I remember once waiting in the harbor of Genoa while our ship was taking on a cargo. The captain walked the deck impatiently, and, as the Italians went in leisurely fashion about their task, declared, "If I had those men in New York I could get twice the amount of work out of them." That is what New York does; it works men hard and fast; sometimes it mars them; but it pays a better wage than Genoa, and there is an excitement and dash about it that attracts laborers from all parts of the earth. The black men come, insignificant in numbers, ready to do their part. They work and play and marry and bring up children, and as we watch them moving to and from their tasks the North seems to have brought to the majority of them something of liberty and happiness. FOOTNOTES: [1] Alfred Holt Stone, "Studies in the American Race Problem," p. 164. [2] New York _Age_, August 24, 1905. [3] Occupations in 1907 of 716 colored men (secured from records of the Young Men's Christian Association and personal visits) compared with census figures of occupations in 1900. ============================================================== | 716 Men | Census -------------------------------------------+---------+-------- Agricultural pursuits | -- | 1.2 | | Professional service, 27 men | 3.8 | 3.6 | | Domestic and personal service, 363 men | 50.6 | 58.1 5 barbers, 5 caterers, 24 cooks, | | 30 general utility men, 41 hotel men, | | 76 waiters and butlers, 8 valets, | | 35 janitors and sextons, 29 longshoremen, | | 5 laborers in tunnels, 7 asphalt | | workers, 57 elevator men, 41 laborers. | | | | Trade and transportation, 279 men | 39.0 | 28.4 10 chauffeurs, 35 drivers, 13 expressmen, | | 8 hostlers, 12 messengers, 14 municipal | | employees, 127 porters in stores, | | 15 porters on trains, 24 clerks, | | 21 merchants. | | | | Manufacturing and mechanical | | pursuits, 47 men | 6.6 | 8.7 +---------+------- | 100.0 | 100.0 ============================================================= [4] Kelly Miller's "Race Adjustment," p. 129. [5] It is difficult to get accurate figures as no official record is kept of color. [6] _Southern Workman_, October, 1907, to March, 1908. [7] In 1906, and again in 1910, I secured a counting of the New York colored men in organized labor. The lists run as follows: