Dii Bois: The Philadelphia Negro 163 making this study of the negroes of Philadelphia, and he gave fifteen months of hard labor in getting the material for it. In Philadelphia are to be found, he says, some forty-five thousand persons of African descent, who very noticeably do not form an integral part of the community, and lie set out to learn something of their geographical distribution, of their occupations, homes, organizations and especially of their relations to their million white fellow-citizens. The purpose was "to lay before the public such a body of information as may be a safe guide for all efforts toward the solution of the many negro problems of a great American city. ' ' The method of making this study was a house-to-house visitation, by Dr. Du Bois himself, of the negro families in the ward of the city where a fifth of the colored population is. A half-dozen schedules were used for noting information, but the visitor, received cordially in all but a dozen homes, did not confine himself to categorical questions, and a discussion followed, as to the condition in general of the negroes. The average time spent in each house was about twenty minutes. This careful inquiry was followed by a general survey of the conditions in other wards to note differences and correct conclusions. We should add that Dr. Du Bois spent two months, also, in studying his people in a plantation region of the South, and has availed himself of many sources of information. The result of this inquiry is given in eighteen chapters, three short ones dealing with its scope and meaning, and all the rest with the history and present condition of the negroes of Philadelphia — as individuals, as an organized social group ; of their physical and social environment ; what education they have and how they earn their living ; their organizations ; their relation to the pauperism and crime of the community ; their use of the suffrage ; and the contact between the white and the black races. This book is not merely a census-like volume of many tables and diagrams of the colored people of Philadelphia. The author seeks to interpret the meaning of statistics in the light of social movements and of characteristics of the times, as, for instance, the growth of the city by foreign immigration, the development of modern industries, and the in- flu.x of children of freedmen from the South. He is perfectly frank, lay- ing all necessary stress on the weaknesses of his people, such as their looseness of living, their lack of thrift, their ignorance of the laws of health, the disproportionate number of paupers and criminals among them as compared with the whites. He shows a remarkable spirit of fairness. If any conclusions are faulty, the fault lies in the overweight given to some of his beliefs and hopes. Brief references only can be made to several of the important gen- eral conclusions given. Dr. Du Bois believes that the most pressing question of the day for negroes is that of employment ; not mere in- creased educational opportunities nor a higher standard of home life, but the opening to negroes of the usual employments of a community, so as to allow the mass of them some choice in a life work, to afford proper escape from menial employment to the talented few. He feels that the
