III.

SOURCES OF THE SUPPLY AND METHODS OF HIRING.

The question next arises as to the chief sources of Philadelphia's large supply of colored service. Are these people Southern Negroes, or Philadelphia born ? The quality of service rendered and the standard of excellence may depend in some degree upon circumstances of birth and training. Hence the facts in regard to nativity as shown in Table II, which follows, are worth considering:

TABLE II.

NATIVITY OF COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PHILADELPHIA.

Number and Per Cent by Sex and Birthplace.

These facts show clearly that the greater part of Philadelphia's colored domestic service is supplied from Maryland and Virginia, particularly from the latter State. It will be noticed that less than one-fifth of it (18.5 per cent) is supplied from Philadelphia and the State of Pennsylvania, while very nearly one-half (48.4 per cent) comes from the two States of Maryland and Virginia. Some interesting indications in regard to nativity and quality of service as measured by length of service with the same employer, are brought out later in Table XXV.

Methods of Hiring.—Philadelphia is as much at the mercy of employment bureaus, and the frequently untrustworthy recommendations of previous employers, as are other large cities. Yet these and the method of advertising are the only ways open to the employer for accomplishing what has been called the “inevitable annual change of employes.” The colored people in domestic service seldom seek employment through the Philadelphia intelligence offices or by applying in answer to advertisement unless it is particularly stated that colored help is acceptable or preferred. They generally offer the recommendations of former employers, though many of them, seldom the best ones, offer their services from door to door and are employed upon the recommendation of personal appearance and general bearing. The colored man's avoidance of the employment bureau is largely due to the fact that extortionate fees are usually charged him. He patronizes a few bureaus kept by colored people whom he trusts ; and his unwillingness to answer advertisements needs no explanation but the remark already offered.

Personnel of Colored Domestic Service.—In regard to the personnel of domestic service, the facts in Philadelphia correspond with those for all employes the world over ; Negro domestic servants are for the most part women rather than men, and young rather than middle-aged or old people. An examination of Table I will show that only about 30 in 100 of Philadelphia's colored domestics are men, while a study of the census figures of 1890 shows only 16 men in 100 in domestic service the country over; and the disproportion in English household service is even greater, there being only 7 men in 100 London servants. The sexes thus engaged in domestic work in Philadelphia, in the United States and in London are here compared in tabular form:

TABLE III.

SEX IN DOMESTIC SERVICE OF DIFFERENT LOCALITIES COMPARED.

A comparison of the two columns shows very clearly that domestic work which has long been considered as “women's work” is still being done largely by women. A comparison of the items of the first column of Table II with each other shows that, taking the country over, where the domestic service is represented largely by Irish, German, English, Swedish and Norwegian elements as well as Negroes, the proportion of men servants falls to only about one-half that of colored men servants in Philadelphia. This again is probably to be accounted for by the fact that so many avenues of employment which are closed to colored men are open to men among the white foreign element which makes up the greater part of American service. In our shops and markets and in our building trades, on our trolley cars and our delivery wagons we see Irish and German and Swedish men, but no Negroes. The result upon domestic service of this closing of so many doors to the colored man is twofold. Many of them, being unable to better themselves financially by leaving service for other employments, remain in household work much longer than they otherwise would do, and when they marry many of them “turn waiter” because household service is one of the best paid employments open to the blacks. Thus colored men servants tend to remain in service longer than whites do, and the frequent addition to their ranks of married colored men also tends to increase the ratio of men servants among Negro domestics as well as to raise the average age.

Next to the small number of men in domestic service and the fact that a greater proportion of colored than of white men are domestics, a study of the personnel of domestic service reveals peculiarities concerning the age of servants. Nearly all household servants are comparatively young. This has been found to be true everywhere, where records have been made, and more especially among whites than among blacks. The colored people in service are older on the average than the whites (as would be expected from facts just given). Nearly one half of all the colored domestics in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, both men and women, are included in the age period between twenty-one and thirty years as may be seen by reference to Table I. The average age among them is 31.9 years for the men, and 29.6 for the women, the combined average for both sexes being 30.3 years. This shows that Philadelphia's colored domestics are comparatively young people, but an examination of the age of London servants shows also 30.5 years as the average age of the men and 28.2 years as the average age of the women in service there. While the United States Census of 1890 shows men servants the country over to average 29.1 years, the women average only 26.8 years. These average ages are given in tabular form for convenience of comparison.

TABLE IV.

AVERAGE AGE IN DOMESTIC SERVICE OF DIFFERENT LOCALITIES COMPARED.

But while these are average ages, the very great excess of the younger age periods over the older ones may be more clearly seen by the diagrams A, B and C, contrasting the ages of domestic men servants with the ages of all other male wage earners. Diagram A shows these differences of age, as exhibited in London, between men in household service and all of occupied London. Diagram B shows the contrast as it exists between men servants in the United States and all the occupied men in the total population. Diagram C contrasts ages of colored male servants in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia and those of all occupied colored males in that ward. What these three maps mean is that the ratio which the young men in domestic service bear to the whole number of men in domestic service is greater (by as much as the diagram indicates in each case) than the ratio which the young men in all occupations bear to the whole number of men in all occupations. In London, according to Mr. Booth's diagram, there is an excess of youth in service between ages of fifteen and thirty-three, after which age the males in household work fall behind those otherwise occupied. In America, according to diagram B,⁶the excess of young men in service begins at fifteen, lasting till nearly the age of thirty-nine, after which the proportion of men in service is less than that of men otherwise occupied. In the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, according to diagram C, we notice an interesting variation from the comparatively close agreement of diagrams A and B. The greatest excess of youth in service, here, as in A and B, is also at about twenty-three to twenty-five years, but diagram C seems to show that in Negro wage-earning in cities, the disproportionately large number of men in domestic service holds good for every age except that period which marks a man's greatest physical strength, the period between thirty and forty years. The excess of colored men of that age in other occupations is no doubt due to the large number of colored men of great physical strength who act as stevedores, porters, etc., between the ages of thirty and forty. The sudden bend at thirty-five in the domestic service line, in diagram C, is due to the fact that the last age period recorded was “forty-one years and over,” and, therefore, includes a few old servants about sixty. If each decade had been recorded, the curve would be more gradual, perhaps crossing the other between forty and forty-five. The excess of sixty-seven points on the forty-five-year line is almost equal to the excess at twenty-five years, and is, therefore, probably in need of modification, though there is little doubt of its indicating a real condition of Negro labor in cities.

The fact that the highest point of excess of youth in these three diagrams is reached at twenty-three to twenty-five years is significant, and suggests the query why it is that domestic service so clearly attracts the young of both sexes and of all races. It is safe to say that one of the most prominent determining causes is necessity for immediate income. Many young men and women are obliged by circumstances to undertake some form of work which, while requiring no capital and no particular course of training, still yields an immediate return, which is certain to provide them at least their board and lodging, with a small amount for living expenses. This is the chief reason why the first employment of young men and women just beginning to support themselves is so often “going out to service.”

6 Computed on census figures and after Mr. Booth's method.