What a battle the Negro business man has to fight can be surmised when to the fact of a narrow patronage from his own people, who have the small purchasing power of their low-paid occupations, is added the severe competition of white firms with larger capital, with more extended credit and larger business experience, that vie with him for even this limited field. Table XXVIII (p. 125), which follows, was compiled on the basis of proprietors' statements of the probable number of white and colored customers over a given number of months. It is about as accurate as such an estimate can be and is far more reliable and definite than general impressions. The percentages of white customers are given, it being understood that the remainder were Negroes. This small amount of information is very significant in showing how the attitude of the white public affects the economic advancement of the Negroes.
In the foregoing chapter we have reviewed some very definite facts concerning the Negro business man's dealing with the community. We have seen that his enterprises are permanently established although against great odds, but that permanence of address is not so well secured. Nearly all, 260 out of 309, were known to have some of the usual methods of keeping accounts, and of the 205 from whom information on the matter was obtained about three-fourths gave credit either occasionally or habitually; while of the 94 who answered as to their receiving credit, about half did and the other half did not receive credit.
TABLE XXVIII. ESTIMATED PROPORTIONS OF WHITE CUSTOMERS OF 279 NEGRO BUSINESS ENTERPRISES, MANHATTAN, 1909.
---------------------------+---------------------------------------- |Estimated Proportion of Whites of Total |Customers of Negro Business Enterprises. +-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ Class of establishment. | None. | Less | 10%- | 25%- | 50%- | | | than | 24%. | 49%. | 74%. | | | 10%. | | | | ---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ Barber shops | 16 | 23 | 7 | 2 | -- | Brokers | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | Coal, wood and ice | 5 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Dressmaking and millinery | 1 | 1 | -- | -- | 1 | Employment agencies | -- | -- | -- | -- | -- | Express and moving vans | -- | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | Groceries | 10 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 2 | Hairdressers, etc. | 1 | 5 | -- | -- | -- | Hotels and lodging houses | 15 | 1 | -- | 1 | -- | Pool and billiard rooms | 3 | 3 | 2 | -- | 2 | Printers | -- | -- | -- | 2 | 2 | Restaurant and lunch rooms | 16 | 7 | 1 | 2 | -- | Saloons and cafés | 1 | 1 | 1 | -- | 2 | Tailoring, pressing, etc. | 4 | 9 | 1 | 5 | 2 | Undertakers | 5 | 6 | -- | -- | -- | Miscellaneous | 4 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 11 | ---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+ Totals | 81 | 92 | 22 | 20 | 28 | ---------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+-------+