The monitor., 1928-04-27
URBAN LEAGUE REPORTS UN-
EMPLOYMENT LESS; TWO CHI
CAGo FIRMS GIVE OPPORTUN-
TIES TO NEGROES

The National Urban League,
through it's department of industrial
relations, of which T. Arnold Hill is
director, reports as follows on indus
trial changes during the month of
March. Though unemployment is still
abnormal the month of March wit
messed the beginning of a gradual
change for the better in the general
unemployment situation which had
been said to be the worst since 1921.
The building trades began TO improve; !;
steel and iron factories increased
their working days; the automobile
industry added men to their pay rolls
and textile operations moved forward.
As a consequence, the employment
situation among Negroes which in
the main follows the general trend
for the country, is showing signs of
Improvement. Negroes are not re-
turning to the jobs that have been
taken over by whites but shift from
colored to white labor began to slow
up during the latter part of March,
although Pine Bluff added one hotel
to the rather long list that have
changed to white service help. As
yet the instances denoting betterment
are SO fragmentary that specific cita-
tions would be unreliable. The best
that can be reported is very defin-
ite trend toward Improvement which
industrial commentators and the de-
partment of labor in Washington
have pointed to as an indication of
better times when outdoor work COM
mences.
Conditions in Winston-Salem ap-
parently grew worse and from there
it was reported: "there are more Ne
groes unemployed in the city of Win
ston-Salem during the month of
March than has been in ten years"
Cleveland and Detroit show consider
able gain among Negroes. The Ne
gro Welfare association reported an
increase of Sd per cent in the total
number of placements as compared
with the month of February. The
favorable condition in Detroit is due
to the upgrade in automobile prod
ucts. Harrisburg and Springfield,
ILL.,, which have consistently reported
unemployment unchanged, showed a
marked improvement in March.
The most outstanding achievement
came from Chicago where the South
Center Department store has provid-
ed employment for 35 or 40 colored
men and women out of total force
of 100. Negroes are occupying po-
sitions as saleswomen, clerks in the
office, receiving clerks, switch board
operator, assistant to the manager
and assistant window trimmer. The
store is located in district accessible
to both white and Negro patrons.
also reports two oil stations
in charge of colored men. This is the
first time that the company owning
them has made use of colored help in
this capacity in Chicago. A large ma
known drug store corpora
ton has almost complete Negro
force including pharmacist, clerks
and cashier. This revives a practice
which the same company abandoned
some years ago.
Buffalo, Tulsa and Pine Bluff pre-
sent unique situations. In Buffalo
Negro musicians lost their jobs in
dance halls and night clubs when they
were closed by police because of le-
gal violations. Most of the closed
places employed Negro orchestras
and those that remained open en-
ployed white orchestras. In Tulsa
candidates for city offices
promised an equal division of labor
between the races. This, if granted,
would be a unique innovation for
Oklahoma and would provide for
some of the surplus labor which has
come to the city from the farms be-
cause the boll-weevil interfered with
the cotton crop. In Pine Bluff, where
men are working two or three days a
week at the mills and colored workers
are losing their jobs at hotels, white
business men are making appeals for
colored people to buy goods from
them. Lectures are being given to
colored school children and free trade
tickets, chickens, etc, are being given
away.