The earnings in hotel service play such an important part in the income of males of the Negro group, that some special note was taken of wages for waiters and bellmen. Records of 249 waiters in Manhattan and 46 waiters in Brooklyn showed that they received $25.00 per month, not including tips. Forty-nine bellmen received $15.00 to $20.00 per month, exclusive of tips. Out of these wages lodging and car-fares must usually be paid, and besides uniforms and laundry are not small items of expense. 2. WAGES IN OTHER OCCUPATIONS The wages of skilled trades do not affect the larger part of the Negro population, because so small a percentage are engaged in these occupations, as reference to the occupational tables in Chapter IV will show. But the numbers are increasing, for there is a constant struggle of Negro wage-earners to rise to these better-paid occupations. Colored carpenters have a local branch of the Amalgamated Carpenters and Joiners Union; there is a street-pavers union, with about a third of the membership Colored men, and the Mechanics Association is composed of Negro artisans of all kinds who wish mutual help in securing and holding work. Since Negroes who are union men are reported to receive the same wages as white workmen, the approximate union wages in 1909 for such skilled occupations as had a considerable number of Negro males will be a good index. The approximate number of Negro union members in 1910 and union wages in 1909 were about as follows:[63] Asphalt pavers and helpers, Negro union members 350, rate of wages, pavers $2.50 per day, helpers $1.75 per day; rock-drillers and tool sharpeners, Negro members 240, employed by the hour, average daily earnings $2.77; cigar-makers, Negro members 165, piece-workers, average daily earnings $2.00; carpenters, Negro members 40, rate of wages $4.50 per day; stationary engineers, Negro members 35, rate of wages, $3.00-$3.50 per day, average weekly earnings, $21.00; bricklayers, Negro members 21, rate of wages $0.70 per hour, average daily earnings $5.60; plasterers, Negro members 19, rate of wages $5.50 per day; printers (compositors), Negro members 8, average weekly earnings, $24.00; coopers, Negro members 2, average daily earnings $2.50; lathers, Negro members 7, average daily earnings $4.50; sheet-metal workers, Negro members 1, rate of wages $4.50 per day. It is evident that compared with the large number of Negro workers few are engaged in the skilled trades, join the unions, and thus enter into the more highly-paid occupations. 3. EFFICIENCY OF WAGE-EARNERS