CHAPTER III
Dealing with the Community

The severest test of a business enterprise is its relation
to the community, both the commercial houses with which
it deals and the consuming public to whom it sells. With
the former a firm must establish credit, with the latter it
must build up confidence. Credit is established by the
prompt payment of bills, the length of time a firm has been
in operation allowing time to make a good reputation and
its business methods in dealing with its suppliers. The con¬
fidence of customers is secured by the care and accuracy
with which orders are filled, the length of time the firm
has been in a certain locality and patrons have dealt with
it and by the whims and prejudices of the community or
locality.

It was out of the question to get data which would cover
all of these points, but sufficient material was gathered to
throw considerable light on (i) the length of time the
firms had been established, (2) the length of time they had
been situated at the particular address where they were
found, (3) the means used in keeping the accounts of sales,
expenditures, etc., (4) whether they gave credit to cus¬
tomers and whether they received credit from suppliers,
and (5) what proportion of their customers were white
and what proportion were colored.

I.  AGE OF ESTABLISHMENTS

Negroes are often said to be able to start but unable to
continue in undertakings which require determination, per-
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