S RECEIPTS IN 1907 AND 1908

The final and concluding item in measuring the magnitude of Negro
business enterprises is the amount of gross receipts of the firms
covering a given period of time. For this purpose the years 1907 and
1908 were selected, the first because the greater part of it was
before the panic of 1907, the second instead of 1909 because a
completed year at the time this canvass was made. A close study of the
accompanying table shows that the panic had considerable effect upon
the gross receipts of these firms. For example, in 1907, 32 firms had
gross receipts less than $1,000; in 1908, 38 firms were in the same
group; in 1907, 37 firms did a business of between $1,000 and $1,999;
in 1908, 38 firms had the same fortune. And even this does not always
show the falling off in gross receipts of the individual firm unless
the decrease was sufficient to carry it into a lower group.

Of the total 309 Negro enterprises, 118 were established too recently
to have gross receipts in 1907 and 1908, and 63 did not furnish
sufficient evidence, so they are classed as doubtful and unknown. This
leaves, therefore, 128 enterprises about which sufficient statements
of gross receipts were secured to justify discussion. The figures for
these, however, were carefully ascertained. For 115 establishments the
exact figures were taken from records kept by the firms for the years
1907 and 1908, or the larger part of those years, while the other 13
are estimates based upon careful statements from proprietors and
employees of their receipts for months or weeks at different seasons
of the two years.

Compared with the general retail lines in New York City the magnitude
of Negro business is creditable when judged by gross receipts. Of the
128 establishments, 87 in 1907 and 85 in 1908 handled a gross business
of $2,999 or less; 32 firms in 1907 and 38 firms in 1908 had gross
receipts between $3,000 and $10,000; and 9 firms in 1907 and 5 firms
in 1908 carried on business operations which ranged in gross receipts
above $10,000, four of these in 1907 and two in 1908 being $15,000 or
more. Considering the amount of merchandise kept on hand and the
valuation of tools and fixtures, this business showing indicates that
the small amount of capital invested is handled with considerable
energy and ability to carry on such an amount of gross business.

It should be noted also that out of 69 establishments in 1907, which
had gross receipts less