loat the enterprise. It
is interesting to note that a hotel-keeper, a minister, three men in
other lines of business and the manager of the concern were among
these ten.

Two other corporations were printing establishments, each with six
original incorporators. One firm did job printing. The other was a
publisher of popular songs and has produced several of New York's most
popular airs. They had two and ten employees, occupied about 158 and
3,000 square feet of floor space, respectively. The larger firm had a
plant valued at between $4,000 and $5,000, kept several hundred
dollars worth of stock on hand and did a gross business of about
$15,000 in 1907, and about $17,000 in 1908. The smaller firm had been
organized in 1909. The larger had run more than four years. The
corporators of the smaller concern included an editor, a messenger,
silk-factory employee, and laundry employee; those of the larger, a
liquor dealer, two actors and three composers of popular songs.

The four other corporations were real estate firms, a line of business
requiring considerable capital and attracting the higher grade of
business ability. In these instances, all except one firm was composed
of the few original incorporators, making the arrangement only a
little removed from a partnership. The one exception was a large
concern with a capital stock of over $500,000. The previous
occupations of the principal promoters of this company included a
lawyer, a pharmacist and two real estate brokers.

The stock of this concern was held by small investors in many parts of
the United States. The firm at one time employed over 200 people in
and out of New York, and claimed to have done an annual business of
over $200,000. At some period in its history it may have done so large
a business, but this was probably only for an exceptionally prosperous
year. This may have led to too sanguine attempts on the part of the
promoters. Because of other poor business methods and bad attempts at
investment the enterprise failed in the winter of 1910-11.

Three obvious points are shown by the facts concerning these
corporations: First, they were composed of only a few members and
therefore were not far removed from large partnerships. This set a
large limit to command of capital for there were no large capitalists
in New York among Negroes. Second, this form of combining capital and
business ability has been tried in a few lines of business only--three
in all, if w