Fort Wayne

Beginning as a military and trading post,at the juncture of the St. Joseph and St. Mary's rivers to form the Maumee, the strategic importance of Fort Wayne has grown. It is located in the northern section of the state, and among its early population were settlers from New Jersey, New York, and Ohio, as well as Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas. Names with a larger historic interest for the town show in their origin, this striking diversity. William Rockhill came from Burlington, New Jersey, Judge James W. Borden was born near Beauford, South Carolina, Colonel Thomas W. Swinney came from Piketon, Ohio and James Holman was an appointee of President Monroe sent to the state (1823) to become the first Register of the Land Office.

According to the original plat of Fort Wayne, as of August 16, 1833, the town centered between Calhoun and Barr Streets, Water (now Superior) and Wayne. Other important intervening streets were Columbia, Meine, Berry and Clinton.

006 5

Original Plat of Ft. Wayne August 16,1833

007 6

Surrounded by undeveloped territory freshly wrested from Indian claims, fur trading was the first important means of subsistence. After 1843, when the Wabash and Erie Canal was opened, there was a spirit of growth which was augmented by the coming of the railroads which finally made it an important point of the state. The problems and dilemna of the state on the Negro and the slavery question were reflected in this city with, perhaps, more acuteness than most of the other cities.

Samuel Hoover, one of the early Quakers who migrated to Indiana recorded in 1829, an incident of what is probably the first “Underground Railroad” of that section. On October 10th, 1829, before Fort Wayne town had been chartered as township, a curious procession of Negroes and whites passed thru en route to the Canadian border. They were fugitive slaves from Kentucky moving under the escort of Quaker anti-slavery friends from Richmond. When they reached Fort Wayne, they feared slave catchers and before entering, the Quakers conferred with city officials guaranteeing to pay them money if they were allowed to pass thru unmoleated. The document, which is preserved by a descendant of Frederick Hoover, is written in Biblical language: “Now it came to pass that in the first year of the reign of John (John Quincy Adams), who was governor of the united provinces and territories, of North America, that the Ethiopians in the provinces of Kentucky were more vexed by reason of their taskmasters, and they lifted up their eyes towards the land of Indiana, which lieth toward the north country, over the great River Ohio, as thou goest toward the city of Brookville (in Franklin county, founded in 1807). Now Indiana is land flowing with milk and honey, and they 008 7said, therefore, let us flee thither, peradventure the people of the land will deal kindly with us and deliver us out of the hands of the oppressor. So the people gat them away by stealth and fled into the land. Howbeit they were sought by the negro-hunters. These sons of belial, caught Saby, wife of Isom, and fled, but certain man of the land pursued the men of belial and delivered Saby. But the children of Ethiopia said therefore one to another, wot ye not that if we tarry in this land we shall be spoiled of our posessions; let us, therefore, make ready and flee even unto the land of Canada.”

Arriving at the outskirts of Detroit, after passing through Defiance, Ohio, and Monreo, Michigan, the leaders “spake unto them saying, ‘Tomorrow, we must pass through city Detroit, over the great river into Canada. Ye must, therefore, shave off your beards and purify yourselves with water; ye must also put on goodly raiment so that haply ye may find favor in the eyes of the men of the City and they may let you pass peaceably through the city into the land of Canada to inherit it. The people rejoiced greatly because of their deliverance from their enemies and from the hands of those who sought to deliver them into bondage.”

The vote in Allen County (in which Fort Wayne is located) for the Amendments of the State Constitution excluding Negroes from the state stood 1,803 in support of exclusion to 261 against it. Four years after the passage of the Act the County Clerk by public notice summoned all Negroes and mulattoes who resided in Indiana, prior to November 1, 1851 to register, and announced that all who came into the state after that time were subject to a fine of not less than $10.00 nor more than $500.00

009 8

The city, made ambitions by its location, to outstrip all others in the middle-west in commercial development, felt the need of a larger population. Henry Rudisill, spokesman of the business men, communicated with German officials seeking new immigrants and in 1851 a great mass meeting was held which had for its purpose the petitioning of the State Legislature to adopt measures encouraging to this immigration.

Later, as the slavery question became insistent, the population found itself divided in support for Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln. The vote of Allen County in the presidential election was 3,224 for Douglas, 2552 for Lincoln, 42 for Breckenridge and 32 for Bell.

Negroes in Fort Wayne

Before 1920 the Negro population had been inconsiderable. The early immigration attributed to the city, together with the constant pressure of the rural areas on the towns, operated successfully to keep the numbers small. A few families were located there and found work in the hotels, personal and domestic service, and a few in the industrial plants. Those who came were, for the most part, from nearby southern states, among which Kentucky figured conspicuously. There was, however, a sufficient colony in the city in 1869 to establish a Church, the African Methodist Episcopal Church, and the first to be organized among Negroes in the city. The building which they occupied was one formerly used by St. John's Reformed Church and the first pastor was Jason Bundy. He was, in turn, 010 9followed by M. Patterson, C. Russell, Daniel Burden, A. H. Knight, and G. O. Curtis. Old Negro residents still living recall the period when every family was known intimately.

The numerical position of this population is shown in the following table which gives the distribution of four classes of the population over three decades:

Table I.—Color or race of Inhabitants: 1920, 1910, 1900

Beginning with a very small number, the increase between 1900 and 1910, for Negroes was 107.2 percent, for native whites 32.7 percent and for foreign born whites 6.3 percent. In the following decade the Negro increase was 154 percent while the native white increase was 56 percent and the foreign born actually decreased 6 percent. 011 10The period covered in the last decade was one of important industrial change and unrest. Greeks, Russians, Italians and Syrians had drifted into the city as its industries grew. They did not come in such numbers, however, as they went to Gary, Indiana, or Flint, Michigan, where there are large basic industries but in sufficient numbers to accommodate the needs of the diversified industries of Fort Wayne. A strike in one of the large railroad shops in 1917, during the feverish period of war preparation brought the first group migration of Negroes at a time when the immigrant supply was being diminished. This migration was induced. Negro men were brought to the city, quartered on the property of the railroad company and until these shops after the strike were moved away, some of their number continued to find employment there. Families gradually found the migrants and there were occasional accessions to the labor supply, when friends of the Negro workers were drawn to the city by reports of opportunities for employment. The inducements of the city have not been strong enough to draw many strong characters, or successfully to hold the young persons of the group. This circumstance will be adverted to in subsequent discussions of the Negro community. So small were the numbers before 1917 that there was little concern about them in public relations. Such as were interested took part in local politics, visited the theatres, ate in the restaurants, moving freely and without interference. The local unconcern operated at the same time to keep them in the traditional domestic and personal service, for the question of their 012 11use in industry seldom came up. In one notable instance, following the marked loyalty of Negro workers in the Bass Foundry, the management thereafter placed persistent confidence in a certain proportion of Negro workers. There have been occasional gestures of friendship for the Negro population from old white residents. The best remembered of these hold unfortunate implications for the type of leadership which found its way to the purses of white friends. For the most part the Negro population has lived there quietly and except for occasional political activity, in which their votes were sought for which they were rewarded with three policemen, appointed at different times, and certain privileges of immunity for the Negro political chiefs who maintained themselves by operating pool rooms, there has been little group contact between the Negro population and the city.

Present Composition of the Negro Population

The 1920 Census in its Age classification provides the first significant differences in the structure of the Negro and white population.

(See Table #4 on following page)

The Fort Wayne white population is so little affected by immigration that it present a fairly normal age distribution. The Negro age divisions show faithfully the irregularities of a migrant population which have such an important bearing upon community life. The working age groups between 20 and 44 are abnormally swollen, while the number of children under 19 and of persons over 45 is constricted. Of the white males 43.8 percent are between 20 and 44;

013

Table IV.—AGE DISTRIBUTION

014 12

of the Negro males 53.7 percent. Of white female 44.3 percent are between these age limits; of the Negro females 52.9 percent. The ratio of Negro males to 100 females is 115.1. The ratio is exceeded in East Chicago (159.4) Gary (129.6) South Bend (127.8) and Richmond (116.5) and exceeds Indianapolis (98.1) Terre Haute (100.6) Muncie (109.8) and all other towns of the state. The proportions for Negroes for each age group below twenty years and after 45 years are smaller than the white. This fact points clearly to the abnormal increases in the former thru migration.

Present Size of Negro Population

Since the 1920 Census was taken during the period of the general migration the changes that occurred afterwards are important to know. This is especially desirable since the facts to be given in this report are best understood in the light of the Negro population in 1927. The basis for an estimate is taken from the trends in Negro population increase by decades, and actual dates of arrival as given on questionnaires covering 30 percent of the population. For the seven years 1920 - 1927, it appears that about 800 persons have been added to the population thru migration and approximately 150 by natural increase, placing the estimate for the Negro population during 1927 at 2400.

015 13

Table V. - Showing DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION BY COLOR, NATIVITY & WARD - FT. WAYNE 1910 - 1920

AREA U

Lewis Avenue on the North to Hough Street on the South; Clinton Street on the West and Hanna on the East.

AREA II

Eliza Street on the North to the Wabash Railroad tracks on the South; Francis to Winter.

AREA III

Wallace Street on the North to Creighton Street on the South: Hanna to Oliver Streets.

AREA IV

Wabash Railroad tracks on the North to Dawson Street on the South: Fairfield Avenue to Calhoun Streets.

AREA V

Erie Street to Washington: Hanna to Division.

AREA VI

Liberty to Washington: Canal to Hanover.

AREA VII

Alliger to the Wabash Avenue tracks: Anthony to Grant.

AREA VIII

Maumee to Pittsburg: Duboise to Summer.

AREA IX

Anternick to Tam: Winter to Anthony Boulevard.

AREA X

Helen to Agnes: Lafayette to Warsaw.

AREA XI

Superior to Main: Harrison to Clinton.

SOURCE OF FAMILIES

Industrial communities are both most rapid in growth and irregular in their population distribution. Opportunities for self-improvement draw persons from nearby states. Communities that have little to offer outsiders tend to show larger proportions of persons born within the town and state. The Negro migration from the South 031 27deposited these migrants in many cities of the North where there were reasonable opportunities for work. Fort Wayne received its share which was, however, not so great as cities like Gary and Akron where there are large basic industries. Of the 613 persons in this group of families studied, 133 or about 22 per cent indicated specifically that they were born in the state of Indiana. But there was a group of 105 in this 613 from whom the item of birth place was not obtained. They were, for the most part lodgers and others who were away at work when the visits were made to the homes. The following list gives the distribution according to birthplace by states: 032 28

TABLE NO. SHOWING BIRTHPLACE OF MEMBERS OF FAMILY GROUPS

The older migrants appear in the figures from Ohio and Kentucky, while the recent migrants are shown in the figures from Gerogia, Alabama and Tennessee. If we exclude the indefinite group of 105 who did not specify birthplace, it appears that 45 per cent of the population came from the Southern states. This per cent does not include the border states of Kentucky and Missouri.

033 29

The date of arrival of adult members of households was obtained in 363 cases.

YEAR OF ARRIVAL OF 363 FORT WAYNE NEGROES

Of the migrants twelve per cent came before 1913. The new migration began in 1917, and, assuming the fluctuations to represent larger population trends, it would appear that the largest migration on years were 1917, 1922, 1918 and 1926. There is reason to believe, however, that many who came in 1917 when work was plentiful, moved to other points or returned south when slack times, such as existed during the survey, came.

Background of the Migrants

Undoubtedly the motive back of the movement of the newcomers to Fort Wayne was economic. These facts appear to apply to the different types of migrants.

(1) Those who came from the south raised the level of their pay in varying degrees. For the skilled workers there was frequently only a slight difference between what they earned in the south and in Fort 034 30Wayne; for the laborer this difference at times amounted to as much as 100 per cent.

(2) There were many skilled Negroes among those who came, but less than twenty per cent were able to secure work in their own lines. Where they did secure the work their increased income was great; where they were forced to accept skilled work, there was an increase over their old skilled jobs but a relatively small increase.

(3) The migrants from other than southern states received much higher wages in their former homes than the southerners, and it appears, received a similarly high rate on their first arrival in Fort Wayne, during an active industrial period. However, except for the farmers from Ohio and Kentucky those who came from well paying positions in other states were, at the time of the survey receiving less than in their former home.

As an example of the different pay rates of the Texas migrants, a former packer in a flour mill received at home $12.00 weekly, a pipe fitter $25.00, an oil mill worker $9.00. In Fort Wayne they received $25.00 weekly. Of Alabama migrants, a former drayman received weekly $13.00, a painter $21.00, a laborer in a steel mill $12.00, a trucker $20.00. In Fort Wayne these same men received weekly $25.00, $28.00, $12.00 and $23.00 respectively.

The following table indicates the difference between rates of pay in former home and in Fort Wayne and, roughly suggests the loss of skill in being forced to abandon old trades.

035 31

TABLE NO. SHOWING WAGE DIFFERENCES

Wages for maids in the south were from $3.00 to $5.00 a week; in Fort Wayne it was possible to get from $18.00 to $21.00. The farmers who came from Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky for the most part raised crops on shares, and could not estimate their earnings, except to say that they were almost continuously in debt. In one instance a farmer estimated that he could net about $15. a month.

WHY THEY CAME

WHERE NEGROES WORK IN FORT WAYNE

Questionnaires were sent to each of the industries given in the list Product Manufacturers in Ft. Wayne in a preliminary effort to locate the establishments in which Negroes were employed. Further, the places where Negroes worked, as indicated in their family schedules, were noted, as well as places revealed through interviews with Negro working men. The industries thus found to employ Negro workers in any important number were visited and the officials of them interviewed.

The number of Negro workers revealed was small. Scarcely more than six plants employed them in numbers of more than ten. But it was evident that there were others scattered in many plants as single workers employed on many types of work, most of which, however, was unskilled.

Ten of the largest plants in Forth Wayne, with their total and Negro workers are given:

054 49

In these ten industries Negroes constitute just 1.4 percent of the workers. And since they are used most commonly for the unskilled work of large plants there is a strong possibility that the great majority of the industrial workers are included in this group. Sixty other industries questioned on this point revealed 21 Negroes working as porters, janitors and occasionally in semi-skilled positions. The full number of Negro workers reached through the plants was 227, or about 30 percent of the probably working males. Apart from these interviewed, two concerns, the Grace and Brooke Construction Companies, used skilled and unskilled Negro Workers in large numbers, but irregularly. They have employed as many as 200 on short seasonal jobs. The work usually runs from wo to three months in the summer. Other occupations of Ft. Wayne Negroes as given on their family schedules were domestic and personal service, cooks, porter, housemen, washmen in laundries, occasional street workers, garage workers and chauffeurs.

Places employing Negroes not included in the industrial sheets are as follows: The Keenan, Wayne, and Centlivre Hotels, St. Charles Restaurant, the Western Gas Construction Co., The Inter-Urban R.R., Perfection Biscuit Company, Ft. Wayne Police Force, Post Office, the Fisher Baths, General Construction Co., Ft. Wayne Builders Supply, Western Newspaper Union, Temple Club, Schick's Garage, Coan Contractors, Brown's Trucking Company, Dodge Brothers Garage, and the Y.M.C.A.

Two department stores have Negro stock girls, two concerns have a Negro shipping clerk each, and one electrical supply company has a Negro battery expert. There are two Negro plasterers in the town, and an assistant clerk capable of handling blue prints, but who is required to do some janitorial work to prevent objections from white employees.

Plants Employing Negroes

The largest single employer of Negroes in regular work is the Pennsylvania Railroad for the Ft. Wayne District with 65. Before the shops moved away, several hundred were employed. They make up 3.5 per cent of the total workers (about the proportion of Negroes to the total population of the city.) The work of 2 of these men is regarded as skilled, 9 as semi-skilled and the rest unskilled. The official interviewed stated the policy of the company: There is no prejudice on the part of the company, but if the morale of a large number of whites threatens to be affected by the employment of a few Negroes, the Negroes will not be employed. Mexicans are employed in skilled labor and while no important objections have ceom from white workers, the plant itself prefers the Negroes both to Mexican and foreign labor.

This company asserts that it pays a higher rate for unskilled work than any other plant in which Negroes work, and these rates are the same for white and Negro workers. On the character of Negro workers, two departments of this company gave slightly different reports. In the main division it was felt that Negro workers “are just as reliable as whites” and, it was added, that in some jobs such as that of train porter, they were more reliable. The freight handling division, where 22 Negroes are employed, gave the opinion that they “require more supervision and labor turnover is larger than among white employees.”

The second largest employer of Negroes is the Rolling Mills where about 18 per cent of the workers are Negroes. This plant is probably 056 51responsible for the direct importation of more Negroes into Ft. Wayne than any other industry. These workers were recruited from Arkansas, Kentucky, Alabama and Tennessee. It thus happens that the labor is more representative of an unmixed type of migration than any other group. They live in communities around the plant making few contacts with the other Negro communities.

The work of the Negroes is largely unskilled, for which they are paid $.37½ an hour, and the manager contemplated lowering this scale. The men, at the times of the study, could work only three or four days a week. Competitors in the same type of work, in Terre Haute, the manager stated, were paying only $.27½ an hour.

Compared with other workers, Negroes were found on unskilled work “about like all unskilled workers, -very poor.” When day's work is shifted to piece work, the unskilled Negro labor proves more satisfactory. Because of the general satisfaction with this labor, the company has encouraged Negroes to buy homes around the plant, and is selling them properties in Westfield. There is no observed friction between the races. This may be due to the limitation of Negroes, for the most part, to the unskilled jobs and their exclusion from most of the desirable jobs where their presence is especially objectionable. The Amalgamated Unions which control parts of the work, do not accept Negroes into membership, and allow them to work on certain jobs on which their men work, as hookers and stockers, without membership rather than take them in.

The next largest number of Negroes are employed at the International Harvester Company. This concern moved to Ft. Wayne in 1921 057 52from Akron and began operations in 1923. In the former place, many Negroes were used in skilled and semi-skilled jobs. In Ft. Wayne they are used principally on unskilled work. The highest position held is that of “heater” or assistant to the hammer man, a position classed as unskilled. The officials interviewed stated that no discrimination was practiced in the plant: that in comparing Negroes with foreign workers the latter were preferred both to Negroes and native whites because the foreign worker “will do what he is told.” The Negroes were regarded as “slow, without pep, and lazy.” Six Negroes, it was stated, were taken from a department because they “did not do the work”. Two were transferred to other departments and the others dismissed. In this connection Negro workers reached in the home visits stated voluntarily that six Negroes were fired from a department of the company and eleven white men employed in their place. The superintendent denied this, but admitted that there were “good and bad Negroes as there are good and bad whites.” On the whole, he thought, a sifting will bring more satisfactory whites per hundred than Negroes. The present Negro workers are “very satisfactory” but they represent 7 years sifting. The present turnover of all workers in the plant is about 18 per cent. Two years ago it was 286 percent.

Bass Foundry employs the next largest number, with about 55 per cent of the Negroes skilled and semi-skilled. They have been employed in the plant over 25 years and the company has been conspicuously fair in its dealings with them. The General Manager feels that they have proved as satisfactory as white labor, and no racial 058 53difficulties have developed in the plant even though there are Negroes in the highest skilled positions workin along side white workers.

General Electric Company has a Negro information clerk and two janitors. It has never used Negroes in large numbers. They operate their own employment office, but few, if any Negroes ever apply. Most of the labor is skilled and semi-skilled with every little common labor. The jobs that are ordinarily sought by Negroes are filled by incapacitated whites who have held a more profitable and supposedly higher skilled jobs. The superintendent states that the question of Negro labor does not exist for this plant. The possibility of hiring Negroes in any large numbers is small. Local whites are proving quite sufficient. A large number of people come to the employment agency every day.

About 25 Germans are about the extent of foreign labor, - in fact, these are skilled and semi-skilled laborers and were brought in through relatives already in the plant. In other General Electric plants there have been and are many Negroes employed. Thus, it is not a general policy not to use Negroes. The present workers have proved satisfactory.

The Interurban Transportation lines of the Indiana Service Corporation employs three Negroes in a total of 1,200. The company was in the hands of the Receiver and the official interviewed was general manager for the Receivers. He is vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce, and President of the Community Chest. The fact that only few Negroes were employed, he explained,is the result of lack of policy rather than any specific attitude. He related 059 54an incident of interest here: He had planned to put a young Negro athlete in charge of the recreation room. The Negro was well known to him personally. White employees got wind of it and one of the higher foreman suggested that there might be resentment on the part of white workers. Due to the fact that the young Negro was not available at the time, and because of the foreman's statement, the matter was dropped. He describes his attitude toward Negroes as one of indifference; he does not have to come into contact with the, therefore has no attitude one way or the other. His experience with Negroes, he states, leads him to believe that they are just as reliable as other workers, and he gave specific examples to illustrate his statement.

The Artis Construction Company which uses about 20 percent Negroes when busy, finds that “they make good common labor.” The Nickel Plate Road of the N. Y. Central employs 5 satisfactorily. They have been used ten years. The Perfection Biscuit Company has had 5 Negro janitors about 25 years.

Negro janitors and porters were working in the following places: Art Mosaic & Tile Company, Bond Engraving Company, National Mill Supply, Ft. Wayne Builders Supply Co., Heit Miller Lau Co., Candy Manufacturers, Kings Specialty Company, Pollak Brothers, Cotton Dress Manufacturers and the Superior Baking Company. Their length of services ranged from 2 to 25 years, and in each case it was stated that their services were satisfactory.

SKILL

Of the 22g Negroes employed in the principal industries, 12, or 5.2 percent were skilled, 24 or 10.4 per cent were semi-skilled and 060 5584.4 percent were unskilled. The largest industries require skilled workers and Negroes are not commonly regarded or employed as skilled workers. This does not always mean that they are incapable of doing skilled work. The industrial history of many of them shows that in numbers of instances they had skill and used it before coming to Ft. Wayne. There is, however, a large native white population at work in industry (one plant given its proportion as 98.9 per cent) and they resent Negro as well as foreign competition. However, the Negro skilled workers include a car wheel inspector, cupulo tenders, molders, core makers, molders helpers, concrete layers, asphalt workers, and plasterers.

INTERVIEWS WITH NEGRO SKILLED WORKERS

Mr. Y. is a shipping clerk in a wholesale house where he has been working since 1919, at a salary of $30.00 a week. He was born in Ft. Wayne, and is a graduate of the local high school and of Wilberforce University. The owners of this concern are Jewish, and he found less difficulty on applying for the job in response to an “ad”, in being considered for it. His relations with his employers are pleasant, although he does not believe that there is any promotion for him beyond his present job. His duties require that he come in contact with the trade each day in sales and although he has waited upon many classes of people, he has heard, so far, no complaints.

Mr. W. has lived in Ft. Wayne for many years and for 14 years has been a stocker at the Rolling Mill. (A stocker keeps material on hand for the heaters.) For this he receives $.37 an hour for a 5-day week. Formerly he was a cook. He thinks that the foreman over his section at the Rolling Mill is a Klansman. “He seems to want everything white.” The electrician, he says, boasts of being a Klansman. The white men in the section frequently gather in bunches to discuss things which seem not to have any relation to the work. “Any chance the electrician gets to do Negroes dirty, he appreciates it very highly.” The work of the Mill is to make old scrap iron into new. The Negro common laborers and helpers receive from $.37 to $.39 an hour. The majority of the white men, he says, work on tonnage scale and average about $8.00 a day. These white men are heaters and rollers. Labor on 061 56the yard gets 5 days a week of 9 hours. The work of the Negroes consists largely in wheeling, running the shearers (that is, cutting up scrap iron) putting on packages, hauling off refuse, (that is, pushing buggies and wheelbarrows loaded with scrap iron.) He feels that the Klan has done much to keep Negroes out of work. For a long period they barred, whenever they could, Negroes, Jews and Irish. At the Rolling Mills are two colored oilers, this man says, and everytime work is scarce, one of these Negroes is laid off and a white workers switched to his job. Everytime the foreman can lay off a Negro, he does.

Mr. P. is a janitor in the force shop at the International Harvester Company. He has been on this job for two months and gets $35 an hour for a 5½ day week. A company union was recently attempted in the plant.

In the forge shop they make all rough parts - axles, brick levers, hubbrackets, crank shafts. Nine-tenths of the Negro men in the International Harvester plant do the work of cleaning and taking out scraps and waste. In Akron, where Mr. P formerly worked, he ran a drill press for about 2 years. Although they have drill presses at the 1. H. C. the employment manager said he could not consider employing Negroes for that job in Ft. Wayne. In Akron there were Negro grinders in the forge shop, 5 Negro heaters, and helpers on the drop hammer. They did practically all grades of work except that of machinists.

Mr. R is a car wheel inspector in the Bass Foundry, (inspects wheels after they are made; there is one other inspector under him.) He has been employed in the plant 27 years, and as a wheel inspector for 18 years. By trade he is a wheel roller. The plant pays $.45 an hour for 10 hours, but the day's work can be completed in 4 or 5 hours. Mr. R thinks it would be better to pay them at the rate of $.60 an hour for the 4 or 5 hours of actual work. The Negro core makers at Bass Foundry get $.45 an hour. Ordinarily this is considered a white man's job. There are 2 colored molders, 5 colored molder's helpers. When work is slack, the Negro molders are put on the helpers’ job. The helper can average $6.50 a day, the molder $8.50 a day when business is good. In the best periods there are from 12 to 15 Negro molders. They have slightly more white molders than Negroes. The plant has been known to make stock they did not need immediately, just to keep the men in some kind of work.

Mr. C is a cupule tender at the Bass Foundry and has been on this job 19 years. He was formerly a farmer in Kentucky, came to Ft. Wayne and went to work in this plant in three days, beginning as a laborer. This is the highest skilled position in the plant. Bass Foundry has been exceptionally liberal in giving work to Negroes and allowing them to be promoted to skilled trades. Of 30 cupule tenders at present, there is one colored tender. In this department, when the shop is running full force, there are about go. At present, they are working only three or four days a week.

The foreman of this section is a German and a former solder in the plant. The general manager is disposed to be fair towards the Negroes and such propaganda against Negro workers has come to him has had little effect. This job receives $.65 an hour for a ten hour day

062 57

Mr. B works for the Brooks Construction Company as a concrete setter for which he receives $.45 an hour. He has been with them for about three years. The work is regular, however, for only three months in the summer. In the winter they close down. Their job is to put down streets and highways. All the workers are Negroes except the man who runs the mixer. At the height of the season, about 200 are employed. At the time of the survey, the asphalt gang was not working. Negroes work as concrete layers, asphalt workers, sewer layers, and concrete mixers. There about 25 Negro concrete mixers. All the curb setters are white.

Mr. B is a blue print tracer. He had written to the Dudlo Company from Michigan inquiring if they needed such a person and was told to report at the plant. When they found that he was colored, the employment manager, surprised but polite, told him that they could not use a Negro. They thought, however, that they might be able to use Negroes in a wire winding department if they could begin with an experienced gang of ten.

The difficulties frequently encountered by Negro workers are suggested in the instance of Mr. , who worked in the East Car Shop of the Penn. R. R. in 1919. They were rebuilding steel care and at that time earning $.87½ an hour. This man said, “The foreman laid on us colored fellows always, but he didn't quarrel with the Pollacks working there. These Pollacks did everything they could to show up the colored workers”. A Polish worker had the job of throwing hot rivets to the Negro and, so this man claims, was deliberately careless. One of the rivets burned his hand off. Remarking on this he said: “This Pollack pretended then that he couldn't talk English.

One job I had required heating about 20 sizes of rivets in the furnace and whenever the foreman came around these fellows would always try to call for rivets that they knew I didn't have.”

Another Negro is a clerk skilled in handling blue prints. However, the manager requires him to do some janitorial work to keep the peace with white employees.

One Negro, who was a boiler maker in the Pennsylvania R. R. shops, is now working on the streets in Ft. Wayne. He was furloughed to Cressline, Ohio and the white workers objected to him.

WAGES

The pay for all classes of work varies. For common labor the scale is from $.37½ an hour to $.40; for semi-skilled work $.40 to $.45, and for skilled work $.45 to $.60 an hour. The majority of Negro workers receive $.37½ an hour. Wages are the same for Negroes and whites for the same work, but Negroes are not often permitted to do work which brings a larger rate of pay. For example, at one place, Negroes are paid a day rate and can earn from $3.75 to $4.00 a day, while the white workers are paid on a tonnage scale and can earn from $6.00 to $8.00. The lowest general rate is paid at Rolling Mill, ($.37½ to $.39) and the highest by the Pennsylvania Railroad ($.40 to $.43 an hours). Most significant here, however, is the number of days the men may work. At the Mills they work only 30 to 40 hours a week. At the Pennsylvania shops there is a regular 48 hour week. Bass Foundry runs only 3 or 4 days a week.

For specific skilled work, the following rates are paid:-

Janitors and porters receive from $17.50 to $25.00 a week; chauffeurs from $20.00 to $25.00. Negro oilers and general millwrights at the Mills average about $25.00 a week.

064 59

From the information on actual earnings drawn from individual interviews, the following wages are indicated:

A study of income and standard of living of unskilled laborers in Chicago by Dr. Leila Houghteling showed that the chief wage earners received between $1,000 and $1,800 a year, for the Negro families over 50 percent earned less than $1,200. The Ft. Wayne Negroes who were 80 percent unskilled, received the average weekly pay of $22.80

The yearly earnings of the negro unskilled workers, making allowance for the periods of enforced unemployment are from $912.00 to $1,185.00. This is a figure considerably below the Chicago returns wither for whites or Negroes.

UNEMPLOYMENT

The unskilled workers are the first affected by slack periods, and 80 percent of the Negro workers are unskilled. Actually the largest employers of Negroes are the contractors and their work runs only about 3 months during the summer. The surfeit of white workers in Ft. Wayne, made more acute by the presence daily of Ohio farmers who come in their automobiles to work in Ft. Wayne plants, limit the chances of regular employment for Negro workers. Unemployment was noted for varying periods in 40.7 percent of the families. The number of weeks lost during the year ranged from one to twenty-eight. The average number of weeks lost through unemployment was eleven.

GENERAL STATUS OF NEGRO WORKERS

It has been noted before that Ft. Wayne, while relatively an industrial center, has more diversified industries than most cities of its type. This fact operates to reduce the number of plants hiring Negro labor. Most of the managers interviewed seemed disinclined to consider them as a possibility in plants where there is predominantly machine operations. The plants that hire few, if any, Negroes give this as the reason for not employing them. Negroes are regarded as better suited for unskilled and foundry type of labor. One plant manager stated that the introduction of Negroes into their shops would be resented by white workmen. Although they have had no experience of their own to warrant the conjecture.

Again, there is such an abundance of cheap white labor, chiefly farmers, to be had, one or two managers of large industries indicated that they could easily replace Negroes with whites and within a very short time. This situation operates unfavorably in the care of Negroes. 066 61There is always a pull on the part of employees to get their relatives and friends jobs in the same plants in which they are working. To give Negroes any considerable number of jobs over the requests of such white employees would lead to open resentment. The possibility of Negroes competing, successfully, with this type of labor, seems at present, remove.

PLANTS NOT EMPLOYING NEGROES

Among these were some of the largest plants in the city. In the reasons for not using Negro labor appeared conspicuously the assumption that Negroes were not adapted to any other than rough manual labor. This judgment did not always require any former experience with Negro labor on the part of the plant official. Other important objections were the fear of resentment of white workers, the abundance of white labor, fear of bringing Negroes into contact with white women workers, fear of public objection and various speculation regarding Negro traits.

At the Dudlo plant where 2,000 white workers are employed and no Negroes, there seemed to be three reasons for not employing them. The belief of the superintendent that (a) the white workers would emphatically resent the intrusion of Negro workers (the plant does not want to face such a problem - especially since they deem it unnecessary); (b) although he confesses no experience bears him out, he believes Negroes are unsuited for the type of work they do in the plant, wire-making; (c) native white applicant are sufficiently numberous to preclude the necessity of “falling back upon either Negroes or foreigners”. In fact, less than 1% of the present group are foreigners.

067 62

The S. F. Bowser Company with 1,259 white workers and no Negroes states that while it is not opposed to the employment of Negroes, they “have always been able to secure sufficient white help to take care of all requirements.”

A cold storage concern was prejudiced against Negroes because of “general dishonest traits”. A biscuit manufacturer explained that “the nature of his business does not permit” using Negroes. A machine shop “has a small force of skilled laborers working in close harmony” and does not “deem the introduction of Negroes as practical or desirable.” A Commercial art concern regarded them as “undesirable in this class of work.” A paper box manufacturer thought it would be necessary to operate a separate department if Negroes were employed. The Ft. Wayne Tent and Awning Company thinks their work require too intimate contact with the public. A stone cutter had tried Negro labor and did not like it. They were careless around machinery, he thought. The Gem Tool & Machine Works never has and never expects to use them. Haffners Star Bakery “prefers aegregation for the future security of white girls and families.” The Krudop Coal & Lumber Co. Only discriminates in slack seasons. The Kunckle Valve Company and the Wayne Belting Company have never employed them, but have no reason for not doing so. The Moellering Supply Company has found that “whites refuse to work with Negroes.” Their experience with them has been satisfactory so far as work goes.

The Boss Manufacturing Company (working men's shirts and mittens) established a branch for Negro girls and employed about 150 different girls during the life of the branch. After 2 years it was discontinued 068 63because these girls “did not embrace the opoortunity.” Irregularity of work was the principal objection to the Negro girls. He felt that he got only about 15 high class operators out of the experiment. This company now employs no Negroes.

Other objections to Negro labor included specifically, the habit of drawing pay in advance, indifference and lax neighborhood conditions.

The experiences of the majority of the plants actually employing Negroes serve in a measure to correct some of the impressions of the group which objects to them. Frequently, the faults of unskilled laborers generally fall to Negroes as a race because they are placed in greatest numbers in this grade of work. One manager in commenting on the practice of his white employees of drawing pay in advance, offered a much more serious situation than was presented by any group of Negroes reached through the industries:

Out of 1,200 white employees, the manager states, 25% or more had been in the habit of drawing pay in advance; the matter became so flagrant that he was forced to step in and arrange some sort of loan association along the lines of the Morris plan. The average advances over a period of six months was $146.00. He attributed this situation to the fact that the men were over-living their means, (several in co-operation had cottages upon the lake, and many had cars above their means.)

The lack of incentive for Negro workers may within reason be held responsible for some of the difference where this was found. In only one plant were Negroes freely permitted to advance on their demonstrated merit to positions above common labor. The Superintendent of one large 069 64plant with no skilled Negroes gave an interesting explanation of his attitude on this matter. When asked about the chances for their promotion, he stated that Negroes seemingly wished to remain where they had become adjusted rather than change from the job to another. They were like women he said. In Akron where he had a number of women workers, some became so efficient that the plant decided to make them supervisors. The women refused to change. It was suggested by the investigator that probably Negroes came on the job with the attitude that advancement was not possible, but he maintained his original opinion.

LABOR UNION

Although there were several strong unions in the city, it is considered an open shop town. At the General Electric Com any there are about 700 men in unions; in 1913 these were involved in a sympathetic strike. In several instances non-union men have been forced off of the job by Union men - either because they were former strike-breakers with the Pennsylvania - or because they were non-union men. None of these men made official complaint so the plant did not have to take cognizance of these acts.

Negro workers have figured in the labor situation from the time of the strike at Bass Foundry to the strike at the Pennsylvania shops when Negroes were brought in an used as strike-breakers. Both strikers were broken. In both instances there were some Negroes who walked out with the strikers. The local union with the largest number of Negroes is the Hod Carriers'. They have five Negro members. One Negro plasterer is a member of the Plasterers’ local. They are not 070 65allowed to join the Amalgamated group at the Rolling Mill. At one time an attempt was made by Mr. Potts to organize a Federal Union and a meeting was held at Mt. Olivet Church. The Negro workers, however, showed little interest.

Medical Attention

Altho there are two Negro physicians in the city, it appears that they are not in attendance on more than 25 per cent of the cases, unless of course, it can be assumed that their record of cures is so much higher 076 71as not to indicate their contact in the name attached to the death certificates. Thirty-one physicians were represented in this list and, excluding the Negro doctors, three of them were mentioned in 28 percent of the cases.

Hospitals

Of the seven important Ft. Wayne hospitals returns were secured from two: Ft. Wayne Hospital Sanatarium and the St. Joseph Hospital. The former had during 1926 only four Negro patients in a total of 400 or one per cent. One Negro patient was in the hospital at the first of the study. The latter, St. Joseph Hospital, during 1926 had 17 Negro patients in a total of 44.9, but at the time of the study had none. It is complained in the hospital that Negro patients must be placed in private rooms unless there are two Negroes for a double room; and further, that they are unable to pay hospital bills.

PLAYGROUNDS

The playgrounds, up to 1923, were under the administration and supervision of the School Board. After 1923, they were put under the Park Board. But Miss Snively, the Physical Education director for the public schools remains as the supervising director.

There are 9 playground centers. Each under the supervision of a paid worker. 3,000 children were registered last year. This is about 30% of the school census enumeration which was over 15,000 for last year.

There has been trouble in only one playground, that on Holman Street, which is largely attended by colored children. Conflicts arose once or twice this year between Negro and white teams in competition. The order on all other playgrounds is quite satisfactory. In fact, it is thought that the conditions surrounding the Holman grounds are largely responsible for the difficulty.

Lawton Park is equipped with a merry-go-round, a slide, 4 see-saws, 5 swings, a swimming pool and a Pavilion. There was no supervisor in attendance and the white and Negro boys and men were swimming together with no suggestion of segregation.

West Swinney Playground is equipped with 17 swings, a circle swing, 4 testers, 2 slides, swimming pool, merry-go-round, 9 tennis courts, and band concerts are given in the evenings. No Negroes children or men were there, and, at the time of the visit, it was not supervised.

Weisser Park has 16 swings, 2 slides, 4 see-saws, a circle swing, merry-go-round, 4 tennis courts, 2 baseball diamonds, a sand bed and a 078 The following table gives the results of visits to the playgrounds used by Negro children.

079 73

sliding ladder. The games played were volley-ball, baseball, tennis and checkers, in which the Negro children took part with the others. The majority of children were young-of the 205 in attendance, about 50 appeared to be less than ten, about 25 appeared to be between 15 and 20 and another large group appeared to be between 10 and 14. A few adults were present. There were two female and one male supervisors.

Holman Street Park is nearest the larger Negro area. All the children were Negroes. It is equipped with 6 swings, a circle swing, 4 see-saws, a sand bed, ladder slide, wading pool, ball diamond and lavatory. At the time of the visit the Blue and White (girl) teams of Wheatley Center were playing.

Memorial Park Playground has 10 swings, a slide, a horse shoe game, sand bed, 4 teeters, a ball diamond and a Pavilion. Small children were playing at horse shoes and in the sand-pit. Two school teams were playing baseball. There were three female supervisors.

McCulloch Playground has 14 wings, 1 slide, circle swing, ladder pole, sand bed, and 4 teeters. Weaving and sewing are taught. Five Mexican children were playing separately. Two colored boys were on a team playing baseball and two others were on the circle swings. There were three female supervisors.

The Park Commissions expressed the hope that in 1926 they would be allowed appropriations sufficient to establish more playgrounds and additional equipment and supervisors. If Negro children are permitted to use freely the playgrounds nearest their residences, there would not seem to be sufficient need for additional ones for them. However, the Holman Street Playground, used so largely by Negroes, could be made more attractive 080 74and useful under a full time, and well trained playground supervisor.

The other principal recreation center is the Wheatley Center, to be discussed more fully in another section. It is the only formal recreation center for Negroes in the city and with its small building has attracted many young people, organizing them into clubs, providing recreation hours during the months when they cannot play out-of-doors, arranging for camping parties. Its greatest usefulness, however, was in offering the single recreation opportunity for young adults. A popular program which involved social dancing under supervision, has been curbed by the public protestations of the Negro ministry, and, as a consequence, much of the attendance of this group has fallen off, and no substitute as wholesome appears to have developed in the place of this.

A complaint of the younger persons interviewed was that the town “was dead” and there was nothing for one to do for amusement. Many leave for larger cities. The theaters, in recent years, been discouraging Negro patronage and only two remain in which freedom is felt to attend. They are expected to use the balconies, and the more sensitive ones prefer to stay away. The Negro population is too small to sustain a Negro moving picture house.

The most flourishing recreation is the pool halls where the young men seek diversion. One of the largest of these is owned by a man who is, in many ways, public spirited.

Several incidents with serious results might be traced in large part to the inadequacies in this field. The Negro officer who patrols an area of West Ft. Wayne, including Westfield, commented upon his efforts to break 081 75up the practice indulged in by young Negroes boys and young men, of coming over to this district at night to have a fling with the girls who, similarly, have no other more legitimate diversion.

The family histories revealed in answer to the question “where do you spend your leisure time” that the majority of them spent it “at home”.