II. WHY NEGROES MOVE
Except where the property is owned by Negroes there is frequent moving. The records obtained of these movements give a great variety of reasons. A strong desire to improve living conditions appears with sufficient frequency to indicate that it is the leading motive. Buying a home is one of the ways of escape from intolerable living conditions, but removal to other houses or flats is more often tried. For example, a man who now owns his home near Fifty-first Street and South Wabash Avenue—living there with his two brothers and five lodgers—has moved six times, "to live in a better house and a better neighborhood." A family now living near Thirty-first Street and Prairie Avenue, resident in Chicago since 1893, has moved four times, three times to obtain better houses in better neighborhoods and once to get nearer to work. A man and wife living near Fifty-third and South Dearborn streets have moved four times since coming to Chicago in 1908. A family living on East Forty-fifth Street and paying $60 a month rent for six rooms has moved twice since 1900 to "better and cleaner houses." Another family paying $65 a month for eight rooms on East Bowen Avenue has moved twice since 1905 into better houses and neighborhoods. "Better house" and "better neighborhood" were the most frequently given reasons.
Of kindred nature are these: leaky roof; house cold; dirty; inconvenient; did not like living in rear flat; to better conditions; better houses away from questionable places; landlord would not clean; first floor not healthy; small and undesirable; not desirable flat; poor plumbing; didn't like neighborhood; moved to better quarters; landlord would not repair; house too damp; no windows; owner would not fix water pipes; more room wanted; better environment for children; better street; no yard for children; better people; house in bad condition; more conveniences for roomers.
III. THE FAMILY GROUPING
The normal family is generally recognized as consisting of five persons—two parents and three children. Properly they should make up a single group and live by themselves. The 274 families studied were chosen as follows: in the most populous district, from Thirty-first to Thirty-ninth streets and from Wentworth Avenue to Lake Michigan, ninety-nine family histories were taken; in the district north of Thirty-first Street to Twelfth Street and from Wentworth Avenue to the Lake, forty-six; in the narrow strip in Hyde Park known as the Lake Park district, thirty-seven; in the district from Thirty-ninth to Sixtieth streets and from Wentworth to Cottage Grove Avenue, thirty-six; on the West Side, sixteen; in the Ogden Park district, fifteen; on the North Side, fourteen; and in Woodlawn, eleven. For convenience, as well as to show contrasts or like conditions, the material has been analyzed and interpreted by districts.
HOMES OF WHITE AND NEGRO EMPLOYEES OF AN OUTLYING INDUSTRIAL PLANT
| TIME CONSUMED IN TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE ARGO PLANTBY ANY CONSIDERABLE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES. | |
| LONGEST RIDE FOR WHITE EMPLOYEES: | |
| ARGO TO LEMONT, VIA CHICAGO & JOLIET ELECTRIC R.R. | 32 MINUTES |
| LONGEST RIDE FOR NEGRO EMPLOYEES: | |
| ARGO TO STATE & 31ST ST. VIA ARCHER AVE. & STATE ST. SURFACE LINES, WITH TWO TRANSFERS | 67 MINUTES |
| ARGO TO STATE & 39TH ST. VIA 63RD ST. & STATE ST. SURFACE LINES. WITH TWO TRANSFERS | 60 MINUTES |
There was found a wide variation in the family groups, comprising six classifications, in three of which no lodgers appear. A lodger here means an adult not a member of the immediate family. Thus relatives, unless infants or children, are classed as lodgers. The three groups without lodgers are: (1) man and wife; (2) two parents and children; (3) a parent and children. The other three groups with lodgers are: (1a) man and wife and lodgers; (2a) man, wife, children, and lodgers; (3a) man or woman, surviving head of the family, with lodgers.