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NORTH BADIN, N. C. 21
A** NEGRO VILLAGE OR NORTH BADIN ^
OUR PERMANENT INTERESTS
WHITE friend of the Negro said last year, in a
Department of Labor bulletin: "Since the great
majority of Negroes are in the working class, their
permanent interests are as workers.” I wish I had
been the author of that epigram, for I believe it will never
perish. I wish even a Negro had uttered it. However, the ex
pression belongs to everyone who accepts it. It is as much
mine, since I believe it and have adopted it, as if I had uttered
it.
Those who take exception to this assertion, and who would
claim that “the majority of Negroes” are destined to be in
some other than the working class, are postulating for a day
so distant that I shall never witness it in my lifetime, and
therefore I do not bother to discuss eternity. A resort to
statistics will show absolutely that “the great majority of
Negroes” are in the working class, and common foresight
leads to the belief that a change of classification for the
mass will only be accomplished through the slow evolutionary
process of endless days. If this be true, then our “perma
nent interests” must of necessity be the interests of the
working-man.
For myself, I can see that a race of twelve millions which
is no richer in possessions than one white man (Mr. Rocke
feller), is financially poor, and has a long, long way to go.
Furthermore, I can see that only regular earning and close
saving and skillful investment will make a poor race eco
nomically independent. Now, if we are mostly workers, and
if we are mostly poor workers, we need jobs in order to be
come a wealthy people. Having agreed upon this funda
mental fact, I believe we can intelligently consider the per
manent interests” of “the great majority” of Negr es.
These interests, briefly stated, in terms of p-**n'ary eco
nomics, are to find and to keep good jobs, to earn and to
lay aside money in order to purchase the things we need
for our fullesr*dGvolepment. They may be summed up in
these words: ^ Work, Save, Purchase!
If we need jobs, all kinds of jobs, and must have them to
become a healthy, wealthy, and wise people, what kind of
jobs should we prefer? It would be fair to consult formei
times, when I was jobless and job-hunting. My desires were
normal, though my taste could not always be satisfied. The
jobs I preferred were those which offered (1) good wages,
and therefore an opportunity to save; (2) reasonable hours,
and therefore an opportunity for leisure; (3) healthful sur
roundings; and (4) pleasant relations with my employer be
cause of his personal interest in me, which led to my per
sonal interest in him and in my work. I believe a job of
fering these things is the kind of a job most people would
prefer to have.
While we are considering the kind of job which may be
called an ideal job, let us also consider the kind of worker
that may be called an ideal worker. It must be remembered
that the employer owns the job, and the worker owns the
labor. When a worker takes a job, the employer buys his
labor, and a trade is effected, the price being the amount
of money given in wages or salary. Now if our labor is
for sale, we should sell it to the best advantage—just as the
merchant sells his potatoes. The only way the merchant can
make the selling of potatoes profitable is to sell at a good
price as often as he can. If he has one hundred bushels,
and sells fifty, and then closes his store, nobody would call
him a reliable merchant. This same rule of business ap
plies to the laboring man. When the market is open for
his labor, he should sell it. If he can sell it for six days a
week, at a good price, and only sells it for four days, his
labor is not profitable, and he could not be considered a
reliable worker. The laborer works for money, in order to
supply his needs; and the business of selling labor, like the
business of selling potatoes, is to gain a profit on the trans
action, so that the seller may become financially stronger.
By becoming financially stronger, the seller is enabled to
save.
So, then, a man with a job is a man with earning power.
A man with earning power becomes a man with purchasing
power. A man with purchasing power is sought by every
body who has “goods” to sell. The “goods” may vary from
a collar button to an apartment house, but the seller seeks
only the man who can purchase. To become a purchaser,
one must have a job. Therefore, the jobless man is never
sought by anybody—except the labor agent. When one be
comes a purchaser, he becomes economically free. If his
purchases are valuable and substantial, they will take care
of him and his family, educate his children, and give him
well-earned leisure in later life. And this should be the
goal of every working-man.
Anyone who reads the following pages may judge for him
self whether or not a job with the Tallassee Power Company
is desirable for a Negro. I need construct no arguments,
nor lay out any premises, nor force any conclusions. If
our “permanent interests” are in getting jobs that pay well,
which are not burdensome because the hours of labor are
reasonable, which are not health-destroying, and which are
made pleasant because of sympathetic personal contact with
our employers—then all Negro workers who are in the em
ploy of Tallassee Power Company are on the road to eco
nomic independence. But I should not go ahead of the story.
Read, and judge for yourself!