VIII.

CONJUGAL CONDITION, ILLITERACY AND HEALTH OF NEGRO DOMESTICS.

Conjugal Condition.—The following table gives the facts in the matter of conjugal condition of colored domestics in the Seventh Ward of Philadelphia, by sex and age periods. It is based upon 2289 records (see page 491):

Comparing the conjugal condition of Negro domestics with that of all domestics, we have:

TABLE XXVI.

CONJUGAL CONDITION IN ALL AMERICAN DOMESTIC SERVICE COMPARED WITH CONJUGAL CONDITION AMONG COLORED DOMESTIC SERVANTS IN PHILADELPHIA.

This comparison of the conjugal condition of white and of colored domestics may advantageously be reduced to graphic form for clearness. The first of these diagrams presents the facts of conjugal condition among American domestics servants of all nationalities, as recorded in the eleventh census, while the second presents the same facts relating to colored domestic servants in Philadelphia.

A study of census statistics in connection with the results of this investigation seems to show a remarkably close parallel between the conjugal statistics of men servants, white and colored. The disproportionate number of single white women is accounted for by the great number of unmarried foreign-born white women in American domestic service. This study of the conjugal condition of domestic servants seems to corroborate the opinion of those employers who found colored people “very much like other human beings.”

Illiteracy.—The following table of illiteracy is based upon 576 reports:

TABLE XXVIII.

ILLITERACY AMONG DOMESTIC SERVANTS, NEGROES, OF THE SEVENTH WARD, PHILADELPHIA.

This table shows 9.6 per cent of the men and 24.8 per cent of the women in domestic service to be illiterate in some degree, with a total percentage of 20.7 illiterate, either wholly or in part, while 80 per cent of the colored men and women in domestic service have at least a common school education. Fourteen per cent of the total count will be seen to have had some training above that of the common schools, or to have attended an industrial school.

The illiteracy of Negro servants is about 2 per cent greater than that of the total Negro population of the Seventh Ward. This is doubtless to be accounted for by the fact that 70 per cent of colored domestic servants are women, and the illiteracy of colored women is uniformly greater than that of colored men. This will be seen by glancing at the per cents of illiteracy for colored men and women servants, 9.6 per cent as opposed to 24.8 per cent, and in the total population 14.2 per cent as opposed to 24.1 percent. In the whole population the sexes are about evenly balanced in numbers; hence, in the general average for the illiteracy of the whole population, the rates for each sex would bear an equal part in the general result. A comparison of these averages shows that the men in domestic service are somewhat less illiterate than the men in the whole population, while the women in domestic service appear to be slightly behind the women of the whole population.

The question will arise as to the relative illiteracy of Negro domestics and of other domestics the country over. It is interesting to make the comparison. The census of 1890 gives the percentage of male illiterates in domestic and personal service as 18.9. This is the rate for all men servants in America, ten years old and over and includes all nationalties, the native whites, foreign-born whites and colored. It is less creditable than the record of the Philadelphia colored population by nearly five points, the record for Philadelphia's male Negroes ten years old and over being but 14.2 per cent. And it is only about half as creditable as the record of colored domestic men servants, their per cent of illiteracy amounting to only 9.6. (The margin of error in the last is probably large, however, since it is computed upon but 156 cases.) The census shows for female domestic service the country over, including both native and foreign white, and colored women over ten years of age, a per cent of illiteracy amounting to 24.75. Among colored women servants in Philadelphia 24.80 are found to be illiterate. The whole colored population of Philadelphia improves slightly upon this, showing for its women and girls 24.1 per cent of illiteracy.

ILLITERACY OF COLORED DOMESTICS (PHILADELPHIA) AND OF ALL AMERICAN DOMESTICS, COMPARED BY SEX.

This comparison seems to indicate that the grade of intelligence of women servants, white and colored, is practically the same, while the colored men servants are of a higher grade of intelligence than are white men servants. The investigator is inclined to think that the average of illiteracy for colored men servants, though computed on so few records, fairly represents the real conditions. It is not difficult to account for the great difference in records of colored and of white men servants when one remembers the fact so often referred to, of the crowding out of competent and educated colored men, who have been clerks, teachers and skilled workmen, and who at one time or another have found themselves in a position where they were obliged to take domestic service or nothing. Large numbers of such men in the ranks of domestic service would bring down the percentage of illiteracy very decidedly. That it should reach the point of 9.6 per cent is very creditable to the colored men servants if the figures are correct, since the per cent of illiteracy for native white males is not quite four points ahead of it, being given by the census as 5.83 per cent.

Health Statistics for Domestic Servants.— The questions “Number of days sick in last twelvemonths?” “Nature of illness?” were answered by 547 domestic servants. The tabulation of their reports follows:

TABLE XXIX.

(Domestic Service.)

SICKNESS AND HEALTH DURING LAST TWELVE MONTHS, BY SEX.

From this table it is seen that 80 per cent of the men have not been ill at all during the year; while among the women 74 per cent have been exempt from illness. It is noteworthy that the slightest illness appears to have been conscientiously reported upon, since very nearly one-third of the men reporting illness were cases of colds or other such slight troubles as kept them ill only a day or two; while rather more than one-third of the women also scrupulously reported such insignificant illnesses. In this paper, however, the example of the Commissioner of Labor has been followed and “colds” have not been counted at all. Wherever, therefore, an illness of one or two days is reported, it is of more serious nature than a mere cold.

Of the 547 persons reporting, 3.1 per cent report serious illness, of which 2.6 per cent belongs to the women and the remaining .5 per cent to the men.

The most prevalent troubles are consumption, la grippe, quinsy, sore throat, rheumatism, neuralgia, chills and fever, or dyspepsia and “inflammation,” which latter term appears to be a general name for all discomforts of the inner domestic from indigestion to peritonitis and sudden death.

Of those reporting illness seven of the thirty-one men will be seen to have been ill one week or less ; while thirty-three of the 102 women were ill one week or less. One maid reports a severe attack of la grippe but she “worked all the same/” losing not one day of work in the year. And Table VII will show that this is no uncommon fact but that several of those reporting illness lose no time from work. While the women's sick list shows thirty-three ill one week or less, it shows sixty-nine who have had longer periods of illness. Among the longest periods reported are the following: “Out of work for three months on account of trouble with the eyes, an operation for cataract;” another, out three or four months on account of weak lungs, says : “I never can work more than a few weeks to a time ;” another, laid up three months with a sprained ankle; another, “sick from March to Christmas with rheumatism ;” another, “four months sick with rheumatism, but worked ;” another, five months sick with nervous shock caused by sudden death of her husband in an accident ; one man has chills and fever from time to time all the year round; another, “had rheumatism all winter but lost no working time.” A comparison of the length of illness tabulated below will show that the records just quoted are unusual. Table XXIX gives the complete record of those who report illness within the past twelve months.

TABLE XXX.

(Domestic Service)

PARSONS SICK OR INJURED, BY SEX, BY KIND OF AILMENT OR INJURY AND BY LENGTH OF ILLNESS.

This table is found to aggregate 415 weeks of illness during the year, to be distributed among 547 persons, giving an average loss of work time for illness of about four-fifths of a week per individual during the year.²⁰

Health of colored domestic servants in the Seventh Ward during the last twelve months is shown in the diagram which follows:

HEALTH STATISTICS, FOR LAST TWELVE MONTHS, OF COLORED DOMESTICS OF PHILADELPHIA.

20 It may be of interest to compare this result with the following table taken from Professor Mayo Smith's “Statistics and Sociology,” which table, the author says, is “based upon the experience of the largest and most important Friendly Society in England, which gives aid to members when they are ill, the Manchester Unity of Odd Fellows, comprising 400,000 members.” The table is as follows:

Omitting the 45-65 period, which is not fairly comparable with the ages of colored domestic servants (their average age being 30.3), it will be seen that the average illness among the English working people is nearly the same as that among colored domestics of the same age. The English Sick Benefit Society showing an average of .799 as compared with .759 for colored servants, the slight difference being to the advantage of the colored servants.