---------------------------+---------------------------------------- |Estimated Proportion of Whites of Total |Customers of Negro Business Enterprises. +-------+-------+-------+--------+------- Class of establishment. | 75%- | 90%- | 100%. |Doubtful|Total. | 89%. | 100%. | |and | | | | |Unknown.| ---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+------- Barber shops | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 50 Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- Coal, wood and ice | 1 | -- | -- | 3 | 19 Dressmaking and millinery | 2 | 2 | 1 | -- | 8 Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- Express and moving vans | 2 | 1 | -- | 1 | 12 Groceries | -- | -- | -- | -- | 36 Hairdressers, etc. | -- | 2 | -- | -- | 8 Hotels and lodging houses | -- | -- | -- | -- | 17 Pool and billiard rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | 10 Printers | -- | 1 | -- | -- | 5 Restaurant and lunch rooms | -- | -- | -- | -- | 26 Saloons and cafés | -- | -- | -- | -- | 5 Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 1 | 2 | -- | -- | 24 Undertakers | -- | -- | -- | -- | 11 Miscellaneous | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 48 ---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+-------- Totals | 10 | 14 | 4 | 8 | 279 ---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+--------+-------- The attitude of the white purchasing public has had a tremendous effect on Negro business, because it has failed to forget color in its business dealings. In many lines of business white people will not patronize Negroes at all and about two-thirds of all enterprises depend upon the low purchasing power of the Negro group. The idea that white people will not trade with them to any considerable extent and that they must depend upon their own people is so steeped into the mind of the Negro that he often does not perceive that he is catering to the whole public, white and black. FOOTNOTES: [76] This conclusion is based upon the statements of Negroes that white people have entered their stores apparently to buy, but beat a retreat upon finding a Negro in charge. Two Negro proprietors employed white workmen to call at residences, _etc._, in the operation of their businesses while they kept in the background. The writer traced out cases of refusals to rent places to Negro firms. Some of the incidents would be amusing if they were not tragic. CHAPTER IV SOME SAMPLE ENTERPRISES