etition. This opinion is certainly not
borne out by the age of their business enterprises in New York. For,
in the face of conditions they had met in beginning business in New
York City, only 51 out of the known 309 enterprises had been
established less than one year; 67 between one and two years; 114
between two years and six years, and 33 between six years and ten
years. Twenty-two had been established between ten and fifteen years,
and twenty were fifteen or more years old, nine of them having been
established twenty years or more; the age of two was unknown. When it
is remembered that during the first decades after emancipation the
larger number of the most energetic Negroes was absorbed in
professional occupations, principally teaching, because of the great
need in race uplift, and that business pursuits have had until within
the last few years minor consideration, to say nothing of trials and
failures in the effort to gain business experience, the age of these
enterprises must be counted a creditable showing. And it is a good
recommendation to the commercial world that the Negro has not made a
reputation for bankruptcy assignments. When one reflects that nearly
all of these proprietors and promoters have migrated to New York City
from less progressive communities and that the chances to get
experience in a well-established business before they attempt to start
an enterprise for themselves is, except in very rare cases, denied
Negroes, the permanency of the ventures in the commercial current
deserve commendation.

2. PERMANENCE OF LOCATION

No less interesting than the length of time a firm had been
established was the length of time it had been located at the address
where it was found by the canvasser in 1909. The exact causes which
induce the Negro firms to change addresses could not be ascertained,
but 81 out of 275 had been at the address where they were found less
than one year, although, as shown above, only 51 were less than one
year old; 72 had been at their present address between one year and
two years, which leaves a smaller margin between that number and the
67 shown to have been established that length of time. There was a
similar small margin of comparison in the groupings of two to four and
four to six years between the time the firms were established and the
length of time they had remained at the one address. This shifting is
due probably to the movements of the Negro population upon which the