reight, passenger, express
and mail earnings of selected groups of railways covering most of this
territory, increased very rapidly from 1890 to 1900. In the ten years,
from 1890 to 1900, the tonnage increased from 63,597,120 tons to
121,180,317 tons or 90.5 per cent; and total earnings went from
$113,616,184.45 in 1890 to $168,606,233 in 1900, an increase of 48.4
per cent in ten years.

As these industrial and commercial forces affect the population, the
Negro without doubt shares to a considerable extent the influence.
That the Negro has been a large labor factor in the South is a patent
fact. All the data available indicate that he has been affected by
economic influences similar to those which have moved the white
population toward the urban centers.

The most decisive set of facts is the growth in the number of whites
and Negroes in gainful occupations in Southern cities. The census
returns of 1890 and 1900 for a number of Southern cities were
sufficient for an inference. For some occupations figures for 1890
were not available, and in other occupations some cities were not
reported in 1890. So a selected list of occupations was taken.

The comparisons of those occupations selected are striking. Among the
males, for domestic and personal service occupations, from 1890 to
1900, the white wage-earners increased 42.3 per cent and the Negro
wage-earners increased 31.1 per cent. Here we see the influence of the
growth of wealthy classes in the industrial and commercial centers,
who require increasing numbers to supply their developing wants. In
trade and transportation occupations, while the number of white
wage-earners increased 25.2 per cent from 1890 to 1900, the Negro
wage-earners increased 39.1 per cent during the same decade. For the
same period, in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, the white
workers increased 6.1 per cent and the Negro workers increased 12.1
per cent. This indicates the dependence of the growing industry of the
South upon its black male workers and shows how strong upon them is
the economic pull.

For the females, the increases are no less telling, especially for
Negro workers. In ten selected occupations for Southern cities, the
white female workers decreased 29.1 per cent and the Negro female
workers increased 36 per cent from 1890 to 1900. The decrease for the
whites was due to an excessive decrease among dressmakers, milliners
and seamstresses, which may be a discrepancy of the cens