12. Our section of the city is entirely white, but with a fear of colored invasion. There is, therefore, a strong prejudice against them. We have only about half a dozen accounts with colored people. Two of these are in the savings department and are maintained with large balances. These two customers are thrifty and careful with their money. The others are not.

13. In former years a bank position was eagerly sought and considered exceptionally good. At present, because of higher salaries which can be offered by concerns which make greater earnings than banks and can therefore pay more, the banks are not getting the same high grade of employees. With the former class it would have been possible to appeal to their sense of duty to help educate the Negroes and to overcome prejudice. With present conditions it is not likely that this appeal would have the same effect, and prejudice against Negroes would make trouble in our routine.

14. Social factors enter. For instance, banks often have dinners or other events for or among their employees. No "Loop" hotel would put on an affair for whites and Negroes. There is also the difficulty of washrooms, and lockers, etc., where prejudiced employees could make a great deal of trouble.

It would seem, then, that there is not much chance for the hundreds of intelligent Negro high-school and college graduates in Chicago to obtain a practical education in banking methods through direct experience. Banks owned by Negroes are few and small, and there is scarcely any opportunity to obtain similar experience in Negro building and loan, insurance, and other companies, which are also limited in number.

CHAPTER VI
RACIAL CONTACTS

INTRODUCTION

Contacts of whites and Negroes in the North and South differ according to the institutions and traditions of the sections in which they have been reared. In the South relations are fixed and generally understood, although Negroes consider the institutions on which these relations are based oppressive and consistently oppose them. There the "color line" is drawn rigidly without reference to the desires or comfort of Negroes or the free expression of their citizenship privileges. Because it is nearer than the North to the institution of slavery, the South still maintains an almost patriarchal relationship with its Negro population. Small communities, the plantation system, and the great numbers of Negroes in domestic service hold the two races steadily in contacts so close that class as well as race lines are maintained with deliberateness and persistence. Even where there are no laws specifically regulating association of the races, the sentiment of the community is enforced, frequently in disregard of existing general laws. Thus Negroes may not eat in a restaurant with whites, sit in adjoining seats in a theater, live in the same neighborhoods, work together on the same jobs, or attend the same schools.

In northern communities the institutions are more liberal and with few exceptions there are no restrictive laws applying specifically to racial association. In fact, the trend of legislation and of court decisions is strongly toward adopting and enforcing general regulations without regard to race or color. Relations are less personal, contacts are wider and more frequent.

From a very simple organization of relations in the South, Negroes are transported to more complex relations based on more elaborate urban distribution of responsibilities. Thus it happens that whites and Negroes in Chicago may be found working together in industry, riding together on street cars, attending the same schools, sharing political activities, with an increasing number of Negroes holding public office, transacting business in banks, stores, and real estate, competing in athletics in public schools, colleges, and the Y.M.C.A., and conferring on social problems in civic and reform clubs.

The increasing number of these contacts cannot fail to influence the necessary adjustments. The general public seems to accept necessary contacts with a minimum of outward friction, as is shown by thousands of daily contacts. Each contact, however, where there is friction, is a focus of comment, antagonism, resentment, prejudice, or fear. But association in such places as hotels, restaurants, barber shops, dance halls, and theaters is often limited by tradition and custom in the North as strictly as by regulation in the South.