The Washington herald., 1908-03-08
COLOR LINE DRAWN
Big Northern Cities Have
Negro Question.
CHANGE IN PUBLIC OPINION
PrObIeB, Crows with Increasing
Numbers. Due 10 Influx from south.
Prejudice Extending In Labor,
Home, and Church CircIes-ROy
Stannard Bakers Monograph.

"The Color Line in the North" is the
subject OF an interesting article by Ray
Stannard Baker. appearing in the Amer
lean magazine for February.
Extracts from Mr. Bakers monograph
are here given:
Most Of the perplexing questions in the
North pertain to the city, but in the
South the great problems are still agri-
cultural In the South the masses OF
negroes live on the land; they are a part
OF the cotton, sugar lumber, and turpen-
tine industries; but in the Nort.l the ne.
IS essentially IA problem Of the great
cities. He has taken his place in the
babel OF the tenements: already he oc-
cupies extensive neighborhoods Ike the
San Juan Hill district in New York and
Bucktown in indianapolis, and. by virtue
Of an increasing volume of immigration
from the South. he Is overhewing his
boundaries in all directions, expanding
more rapidly, perhaps. than any other
single element of urban population. In
every important Northern city. distinct
race problem already exists. which must,
in a few years. assume serious proper
tons.
Country districts and the smaller cities
in the North for the most part have no
negro question A few negroes are found
in almost all localities. but an examina-
tion OF the statistics of rural counties
and of the lesser cities shows that the
negro population is diminishing in some
Localities, increasing In others.
So far as comfortable conditions OF life
are concerned where there is little frlc-
ton or discrimination and a good oppor-
tunity for earning a respectable liveli-
hood. I have found no places anywhere
which seemed so favorable 10 negroes as
these smaller towns and cities in the
North and West where the colored popu-
lation Is not increasing. But the mo-
ment there is new immigration from the
South the conditions cease to be utopian
as I shall show
In Big Northern Cities.
The great cities of the North present
wholly different aspect; the increases of
population are there not short Of extraOr-
binary In 1850 Chicago had only $40
colored people: at present II has about
5000. an increase Of some COO per cent.
The census OF 1900 gives the negro popu-
lation Of New York as sO,666 Il is now
0S0O probably not less than $4,000 Be
tween 1890 and 1900 the negroes Of Phila-
delphia increased by 80 per cent, while
the Caucasians added only % per cent.
and the growth since 1900 has been even
more rapid. the colored population now
exceeding $1,000.
1t is difficult to realize the significance
OF these masses OF colored population.
The city OF Washington to-day has a
greater community Of negroes (sone 1O0.-
OCW than were ever before gathered to-
gether in one community in any part OF
the world. so far as we know
New York and Philadelphia both now
probably have as many negroes as any
Southern city Except Washington. II
that be called a Southern city,. Nor must
IL be forgotten that about a ninth or the
negro population OF the United States is
in the North and West
Crowded communities of negroes in
Northern ATTITUDES have never before
existed anywhere. Northern city condi-
tons therefore present an entirely unique
and extraordinary interesting study. In
people told me that race feeling and
discrimination were rapidly increasing:
that new and more difficult problems
were constantly arising.
Generally speaking. the more negroes
the sharper the expression OF prejudice.
While the negroes were an ineonse--
ouential part Of the population, they
passed unnOticed. but with increasing
numbers Especially of the lower sort OF
negroes and black negroes), accompanied
by competition for the work Of the city
and active political power. they are in
evitably kindling the fires OF race feeling.
Prejudice has been melted also by echoes
Of the constant agitation in the South.
the hatred-breeding species of Tillrnan
and Vardanan. the ineendiary and cruel
books and plays OF Dixon, and by the
increased immigration of Southern white
people with their strong Southern point
OF view.
Negro Who Comes North.
Two classes of colored people come
North: the worthless. ignorant. semi
criminal sort who find in the intermittent.
h!gh-paid day labor in the North. ec-
companied by the glittering excitements
OF city life, Just the conditions they love
best. The other class is composed Of
self-respecting. hard-working people who
are really seeking better conditions of
life. a better chance for their children
And what do negroes find when they
reach the promised land?
In the first place they find in Indiana
polls the alley home. IN New York the
deadly tenement. Landowners In In
dianapoiis have been building long rows
of cheap one-story frame tenements in
back streets and alleys. The apartments
have two or three rooms each. When new
they are brightly painted and papered
and TO many negroes from the South. ac-
customed to the primitive cabin. they are
beautiful indeed.
What Negro Finds in Promised Land
But they soon begin to learn things;
1t Is true that the workingman can get
high wages. and the domestic servant is
paid an amount which astonishes her,
but on the other hand-a fact that some
how never occurs to many OF these peo-
pie, or indeed 10 the foreigners who come
fioclking TO our shores-the living cost IS
higher. For his gaudy tenements the
landlord EFFORTS exorbitant rentals.
When he came North the negro (even
though he had lived in cities in the
South, as many of the immigrants have)
never dreamed that 1t would require
such an amount OF fuel 10 keep him
through the long Northern winter, or
that his bill for lights, water, and every
thing else would be so high
IN short. coming North to find a place
where he will be treated more like a
msn and less like serf. the negro dis
covers that he must meet the competi-
1--WE struggle 10 which men of the work
Ing class are subjected in the highly de-
veloped industrial system of the North.
Suf7erinEs of the Northern Negro.
groes have lived with their doors open