The study concerns three principal analytical questions: during the period from 1900-1940 (1) Why were the Chinese and Japanese over-represented and Negroes under-represented in small businesses? (2) Why were there many more Negroes than Chinese and Japanese on welfare rolls? (3) What, if any, was the connection between small businesses and social welfare? The method of analysis was a structured comparison of groups, and examination of the banking and credit practices of the three groups and of Negro church and fraternal organizations were made. The primary difference between the Negroes and the two Oriental minorities was that the Japanese and Chinese were organized in mutually supportive moral communities, whereas only a minority of Negroes was organized in this fashion. The small businesses were organized by Orientals with ascriptive ties of blood and land; these ties did not exist among Negroes. (BC)