ps in the cities and towns visited, all of which evidenced the
breadth of the business movement of the people.

THE ATLANTA UNIVERSITY CONFERENCE.

The results of this hurried trip corroborates in a remarkable degree
the report of the Atlanta University Conference. "The Report of the
Negro in Business" was made in 1899. In that year the conference made
an investigation of this subject under the direction of Prof. W. E. B.
DuBois, professor of sociology in that university. This report is a
most valuable contribution to the study of the race problem. Prof.
DuBois has shown commendable zeal in studying the race problem, while
so many others are content to discuss it. The data for his study were
collected principally by the alumni of Atlanta University and are thus
entitled to a high degree of credibility.

Reports were received from one thousand nine hundred and six colored
men and women in business, showing the kind of business, time in
business, and the amount of capital invested. Almost every kind of
business carried on by white people was represented, thus evidencing a
desire and a reaching out on the part of the Negro that will produce
great results in years to come. Only establishments of considerable
importance were solicited and reported.

Time in business: Four-fifths had been established five years or more;
one-fifth more than twenty years. Sixty-seven more than thirty years.
This shows a remarkable longevity in business that is highly
gratifying.

Capital invested: Complete returns were not received from all; only
1,736 establishments reported capital. Their aggregate capital was
$5,631,137. Prof. DuBois estimated that the total amount invested by
American Negroes in business managed by themselves in 1899 was
$8,784,000. Compared with the immense sum of money invested in
business in the United States, this seems meager enough; but when we
consider the poverty of the colored people at the beginning of their
freedom, the saving and investment of nearly $9,000,000 in business
enterprises conducted by themselves in one generation is a most
creditable showing.

By far the larger part of the capital of the colored people is as yet
invested in enterprises conducted by white persons. In the city of
Washington, where the idea of the advantage to the race in having a
number of successful business enterprises has been very much agitated,
only about one-fifth of its wealthy colored people have any
investments in e