in barber shops
and theaters. At the Wilder Tanning Company and the American Steel and
Wire Company, opportunity was given negroes to do semiskilled work.
The former was working negroes into every branch of its industry. The
average daily wage here was about $3.[115]

The secretary of the Chamber of Commerce believed that the influx
did not cause anything more than a ripple on the surface. He said: "I
cover everything when I say that, no apparent increase in crime;
no trouble among themselves; no race friction." Theaters began to
discriminate, but soon ceased. The proprietor of the Sheridan Club
stated that he took a group of men to one theater which had shown
signs of discrimination. Each man was told to purchase his own ticket.
The owner observing the scheme admitted them. Very few restaurants
refuse to serve negroes. Only one openly segregated them to a
particular part of the dining-room. Absolutely no trouble was
experienced in the schools. The police commissioner sees that the
negroes have the protection of the law.

East Chicago, an industrial center located about twenty-five
miles from Chicago with a population now made up in large part of
Hungarians, Poles, Italians and negroes, had only one negro family
in 1915. During the month of August, 1916, about 150 negroes came and
others soon followed. At present there are about 75 families, 35 or
40 children of school age and about 450 men working in the industrial
plants. The majority of these newcomers were from the rural districts
of Alabama and Georgia, with a few from Mississippi. A large number of
negroes, moreover, live in Indiana Harbor and in Chicago and work in
East Chicago.[116]

Some of the people went to Indiana Harbor for church services. During
the summer of 1917, an attempt was made to organize a church, but it
was unsuccessful and almost excited a racial conflict. The negroes
from Alabama and Georgia complained about the wickedness of East
Chicago, and declared their intentions of going home, "where they can
sing without appearing strange, and where they can hear somebody else
pray besides themselves." Few racial clashes, however, have followed.
A strike which occurred at Gasselli's Chemical Company was at first
thought to be a protest of the foreigners against the 80 negroes
employed there. Nothing serious developed from it. The only apparent
dangers were in thoughtlessness on the part of negroes in their
conduct. They were too badly needed in ind