hope, and patience." His works include "Lyrics of Life and Love," "The Book of Elizabethan Verse;" 1906, "The House of Falling Leaves," 1908; "The Book of Georgian Verse," 1908; "The Book of Restoration Verse," 1909; "The Book of Victorian Verse,” 1910. At the end of each year Mr. Braithwaite writes a review of the poetry that appears in the standard magazines. His estimate of the value of this poetry is accepted as a criterion of its worth. Johnson, James W., Jacksonville, Florida. He is gifted as a poet. He has contributed verse to the leading magazines and daily papers. His poem, "Fifty Years," in commemoration of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Emancipation, published in The New York Times, January 1, 1913, was widely commented upon. For eight years Mr. Johnson was in the United States Consular service. He held for a considerable part of this time the important post of Consul at Corinto, Nicaragua.

Corrothers, James D.-Born, Cass County, Michigan, July 2, 1869. He is a poet and writer of some distinction. He is a Baptist minister of Washington, D. C. For the past fifteen years he has contributed verse to the Century and other magazines.

Margeston, George Reginald, Cambridge, Massachusetts. He is said to be a promising writer. He has recently published a volume entitled, "Songs of Life."

Johnson, Fenton.-Born, Chicago, 1888. He is attracting attention as a poet. His recent volume of poetry, "A Little Dreaming," has received favorable mention in this country and in Europe.

Anderson, Alfred, Chicago, has also written some good verse. He is secretary of Provident Hospital.

Aldridge, Ira.-Born about 1810 at Bel Air, Maryland. Died at Lodz, Poland, in 1867. He is the most famous of Negro actors. He has had few equals in the part of Othello, the Moor.

Aldridge's grandfather who was a ruling prince in the Senegal Country in Africa was, with all his family except one son, murdered in an uprising. This son came to America and was educated for the ministry. In time he married. The son Ira was also intended for the ministry. He was sent to Schenectady College in New York. Thence he was sent to Glasgow University, Scotland, where he carried off many prizes, including the medal for composition. He, however, abandoned theology for the stage. After many disappointments he made his debut at the Royal Theatre, London, in 1833, as Othello the Moor. He also appeared at the Coburg, Sadler's Wells, Olympia, and Covent Garden Theaters in London, playing Othello, Gambia (in "The Slave"), and other characters with great success. After this he made a provincial tour, playing in most of the principal towns from one end of the kingdom to the other, his

reception in every instance being of the most flattering kind. At
Belfast, Edmund Kean showed his admiration by playing Iago to
Aldridge's Othello. At Manchester, the famous singer, Madame
Malibran, wrote him that never in her whole professional career
had she witnessed such an interesting and powerful performance.
Lady Beecher (famous as Miss 'Niel, the actress) wrote: "During
my professional as well as private life I never have seen so cor-
rect a portraiture of Othello." The King of Prussia presented him
the Prussian "Gold Medal of the first class for Art and Science,"
which had been previously awarded only to the great philosopher
Humboldt, the composer Spontini and the musician Liszt. The Em-
peror of Austria conferred on him the Grand Cross of the Order
of Leopold. The City of Berne gave him a magnificent Maltese
Cross with Medal of Merit. He also received the "Royal Saxe-
Ernest House Order" which confers a title higher than that of
"Sir" so much coveted in England. Aldridge had a reception even
more flattering in Russia. He was made a member of the Imperial
Academy of Arts and Sciences in St. Petersburg, and of many
other honorable and learned societies. In most cases the mem-

bership was conveyed by means of handsome medals, accompanied in many cases by autograph letters. His widow and his two gifted daughters, Amanda Ira (Montague Ring) and Luranah, reside in London. See sketches above under composers and singers. Williams, Bert.-Most noted of present day Negro actors. He is a native of New Providence, Nassau, in the British Bahama Islands. When he was two years old his family came to New York. His father was a papier-mache maker, which brought him in contact with the theatres. In this way Williams got acquainted with the stage.

From New York the family moved to Riverside, California, in which place he graduated from the high school and went to San Francisco intending to study to be a civil engineer. His first experience on the stage was as a member of a little mountebank minstrel show which played the lumber and mining camps of California. Williams became noted as a member of the famous Williams and Walker Company. For the past four seasons he has been the Star of The Follies, a leading white vaudeville company. In the June 1912 number of the Green Book, a publication devoted to stage folk, Reinold Wolf writes of Bert Williams as "The Greatest Comedian on the American Stage."

OCCUPATIONS

In 1910 the number of Negroes 10 years of age and over in gainful occupations was: 5,192,535, or 71.0 per cent of total Negro population of this age; by sex the num was, males, 3,178,554;

females, 2,013,981. Negroes constitute 13.6 per cent of all persons

87.4 84.1

Per cent of all Negro males in gainful occupations.....
Per cent of all Negro females in gainful occupations... 54.7 40.7

A larger proportion of persons 10 years of age and over in the United States were engaged in gainful occupations in 1910 than in 1900. This increase was especially marked for the Negroes.

PROPORTION OF PRINCIPAL CLASSES OF THE POPULA-
TION IN GAINFUL OCCUPATIONS

PER CENT OF NEGROES OF TOTAL PERSONS IN EACH OF

THE MAIN CLASSES OF OCCUPATION

IN 1890, 1900 AND 1910

50.4 76.5 24.6 48.5 75.4 21.7 60.3 90.0 21.7 57.3 89.7 19.1 171.0 87.4 54.7 62.2 84.1 40.7

61.1 80.8

| 17.6

Negroes Making Gains In The Trades

The census report on occupations for 1900 appeared to indicate that in such trades as carpentry, plastering, blacksmithing, etc., Negroes were losing ground., The 1910 report of the census on occupations indicates that the Negro has made gains in practically all the trades in which he appeared in 1900 to be losing ground.

TRADES IN WHICH IN 1900 THE NEGRO APPEARED TO
BE LOSING GROUND

Negroes Increasing As Factory Workers

In recent years there has been a large increase in the number of Negroes working in factories. The Negro workers in factories are to a large extent doing the rougher, cruder, and semi-skilled work. Many, however, in every phase of factory industries are doing the most highly skilled work. The general tendency for the Negro factory worker appears to be upward. In 1900 the number was 131,216; in 1910, the number was 358,180, an increase of 226,964, or 173 per cent. The number of Negroes employed in textile industry factories in 1900 was 2,949; in 1910 the number was 11,333, an increase of 283 per cent.

DISTRIBUTION OF NEGRO FACTORY WORKERS 1910

Not Specified textile Mills..
Knitting Mills....
Cotton Mills.

A Large Number of Negroes Engaged in Business

720

816

7,216

Excluding 10,601 boarding and lodging housekeepers, there are according to the census 38,382 Negroes engaged in business enterprises of various sorts. This does not include those operating barber, blacksmith, and shoe shops, and several other classes of business connected with trades for which separate returns for proprietors and employees were not made. Probably 5,000 or more should be added for persons operating those business making the total about 43,000.

BUSINESS ENTERPRISES IN WHICH 200 OR MORE NEGROES

Trade (Wholesale and Retail).

Laborers (Manufacturing and Mechanical Pursuits)...

Char Women and Cleaners.

6,159

7,304

6,962