The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.11, page 432, Dec. 1911, U. of Illinois Press

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The BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Papers there has of course been much less tendency for white persons to object to Negroes working in the industries. Recently in Tampa, Florida, white workmen struck because a Negro had been discharged and the matter was referred to arbitration, and settled by the Negro being....2 Replying to your third question I do not know of any dormant discontent among the colored people because of political or social inequality. On the contrary everywhere ~ go ~ find the Negro very optimistic. ~ send you under another cover a pamphlet showing somewhat in detail what the graduates arid former students of Tuskegee Institute are doing industrially. I also refer you to my recent book, ''The Story of the Negro,'' published by Doubleday, Page and Company, New York. Several of the chapters which deal with the economic conditions of the Negro will, I am sure, interest you. ~ suppose you are acquainted with the rapid advances that the Negroes are making industrially. Recent Census bulletins show that Negroes are becoming farmers about twice as rapidly as white persons are. Negroes are also working in about all the trades and occupations that white people are working in; and the fact that the American Federation of Labor is seeking to unionize Negro labor indicates that the Negroes have become an important factor in the labor world. You are no doubt aware of the rapid manner in which the Negroes are accumulating property. Starting forty years ago with $~s,ooo,ooo or $ao,ooo,ooo worth of property they have now some $600,000,000 worth of property. They are each year adding to their wealth from $ ~ a,ooo,ooo to $ ~ s,ooo,ooo. In some states, as you know, separate records are kept of land and other property owned by whites and Negroes. In Virginia during the past year the Negroes added over 50,000 acres to their land holdings and increased the amount of their property holdings about $~,ooo,ooo. The Negroes of Georgia during the past year bought over 47,ooo acres of land. They invested $s60,ooo in city and town property. Altogether the Negroes of Georgia in one year added $~,4so,ooo to their taxable property. Trusting that your interest in this subject will continue, ~ am, Very truly yours, Booker T. Washington TLpSr Con. 4~9 BTW Papers DLC. ~ W. A. Conner, describing himself as a ''student of political economy,'' wrote to BTW on Dec. ~6, 19~, from Stillwater, Okla., where he may have been a 432