Jim Moultrie’s conceptions as to conjugality might be improved upon; but they are certainly cycles ahead of Batouala’s. It is in the sketches this book contains and in the altogether admirable “Duel in Cummings” that we find the Southern coast country Negro as he is, most observant, not lacking in a homely philosophy, and, as Thomas, the Ohio Negro, noted (altho’ utterly lacking it himself) a creature of infinite humor. Whence does he derive it? He seems to lose it to some extent as he moves out of the coast region. But he becomes more efficient. He has benefited immensely by his sojourn in America. He ought to take more interest in his race elsewhere than the cultivated members seem to. It is good for the Negroes of the United States that numbers should continue to move into the Northern and Western States. It is providing a most interesting experiment. The urban Negro dwellers of the great cities of the North and West are furnishing a most interesting illustration of that mysterious power which leads humanity to its betterment. By the Census of 1920, in the great city of New York there were 152,467 Negroes. By the estimates of the Department of Commerce for July, 1923, this had been increased to 183,248.[414] Unless the migratory movement has slowed down as that estimate is for July 1, 1923, the Negro population of New York, today must be 194,445, with that of Philadelphia at 163,248 and Chicago at 148,326. There is no urban Negro population of these figures anywhere in the Southern States. The nearest would be New Orleans where the Negro population may be 107,530. But in addition in the great cities which stretch along and thro’ the rich and populous territory between New York and Chicago up to the borders of Canada the Negro population is steadily increasing. Detroit at the very door of Canada holds a Negro population greater than that of any Southern city except New Orleans; for Baltimore is practically a Northern city now.