The Enterprise. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 192?-1930, 1927-09-30
URBAN LEAGUE
REPORTS JULY
AUGUST LABOR

NEW lOhh, sept. ZS.-The Ma
tional Urban League in a report for
July and August summarizes en-
ployment conditions throughout the
country for Negroes as follows:
In Cape Girardeau. Mo, work
was begun on the $500, 900 traffic
bridge with twenty experienced Ne
groes as sand hoggers In Phila.
delphia the subway which is now
under construction Is employing a
large number of Negroes. Some of
these are being placed as foremen.
In San Antonio several new hotels
are employing colored walters and
some cafes have dismissed their
white walters and are employing
colored. In Pine Bluff there is a
heavy demand for uhskilled labor in
auto-body plants. A night force has
been established and an addition to
the plant is being built. In the
saw mills and on the street car
tracks Negroes are finding employ.
ment in Hot Springs. There has
been a slight gain In the brick ma.
son, plumbing and plastering trades
In winston Salem and Negroes are
being employed on many of the
large jobs throughout the city. The
West Hotel of Minneapolis has EN-.
ployed colored chef and kitchel
crew. This is doubtless due to the
fine record of ten years of service
made by the headwaiter. This hote
Is. now using colored elevator girls
Anataer hotel in sinneapolis has
opened with a full line of walters
The A. & p stores I'M Baltimore ir
the colored neighborhoods are now
employing Negro clerks. At least
four have begun work already. An,
other chain store corporation fol.
lowed the A. a. p in the use of
colored help. A white firm in Bal.
timore has employed a Negro boy
as assistant TO chemist. A few Ne
groes were added to the police force
in Detroit. A prominent hotel in
Boston is now employing colored
help. One factory in Brooklyn has
recently employed eight 4 Negroes
and AN automobile paint shop EN-,
plcyed its first colored painter. In
Portland a young woman has been
placed as an attendant in the Physic
Fherapy Department of the State
Industrial Commission. Two large
plants have recently opened up in
Milwaukee with a Negro as foreman
and two as strawbosses. Negro union
building tradesmen are working on
Bamberger's store in Newark, ten
million dollar structure which will
require two years for completion.
Newark also witnessed the place
ment of twenty girls in a dress fac
tory, the first to be employed as
pressers in that shop.
Losses
In Portland six regular and two
extra Mattresses were discharged
from a popular cafe because the
manager was promised increased
patronage il white mattresses were
substituted. The colored girls were
given written references stating that
they were not being, replaced be-
cause of inefficiency as their work
was most satisfactory. The Penn
sylvania Railroad has laid off two
huhureu OF more NEGROES III CO1um-
bus. Negroes are suffering lay-offs
from the mills in Pittsburgh. Most
of the mills in that district are run
ming half time to four or five days
a week. Considerable loss was ex-
perienced in Baltimore due to
strike on the larger buildings. The
Bass Foundry and Rolling Mills in
Fort Wayne are still working three
to four days a week. In Buffalo all
industries are running less than
50qo capacity. There has been some
loss among the factory workers in
Winston Salem.
Organized Labor
In Pittsburgh there is a notice.
able change in the relation of Ne
groes to organized labor. Former
union men who now work as strik-
ers declare that their reason for SO
doing is that on the whole there is
as much discrimination against the
Negro within the union as there is
without.