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Show I Negroes Opportunities inNew York M ISS MARY WHITE 6VINGTON. of New York, formerly of the Green- m , wieh House Committee on Social In- M vestigntions and now head of the Lincoln B Settlement in Brooklyn, answers the ques- H tion as to whether the negro, who -makes H up her two per cent of the city's popula- M I tion, has less of a clmncc in New York H j than the white man, with an emphatic yes. H Miss Ovington tells the story of a young H negro she knew, a college student who h.id H j been taking a post-graduate course in Gcr- Hj I many. She asked him if he was going m back South to teach. M "No," s-.ild the university graduate. H "my father lias attained ifuccftn down Hl South, bnt he advises mc to live n the H North. He himself cannot continually H endure the position in which ho is placed. H In the summer he comes North to be a Hl man. No, to be half a man. A negro H , l 18 a man only in Europe." H r Mifts .O.vington says that among the H industries of New York there'is a'"lnck H of opportunity foj the negro boy." Por H five years she has been making invest!- H gations'and gathering statixtics. H "The only trade he can easily learn,' H ehc says, "is that of stationary engineer, H an occupation at which he negroes do H very well. Negro boys in small numbers H arc attending evening trade schools, but B lheir chance of procuring iosilious on H graduation will he small. The negro H oith who is not talented enough to enter H a profession and who cannotrget into the H city or government service has ilight H opportunity." mU ' Miss Ovington found there were only H 1.H5S negroes in "NVw Yorks organized H labor in 101 J, the same number as in HMJu". H Eighty, of them were in the building H trade?, J 03 were cignrmakera, -J 00 wore H teamsters, 350 asphalt workers and :MU H rock drillers anil tool sharpeners. There B -were forty carpenters, nineteen plasterers, , thirty letter carriers, thirty-seven double H drum bolsters, thirty-live safety and H portable engineers and eight printers. As H servant and waiter only, accurdiug to H Miss OvingtonV calculations, the negro H ttecnis to have an even chance. In these Hj tiefds ho does well, holding a fifth 6t the H jobs offered, or six thousand out of H thirty thousand. One hundred andtwen- H' ' ty-nine out o every thousand janitors and Hl sextons arc negroes H '"Then," says Miss Oviugton. "come H' the laborers, nearly four thousand strong, H with the elevator boy as a familiar fig- H urc. Forty per cent of the 139 laborers H -, in my own tabulation were elevator boys, H. for, except in olliec buildings and large H, stores and hotels, this occupation is given H over to thc negro, who spends twelve H hours a day drowsing in a corner or H r standing to turn a wheel. Paul Luw-H Luw-H mM ' rence Dunbar -wrote poetry while he ran an levator, and ambitious, if less talented, tal-ented, negro boy to-day study civil service ser-vice examinations in their unoccupied time; but the situation as a life job is not alluring. Twenty-five dollars n month for wage, with perhaps a half this sum in tips, twelve hours on duty, one week in the' night time and the next in the dny no wonder the personnel of this, staff changes frequently in an apartment house." Miss Ovington says that in domestic service the negro has gone "a little down the ladder," bervlng In less desirable positions po-sitions than in former years, Circumstantial Evidence, i TV S illustrating the crushing force of i f- mere circumstantial evidence in certain cer-tain cases, attention may be invited to the fase of a Itussiun of distinction, who, provided with strong and flattering letters of introduction, visited tho coin and medal room of a certain national institution in-stitution in Europe. The coins and medals in this collection being to all intents and purposes pric-les, pric-les, the curators are compelled to exercise exer-cise the utmost caution as to the admission admis-sion of strangers nnd to maintain a sharp lookout on the visitors while thoy arc inspecting the rnrcst of numismatic tre;Lsuie. The Itusmn .wished to sec a medal of Gonstantitia Chlorus, which was of sold, of lnrge size, and reputed to be unique. Suddenly, while the RuBsinn was bending over it, (he medal disappeared, and the foreigner declared that it had slipped from his hand and fallen on the floor. After a searching examination of evory 'hink aud cranny in the room the oflidiUs ban to doubt the stranxcrs integrity and intimated that it would be nece:ary to call in a detective and tp have hitu scorched. Whereupon tho gentleman evinced great mcntnl disturbance. As this agitation only confirmed the suspicions of his guilt, a policeman was actually ac-tually summoned, but Just as the half resisting stranger was about to be exposed ex-posed to gross personal Indignity, nn attendant at-tendant cried out that he had found the medal. The piece had indeed fallen to the floor nnd rolled under one of the eases. The curators of the collection, of courhc. overwhelmed the Russian with apologies, but thoy could not refrain from asking him why he had inhibited so much jMirtnrbatiou at Ibc thought of being senrched. "Knr this reason," pxplained the Miip-covito Miip-covito "It has been generally asserted nnd bliovKl that the feilow to'your Con-stnnlitis Con-stnnlitis ChloniB medal is not lo be foutfd in the whole world. You told me so half n. dozen times. Now J. happen tp possess ii counterpart .of this, very medal (he produced It as he spoke frin hiu'pocket)! nnd it was my wish to cnjo.Vfyour discomfiture discom-fiture when I proved to you- that voiir treasure was not unique. But what would have been my position if your medal had not come to light and mine had been found In ray pocket? Who would have hdicwd In my story about the counterpart?' |