Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 6.djvu/222

208 negroes of the slum districts are practically untouched by the social settlements. Of all the peoples dwelling in Chicago's slums the negroes are the most neglected. They are the ones that need the most done for them; for it is among them, as we shall see, that the largest proportion of crime is found.

The negro slum population, as we have seen, is about 5,700. The total negro population of the city is seen to be 22,742; 25 per cent., or one-fourth of the entire number, live within the slum districts. It is to be noticed, however, that there is a large migration of the negroes from the slum districts toward the more respectable parts of the city; e, g., the first ward of the city, which is comprised within the district mentioned as the levee, had in 1890 a negro population of 3,381; in 1896 the negro population of this ward was 1,983, a decrease of 1,398.

The total population of the first, second, seventeenth, and eighteenth wards of the city, which comprise within their boundaries the districts mentioned as slums, was 106,527. The negro population of these wards was 7,052. Of the entire population of these wards the percentage of negroes was 6.62. Of the city at large we have seen that in 1896 it was 1.40. From this it appears that Chicago has a very large negro slum population when compared with the total number of negroes living in the city. The Seventh Special Report of the Commissioner of Labor, 1894, Slums of Great Cities, p. 27, shows that Chicago has a larger negro slum population than either Baltimore, New York, or Philadelphia.

It is to be remembered that not all the negroes living in the districts which have been designated as slums in this work are disreputable or criminal. Many of the best negro families of the city live within these districts. But in speaking of the population of the slums, all persons living therein must be included.

Police arrests.—The arrests made from year to year in the police departments of great cities may be regarded as an