to stimulate it.
The program Of the sessions, which
are to continue for three days, is sig
nificant of the religious spirit prevail
ing among the negroes. Every days
session is to be opened with an "invo-
cation by a Christian minister. The
papers to be read and discussed will
be on every department Of business and
mechanical activity in which negroes are
engaged-coal and wood, painting, ma
sonry, woodwork, pharmacy, dressma-
king barbering, laundering, architecture,
undertaking, merchandise and banking.
1t Is remarkable that one Of the papers
is to be by an Indiana delegate on
Opera House Management. An 1lli-
nois delegate will read paper on the
much vexed question Of the Chicago
strike and negro labor.
One Of the most important subjects Of
discussion will be 1the realty business, y
more particularly the phase which con-
Germs the negro tenant in New York.
This is matter Of very grave impor-
lance to the race. In this city negroes,
as is we'll known. are herded together
in specific colonies" as they describe
them, and they complain that they
are often compelled to live amid dis
reputable surroundings. "Ninety-nine
per cent. OF the white owners COM
planned paper read at the last conven-
ton of this league, regard all negroes
alike" making no distinctions between
the decent and the disreputable. lin
these districts the only recommendations
required of person applying to rent are
black face and a months rent
Accordingly, about two years ago ten
negroes organized the "Afro-American
Realty Company and began "by taking
five year leases on fiat houses and rent
ing them to people of their own race.
Then 1t bought such property. Ulti-
mately the company was capitalized at
$500, 900, and year ago $l25OO0 Of the
amount had been taken by negroes at
$40 a share. Before the stock was put
out the company owned four five-story
Eats valued at sl25,OO0 and controlled ten
Others under five year leases.
The reports Of the five previous con-
ventions Of this league give lists Of ne
groes who have most succeeded, and
generally these are at the South; yet
the loss OF gainful occupations by the
American negro in the last thirty years
is described by Mr. T. THOMAS FORTUNE
as "the most remarkable phenomenon
in the industrialism Of the United States. .
The percentage OF wage earners among
the negro population is larger than
among the whites OF the South, but
there has been steady loss Of control
and numbers Of laborers in the skilled
trades
The same tendency is pointed out by
Prof. WILCOX in his study OF the negro
population, to which we referred on
Monday. Heshows from the census that
in the skilled handicrafts, or those in
which they are brought more especially
into competition with the whites, they
have lost ground. Perhaps the most
striking progress Of the South has been
in cotton manufacture, yet the cotton
mills have furnished little occupation for
the negroes. Out Of $4,000 cotton mill
operatives reported in the Union. in 1900.
about one-third Of them In tho South.
only a paltry l,4oo were negroes. In
Georr',, for example, cotton manufao-
turing is by far the most important in
dustry in the State, yet, with a negro
population Of more than a million, only
AT negroes are reported among the
operatives.
Even in agriculture, also, Prof. WILL
COZ finds reasons for assuming that the
negro will lose his hold. Generally In
The South efforts are now being made
to supersede negro labor VITA the labor
Of white immigrants. He concludes,
after an elaborate statistical study Of
u a 4ss -.