TABLE NUMBER XIComparison of Wages Received Per Day in Pittsburgh and in SouthTable displaying wages earned in Pittsburgh versus the South
TABLE NUMBER XI
Comparison of Wages Received Per Day in Pittsburgh and in South
Table displaying wages earned in Pittsburgh versus the South
As to the comparative wages paid here and in the South, it appears fromtable number X, that the great mass of workers get higher wages here than in the places from which they come, fifty-six percent received less than two dollars a day in the South, while only five percent received such wages in Pittsburgh. However the number of those who said they received high wages in the South is greater than the number of those receiving them here. Fifteen percent said they received more than three dollars and sixty cents a day at home, while only five percent received more than that rate for twelve hours work here. Sixty-seven percent of the four hundred and fifty-three persons stating their earnings here, earn less than three dollars per day. Twenty-eight percent earn from three dollars to three sixty per day, while only five percent earn more than three dollars and sixty cents per day. The average working day for both Pittsburgh and the South is ten and four-tenths hours. The average wage is $2.85 here; in the South it amounted to $2.15. It may be interesting to point out that the number of married men who work longer hours and receive more money is proportionately greater than that of the single men, who have not “given hostages to fortune.”
It has been stated frequently that the Negro exodus from the South is in a large measure due to the fact that the Southern states have adopted prohibition. While it is true that most of the newcomers are from prohibition states, our figures, however, do not warrant the conclusion that the Negroes came North to use the saloon. We are inclined to believe that the answers to this question were sincere. The classificationof “drinkers” includes all persons who imbibe however infrequently and those who drink beer only. Out of the four hundred and seventy-seven persons who answered these questions, two hundred and ten or forty-four percent said that they drank, while two hundred and sixty-seven or fifty-six percent were total abstainers. It is interesting to note that among those who have families in Pittsburgh, the percentage of those who drink is smaller than among those who are single or have families elsewhere. Thirty percent of the former class drink, while seventy percent do not drink at all. The percentage of drinkers of those with their families at home, is even greater than those of the single people, which may be explained by the fact that many of the younger people have as yet not acquired the drink habit.
The church going proclivity of the Negro is well known and is borne out by our study. Of the four hundred and eighty-nine who replied to this question, three hundred and seventy or almost seventy-six percent are either church members or attendants, and only one hundred and nineteen or twenty-four percent do not attend any church.
Proof that these newcomers are not all lazy, shiftless, and immoral is to be found in the statements of savings, and of remittances to relatives in the South. Fifteen percent of the families here had savings. Eighty percent[6]of the married ones with families elsewhere were sending money home, and nearly one hundred of the two hundred and nineteen single people interviewed, were contributing sums to parents, sisters or other relatives. Most of these contributions, (sixty-five percent) amounted to about five dollars per week. Fifty-two persons were contributing from five to ten dollars per week, and seven were sending over ten dollars per week.
Fromtable number XII, it seems that only a few of the Southern states have borne the brunt of the exodus. Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia taken together, have contributed sixty percent of the migrants, Alabama and Georgia giving forty-seven percent of the total number. Alabama was the native state of more than forty-nine percent of the married men who have families here. This altogether disproportionate influx from Alabama, as compared with other states, is probably due to the fact that our state and the former have similar industries. Birmingham, Alabama, as is well known, is called the “Pittsburgh of the South”; and it is therefore natural thatthe labor agents from this district should make a special effort to secure the labor which is more or less familiar with the iron and steel business. Again, it may be presumed that a great many who were working in the steel industries or in the mines of Alabama have come to Pittsburgh in order to secure familiar employment. A considerable number, however, may have come because of the crop failure and the ravages of the boll-weevil which have made the cultivation of cotton unprofitable during recent years.