Monthly rental is also a fair indication of the size of a business establishment. In a few cases in which the proprietor said he was owner of the building, a rental was estimated for the portion of the building used for the particular enterprise; in the cases, mentioned above, where the proprietor lived in the rear rooms only a part of the whole rental was estimated as a charge upon the business establishment. So that the figures here given are good measurements of their kind. The facts about 86 establishmentscould not be secured. With the remaining 223, we meet again the evidence of small size of typical establishments, for 180 establishments, or 80.7 per cent, had a monthly rental of $39 or less, and 30 others had a monthly rental between $40 and $79; 16 out of the 223 establishments had a rental of $80 or more per month, and of these 7 paid $150 or more per month.
Table XXII. Estimated Square Feet of Floor Space of 309 Negro Business Enterprises, Manhattan, 1909.
| Class of establishment. | Estimated square feet of floor space. | ||||||||
| Less than 150 sq. ft. | 150 sq. ft. to 499 sq. ft. | 500 sq. ft. to 999 sq. ft. | 1000 sq. ft. to 1999 sq. ft. | 2000 sq. ft. to 2999 sq. ft. | 3000 sq. ft. to 4999 sq. ft. | 5000 sq. ft. and over. | Unknown. | Total. | |
| Barber shops | — | 44 | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | 1 | 50 |
| Brokers | 3 | 11 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | 16 |
| Coal, wood and ice | 2 | 8 | 3 | 1 | — | — | — | 5 | 19 |
| Dressmaking and millinery | — | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | — | 2 | 8 |
| Employment agencies | 1 | 10 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 2 | 14 |
| Express and moving vans | 3 | 4 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 4 | 12 |
| Groceries | 1 | 29 | 4 | 1 | — | — | — | 1 | 36 |
| Hairdressers, etc. | 1 | 3 | — | 1 | — | — | — | 3 | 8 |
| Hotels and lodging houses | — | — | — | 1 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 2 | 17 |
| Pool and billiard rooms | — | 1 | 1 | 5 | — | 2 | — | 1 | 10 |
| Printers | — | 3 | 2 | — | — | — | — | — | 5 |
| Restaurant and lunch rooms | 1 | 19 | 3 | 1 | — | 2 | — | — | 26 |
| Saloons and cafés | — | — | 1 | 1 | — | — | 2 | 1 | 5 |
| Tailoring, pressing, etc. | — | 20 | 1 | — | — | — | — | 3 | 24 |
| Undertakers | — | 3 | 4 | 2 | — | — | — | 2 | 11 |
| Miscellaneous | 5 | 27 | 3 | 2 | 1 | — | 1 | 9 | 48 |
| Total | 17 | 186 | 31 | 17 | 4 | 10 | 8 | 36 | 309 |
Judging, then, by the number of employees, by the square feet of floor space occupied and by the monthly rental paid, the typical Negro enterprise is a small retail establishment.
To summarize this chapter: Negroes have had to begin business on a small scale because large capital was lacking and extended experience is yet to be gained. They have, however, even from the days of the Colony, when they were held as slaves, shown a decided propensity for trade, and since state emancipation this has been increased by a desire for economic independence and has expressed itself in enterprises in several lines of business. The variety and number of enterprises have increased with the years. In 1909, Southern born and West Indian Negroes comprised nearly all who had entered business, the latter far in excess of their proportion in the Negro population. This is probably due to initiative developed in an atmosphere freer than that from which the Southern Negro comes. Although confined largely to domestic and personal service occupations, Negroes have had the thrift and initiative to enter many lines of business into which neither the experience nor the capital derived from such employment would be expected to lead. In size, the typical Negro business enterprise has from one to two paid employees, has a floor space of less than one thousand square feet, and pays a rental of between fifteen and forty dollars per month.
FOOTNOTES:
[66] New York Colonial Laws, p. 157.