“The colored servants do not like to be kept at steady employment.”—Trenton, South Carolina.
“The majority work only as a make-shift, with no idea of remaining.”—Biloxi, Mississippi.
“The whole colored race is in a transitional period which is full of evils.”—Marion, Alabama.
“Negroes are very stubborn under harsh treatment, but respond quickly to kind treatment.”—Crescent City, Florida.
“Most of the negroes are indifferent to improving in any way as long as they have enough to eat, a place to sleep, and clothes to wear.”—Tallahassee, Florida.
[286] A southern gentleman well known as a student of social science writes in regard to the importation of negroes to the North: “There is nothing to hope from it. I have been reared in the South, and I know the negro well. Speaking as one with no sectional prejudice and with the broadest sympathy for blacks as well as whites, I must tell you that in general negroes will not serve you as well as the Irish, Germans, or Swedes. Personal attachment alone will secure good service from colored people.”
[287] “I must say from my own experience and observation that well-trained Chinese are the very best servants to be had here.”—San Francisco, California.
“I have grown up with Chinamen in the house, and it seems to me quite revolting and unnatural to have in the heart of the house an alien woman who speaks your language, knows your affairs, is even in a way dependent on your companionship, yet is nothing to you as a friend, and would never be asked even as a guest into the house if it rested on her personal qualities.”—San Francisco, California.
“Our Chinese cook is an admirable servant, invariably respectful, and does his work beautifully; he has the self-respect to fill every requirement of respectful and obedient behavior that the occasion calls for.”—San Francisco, California.
“Three Chinese were the most satisfactory servants we ever employed. In a housekeeping experience of nearly fifty years we have employed negro, Norwegian, and Irish servants.”—San Francisco, California.