Junius B. Wood. The Negro in Chicago, (1916) ILLINOIS HISTORICAL SURVEY. UNIVERSITY OF r.LINC!S LIBRARY ir URBANA-CHAMPA1GN Al SURVEY 35. 8960773 3502n The Negro in Chicago Published \>y The Chicago Daily News UNIVERSITY OF. ILLINOIS LIBRARY URBANA-CHAMPAIGN Distributed free in Chicago and to educational in- stitutions, business organizations and publications. To individuals outside of Chicago, a charge of 10 cents will be made to cover postage and mailing. Address, The Daily News, 15 North 5th avenue, Chicago. THE NEGRO IN CHICAGO ^ How He and His Race Kindred Came to Dwell in Great Numbers in a Northern City; How He Lives and Works; His Successes and Failures ; His Political Outlook. A FIRST-HAND STUDY By JUNIUS B. WOOD (Of The Chicago Daily News Staff.) Reprinted from The Chicago Daily News, issues of Dec. 11 to 27, 1916. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. Page How the Colored Man Came to Chicago 5 CHAPTER II. Jobs Which Are Plentiful for Colored Workers 7 CHAPTER III. The South and the Trade Unions of the North 9 CHAPTER IV. The Negro in Business and Investment . . . . . . 11 CHAPTER V. Many Are in Professional and Political Life 13 CHAPTER VI. Musicians, Artists, Writers, and the Stray Genius . . . . 15 CHAPTER VII. Apartments for Colored Families; Two Great Institutions . . 17 CHAPTER VIII. Churches and Charitable Institutions 19 CHAPTER IX. Public Schools and Opportunities in Civil Service . . . . 21 CHAPTER X. Real Estate Values and Bad Housing Conditions .... 23 CHAPTER XI. Politics Puts Disorderly Dives Among Homes 25 CHAPTER XII. Gambling_Controlled by a Powerful Political Syndicate . . . 27 CHAPTER XIII. Mayors, Congressmen and State Senators Elected by Colored Voters 29 CHAPTER XIV. Planning for the Future and Better Conditions .... 30 , HIST, THE NEGRO IN CHICAGO CHAPTER I How the Colored Man Came to Chicago Jean Baptiste Point de Saible tramped to the shore of Lake Michigan and l>uilt a home 137 years ago. His was the first house in the present 198 square miles of skyscrapers and miscellaneous structures known as Chicago. The rough house in the wilds along the lake may have the credit for being the foundation of the city. Point de Saible remained here sev- enteen years, traded with the Indians, trapped for skins, fought and drank whis- ky. Then in 1796 he sold his horns to a Frenchman and went away to what is now Peoria. He was the first settler arid property owner in Chicago. Point de Saible was a free colored man from Santo Domingo. To-day the city which that colored man founded is one of opportunity and freedom unexcelled for the man, woman or child of the Negro race. From all parts of America, espe- cially from the southland, their eyes tuin toward Chicago. Many of them come north. The influx has run into the thou- sands in the last few months. Colored Population Gaining* The colored portion of Chicago's popu- lation is growing more rapidly in propor- tion to its numbers than any other. Pnme persons see in it a danger to the future of the city. It is admittedly a very com- plex problem. The colored population is pushing out farther every day. It thas broken out of the city blocks which a few years ago were called its own, until to-day it covers hundreds of blocks of residence and business territory. It pre- sents a situation which cannot be ig- nored. Little has been known of this big ele- ment in the city's life. Even thoee who have given it study and time cannot agree on such an elementary fact as the number of colored persons in the city. Estimates run from 40,000 to 175,000. Definite information on the local activi- ties of the race has been lacking. Now a reporter for The Daily News has made an effort to present the facts about some of these activities, in order to describe truthfully a condition vital to Chicago. Colored men and women are represent- ed in almost every line of activity in Chicago. In no other city of the country do they fill such responsible positions in political, industrial and professional fields. That is why leaders of the race declare that Chicago is the city which holds out the most promising future for their people. In the Industrial Field. In the industrial field tho colored popu- lation has invaded the labor market with a rush. Men and women of the race are being employed by thousands in business plants where a few years ago a colored person would not be admitted even as a visitor. To organized labor the growing problem of colored help is a disquieting augury of future storms. Chicago is one of the few cities in the United States where the 'colored man is not admitted to the trade unions, even though he may have a union card from some other city. Out of the union he is eligible as a strike breaker .and once he has shoved his foot ever the "employes' entrance" the colored man often remains, even after the strike ie settled. In Chicago are hundreds of stores, res- taurants, saloons, barber shops, haber- dasheries, tailor shops, beauty parlors, real estate offices and similar lines of business run by colored men and women, In commercial activity they have lagged in the north compared with the south. They trade at stores run by other races. Some stores make special inducements to them. Others try to discourage their patronage. Race Politically Exploited. Politically the Negro race is being ex- ploited in Chicago by designing men. A few colored men receive political prefer- ment and jobs are plentiful of certain classes and kinds in return for assistance in this exploitation. Thus some individuals get a chance to make money through methods by which the race as a whole is held back and discredited. Into districts where homes of colored families predom- inate come through political favor the disorderly saloons, the all night cabarets, the shady hotels and disorderly houses, grambling clubs and other influences of destrucion. The colored boy or girl who is taught in the public schools by day sees at night the lights of the neighbor- ing vicious resort. Vice in Colored District*. This is the menace to Chicago, accord- ing to sociological students. In the last few months it has been so noticeable that it might seem a definite administration policy. Vice resorts which have been driven from other sections of the city, new ones opened on pretentious lines, old ones which have been closed by the po- lice, flourish in the colored districts, un- molested by police or city authorities, defying laws of municipality and state. If the entrance into a one time exclusive residence district of colored household- ers is to be the first step in its decay into a vice district the situation is grave. This is what has come about in much of the territory north of 35th street and west of South Wabash avenue. City au- thorities are prone to ignore the right of their colored constituents to respecta- ble home surroundings. Reputable col- ored citizens, who could afford to do so, have moved from this part of the city, leaving a district of high lights and deep shadows which is equaled in few cities. Included in Chicago's population are about 75,000 colored persons. Other thou- sands live in Evanston; Gary, Ind.; Blue Island, and various suburbs. The Negro yearbook, published at Tuskegee, Ala., places the Chicago negro population at 44,103. Some who are particularly per- turbed by the activities of the colored citizen place the number at 175,000. The board of education census for 1914, the last in which colored people were enu- merated separately, fixed the number at 54,557. Allowing for the normal increase of 5 per cent, and considering the recent large immigration from the south, the present figure should be near 75,000, or about 3 per cent of tho total population of the city. Colored People in 2d Ward. Nearly half the city's colored popula- tion lives in the 2d ward. The number is close to 30,000 in that ward. The colored voters control it politically, though the whites outnumber them. However, all the former are citizens, so that of the ward's qualified voters 78 per cent are colored. The 1st ward, with 7,000, the 30th with almost as many, then the 3d, 31st, 14th and 6th in order, have heavy colored voting strength. Many precincts in the 2d ward do not have a dozen vot- ers who are not colored. Chicago's colored population follows certain fairly distinct street lines. Start- ing at West 22d and South Dearborn streets, the largest section runs south, broadening toward the east and following the railroad tracks between Federal and South LaSalle streets on the west. At 24th street it has taken in South State street; at 26th street it has crossed Wabash avenue; at 31st street it runs far east, tapering back gradually be- tween 35th and 39th streets to its former narrow four blocks. This continues be- yond 63d street, always pushing farther south. Chicago's largest colored population lives between 29th and 35th streets. Many real estate men hold that it will be only a few years before the colored people spread over all that big section as far east as the lake. Colony in Englewood Also. In Englewood there is a considerable colony of colored people between West 59th, West 63d, South Ada and South Hal- sted streets, and south from there as far as West 75th street, between South Ra- cine avenue and South Morgan street. South of East 63d street and west of Cot- tage Grove avenue is a territory where they can buy property, but cannot rent from white owners. Many have bought in that high class district. Around East 55th street and Lake Park avenue is a saloon element, while more of the quiet resi- dence class have homes around Evans avenue and East 48th street, Berkeley avenue and East 44th street, Ellis ave- nue and East 52d street and in South Michigan avenue, south of 58th street. In what is known as Millerdale, between East 93d and 95th streets, for four blocks east of South State street are several hundred more families. On the west side the colored residents pretty generally occupy a territory in- cluded between Clarkson court, Ada and Harrison streets and Grand avenue. Few- er are on the north side than in any other part of the city Most of them are west of Wells street and south of North avenue. CHAPTER II Jobs Which Are Plentiful for Colored Workers How generous Chicago is in work for the colored man is shown by figures com- piled in a canvass of several hundred homes made by The Daily News. Three blocks cutting across South State. South Dearborn, Federal and South LaSalle streets were covered They were blocks which, in addition to homes, included churches, stores, saloons and other less savory places to which attention will be given later. The census showed 1,406 col- ored men, women and children in the three blocks and not more than twenty- five white persons. They were working people, not of the well-to-do class. Some Dislike Steady Work. Many of the colored people from the south are unaccustomed to steady work iwith only one day's rest in every seven. | This is one of the complaints made by / employers who have found their work un- ^ satisfactory. A man was at the Wabash I avenue department of the Y. M. C. A., / complaining he had lost his job. A. L. (^ Jackson, the secretary, asked him if he had worked every day each week. "Goodness, no," the man replied. "I just had to have some days of the week off for pleasure." "Conditions in the north will change that spirit," said Mr. Jackson in telling of the incident. "The man who comes here will want to keep pace with his brothers in the north in living and rec- reation and will find it necessary to work every day in order to keep up. His man- ner of living, the pleasures he affords himself and many other things will be added to a changed condition of life, so that loafing will no longer be considered a pleasure." Jackson is a Harvard graduate. He went through Andover, made the Harvard track team and when he graduated in 1914 was the class orator. ., "In the south they do not consider the ^individual in discussing the problem of the Negro race," he said. Big Percentage at Work. The percentage of adults who were working was the surprising feature of The Daily News canvass. Of those out of work, some were sick, others laying off for a few days and still others too lazy or disinclined to w reasons. The summarized figures, eluding children were: Men. Working 799 Idle 72 Totals 871 Per cent working 91.8 Of these 246 are housewives. Families Left In the South. Another significant feature of the house to house canvass was the number of men shown to have come here in the last six months. Many of these had left wives and children in the south, and declared their eagerness to bring them to Chicago. They were saving enough to pay the cost of moving their families north as soon as mild weather comes again next year. In one house there were four men who were keeping bachelor quarters. Each earned from $18 to $27 a week. One was a stationary engineer. He had saved $153. He intended buying some property and by next spring hoped to have enough to start payments and bring his wife and two children to Chicago. Two others also were saving to bring their families. In one block along South State street, out of 307 men 178. or 58 per cent, had come to Chicago in the last six months. Away from the lodging house district the percentage was lower. Such conditions indicate that Chicago's colored population will continue to grow rapidly. Once colored help is used, it is seldoiL discharged. The waiters in a well knowii "fill 'em quick" chain of lunchrooms in Chicago once struck on the promise of being taken into a union. In the end they found themselves out of the union and their Jobs. both. That is about the only strike on record. After barring them for many years that company a few weeks ago started re-employing them as short order cooks. Doesn't Send Money Abroad. "The employers who have used colored workers keep them." said an aged col- ored merchant. "The colored man has a pride in his work, in his job and in the concern he works for. His living ex- penses are always greater than his in- come. He does not send one-fourth of all he earns to some country in Europe. His ideas are American, and he is not against the law and always scheming to strike or riot or wreck the plant of his employer." Classes of work in which numerous col- ored men or women are employed in Chi- cago are: iers laying Pullman porters. Manicurists, othei PS too Butchers. Bartenders. for worse Asphalt layers. Carpenters. Postal clerks. Bricklayers. gure i, ex- Stationary engineers. Section hands. Chauffeurs. Molders. omen. Total. Muckers. Cooks. *381 1,180 Housemaids. Waiters. 62 134 Janitors. Saloon porters. Housewreckers. Laborers. 443 1.314 Theater ushers. Messenger boys. 86.0 89.8 Housemen. Ironworkers. Barbel.. Weekly Wages Higher Here. The average weekly wage of the col- ored worker in the United States is $8.63, according to Dr. Charles E. Bentley, one For Pullman and Stockyard*. of the two Chicago directors of the Na- TQ Pullman comp any, which for years tlonal Association for the Advancement was tne , t sm | lc y ^ mployer of y col . of Colored People. Miss Jane Addams is ored workers in the couat ry ( now is being the other director. Chicago is attractive Qard presged by the sto ckyards concerns because the wages are much higher here. The Pullman * ompany ^ &B abou t 7(50 o The canvass made by The Daily News porters, of whom about 5,000 live in Chi- showed some of the weekly wages to be cago. Recently it has added colored men as follows' an(i women as car cleaners. Another Delivery or door boys, $8. 7 ' 500 are 7 aiters in Restaurants, dining Asphalt layers, $18 to $27.90. cars or cafes > or Porters in saloons. The Building wreckers, $28. stockyards plants already employ more Waiters, saloon porters, hodearrlers. etc., $10 than 5,000 colored workers, Swift & Co. to K 12 - alone having 2,000, and are adding to the Cooks and janitors, $14. number daily. | U ore a m n ^n r 6%o% 8. and tIP8 ' , A ^* f 't Paving companies employ hun- Barbers and bartenders. $18. dreds of colored men. They will be out Tunnel workers, $31.20. of work when extreme cold weather sets Track elevation, $19.20. in, and the colored labor market will face Girl theatrical maids and ushers, $6. its first crisis in Chicago. CHAPTER III The South and the Trade Unions of the North One of the largest of Chicago's hotels had trouble with its chambermaids a couple of weeks ago. They quit in a body. That night a telephone message came to one of the colored churches on the south side from the hotel manage- ment saying that 300 colored girls 3 Mercantile agencies . . 1 Millinery stores 10 Musical instruments. . 2 Music stores (sheet) . . 3 Blacksmith shops . . . Hook stores . 4 1 China painting Chiropodists . 4 ?1 Oigarmakers ft Cleaning and Press- Ing 8 Photographers 5 Piano tuning . . 1 Cobblers 9 Plumbers 3 Confectioners 4 Printers 7 Contractors 4 Public halls 8 Court reporters Decorators Dressmakers . 3 .13 15 Publishers 7 Real estate 19 Regalia and uniforms. 1 Restaurants 63 Saloons 23 Drug stores Dry goods stores... .12 . 1 . 6 Shirtmakers . .. 1 Employment agencies 51 Shoe polish factories 5 Express and storage. 801 Shoeshining stands ..12 Feather factory 1 Sign painters 5 Fisfa markets 4 Haberdashers Tailors 33 Florists 4 Toilet articles Furniture stores 7 Undertakers 16 Groceries and delica- tessens 33 Total 731 11 In the south the colored business man V* to a large extent enjoys a monopoly of the trade of his own race. In Chicago he faces desperate competition. Few stores attempt to discourage colored patronage. Race clannishness, nomadic Instincts for bargain hunting, business temperament, ability of proprietors and many other factors enter into the situation. Dr. George C. Hall, 3408 South Park avenue, probably knows his people from the highest to the lowest as well as any man in the country. "When a Negro business man starts complaining that his people will not trade with him you can be sure that the fault is with him," said Dr. Hall. "That the colored people like to trade with their own is shown by the fact that the stores in South State street, most of which have white owners, employ colored clerks to attract colored trade. Too many men at- tempt to run a business which they do not understand, and when they fail blame it on their customers." Some Merchants Shortsighted. "Some colored merchants can't see far enough ahead, and instead of figuring that a customer will come back they try to get the best of him," said a Jewish mer- chant of years of experience In the dis- trict. "Once the colored man or woman thinks he is being overcharged his trade Is lost." Long years of faithful service have ad- vanced certain colored men to office po- sitions of prominence which do not require them to come In contact with their own people. One is an elec- trical engineer for the Commonwealth Edison company, another is general time- keeper in the downtown offices of one of the big packing companies, another is traffic manager for a Cleveland steel com- pany with offices in Chicago's "loop." A big tin company has a colored man as secretary of the corporation in charge of its downtown offices; a machinery com- pany has a colored man for buyer; an- other of the race is solicitor for one of the big banks. Many represent Insurance companies, real estate firms, undertaking establishments and such among a colored clientele. One colored woman, a widow, over- came the handicap of both sex and color before she married and retired. She is Mrs. W. B. Claxton, 19 East 28th street, who until a few months ago (then Miss Mable P. Blue) was office manager for me Percheron Society of America at the Union stockyards. \ 12 CHAPTER V Many Are in Professional and Political Life From the lofty legislative kail to the garish, law defying cabaret is a long Jump. Yet in these and in many places between the colored men find field for activity in Chicago. Some are college graduates. Others by natural talent have graduated from the noisy saloon or the sedate Pullman sleeper. In almost every profession they are to be found. Many are in the front ranks. They are push- ing forward in increasing numbers each year. Lawyers, physicians, surgeons, dentists, musicians, clergymen, writers, teachers, are among them. Many cater principally to white clients. Miss Ida Platt, 5237 Ellis avenue, one of the first women to be admitted to the Illinois bar, is the only woman lawyer of the race in the state if not in the en- tire country. Mrs. E. H. Morris is at- tending law college preparatory to tak- ing the bar examination. Many colored women have entered the professions, making a creditable showing in competi- tion with white rivals. Colored Race In Professions. A careful canvass shows the numerical strength of the leading professions to be: fetors 53 Artists 15 Authors , 18 Clergymen 74 Dentists .' '/, 32 Lawyers 48 Musicians (made up of 4 bands, 4 Jubilee troupes, 5 orchestras, 28 pianists, 30 vocal- ists) 71 Professional nurses 47 Physicians ' " $6 School teachers 41 Total 483 Naming of the most prominent of those who have risen from the environment of menial tasks which occupy most of the race indicates the possibilities for the future. Edward H. Morris, 3757 Vernon avenue, lawyer and twice a member of the Illi- nois legislature, is probably the best known professional man of his race. He is one of the wealthy men of Chicago and the wealthiest colored man in the north- west. Among his own people his chief activity is as grand master of their Grand United Order of Odd Fellows, their larg- est fraternal organization. He bought the Niblack summer home near Benton Har- bor, Mich. Lawyer Thomas a Pioneer. More than forty years ago J. W. E. Thomas appeared at the old Harrison street police station to defend his race- He was the first colored lawyer in Cki- cago, the only colored member of the re- publican county central committee, served three terms in the legislature, where he put through a bill of rights, and before he died accumulated a fortune as lawyer and bondsman. Many have come since his time. Most of the lawyers have acquired prominence through activities in politics, where the handicap of color was less se- vere. lAmong them, together with the po- sitions which they have held are: Franklin A. Denison, 451 East 42d street, and S. A. T. Watkins, 3332 Calumet ave- nue, former assistants to the corporation counsel. S. Laing Williams, 4203 St. Lawrence avenue, former assistant district attor- ney. Louis B. Anderson, 2821 Wabash avenue, and Edward H. Wright, 2963 Wabash ave- nue, assistants to the corporation counsel. Ferdinand L. Barnett, 3234 Rhodes ave- nue, former assistant state's attorney. Edward E. Wilson, 3815 Vernon avenue, assistant state's attorney. Jerry Brumfield, 6209 Loomis street, as- sistant city attorney. Denison is colonel and Anderson a cap- tain in the &th Illinois. One Moving Picture Censor. The Rev. A. J. Carey, pastor of the Institutional Methodist church, is an- other appointee in the corporation coun- sel's office. He was on the board of moving picture censors. That place Is now held by Alonzo J. Bowling, 5363 Dear- born street, who won It by civil service. Assistant Corporation Counsel Wright thinks the highest honor he ever re- ceived was that of president pro tern of the county board and head of the county government for six weeks. He was a member of that board for four years. John Jones, at that time one of the city's leading tailors and an owner of downtown business property, was the first colored man elected in 1872; next came Theodore Jones In 1894, then Wright, later Frank Leland and Oscar De Priest. The last named is the 2d ward alderman, the first of the race to hold that office in Chi- cago. All are dead except De Priest and Wright. In the early '80s Joseph W. Moon was twice elected clerk of the south town. Henry J. Mitchell and Attorney William Martin also held the office. State Legislature Has Had Twelve. Twelve colored men including the pres- ent two, who have been members of the Illinois legislature are: *J. W. E. Thomas, 1876-8, 1882-6. George P. Ecton, 1886-90. Attorney Edward H. Morris, 1890-2, 1902-4. James E. Bish, 1892-4. *MaJ. John C. Buckner. 1894-6. Attorney William L. Martin, 1898-1900. *Attorney John G. Jones, 1900-2. Edward D. Green, 1904-6, 1910-2. Dr. Alexander Lane, 1906-10. Shederlck B. Turner, 1914-16. MaJ. R. R. JacKson, 1912-18. Renjamln H. Lucas, 1916-18. Deceased. Caring for the ills of humanity has ap- pealed strongly to the colored men and 13 women and more have secured educations for that purpose than lor any other. Dr. Daniel H. Williams, 446 East 42d street, at St. Luke's hospital; Dr. Allen A. Wes- ley, 3149 Prairie avenue, and Dr. George C. Hall, 3408 South Park avenue, at Prov- ident hospital, are surgeons with few equals. Dr. U. Grant Dailey, 4317 For- restville avenue, graduate of Northwest- ern and ex-president of the colored Na- tional Medical association, is a younger surgeon. Under President Cleveland, Dr. Williams was superintendent of the Freedman's hospital in Washington. An Expert In Tuberculosis. Dr. A. Wilberforce Williams, 3408 Ver- non avenue, is one of the foremost phy- sicians in the country in the study and treatment of tuberculosis. Dr. Spencer C. Dickerson, 3601 State street, specialist in eye, ear, nose and throat, is an assist- ant professor at Rush and wears a "C" whioh he won as a member of the Uni- versity of Chicago track team. Dr. Charles E. Bentley, 529 East 41st street, is one of the leading dentists of the city, has done much for the science of dentistry and at various times has been an officer of local societies. In all these professions are many others doing cred- itable work, though they have not yet at- tained the prominence of the men men- tioned. Two women nurses showed their caliber in this year's city civil service exam- inations for school tuberculosis nurses when they passed first among fifty-Severn competitors. Miss Lulu G. Warlick, 16 West 36th street, was first with a mark- ing of 97.86 per cent, and Mrs. Luemiza Cooper, 3717 State street, next with 96.5. Miss Warlick waived her rights and is night superintendent at Provident hospi- tal. C. S. Duke a Harvard Man. In another quasi-political position is Charles S. Duke. 4636 West Erie street, civil engineer with the city harbor com- mission. He is a Harvard graduate and a first lieutenant in the 8th Illinois in- fantry. At least two University of Chicago col- ored graduates have achieved distinction. Ernest Just, after finishing at Dartmouth, received his Ph. D. degree in biology and allied subjects from Chicago in the fall of 1916 and now is a professor ni Howard university at Washington, D. C. Monroe M. Work, the statistician at Tuskegee for the Negro Yearbook, ie also a graduate of the local university. "On the day Just graduated with his high honors the newspapers did not men- tion it," said Dr. Bentley. "One reason why so many fail to realize what the negro is doing is made clear." 14 CHAPTER VI Musicians, Artists, Writers, and the Stray Genius In one of the most notorious of the South State street cabaret saloons which cater to late carousers of all colors and both sexes a dark skinned colored man with protruding lips and a shock of white hair over his forehead plays the piano through the night. Occasionally he glances at a sheet of music. Most of the time his eyes are roving around the room while his long legs are doubled under the chair and his lean body is twisted into an impossible position so he can hold an ear toward the keyboard as if the piano were talking to him alone. Few of the hundreds of early morning "slummers" who come there would recog- nize the name of Tony Jackson. Even fewer of the thousands who have seen the name know that he is a piano pounder in a notorious cabaret. Tony Jackson wrote "Pretty Baby," a song feature of the "Follies," considered by many the popular song hit of the year. He received $45 for it. Its sales netted thousands. He has another one, "Some Sweet Day," waiting to be published. Tony Jackson is a natural genius. He is not the most finished musician, the best skilled in technique nor the most prolific writer. He is a remarkable figure of the moment. Music Note* in Shorthand. Clarence M. Jones, 11 East 38th street, is a writer of popular songs who has both the natural ear and the technical train- ing. He plays the piano in a theater at night and by day writes music for one company and makes player-piano rolls for another. He can take down by short- hand a whistled or hummed melody and play it from the notes as a stenographer would write a letter. He can run through the score of an opera once and after that play it by ear. He can call any note as it is sounded on a musical instrument. "One Wonderful Night," "Just Because You Won My Heart" and "La Danza Ap- passionata" are among his compositions. Now he is working on a song "that will live," as he says. Dave Peyton, leader of the orchestra at another theater, is also a musical genius in arranging, though no composi- tions bear his name. "Chemise Chihuahua," "I Ain't Got No- body" and several others of jangling ideas and harmonies were written by Spencer W. Williams, 3334 Prairie avenue, whose regular occupation is porter on a sleep- ing car. Even better known are "Walkin" the Dog," "All Night Long,' 1 "Some of These Days" and other productions of Shelton Brooks, a Chicago boy, who now is on the vaudeville circuit. "Brazilian Dreams" was another hit of this year's Follies. It was the work of Will H. Dixon, 5440 Dearborn street. One Snngr by Schumann-Heinle. "If I Forget," whose sale runs into the tens of thousands, goes into the realm of music worth while. It was made popu- lar by Mme. Schumann-Heink. Alfred Anderson wrote the lyrics and DeKoven Thompson the music. After many vain efforts to get an audience one of the col- ored men slipped the manuscript into the famous singer's hands as she was taking a train to leave Chicago. It and "Dear Lord, Remember Me," are Thompson's best musical efforts. Anderson is clerk in charge at Provident hospital, editorial writer for the Defender, and a prolific composer. He wrote "Rag-ma-la," one of the first "rags"; "My Twilight Dream of You," which was sung by Jessie Bart- lett Davis; the book for the opera "Cap- tain Rufus"; a three-reeler, "For the Honor of the Eighth," and much more. Fenton Johnson, 3026 Vernon avenue, editor of the Champion, is a writer of poems which have attracted wide atten- tion. Most of them are in a volume, "A Little Dreaming." W. H. A. Moore is an- other colored poet of note. The late Paul Laurence Dunbar of Day- ton, 0., the greatest poet of the race, did some of his best work in Chicago. Rich- ard B. Harrison, 3327 Calumet avenue, is one of the many dramatic readers of his works. Others in Musical Circles. Mme. Anita Patti Brown. 3827 Wabash avenue; Mme. Florence Cole Talbert, 3617 Forest avenue; Mme. E. Azalla Hackley, 3019 Calumet avenue; Mrs. Willa Sloan, 6523 St. Lawrence avenue; Miss Maud J. Roberts, 3231 Vernon avenue; Mme. M. Galloway Byron, 3300 Rhodes avenue; Mrs. Martha Broadus Anderson, 6450 Champlain avenue; Mrs. Julia B. Ander- son, 2831 Wabash avenue; Mrs. Mary Odd- rick, 4434 Langiey avenue; Mrs. Annie Hackley. 3452 Forest avenue. Mme. Marie Burton-Hyram, 3828 Dearborn street; T. Theodore Taylor, 3558 Rhodes avenue; Pauline Garner, 5229 Wabash avenue; Harrison Emanuel, 6352 Rhodes avenue, are a few of those in Chicago musical circles. Mme. Byron is abroad. Others are touring thie country. Mme. Talbert won the diamond medal at the Chicago Musical college In 1916. Mrs. Hackley and Mrs. Oddrick won medals in previous years' contests. Mrs. Julia Anderson was the first colored graduate of the Chicago Musical college and won the harmony medal. The old Pekin theater, 2700 South State street, run by the late Bob Mott and Harrison Stewart, gave the start to most of the theatrical performers of the race on the stage to-day. Church choirs and jubilee troupes abound. That of the Bethel church is un- der James A. Mundy, who organized the 15 chorus of 600 voices which sang at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of negro freedom. "Ethiopia," composed by Frank O. Raines, was the popular draw- ing card. Pedro T. Tinsley, 6448 Drexel avenue, is an old time choral leader, whose "Harmony" is a textbook. William M. Farrow. 6117 South Racine avenue; B. E. Fountaine. 3462 Vernon avenue, painters; F. Langston Mitchell, 3800 Rhodes avenue; Proctor Chisholm, 3502 Vernon avenue, and Fon Holly, car- toonists, are the race's contributors to art. Negro Writers on Negro Problem. Many have turned their hand to writ- ing. Prof. Richard T. Greener, former consul to Vladivostock, and the first col- ored man to graduate from Harvard, and Attorney George W. Ellis, F. R. G. S., 3262 Vernon avenue, have dealt exten- sively with the negro problem. Maj. John Roy Lynch, 4352 Forrestville avenue, re- tired army paymaster, three times con- gressman from Mississippi, and ex-assist- ant auditor of the treasury, is another. W. H. Ferris, 3359 Wabash avenue, a Yale man, is the author of a most pretentious work on the race. The Defender, published by R. S. Ab- bott, at 3159 South State street, is said to have the largest circulation of papers of its kind in the United States. Eleven years ago Editor Abbott founded it on a capital of 25 cents, a lead pencil and scratchpad, backed by a degree from Hampton college and practical experience as a printer. Frank A. Young \e man- aging editor and Gary B. Lewis, who was given a start by Col. Watterson in Louisville, is city editor. The Broad Ax, edited by Julius F. Tay- lor, 6418 Champlain avenue, and the Illi- nois Idea, by S. B. Turner, former mem- ber of the legislature, are the other two local weeklies. Among monthly maga- zines there are the Champion, the Half- Century, the Pullman Porter, the Frater- nal Advocate and the Stroller. E. R. Robinson, 3236 Calumet avenue, inventor of a street car wheel and a joltless auto wheel, claims hundreds of thousands of dollars' damages from the street car companies for infringements on his patent. John T. Baker has in- vented a friction heater, an army kitchen and refrigerator and several other de- vices. J. P. Norwood, 3759 Wabash ave- nue, has a bread wrapping machine and a rotary toothbrush. Earl Gordon. 4632 Winthrop avenue, may not be a genius, but surely is a curiosity. He is a private chauffeur and has a diamond set medal for driving 100,- 000 miles without an accident. He did it in seven years. Last but not least among the men of talent Is Andrew ("Rube") Foster, 3242 Vernon avenue, manager of the American Giants, a formidable figure in "semipro" baseball and the highest paid colored manager in the world. The team is owned by John Schorling, 429 West 79th street, a white saloonkeeper. 16 CHAPTER VII Apartments for Colored Families; Two Great Institutions Plans have been completed for one of the finest and most modern apartment houses in the city, to be ready for occu- pancy in the summer of 1917, exclusively by colored tenants. Julius Rosenwald, who has given $500.000 for Y. M. C. A. buildings and rural schools for colored people, is back of the project financially. It is in a way an experiment, but those who enthusiastically prophesy its success declare that it will be the forerunner of others of the same type in different parts of the city. The northeast corner of Vernon avenue and East 32d street, adjoining the Rhodes avenue hospital, has been secured for the site. Plans for the building drawn by Zimmerman, Saxe & Zimmerman are now in the hands of Whiteside & Wentworth, who will handle the property. It is to be of the English basement type with three floors of apartments, making it a four etory structure. It will contain sixty apartments, each having two and three rooms and a bath. The building will have its own refrigerating system con- necting with each apartment. It also will have an incinerator system connect- ing with each apartment, steam heat, hot and cold water, basement laundries and janitor service. The outside will be fin- ished In dark red brick. Along Vernon avenue will be a fifteen foot width of lawn and terrace. On the 32d street side will be a garden court and fountain on which many of the apartmerts will face. Rents from 918 Up to $38. Rents will be from $18 to $38 a month. The Investment is expected to be slightly more than $125,000 and a return of at least 5 per cent on the investment is ex- pected. Each floor will be the same in arrangement. The number of apart- ments of each class and the rental re- turn for the building is planned to be: Rent rate. $18 ... 19 ... 22 ... 32 ... 83 . Apts. ...6. ...27. ... 3. ... . .. 9. Monthly total. $108 818 66 192 .. 297 Rnt rate. $34 .... 36 . Apts. .. 3... ..3.. Monthly total. $102 .. 108 38 ..8.. 114 Totals .60... ...$1,500 On this basis the building will bring In an annual gross return of $18,000. The 5 per cent desired on the investment would be $6,250. The thirty-six small flats are each to have a 12 by 14 foot living room, with an in-a-door bed and closet, an 8 by 14 kitchen and a separate bathroom. The twenty-four larger flats are to have chambers 13 by 15 feet with an in-a- door bed and closet, living rooms 12 by 14 with an in-a-door bed, 8 by 9 porches from one room and a balcony from the other, and the same sized kitchens and bathrooms as the other flats. Innovation in Building? Line. Considerable investigating was done before this innovation in the building line was decided on. Dr. George C. Hall, chairman of the executive committee of the Wabash Avenue Y. M. C. A., and A. L. Jackson, secretary, made a trip to Cin- cinnati, where J. C. Schmidlapp has in- vested $500,000 in model buildings for col- ored tenants. Some of the Schmidlapp buildings are extremely plain and apart- ments rent for $1 a week a room. This new apartment house is expected to play a great part in the social eco- nomic and moral life of the people. On account of the effect which it will have on the future it may be classed as an institution. Two Chicago institutions al- ready stand out prominently among thooe in which colored men are the guiding spirits. They are the Provident hospital at 16 West 36th street and the Wabash Avenue department of the Y. M. C. A. at 3763 South Wabash avenue. The hos- pital has passed its twenty-fifth year. The Y. M. C. A. is comparatively new. Provident Hospital Is Notable. Provident hospital gives a greater op- portunity to the colored physician than any other institution in the country. Freedman's hospital in Washington is larger and Douglas hospital in Philadel- phia is almost as large, but they are supported respectively by government and state aid, so that Provident hospital is in a class by itself. With the Nathan M. Freer $30,000 home for nurses, the plant represents an investment of $125,- 000 and is free from debt. It has an an- nual expenditure of $28,000 and the outlay Is made without a breath of scandal. Of its patients at present 60 per cent are colored and 40 per cent are white. The ratio varies. One-third of the suf- ferers are charity patients. The phy- sicians' staff and dispensary force are made up of both white and colored people. The nurses, except the superin- tendent, Miss Astrid Hofseth, are all colored. The last anuual report shows a daily average of thirty-four patients for the hospital, a total of 987 for the year, or 17,689 since the institution was found- ed. The dispensary shows 3,017 persons for the year and a total of 88,827. The nativity of those in the hospital in 1915 was: Afro-American, 712; Irish, 45; American, 38; German, 34; Polish, 22; Jewish, 10; Lithuanian, 7; English and Italian, 4 each; Bohemian, Danish, Greek, Scotch and Swedish, 3 each; French and Hungarian, 2 each; Austrian, Bulgarian, Finlandic, Jamaican, Norwegian and Rus- sian, 1 each. George H. Webster, who died late in 1916, was president of the hospital for twenty years. The late Lloyd S. Wheel- er, a colored man who later was man- 17 ager at Tuskegee, was Its first president. Philip D. Armour. Marshall Field and George M. Pullman, all deceased, and H. H. Kohlsaat were the donors who made the institute possible. Dr. Charles B. Bentley is its secretary, James S. Mad- den is treasurer and Attorney Robert Mc- Murdy is chairman of the finance commit- tee. V. M. C. A. Has 1,329 Members. The Y. M. C. A. has a physical plant costing $185,000. It has 1,329 members, 150 living in its dormitories and 125 attending its automobile school. It has secured jobs for 500 persons this year. It sent Dr. G. C. Booth, a university of Michigan graduate, .to the Mexican bor- der as Y. M. C. A. secretary with the 8th Illinois regiment. Members of the Wabash avenue department can stop at the $1,350,000 hotel at 822 South Wabash avenue. Several have done so, but most of the strangers who come from out of the city and are referred to the hotel on account of overcrowded dormitories pre- fer to remain among their own race. It is one of the most potent factors for good in a section of the community abounding in destructive agencies. ''The negro youth needs everything that the white boy needs and more," said Sec- retary Jackson. "We are doing a great work for the young man by helping him and for the race in general by showing that it has individuals who arj sincere, reliable and actuated by high motives." 18 CHAPTER VIII Churches and Charitable Institutions Churches probably wield more power among the colored people than among any other single class in the United States. Religion is an intimate part of life to most colored persons. The churches are an influence for good citizenship and an educational factor second only to the public schools. They have clergymen powerful as exhorters, and surrounded by thousands of devout followers. A canvass of all the churches made by The Daily News shows that they claim 42.5 per cent of the city's colored popula- tion as church members. Attending church is taken up with enthusiasm and religious services are made a pleasure. Few other churches in the city have as large congregations as several of the leading colored churches. From this high stand- ard the congregations diminish in size and influence down to the private ven- tures where a "brother" or "sister" with a can of paint and a brush has converted a vacant store into a mission. Sometimes a "mission" is started and runs a strong lunged exhortation, followed by a collec- tion or a rummage sale to make it worth while. Activities of the Churches. The big churches are financially pros- perous. They have employment agencies, day nurseries literary societies, drill teams and classes of various kinds. They do more or less charity work among their own people. Some of them, Walters A. M. E. Zion, at West 38th and South Dearborn streets, and the Institutional. 3825 South Dearborn street, among others, are open twenty-four hours a day to give shelter and help to all who call. In civic life outside their own doors the churches apparently do not have the influence to which they are entitled. Two of them protested in vain against dif- ferent saloons a few doors distant, whith- er boys and girls were turning their steps. The Rev. A. J. Carey, one of the leading pastors, has received political preferment and others have been smiled on by the powers that be. But with their thousands of devoted followers, the colored clergyman, as a rule, has not due prominence among those working outside his church to better conditions among his people. Recently several clergymen passed resolutions indorsing the city ad- ministration regardless of the wide open haunts of vice thrown in among their people. "Too many of our clergymen do not have the courage of their convictions and will not lead a determined fight against evil influences and institutions which en- croach on their neighborhoods, usually conducted by white men," said a colored man who has been active in many of the efforts to keep saloons away from the churches and out of the residence dis- tricts. "A campaign contribution to the cnurch from this or that politician has In some instances silenced criticism." Denominations In the City. Denominationally and according to numbers, the Chicago colored churches are divided as follows: Denomination Churches. MemBeri. Baptist 36 12.230 African Methodist Episcopal 14 10,390 Colored Methodist Episcopal 2 850 Methodist Episcopal 4 1,750 African Methodist Episcopal Zion.. 2 1,050 Presbyterian 2 1.500 Christian 2 900 Congregational 2 1,100 Episcopal 1 1,000 Roman Catholic 1 650 Miscellaneous 3 450 Totals .60 31.870 Some of the Largest Churches. Membership in the various churches varies from tens and twenties to 3,500 at the largest. Olivet Baptist, West 27th and South Dearborn streets, of which the Rev. Dr. L. K. Williams is pastor, is the largest church of the Baptist de- nomination in the west. The African Methodist Episcopal church has a num- ber of large congregations. Bethel, 2979 South Dearborn street, the Rev. Dr. W. D. Cook, pastor, has 3,000 members; Quinn chapel, the oldest colored church in the city, 2401 South Wabash avenue, the Rev. J. C. Anderson, pastor, has 2,000; Institutional, 3825 South Dearborn street, the Rev. A. J. Carey, pastor, has 1,500. St. Mark's Methodist Episcopal church. 5001 South Wabash avenue, the Rev. J. W. Robinson, pastor; St. Thomas' Episcopal church, East 38th street and South Wabash avenue, the Rev. J. H. Simons, pastor, and Salem Baptist church, West 30th and South LaSalle streets, the Rev. J. E. Heywood, pastor, each touch the 1,000 mark. The Rev. J. T. Jenifer, 3430 Vernon avenue, now historian of the A. M. E. church, built the present Quinn chapel. It was the first colored church and the fourth Protestant one in the city when started by the late Rev. A. F. Hall. An- other preacher of force was the late Rev. Elijah J. Fisher, a colored veteran who had lost his left leg and held a doctor's degree from the University of Chicago. Until his death recently he was for twelve years the powerful leader of Olivet. According to the Rev. R. E. Wilson, 4830 Langley avenue, superintendent of the Chicago district of the A. M. E. church, the orders of deaconesses and stewardesses of the Institutional church do an immense amount of extension work among the people. The Chicago Choral Study club makes its headquarters at this church. 19 The Rev. J. P. Thomas, an old-time preacher, has one of the largest follow- ings In the city at the Ebenezer Baptist church. Last winter he doled out soup and meals to more than 3,000 hungry in his church. The Rev. Dr. Moses H. Jack- son of the Grace Presbyterian is another powerful leader whose scarred back shows the marks of slavery days. He has been in Chicago twenty-nine years. The church has the largest Sunday school and lyceum in the city. Many Settlements and Home*. Closely pressing the churches in gen- eral good done, even though far less prosperous and less powerful, are the settlements and homes, in most instances founded and supported by a few self- sacrificing individuals. The Frederick Douglass center, 3032 South Wabash avenue, was organized in 1904. by Mrs. Celia Parker Woolley, its head resident, and her husband, Dr. Wool- ley. All its residents are white, though most of the trustees are colored. It has day and night classes and clubs. Mrs. Woolley has given freely of her time working as a pioneer for a better under- standing between the races. Other worthy settlements and institu- tions are: Wendell Phillips settlement, 2009 Wal- nut street. Miss Cloter Scott settlement, 4706 South Wabash avenue. Negro Fellowship league, 3005 South State street. Louise Training School for Colored Boys, 6130 South Ada street. Home for Aged and Infirm Colored Peo- ple, 510 West Garfleld boulevard. Y. W. C. A., colored branch, 3424 Rhodes avenue. Phyllis Wheatley home, 3256 Rhodes avenue. Old Soldiers' Widows' Rest, 3258 Forest avenue. Amanda Smith Industrial School for Girls, 307 West 147th street, Harvey. The Amanda Smith school was estab- lished as an orphanage by the evangelist of that name eighteen years ago. It now is directed by a board of which E. C. Wentworth is president and treasurer and Mrs. Charles Henrotin is vice-presi- dent. Most of the other officers and di- rectors also are white. Forty girls are in the school, many of them sent by the County courts, for which $15 a month is paid. Miss Ruth E. Wilkins is superintend- ent. The institution depends on private contributions to extend its work. The Louise Training school does a sim- ilar work among boys from the Juvenile court. It was started by Mrs. Elizabeth McDonald, for many years a probation of- ficer, who is ite superintendent. Between forty-four and sixty boys are cared for. The Home for the Aged by a deter- mined fight for twenty-five years of its existence now is, through the efforts of a new board of directors, in the best finan- cial condition of its career. It is sup- ported by voluntary contributions, prac- tically all from colored people, and has an annual expense of $2,500. Sixteen aged persons are in the institution. Frank S. Hamilton, 2831 Wabaeh avenue, a dining car conductor, is its president, and Dr. Charles L. Lewis. 3801 South State street, is its secretary. The Amateur Minstrel club cleared $1,000 for it at one of the largest benefits ever given. In the world of clubs, fraternal and military organizations, the colored people are active. The Appomattox club, which owns its own property at 3441 South Wa- bash avenue, is run on a pretentious scale, providing social life and recreation for Its members, and aiming to lead in civic advancement for its people. The Easter Lily club is said to be the largest single organization of colored women in the country. There is a state and a city federation of women's clubs, containing some sixty-five organizations. Fraternal Societies Popular. It is safe to say that nearly every col- ored man of means belongs to one or more fraternal organizations. Their uniformed ranks are a pride and joy. Fraternal or- ganizations gratify a love for pomp, pag- eantry and mystery, but their activity for good extends only indirectly beyond their own circles of membership. The greatest public organization is the 8th infantry regiment, I. N. G., which, overcoming obstacles within and luke- warm .support without, has grown into a strong military unit, with an armory of its own at 3517 Forest avenue. It was the only colored military regiment to be called to the border in the recent mobili- zation. Its col'onel, Franklin A. Denison, is a leading colored lawyer of Chicago, Its lieutenant-colonel, James H. Johnson, is division auditor for the Pullman com- pany, and the major its first battalion, R. R. Jackson, is a state legislator, propri- etor of a printing establishment and prob- ably the most popular colored man in office. The inception of the 8tb regiment came in the Hannibal zouaves which were or- ganized in 1869. Robert E. Moore, 3265 Vernon avenue, their captain, still has the old colors and standards. As the boys grew older they became the Han- nibal guards and later two companies of the old 16th battalion. 20 CHAPTER IX Public Schools and Opportunities in Civil Service Since the first colored children in Chi- cago trudged with their books to the old Third avenue school even the name of the street has been changed the at- tendance of colored children has grown steadily until more than 4,500 are in the public schools to-day. Many years ago the Third Avenue school, taught by a Mrs. Dewey, was the only one which they attended. Attendance at other schools required physical hardihood on the part of the colored pupils. Conditions have changed since then and they now attend the public educational institutions most convenient to their homes. In certain schools the attendance of colored pupils is large on account of the location of the residence areas of col- ored families. A canvass of twelve of the schools showed an attendance of 4,276 colored pupils. Several hundred more are scattered among other schools. Of the high schools, the Wendell Phillips, at 3825 Prairie avenue, has the largest at- tendance of colored pupils. This is on account of its situation and not because of any sentimental preference for a school named after the noted abolitionist. Out of its 1,670 pupils 352, or about 21 per cent, are colored. In the elementary schools the propor- tion varies from 90 per cent for one school down to less than 1 per cent for others. One school has 936 pupils, of whom 711 are colored. Colored Attendance at School. Though these figures seem large, col- ored pupils number only 1.3 per cent of the city's school attendance of 350,000. In the city's population, 3 per cent is colored. The ratio should be the same between adults and pupils if the colored children were attending school in proper numbers. Making the comparison from another angle, out of the city's total population about one in every seven is attending a public school. The ratio would be lower if private schools were added. Out of the city's colored popu- lation only one in every fourteen is at- tending school. Truancy Same as the "Whites. "Our records show that among colored children of the compulsory school age, the percentage of truancy is not any larger than among the white race," said W. Lester Bodine, superintendent of com- pulsory education. "Their scholarship records compare favorably, they are equally eager to learn and in some in- stances have taken honors in their class- es. However, the future of the colored child is a big question. Many of them must work for a living and start in after they reach the age of 14 years. In the south there are practically no compulsory school laws for colored children and many families migrating here wait until their children are 14 years old. Comparatively few colored pupils are in the night schools." Opportunities for education are strong factors in attracting the more indus- trious colored families from the southern states to the north. Schooling is the same for all, regardless of race or color. The law requires that the child attend school. In striking contrast are the opportuni- ties in the south, according to figures compiled at Tuskegee institute. They show how many days the colored schools are open in a year, the number of days possible for each colored child if all at- tended, the percentage of children at- tending, the average days of attendance for each one and the years it would take to complete an elementary course. Figures from Southern States. The figures are: Yeari Days to Days Per Pet. at- foi ea.ch corn- State open, child, tending, child, plete. South Carolina 67 26 68.4 44 33 Louisiana 86 23 40.1 58 25 Alabama 104 27 41.8 66 22 Nor. Carolina.. 115 50 75.0 72 20 Florida 98 43 64.8 72 20 Georgia 123 48 65.4 74 19 Virginia 121 47 56.0 76 19 Texas 124 47 58.8 80 18 Maryland 163 57 66.4 91 16 Other states which the Negro year-book lists as having separate appropriations for colored schools are Arkansas, Dela- ware, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma. Tennessee, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. In several of these the expenditure for colored pupils accords with the proportion which they make of the population. In South Caro- lina they are 55.2 per cent of the popu- lation and they get 13 per cent of the school money, which is the other extreme. Race Troubles Rare. Race troubles among pupils in Chica- go's public schools have been rare in recent years. In classroom, work, athletic games and such other school activities as are under the direction of the board of education all are on equal footing. A frequent contention is that colored pupils and white pupils would progress faster if they had separate classes and different methods of teaching. This view is dis- puted. 'In scholarship, ability to learn and application and classroom work the colored pupils average up with the white pupils," said >a principal who has had ex- perience with thousands of both races in the last ten years. "One handicap which may be more common among colored than among the white pupils is that the 21 home environment is not always as help- ful as it might be, for the parents from economic or other reasons have not had any such opportunities to learn as have the children. Among the children in school there is no trouble. When trouble does come it usually starts in the homes." Work for Colored Graduates. "What work can I get if I go through school?" is the regular question of the truant colored boy, according to H. W. Hammond, juvenile court probation officer and graduate of New York university. Hundreds of colored men and women are holding clerical positions which they could not have obtained if it had not been for public school educations. Some are with private concerns and othera are on public pay rolls. The most noticeable of the latter are: Government employes ...265 City policemen . . 65 City firemen 12 Adult probation officer 1 Juvenile probation officers 5 Total 348 Mrs. Everlin Cason. 4524 St. Lawrence avenue; Mary E. Clark, 3812 South Wa- bash avenue; Mrs. Alice Simpson, 3215 Prairie avenue, and Mrs. Mattie I. Thorn- ton, 4323 Forrestville avenue, are post- office clerks. Miss Susan Boaz, 219 North Campbell avenue; Miss Minnie Jones and Mrs. A. M. Smith, 3256 Vernon avenue, and Mrs. Jessie Thomas, 3319 Forest avenue, are Juvenile probation officers and Mrs. Bessie Gilmer, S123 South Dear- born street, is the adult probation offi- cer. Joseph C. Wickliffe, 5329 South Wabash avenue, and William F. Childs, 6353 Eber- hart avenue, are lieutenants in the fire and police departments respectively. 22 CHAPTER X Real Estate Values and Bad Housing Conditions Desire of well to do colored families to get better homes and better surroundings has been one of the chief causes of com- plaint against the race in Chicago. The entrance of colored residents Into a high class white neighborhood usually evokes protests and sometimes violence. In some instances the invader is of the shiftless class which peels potatoes on the front porch, Jars the rear horizon with wash- ings and rubbish and generally cheapens the neighborhood. Back of them usually is some real estate speculator who hopes to profit by affecting property values, and so the protest is justified regardless of the color of the new tenants. In most in- stances, however, the first colored family to enter a white neighborhood is actuated to a certain extent by a desire to get away from evil influences and conditions around its former home. Rents and property values fall In a neighborhood if it deteriorates after colored residents have come into it. The first comers of the race, however, pay higher rents or higher prices for property than the white tenants then in posses- sion are paying. In other neighborhoods where the property is not allowed to run down after It is occupied by colored ten- ants and owners and there are several such neighborhoods in Chicago the val- ues hold up. Error in Colored Districts. "Chicago's colored population is grow- ing with great rapidity and its welfare cannot be Ignored," said a prominent real estate dealer. "A civic policy which holds that anything is good enough and noth- ing Is too bad to be permitted In a col- ored residence or business district is now in force. The better class of colored per- sons will move away from such districts, leaving an element which discredits the race and creating a plague spot endan- gering the physical and moral health of the entire city." "Bad housing conditions are the great- est cause for demoralization among col- ored people." said Dr. George C. Hall, who has given nntch attention to that phase of the problem of his race. "In order to get in a decent building a couple perhaps are compelled to take an eight room flat; in order to keep the flat they sublet sevpn rooms and eat and sleep in the kitchen. Even worse consequences might be described. Mr. Rosenwald's smaller flats are designed to relieve this condition." One colored real estate man a few days ago sold a piece of proprty on Calumet avenue, on which the building alone had cost $12,000, to another colored man for $4,900. Recently he sold a string of houses for varying prices, the lowest cash pay- ment being $1,000. Railroad men, civil service employes and professional men were the purchasers and he said that none defaulted on the payments. He holds for $10,000 another piece of property with A house which originally cost $40,000. Are Keen to Own Property. "Colored persons are keen to own prop- erty," said Willis V. Jefferson, a real estate man. "A couple in moderate cir- cumstances will buy a place much too large for their family, then they will rent some rooms, the wife will take care of the house, the husband will work and in a short time it will be paid for. They are pretty crowded, however, while the pay- ments are going on. As a rule colored owners of property keep up their build- ings. Many other owners of property with colored tenants let the buildings decay." Running south between South State street and the railroad elevated tracks west of the street is a strip of varying width which shows how a district can de- teriorate. Not so very long ago it was in- habited by hard working, thrifty colored families, churches were built there and they still remain. But most of the families which once gave it special standing have gone, and it is now an object lesson. Classification of Building*. A survey of every house In three blocks running across the district was made by The Daily News. The different buildings in the district were classified with the number in each class as follows: No. | No. 41 Frame. 2 stories. ... 96 221 Frame, 3 stories 19 34 Total 193 Brick. 1 story. . Brick, 2 stories. Brick. 3 stories. Brick, 4 stories. 2 Frame, 1 story . . 16 The condition of the buildings varied between the extreme case of one which bad been condemned and naJied shut iy the city health department two years ago, to some in a fair state of cleanliness and repair. Under four classifications the buildings were divided as follows: Street Good. Fair. Poor. Bad.Total. S. State, west side 7 18 6 6 37 S. Dearborn, east side.. 4 6 13 1 24 S. Dearborn, west side. 12 6 9 3 30 Federal, east side 7 14 6 5 32 Federal, west side 5 12 11 1 29 S. LaSalle, east side... 274 3 16 Cross streets 4 13 3 6 25 Totals .41 76 52 24 193 Insanitary Homes Found. Many of the buildings did not hare lights In the hallways. One did not have any back porches, and the dark hallways were full of clotheslines and freshly washed clothes. Few had bathrooms, and in many there was no plumbing or els-e the water was shut off on account of non- payment of rent. Rickety stairways with- out handrails, gaping rents in the plaster, leaky roofs, wet basements, indiscrim- inate refuse and dirt and other violations of health and building regulations of the city abounded. 23 In this district were 1,406 colored per- plying with the city ordinances," said Ed sons and not more than twenty-five white Felix, 3002 South Dearborn street, who persons. Only one piece of property, how- has been in business in the district for ever, was owned by a colored man. The more than thirty years. "As they run roadways are all paved and are cleaner down the class of tenants deteriorates, than some of the back yards. The pav- until finally come those who won't pay ing of the streets was forced several years rent. It is too expensive to evict them by ago despite the opposition of the white court proceedings and the owner shuts off property owners. the water. Then somebody steals the plumbing and the property is picked to "Many owners ma&e absolutely no re- pieces. But all the time somebody is Hv- pairs on their buildings, not even com- ing In It." 24 CHAPTER XI Politics Puts Disorderly Dives Among Homes On the southeast corner of South State and 35th streets, in the center of the colored residence and business district, is the Panama saloon, owned by Isadors Levin. It is declared to be the most brazen, decency-defying saloon in the district possibly in the entire city. It might be called two saloons. The books of the city collector, however, show that only one license has been taken out. On the corner is a bar. Back of that on the East 35th street side is a cabaret room. Upstairs is another big cabaret room, reached by an inside stairway from the rear room on the ground floor. Drinks are served on both floors. The second floor has a service bar of its own. However, even if the waiters carried their dripping trays from the saloon bar on the first floor two licenses would be required under section 1527 of the code, one for each floor. Respectable cafes downtown laid out on the same plan ara required to pay for two licenses. Levin is in a district where "ever/thing goes." Panama's Sons* Indecent. The first floor cabaret has an orchss- tra. four girl singers and one man sing- er, usually in varying degrees of intoxi- cation. It can seat 150. The second floor has a grand piano, the same number of noise makers, more tables and a dan- cing space. The girls' songs are not merely suggestive. They are unmistak- ably indecent. As singers the girls ire not much. Personal charms apparently are better recommendations than singing ability. The sixty employes of the place are colored. It has both white and colored ptatrons. Some of the latter are well dressed and well behaved; others are noisy, in mackinaws and sweaters. Amon^ the white patrons most conspicuous are the "shimmers," largely of the class who kiss on the corner while waiting foi street cars and whose terms of endear- ment would be considered cause for Jus- tifiable murder in the far west. Equally numerous but less noisy are the white men who strike up acquaintance with colored girls living in neighboring "buf- fet" flats. There are also white women who associate with colored men. The waiters do a profitable brokerage busi- ness in arranging meetings. This saloon is one of the best sources of supply for cases in the Morals court, according to Judge Fisher. Proprietor a White Man. Levin, who profits by this establish- ment, is a white man. He lives at 3614 Indiana avenue. The Wacker & Birk Brewing and Malting company, whose of- ficers, also white, talk publicly about "clean saloons," is less openly back of the dive. On Levin's bond to secure a license, filed in the city clerk's office, that brewery, signed by C. Kenke and H. Horn, is the surety. The two names da not appear in the city directory. The license of the Panama was re- voked March 6 and restored March 16. 1916. It was again revoked July 11 and re- stored Aug. 10. It is rumored that Levin made his peace with the police and the city hall and that it cost him $1,000 on each occasion. Aid. Oscar De Priest ar- gued that sixty colored men and girls were employed in the place and that it should be reopened to help give employ- ment to people of his race. Levin's white attorney was a law partner of Mayor Thompson's principal advisers. Levin also forced tbings by threatening to do some talking on his own account. A Levin from a west side dive was one of the witnesses against former Inspec- tor McCann and the police did not want any repetition of such testimony. Levin's place now is running full blast. "Teenan" Jones and His Ill-sort. A few doors north, at 3445 South State street, is the Elite No. 2. run by Henry ("Teenan") Jones. It is smaller than Levin's Panama, but similar to it in backroom patronage. "Teenan" is the colored ruler of that underworld district. His dealings with the police in past years and his profits make a story in them- selves. The saloon is only one of his moneymaking ventures. It is declared that the police would no more think of making his saloon obey the law than they would of closing one of tis gambling houses. When other saloons close at 1 a. m., a line of automobiles stretches along the street and the sidewalk is blocked with the late night rounders waiting to slip through the doors of "Teenan's" place when a coveted seat is vacated. Other resorts in the district are worse; some are better. These are typical of the roistering saloons, a kind which would not be tolerated in any other part of the city since the old 22d street levee was broken up. Few of them are run by colored proprietors. White proprietors have brought them into the district and many of them art) patronized largely by crowds from other parts of the city. The resorts are forced on the colored people. Those colored families in good circum- stances and desiring respectable sur- roundings move away, only to find dis- orderly saloons trailing after them. License In Spite of Protest. At 301 East 37th street, on the south- east corner of Forest avenue, is the sa- loon of Sol Joy Collanger, 4100 Calumet avenue. With this exception the district is a quiet, respectable residence quarter. When it was known that this property 25 was to be used for saloon purposes a petition of pretest was signed by 300 representative colored men and present- ed to Mayor Harrison. The mayor did not grant the license until after he was defeated at the primaries two years ago. Adam Ortseifen, friend of the mayor's and an influential citizen, is the official head of the British corporation which owns the brewery which supplies the sa- loon with beer and is on its bond. At night this saloon is an animated place. Reputable colored families object to it chiefly on account of the numbers of disorderly white women who meet col- ored men in its diminutive back room. In the barroom an automatic piano thumps through the night until closing hours. On the mirrors are pasted chro- mos of "September Morn" and other poses of nude women. "Buffet" flats and disorderly hotels are adjuncts of the bad saloons. They make a better harvest for the police than the saloons. The borderland of a colored residential district is the haven for dis- orderly resorts. Protests of colored fam- ilies against the painted women in their neighborhood, the midnight honking of automobiles, the loud profanity and vul- garity are usually ignored by the police. In one block between South State and South Dearborn streets which was can- vassed by The Daily News, five places were found openly admitted to be disor- derly houses. Some were in flat build- ings, the other tenants of which appar- ently were respectable, some raising fam- ilies of children. llow Resort Got a Location. Many white owners of real estate who speak in horrified whispers of vice dan- gers view such dangers with complacency when these are thrust among colored families. Two years ago a woman of the underworld and her gambler husband de- cided to open a "high class" resort on the south side. She got a location as a neighbor of reputable colored people by purchasing the home of a former alder- man and leader in a church, the one of which the Rev. John P. Brushingham, secretary of Mayor Thompson's morals commission, is pastor. The woman was one of the most notorious of the demi- monde. An oil painting of her as she was before her husband in a fit of jeal- ousy bit off part of her nose for years had hung in a saloon of international reputation. These are some of the influences which the colored population is forced to com- bat in its fight for decency and good cit- izenship. A few secure political prefer- ment and others profit by catering to the city's vices, while the rank and file are hedged around by demoralizing influences and the race is discredited unjustly. 26 CHAPTER XII Gambling Controlled by a Powerful Political Syndicate The rattle of the dice, the click of the poker chip and the gentle falling of the cards is seldom stilled in what is known as the heart of Chicago's "colored dis- trict." Gambling is a popular recreation among a certain element. Protests of the better element of colored people appar- ently fall on deaf ears. Gambling nouses and clubs are as easy to locate and run almost as openly as grocery stores. Their sanction and protection by politicians and police is on a "business" basis. If a person has made the "proper" arrange- ments he can run without molestation but if he has overlooked that important detail he may safely bet that he will be raided the first night. The arrangements are said by those who ought to know to be largely financial. Whether gambling is a more dangerous cause of demoralization of a community than are disorderly saloons, buffet flats and dissolute women is an often discussed question. Gambling is a man's game, r losings. Its character as a gambling house is plain even without "Bill's" w*ll known figure, which is as illuminating to insiders as an electric sign in front f a theater. When complaints come to the police against any of the syndicate games gam- 27 biers say the proorjetors are notified. If the "knock" is too strong a raid is made, after sufficient warning. The ordinary patrolman or detective would no more raid Lewis' place than he would his cap- tain's clothes locker at the police station. Games which do not belong to the syndi- cate are classed as "outlaws" and raided before they get fairly started. Across the street from Lewis' clearing house, on the second floor at 11 Bast 36th street, an entrance on the alley, "Mex- ican Frank" Gordon once ran. He had poker and craps, the same as at the clearing house, only the play was cheap- er. He was raided continuously until he was put out of business. "Chatty" Pink- stone followed under the name of the Chauffeurs' club, also refusing to pay the syndicate. The police waited for him to get a bank roll together and then "sloughed" him. He opened on the sec- ond floor at 3523 South State street and was put out of business in the same way. Some of the Gambling? Resorts. Some of the principal gambling places in the district are: 3016 South State street, second floor, Dunbar club, a mockery on the name of the late Paul Laurence Dunbar, the bril- liant young colored poet who brought so much honor to his race. It is one of the biggest of the syndicate games. Bud Woods is in charge. Craps and stud poker get the best play. 3121 South State street, dice and poker game, run by Hugh Hoskins and Kid Brown, getting the best of the play from 31st street. 3212 South State street, second floor, run by "Red Dick" Wilson and Charley Kunz. This is the brilliantly lighted place which used Masonic Shrine banners for curtains in its front windows. 3433 South State street, second floor, Hobnob club of "Yellow Bill 1 ' Bass, a po- litical supporter of Aid. DePriest. Runs so openly that the rattle of the chips can be heard on the street. 3512 South State street, second floor, rear, run by "Sport" McFariand. His IB a syndicate game, but he once was arrested. Gathering in the Victims. Many of the gambling houses have run- ners out whose work is as systematic as that of insurance solicitors. They gath- er in the strangers in the city, men with their week's pay in their pockets, sleep- ing car porters who have got off their runs on the railroads, or anybody who will be grist for the gambling mill. In a different class are the quasiprivate gambling clubs. The newest one is up- stairs on the northeast corner of Forest avenue and East 35th street, in which Bernard W. Fitts is the moving spirit. To enter It a person must be a member or the guest of a member, as in some of the more pretentious clubs where gambling is a prominent feature. "Bill" Thomas who ran the Kentucky club is its manager. Walter Speedy refused to go into the syndicate and his place, the Ranier club, 3010 South State street, second floor, was raided. That was not a permanent dam- per on his insubordination, and Speedy now is in the bridewell on a pandering charge. "Big Dave" McGowan, "Bob" Ridley and a number of others whose faces have shown at gambling houses in the past are reputable citizens now. The syndicate keeps them so. Colored Gamhlera of Note. Chicago has had many notorious colored gamblers, Mortimer and Hunter, "Mush- mouth" Johnson, John Jennings, nearly seven feet tall, draped in a sealskin coat; "Yellow" Reynolds,"the Cleveland sport," and others of a later day. Jennings died in Dunning, after being a roustaoout in the rough dives of Gary, Ind. Reynolds, who always would bet $120 to $100 that a crap shooter would not pass, went broke. His last spectacular play was to pull a diamond set gold tooth from his jaw against a $50 bet. Those were the days when gambling was one of the few lines of prosperous activity open to colored men. Politically some would like to keep it so even at the expense of holding back the race as a whole from progress. 28 CHAPTER XIII Mayors, Congressmen and State Senators Elected by Colored Voters From the plague spots of the districts of Chicago in which colored people dwell, where disorderly saloons, "buffet" flats, gambling houses and other symptoms of commercialized vice are tolerated by the police, the chain of politics stretches upward. It 'has many links. It reaches to the marble columns of the national capitol at Washington. It touches many legislative halls and high offices before it ends in the nation's greatest legislative body. Men high in the nation, state and city owe their political life to the vote of colored citizens. These same men are politically responsible for conditions as they exist among their constituents. If the colored citizen does not get his share of opportunities and advantages which the city and state offer and has more than his share of the vice and demorali- zation thrust upon him by white politi- cians, his political leaders are the per- sons to whom he must appeal. Congressman and Senator. Martin B. Madden, congressman from the 1st Illinois district, and George F. Harding, state senator at Springfield from the 1st senatorial district, are the two men who, in the last analysis, control a very large proportion of the colored vote of Chicago. That vote is a factor in a lesser way in other sections of the city and in this district it elects other officials. No other politicians have the same control as these two. The balance of power wielded by the colored vote, swung by Senator Harding, gave Mayor Thompson his nomination and his sub- sequent election. Samuel A. Ettelson, cor- poration counsel and state senator from the 3d district, also depends on the col- ored vote. The 1st and 3d districts have a colored representative each, the one from the 1st having been selected by Harding. The race's vote which is abso- lute in the 2d ward where Harding con- trols, has picked Hugh Norris, white, and Oscar De Priest colored, lor aldermen. De Priest now lines with the Madden-Et- telson element. Congressman Madden was the first to capitalize the colored vote. Senator Hard- Ing, then alderman, followed and devel- oped it on more systematic lines. He is the political czar with an inexhaustible campaign barrel and no disgruntled sub- chief has ever successfully opposed him. Congressman Madden watches his politi- cal fences with care. Senator Harding is one of the largest real estate owners in the city. Charges have come from the offices of the Committee of Fifteen that some of Senator Harding's buildings are used for "buffet" flats, disorderly saloons and similar purposes. Senator Harding has answered that when the character of undesirable tenants was discovered they were evicted and that with such a large rent list it is impossible for him to pre- vent some such tenants from slipping in before their business is known. Harding and Police Job*. Congressman Madden and Senator Harding have much to say as to who shall do the police work in their terri- tory, especially under the present admin- istration. Harding says 'he leaves such local affairs to the two aldermen. Aid. Norris says he does not act as a gobe- tween for his constituents and the police and that with the latter he does not have enough influence to close a gambling house, having tried once and failed. Aid. De Priest is left as the active boss on th e Job over the police, but Senator Harding has the final word. It is apparently up to Harding and De Priest to say whether the colored voters who elect them shall live amid respectable surroundings or whether their district shall become the dumping ground for the vice of the city. "I was told that a political meeting to oppose me was held at the Dunbar club," said Aid. Norris, relating his amazing police experience with the notorious gambling house at 3016 South State street. "I complained against the club to the police station and a couple of days later the captain told me he had investigated and could not find any gambling. One of the men who played there kept me In- formed and I insisted on some action being taken. One afternoon the police raided the place when two colored base- ball teams were playing and had drawn such crowds to see them that there was not a colored 'sport* with money east of Wentworth avenue. The club was open that night as usual. I got after the cap- tain again and he stationed officers at the front and rear entrances. My gambler friend told me two policemen were there and the game had been moved next door with the players stepping over the police- men's toes as they came and went. The police didn't want to and wouldn't close the club, so I quit." This Is a typical Illustration of how the police act against a lawbreaklng estab- lishment that is protected by the "sys- tem," even though they antagonize an alderman. A general tendency is shown to neglect the district by police, health, building department or other officials. The residents do not get such public conven- iences as citizens residing elsewhere en- joy, and so they push out into other parts of the city in search of them. "My opinion, based on observation In this court, is that crime conditions among the colored people are being deliberately fostered by the present city administra- tion," said Judge Harry M. Fisher of the Morals court. "Disorderly cabarets, thieves and depraved women are allowed in the section of the city where colored 29 people live. They have an expression, 'The law is around to-night,' as a warn- ing to behave, so seldom Is the law en- forced. The race is being exploited for the sake of men in politics who are a disgrace to their own race. Young, unat- tached men or women, strangers and un- sophisticated, are brought into this dis- trict from the south, and their first taste of freedom is downward." Pool hall night schools in the rudi- ments of crime, insanitary and dangerous homes, surroundings of vice and deprav- ity abound, in contrast to the necessities of good citizenship which are lacking. Colored Race and the Law. Colored persons involved with the law are greatly in excess of the proportion of other races, according to the annual re- port for 1915 of the Chicago police de- partment. The figures, summarized, were: Total Colored (All races. )Per9tms. Pet. Population 2,500,000 75,000 3.0 Arrests 121,704 9,960 8.2 Percentage arrested 4.9 18.8 Convicted 46,987 6,861 10.4 Per cent prisoners convict- ed 38.6 48.8 The great excess in the percentage of convictions is explained by colored law- yers on the theory that the colored pris- oner is looked on with less favor than a white one. In the Juvenile court the figures were: Delinquents. Dependents. TotaL *oys. Girls. Boys. Girls. Amer'ns (white) 356 99 241 223 919 Amer'ns (col'd). 168 66 64 84 818 All nativities.. 2,192 594 1.116 1.194 6,096 In the Morals court the percentage of colored prisoners is even higher. Reform authorities say that the percentage of crime is increased greatly by the dis- orderly surroundings in which so many of the colored people are forced to live. CHAPTER XIV Planning for the Future and Better Conditions Those farsighted persons who look to the future of the colored population of Chicago are awake to the situation. De- voted men and women, both white and colored, have given freely of their time and money to help direct the leas fortunate ones in the right direction and surround them with proper influences. Reputable members of the Negro race, these who have real influence in the com- munity, are grappling as best they can with the task of uplifting a people who are discriminated against in civic oppo- tunities and overloaded with city evils. White citizens also realize that the rapid influx of colored people from the south has made the problem one that cannot be disregarded and one that involves the future of the entire city. Among the colored people are many or- ganizations. Nearly all of them profess a purpose looking toward race betterment or religious growth, but a great many overlook this purpose in the more imme- diate satisfaction of literary and social meetings. The churches all have their individual organizations, which do an im- mense amount of work. In the last few years the Y. M. C. A. and similar organ- izations have got fairly started on prac- tical work among the people. To Co-Orillnate 4OO Organizations. Organization of a Chicago branch of the National League on Urban Conditions Among Negroes, one of the strongest and most practical of their organizations, is under way. L. Hollingsworth Wood of New York is the national president. Miss Sophronisba P. Breckenridge and Dr. George C. Hall are the Chicago members of the directorate. Eugene Kinckle Jones, one of the league's national secretaries, held a meeting with the local leaders, and T. Arnold Hill, one of the national organizers, was left in charge. The league plans to make a survay of housing and living conditions, moral surroundings, avenues of work and other phases of life among colored residents. It will co- ordinate the work of about 400 present colored organizations. A similar survey was made by a local class in civics in the fall of 1913. Fifty blocks between 26th, South LaSalle and 36th streets and South Wabash avenue were covered. In them were found 118 destructive and sixteen constructive agen- cies. In the ten blocks along South State street were eighty-two destructives and sixteen constructive agencies. Of the sixteen ten were for Negroes, four for whites and two were schools for both races. The league proposes to expend $1,000 in making its survey. It has done similar work with excellent results in other cities. The National Association for the Ad- vancement of Colored People already has a local organization. Miss Jane Addams and Dr. Charles E. Bentley are national directors. The Federated Colored organizations also have launched the Rotary Settlement movement for the avowed purpose of "de- stroying much of the fertile soil for viciousness and corruption." 30 Tvro Different Plans of Work. Those working for the uplifting of their race in Chicago as elsewhere may be di- vided roughly into two schools one working on the plans followed by the late Booker T. Washington and the other fol- lowing the theories advanced by W. E. Burghardt DuBois of New York. Though their ideas may differ on details, both groups are striving sincerely for the ad- vancement of their people. Thinking colored persons are keenly awake to the dangers pressing in on th^m because of the unbridled license which city authorities permit in wards like the 2d. "Increased demands made upon our in- dustries have brought among us thousands of colored men, who, while speaking the same language as we do, are in many cases little more accustomed to the free- dom of this city, the habits and customs of our people than is the newly arrived peasant from Europe," said the Rev. Dr. William A. Blackwell, pastor of Walters African Methodist Episcopal Zion church. "These people must be amalgamated and assimilated. They must be saved from the evil influences which surround them and started in the right life." Free and Kiisy Conditions. "The system seems to be to have free and easy conditions along South State and 35th streets," said Morris Lewis, 3633 Forest avenue, secretary to the Peck es- tate and an officer of the Douglas Im- provement association. "About all we can get action on is a dirty alley. As to driving out 'buffet' flats and similar dives, the only hope we have is that the Committee of Fifteen will give some at- tention to our district and force the city officials to do something." "It makes those who look forward to a future for the colored race blush when they see the conditions in State street by day and night," said Dr. Bentley. "The colored young man or girl has a lack of good, wholesome moral opportuni- ties," explained Edward H. Wright, an assistant corporation counsel. "The delinquent colored boy or girl who is taken to the Juvenile court is turned out again on probation to learn more and keep going until either sent to the penitentiary or hanged," said Dr. Hall. "If Chicago lacks the vision to see ahead it will reap the harvest of foster- Ing a kindergarten on the streets where gamins learn crime and know that once on probatiou they are immune from ar- rest. There was a time when in every saloon, gambling joint, disorderly house or other vicious or degrading place a colored man or woman was employed. The employment was that of catering to the vices. Now the colored people have learned that they can advance only through respectable employments, re- spectable associations. The colored peo- yle must awake themselves up, ibuy prop- eity, raise children and build homes for the future. The one-time feeling of dis- trust and jealousy Is passing away and they must unite for their future develop- ment." "The city has the right to expect certain standards of living among colored people, and it has no right to force gambling houses and disorderly dives among them," said the Rev. Myron E. Adams, former pastor of the First Baptist church, and still actively Interested in the welfare of the south side. "They should have wholesome recreational advantages. They must co-operate instead of discrediting each other. Their religious leaders should emphasize the practical elements of hu- manity as well as the emotional ones of religion. Thrift, honesty, punctuality and civic obligations must be appreciated." Need of Improvement Shown. This is the concluding article in the series which The Daily News has pre- pared, the first thorough study of the colored population of Chicago. The arti- cles have shown the extent of this pop- ulation, how it is distributed through the city and the rapidity with which it has increased in recent months. The oppor- tunities for the colored boy or girl have been pointed out, and many colored men and women who by their efforts and tal- ents have become valued members of the community and nation have been men- tioned by name. The articles also have described the injurious physical conditions forced on the so called "colored districts" either from motives of politics or of av- arice, conditions which tend to retard the progress of the race. These conditions must be changed in the interest of the healthy, steady advancement of the race as a whole. 31 \ THE BEST WAR NEWS The London Chronicle of December 4, 1914, said: "The Chicago Daily News, which is by far the best evening news- paper in the world, has over thirty cor- respondents in Europe reporting on the war.' 3 The London Chronicle of June 19, 1915, said: "The Chicago Daily News, which has published more special war news than any other paper in Amer- ica * * * ." An old Chicago newspaper man, speaking to a friend the other day, said: "Tom, I see all the principal newspapers of the country, and do you know that the best news of the war is put together right here in Chicago in our Daily News?" Are you reading the best war news in America in the best news-paper in Chicago ? UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS-URBAN* 30112031886598