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diff --git a/29501.txt b/29501.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e370a36 --- /dev/null +++ b/29501.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9788 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Negro Migration during the War, by Emmett J. Scott + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Negro Migration during the War + +Author: Emmett J. Scott + +Release Date: July 24, 2009 [EBook #29501] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NEGRO MIGRATION DURING THE WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Alison Hadwin, Suzanne Shell and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: All spellings and hyphenations have been left as +in the original, with one exception: Footnote 119, where 'durng' was +changed to 'during'.] + + + + +NEGRO MIGRATION DURING THE WAR + +EMMETT J. SCOTT + + + + +FOREWORD + + +In the preparation of this study I have had the encouragement and +support of Dr. Robert R. Moton, Principal of the Tuskegee Normal and +Industrial Institute, Alabama, who generously placed at my disposal +the facilities of the Institute's Division of Records and Research, +directed by Mr. Monroe N. Work, the editor of the _Negro Year Book_. +Mr. Work has cooperated with me in the most thoroughgoing manner. I +have also had the support of the National League on Urban Conditions +and particularly of the Chicago branch of which Dr. Robert E. Park +is President and of which Mr. T. Arnold Hill is Secretary. Mr. Hill +placed at my disposal his first assistant, Mr. Charles S. Johnson, +graduate student of the University of Chicago, to whom I am greatly +indebted. I must also make acknowledgment of my indebtedness to Dr. +Carter G. Woodson, Director of the Association for the Study of Negro +Life and History, Incorporated, Washington, D.C., for placing at my +disposal the facilities of his organization. + +The work of investigation was divided up by assigning Mr. Work to +Alabama, Georgia and Florida; Mr. Johnson to Mississippi and to +centers in Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Indiana, while the +eastern centers were assigned to Mr. T. Thomas Fortune, Trenton, New +Jersey, a former editor of the _New York Age_, and a publicist and +investigator of well known ability. It is upon the reports submitted +by these investigators that this study rests. I can not speak too +warmly of the enthusiastic and painstaking care with which these +men have labored to secure the essential facts with regard to the +migration of the negro people from the South. + +Emmett J. Scott. + +Washington, D.C., + +_June 5, 1919._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER + + I Introduction 3 + + II Causes of the Migration 13 + + III Stimulation of the Movement 26 + + IV The Spread of the Movement 38 + + V The Call of the Self-Sufficient North 49 + + VI The Draining of the Black Belt 59 + + VII Efforts to Check the Movement 72 + + VIII Effects of the Movement on the South 86 + + IX The Situation in St. Louis 95 + + X Chicago and Its Environs 102 + + XI The Situation at Points in the Middle West 119 + + XII The Situation at Points in the East 134 + + XIII Remedies for Relief by National Organizations 143 + + XIV Public Opinion Regarding the Migration 152 + + Bibliography 175 + + Index 185 + + + + +NEGRO MIGRATION DURING THE WAR + + + + + + +CHAPTER I + +INTRODUCTION + + +Within the brief period of three years following the outbreak of the +great war in Europe, more than four hundred thousand negroes suddenly +moved north. In extent this movement is without parallel in American +history, for it swept on thousands of the blacks from remote regions +of the South, depopulated entire communities, drew upon the negro +inhabitants of practically every city of the South, and spread from +Florida to the western limits of Texas. In character it was not +without precedent. In fact, it bears such a significant resemblance to +the migration to Kansas in 1879 and the one to Arkansas and Texas +in 1888 and 1889 that this of 1916-1917 may be regarded as the same +movement with intervals of a number of years. + +Strange as it might seem the migration of 1879 first attracted general +notice when the accusation was brought that it was a political scheme +to transplant thousands of negro voters from their disfranchisement +in the South to States where their votes might swell the Republican +majority. Just here may be found a striking analogy to one of the +current charges brought against the movement nearly forty years later. +The congressional inquiry which is responsible for the discovery of +the fundamental causes of the movement was occasioned by this charge +and succeeded in proving its baselessness.[1] + +The real causes of the migration of 1879 were not far to seek. +The economic cause was the agricultural depression in the lower +Mississippi Valley. But by far the most potent factor in effecting +the movement was the treatment received by negroes at the hands of the +South. More specifically, as expressed by the leaders of the movement +and refugees themselves, they were a long series of oppression, +injustice and violence extending over a period of fifteen years; the +convict system by which the courts are permitted to inflict heavy +fines for trivial offenses and the sheriff to hire the convicts to +planters on the basis of peonage; denial of political rights; long +continued persecution for political reasons; a system of cheating by +landlords and storekeepers which rendered it impossible for tenants +to make a living, and the inadequacy of school facilities.[2] Sworn +public documents show that nearly 3,500 persons, most of whom were +negroes, were killed between 1866 and 1879, and their murderers were +never brought to trial or even arrested. Several massacres of +negroes occurred in the parishes of Louisiana. Henry Adams, traveling +throughout the State and taking note of crime committed against +negroes, said that 683 colored men were whipped, maimed or murdered +within eleven years.[3] + +In the year 1879, therefore, thousands of negroes from Mississippi, +Louisiana, Texas, Alabama, Tennessee and North Carolina moved to +Kansas. Henry Adams of Shreveport, Louisiana, an uneducated negro +but a man of extraordinary talent, organized that year a colonization +council. He had been a soldier in the United States Army until 1869 +when he returned to his home in Louisiana and found the condition of +negroes intolerable. Together with a number of other negroes he first +formed a committee which in his own words was intended to "look into +affairs and see the true condition of our race, to see whether it was +possible we could stay under a people who held us in bondage or not." +This committee grew to the enormous size of five hundred members. One +hundred and fifty of these members were scattered throughout the South +to live and work among the negroes and report their observations. +These agents quickly reached the conclusion that the treatment the +negroes received was generally unbearable.[4] Some of the conditions +reported were that land rent was still high; that in the part of the +country where the committee was organized the people were still being +whipped, some of them by their former owners; that they were cheated +out of their crops and that in some parts of the country where they +voted they were being shot. + +It was decided about 1877 that all hope and confidence that conditions +could be changed should be abandoned. Members of this committee felt +that they could no longer remain in the South, and decided to leave +even if they "had to run away and go into the woods." Membership in +the council was solicited with the result that by 1878 there were +ninety-eight thousand persons from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and +Texas belonging to the colonization council and ready to move.[5] + +About the same time there was another conspicuous figure working in +Tennessee--Benjamin or "Pap" Singleton, who styled himself the father +of the exodus. He began the work of inducing negroes to move to the +State of Kansas about 1869, founded two colonies and carried a total +of 7,432 blacks from Tennessee. During this time he paid from his own +pocket over $600 for circulars which he distributed throughout the +southern States. "The advantages of living in a free State" were the +inducements offered.[6] + +The movement spread as far east as North Carolina. There a similar +movement was started in 1872 when there were distributed a number of +circulars from Nebraska telling of the United States government and +railroad lands which could be cheaply obtained. This brief excitement +subsided, but was revived again by reports of thousands of negroes +leaving the other States of the South for Kansas. Several hundred of +these migrants from North Carolina were persuaded en route to change +their course and go to Indiana.[7] + +Much excitement characterized the movement. One description of this +exodus says: + + Homeless, penniless and in rags, these poor people were + thronging the wharves of St. Louis, crowding the steamers + on the Mississippi River, hailing the passing steamers and + imploring them for a passage to the land of freedom, where the + rights of citizens are respected and honest toil rewarded by + honest compensation. The newspapers were filled with accounts + of their destitution, and the very air was burdened with the + cry of distress from a class of American citizens flying from + persecution which they could no longer endure. Their piteous + tales of outrage, suffering and wrong touched the hearts of + the more fortunate members of their race in the North and + West, and aid societies, designed to afford temporary relief + and composed almost wholly of colored people, were organized + in Washington, St. Louis, Topeka and various other places.[8] + +Men still living, who participated in this movement, tell of the long +straggling procession of migrants, stretching to the length at times +of from three to five miles, crossing States on foot. Churches were +opened all along the route to receive them. Songs were composed, some +of which still linger in the memory of survivors. The hardships under +which they made this journey are pathetic. Yet it is estimated that +nearly 25,000 negroes left their homes for Kansas.[9] + +The exodus during the World War, like both of these, was fundamentally +economic, though its roots were entangled in the entire social system +of the South. It was hailed as the "Exodus to the Promised Land" and +characterized by the same frenzy and excitement. Unlike the Kansas +movement, it had no conspicuous leaders of the type of the renowned +"Pap" Singleton and Henry Adams. Apparently they were not needed. The +great horde of restless migrants swung loose from their acknowledged +leaders. The very pervasiveness of the impulse to move at the first +definite call of the North was sufficient to stir up and carry away +thousands before the excitement subsided. + +Despite the apparent suddenness of this movement, all evidence +indicates that it is but the accentuation of a process which has +been going on for more than fifty years. So silently indeed has this +shifting of the negro population taken place that it has quite escaped +popular attention. Following the decennial revelation of the census +there is a momentary outburst of dismay and apprehension at the +manifest trend in the interstate migration of negroes. Inquiries into +the living standards of selected groups of negroes in large cities +antedating the migration of 1916-1917 have revealed from year to year +an increasing number of persons of southern birth whose length of +residence has been surprisingly short. The rapid increase in the negro +population of the cities of the North bears eloquent testimony to this +tendency. The total increase in the negro population between 1900 and +1910 was 11.2 per cent. In the past fifty years the northern movement +has transferred about 4 per cent of the entire negro population; and +the movement has taken place in spite of the negro's economic handicap +in the North. Within the same period Chicago increased her negro +population 46.3 per cent and Columbus, Ohio, 55.3 per cent. This +increase was wholly at the expense of the South, for the rural +communities of the North are very sparsely populated with negroes +and the increment accruing from surplus birth over deaths is almost +negligible.[10] + +When any attempt is made to estimate the volume of this most recent +movement, however, there is introduced a confusing element, for it can +not definitely be separated from a process which has been in operation +since emancipation. Another difficulty in obtaining reliable +estimates is the distribution of the colored population over the rural +districts. It is next to impossible to estimate the numbers leaving +the South even on the basis of the numbers leaving the cities. The +cities are merely concentration points and they are continually +recruiting from the surrounding rural districts. It might be stated +that 2,000 negroes left a certain city. As a matter of fact, scarcely +half that number were residents of the city. The others had moved in +because it was easier to leave for the North from a large city, and +there was a greater likelihood of securing free transportation or +traveling with a party of friends. It is conservatively stated, for +example, that Birmingham, Alabama, lost 38,000 negroes. Yet within +a period of three months the negro population had assumed its usual +proportions again.[11] Prior to the present migration of negroes, +there was somewhat greater mobility on the part of the white than on +the part of the negro population. As for example, according to + +the census of 1910 of 68,070,294 native whites, 10,366,735 or 15.2 per +cent were living in some other division than that in which they were +born. Of 9,746,043 native negroes reported by the census of 1930, +963,153 or 9.9 per cent were living outside the division of birth.[12] +Previous to the present migration, the south Atlantic and the east +south central divisions were the only ones which had suffered a direct +loss in population through the migration of negroes.[13] + +The census of 1910 brought out the fact that there had been +considerable migration from the North to the South, as well as from +the South to the North, and from the East to the West. The number of +persons born in the North and living in the South (1,449,229) was not +very different from the number born in the South and living in the +North (1,527,107). The North, however, has contributed more than five +times as many to the population of the West as the South has. The +number of negroes born in the South and living in the North in 1910 +was 415,533, or a little over two-thirds of the total number living in +the North. Of the 9,109,153 negroes born in the South, 440,534, or 4.8 +per cent, were, in 1910, living outside the South.[14] The migration +southward it will be noted, has been in recent years largely into the +west south central division, while the migration northward has been +more evenly distributed by divisions, except that a comparatively +small number from the South have gone into the New England States.[15] + +The greater mobility of whites than of negroes is shown by the fact +that in 1910, 15 per cent of the whites and 10 per cent of the negroes +lived outside of the States in which they were born. This greater +mobility of the whites as compared with the negroes was due in a large +measure to the lack of opportunities for large numbers of negroes +to find employment in the sections outside the South. The World War +changed these conditions and gave to the negroes of the United States +the same opportunities for occupations in practically every section of +the country, which had heretofore been enjoyed only by the whites. In +1900, 27,000 negroes born in the North lived in the South. In 1910, +41,000 negroes born in the North lived in the South. This indicated +that there was beginning to be a considerable movement of negroes from +the North to the South because of the greater opportunities in the +South to find employment in teaching, medicine and business. The +migration conditions brought about by the war have probably changed +this to some extent. Previous to the World War, the States having +the greatest gain from negro migration were Arkansas, 105,500, +Pennsylvania, 85,000, Oklahoma, 85,000, Florida, 84,000, New York, +58,450 and Illinois, 57,500. + +The point brought out here indicates that because of economic +opportunities, Arkansas and Oklahoma, being contiguously situated in +one section of the South and Florida in another section of the South, +had received a greater migration of negroes than any State in the +North. + +Dr. William Oscar Scroggs of Louisiana calls attention to the tendency +of negroes to move within the South, although, as, he points out, this +tendency is not as great as it is for the whites. On this he says: + + The negro shows a tendency, not only to move northward, but + also to move about very freely within the South. In fact, the + region registering the largest net gain of negroes in 1910 + from this interstate movement was the west south central + division (Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Texas) which + showed a gain from this source of 194,658. The middle Atlantic + division came second with a gain of 186,384, and the east + north central third with a gain of 119,649. On the other hand, + the south Atlantic States showed a loss of 392,827, and the + east south central States a loss of 200,876 from interstate + migration. While the negroes have shown this marked + inclination toward interstate movement, they nevertheless + exhibit this tendency in less degree than do the whites.[16] + + +The subjoined tables show the intersectional migration of the negro +population: + +INTERSECTIONAL MIGRATION OF NEGROES + +(As Reported by Census of 1910) + + +Number Born in Specified Divisions and Living In or Out of These Divisions + + -------------------+---------------+---------------------+---------------- + Number Living: Per Cent Living + +---------------------+ Without + Total Born in the Division + Division the Division Within Without in Which + Division Division Born + -------------------+---------------+----------+----------+---------------- + United States 9,746,043 8,782,890 963,153 9.9 + New England 37,799 30,815 6,984 18.5 + Middle Atlantic 212,145 189,962 22,183 10.5 + East North Central 173,226 145,187 28,039 16.2 + West North Central 198,116 162,054 36,062 18.2 + South Atlantic 4,487,313 4,039,173 448,140 10.0 + East South Central 2,844,598 2,491,607 352,991 12.4 + West South Central 1,777,242 1,713,888 63,354 3.6 + Mountain 7,342 4,122 3,220 43.9 + Pacific 8,262 6,082 2,180 26.4 + -------------------+---------------+----------+----------+---------------- + + + Number Living in Specified Divisions + + -------------------+---------------+------------+-------------+-------------- + Number Number Per Cent + Total Living Born in and Living in Living in + Division in the Living in the Division Division + Division the Division Born in Other Born in Other + Divisions Divisions + -------------------+---------------+------------+-------------+-------------- + United States 9,746,043 8,782,890 963,153 9.9 + New England 58,109 30,815 27,294 47.0 + Middle Atlantic 398,529 189,962 208,567 52.3 + East North Central 292,875 145,187 147,688 50.4 + West North Central 238,613 162,054 76,559 32.1 + South Atlantic 4,094,486 4,039,173 55,313 1.4 + East South Central 2,643,722 2,491,607 152,115 5.8 + West South Central 1,971,900 1,713,888 258,012 13.1 + Mountain 20,571 4,122 16,449 80.0 + Pacific 27,238 6,082 21,156 77.7 + -------------------+---------------+------------+-------------+-------------- + + + Migration North to South, South to North and East to West + + -----------------+-----------+-------------------------------+----------------- + Born in: State of + ----------+----------+---------+ Birth not + Total The North The South The West Reported + Race and Section Native or Born in + of Residence Population Possessions, etc. + -----------------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+----------------- + All Races + United States 78,456,380 46,179,002 29,010,255 2,906,162 360,961 + The North 44,390,371 42,526,162 1,527,107 124,001 213,101 + The South 28,649,319 1,449,229 27,079,282 38,230 82,578 + The West 5,416,690 2,203,611 403,866 2,743,931 65,282 + + White + United States 68,386,412 45,488,942 19,814,860 2,766,492 316,118 + The North 43,319,193 41,891,353 1,110,245 116,939 200,656 + The South 19,821,249 1,407,262 18,326,236 34,523 53,228 + The West 5,245,970 2,190,327 378,379 2,615,030 62,234 + + Negro + United States 9,787,424 621,286 9,109,153 15,604 41,381 + The North 999,451 570,298 415,533 2,295 11,325 + The South 8,738,858 39,077 8,668,619 2,412 28,750 + The West 49,115 11,911 25,001 10,897 1,306 + -----------------+-----------+----------+----------+---------+----------------- + + + Net Migration Eastward and Westward and Northward and Southward + + -------------------+----------------------------------------------------- + Population, 1910 + +---------+------------------------------+-------+----- + Total White Negro All + +---------+---------+----------+ Other + Total Of Native Of Foreign + Parentage or Mixed + Section Parentage + -------------------+---------+---------+---------+----------+-------+----- + Born east and + living west of + the Mississippi + River 5,276,879 4,941,529 3,846,940 1,094,589 331,031 4,319 + + Born west and + living east of the + Mississippi River 684,773 616,939 417,541 199,398 63,671 4,163 + ---------+---------+---------+----------+-------+------ + Net migration + westward across the + Mississippi River 4,592,106 4,324,590 3,429,399 895,191 267,360 156 + Born North and + living South 1,449,229 1,407,262 1,156,122 251,140 39,077 2,890 + Born South and + living North 1,527,107 1,110,245 944,572 165,673 415,533 1,329 + ---------+---------+---------+----------+-------+------ + Net migration + southward 297,017 211,550 85,467 1,561 + Net migration + northward 77,878 376,456 + -------------------+---------+---------+---------+----------+-------+------ + +[Footnote 1: _Congressional Record_, 46th Cong., 2d sess., vol. X, p. +104.] + +[Footnote 2: _Atlantic Monthly_, LXIV, p. 222; _Nation_, XXVIII, pp. +242, 386.] + +[Footnote 3: Williams, _History of the Negro Race_, II, p. 375.] + +[Footnote 4: _Atlantic Monthly_, LXIV, p. 222.] + +[Footnote 5: Williams, _History of the Negro Race_, II, p. 375.] + +[Footnote 6: W.L. Fleming, "Pap Singleton, the Moses of the Colored +Exodus," _American Journal of Sociology_, chapter XV, pp. 61-82.] + +[Footnote 7: _Congressional Record_, Senate Reports, 693, part II, +46th Cong., 2d sess.] + +[Footnote 8: _American Journal of Social Science_, XI, pp. 22-35.] + +[Footnote 9: Ibid., p. 23.] + +[Footnote 10: _The Censuses of the United States_.] + +[Footnote 11: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 12: Vol. I, census of 1910, Population, General Report and +Analysis, p. 693.] + +[Footnote 13: Ibid., p. 694.] + +[Footnote 14: Ibid., p. 698.] + +[Footnote 15: Vol. 1, 1910 census, Population, General Report and +Analysis, p. 699.] + +[Footnote 16: Scroggs, "Interstate Migration of Negro Population," +_Journal of Political Economy_, December, 1917, p. 1040.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +CAUSES OF THE MIGRATION + + +It seems particularly desirable in any study of the causes of the +movement to get beneath the usual phraseology on the subject and +find, if possible, the basis of the dissatisfaction, and the social, +political and economic forces supporting it. It seems that most of +the causes alleged were present in every section of the South, but +frequently in a different order of importance. The testimony of the +migrants themselves or of the leading white and colored men of the +South was in general agreement. The chief points of disagreement were +as to which causes were fundamental. The frequency with which the same +causes were given by different groups is an evidence of their reality. + +A most striking feature of the northern migration was its +individualism. This factor after all, however, was economic. The +motives prompting the thousands of negroes were not always the +same, not even in the case of close neighbors. As a means of making +intelligible these complicating factors it is necessary to watch +the process as it affected the several migrants. The economic motive +stands among the foremost reasons for the decision of the group to +leave the South. There are several ways of arriving at a conclusion +regarding the economic forces. These factors might, for example, be +determined by the amount of unemployment or the extent of poverty in a +community as registered by the prosperity. These facts are important, +but may or may not account wholly for individual action. Except in a +few localities of the South there was no actual misery and starvation. +Nor is it evident that those who left would have perished from want +had they remained. Discontent became more manifest as comparisons were +made between the existing state of things at home and a much better +state of things elsewhere. It is possible to note in the appeals of +the letters a suggestion of a desire simply to improve their living +standards so long as there was an opportunity. In the case of some +there is expressed a praiseworthy providence for their families; and +in others may be found an index to the poverty and hopelessness of +their home communities. In this type of migration the old order is +strangely reversed. Large numbers of negroes have frequently moved +around from State to State and even within the States of the South in +search of more remunerative employment. A movement to the West or even +about in the South could have proceeded from the same cause, as in the +case of the migration to Arkansas and Oklahoma. + +Among the immediate economic causes of the migration were the labor +depression in the South in 1914 and 1915 and the large decrease in +foreign immigration resulting from the World War. Then came the cotton +boll weevil in the summers of 1915 and 1916, greatly damaging the +cotton crop over considerable area, largely in Louisiana, Mississippi, +Alabama, Georgia and Florida, and threatening greatly to unsettle +farming conditions in the year 1917.[17] There followed then the +cotton price demoralization and the low price of this product during +subsequent years. The unusual floods during the summer of 1915 over +large sections in practically the same States further aggravated the +situation. The negroes, moreover, were generally dissatisfied because +of the continued low wages which obtained in the South in spite of the +increasing cost of living. Finally, there was a decided decrease in +foreign immigration. The result was a great demand in the North for +the labor of the negro at wages such as he had never received.[18] + +To understand further the situation in the South at the beginning of +the migration and just prior to it, attention should be directed to +the fact that the practice of mortgaging the cotton crop before it +is produced made sudden reversals--an inevitable result of such +misfortune as followed the boll weevil and the floods. Thousands +of landlords were forced to dismiss their tenants and close the +commissaries from which came the daily rations. Some planters in +Alabama and Mississippi advised their tenants to leave and even +assisted them. The banks and merchants refused to extend credit when +cotton was no longer to be had as a security. As a consequence, a +great number of tenants were left without productive work, money or +credit. A host of idle persons thrown suddenly on the labor market +could have no other effect than to create an excess in the cities to +which they flocked, make laborers easily replaceable, and consequently +reduce wages. A southern paper in commenting on this situation +declared "there is nothing for this excess population to do. These +people must live on the workers, making the workers poorer ... if +there is a tap that will draw off the idle population, that will be a +good thing for the cities at least."[19] + +The circumstances of unemployment which contributed so largely to the +restless mood in some sections of the South was due primarily to a +lack of sufficient capital to support labor during the lean seasons. +This meant, of course, that the cotton pests and storms that played +havoc with whole sections rendered helpless all classes of the +population. The usual method of handling labor, especially on the +cotton plantations, was for the planter to maintain his hands from the +commissary during the fall and early winter in order that they might +be convenient for the starting and cultivation of a new crop. But with +their last year's crop lost, their credit gone and the prospects of a +new crop very shadowy, there was left no other course but to dismiss +the people whom they could not support. + +For a long time southern farmers had been importuned to adopt a more +diversified method of farming to offset the effects of unexpected +misfortune in the cotton industry and to preserve the value of the +soil. Following the ravages of the boll weevil, the idea gained +wide application. The cotton acreage was cut down and other crops +substituted. The cultivation of cotton requires about five times +as many laborers as the cultivation of corn and the work is fairly +continuous for a few employes throughout the year. Additional +unemployment for negro tenant farmers was an expected result of this +diversification. The greatest immediate disadvantage to negro planters +and small farmers resulting from the failure of the cotton crops was +the lack of money and credit to sustain them while the corn and velvet +beans were being grown. It was for like reasons impracticable to +attempt to raise stock, for there was no means of making a beginning, +as a certain amount of capital was prerequisite. + +Despite the fact that food prices began to rise with the war, wages +advanced very slowly. In 1915, wages of farm laborers in the +South averaged around 75 cents a day. In the towns the principal +opportunities for employment were in the oil mills, lumber mills, +cotton compresses, railroad shops and domestic service. In the mills +and shops the average of wages ranged from $1 to $1.50 a day. The +wages of such skilled laborers as carpenters and bricklayers ranged +from $2 to $3.50 a day. In domestic service women received from $1.50 +to $3 per week and board. Men in domestic service received on an +average of $5 a week.[20] + +In spite of these conditions in the South it might appear strange that +not until fifty years after the privilege was granted negroes to +go where they pleased did they begin to make a sudden rush for the +northern States. Stranger still does it seem that, despite the fairly +general agreement among southern negroes that the North affords +greater personal liberty, is less prejudiced to individuals because of +the color of their skins, grants to negroes something nearer to open +handed justice, participation in the government, wider privileges +and freer associations, there should be in 1910 scarcely more than +one-tenth of the negro population where these reputed advantages are. +The North has been looked upon as the "Promised Land," the "Ark of +Safety," the "House of Refuge" for all these years. A common reason +recently advanced by the majority of southern negroes for the +abandonment of their homes was the desire to escape from the +oppressive social system of their section. Why have they not escaped +before? The answer lies in the very hard fact that, though the North +afforded larger privileges, it would not support negroes. It was the +operation of an inexorable economic law, confused with a multitude of +social factors, that pushed them back to the soil of the South despite +their manifest desire to leave it. + +None of the causes was more effective than that of the opportunity +to earn a better living. Wages offered in the North were double and +treble those received in the South. Women who received $2.50 a week +in domestic service could earn from $2.10 to $2.50 a day and men +receiving $1.10 and $1.25 a day could earn from $2.50 to $3.75 a day +in the various industries in the North.[21] An intensive study of the +migration to Pittsburgh, made by Mr. Abraham Epstein, gives an idea of +the difference in wages paid in the North and the South. His findings +may be quoted: "The great mass of workers get higher wages here than +in the places from which they come. Fifty-six per cent received less +than two dollars a day in the South, while only five per cent received +such wages in Pittsburgh." Sixty-two per cent received between $2 and +$3 per day in Pittsburgh as compared with 25 per cent in the South, +and 28 per cent received between $3 and $3.60 in this city as compared +with four per cent in the South. + +The inability to educate their children properly because of the +inadequacy of school facilities was another cause which has been +universally given for leaving the South.[22] The basis for this +frequently voiced complaint is well set forth in the study of _Negro +Education_ by Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones.[23] + + The inadequacy of the elementary school system for colored + children is indicated both by the comparisons of public + appropriations already given and by the fact that the + attendance in both public and private schools is only 58.1 per + cent of the children six to fourteen years of age. The average + length of the public school term is less than five months in + practically all of the southern States. Most of the school + buildings, especially those in the rural districts, are in + wretched condition. There is little supervision and little + effort to improve the schools or adapt their efforts to the + needs of the community. The reports of the State Departments + of Georgia and Alabama indicate that 70 per cent of the + colored teachers have third grade or temporary certificates, + representing a preparation less than that usually given in + the first eight elementary grades. Investigations made by + supervisors of colored schools in other States indicate that + the percentage of poorly prepared colored teachers is almost + as high in the other southern States. + + The supervisor of white elementary rural schools in one of the + States recently wrote concerning negro schools: "I never + visit one of these (negro) schools without feeling that we are + wasting a large part of this money and are neglecting a great + opportunity. The negro schoolhouses are miserable beyond all + description. They are usually without comfort, equipment, + proper lighting or sanitation. Nearly all of the negroes of + school age in the district are crowded into these miserable + structures during the short term which the school runs. Most + of the teachers are absolutely untrained and have been given + certificates by the county board, not because they have passed + the examination, but because it is necessary to have some kind + of negro teacher. Among the negro rural schools which I have + visited, I have found only one in which the highest class knew + the multiplication table." + +The treatment which the negroes received at the hands of the courts +and the guardians of the peace constituted another cause of the +migration. Negroes largely distrust the courts and have to depend on +the influence of their aristocratic white friends. When a white man +assaults a negro he is not punished. When a white man kills a negro he +is usually freed without extended legal proceedings, but the rule as +laid down by the southern judge is usually that when a negro kills a +white man, whether or not in self-defense, the negro must die. Negro +witnesses count for nothing except when testifying against members of +their own race. The testimony of a white man is conclusive in every +instance. In no State of the South can a negro woman get a verdict for +seduction, nor in most cases enter a suit against a white man; nor, +where a white man is concerned, is the law of consent made to apply to +a negro girl. + +It will be said, however, that such drastic action is not general +in the South; but throughout the Black Belt the negroes suffer from +arrests and impositions for petty offenses which make their lives +sometimes miserable. The large number of negroes owning automobiles is +a source of many conflicts. Many collisions, possibly avoidable, have +resulted in wresting from the negroes concerned excessive damages +which go to increase the returns of the courts. For example, the +chauffeur of one of the most influential negroes in Mississippi +collided with a white man's car. Although there was sufficient +evidence to exonerate the chauffeur concerned, the owner of the +vehicle was forced to pay damages and sell his car.[24] + +In the Birmingham district of Alabama a striking discrimination is +made in the arrests for failure to pay the street tax. Mr. Henry L. +Badham, President of the Bessemer Coal, Iron and Land Company, said in +commenting on the causes of the migration: + + I do not blame the negroes for going away from Birmingham. The + treatment that these unfortunate negroes are receiving from + the police is enough to make them desire to depart. The + newspapers have printed articles about the departure of the + laborers from Birmingham. On one page there is a story to the + effect that something should be done to prevent the exodus of + the negroes to other cities. And then on the same page there + appears a little paragraph stating that negroes were arrested + for failure to pay $2.50 street tax. The injustice of + arresting these negroes for the inability to have $2.50 ready + to turn over into the coffers of the city is obvious. While + they have been taken into custody, despite their protests that + they merely have not a sufficient amount of money with which + to meet the demand, you do not see that white men are arrested + for the failure to pay the tax. There is no gainsaying the + fact that there are thousands of men walking the streets who + have not paid a similar sum into the treasury of the city. The + negroes ought to get a square deal. When he is without funds, + you can not blame him for that. The city police ought to be + more reliable, or at least show no favoritism.[25] + +The fee system in the courts of the South is one of the most effective +causes of the migration. The employers of labor fought this system for +eight years and finally got it abolished in Jefferson county, +Alabama. Under this system the sheriff received a fee for feeding all +prisoners. The greater the number of prisoners, the greater would be +the income for the sheriff's office. As a result, it became customary +in Jefferson county, Alabama, to arrest negroes in large numbers. +Deputy sheriffs would go out to mining camps where there were large +numbers of laborers and bring back fifty or more negroes at a time. +This condition became unbearable both to the employer and to the +employe. Calling attention to the evil of this fee system, Dr. W.H. +Oates, State Prison Inspector, said in his annual report for 1914:[26] + + The vile, pernicious, pervading fee system beggars description + and my vocabulary is inadequate to describe its deleterious + and baneful effects. It increases in the management of our + jails greed for the almighty dollar. Prisoners are arrested + because of the dollar and, shame to say, are frequently kept + in captivity for months in steel cages for no other reason + than the almighty dollar. + +During the fiscal year ending September 30, 1917, Jefferson county had +6,000 prisoners as follows: + + In jail at the beginning of the year 328 + Incarcerated during the year: + White men 1,289 + Negro men 3,636 + White women 118 + Negro women 969 + ----- + Total 6,340 + +The fee bill, according to the sheriff's annual report of this +department was $37,688.90. As the law provided that for each prisoner +the sheriff shall receive 30 cents a day for feeding, and as a matter +of fact the sheriff fed them for 10 cents a day, it is clear that he +made a net profit of $25,125.94 during one fiscal year or at the same +rate for his term of four years, $100,503.76.[27] + +Another frequent complaint was directed against the accommodations +for travel. It generally happens that the cars are crowded because the +amount of space allotted is insufficient, and negroes as a class are +denied accommodation in sleeping and dining cars. Usually there is but +one toilet for both sexes and the waiting rooms at stations are cut +off, unclean and insanitary. Then there are numerous petty offenses, +which in themselves appear trifling, but which are spoken of as being +on the whole considerably annoying. White men are permitted to come +into the negroes' part of the coach and entertain the conductor, +newsboy and flagman, all of whom usually make their headquarters +there. The drunkards, the insane and other undesirables are forced +into this comparment among negro women who have to listen to oaths +and vulgar utterances. In stopping at some points, the trains halt the +negro car in muddy and abominably disagreeable places; the rudeness +and incivility of the public servants are ever apparent, and at the +stations the negroes must wait at a separate window until every white +passenger has purchased a ticket before he is waited on, although he +may be delayed long enough to miss the train. + +Both whites and negroes in mentioning the reasons for the movement +generally give lynching as one of the most important causes and state +that the fear of the mob has greatly accelerated the exodus. Negroes +in Florida gave as their reason for going north the horrible lynchings +in Tennessee. The white press in Georgia maintained that lynchings +were driving the negroes in large numbers from that State. A +careful study of the movement, however, shows that bad treatment by +representatives of the law caused almost as many negroes to leave the +South as lynchings, for, whereas lynchings were more or less sporadic, +persecutions and mistreatment by representatives of the law were +trials which all negroes had continually to bear and from which they +were anxious to escape.[28] + +Many of these causes then have their origin on the one hand in the +attitude which the South assumes toward the negro as expressed in law +and public opinion, and on the other hand in the feeling of the negro +toward the South because of the treatment given him. A negro educator +of Mississippi sought to explain the situation, saying: + + Many white men of high intellectual ability and keen + discernment have mistaken the negroes' silence for + contentment, his facial expression for satisfaction at + prevailing conditions, and his songs and jovial air for + happiness.[29] But this is not always so. These are his + methods of bearing trouble and keeping his soul sweet under + seeming wrongs. In the absence of a spokesman or means of + communication with the whites over imagined grievances, he has + brightened his countenance, smiled and sung to ease his mind. + In the midst of it all he is unable to harmonize with the + practices of daily life the teachings of the Bible which the + white Christian placed in his hands. He finds it difficult to + harmonize the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, + and his faith is put to the test in the _Providence_ which + enslaved his ancestors, corrupted his blood and placed upon + him stigmas more damaging than to be a leper or convict by + making his color a badge of infamy and his preordained social + position at the bottom of human society. So firmly has his + status been fixed by this _Providence_ that neither moral + worth, fidelity to trust, love of home, loyalty to country, or + faith in God can raise him to human recognition. + + When he remembers that he has been the beast of burden of + southern civilization and the foundation of its luxuriant + ease, when he rehearses to his children that he was the + South's sole dependence when his master was away repelling + hostile armies, and how he worked by day and guarded his + unprotected mistress and her children at night, or accompanied + his master to the swamps of Virginia and the Carolinas and + bound up his wounds or brought his maimed or dead body home on + his shoulders, these children can not understand the attitude + of the South toward them. They do not understand why they + have not been educated to efficiency and employed to the best + interest of the South. They do not understand why they have + not been given better living conditions, a more equitable + division of funds appropriated for the education of the youth, + nor provisions made for their higher or professional training, + or why so much prejudice is engendered in the practice + of these professions among their own people. They do not + understand why they have been made to toil at starvation wages + and to pay heavy fines and suffer long prison sentences for + stealing food and clothing. They do not understand why no + estimate is placed upon negro virtue and the full rights of + citizenship are denied to negroes of education, character and + worth. If some mysterious _Providence_ has ordained that + they support themselves and employers by farming, they do not + understand why they are deprived of agricultural schools. + They do not see why mere prejudice would prevent them from + obtaining a square deal when contending for the possessions + of life, liberty and property. They do not understand why they + are not protected from petty peace officers in search of + fees and from mobs while in the hands of officers of the law. + Finally, they do not understand why there is so little genuine + sympathy and brotherhood between them and the only people they + know--the people whose language and customs they use, under + whose laws they live, whose Bible they read, whose God they + serve. These thoughts possessed the negroes' mind when, twelve + months ago, the boll weevil and rains destroyed the crops in + the South and the European war was calling foreigners from + field and factory in the North.[30] + +One should bear in mind that the two generations of negroes living in +the South are affected differently by the measures of control of the +whites, and in many cases respond differently to treatment received. +The older generation of whites and blacks avoided much friction by +a sort of mutual understanding. The children of colored and white +parents come less frequently into friendly contact and find it +difficult to live together on the terms accepted by their fathers. +Negro parents appreciate this situation but, although admitting that +they can tolerate the position to which they are assigned, they do not +welcome such an arrangement for their children. For this reason +they are not reluctant to send their sons away from home. Should +the children remain there, they live in a state of anxiety for their +safety. They would not have them grow up as they, encompassed by +restraints, and the young men themselves appear to entertain toward +the prevailing system a more aggressive hostility. + +A woman of color in Greenville, Mississippi, for example, had a son +in a northern State and was afraid to invite him home to pay a visit +because, as she stated, "for him to accept the same abuses to which +we, his parents, are accustomed, would make him much less than the man +we would have him be." Another negro, a physician, the "Nestor" of +his profession, having practiced in his State over thirty-five years, +said: + + Sir, I can't expect my son to accept the treatment under which + I have been brought up. My length of residence here and + the number of friends whom I know of the older and more + aristocratic type of whites will protect me but as for him, + there is no friendship. Now, as for me, there is no reason why + I should leave. I am making as much money as I could anywhere + else and all of the white people respect me. But I am just one + out of a thousand. The younger men have neither my contact nor + influence. + +A lawyer of remarkable talent formerly of Mississippi, now living +with his children in Chicago, who had felt keenly this humiliation and +recognized it as one of the motives behind his change of residence, +thus stated the situation: + + One peculiar phase of the white southern prejudice is that + no matter how well liked or popular a colored man be in any + community, his son does not share that popularity unless he + enters a field of endeavor distinctly lower in the scale than + that occupied by his parent. My experience goes both ways on + this subject. My stepfather was a dearly beloved colored man + of the old school, but when he sent me off to Oberlin College + I returned to find that the community in which I had been + beloved as a boy in attendance at the rude country school + looked at me askance. It took twenty years to overcome the + handicap of attempting to occupy a higher sphere than that + to which the community thought it right to assign me. My + experiences were repeated by my son. He was a well liked boy + by the best people in a city of about twenty-five thousand, + because he was my son and was polite and agreeable. When he + went to a nearby Mississippi college and worked in his summer + vacations in a local industrial plant, they still thought well + of him, but when it was learned that he was being graduated + at Oberlin College, and his picture appeared in a college year + book, among others, my intimate white friends wanted to know + the necessity for so much education and, with a shrug of + the shoulder, they let all mention of him drop, as if he had + offended the most sacred laws of the community. This spirit + appeared so marked that I did not have him come back to visit + his mother and me during the summer vacation. I have seen the + same spirit in many instances. No man can explain why it is, + but it is so.[31] + +[Footnote 17: _New York Times_, September 5, 9, 28, 1916.] + +[Footnote 18: Ibid., October 18, 28; November 5, 7, 12, 15; December +4, 9, 1916.] + +[Footnote 19: Work, _Report on Negro Migration from Alabama_.] + +[Footnote 20: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the +World War_.] + +[Footnote 21: Attractive advertisements appeared in negro newspapers +with wide circulation in the South. These are from the _Chicago +Defender_. + +"Wanted--10 molders. Must be experienced. $4.50 to $5.50 per day. +Write B.F.R. _Defender_ Office." + +"Wanted--25 girls for dishwashing. Salary $7 a week and board. John +R. Thompson, Restaurant, 314 South State Street. Call between 7 and 8 +a.m. Ask for Mr. Brown." + +"Wanted--25 young men as bus boys and porters. Salary $8 per week +and board. John R. Thompson, Restaurant, 314 South State Street. Call +between 7 and 8 a.m. Ask for Mr. Brown." + +"Molders wanted. Good pay, good working conditions. Firms supply +cottages for married men. Apply T.L. Jefferson, 3439 State Street. + +"Ten families and 50 men wanted at once for permanent work in the +Connecticut tobacco fields. Good wages. Inquire National League on +Urban Conditions among Negroes, 2303 Seventh Avenue, New York City, +New York." + +"Molders wanted. A large manufacturing concern, ninety miles from +Chicago, is in need of experienced molders. Wages from $3 to $5.50. +Extra for overtime. Transportation from Chicago only. Apply Chicago +League on Urban Conditions among Negroes. T. Arnold Hill, Executive +Secretary, 3719 State Street, Chicago." + +"Laborers wanted for foundry, warehouse and yard work. Excellent +opportunity to learn trades, paying good money. Start $2.50--$2.75 per +day. Extra for overtime. Transportation advanced from Chicago only. +Apply Chicago League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, 3719 South +State Street. Chicago." + +"Experienced machinists, foundrymen, pattern makers wanted, for +permanent work in Massachusetts. Apply National League on Urban +Conditions among Negroes, 2303 7th Ave., New York City." + +"3,000 laborers to work on railroad. Factory hires all race help. More +positions open than men for them." + +"Men wanted at once. Good steady employment for colored. Thirty and +39-1/2 cents per hour. Weekly payments. Good warm sanitary quarters +free. Best commissary privileges. Towns of Newark and Jersey City. +Fifteen minutes by car line offer cheap and suitable homes for +men with families. For out of town parties of ten or more cheap +transportation will be arranged. Only reliable men who stay on their +job are wanted. Apply or write Butterworth Judson Corporation, Box +273, Newark, New Jersey, or Daniel T. Brantley, 315 West 119th Street, +New York City." + +"$3.60 per day can be made in a steel foundry in Minnesota, by strong, +healthy, steady men. Open only to men living in Chicago. Apply in +person. Chicago League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, 3719 South +State Street, Chicago, Illinois."] + +[Footnote 22: An investigator in Mississippi reports the following: + +The school population is 60 per cent colored. There are seven white +and two colored schools. The average salaries paid to white assistant +teachers is $75 per month. The average salaries paid to colored +assistant teachers is $32.50 per month. The average number of pupils +taught by white is 30 and the average number taught by colored is 100. + +In the county there are no agricultural high schools or in fact +high schools of any kind. The whites in the same county have an +agricultural high school of "magnificent proportions" and "excellent +facilities," a literary high school and about ten consolidated +schools. + +Negroes complain that the authorities are building white schools in +communities where the negro population is five times as great. When +they first sought to establish these consolidated schools, there was +a provision that every one must pay taxes to support them. Negroes who +were required to pay large taxes refused because they were denied the +benefits of the schools. A law was passed with the provision that the +majority of qualified electors in a county supervisor's district might +secure one of these schools on petition to the Board of Supervisors +and with the understanding that they would pay taxes. But negroes are +not qualified electors and consequently have no schools. + +In Liberty Grove the white school goes to the twelfth grade, with +courses also in music. Automobiles bring the children to school and +carry them back. The negro school in the same community has only one +teacher getting $25 per month and teaching over 200 children. There +are two large negro denominational schools, Jackson College and +Campbell College which serve to supplement the public schools provided +by the city.] + +[Footnote 23: Jones, _Negro Education_, vol. II, pp. 14, 15, Bulletin, +1916, No. 30 of the United States Bureau of Education.] + +[Footnote 24: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the +World War_.] + +[Footnote 25: _Montgomery Advertiser._] + +[Footnote 26: Annual Report of the Prison Inspector of Alabama, 1914.] + +[Footnote 27: Report of the Sheriff of Jefferson County, Alabama, +1917.] + +[Footnote 28: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the +World War_.] + +[Footnote 29: Mr. Charles S. Johnson reports the following from +Mississippi: "The police of most of the cities are rough and +indiscriminate in their treatment of negroes. At the depot during the +summer, on several occasions, negro porters were severely beaten by +policemen for trivial reasons. This, it was said, started a stream of +young men that cleaned the town of porters. + +"Fee constables made their living from arresting negroes, +indiscriminately, on trivial charges. A white man, to whom a prominent +negro physician had gone for advice on a case concerning his arrest +on a charge of having no lights on his automobile, said, 'If I were a +negro, I would rather appear before a Russian court than come before a +court here for trial.'"] + +[Footnote 30: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the +World War_.] + +[Footnote 31: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the +World War_.] + + + + +CHAPTER III + +STIMULATION OF THE MOVEMENT + + +It is not surprising that the exodus grew so contagious when viewed in +the light of the numerous factors which played a part in influencing +its extension. Considering the temper of the South and its attitude +toward any attempt to reduce its labor supply, it is readily apparent +that leaders who openly encouraged the exodus would be in personal +danger. There were, of course, some few who did venture to voice +their belief in it, but they were in most cases speedily silenced. A +Methodist minister was sent to jail because he was said to have been +enticing laborers to go north and work for a New York firm, which +would give employment to fifty of his people. The tactics adopted +by influential persons who favored the movement, therefore, were of +necessity covert and very much guarded. + +One of the chief stimuli was discussion. The very fact that negroes +were leaving in large numbers was a disturbing factor. The talk in the +barber shops and grocery stores where men were wont to assemble soon +began to take the form of reasons for leaving. There it was the custom +to review all the instances of mistreatment and injustice which fell +to the lot of the negro in the South. It was here also that letters +from the North were read and fresh news on the exodus was first given +out. In Hattiesburg, Mississippi, it was stated that for a while there +was no subject of discussion but the migration. "The packing houses +in Chicago for a while seemed to be everything," said one negro. "You +could not rest in your bed at night for Chicago." Chicago came to be +so common a word that they began to call it "Chi." Men went down to +talk with the Chicago porters on the Gulf and Ship Island Railroad +which ran through the town. They asked questions about the weather in +Chicago. The report was that it was the same as in Hattiesburg.[32] + +In every circle the advisability of leaving was debated. In the +churches the pastors, seeing their flocks leaving, at first attempted +to dissuade them. The people refused to come to church. In the church +meetings there were verbal clashes on the matter of the attitude +toward the migration. Some few had been careful enough to go north +and investigate for themselves and friends. A man learned of the North +through a friend whose relatives wrote him from that section. He, +thereupon, decided to pay a visit of two weeks, going in August. The +attitude of the North overwhelmed him. At Fulton, Kentucky, while he +was on the train a white man was sitting in front of him. He wanted to +ask him a question but hesitated fearing that he would be rebuffed. +He finally addressed the stranger, who answered him courteously and +kindly, calling his attention to other points of interest in the +North. At Gary, Indiana, he met a gentleman who said he had been +mayor of Gary for seven years. He described the Gary school system and +promised him an education for his children. He was assured employment +at $4 a day for eight hours' work.[33] + +A still more powerful, though insidious factor, was the work of +public speakers who hid their intentions behind their unique method of +presentation. In a lecture on the question of migration a speaker, who +is a widely known character, made these remarks: + + So many of my folks are leaving that I thought I'd go up and + see whether or not they had made a mistake. I found thousands + of old friends up there making more money than they'd ever + made in their lives. I said to one woman in Chicago, "Well, + Sister ----, I see you're here." "Yes, Brother ----, I'm here, + thank the Lord." "Do you find it any colder up here than it + was in Mississippi?" "Did I understand you correctly to say + cold? Honey, I mean it's cold. It is _some_ cold." "But you + expect to return, don't you?" "Don't play with me, chile. What + am I going to return for? I should say not. Up here you see + when I come out on the street I walk on nice smooth pavements. + Down home I got to walk home through the mud. Up here at + nights it don't matter much about coming home from church. + Down home on my street there ain't a single lamp post. And + say, honey, I got a bath tub!"[34] + +He related the instance of his visit to an automobile plant where he +was met at the door by a "stalwart, handsome, six-footer as black as +midnight." He asked his companion the name of this "potentate." He was +told that this man was an experienced machinist. Every car that passed +out of that plant must have his O.K. He added further that his salary +was something like $100 a week and that the incident showed the +unlimited chance for expansion in the North. When he began to +enumerate some of the positions which "men of the race" were holding, +the audience became enthusiastic beyond control. One man in the +audience, who had been to Detroit, could restrain himself no longer +and stood up to inform the audience that there were also colored +street car conductors and motormen and that he had seen them with his +own eyes. The speaker paid no attention to this interruption and the +audience appeared not to notice it, but began to exchange reports +among themselves. The speaker added that he had found negroes in the +North, well dressed and looking like men--for the first time in +their lives--men who were simply "bums" at home. In excusing the +indisposition of some negroes toward work, he said, "How in the +world can you expect a man to work faithfully all day long for fifty +cents?"[35] + +Among the important stimuli were the rumors in circulation. When a +community is wrought up, it is less difficult to believe remarkable +tales. To persons beyond the influence of this excitement it is +somewhat difficult to conceive how the rumor that the Germans were on +their way through Texas to take the southern States could have been +believed. And yet it is reported that this extravagant fiction was +taken seriously in some quarters. On the outskirts of Meridian, +Mississippi, a band of gypsies was encamped. The rumor gained +circulation that the Indians were coming back to retake their +land lost years ago. It was further rumored that the United States +Government was beginning a scheme to transport all negroes from +the South to break up the Black Belt. Passed from mouth to mouth, +unrestrainedly these reports became verities. + +It was further asserted on the word and honor "of one in position +to know" that the Chicago packing houses needed and would get fifty +thousand negroes before the end of the year. One explanation of the +belief that the South was overrun with labor agents was the fact +that every strange face came to be recognized as a man from the North +looking for laborers. If he denied it, they simply thought he was +concealing his identity from the police, and if he said nothing, +his silence was regarded as sufficient affirmation. Hundreds of +disappointments are to be traced to the rumor that a train would leave +on a certain date. Hundreds would come to the station prepared to +leave and, when no agent appeared, purchased their own tickets. + +The questions of wages and privileges were grossly featured. Some men, +on being questioned, supposed that it was possible for every common +laborer to receive from $4 to $10 a day, and that $50 a week was not +an unusual wage. The strength of this belief has been remarked by +several social agencies in the North which attempted to supply the +immigrants with work. The actual wages paid, though much in excess of +those they had been receiving, were often disappointing. Similarly +in the matter of privilege and "rights" it was later revealed that +unbounded liberty was not to be found in the North. The singular cases +of misconduct, against which the more sober minded preached, possibly +had their root in the beautiful and one-sided pictures of the North +which came to the South. + +The _Chicago Defender_, a weekly negro newspaper, with its pronounced +radical utterances, its criticism of the South, its policy of +retaliation, etc., contributed greatly to the exodus.[36] Its +influence can be imagined when, after reading the southern white +papers with only occasional references to the negroes which might be +called commendable and numerous articles which were for the most part +distasteful, negroes could read the things they wanted to hear most, +expressed in a manner in which they would not dare express them. It +voiced the unexpressed thoughts of many and made accusations for which +they themselves would have been severely handled. Freud's theory of +the suppressed wish finds a happy illustration in this rage over the +_Chicago Defender_. Expressed in terms of figures, the circulation of +the paper at the beginning of the movement was something like 50,000. +In 1918 it had grown to 125,000. It had a large circulation in +Mississippi and the supply was usually bought up on the first day of +its arrival. Copies were passed around until worn out. One prominent +negro asserted that "negroes grab the _Defender_ like a hungry +mule grabs fodder." In Gulfport, Mississippi, a man was regarded +"intelligent" if he read the _Defender_. It was said that in Laurel, +Mississippi, old men who did not know how to read would buy it because +it was regarded as precious. + +It was this paper that named the exodus "The Great Northern +Drive," and set the date May 15th, announced the arrivals and took +responsibility for inducing "the poor brethren" from the South. It was +accused of ruining Hattiesburg, Mississippi, by promoting this rush to +the North. The sale of this paper was, therefore, forbidden in several +towns in the South. A correspondent said: "White people are paying +more attention to the race in order to keep them in the South, but +the _Chicago Defender_ has emblazoned upon their minds 'Bound for the +Promised Land.'" + +In answer to the warnings of the South against the rigors of the +northern winters, the _Defender_ said: + + To die from the bite of frost is far more glorious than at the + hands of a mob. I beg you, my brother, to leave the benighted + land. You are a free man. Show the world that you will not let + false leaders lead you. Your neck has been in the yoke. Will + you continue to keep it there because some "white folks' + nigger" wants you to? Leave for all quarters of the globe. Get + out of the South. Your being there in the numbers in which you + are gives the southern politician too strong a hold on your + progress.... So much has been said through the white papers in + the South about the members of the race freezing to death in + the North. They freeze to death down South when they don't + take care of themselves. There is no reason for any human + being staying in the Southland on this bugaboo handed out by + the white press.[37] + + If you can freeze to death in the North and be free, why + freeze to death in the South and be a slave, where your + mother, sister and daughter are raped and burned at the stake; + where your father, brother and sons are treated with contempt + and hung to a pole, riddled with bullets at the least mention + that he does not like the way he is treated. Come North + then, all you folks, both good and bad. If you don't behave + yourselves up here, the jails will certainly make you wish you + had. For the hard-working man there is plenty of work--if you + really want it. The _Defender_ says come.[38] + + +The idea that the South is a bad place, unfit for the habitation of +colored folk, was duly emphasized. Conditions most distasteful to +negroes were exaggerated and given first prominence. In this the +_Defender_ had a clear field, for the local colored newspapers dared +not make such unrestrained utterances.[39] In fact, reading the +_Chicago Defender_ provided a very good substitute for the knowledge +which comes through travel. It had the advantage of bringing the North +to them. Without fear of exaggeration it is safe to say its policy was +successful in inciting thousands of restless negroes to venture north, +where they were assured of its protection and the championship +of their cause. There are in Chicago migrants who attribute their +presence in the North to its encouraging pictures of relief from +conditions at home with which they became more and more dissatisfied, +as they read. + +The setting of a definite date was another stimulus. The great +northern drive was scheduled to begin May 15, 1917. This date, or the +week following, singularly corresponds with the date of the heaviest +rush to the North, the periods of greatest temporary congestion and +the awakening of the North to the presence of their guests. Letters +to the _Chicago Defender_ and to the social agencies in the North +informed them that they were preparing to come in the great drive. One +of many such letters received is presented. + + April 24, 1917. + + Mr. R.S. Abbott, + + Editor, the _Chicago Defender_, + + Sir: + + I have been reading the _Defender_ for one year or more, and + last February I read about the great northern drive to take + place May 15, on Thursday, and now I can hear so many people + speaking of an excursion to the North on the 15th of May for + $3. My husband is in the North already working, and he wants + us to come up in May, so I want to know if it is true about + the excursion. I am getting ready and, oh, so many others + also, and we want to know is that true so we can be in the + drive. So please answer at once. We are getting ready. + + Yours, + +This was perhaps the most popular date, but there were others, of +which August 15 was one. Usually the dates set were for Wednesday and +Saturday nights, following pay days. + +Personal appeals in the form of letters have a recognized weight in +influencing action. The United States mail was about the most active +and efficient labor agent. The manner in which the first negroes left +made great opportunities for letter writing. It is to be remembered +that the departure of one person was regarded always in the light of +an experiment. The understanding existed between a man and his friends +that he would honestly inform them of conditions in the North. +Letters were passed around and read before large groups. A woman from +Hattiesburg is accredited with having sent back a letter which enticed +away over 200 persons. A tailor who had settled in a town of white +people in the West wrote a letter which was read in a church. It +explained the advantages of the free schools open to all, and the +privilege to ride and to go where one pleases. The reading of the +letter brought forth long and loud applause. A man who had left home, +writes back to his friend yet undecided: + + Mike, old boy, I was promoted on the first of the month. I was + made first assistant to the head carpenter. When he is out of + place I take everything in charge and was raised to $95 per + month. You know I know my stuff. What's the news generally + around H'burg? I should have been here twenty years ago. I + just begin to feel like a man. It's a great deal of pleasure + in knowing that you have got some privileges. My children are + going to the same school with the whites and I don't have + to humble to no one. I have registered. Will vote the next + election and there isn't any 'yes, sir, and no, sir.' It's all + yes and no, and no, Sam, and Bill. + +The man has long since been joined by his friend. + +The pastor of a Hattiesburg church received a letter from one of his +members with the extravagant assertion that the people whose funerals +he had preached were in Chicago (meaning Heaven) because they were +good Christians. To give assurance on the question of weather migrants +in the North would mention the fact that they were writing with +their coats off. A fact which strengthened the belief in the almost +incredible wages offered in the North was the money sent back to the +families in the South. A man whose wife had preceded him wrote that +she was making $3.50 a day in charge of a bluing works in Chicago, and +actually sent home $15 every two weeks. Another man wrote that he was +in Gary working at his trade making sometimes as much as $7 a day. He +sent home $30 every two weeks. Fully one-half, or perhaps even more +of those who left, did so at the solicitation of friends through +correspondence.[40] + +Despite the restraints on loose talk in encouragement of the exodus, +there were other means of keeping the subject alive. One method, of +course, was the circulation of literature from the North. One of the +most novel schemes was that of a negro dentist in a southern town who +had printed on the reverse side of his business cards quotations from +rather positive assertions by northerners on the migration.[41] The +northern press early welcomed the much needed negro laborers to the +North and leaders of thought in that section began to upbraid the +South for its antagonistic attitude towards the welfare of the +negroes, who at last had learned to seek a more congenial home. + +A stronger influence than this, though not quite so frequent, was the +returned migrant who was a living example of the prosperity of the +North. It was a frequent complaint that these men were as effective as +labor agents in urging negro laborers to go north. There are reported +numerous instances of men who came to visit their families and +returned with thirty to forty men. It has been suspected, and with +a strong suggestion of truth, that many of these were supplied with +funds for the trip by the northern firms which employed them. A woman +whose daughter had gone north had been talking of her daughter's +success. The reports were so opposite to the record of the girl at +home that they were not taken seriously. Soon, however, the daughter +came home with apparently unlimited money and beautiful clothes, and +carried her mother back with her. This was sufficient. It was remarked +afterwards: "If she can make $2.50 a day as lazy as she was, I know I +can make $4."[42] + +The labor agents were a very important factor in stimulating the +movement. The number at work in the South appears to have been greatly +exaggerated. Agents were more active in large cities where their +presence was not so conspicuous. It was difficult to discover because +of the very guarded manner in which they worked. One, for example, +would walk briskly down the street through a group of negroes and, +without turning his head, would say in a low tone, "Anybody want to go +to Chicago, see me." That was sufficient. Many persons were found +to remark frequently on the strange silence which negroes _en masse_ +managed to maintain concerning the movement of the agents. A white man +remarked that it was the first time there had ever happened anything +about which he could not get full information from some negro. Agents +were reported, at one time or another, in every section from which the +migrants went. When the vigilance of the authorities restricted their +activities they began working through the mails. Many sections were +flooded with letters from the North to persons whose names had been +obtained from migrants in the North or through a quiet canvass of the +community by unobstructed solicitors.[43] + +Poems on the migration were also strong stimuli. In some instances +arrests of persons circulating them were made. A bit of poetry which +received widespread popularity was one called "Bound for the Promised +Land." It was said that this piece of poetry was responsible for much +trouble. The _Chicago Defender_ reported on June 1, 1917, that five +young men were arraigned before Judge John E. Schwartz of Savannah, +Georgia, for reading poetry. The police contended that they were +inciting riot in the city and over Georgia. Two of the men were sent +for thirty days to Brown Farm, a place not fit for human beings. Tom +Amaca was arrested for having "Bound for the Promised Land," a poem +which had been recently published in the _Defender_. J.N. Chisholm +and A.P. Walker were arrested there because they were said to be +the instigators.[44] Another very popular poem widely circulated was +entitled "Farewell! We're Good and Gone." It was said that this +poem influenced thousands to go. Other poems on the migration were +"Northward Bound," "The Land of Hope" and "Negro Migration" and "The +Reason Why." + +[Footnote 32: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 33: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 34: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 35: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 36: Some of the material prepared by the _Defender_ for +consumption in the South was as follows: + +"Turn a deaf ear to everybody. You see they are not lifting their laws +to help you, are they? Have they stopped their Jim Crow cars? Can you +buy a Pullman sleeper where you wish? Will they give you a square deal +in court yet? When a girl is sent to prison she becomes the mistress +of the guards and others in authority, and women prisoners are put on +the streets to work--something they don't do to a white woman. And our +leaders will tell you the South is the best place for you. Turn a deaf +ear to the scoundrel, and let him stay. Above all, see to it that that +jumping-jack preacher is left in the South, for he means you no good +here in the North.... Once upon a time we permitted other people to +think for us--today we are thinking and acting for ourselves, with the +result that our 'friends' are getting alarmed at our progress. We'd +like to oblige these unselfish (?) souls and remain slaves in the +South; but to other sections of the country we have said, as the song +goes, 'I hear you calling me,' and have boarded the train, singing, +'Good-bye, Dixie Land.'"] + +[Footnote 37: The following clippings are taken from these white +papers: + +"Aged Negro Frozen to Death--Albany, Ga., February 8. + +"Yesterday the dead body of Peter Crowder, an old negro, was found in +an out-of-the-way place where he had been frozen to death during the +recent cold snap."--_Macon Telegraph_. + +"Dies from Exposure--Spartanburg, S.C., February 6. + +"Marshall Jackson, a negro man, who lived on the farm of J.T. Harris +near Campobello, Sunday night froze to death."--_South Carolina +State_. + +"Negro Frozen to Death in Fireless Gretna Hut. + +"Coldest weather in the last four years claimed a victim Friday night, +when Archie Williams, a negro, was frozen to death in his bed in a +little hut in the outskirts of Gretna."--_New Orleans Item_, February +4. + +"Negro Woman Frozen to Death Monday. + +"Harriet Tolbert, an aged negro woman, was frozen to death in her +home at 18 Garibaldi Street early Monday morning during the severe +cold."--_Atlanta Constitution_, February 6.] + +[Footnote 38: Articles such as the following kept alive the spirit of +the exodus: + +"Tampa, Florida, January 19. J.T. King, supposed to be a race leader, +is using his wits to get on the good side of the white people by +calling a meeting to urge our people not to migrate north. King +has been termed a 'good nigger' by his pernicious activity on the +emigration question. Reports have been received here that all who have +gone north are at work and pleased with the splendid conditions in +the North. It is known here that in the North there is a scarcity of +labor; mills and factories are open to them. People are not paying +any attention to King and are packing and ready to travel north to the +'promised land.'" + +"Jackson, Miss., March 23. J.H. Thomas, Birmingham, Alabama, +Brownsville Colony, has been here several weeks and is very much +pleased with the North. He is working at the Pullman Shops, making +twice as much as he did at home. Mr. Thomas says the 'exodus' will be +greater later on in the year, that he did not find four feet of snow +or would freeze to death. He lives at 346 East Thirty-fifth St." + +"Huntsville, Alabama, January 19. Fifteen families, all members of +the race, left here today for Pittsburgh, Pa., where they will take +positions as butlers and maids, getting sixty to seventy-five dollars +a month against fifteen and twenty paid here. Most of them claim that +they have letters from their friends who went early and made good +saying that there was plenty of work, and this field of labor is +short owing to the vast amount of men having gone to Europe and not +returned." + +"Shreveport, La., April 13. The Business Men's League held a meeting +here and the white daily papers reported that it was for the purpose +of discouraging people from going north. The meeting had no such +object. On the other hand, members of the race claim that on May 15th +they will be found leaving with the great northern drive." + +"The northern invasion has already started, much earlier than +predicted. Many members of the race refused to wait until spring. They +have started despite the snow and cold. Last week thirty-one came here +from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and said they intended to stay. They +were well clothed, having heavy overcoats and rubber overshoes." + +"Memphis, Tenn., June 1. Your correspondent took a walk to Central +station Saturday night just to see what was going on, and to his +surprise and delight, he saw gathered there between 1,500 and 2,000 +race men and women. Number 4, due to leave for Chicago at 8:00 +o'clock, was held up twenty minutes so that those people who hadn't +purchased tickets might be taken aboard. It was necessary to add two +additional eighty-foot steel coaches to the Chicago train in order to +accommodate the race people, and at the lowest calculation there were +more than 1,200 taken aboard." + +"St. Louis, Mo., May 11. The _Defender_ propaganda to leave sections +of the South where they find conditions intolerable is receiving +a hearty response. A communication was received by a _Defender_ +representative last week from Houston, Texas, asking for information +relative to conditions in this city and the writer stated a number +of persons were planning to leave Houston for this city later on. The +information was promptly and cheerfully given." + +"Tallulah, La., January 19. This time it's a professor. Heretofore +it has been the preachers who have been paid by the white men of the +South to tell our people that the North is no place for them. A bigger +lie never was uttered. But now it is a professor. He is licking +the white man's hand to hold a little $35 job as a backwoods school +teacher. He got his name in the papers (white) as 'good nigger.' Just +because this 'would-be professor' has been making speeches, asking +that our people remain here and be treated like dogs, they are +starting a crusade north, and by Easter there will not be one left to +tell the tale."] + +[Footnote 39: "Forest City, Ark., February 16. David B. Smith (white) +is on trial for life for the brutal murder of a member of the race, +W.H. Winford, who refused to be whipped like others. This white man +had the habit of making his 'slave' submit to this sort of punishment +and when Winford refused to stand for it, he was whipped to death with +a 'black snake' whip. The trial of Smith is attracting very little +attention. As a matter of fact, the white people here think nothing +of it as the dead man is a 'nigger.' This very act, coupled with other +recent outrages that have been heaped upon our people, are causing +thousands to leave, not waiting for the great spring movement in +May."] + +[Footnote 40: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 41: "There is no class of people and no ethical question +that will not feel the effects of the war. The negroes of this +country who go to France to fight, or who replace workingmen who go as +soldiers will demand, and justly so, full American rights. The United +States can not stand before the world as the champion of freedom and +democracy and continue to burn men alive and lynch them without fair +trial. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People +calls upon this country to 'clear her conscience before she can +fight for the world's good,' by abolishing lynching and ceasing +all oppression of negroes. This is a national problem and more +particularly one of the South. In Europe there are practically no race +distinctions. A negro can mix with white folk as an equal, just as a +Spaniard, for example, does here; even intermarriage is not regarded +as miscegenation. The race problem here is a different matter, +however, as even the more intelligent negroes themselves will +acknowledge. The negro should be assured all the protection and +rights that go with American citizenship, but in this is not involved +intermarriage or social equality."--_Leslie's Illustrated Weekly_, +October 13, 1917. + +"The foreign laborer has been called home to bear arms for his +country. The daily death toll and waste and the recently enacted +immigration law make it certain that he will not soon return in great +numbers. As a result a large market exists for the negro laborer +in localities in which he would have been considered an impudent +trespasser had he attempted to enter a few years ago. The history of +the world from the days of Moses to the present shows that where +one race has been subjugated, oppressed or proscribed by another +and exists in large numbers, permanent relief has come in one or two +ways--amalgamation or migration. The thought of amalgamation is not to +be entertained. If conditions in the South for the colored man are +to be permanently improved, many of those who now live there should +migrate and scatter throughout the North, East and West. I believe the +present opportunity providential."--Hon. John C. Ashbury, Philadelphia +Bar. + +"This is the psychological moment to say to the American white +government from every pulpit and platform and through every newspaper, +'Yes, we are loyal and patriotic. Boston Common, Bunker Hill, +Gettysburg, Fort Pillow, Appomattox, San Juan Hill and Carrizal will +testify to our loyalty. While we love our flag and country, we do not +believe in fighting for the protection of commerce on the high seas +until the powers that be give us at least some verbal assurance that +the property and lives of the members of our race are going to be +protected on land from Maine to Mississippi.' Let us have the courage +to say to the white American people, 'Give us the same rights which +you enjoy, and then we will fight by your side with all of our might +for every international right on land and sea.' If this kind of talk +is not loyalty, then I am disloyal; if this is not patriotism, then +I am unpatriotic; if this is treason, then I am a traitor. It is not +that I love Caesar less, but these black Romans more, who have been +true to the flag for two hundred and fifty years. It is infinitely +more disgraceful and outrageous to hang and burn colored men, boys and +women without a trial in the times of peace than it is for Germans +in times of war to blow up ships loaded with mules and +molasses."--Reverend A. Clayton Powell, New York, N.Y.] + +[Footnote 42: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 43: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the +World War_.] + +[Footnote 44: Ibid.] + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE SPREAD OF THE MOVEMENT + + +In the first communities visited by representatives of northern +capital, their offers created unprecedented commotion. Drivers and +teamsters left their wagons standing in the street. Workers, returning +home, scrambled aboard the trains for the North without notifying +their employers or their families. The crowds that blackened the pool +rooms and "hangouts" faded away as the trains continued to leave. +Wild rumors about the North crept into circulation and received +unquestioning credence. Songs about Pennsylvania, the spontaneous +expression of anxiety and joy over the sudden revelation of a new +world, floated about on the lips of the children. Homes were thrown on +the market and sold at ruinously low prices. + +It was observed that the beginnings in each new community exhibited +the same characteristics. This is due in part to a pretty universal +state of unrest among negroes throughout the South. Although the first +State entered by representatives of northern capital was Florida, +their efforts were not confined to that commonwealth. And again, +although the Pennsylvania and Erie Railroads were the first to import +negroes in large numbers, they were not alone in the field very +long. The steel mills of the East and the railroads of the West +soon followed--each selecting States from which egress was easy and +convenient. The authorities of the cities of Florida, when they +began to engage themselves in the suppression of recruiting agents, +succeeded in scattering them to other fields where their mere +presence, preceded as it was by the news of their mission in the +South, was sufficient to attract, first, all of the landless labor, +then to loosen the steady workman wedded to the soil, and finally +to carry away the best of the working classes. Quite naturally +southeastern Georgia was the second district to feel the drain of the +exodus. These workers were carried into Pennsylvania, New York and New +Jersey for the maintenance work of the roads. North Carolina was next +entered; then finally Virginia which had been sending many negroes +into New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey for a number of years.[45] + +Numerous illustrations show the popular state of mind at the +beginning, when every one was feverish. Men would loudly decry the +folly of breaking up their homes, the result of years of unrelenting +toil, and venturing into the unknown North, and within less than +twenty-four hours, would leave themselves. A good citizen would talk +with another about the apparent insanity of those negroes who had +"contracted the northern fever." They would condemn their acts with +their strongest words. Hardly before another day could pass, one of +the two would disappear, having imitated the recklessness of the very +people he had so recently condemned. + +One man in telling of how they acted, asserts "You could see a man +today and he would be calling the people who were leaving all kinds of +names; he could even beat you when it came to calling them fools for +going north. The next day when you met him he wouldn't talk so loud +and the next day he wouldn't let you see him. That would be the last +of him, because, unless you went to the depot, you wouldn't see him +again. Whenever I saw them shying off from me, I always knew what they +had up their sleeves." It was "just naturally fashionable" to +leave for the North. A man would make up his mind to go and proceed +forthwith to persuade his friends. If they refused, they no longer had +any interests in common. In talking with a man who had persistently +refused to leave, he declared that he had lost practically every +friend he had, simply because he did not agree with them on "the +northern question." For the pastors of churches it was a most trying +ordeal. They must watch their congregations melt away and could say +nothing. If they spoke in favor of the movement, they were in danger +of a clash with the authorities. If they discouraged it, they were +accused of being bought up to hold negroes in bondage. If a pastor +attempted to persuade negroes to stay, his congregation and his +collection would be cut down and in some cases his resignation +demanded. In some of the smaller communities the pastors settled this +difficulty by following their flock, as was the case of three who left +Hattiesburg, Mississippi, following their congregations. Two lumber +companies in Mississippi employed a negro to lecture for the purpose +of discouraging the exodus. He was handsomely paid, but he was +unheeded. Even now he is held in contempt by his former friends. + +The devout and religious saw God in the movement. It was inspired, +they said, else why could so many thousand negroes all be obsessed at +once with the same impulse. There were set afloat rumors that a great +calamity was about to befall the Southland. In Georgia and Alabama, +hundreds believed that God had cursed the land when he sent droughts +and floods and destructive pests to visit them. The number of negroes +needed in the North was counted in millions; the wages offered were +fabulous and the letters that came from the vanguard painted pictures +of a land of plenty. From some communities a small group would leave, +promising to inform those behind of the actual state of affairs. For +a week or more there would follow a tense period of "watchful waiting" +and never ending anxiety, when finally there would arrive a card +bearing the terse report "Everything pritty," or "Home ain't nothing +like this." On this assurance, a reckless disposition of household +effects would follow.[46] + +The towns quite naturally were the first to feel the effect. There, +the pass rider--the labor agent--could move about more freely. People +lived in closer contact and news circulated more rapidly; the papers +came in regularly and the negroes themselves could see those leaving. +On market days when the country folk reached town they got their first +impulse from the commotion. Young country boys failed to return to +quiet isolation, and sturdy sensible farmers whose whole lives had +been spent on the farm, could not resist the temptation. As they +returned they informed their neighbors, saying: "They are leaving town +by the thousands," or "Man, colored folks are leaving in droves for +the North." There are cases of men who left their fields half +plowed and journeyed to the city and thence to the North. In other +communities, the beginning would be a timid dribble to the larger +cities or directly to the North.[47] + +The state of mind of the community under the influence of the first +effects of the "fever" is illustrated in authenticated accounts of +persons who witnessed the exodus from different cities: + + The most interesting thing is how these people left. They were + selling out everything they had or in a manner giving it away; + selling their homes, mules, horses, cows, and everything about + them but their trunks. All around in the country, people who + were so old they could not very well get about were leaving. + Some left with six to eight very small children and babies + half clothed, no shoes on their feet, hungry, not anything to + eat and not even a cent over their train fare. Some would go + to the station and wait there three or four days for an agent + who was carrying them on passes. Others of this city would + go in clubs of fifty and a hundred at a time in order to get + reduced rates. They usually left on Wednesday and Saturday + nights. One Wednesday night I went to the station to see + a friend of mine who was leaving. I could not get in the + station, there were so many people turning like bees in a + hive. Officers would go up and down the tracks trying to keep + the people back. One old lady and man had gotten on the train. + They were patting their feet and singing and a man standing + nearby asked, "Uncle, where are you going?" The old man + replied, "Well, son, I'm gwine to the promised land."[48] + + +"When the laboring man got paid off," said a Jackson, Mississippi, +man, "he bought himself a suit of overalls and a paper valise and +disappeared." Even the young married women refused to wait any longer +than the time required to save railroad fare. It's strange that when +a negro got a notion to leave and he could not sell or give away, +he simply locked up his house and left the key with his neighbor. +Families with $1,000 worth of furniture have been known to sell it for +$150. A negro in Jackson was buying a $1,000 house, on which he had +paid $700. When the "fever" struck the town, he sold it for $100 and +left. + +There was related this instance of a number of negro laborers: + + On a plantation in south Georgia, where fifteen or more + families were farming as tenants, there had been a great deal + of confusion and suffering among the people because of the + lack of sufficient food and clothing. There were the Joneses, + a family of nine, the Harrisons, a family of ten, and the + Battles, a family of six. No family on the place had an + allowance of more than $25 per month for food and clothing. + When this allowance gave out, nothing could be gotten until + the next month and the tenants dared not leave their farms to + work elsewhere. The owner of this plantation lived in town ten + miles away and only visited the farm about once a week. Much + to his surprise, on one of his weekly visits, he found all the + homes and farms deserted except one. On that were two old men, + Uncle Ben and Uncle Joe, who had been left behind because + they were unable to secure passes. Uncle Ben and Uncle + Joe sorrowfully told the landlord all that had happened, + emphasizing the fact that they were the only ones who had + remained loyal to him. Then they told him their needs. The + landlord, thinking that the old negroes were so faithful, + rewarded them with a good sum of money and left with the + assurance that they would see to the crops being worked. No + sooner had the landlord left than these old men with grips + packed and with the money they had received, boarded the train + to join their companions in the North.[49] + +As an example of the irresistible force which characterized the +movement, one old negro made the remark: "I sorter wanted to go +myself. I didn't know just where I wanted to go. I just wanted to git +away with the rest of them." A woman in speaking of the torture of +solitude which she experienced after the first wave passed over her +town, said: "You could go out on the street and count on your fingers +all the colored people you saw during the entire day. Now and then a +disconsolate looking Italian storekeeper would come out in the street, +look up and down and walk back. It was a sad looking place, and so +quiet it gave you the shivers."[50] + +In the heat of the excitement families left carrying members +dangerously ill. There is reported one interesting case of a family +with one of its members sick with pneumonia. As soon as the woman +was able to sit up, she was carried away. At St. Louis it was found +necessary to stop because of her condition. Finding that she could +not recover, they proceeded to Chicago, where she died. Several of the +migrants have seen fit to make heroes of themselves by declining to +return to the South even on the advice of a physician. Thus, a certain +minister is said to have refused to be sent home when his physician +had told him there was a possible chance for recovery in his home +in the South. He said that he preferred to die and be buried in the +North. + +By the summer of 1916, the exodus from Florida had grown to such +ungovernable bounds that the more stable classes of negroes became +unsettled. A body, representing the influential colored citizens of +the State, wrote the editor of the _New York Age_:[51] + + Jacksonville, Fla., August 10, 1916. + + To the Editor of the _Age_: + + To be brief, I beg to state that the (----) of this city, in + a regular meeting, voted last Monday that I write your paper + asking advice on the subject of migration which is large and + really alarming to the people of this State, for thousands + of people (colored) are leaving this State, going to + Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland and New Jersey, where it is + stated they are wanted as laborers in various pursuits. In + your mind and to your knowledge, do you think it is the + best thing for them to do, and are they bettering condition + financially, morally and religiously; even in manhood, + citizenship, etc. Our ---- has been asked by the white and + colored people here to speak in an advisory way, but we + decided to remain silent until we can hear from reliable + sources in the North and East, and you have been designated + as one of the best. So to speak, our city is in a turmoil--in + suspense. You have doubtless heard of the great exodus of + negroes to the North, and we presume you have given it some + thought, and even investigated it. Please give the benefit of + your findings and reasons for your conclusion. + + Thanking you in advance for a prompt and full reply to the + corresponding secretary, Yours truly, + + Corresponding Secretary. + +Caught up in the wave of enthusiasm that swept over the South, these +migrants could not resist the impulse to leave. The economic loss +resulting from their reckless departure expressed in terms of +dollars and cents is another story, and probably can never be even +approximately estimated. What seems of most interest here is that they +were in the frame of mind for leaving. They left as though they were +fleeing some curse; they were willing to make almost any sacrifice to +obtain a railroad ticket and they left with the intention of staying. +What has been described, of course, can not be construed to apply to +every one who left. There were those of the business and professional +classes who were promoted by other motives than those which impelled +the masses of migrants. There were, for example, migrants who in the +South had held positions of relatively high standing by virtue of the +fact that there do exist two institutional standards, the white and +the black. Measured by the requirements of the latter, they stood high +in the respect of the community, but when removed to the North they +suffered in the rank of their occupation. A college president or even +a school teacher had little opportunity in their respective fields +in the North. They had, therefore, migrated because deserted by their +neighbors they were left with a prospect of a diminishing social +importance. + +Professional men followed their practice. In Chicago there are +at least six lawyers from Mississippi, with practically the same +clientele. At the height of the exodus, one of these came to Chicago +and secured admission to the bar in order that he might be in a +position to move quickly if his practice were too severely cut down. +Several physicians of the State have remarked that they would now be +in the East or the North if reciprocity with the State of Mississippi +were possible.[52] Business men have been reported to have moved North +for the sole purpose of collecting debts. Others are cooler and more +calculating in preparing to leave. One pharmacist, for instance, plans +to move within the next five years. It is true that some of those who +came in the movement would have come even if no one else had decided +to migrate. The influence of the general state of mind, however, on +the great majority is of most concern in determining the forces behind +the exodus. + +Possibly the numbers to leave the South would have been considerably +smaller had there not been existent so universal a readiness to +respond to a call in almost any direction. The causes of this state of +mind are stated elsewhere. What is important here is the behavior of +the persons leaving which exerted such a compelling influence on their +neighbors. The actions are illustrative not only of the contagion +of the movement, but of the fundamental emotions of the negroes who +formed the exodus. Thus it was, for example, that the movement was +called the "exodus" from its suggestive resemblance to the flight of +the Israelites from Egypt, _The Promised Land_, _Crossing over Jordan_ +(the Ohio River), and _Beulah Land_. At times demonstrations took on +a rather spectacular aspect, as when a party of 147 from Hattiesburg, +Mississippi, while crossing the Ohio River, held solemn ceremonies. +These migrants knelt down and prayed; the men stopped their watches +and, amid tears of joy, sang the familiar songs of deliverance, "I +done come out of the Land of Egypt with the good news." The songs +following in order were "Beulah Land" and "Dwelling in Beulah Land." +One woman of the party declared that she could detect an actual +difference in the atmosphere beyond the Ohio River, explaining that it +was much lighter and that she could get her breath more easily.[53] + +The general direction of the spread of the movement was from east to +west. While efforts were being made to check the exodus from Florida, +the good citizens of Texas were first beginning to note a stir of +unrest in their sections. On the other hand, the march of the boll +weevil, that stripped the cotton fields of the South, was from west to +east. Where there was wide unemployment, depression and poverty as a +result of the great floods in Alabama, the cutting down of the cane +area in Louisiana, the boll weevil in Mississippi, there were to be +found thousands who needed no other inducement save the prospect of +a good job. Indeed, it is alleged by some negroes that the myriads of +labor agents who were said to be operating in the South were creatures +of the imagination of an affrighted Southland; that but few were +actually offering positions in the North; but their success was due to +the overpowering desire on the part of the negroes to go.[54] + +In September of 1916 a Georgia correspondent of the _Atlanta +Constitution_ wrote: + + For the past two or three weeks I have been receiving two + or more letters daily from people in all sections of Georgia + asking my advice as to the advisability of the colored people + leaving the State in large numbers, as they have been leaving + for the past six months. I think it is a mistake for our + people to sell and practically give their earnings of years + just on a hearsay that they will be given larger salaries and + great advantages in some other part of the country. + +It will be remembered that the State of South Carolina was not +immediately affected. It was not until the discussions bearing on the +negro's insecurity and economic state, which accompanied the exodus +in justification of it, had begun to be emphasized as the cause of the +movement that a great exodus took place in the State. The principal +occasion here was the unfortunate lynching of Anthony Crawford. A +negro newspaper with a correspondent in Abbeville said: + + The lynching of Anthony Crawford has caused men and women of + this State to get up and bodily leave it. The lynching of Mr. + Crawford was unwarranted and uncalled for and his treatment + was such a disgrace that respectable people are leaving daily. + When they begin to leave in the next few weeks like they have + planned, this section will go almost into hysterics as some + sections of Georgia and Alabama are doing because they are + leaving for the North to better their industrial condition. + Crawford is said to have been worth $100,000 in property. His + wife and five sons have been ordered to leave. Word comes that + neighbors are beginning to leave and the number the first of + the week reached 1,000. The cry now is--"Go north, where there + is some humanity, some justice and fairness." White people + have accelerated the movement for the race to move north. + +This, however, accounts principally for the spread of the movement as +accomplished by northern capital which, hitting the South in spots, +made it possible for a wider dissemination of knowledge concerning the +North, and actually placed in the North persons with numerous personal +connections at home. The husbands and fathers who preceded their +families could and did command that they follow, and they in turn +influenced their neighbors. It appears that those who came on free +transportation were largely men who had no permanent interests or +who could afford to venture into strange fields. This indiscriminate +method of many of the transporting agencies undoubtedly made it +possible for a great number of indigent and thriftless negroes simply +to change the scene of their inaction. Yet it is unquestionably true +that quite a large proportion of those who went North in this fashion +were men honestly seeking remunerative employment, or persons who left +through sheer desperation. In the second stage of the movement the +club organizations, special parties and chartered cars did most +perhaps to depopulate little communities and drain the towns and +cities. + +This is easily to be accounted for. The free trains, carrying mainly +men, were uncertain. They were operated for brief periods in towns, +but were in such ill favor with the police that passengers were not +safe. The clubs or special parties were worked up by a leader, who was +often a woman of influence. She sought her friends and a convenient +date was appointed Arrangements could also be made with friends in the +North to receive them. The effectiveness of this method is seen in +the fact that neighbor was soliciting neighbor and friend persuading +friend. Women in some of the northern cities, joining these clubs, +assert that no persuasion was needed; that if a family found that it +could not leave with the first groups, it felt desolate and willing to +resort to any extremes and sacrifices to get the necessary fare. One +woman in a little town in Mississippi, from which over half of the +negro population had dribbled away, said: "If I stay here any longer, +I'll go wild. Every time I go home I have to pass house after house of +all my friends who are in the North and prospering. I've been trying +to hold on here and keep my little property. There ain't enough people +here I now know to give me a decent burial." + +[Footnote 45: Work, _Report on the Migration from Florida_.] + +[Footnote 46: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the +World War_.] + +[Footnote 47: _The Chicago Defender_, 1916, 1917.] + +[Footnote 48: "Whether he knew what he was going for or not," says +one, "he did not take time to consider. The slogan was 'going north.' +Some never questioned the whys or wherefores but went; led as if, by +some mysterious unseen hand which was compelling them on, they just +couldn't stay. One old negro when asked why he was leaving, replied: +'I don't know why or where I'm going, but I'm on my way.' The northern +fever was just simply contagious; they couldn't help themselves. So +far as I know, and I think I am about right, this fever started in +and around the vicinity of Bessemer, Alabama. One little village, +especially, there was owned by a white man from my home who had gone +there the year before carrying some negroes with him. The negroes +started leaving this village so fast that he wouldn't allow any more +tickets to be sold in this village, but the negroes only scoffed at +this. They left the plantations at night and went to other villages +for tickets. The fever had now begun and, like all other contagious +diseases, it soon spread. I arrived home on May 4 and found my native +town all in a bustle. Now, what was it all about? The next club for +the North was leaving on May 18. The second-hand furniture store +and junk shop were practically overflowing. People were selling out +valuable furniture such as whole bedroom sets for only $2. One family +that I knew myself sold a beautiful expensive home for only $100. In +fact people almost gave away their houses and furnishings. Finally, +the night for the club to leave came and the crowds at the train were +so large that the policemen had to just force them back in order to +allow the people to get on and off. After the train was filled with as +many people as it could hold, the old engine gave one or two puffs and +pulled out, bound for the promised land." + +"A very close neighbor of ours," says one, "left for the North. He had +a very small family. He left because his youngest son, who had been +north a few months, came home with a considerable amount of money +which he had saved while on his trip. The father made haste and sold +all he had. His son got him a pass. He said it was far better for him +to be in the North where he could stand up like a man and demand his +rights; so he is there. His daughter Mary remained at home for some +time after the family had gone. She finally wrote her father to send +her a pass, which he did. She had a small boy that was given her. She +was not able to take him and care for him as she would like. Her next +door neighbor, a very fine woman who had no children, wanted a child +so Mary gave it to her. To secure better wages and more freedom his +oldest son went to East St. Louis and remained there until June. Then +he left for Chicago. This family sold their chickens and rented their +cattle to some of the people in that community."--Work and Johnson, +_Report on the Migration during the World War_.] + +[Footnote 49: Work and Johnson, _Report on the Migration during the +World War_.] + +[Footnote 50: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 51: _The New York Age_, August 16, 1916.] + +[Footnote 52: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 53: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 54: Work, _Report on the Migration from Alabama_.] + + + + +CHAPTER V + +THE CALL OF THE SELF-SUFFICIENT NORTH + + +A surviving custom of servitude has consigned the mass of negroes +to the lower pursuits of labor. Even at this it would be possible to +live, for there would be work. In the North, however, such employment +has been monopolized by foreign immigrants clearing Ellis Island at +the rate of more than a million a year. The usurpation here brought +no clash, for the number of negroes in the North scarcely equalled a +year's immigration. From the ranks of unskilled labor, accordingly, +they were effectively debarred, being used occasionally, and to their +own detriment, as strike breakers and forced to receive smaller wages +and to make more enemies. From the field of skilled labor they have +been similarly debarred by the labor unions. + +The labor unions have felt that they had a good case against the negro +workman. The complaints most commonly made are that he could be too +easily used as a strike breaker and that he lacked interest in +the trade union movement. As a matter of fact, both are true. An +explanation of this attitude at the same time brings out another +barrier opposed by the North to the free access of negroes to trades. +Considerable wavering has characterized the attitude of the trade +unions toward negro labor. The complexity of their organization +makes it difficult to place any responsibility directly for their +shortcomings. The fact remains, however, that despite the declaration +of the constitution of the federated body that no distinction shall +be made on account of sex, color or creed, negroes have been +systematically debarred from membership in a great number of labor +bodies. Even where there has been no express prohibition in the +constitution of local organizations the _disposition_ to exclude +them has been just as effective. Refused membership, they have easily +become strike breakers. The indifference on the part of negroes to the +labor movement, however, may well be attributed also to ignorance of +its benefits. In a number of cases separate organizations have been +granted them. + +With the foreign immigration silently crowding him back into the +South, the labor unions, the prejudices of his white fellow workman +and the paucity of his number making him ineffective as a competitor, +driving him from the door of the factory and workshop, the negro +workman, whatever his qualifications, was prior to 1914 forced to +enter the field of domestic service in the North and farming in the +South. The conditions of livelihood in both sections kept him rigidly +restricted to this limited economic sphere. In 1910 the total number +of negroes ten years of age and over gainfully occupied in the United +States was 5,192,535 or 71 per cent of the total number of negroes ten +years of age and over. Of this number 2,848,258 or 55.2 per cent were +farmers and 1,122,182 or 21.4 per cent were domestic servants. Out +of nearly five hundred occupations listed in the census of 1910 +three-fourths of the negro working population were limited to two. In +the manufacturing and mechanical pursuits throughout the entire United +States there were employed scarcely a half million or 12.1 per cent of +the working population. + +Statistics of labor conditions in certain northern cities support this +conclusion. In New York City in 1910, of the negroes ten years of +age and over gainfully occupied there were 33,110 males and 26,352 +females. Of the males there were engaged in domestic and personal +service 16,724 or 47.6 per cent of the total number of males. Of the +26,352 females there were in domestic service 24,647 or 93.5 per cent +of the total number. In the occupations which require any degree of +skill and utilise the training of acquired trades, the percentage +was exceedingly low. For example, in the manufacturing and mechanical +pursuits where there were the benefits of labor organizations and +higher pay, there were but 4,504 negro males, or 13.6 per cent of the +total number gainfully employed. The per cent of colored women in this +line was considerably less. Taken together with the 1,993 dressmakers +working outside of factories it was but 8.3 per cent of the total +number of females. This line of work, however, as all who are familiar +with the manner in which it is done will recognize, is but another +form of domestic service. Exclusive of this number the per cent drops +to a figure a trifle over one per cent. + +Chicago, as another typical northern city, shows practically the same +limitations on negro labor. In 1910 there were gainfully employed in +this city 27,317 negroes. Of this total 61.8 per cent were engaged +in domestic service. The negro women, of course, contributed a larger +share to this proportion, theirs being 83.8 per cent of the females +ten years of age and over gainfully employed. In the manufacturing and +mechanical pursuits there were engaged 3,466 males and 1,038 females, +or 18.7 and 1.1 per cent respectively.[55] + +Detroit, viewed in the light of its tremendous increase, shows some +of the widest differences. In 1910 there were 3,310 negroes of working +age profitably employed. Of this number there were but 410 males +and 74 females engaged in the manufacturing and mechanical pursuits. +Forty-six of the total female working population were engaged in +domestic service. Limited to a few occupations, the negroes naturally +encountered there intense competition with the usual result of low +wages and numerous other abuses. Whenever they entered new fields, +as for instance those designated by the census as trade and +transportation, they were generally compelled to accept wages below +the standard to obtain such employment. + +There appears to have been a slow but steady progress throughout the +North toward the accession of negroes to new lines of occupation. This +change was forced, unquestionably, by the necessity for seeking new +fields even at an economic loss. From the lines of work in which +negroes for a long time have held unquestioned prestige, the +competition of other nationalities has removed them. It is difficult +now to find a barber shop operated by a negro in the business district +of any northern city. The most dangerous competitor of the negro in +northern industry has been the immigrant, who, unconscious of his +subtle inhibition on the negro's industrial development, crowded him +out of employment in the North and fairly well succeeded in holding +him in the South. After fifty years of European immigration the +foreign born increased from two million to over thirteen million and +only five per cent of them have settled in the South. Indeed, the +yearly increase in foreign immigration equalled the entire negro +population of the North. + +The competition in the North has, therefore, been in consequence +bitter and unrelenting. Swedes and Germans have replaced negroes in +some cities as janitors. Austrians, Frenchmen and Germans have +ousted them from the hotels, and Greeks have almost monopolized the +bootblacking business. The decline in the domestic service quota of +the working negro population, when there has been a decline, seems to +have been forced. The figures of the United States census strengthen +the belief that the World War has accomplished one of two things: It +has either hastened the process of opening up larger fields or it +has prevented a serious economic situation which doubtless would +have followed the complete supplanting of negroes by foreigners in +practically all lines. + +Before the war the immigration of foreigners from Europe was +proceeding at the enormous rate of over a million a year. This influx +was so completely checked by the war that the margin of arrivals +over departures for the first three years following the beginning +of hostilities was the smallest in fifty years. The following is a +statement taken from reports of the Bureau of Foreign Immigration. + +IMMIGRATION SINCE 1913 + +Year Number +1913 1,197,892 +1914 1,218,480 +1915 326,700 +1916 298,826 +1917 295,403 + +The decrease of over 900,000 immigrants, on whom the industries of the +North depended, caused a grave situation. It must be remembered also +that of the 295,403 arrivals in 1917, there were included 32,346 +English, 24,405 French and 13,350 Scotch who furnish but a small quota +of the laboring classes. There were also 16,438 Mexicans who came +over the border, and who, for the most part, live and work in the +Southwest. The type of immigration which kept prime the labor market +of the North and Northwest came in through Ellis Island. Of these, Mr. +Frederick C. Howe, Commissioner of Immigration, said that "only enough +have come to balance those who have left." He adds further that "As +a result, there has been a great shortage of labor in many of our +industrial sections that may last as long as the war." + +With the establishment of new industries to meet the needs of the war, +the erection of munitions plants for the manufacture of war materials +and the enlargement of already existing industries to meet the +abnormally large demand for materials here and in Europe, there came +a shifting in the existing labor supply in the North. There was a rush +to the higher paid positions in the munitions plants. This, together +with the advancement of the white men to higher positions nearly +depleted the ranks of common labor. The companies employing foreign +labor for railroad construction work and in the steel mills of +Pennsylvania, the tobacco fields of Connecticut, the packing houses, +foundries and automobile plants of the Northwest, found it imperative +to seek for labor in home fields. The Department of Labor, in the +effort to relieve this shortage, through its employment service, +at first assisted the migration northward. It later withdrew its +assistance when its attention was called to the growing magnitude of +the movement and its possible effect on the South. + +Deserted by the Department of Labor, certain northern employers +undertook to translate their desires into action in 1915, when the +anxieties of the New England tobacco planters were felt in the New +York labor market. These planters at first rushed to New York and +promiscuously gathered up 200 girls of the worst type, who straightway +proceeded to demoralize Hartford. The blunder was speedily detected +and the employers came back to New York, seeking some agency which +might assist them in the solution of their problem. Importuned for +help, the National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes supplied +these planters with respectable southern blacks who met this unusual +demand for labor in Connecticut. Later, moreover, it appeared that on +the threshold of an unusually promising year the Poles, Lithuanians +and Czechs, formerly employed in the fields, were dwindling in number +and there was not at hand the usual supply from which their workers +were recruited. A large number of these foreigners had been called +back to their fatherland to engage in the World War. + +In January of 1916, therefore, the tobacco growers of Connecticut met +in conference to give this question serious consideration. Mr. Floyd, +the Manager of the Continental Tobacco Corporation, offered a solution +for this difficult problem through the further importation of negro +labor. The response to this suggestion was not immediate, because New +England had never had large experience with negro labor. An intense +interest in the experiment, however, was aroused through a number of +men with connections in the South. It was decided that the National +League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, with headquarters in New +York City, should further assist in securing laborers. Because of the +seasonal character of the work, an effort was made to get students +from the southern schools by advancing transportation. The _New York +News_, a negro weekly, says of this conference: + + Thus was born, right in the heart of Yankee Land, the first + significant move to supplant foreign labor with native labor, + a step which has resulted in one of the biggest upheavals in + the North incident to the European war, which has already been + a boon to the colored American, improving his economic status + and putting thousands of dollars into his pockets.[56] + +The employers of the North felt justified in bringing about a more +equitable distribution of the available labor supply in America. +Discussing the labor situation before a conference in New York, Mr. +E.J. Traily, Jr., of the Erie Railroad said: + + The Erie Railroad has employed a large number of the negro + migrants and we are still in need of more because of the + abnormal state of labor conditions in this part of the + country. It is altogether unfair that the southern States + should enforce laws prohibiting the moving of labor from their + borders, when there are railroads all over this country that + would pay good wages to these laborers. I know of one railroad + company last year, which never had a colored man in the + service, that was offering large wages and scouring every + place for colored help. At the same time the South had and + still has a surplus of colored labor and would not permit it + to be moved. These conditions actually exist, and I know it. + I am interested in this thing not alone from the personal side + of it, but due to the fact of my association with the Erie + Railroad. I believe that the best thing that this body can + do, in my judgment, is to pass resolutions demanding that the + United States Emigration Bureau carry out the act passed by + Congress empowering the Labor Department to place unoccupied + men of other parts of the country where labor is needed.[57] + +Early in the summer of 1916, the Pennsylvania and Erie Railroads +promiscuously picked up trainloads of negroes from Jacksonville, St. +Augustine and Pensacola, Florida. They were at first grouped in camps. +The promise of a long free ride to the North met with instant favor, +and wild excitement ensued as the news circulated. Carloads of negroes +began to pour into Pennsylvania. When they had once touched northern +soil and discovered that still higher wages were being offered by +other concerns, many deserted the companies responsible for their +presence in the North. Some drifted to the steel works of the same +State; others left for points nearby. Letters written home brought +news of still more enticing fields, and succeeded in stimulating +the movement. Of the 12,000 negroes brought into Pennsylvania by the +Pennsylvania Railroad, less than 2,000 remained with the company.[58] + +It will no doubt be interesting to know exactly where these +negroes settled in the North. For the purpose of understanding this +distribution the North may well be divided according to the two main +lines followed by the migrants in leaving the South. The South and +middle Atlantic States sent the majority of their migrants directly up +the Atlantic coast while the south central States fed the Northwest. +There is, of course, no hard line of separation for these two streams. +Laborers were sought in fields most accessible to the centers +of industry, but individual choice as displayed in the extent of +voluntary migration carried them everywhere. + +The New England States, which were probably the first to attract +this labor, were Connecticut and Massachusetts. The tobacco fields +of Connecticut with Hartford as a center received the first negro +laborers as mentioned above. Before a year had passed there were over +3,000 southern negroes in the city of Hartford. Massachusetts had +its new war plants which served as an attraction. Holyoke received +considerable advertisement through the National League on Urban +Conditions among Negroes, and as a result secured a number directly +from the South. Boston, which has always stood as a symbol of hope for +those who sought relief from southern conditions, has not, however, +at any time afforded any great variety of occupations for the peasant +class of negroes. The receptions staged by the negro leaders of that +city were stimulated apparently more by the sentimental causes of +the movement than any other consideration. Although there existed in +Boston the type of industries which required great numbers of men, +barriers prevented negroes in large numbers from entering them and as +a result there was no great influx of migrants from the South. + +The places mentioned above are, of course, only those which received +large numbers. Scattered all over this section of the country were +thousands of individuals who, seeking more profitable employment, +broke loose from the crowd congregating at favorite points. New York +State with New York City as its center has received a considerable +number. New York City, however, has been principally a rerouting +point. In fact, many of those who subsequently went to New England +first went to New York City. The State of New York recruited its labor +here. There came to New York probably no less than 75,000 negroes, +a large portion of whom stopped in New York City, although Albany, +Poughkeepsie, Buffalo and smaller cities received their share. + +New Jersey, because of the great number of its industrial plants, was +rapidly filled. Newark alone augmented its colored population within +a little over a year by one hundred per cent. The attractions in this +State were the munitions plants, brick yards and wire factories. The +principal cities here that might be mentioned are Newark, Trenton +and Jersey City, although the migration to the last two cities hardly +compares in volume to that of Newark. Delaware, bordering New Jersey, +received a few.[59] Washington, the Capital City and the gateway to +the North, already containing the largest negro population of any city +in the country was in the path of the migration and had its increase +of population accelerated by the war. A considerable number of +southern negroes found work there, principally in domestic service. +Pennsylvania, the first northern State to begin _wholesale_ +importation of labor from the South, is the seat of the country's +largest steel plants and is the terminal of three of the country's +greatest railroad systems. Pittsburgh received perhaps the largest +number; Philadelphia and Harrisburg followed in order. The numerous +little industrial centers dotting the State fed from the supply +furnished by the railroads.[60] + +The migration to the Northwest was more extensive. Ohio, the State +of vital historical association for negroes, was generously visited. +Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Akron and Youngstown were popular +centers. The coal mines, factories and iron works were most in need +of men, and obtained them without any great difficulty. Indiana, still +probably remembered as the delicate spot in the inquiry following +a similar migration thirty-nine years ago, with its very highly +developed industries caught the flood proceeding up the Mississippi +valley. Indianapolis was a popular point although not a satisfactory +one for the migrants, who pretty generally left it for better fields. +Gary and Indiana Harbor, more properly satellite cities of Chicago, +developed an almost entirely new negro population. + +Missouri, a border State, has one city with a considerably augmented +negro population. The size of the new population of St. Louis can be +accounted for by the fact that geographically it is the first city of +the North. East St. Louis, recently made notorious by the reception +which it accorded its newcomers, is surrounded by a number of +satellite towns, all of which made bids for labor from the South and +received it. Not a few negro laborers went to Kansas City from which +many were rerouted to other points. Nebraska received a large number +of migrants as a direct result of self-advertisement. Omaha was the +city which invited them and received the bulk of immigration to that +State. + +Illinois, the one State known throughout the South because of Chicago, +received probably the heaviest quota of any. Located as it is in +the center of industry for the Middle West and known to negroes as +a "fair" State, it received through Chicago as many at least as the +entire State of Pennsylvania. Chicago is the center of a cluster of +industrial towns. It has served as a point of distribution through +its numerous employment agencies for the territory northwest and +northeast. Michigan has one large city, Detroit, which has recently +increased its population one hundred per cent because of its number +of highly developed industries which have supplied employment for its +rapidly increasing population.[61] + +The eastern cities which made efforts through various means to augment +their labor supply were Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Newark, New York +City and Hartford. It is manifestly impossible to get reliable figures +on the volume of increase in the negro population of any of these +cities. All that is available is in the form of estimates which can +not be too confidently relied upon. Estimates based on the average +number of arrivals from the South per day, the increase in the school +population and the opinions of social agencies which have engaged +themselves in adjusting the newcomers to their new homes appear to +agree in the main. + +[Footnote 55: These facts appear in the _United States Census +Reports_.] + +[Footnote 56: _The New York News_.] + +[Footnote 57: _New York Age_, January 30, 1917; _Christian Recorder_, +Philadelphia, February 2, 1917.] + +[Footnote 58: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 59: Fortune, _Report on Negro Migration to the East_.] + +[Footnote 60: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 61: These estimates are based upon the reports of +investigators sent to make a study of the condition of the migrants.] + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE DRAINING OF THE BLACK BELT + + +In order better to understand the migration movement, a special study +of it was made for five adjoining States, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, +Mississippi and Louisiana, from which came more than half of all +migrants. The negro population of these five States was 4,115,299, +which was almost half of the negro population of the South. In the +particular sections of these States where the migration was the +heaviest, the one crop system, cotton, was general. As a result of +the cotton price demoralization resulting from the war, the labor +depression, the ravages of the cotton boll weevil, and in some regions +unusual floods, as already stated, there was in this section of the +South an exceptionally large amount of surplus labor. The several +trunk line railroads directly connecting this section with the +northern industrial centers made the transportation of this labor an +easy matter. + +In 1915, the labor depression in Georgia was critical and work at +remunerative wages was scarce. In Atlanta strong pressure was brought +to bear to have the negroes employed in cleaning the streets replaced +by whites who were out of work. It was reported that the organized +charities of Macon, in dealing with the question of the unemployed, +urged whites employing negroes to discharge the blacks and hire +whites. Mr. Bridges Smith, the mayor of the city, bitterly opposed +this suggestion. When the 1915 cotton crop began to ripen it was +proposed to compel the unemployed negroes in the towns to go to the +fields and pick cotton. Commenting editorially on this, the _Atlanta +Constitution_ said: + + The problem of the unemployed in Albany, Georgia, is being + dealt with practically. All negroes who have not regular + employment are offered it in the cotton fields, the immense + crop requiring more labor than the plantations ordinarily + have. If the unemployed refuse the opportunity, the order + "move on" and out of the community is given by the chief of + police, and the order must be obeyed. Though the government is + taking up very systematically the problem of the unemployed, + its solving will be slow, and the government aid for a long + time will have to be supplementary to work in this direction, + initiated in communities, municipalities and States, where the + problem of the unemployed is usually complex.[62] + +In the course of time, when the negroes did leave, they departed in +such large numbers that their going caused alarm. Because they left +at night the number of negroes going north from the immediate vicinity +was not generally realized. One night nearly fifty of Tifton boarded +northbound passenger trains, which already carried, it is said, some +three hundred negroes. Labor agents had been very active in that +section all fall, but so cleverly had they done their work that +officers had not been able to get a line on them. For several weeks, +the daily exodus, it is said, had ranged from ten to twenty-five.[63] + +Columbus was an assembling point for migrants going from east Alabama +and west Georgia. Railroad tickets would be bought from local stations +to Columbus, and there the tickets or transportation for the North, +mainly to Chicago, would be secured. Americus was in many respects +similarly affected, having had many of its important industries +thereby paralyzed. Albany, a railroad center, became another +assembling point for migrants from another area. Although difficulties +would be experienced in leaving the smaller places directly for the +North, it was easy to purchase a ticket to Albany and later depart +from that town. The result was that Albany was the point of departure +for several thousand negroes, of whom a very large percentage did +not come from the towns or Dougherty county in which Albany is +situated.[64] + +A negro minister, well acquainted with the situation in southwest +Georgia, was of the opinion that the greatest number had gone from +Thomas and Mitchell counties and the towns of Pelham and Thomasville. +Valdosta, with a population of about 8,000 equally divided between the +races became a clearing house for many migrants from southern Georgia. +The pastor of one of the leading churches said that he lost twenty +per cent of his members. The industrial insurance companies reported +a twenty per cent loss in membership.[65] Waycross,[66] a railroad +center in the wire grass section of the State, with a population of +7,700 whites and 6,700 negroes, suffered greatly from the migration. +Hundreds of negroes in this section were induced by the employment +bureaus and industrial companies in eastern States to abandon their +homes. From Brunswick, one of the two principal seaports in Georgia, +went 1,000 negroes, the chief occupation of whom was stevedoring. +Savannah, another important seaport on the south Atlantic coast, with +a population of about 70,000, saw the migration attain unusually large +proportions, so as to cause almost a panic and to lead to drastic +measures to check it. + +The migration was from all sections of Florida. The heaviest movements +were from west Florida, from Tampa and Jacksonville. Capitola early +reported that a considerable number of negroes left that vicinity, +some going north, a few to Jacksonville and others to south Florida to +work on the truck farms and in the phosphate mines. A large number of +them migrated from Tallahassee to Connecticut to work in the tobacco +fields. Owing to the depredations of the boll weevil, many others went +north. Most of the migration in west Florida, however, was rural as +there are very few large towns in that section. Yet, although they had +no such assembling points as there were in other parts of the South, +about thirty or thirty-five per cent of the labor left. In north +central Florida near Apalachicola fifteen or twenty per cent of the +labor left. In middle Florida around Ocala and Gainesville probably +twenty to twenty-five per cent of the laborers left, chiefly because +of the low wages. The stretch of territory between Pensacola and +Jacksonville was said to be one of the most neglected sections in the +South, the migration being largely of farm tenants with a considerable +number of farm owners. There were cases of the migration of a whole +community including the pastor of the church.[67] + +Live Oak, a small town in Sewanee county, experienced the same +upheaval, losing a large proportion of its colored population. +Dunnelon, a small town in the southern part of Marion county, soon +found itself in the same situation. Lakeland, in Polk county, lost +about one-third of its negroes. Not less than one-fourth of the black +population of Orlando was swept into this movement. Probably half of +the negroes of Palatka, Miami and De Land, migrated as indicated by +schools and churches, the membership of which decreased one-half. +From 3,000 to 5,000 negroes migrated from Tampa and Hillsboro county. +Jacksonville, the largest city in Florida, with a population of about +35,000 negroes, lost about 6,000 or 8,000 of its own black population +and served as an assembling point for 14,000 or 15,000 others who went +to the North.[68] + +By September, 1916, the movement in Alabama was well under way. In +Selma there was made the complaint that a new scheme was being used +to entice negroes away. Instead of advertising in Alabama papers, the +schemes of the labor agents were proclaimed through papers published +in other States and circulated in Alabama. As a result there was a +steady migration of negroes from Alabama to the North and to points in +Tennessee and Arkansas where conditions were more inviting and wages +higher. Estimates appear to indicate, however, that Alabama, through +the migration, lost a larger proportion of her negro population than +did any one of the other southern States.[69] + +From Eufaula in the eastern part of the State it was reported in +September that trains leaving there on Sundays in 1916 were packed +with negroes going north, that hundreds left, joining crowds from +Clayton, Clio and Ozark. There seemed to be a "free ride" every Sunday +and many were giving up lucrative positions there to go. The majority +of these negroes, however, went from the country where they had had +a disastrous experience with the crops of the year 1916 on account +of the July floods.[70] By October the exodus from Dallas county had +reached such alarming proportions that farmers and business men were +devising means to stop it. + +Bullock county, with a working population of 15,000 negroes, lost +about one-third and in addition about 1,500 non-workers. The reports +of churches as to the loss of membership at certain points justify +this conclusion. Hardly any of the churches escaped without a serious +loss and the percentage in most cases was from twenty-five to seventy +per cent.[71] It seemed that these intolerable conditions did not +obtain in Union Springs. According to persons living in Kingston, the +wealthiest and the most prosperous negroes of the district migrated. +In October, 1916, some of the first large groups left Mobile, Alabama, +for the Northwest. The report says: "Two trainloads of negroes +were sent over the Louisville and Nashville Railroad to work in the +railroad yards and on the tracks in the West. Thousands more are +expected to leave during the next month." + +As soon as the exodus got well under way, Birmingham became one of the +chief assembling points in the South for the migrants and was one of +the chief stations on the way north. Thousands came from the flood +and boll weevil districts to Birmingham. The records of the negro +industrial insurance companies showed the effects of the migration +both from and to Birmingham. The Atlanta Mutual Insurance Company lost +500 of its members and added 2,000. Its debit for November, 1916, was +$502.25; for November, 1917, it was $740. The business of the Union +Central Relief Association was greatly affected by the migration. The +company in 1916 lost heavily. In 1917 it cleared some money. + +The State of Mississippi, with a larger percentage of negroes than any +other State in the Union, naturally lost a large number of its +working population. There has been in progress for a number of years +a movement from the hill counties of the State of Mississippi to the +Delta, and from the Delta to Arkansas. The interstate migration +has resulted from the land poverty of the hill country and from +intimidation of the "poor whites" particularly in Amite, Lincoln, +Franklin and Wilkinson counties. In 1908 when the floods and boll +weevil worked such general havoc in the southwestern corner of +the State, labor agents from the Delta went down and carried away +thousands of families. It is estimated that more than 8,000 negroes +left Adams county during the first two years of the boll weevil +period. Census figures for 1910 show that the southwestern counties +suffered a loss of 18,000 negroes. The migration of recent years to +adjacent States has been principally to Arkansas.[72] + +Jackson, the capital of Mississippi, seriously felt the migration. The +majority of the "lower middle class" of negroes, twenty-five per cent +of the business men and fully one-third of the professional men left +the city--in all between 2,000 and 5,000. Two of the largest churches +lost their pastors and about 200 of each of their memberships. Other +churches suffered a decrease of forty per cent in their communicants. +Two-thirds of the remaining families in Jackson are part families with +relatives who have recently migrated to the North. + +For years the negroes of Greenville have been unsettled and +dissatisfied to the extent of leaving. Negroes came from Leland to +Greenville to start for the North. This condition has obtained there +ever since the World's Fair in Chicago, when families first learned +to go to that section whenever opportunities for establishment +were offered them. Although the negroes from Greenville are usually +prosperous, during this exodus they have mortgaged their property or +placed it in the hands of friends on leaving for the North. Statistics +indicate that in the early part of the movement at least 1,000 left +the immediate vicinity of Greenville and since that time others have +continued to go in large numbers.[73] + +Greenwood, with a population evenly balanced between the white and +black, had passed through the unusual crisis of bad crops and the +invasion of the boll weevil. The migration from this point, therefore, +was at first a relief to the city rather than a loss. The negroes, +in the beginning, therefore, moved into the Delta and out to Arkansas +until the call for laborers in the North. The migration from this +point to the North reached its height in the winter and spring of 1916 +and 1917. The migrants would say that they were going to Memphis, but +when you next heard from them they would be in Chicago, St. Louis or +Detroit. The police at the Illinois Central depot had been handling +men roughly. When they were rude to one, ten or twelve left. Young men +usually left on night trains. Next day their friends would say, "Ten +left last night," or, "Twelve left last night." In this manner the +stream started. Friends would notify others of the time and place of +special trains. The type of negro leaving is indicated in the decline +in the church membership. Over 300 of those who left were actively +connected with some church. During the summer of 1917, 100 houses +stood vacant in the town and over 300 were abandoned in the McShein +addition. As the crops were gathered people moved in from the country, +from the southern part of the State and from the "hills" generally to +take the places of those who had left for the North. + +There was no concerted movement from Clarksdale, a town with a +population of about 400 whites and 600 blacks; but families appeared +to slip away because of the restlessness and uneasiness in evidence +everywhere. From the rural district around there was considerable +migration to Arkansas, but considerable numbers were influenced to +leave for Buffalo and Chicago. Mound Bayou lost some of its population +also to Arkansas and the North, as they could buy land cheaper in the +former and find more lucrative employment in the latter. Natchez did +not suffer a serious loss of population until the invasion of the boll +weevil and the floods. + +Hattiesburg, a large lumber center, was at the beginning of the +exodus, almost depopulated. Some of the first migrants went to +Pennsylvania but the larger number went to Chicago. It became a +rallying point for many negroes who assembled there ostensibly to +go to New Orleans, at which place they easily provided for their +transportation to Chicago and other points in the North. From Laurel +in Jones county, a large sawmill district, it is estimated that +between 4,000 and 5,000 negroes moved north. About 3,000 left Meridian +for Chicago, St. Louis, Detroit and Pittsburgh. Indianola, a town with +a number of negro independent enterprises, also became upset by +this movement, losing a considerable number of progressive families. +Gulfport, a coast town a short distance from New Orleans, lost about +one-third of its negro population. About 45 families left Bobo for +Arkansas, and 15 families went to the North. Johnstown, Mississippi, +lost 150 of its 400 negroes.[74] + +The owners of turpentine industries and lumber plants in southeastern +Mississippi were especially affected by the exodus. In Hinds, Copiah, +Lincoln, Rankin, Newton and Lake counties, many white residents rather +than suffer their crops to be lost, worked in the fields. It was +reported that numbers of these whites were leaving for the Delta and +for Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas. Firms there attempted to look +in the North that they might send for the negroes whom they had +previously employed, promising them an advance in wages. + +At the same time the Illinois Central Railroad was carrying from New +Orleans and other parts of Louisiana thousands into Indiana, Illinois +and Michigan. At the Illinois Central Railroad station in that city, +the agent had been having his hands full taking names of colored +laborers wanting and waiting to go North. About the first of April, +1917, there came also the reports from New Orleans that 300 negro +laborers left there on the Southern Pacific steamer for New York, and +500 more left later on another of the same company's steamships bound +also for New York, it was said, to work for the company. Thousands +thus left for the North and West and East, the number reaching over +1,200. + +It is an interesting fact that this migration from the South followed +the path marked out by the Underground Railroad of antebellum days. +Negroes from the rural districts moved first to the nearest village or +town, then to the city. On the plantations it was not regarded safe to +arrange for transportation to the North through receiving and sending +letters. On the other hand, in the towns and cities there was more +security in meeting labor agents. The result of it was that cities +like New Orleans, Birmingham, Jacksonville, Savannah and Memphis +became concentration points. From these cities migrants were rerouted +along the lines most in favor. + +The principal difference between this course and the Underground +Railroad was that in the later movement the southernmost States +contributed the largest numbers. This perhaps is due in part to the +selection of Florida and Georgia by the first concerns offering the +inducement of free transportation, and at the same time it accounts +for the very general and intimate knowledge of the movement by +the people in States through which they were forced to pass. In +Hattiesburg, Mississippi, for example, the first intimation of a great +movement of negroes to the North came through reports that thousands +of negroes were leaving Florida for the North. To the negroes +of Florida, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia the North means +Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and New England. The route is more +direct, and it is this section of the northern expanse of the United +States that gets widest advertisement through tourists, and passengers +and porters on the Atlantic coast steamers. The northern newspapers +with the greatest circulation are from Pennsylvania and New York, and +the New York colored weeklies are widely read. Reports from all of +these south Atlantic States indicate that comparatively few persons +ventured into the Northwest when a better known country lay before +them. + +The Pennsylvania Railroad, one of the first to import laborers +in large numbers, reports that of the 12,000 persons brought to +Pennsylvania over its road, all but 2,000 were from Florida and +Georgia. The tendency was to continue along the first definite path. +Each member of the vanguard controlled a small group of friends at +home, if only the members of his immediate family. Letters sent +back, representing that section of the North and giving directions +concerning the route best known, easily influenced the next groups +to join their friends rather than explore new fields. In fact, it is +evident throughout the movement that the most congested points in +the North when the migration reached its height, were those favorite +cities to which the first group had gone.[75] An intensive study of +a group of 77 families from the South, selected at random in Chicago, +showed but one family from Florida and no representation at all from +North and South Carolina. A tabulation of figures and facts from 500 +applications for work by the Chicago League on Urban Conditions among +Negroes gives but a few persons from North Carolina, twelve from South +Carolina and one from Virginia. The largest number, 102, came from +Georgia. Applicants for work in New York from the south Atlantic +States are overwhelming.[76] + +For the east and west south central States, the Northwest was more +accessible and better known. St. Louis and Cincinnati are the nearest +northern cities to the South and excursions have frequently been run +there from New Orleans, through the State of Mississippi. There are +in St. Louis, as in other more northern cities, little communities of +negroes from the different sections of the South. The mail order and +clothing houses of Chicago have advertised this city throughout the +South. The convenience of transportation makes the Northwest a popular +destination for migrants from Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas +and Tennessee. The Illinois Central Railroad runs directly to New +Orleans through Tennessee and Mississippi. + +There were other incidental factors which determined the course of +the movement. Free trains from different sections broke new paths by +overcoming the obstacles of funds for transportation. No questions +were asked of the passengers, and, in some instances, as many as were +disposed to leave were carried. When once they had advanced beyond the +Mason and Dixon line, many fearing that fees for transportation would +be deducted from subsequent pay, if they were in the employ of the +parties who, as they understood, were advancing their fares, deserted +the train at almost any point that looked attractive. Employment could +be easily secured and at good wages. Many of these unexpected and +premature destinations became the nucleuses for small colonies +whose growth was stimulated and assisted by the United States postal +service. + + * * * * * + +[Illustration: Map of where migrants came from and went] + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 62: _Atlanta Constitution_, August 28, 1915.] + +[Footnote 63: Ibid., December 13, 1916.] + +[Footnote 64: A leading colored physician of Albany in commenting on +the exodus said: "A considerable number went from town and county. The +number was not near so great, however, as from other counties." He was +of the opinion that not more than eight or ten families had left. He +said that his practice had not been affected. Individuals came in from +other sections and took the place of those who went away. He was +of the opinion that the fever was about over. This was due to the +shortage of labor created by the draft, the increase in wages and +better treatment, particularly the latter. Tenants on plantations +were receiving better treatment than they formerly received. Some +plantation owners as an inducement to their tenants were furnishing +each with a cow and a sow. Farm labor which was formerly paid $8 to +$12 per month, now received from $20 to $30 per month. He said he knew +of one plantation owner who was paying his hands $1.25 per day. This +doctor said he was reliably informed that many negroes had left Lee +and Calhoun counties and the whites had to go in the fields and plow. +As a result of the exodus, the white and colored men of Albany had got +closer together. He had recently been elected a member of the Albany +Chamber of Commerce, and he understood that about twelve colored men +had been invited to become members of the Chamber to assist in working +for the development of the county. + +One of the colored druggists in Georgia said that Albany was a central +point, and that a great many came from Cuthbert, Arlington, Leary and +Calhoun, Early and Miller counties to Albany as a starting point for +the North. Many went from Albany to Chicago and Philadelphia, but he +was of the opinion that the largest number had gone to New Jersey. +Migration has been affected by the draft and new opportunities opening +up in the South. He said that whites became alarmed and called a +meeting and invited some colored persons to consult with them.--Work, +_Report on Migration from Georgia_.] + +[Footnote 65: "The migration of negroes from this city to the North +set in again this week, after a comparative lull of two months. A +party of twelve left here yesterday for Jersey City, while twenty +others are expected to leave shortly. Many women are going with the +men, in some cases leaving their children. Stories of suffering from +cold, brought back by negroes during this winter, checked the +movement considerably. Several hundred negroes will leave here this +spring."--_Atlanta Constitution_, March 26, 1917.] + +[Footnote 66: A report from there, in the _Savannah Morning News_, of +December 3, 1916, said: "Hundreds of negroes in this section recently +have been fleeced by white men posing as agents of large employment +bureaus and industrial companies in the eastern States. The most +recent instance of the easy marks is reported from Coffee county, +but it is in line with what has been happening in other counties. The +so-called agent collects a registration fee, giving in return for the +money, usually one or two dollars, a card which is said to entitle the +bearer to a position at such and such a plant. The negroes get on the +train on the date specified, the agent meeting them at the station. +He tells them he will have a party ticket for the entire number and +to tell the conductor to collect their fares from him. The negroes of +course leave home for the point where they think they will be given +work, and apparently are a happy lot. But when ticket collecting time +comes there is another story to tell. + +"Thirty-seven negroes the other day boarded a northbound train at +Douglas for Pittsburgh. The agent was on hand to check each one +and then he got aboard, or so the negroes thought. A few miles from +Douglas the conductor found he had thirty-seven ticketless passengers. +And none of the negroes had the money to pay the fare to Pittsburgh. +The train was stopped, and the negroes returned home, wiser and vowing +they were 'done with leaving home.' Quite a number of negroes have +come to Waycross to meet agents and go north. Before coming here the +negroes of course had contributed."] + +[Footnote 67: Work, _Report on the Migration from Florida_.] + +[Footnote 68: Work, _Report on the Migration from Florida_.] + +[Footnote 69: Work, _Report on the Migration from Alabama_.] + +[Footnote 70: _Montgomery (Alabama) Advertiser_, September 27, 1916.] + +[Footnote 71: The investigator had been in Union Springs on a Saturday +before there was a migration. The crowds on the streets were so great +that it was difficult for one to pass. On Saturday, November 17, 1917, +the investigator was again in Union Springs. It was an ideal autumn +day. Good crops had been made in the county. Especially high prices +were being paid for all sorts of farm produce. The market season was +on. Court was in session. The streets, however, had about the crowds +to be found on some days, other than Saturday, before the migration +began.] + +[Footnote 72: The reasons back of this, as obtained from migrants +themselves, are that, except in the town of Mound Bayou, negroes have +not been encouraged to own property or rent, but to work on shares; +in Arkansas it is possible to buy good land cheaply and on reasonable +terms; inducements are offered by Arkansas in the form of better +treatment and schools; there are no such "excessive" taxes as are +required in the Mississippi Delta to protect them from the overflows; +the boll weevil has not yet seriously affected that State, and a small +farmer may be fairly independent in Arkansas.] + +[Footnote 73: The lumber mills and the local corporations provide +a great part of the work for laborers in the city. Wages last year +ranged from $1.25 to $1.50 a day. Wages at present are $1.75 and $2 +a day. Cotton picking last year brought 60 and 75 cents a hundred; +at present $2 is paid for every hundred pounds picked. The city has +enacted "move on" laws intending to get rid of drones. The police, it +is said, could not distinguish drones from "all negroes." + +It was further complained that the police deputies and sheriffs +are too free with the use of their clubs and guns when a negro +is involved. It was related that Dr. ----, practising 47 years in +Greenville, Mississippi, was driving his buggy in a crowded street on +circus day when he was commanded by a policeman to drive to one side +and let a man pass. He replied that he could not because he himself +was jammed. He was commanded again and then dragged from the buggy, +clubbed and haled into the police court and fined. The officer who +arrested him swore that he had given frequent trouble, which was +untrue according to reliable testimony and his own statement. This +incident is also told: + +A policeman's friend needed a cook. The policeman drove by a negro +home and, seeing a woman on the porch, told her to get in the buggy. +No questions were permitted. She was carried to his friend's home and +told to work. The woman prepared one meal and left the city for the +North.--Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 74: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 75: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 76: Ibid.] + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +EFFORTS TO CHECK THE MOVEMENT + + +The departure of the first negroes usually elicited no concern +from the authorities. It was assumed that their actions were merely +expressions of the negro's "love for travel," and that they would +soon return. When, however, they did not return and hosts of others +followed, the white South became deeply concerned and endeavored to +check the movement. Throughout the exodus drastic legislation and +force were employed. In Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi and Georgia +laws were passed in an effort to suppress the activities of labor +agents. Licenses were made prohibitively high; labor agents were +arrested and heavily fined. In some cases their coming was penalized +to prohibit their operations entirely and they frequently suffered +physical injury. + +In Florida labor recruiting early assumed a serious aspect. Precaution +was, therefore, taken to impede the progress of the work of labor +agents among negroes, at first by moral suasion and then by actual +force. The cities and towns of this State enacted measures requiring +a very high license of labor agents, imposing in case of failure to +comply with these regulations, a penalty of imprisonment. For example, +in Tampa when these operations were brought to the attention of +the authorities, Joe Robinson, a negro officer, was detailed to +investigate the matter. He discovered that one Joyce and another negro +named Alex Reeves were implicated in the movement. These men were +charged with having collected $7 from each of several hundred negroes +who wanted to go to Pennsylvania. A meeting among the negroes of Tampa +was then held to secure pledges of assistance for the negro officer, +then making an effort to prevent the exodus. Being under the +impression that the ignorant members of their race were being imposed +upon by agents from without, many of these leading negroes pledged +themselves to assist in the suppression of it.[77] + +In Jacksonville, where the labor agents flourished, the City Council +passed an ordinance requiring that migration agents should pay $1,000 +license to recruit labor sent out of the State under penalty of $600 +fine and 60 days in jail. Several police detectives were assigned the +task of arresting those who were said to be spreading false reports +among negroes there to the effect that special trains were ready on +various specified dates to take them to points in the North. When, +therefore, large crowds of negroes gathered near the Union Depot in +Jacksonville, awaiting the so-called special train, they were handled +rather roughly by the police when it was shown that they had +not purchased tickets and there was no one to vouch for their +transportation. + +The same condition with respect to the apparent necessity for +prohibitive measures obtained in Georgia. The local governments early +took action to prevent the drain of the labor population to northern +States through the operation of labor agents. It was soon observed, +however, that these agents worked out their schemes so clandestinely +that it was impossible to check the movement by such measures. Fearing +that the general unrest among the negroes of the city and the efforts +that were being put forth on the part of the authorities to keep them +from being transported from Macon to the North, might result in a riot +with which the city authorities would not be able to cope, Chief of +Police George S. Riley recommended to the civil service commission +that forty magazine rifles be purchased for the police department.[78] +At that time the police had only their pistols and clubs. It was +said that surliness then existed among certain negroes and the police +wanted to be able to cope with any situation that might arise. The +City Council, thereafter, raised the license fee for labor agents to +$25,000, requiring also that such an agent be recommended by ten local +ministers, ten manufacturers and twenty-five business men. The police +of Macon were very active in running down labor agents violating this +law. + +Americus was honeycombed and carefully watched and searched for +persons inducing negroes to migrate, as there was a large exodus of +negroes from this city to the tobacco fields of Connecticut. Negroes +attempting to leave were arrested and held to see if by legal measures +they could be deterred from going North. The officers in charge of +this raid were armed with State warrants charging misdemeanors and +assisted by a formidable array of policemen and deputy sheriffs. +Negroes were roughly taken from the trains and crowded into the +prisons to await trial for these so-called misdemeanors. Although the +majority of them were set free after their trains had left the city, +the leaders in most cases suffered humiliation at the hands of the +officers of the law.[79] + +At Thomasville, a white man and a negro were arrested, charged with +the usual crime of being labor agents. Much excitement followed. +Fearing serious results, the colored ministers of this city endeavored +to stop the exodus. A committee of their most prominent citizens met +with the mayor and discussed the matter freely. They arranged for +a large mass meeting of white and colored citizens who undertook to +cooperate in bringing the exodus to an end. The white citizens of +Waycross experienced the same trouble with labor agents, but had much +difficulty in finding out exactly who they were and how they contrived +to make such inroads on the population.[80] + +The situation became more critical in Savannah, one of the largest +assembling points for migrants in the South. When the loss of labor +became so serious and ordinary efforts to check it failed, more +drastic measures were resorted to. On the thirteenth of August, for +example, when there spread through the city the rumor that two special +trains would leave for the North there followed great commotion among +the negroes, who, already much disturbed by the agitation for and +against the movement, were easily induced to start for the North. +When, at about five o'clock that morning, 2,000 negroes assembled +at the station for this purpose, the county police, augmented by a +detachment of city officers, appeared at the station and attempted to +clear the tracks; but the crowd being so large the officers finally +found their task impossible, for as they would clear one section of +the tracks the crowd would surge to another. The crowd was extremely +orderly and good natured and the two arrests that were made were for +minor offenses. As these trains failed to move according to orders, +over 300 of this group paid their own fares and proceeded to the +North.[81] + +A few days later Savannah reached a crisis in the labor movement +agitation, when over 100 negroes were placed under arrest at the Union +Depot and sent to the police barracks. Several patrol wagon loads of +police arrived at the station and immediately a cordon was formed by +the police around all negroes in the lobby and every exit from the +station was guarded. By this unusual sight many persons were attracted +to the station and excitement ran high. Many negroes were arrested +with a view to finding out the leaders of the movement, but upon +failure to discover the facts in the case the lieutenant in charge +ordered the men in custody to be incarcerated on charges of loitering. + +To show how groundless these charges were, one need but to note +the character of some of the persons arrested. Four carpenters from +Lumpkin, Georgia, had just arrived and were waiting for a contractor +for whom they had agreed to work a short distance from the city. +Another young man entered the station to purchase a ticket to +Burroughs, Georgia, to see relatives, but he was not only incarcerated +but had to give a bond of $100 for his appearance next morning. +Another young man, working for the Pullman Company, entered the +depot to cash a check for $11 when he was arrested, sent to jail +and searched. Still another, a middle-aged man of most pleasing +appearance, had just arrived from Jacksonville, Florida, and was +waiting in the station until the time to proceed by boat that +afternoon to New York. On one occasion, J.H. Butler, manager of the +_Savannah Tribune_, a negro newspaper, was arrested charged with +violation of the city and State law of sending labor out of the city. +He was obliged to give bond of $400 to appear in court the next day. +At the same time seventeen college boys who were waiting at a New York +steamer dock were also apprehended. The trial of the men before the +recorder proved farcical, not a single one of the hundred or more +prisoners being required to testify. After the chief of the detective +force and several police lieutenants had testified, Recorder Schwartz +ordered the men all released, but not before he had taken occasion +to upbraid the police force for the unnecessarily large number of +arrests.[82] + +Alabama was equally alive to the need to suppress the migration +propaganda among negroes. To this end the Montgomery City Commission +on September 19, 1916, passed an ordinance to the effect that any +person who would entice, persuade or influence any laborer or other +person to leave the city of Montgomery for the purpose of being +employed at any other place as a laborer must on conviction be +fined not less than one nor more than one hundred dollars, or may be +sentenced to hard labor for the city, for not more than six months, +one or both in the discretion of the court. The other ordinance +provided that any person, firm or corporation who published, printed +or wrote or delivered or distributed or posted or caused to be +published, printed or written or delivered or distributed or posted, +any advertisement, letter, newspaper, pamphlet, handbill or other +writing, for the purpose of enticing, persuading or influencing +any laborer or other person to leave the city of Montgomery for the +purpose of being employed at any other place as a laborer must on +conviction be fined not less than one hundred dollars, or may be +sentenced to hard labor for the city for not more than six months, one +or both in the discretion of the court. Labor agents and other leaders +both white and black were arrested throughout the State in accordance +with the usual custom of preferring technical charges.[83] + +The treatment of the movement in Mississippi was no exception to the +rule. At Jackson, the "pass riders," as they were called, were so +molested by the police that they were finally driven from the town. In +the same town the citizens were reported to have forced the railroads +to discontinue the use of passes on the threat of damaging their +interests and influencing decisions in court cases. Negroes were +secretly enticed away, however, after they had been dispersed from +the railway stations and imprisoned when in the act of boarding +the trains. The police interfered at one time with negroes leaving, +especially when it was suspected that they were leaving on passes. To +circumvent this, negroes would go two or three stations below Jackson +where there were no policemen and board the trains. It was the +unanimous opinion of whites and blacks who observed the almost frantic +efforts to leave the town, that any attempt to hinder by intimidation +or by making it difficult to leave, simply served to make them more +determined to leave.[84] + +At Greenville, Mississippi, trains were stopped. Negroes were dragged +therefrom and others were prevented from boarding them. Strangers were +searched for evidence that might convict them as labor agents. It is +also reported that local authorities were reprimanded for interfering +with interstate commerce. At Greenwood there was much complaint +against the brutality of the police, whose efforts to intimidate +negroes carried them beyond bounds. A chartered car carrying fifty +men and women was sidetracked at Brookhaven for three days. The man +conducting the passengers was arrested, but when no charge was brought +against him, he was released.[85] + +A Hattiesburg, Mississippi, ticket agent attempted on the advice +of citizens to interfere with negroes leaving by refusing to sell +tickets. Some one called the attention of the general superintendent +to the matter. Thereafter the man was courteous and even assisted +the migrants. Police arrested one or two men at the station, and, +according to one of the men, made the crowd so angry that they swore +they would not stop until all had gone. There are cited further +instances of letters to plantation hands which were detained and +telegrams which were delayed. At Meridian, Mississippi, a trainload of +negroes en route to the North was held up by the chief of police on a +technical charge. It is said that the United States marshal arrested +him and placed him under heavy bond for delaying the train. The +federal authorities were importuned to stop the movement. They +withdrew the assistance of the Employment Department, but admitted +that they could not stop the interstate migration.[86] + +One remarked, however, "It will scarcely be possible, to make a +sectional issue of these Columbus convictions, as the charge of +'enticing away of labor' in that country is aimed at certain Arkansas +planters who carried away several carloads of negroes to work on their +places, leaving the Mississippi employers without the labor to gather +or grow their crops. It can not, therefore, be interpreted as an +attempt to keep the negro in semislavery in the South and prevent him +from going to work at better wages in the northern munition factories; +it is only an effort to protect Mississippi employers from Arkansas +planters."[87] + +The alarm felt over the exodus prompted the mayor of New Orleans to +telegraph the president of the Illinois Central Railroad, asking that +his road stop carrying negroes to the North. The latter replied that +he had viewed with much concern the heavy exodus of negro labor from +the South during the past year, and, because of his very important +interest in that section, it was not to his advantage to encourage it, +but as common carriers, they could not refuse to sell tickets or to +provide the necessary transportation. It seemed to him that as long as +their friends and kinsmen who had preceded them to the North and East +were receiving a high scale of wages, the South would have to look for +continued movement.[88] + +After having enforced these drastic measures without securing +satisfactory results, and having seen that any attempt to hold the +negroes by force resulted apparently in an increased determination to +leave, there was resort to the policy of frightening the negroes +away from the North by circulating rumors as to the misfortunes to be +experienced there. Negroes were then warned against the rigors of the +northern winter and the death rate from pneumonia and tuberculosis. +Social workers in the North reported frequent cases of men with simple +colds who actually believed that they had developed "consumption." +Speakers who wished to discourage the exodus reported "exact" figures +on the death rate of the migrants in the North that were astounding. +As, for example, it was said by one Reverend Mr. Parks that there +were 2,000 of them sick in Philadelphia. The editor of a leading white +paper in Jackson, Mississippi, made the remark that he feared that +the result of the first winter's experience in the North would prove +serious to the South, in so far as it would remove the bugbear of the +northern climate. The returned migrants were encouraged to speak +in disparagement of the North and to give wide publicity to their +utterances, emphasizing incidents of suffering reported through the +press. + +When such efforts as these failed, however, the disconcerted planters +and business men of the South resorted to another plan. Reconciliation +and persuasion were tried. Meetings were held and speakers were +secured and advised what to say. In cities and communities where +contact on this plane had been infrequent, it was a bit difficult +to approach the subject. The press of Georgia gave much space to the +discussion of the movement and what ought to be done to stop it. The +consensus of opinion of the white papers in the State was that the +negro had not been fairly treated, and that better treatment would +be one of the most effective means of checking the migration. Mob +violence, it was pointed out, was one of the chief causes of the +exodus.[89] + +The _Tifton_ (Georgia) _Gazette_ commenting on the causes said: + + They have allowed negroes to be lynched, five at a time, + on nothing stronger than suspicion; they have allowed whole + sections to be depopulated of them (notably in several north + Georgia counties); they have allowed them to be whitecapped + and to be whipped, and their homes burned, with only the + weakest and most spasmodic efforts to apprehend or punish + those guilty--when any efforts were made at all. Loss of much + of the State's best labor is one of the prices Georgia is + paying for unchecked mob activity against negroes often + charged only with ordinary crimes. Current dispatches from + Albany, Georgia, in the center of the section apparently most + affected, and where efforts are being made to stop the exodus + by spreading correct information among the negroes, say that + the heaviest migration of negroes has been from those counties + in which there have been the worst outbreaks against negroes. + It is developed by investigation that where there have been + lynchings, the negroes have been most eager to believe what + the emigration agents have told them of plots for the removal + or extermination of the race. Comparatively few negroes have + left Dougherty county, which is considered significant in + view of the fact that this is one of the counties in southwest + Georgia in which a lynching has never occurred. + +At Thomasville, Georgia, a mass meeting of colored citizens of the +town with many from the country was held at the court house and +addresses were made by several prominent white men, as well as by +several colored with a view to taking some steps in regard to the +exodus of negroes from this section to the North and West. The whole +sentiment of the meeting was very amicable, the negroes applauding +enthusiastically the speeches of the white men and the advice given by +them. Resolutions were drawn up by a committee expressing the desire +that the people of the two races continue to live together as they +have done in the past and that steps be taken to adjust any difference +between them.[90] + +After a conference of three days at Waycross, Georgia, the negroes +came to a decision as to the best manner in which to present their +cause to the white people with a view to securing their cooperation +towards the improvement of conditions in the South to make that +section more habitable. "There are four things of which our people +complain," they said, "and this conference urges our white friends +to secure for us these things with all possible speed. First, more +protection at the hands of the law. We ask that the law of the State, +made and enforced by white men, should be made to apply with exact +justice to both races. We have no sympathy for criminals, but we ask +that the innocent shall be protected to the fullest extent of the law. +Second, that more liberal provisions be made for the education of +our people." They commended Governor Dorsey for his courageous +recommendation in his inaugural address that an agricultural school +should be established for negroes in some center in southern Georgia, +and asked their friends everywhere to urge the members of the +legislature from the various counties to put Governor Dorsey's noble +sentiments into law. These memorialists felt, too, that as far as +possible, wages should be in keeping with the cost of living, and +that the white people generally should take an interest in the general +welfare of the negroes.[91] + +Tuskegee Institute was also quick to offer a remedy for the migration. +In the latter part of September, 1916, the institution made a strong +effort to persuade the negro farmers to remain on the land instead +of going to the cities. Conferences were held with the bankers of +Tuskegee and with many planters of Macon county and a method of +dealing with the situation was worked out. This method embraced a +number of helpful suggestions as to how to solve their many perplexing +problems.[92] At the twenty-sixth annual negro conference at Tuskegee +Institute, the institution took that occasion to send through certain +declarations a message to the negroes of the South. These declarations +recited the distress and suffering impelling the negroes to migrate, +expressing the appreciation of the necessity to do something to better +their condition by embracing the new opportunities offered them in the +North. On the other hand, this institution felt that there were many +permanent opportunities for the masses of the colored people in the +South, which is now entering upon a great era of development. Among +these are the millions of acres of land yet to be cultivated, cities +to be built, railroads to be extended and mines to be worked. These +memorialists considered it of still greater importance to the negro +that in the South they have acquired land, buildings, etc., valued at +about five hundred million dollars. The negroes were, therefore, urged +to stay on the soil which they owned. + +Addressing a word to the white people of the South, the conference +said that the disposition of so many of the blacks to leave is not +because they do not love the Southland but because they believe that +in the North they will not only have more opportunity to get more +money but that they will get better treatment, better protection +under the law and better school facilities for their children. The +conference urged, therefore, that the southern white people avail +themselves of their greatest opportunity to cooperate with the blacks +in the various communities and have a thorough understanding as to +working for the common welfare of all. The delegates believed that the +time had come for the best element of the whites and blacks to unite +to protect the interests of both races to the end that more effective +work may be done in the upbuilding of a greater South.[93] + +In the same way the people of Mississippi soon discovered that any +attempt forcibly to hold negroes resulted apparently in an increased +determination to leave. Nor was it sufficient to warn the negroes +against the rigors of the northern winter and the death rate from +pneumonia and tuberculosis. In Greenwood, Mississippi, the difficulty +was circumvented by using the Red Cross and the food conservation +meetings as a forum for the discussion of the movement. This was the +first time that the negroes and whites of Greenwood had met to discuss +matters of mutual welfare. Bishop W.P. Thirkield of New Orleans +addressed a body of negroes and whites on the movement. He suggested +that whites get representative colored persons together and find the +cause. He also suggested a remedy through better treatment, more wages +and more cooperation between the races. Negro ministers stated that +they were offered sums of money by bankers, planters and merchants to +speak in discouragement of the movement. Some spoke, and others, by +far the greater number, seem to have remained neutral.[94] + +It was found necessary to increase wages from ten to twenty-five per +cent and in some cases as much as 100 per cent to hold labor. The +reasons for migration given by negroes were sought. In almost all +cases the chief complaint was about treatment. An effort was made +to meet this by calling conferences and by giving publicity to the +launching of a campaign to make unfair settlements and other such +grievances unpopular. Thus, in Bolivar county, Mississippi, a meeting +was called, ostensibly to look after the economic welfare of the Delta +country, but in reality to develop some plan for holding labor. A +subcommittee of seventeen men was appointed to look into the +labor situation. There were twelve white men and five negroes. The +subcommittee met and reported to the body that the present labor +shortage was due to the migration, and that the migration was due to a +feeling of insecurity before the law, the unrestrained action of mobs, +unfair methods of yearly settlement on farms and inadequate school +facilities. As a result of the report, it was agreed to make an +appropriation of $25,000 towards an agricultural high school, as a +step towards showing an interest in the negroes of Bolivar county and +thus give them reasons for remaining. A campaign was started to make +unpopular the practice among farmers of robbing negroes of the returns +from their labor, and a general effort was made by a few of the +leading men behind the movement to create "a better feeling" between +the races.[95] + +Wide publicity was given to the experiment in plantation government, +and the policy was accepted by a number of planters as opportunistic +action. Thus, one Mr. Abbott of Natchez, Mississippi, told the +planters of his section that good treatment, adequate and sympathetic +oversight are the important factors in any effort to hold labor. He +made a trip to his farm every week, endeavoring to educate his tenants +in modes of right living. Every man on his place had a bank account +and was apparently satisfied. This example was presented with the +statement that where these methods had been used, few had left. One +planter purchased twenty-eight Ford automobiles to sell on easy terms +to his tenants with the hope of contenting them. + +The newspapers published numerous letters from southern negro leaders +urging negroes to consider well their step, asserting that the South +is the best place for them and that the southern white man knows them +and will in consequence be more lenient with their shortcomings. +The papers further urged an increase in wages and better treatment. +Wherever possible, there were published articles which pointed to the +material prosperity of negroes in the South. For example, a writer of +Greenville, said of negroes' loyalty in 1917: + + The prosperity as well as the patriotism of the negro farmer + has been shown in the purchase of Liberty Bonds in the Delta. + Many colored farm laborers subscribed for bonds. Every family + on the place of Planter C.D. Walcott, near Hollandale, took + a bond, while one negro, Boley Cox, a renter, bought bonds to + the amount of $1,000 and gave his check for the total amount + out of the savings of this year from his crop and still has + cotton to sell. There are negro families on Delta plantations + making more money this year than the salary of the governor of + the State. + +When migrants could be induced to talk freely, they complained also +against the treatment in the courts. Some of the cities consequently +are known to have suspended their raids and arrests on petty charges. +In some instances the attempts at pacification reached almost +incredible bounds. For example, a negro missed connection with his +train through the fault of the railroad. His white friend advised him +to bring suit. This he did and urged as his principal grievance that +he was stranded in a strange town and was forced to sleep in quarters +wholly at the mercy of bed bugs. It is said that he was awarded +damages to the extent of $800. A Jackson, Mississippi, daily paper +that had been running a column of humorous incidents about negroes +taken from the daily court sessions, which was very distasteful to +the colored people of the city, discontinued it. Such methods as +these have been the only ones to prove effective in bringing about +an appreciable stem in the tide. With the advent of the United States +Government constructing cantonments and establishing manufacturing +plants in the South, the millions thus diverted to that section have +caused such an increase in wages that the movement has been decidedly +checked. + +[Footnote 77: Work, _Report on the Migration from Florida_.] + +[Footnote 78: _Atlantic Constitution_, November 1, 1916.] + +[Footnote 79: Work, _Report on the Migration from Georgia_.] + +[Footnote 80: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 81: Work, _Report on the Migration from Georgia_.] + +[Footnote 82: Work, _Report on the Migration from Georgia_.] + +[Footnote 83: Work, _Report on the Migration from Alabama_.] + +[Footnote 84: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 85: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 86: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 87: _Times Picayune_, New Orleans. October 1, 1916.] + +[Footnote 88: Work, _Report on the Migration from Louisiana_.] + +[Footnote 89: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 90: _Atlanta Constitution_, June 1, 1917.] + +[Footnote 91: I.D. Davis served as president of the conference and +J.B. Ellis as secretary. Former Superior Court Judge T.A. Parker and +V.L. Stanton, president of the Chamber of Commerce, were among +the prominent white people who attended. It was the sense of the +conference that the colored people as a race should do all in their +power in the present crisis to assist the government and, above all +else, to help themselves by conserving food. The president of the +conference said the colored people had to work harder than ever before +with so many problems confronting their country. "It is no time for +loafing," he said, "we must work early and late, and make our work +count."--_Savannah Morning News_, July 18, 1917.] + +[Footnote 92: The suggestions were: to encourage the farmer to plant +peanuts, soy beans, velvet beans and cotton as cash crops; to create +a cash market for such crops named above as at present have no cash +market; to encourage tenants to grow fall and winter gardens and to +plant at least five acres of oats to the plow, seed being furnished +when necessary; to stipulate, in making tenant contracts for another +year, that cotton stalks be plowed under in the fall, that special +methods of combating the boll weevil be used. To advance no more than +$25 to the plow, and, in every case possible, to refrain from any +advance; to encourage land holders to rent land for part of the crops +grown; to urge the exercise of leniency on unpaid notes and mortgages +due from thrifty and industrious farmers so as to give them a chance +to recover from the boll weevil conditions and storm losses; to create +a market lasting all year for such crops as hay, cow-peas, sweet +potatoes, poultry and live stock; to urge everybody to build fences +and make pastures so as to grow more live stock and to produce more +nearly all of the supplies used on the farm; to carry on a food +campaign in the country, devoting the first Sunday in October to +the work of urging the people to plant gardens and sow oats, and to +organize a Farmers' Loan Association in Macon county to work with the +Farmers' Loan Bank being established by the United States Government.] + +[Footnote 93: Report of the Twenty-sixth Annual Negro Conference at +Tuskegee Institute.] + +[Footnote 94: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 95: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +EFFECTS OF THE MOVEMENT ON THE SOUTH + + +The first changes wrought by this migration were unusually startling. +Homes found themselves without servants, factories could not operate +because of the lack of labor, farmers were unable to secure laborers +to harvest their crops. Streets in towns and cities once crowded +assumed the aspect of deserted thoroughfares, houses in congested +districts became empty, churches, lodges and societies suffered such +a large loss of membership that they had to close up or undergo +reorganization. + +Probably the most striking change was the unusual increase in wages. +The wages for common labor in Thomasville, Georgia, increased almost +certainly 100 per cent. In Valdosta there was a general increase in +the town and county of about 50 per cent, in Brunswick and Savannah +the same condition obtained. The common laborer who had formerly +received 80 cents a day earned thereafter $1.50 to $1.75. Farm hands +working for from $10 to $15 per month were advanced to $20 or $35 +per month. Brick masons who had received 50 cents per hour thereafter +earned 62-1/2 cents and 70 cents per hour. In Savannah common laborers +paid as high as $2 per day were advanced to $3. At the sugar refinery +the rates were for women, 15 to 22 cents per hour, men, 22 to 30 +cents per hour. In the more skilled lines of work, the wages were +for carpenters, $4 to $6 per day, painters, $2.50 to $4 per day, and +bricklayers $4 to $5 per day. + +The increase in the Birmingham district may be studied as a type +of the changes effected in the industrial centers of the South, as +Birmingham is a great coal mining center and, with the exception of +Pittsburgh, is the greatest iron ore district in the United States. +On November 6, 1917, the average daily wage earnings of forty-five men +was $5.49. On November 10, 1917, the average for seventy-five men was +$5.30. One man was earning $10 a day, two $9 to $10 a day, five $8 to +$9, six $7 to $8, ten $6 to $7, fourteen $5 to $6, thirty-two $4 to +$5, nine $3 to $4, and six under $3. In the other coal and iron ore +sections the earnings had been similarly increased.[96] + +In Mississippi, largely a farming section, wages did not increase to +the extent that they did in Alabama, but some increase was necessary +to induce the negroes to remain on the plantations and towns to keep +the industries going. In Greenville wages increased at first about ten +per cent but this did not suffice to stop the migration, for, because +of the scarcity of labor, factories and stores had to employ white +porters, druggists had to deliver their own packages and firms had +to resort to employing negro women. On the farms much of the crop was +lost on account of the scarcity of labor. In Greenwood wages of common +laborers increased from $1 and $1.25 to $1.75 per day. Clarksdale was +also compelled to offer laborers more remuneration. Vicksburg found it +necessary to increase the wages of negroes from $1.25 to $2 per day. +There were laborers on steamboats who received $75 to $100 per month. + +At Leland 500 to 1,000 men received $1.75 per day. The oil mills of +Indianola raised the wages of the negroes from $1.50 to $2 per day. +At Laurel the average daily wage was raised from $1.35 to $1.65, the +maximum wage being $2. Wages increased at Meridian from 90 cents and +$1.25 to $1.50 and $1.75 per day. The wholesale houses increased the +compensation of their employes from $10 to $12 per week. From $1.10 in +Hattiesburg the daily wage was raised to $1.75 and $2 per day. Wages +in Jackson increased from $1 and $1.25 to $1.35 and $1.50 per day. In +Natchez there was an increase of 25 per cent. On the whole, throughout +the State there was an increase of from 10 to 30 per cent and in some +instances of as much as 100 per cent.[97] + +Throughout the South there was not only a change in policy as to the +method of stopping the migration of the blacks to the North, but a +change in the economic policy of the South. Southern business men and +planters soon found out that it was impossible to treat the negro as +a serf and began to deal with him as an actual employe entitled to his +share of the returns from his labor. It was evident that it would be +very much better to have the negroes as coworkers in a common cause +than to have them abandon their occupations in the South, leaving +their employers no opportunity to secure to themselves adequate income +to keep them above want. + +A more difficult change of attitude was that of the labor unions. They +had for years been antagonistic to the negroes and had begun to drive +them from many of the higher pursuits of labor which they had even +from the days of slavery monopolized. The skilled negro laborer +has gradually seen his chances grow less and less as the labor +organizations have invaded the South. In the end, however, the trade +unions have been compelled to yield, although complete economic +freedom of the negro in the South is still a matter of prospect. + +There was, too, a decided change in the attitude of the whole race +toward the blacks. The white people could be more easily reached, and +very soon there was brought about a better understanding between +the races. Cities gave attention to the improvement of the sanitary +condition of the negro sections, which had so long been neglected; +negroes were invited to take part in the clean-up week; the Women's +Health League called special meetings of colored women, conferred with +them and urged them to organize community clubs. Committees of leading +negroes dared to take up with their employers the questions of better +accommodations and better treatment of negro labor. Members of these +committees went before chambers of commerce to set forth their claims. +Others dared boldly to explain to them that the negroes were leaving +the South because they had not been given the treatment which should +be accorded men. + +Instead of expressing their indignation at such efforts on the part +of the negroes, the whites listened to them attentively. Accordingly, +joint meetings of the whites and blacks were held to hear frank +statements of the case from speakers of both races. One of the most +interesting of these meetings was the one held in Birmingham, Alabama. +The negroes addressing the audience frankly declared that it was +impossible to bring back from the North the migrants who were making +good there, but that the immediate problem requiring solution was how +to hold in the South those who had not gone. These negroes made it +clear that it was impossible for negro leaders through the pulpit and +press to check the movement, but that only through a change in the +attitude of the whites to the blacks could the latter be made to feel +that the Southland is safe for them. + +Here we see the coming to pass of a thing long desired by those +interested in the welfare of the South and long rejected by those who +have always prized the peculiar interest of one race more highly than +the welfare of all. White men, for the first time, were talking on +the streets with negroes just as white men talk with each other. The +merchants gave their negro patrons more attention and consideration. A +prominent white man said, "I have never seen such changes as have come +about within the last four months. I know of white men and negroes +who have not dared to speak to one another on the streets to converse +freely." The suspension of harsh treatment was so marked in some +places that few negroes neglected to mention it. In Greenwood and +Jackson, Mississippi, the police were instructed to curtail their +practices of beating negroes. Several court cases in which negroes +were involved terminated favorably for them. There followed directly +after the exodus an attempt at more even handed justice, or at least +some conciliatory measures were adopted. The authorities at Laurel, +Mississippi, were cautioned to treat negroes better, so as to prevent +their leaving. There is cited the case of a negro arrested on an +ambiguous charge. He was assigned to the county chain gang and put to +work on the roads. At this time the treatment in the courts was +being urged by negroes as a reason for leaving. This negro's case was +discussed. He was sent back from the county roads alone for a shovel. +He did not return; and his return was not expected.[98] + +Conferences of negroes and whites in Mississippi emphasized the +necessity of cooperation between the races for their common good. The +whites said, to quote a negro laborer, "We must just get together." +A negro said: "The dominant race is just a bit less dominant at +present." "We are getting more consideration and appreciation," said +another. From another quarter came the remark that "instead of the old +proverbial accusation--shiftless and unreliable--negro labor is being +heralded as 'the only dependable labor extant, etc.'"[99] A general +review of the results made it clear that there was a disposition +on the part of the white population to give some measure of those +benefits, the denial of which was alleged as the cause of the exodus. +For those who remained conditions were much more tolerable, although +there appeared to persist a feeling of apprehension that these +concessions would be retracted as soon as normal times returned. Some +were of the opinion that the exodus was of more assistance to those +negroes who stayed behind than to those who went away. + +As a matter of fact, the white people in the South began to direct +attention to serious work of reconstruction to make that section +inviting to the negro. Bolivar county, Mississippi, as a direct result +of the recommendation of the labor committee, made an appropriation of +$25,000 toward an agricultural high school, the first of its kind +in the State. The school boards of Coahoma and Adams counties have +appointed Jeanes Foundation Supervisors and, in Coahoma county, +promised a farm demonstration agent. They also made repairs on the +school buildings in towns, and prominent whites have expressed a +willingness to duplicate every dollar negroes raise for rural school +improvements. A large planter in the Big Creek neighborhood has +raised, together with his tenants, $1,000 for schools and the +superintendent of schools has gone over the county urging planters to +give land for negro schools. Two other large planters, whose tenants +number into the hundreds, have made repairs on the schoolhouses +on their plantations. The Mississippi Council of Defense passed a +resolution calling upon the State to put a farm demonstrator and home +economics agent to work in rural communities to make living conditions +better in the effort to induce the people to stay. + +This upheaval in the South, according to an investigator, will be +helpful to all. + + The decrease in the black population in those communities + where the negroes outnumber the whites will remove the fear of + negro domination. Many of the expensive precautions which the + southern people have taken to keep the negroes down, much + of the terrorism incited to restrain the blacks from + self-assertion will no longer be considered necessary; for, + having the excess in numbers on their side, the whites will + finally rest assured that the negroes may be encouraged + without any apprehension that they may develop enough power to + subjugate or embarrass their former masters. + + The negroes, too, are very much in demand in the South and the + intelligent whites will gladly give them larger opportunities + to attach them to that section, knowing that the blacks, once + conscious of their power to move freely throughout the country + wherever they may improve their condition, will never endure + hardships like those formerly inflicted upon the race. The + South is already learning that the negro is the most desirable + labor for that section, that the persecution of negroes not + only drives them out but makes the employment of labor such a + problem that the South will not be an attractive section + for capital. It will, therefore, be considered the duty of + business men to secure protection to the negroes lest their + ill treatment force them to migrate to the extent of bringing + about a stagnation of business. + + The exodus has driven home the truth that the prosperity of + the South is at the mercy of the negro. Dependent on cheap + labor, which the bulldozing whites will not readily furnish, + the wealthy southerners must finally reach the position of + regarding themselves and the negroes as having a community + of interests which each must promote. "Nature itself in those + States," Douglass said, "came to the rescue of the negro. He + had labor, the South wanted it, and must have it or perish. + Since he was free he could then give it, or withhold it; use + it where he was, or take it elsewhere, as he pleased. His + labor made him a slave and his labor could, if he would, make + him free, comfortable and independent. It is more to him than + either fire, sword, ballot boxes or bayonets. It touches the + heart of the South through its pocket." Knowing that the negro + has this silent weapon to be used against his employer or + the community, the South is already giving the race better + educational facilities, better railway accommodations, + and will eventually, if the advocacy of certain southern + newspapers be heeded, grant them political privileges. Wages + in the South, therefore, have risen even in the extreme + southwestern States, where there is an opportunity to import + Mexican labor. Reduced to this extremity, the southern + aristocrats have begun to lose some of their race prejudice, + which has not hitherto yielded to reason or philanthropy. + + Southern men are telling their neighbors that their section + must abandon the policy of treating the negroes as a problem + and construct a program for recognition rather than for + repression. Meetings are, therefore, being held to find + out what the negroes want and what may be done to keep them + contented. They are told that the negro must be elevated, not + exploited; that to make the South what it must needs be, the + cooperation of all is needed to train and equip the men of all + races for efficiency. The aim of all then must be to reform + or get rid of the unfair proprietors who do not give their + tenants a fair division of the returns from their labor. To + this end the best whites and blacks are urged to come together + to find a working basis for a systematic effort in the + interest of all.[100] + +Another evidence of the beneficent effects of the decrease in the +population in the Black Belt of the South is the interest now almost +generally manifested in the improvement of the negro quarters in +southern cities. For a number of years science has made an appeal in +behalf of the thoroughly clean city, knowing that since the germ does +not draw the color line, a city can not be kept clean as long as a +substantial portion of its citizens are crowded into one of its oldest +and least desirable parts, neglected by the city and avoided by the +whites. Doing now what science has hitherto failed to accomplish, this +peculiar economic need of the negro in the South has brought about +unusual changes in the appearance of southern cities. Darkened +portions of urban districts have been lighted; streets in need of +improvement have been paved; the water, light and gas systems have +been extended to negro quarters and play grounds and parks have been +provided for their amusement. + +No less important has been the effect of the migration on the southern +land tenure and the credit system, the very heart of the trouble in +that section. For generations the negroes have borne it grievously +that it has been difficult to obtain land for cultivation other than +by paying exorbitant rents or giving their landlords an unusually +large share of the crops. They have been further handicapped by the +necessity of depending on such landlords to supply them with food and +clothing at such exorbitant prices that their portion of the return +from their labor has been usually exhausted before harvesting the +crops. Cheated thus in the making of their contracts and in purchasing +necessities, they have been but the prey of sharks and harpies bent +upon keeping them in a state scarcely better than that of slavery. +Southerners of foresight have, therefore, severely criticized this +custom and, in a measure, have contributed to its decline. The press +and the pulpit of the South are now urging the planters to abolish +this system that the negroes may enjoy the fruits of their own labor. +It is largely because of these urgent appeals in behalf of fair play, +during the economic upheaval, that this legalized robbery is losing +its hold in the South. + +Recently welfare work among negroes has become a matter of much +concern to the industries of the South in view of the exceptional +efforts made along this line in the North. At the very beginning of +the migration the National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes +pointed out that firms wishing to retain negro laborers and to +have them become efficient must give special attention to welfare +work.[101] A considerable number of firms employing negro laborers +in the North have used the services of negro welfare workers. Their +duties have been to work with the men, study and interpret their wants +and stand as a medium between the employer and his negro workmen. It +has, therefore, come to be recognized in certain industrial centers in +the South that money expended for this purpose is a good investment. +Firms employing negro laborers in any considerable numbers have found +out that they must be dealt with on the same general basis as white +laborers. Among the industries in the South now looking out for their +negro laborers in this respect are the Newport News Shipbuilding and +Dry Dock Company, the American Cast Iron Pipe Company of Birmingham +and the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company. + +These efforts take the form which usually characterize the operations +of social workers. The laborers are cared for through the Y.M.C.A., +the Y.W.C.A., the National Urban League and social settlement +establishments. The attention of the welfare workers is directed to +the improvement of living conditions through proper sanitation and +medical attention. They are supplied with churches, school buildings +and bath houses, enjoy the advantages of community singing, dramatic +clubs and public games, and receive instruction in gardening, sewing +and cooking. Better educational facilities are generally provided. + +On the whole the South will profit by this migration. Such an upheaval +was necessary to set up a reaction in the southern mind to enable its +leaders of thought to look beyond themselves into the needs of the +man far down. There is in progress, therefore, a reshaping of public +opinion, in fact a peaceful revolution in a land cursed by slavery +and handicapped by aristocracy. The tendency to maltreat the negroes +without cause, the custom of arresting them for petty offenses and the +institution of lynching have all been somewhat checked by this change +in the attitude of the southern white man towards the negro. The +check in the movement of the negroes to other parts may to some extent +interfere with this development of the new public opinion in the +South, but this movement has been so far reaching in its effect as to +compel the thinking class of the South to construct and carry out a +policy of fair play to provide against that day when that section may +find itself again at the mercy of the laboring class of the negroes. + +[Footnote 96: Work, _Report on the Migration from Alabama_.] + +[Footnote 97: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 98: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 99: Johnson, _Report on the Migration from Mississippi_.] + +[Footnote 100: Woodson, _A Century of Negro Migration_, pp. 183-186.] + +[Footnote 101: At the National Conference, "The Problems of the +Employment Manager in Industry" held at Rochester, New York, in May, +1918, considerable time was given to this question. In discussing +psychology in the employment of negro workingmen Mr. E.K. Jones, +Director of the Urban League, pointed out that negro laborers must +be given not only good housing and recreation facilities but also the +opportunity for advancement. "Give them," said he, "a chance to become +foremen and to engage in all kinds of skill and delicate labor. This +will inspire them and place new life in them."] + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE SITUATION IN ST. LOUIS + + +It will be both interesting and profitable to follow these migrants +into their new homes in the North. Among the most interesting of these +communities is the black colony in St. Louis. St. Louis is one of the +first cities of the border States, a city first in the memory of the +unsettled migrant when the North was mentioned. During a long period +thousands had gone there, settled down for a while and moved on, +largely to Illinois, a sort of promised land. Conservative estimates +place the number of negro migrants who have remained there at 10,000. +The number of migrants passing through this city, its reception +of them, the living conditions provided and the community interest +displayed in grappling with the problem are facts extremely necessary +to an understanding of the readjustment of the migrants in the North. + +The composition of the city's population is significant. It has a +large foreign element. Of the foreign population Germans predominate, +probably because of the brewery industry of the American white +population. The southern whites are of longest residence and dominate +the sentiment. The large industrial growth of the town, however, has +brought great numbers of northern whites. The result is a sort of +mixture of traditions. The apparent results of this mixture may +be observed in these inconsistencies; separate schools, but common +transportation facilities; separate playgrounds, but common bath +houses; separate theaters and restaurants with the color line drawn as +strictly as in the South.[102] There has been considerable migration +of whites to this city from Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama and +Mississippi. + +As there are separate schools in St. Louis, the statistics of the St. +Louis system may serve as an index to the sources and the increase +of the negro population. The school population was known to increase +approximately 500 between 1916 and 1917.[103] The school registration +shows communities in which have settled numbers of families from the +same State and even the same town. For example, in the vicinity of the +Dessalines School in the 1700 block on 12th Street, North, Mississippi +colonists are in preponderant majority. The towns represented here are +located in the northeastern part of that State. In the vicinity of +the L'Overture School are distinct colonies from west Tennessee and +Alabama. On Lawton Avenue, another popular street, Mississippians also +are in majority. What makes migration to St. Louis from these +States easy is probably its convenient location and direct railway +communication with them. There has been no influx from Texas and +Florida. + +How St. Louis secured her migrants makes an interesting story. The +difficulty of apprehending labor agents can be appreciated when it is +recalled that the most zealous efforts of authority in the majority +of cases failed to find more than a trace of where they had been +operating. It was asserted by many of the migrants to this city, +however, that they had been approached at some time by agents. Large +industrial plants located in the satellite city of St. Louis sent men +to Cairo, a junction point, to meet incoming trains and make offers. +There developed a competition for men. They were first induced to +accept jobs in smaller towns, but lack of recreational facilities +and amusements and the monotony of life attracted them to the bright +lights of St. Louis. The large alien population of this city at the +beginning of the war made some employers anxious about the safety +of their plants. The brick yards had been employing foreigners +exclusively. When war began so many left that it was felt that their +business was in danger. They advertised for 3,000 negroes, promising +them $2.35 per day. The railroad construction companies sent out +men to attract negroes to the city. They assert, however, that their +agents solicited men only after they had started for the North.[104] + +The industries of St. Louis had much to do with the migration. In +this city there are more than twenty breweries. None of these employ +negroes. St. Louis also has a large shoe industry. In this line no +negroes are employed. A short while ago a large steel plant employing +foreigners in large numbers had a strike. The strike was settled but +the management took precautions against its repetition. For each +white person employed a negro was placed on a corresponding job. This +parallel extended from unskilled work to the highest skilled pursuits. +The assumption was that a strike, should it recur, could not cripple +their industry entirely. About 80 per cent of the employes of the +brick yards, 50 per cent of the employes of the packing houses, 50 +per cent of the employes of the American Car and Foundry Company are +negroes. The terra cotta works, electrical plants, united railways and +a number of other foundries employ negroes in large numbers.[105] + +The range of wages for unskilled work is $2.25 to $3.35 per day, with +an average wage of about $2.75. For some skilled work negroes receive +from 35 cents to 50 cents an hour. Wages differ even between St. Louis +and East St. Louis, because of a difference in the types of industries +in the two cities. Domestic service has been literally drained, and +wages here have been forced upwards to approximate in some measure the +increase in other lines. + +The housing facilities for negroes, though not the best, are superior +to such accommodations in most southern cities. There are about six +communities in which the negroes are in the majority. Houses here are +as a rule old, having been occupied by whites before they were turned +over to negroes. Before the migration to the city, property owners +reported that they could not keep their houses rented half of the +year. According to the statements of real estate men, entire blocks +stood vacant, and many vacant houses, after windows had been broken +and plumbing stolen, were wrecked to avoid paying taxes on them. Up +to the period of the riot in East St. Louis, houses were easily +available. The only congestion experienced at all followed the +overnight increase of 7,000 negroes from East St. Louis, after the +riot. Rents then jumped 25 per cent, but normal conditions soon +prevailed. Sanitation is poor, but the women coming from the South, in +the opinion of a reputable physician of the city, are good housewives. +New blacks have been added to all of the negro residential blocks. +In the tenement district there have been no changes. The select negro +residential section is the abandoned residential district of the +whites. Few new houses have been built. An increase of rent from $5 to +$10 per month is usually the sequel of the turning over of a house to +negroes. + +Community interest in the situation was at first dormant but not +entirely lacking. The migration was well under way before there was +any organization to make an adjustment in this unusual situation. +Interested individuals made sporadic efforts to bring pressure to bear +here and there, but the situation was not really appreciated until the +outbreak in East St. Louis. There is an active branch of the National +Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and just recently +there has been established a branch of the National League on +Urban Conditions among Negroes to deal with the peculiarly local +problems.[106] + +East St. Louis, another attractive center for the migrants, is unique +among northern industrial cities. It is an industrial offshoot of St. +Louis, which has outstripped its parent in expansion. Its geographical +advantage has made it a formidable rival even with its less developed +civic institutions. Perched on the banks of the Mississippi River, +with twenty-seven railroads radiating from it, within easy reach +of the coal mines, there has been made possible a rapid and uneven +growth. It has doubled its population for three successive decades. +Revolving around this overgrown center are a number of small towns: +Brooklyn, Lovejoy, Belleville, Venice, Granite City and Madison. Its +plant owners live in St. Louis and other cities, and consequently have +little civic interest in East St. Louis. Land is cheaper, taxes +are low. In fact, some of the largest concerns have been accused of +evading them entirely. It has been artificially fed and, in process +of growth, there have been irregularities in the structure of the +community which eventually culminated in the greatest disgrace of the +North, the massacre of about one hundred negroes. + +Fifty years ago before the river dividing St. Louis from East St. +Louis was bridged, men rowed over from St. Louis for their cock +fights, dog fights and prize fights. Escaped prisoners found a haven +there. The town was called "The Bloody Isle." The older population +is made up of whites from West Tennessee, Mississippi, Kentucky and +Georgia. The men who have risen to political prominence in the +city are for the most part saloon keepers. As many as 100 saloons +flourished in the town before the riot. The city government has always +been bad. The attitude of the citizenry appeared to be that of passive +acceptance of conditions which must not be interfered with. As an +example of the state of mind, much surprise was manifested when an +investigation of the rioting was begun. Criminals have been known to +buy immunity. The mayor was assassinated some time ago and little or +no effort was made to punish his murderers. + +Long before an influx was felt, it had been foreseen and mentioned by +several men, most notably, Mr. Charles Nagel, Secretary of Commerce +and Labor under President Taft. The East St. Louis plants had been +going to Ellis Island for laborers. When this supply was checked, +steps were taken to secure negroes. Agents were sent to Cairo to get +men en route further North. One advertisement which appeared in a +Texas paper promised negroes $3.05 a day and houses. It is estimated +that as a result of this beckoning the increase in population due to +the migration was 5,000. A number of other negro migrants, however, +work in East St. Louis and live in St. Louis, Lovejoy and Brooklyn, +a negro town. The school registration of the city showed that the +largest numbers of these blacks came from Mississippi and West +Tennessee. Despite the advertisement for men in Texas newspapers, few +came to this city from that State.[107] + +The industries requiring the labor of these negroes were numerous. +The packing plants of Swift, Armour, Nelson and Morris employ large +numbers of negroes. In some of the unskilled departments fifty per +cent of the employes are black. The Aluminum Ore Works employs about +600 blacks and 1,000 whites. This is the plant in which occurred +the strike which in a measure precipitated the riot. The Missouri +Malleable Iron Works makes it a policy to keep three classes of men at +work and as nearly equal numerically as possible. The usual division +is one-third foreign whites, one-third American whites and one-third +blacks. The theory is that these three elements will not unite to +strike. Negroes are also employed in the glass works, cotton presses +and transfer yards. Their wages for unskilled work ranges from $2.75 +to $3.75 generally for eight hours a day. Semiskilled work pays from +35 cents to 50 cents an hour. + +The housing of the negro migrants was one of the most perplexing +problems in East St. Louis. The type of houses available for negroes, +before being burned during the riot, were small dilapidated cottages. +Congestion, of course, was a problem which accompanied the influx of +negroes. The incoming population, consisting largely of lodgers, was +a misfit in the small cottages designed for families, and they were +generally neglected by the tenant and by the local authorities. +The segregated vice district was located in the negro locality. The +crowding which followed the influx forced some few negroes into the +white localities. Against this invasion there was strong opposition +which culminated in trouble.[108] + +The roots of the fateful horror that made East St. Louis notorious, +however, are to be found largely in a no less notorious civic +structure. Politics of a shady nature was the handmaiden of the local +administration. The human fabric of the town was made up of sad types +of rough, questionable characters, drawn to the town by its industries +and the money that flowed from them. There was a large criminal +element. These lived in a little corner of the town, where was +located also the segregated vice district. Negroes were interested in +politics. In fact, they were a considerable factor and succeeded in +placing in office several black men of their choice. + +Trouble started at the Aluminum Ore Works which employed a large +number of whites and blacks. In February of 1917 the men struck while +working on government contracts. Immediately, it is claimed, negroes +were sought for in other States to take their places. An adjustment +was made, but it lasted only a short while. Then followed a second +strike at which the employers balked. In this they felt reasonably +secure for negroes were then pouring into the city from the South +during the spring exodus. There followed numerous evidences of +brooding conflict such as insults on the street cars, comments and +excitement over the daily arrival of large numbers from the South. +On one day three hundred are said to have arrived. Standing on +the streets, waiting for cars, lost in wandering about the streets +searching for homes, the negroes presented a helpless group. The +search for homes carried them into the most undesirable sections. +Here the scraggy edges of society met. The traditional attitude of +unionists toward negroes began to assert itself. Fear that such +large numbers would weaken present and subsequent demands aroused +considerable opposition to their presence. Meetings were held, +exciting speeches were made and street fights became common. The East +St. Louis _Journal_ is said to have printed a series of articles under +the caption, "Make East St. Louis a Lily White Town." It was a +simple matter of touching off the smoldering tinder. In the riot that +followed over a hundred negroes were killed. These, for the most part +lived away from the places of the most violent disturbances, and were +returning home, unconscious of the fate that awaited them. The riot +has recently been subject to a congressional investigation, but +few convictions resulted and those whites convicted escaped serious +punishment.[109] + +[Footnote 102: A segregation law was passed by an overwhelming +majority. Negroes secured an injunction and the matter rested there +until the United States Supreme Court declared the segregation laws +invalid.] + +[Footnote 103: St. Louis School Reports, 1916 and 1917.] + +[Footnote 104: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to St. Louis_.] + +[Footnote 105: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 106: _Reports of the National Urban League_, 1916, 1917.] + +[Footnote 107: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to St. Louis_.] + +[Footnote 108: See _Congressional Report on the Massacre of East St. +Louis_.] + +[Footnote 109: See _Congressional Report on the Massacre of East St. +Louis_.] + + + + +CHAPTER X + +CHICAGO AND ITS ENVIRONS + + +Chicago, the metropolis of the West, remembered in the South since +the World's Fair as a far-away city of hope from which come all great +things; unceasingly advertised through its tremendous mail order and +clothing houses, schools and industries until it became a synonym for +the "North," was the mouth of the stream of negroes from the South. It +attracted all types of men, brought them in, encouraged them and +cared for them because it needed them. It is estimated that within +the period of eighteen months beginning January, 1916, more than fifty +thousand negroes entered the city. This estimate was based on averages +taken from actual count of daily arrivals. + +There were at work in this city a number of agencies which served to +stimulate the movement. The stock yards were sorely in need of men. It +was reported that they had emissaries in the South. Whether it is true +or not, it is a fact that it was most widely advertised throughout the +States of Mississippi and Louisiana that employment could easily be +secured in the Chicago stock yards district. The report was circulated +that fifty thousand men were needed, and the packers were providing +houses for migrants and caring for them until they had established +themselves. The Illinois Central Railroad brought hundreds on free +transportation with the understanding that the men would enter the +employ of the company. The radical negro newspapers published +here urged negroes to leave the South and promised employment and +protection. It is indeed little wonder that Chicago received so great +a number. + +The most favorable aspect of their condition in their new home is +their opportunity to earn money. Coming from the South, where they +were accustomed to work for a few cents a day or a few dollars a week, +to an industrial center where they can now earn as much in an hour +or a day, they have the feeling that this city is really the land +overflowing with milk and honey. In the occupations in which they are +now employed, many of them are engaged at skilled labor, receiving the +same and, in some cases, greater compensation than was paid white men +in such positions prior to the outbreak of the war. Talking with a +number of them the investigator obtained such information as, that men +were working at the Wilson Packing House and receiving $3 a day; at +the Marks Manufacturing Company for $3.75; as lumber stackers at $4 a +day, at one of the rolling mills for $25 a week, and on the railroads +at $125 a month. The large majority of these migrants are engaged in +the packing houses of Chicago where they are employed to do all +sorts of skilled and unskilled labor with the corresponding +compensation.[110] + +It was soon discovered that the needs of the migrants could not all be +supplied by money. Something had to be done for their social welfare. +Various agencies assisted in caring for the needs of the 25,000 or +more negro migrants who, it is estimated, have come to Chicago within +three years. The Chicago Renting Agents' Association appointed a +special committee to study the problems of housing them and to confer +with leaders in civic organization and with representative negroes. +The Cook County Association considered the question of appointing +some one to do Sunday School work exclusively among the newcomers. +The Housing Committee of the Chicago Women's Club arranged for +an intensive survey of housing conditions. The negroes themselves +organized to help the recently arrived members of the race. Negro +ministers, lawyers, physicians and social workers cooperated in +handling the problem through churches, Sunday Schools and in other +ways.[111] + +The negroes residing in Chicago, who came from particular States in +the South organized clubs to look after the migrants from their +own States. The result was that an Alabama Club, a Georgia Club, +Mississippi Club, Tennessee Club and so on were formed. Committees +from these clubs met the train and helped the newcomers to find +homes and work. The chief agency in handling the migrant situation +in Chicago was the local branch of the National League on Urban +Conditions among Negroes. The work which the league did for the +migrants as set forth in the report of 1917 was of three kinds: +employment, housing and adjustment or assimilation. The policy of +the Urban League with regard to employment was to find and, where +possible, to open new occupations hitherto denied negroes. The housing +problem was urgent. The most that the league was able to do thus +far was to find lodging, to assist in finding houses. Lodging +accommodations for more than 400 individuals were personally inspected +by several women volunteers. It is impossible to do much else short of +the construction of apartments for families and for single men. + +The league's first efforts to assimilate the new people started +with their entrance to the city. To see that they received proper +directions upon reaching the railroad station was an important task. +It was able to secure the services of a volunteer travelers' aid +society. This agent met trains and directed migrants to destinations +when they had addresses of relatives and friends. In the absence of +such they were sent to proper homes for lodging, and to the league +office for employment. + +The great majority of negroes in Chicago live in a limited area known +as the South Side. State Street is the thoroughfare. It is the +black belt of the city. This segregation is aided on one hand by the +difficulty of securing houses in other sections of the city, and on +the other, by the desire of negroes to live where they have greatest +political strength. Previous to the migration, hundreds of houses +stood vacant in the sections of the district west of State Street from +which they had moved only a few years before, when it was found that +better homes were available. The presence of negroes in an exclusively +white locality usually brought forth loud protests and frequently +ended in the abandonment of the block by whites. The old district +lying west of State Street held the worst type of houses. It was also +in disrepute because of its proximity to the old segregated vice area. +The newcomers, unacquainted with its reputation, found no hesitancy in +moving in until better homes could be secured. + +Congestion has been a serious problem only during short periods +when the influx was greater than the city's immediate capacity for +distributing them. During the summer of 1917 this was the situation. A +canvass of real estate dealers supplying houses for negroes conducted +by the Chicago Urban League revealed the fact that on a single day +there were 664 negro applicants for houses, and only 50 supplied, +while there were 97 houses advertised for rent. In some instances as +many as ten persons were listed for a single house. This condition +did not continue long. There were counted thirty-six new localities +opening up to negroes within three months. These localities were +formerly white. + +An accompaniment to this congestion was the increase in rents of +from 5 to 30 per cent and sometimes as high as 50 per cent. This +was explained by landlords as a return to former standards after the +property had depreciated through the coming in of negroes. A more +detailed study of living conditions among the migrants in Chicago was +made by a student of the School of Civics and Philanthropy. The study +included 75 families of less than a year's residence. In the group +were 60 married couples, 128 children, eight women and nine married +men with families in the South. + +How this large group--265 persons--fresh from a region where life +is enlivened by a mild climate and ample space was to find living +quarters in an overcrowded section of two Chicago blocks was a problem +of many aspects. A single furnished room, rented by the week, provided +the solution for each of 41 families, while 24 families rented +homes by the month, four families occupied two rooms each. In some +instances, this meant overcrowding so serious as to threaten morals +and health. The Urban League interested corporations and capitalists +in the construction of modern apartment houses with small individual +apartments. It endeavored also to have the city see the necessity +of preventing occupancy of the physically unfit houses. The league +conducted a campaign to educate the masses in regard to housing, +and payment of exorbitant rents was discouraged. The various city +departments were asked to enforce ordinances in negro neighborhoods. +In this way the league tried to reduce overcrowding and extortionate +rentals. + +All of the arrivals here did not stay. They were only temporary guests +awaiting the opportunity to proceed further and settle in surrounding +cities and towns. This tendency appears to have been to reach those +fields offering the highest wages and most permanent prospects. With +Chicago as a center there are within a radius of from one hundred +to one hundred and fifty miles a number of smaller industrial +centers--suburbs of Chicago in which enterprises have sprung +up because of the nearness to the unexcelled shipping and other +facilities which Chicago furnished. A great many of the migrants who +came to Chicago found employment in these satellite places.[112] + +One of these towns was Rockford, a city of about 55,000 people before +Camp Grant began to add to its population. It is estimated that there +were about 1,500 negroes in Rockford, 1,000 of whom came in during +1916 and 1917. The Rockford Malleable Iron Company, which never hired +more than five or six negroes until two years ago, has nearly one +hundred in its employ. A timekeeper, five inspectors, a machinist, a +porter, three foremen and twenty of the molders are negroes. The +Free Sewing Machine Company, Emerson and Birmingham, the Trahern Pump +Company and the two knitting factories began also to employ negroes. +The standard wage prevailed, and, while the unskilled work was largely +given to the negroes, there were instances when opportunity was given +for them to follow pursuits requiring skill. + +Housing showed every evidence of congestion. The city was unprepared +for the unprecedented increase in population necessitated by the +demands of its factories for men to produce munitions of war. The +workingmen, however, were soon better provided for than in some other +cities. The Rockford Malleable Iron Company conducted two houses +for the accommodation of its employes and rented several smaller +ones.[113] This company had recently purchased a large acreage and +was considering the advisability of building houses for its employes, +including the negro migrants. The Emerson and Birmingham Company and +the Sewing Machine Company had similar plans under advisement. + +The Rockford Malleable Iron Company was the first to use negroes. In +the fall of 1916 the first negro employes were brought in from Canton, +Illinois, through a Mr. Robinson then employed by the company as +a molder. There were nine molders in the group. At brief intervals +Tuskegee sent up four, then five, then eight and then six men, most +of whom had had training in machinery and molding. The total number +of Tuskegee boys was 32. Robinson also brought men from Metropolis, +Illinois, and from Kankakee. He made a trip through Alabama and +brought up 15 or 16. Most of these were laborers. Seven laborers came +as a result of correspondence with a physician from Des Moines, Iowa. +From Christiansburg, Virginia, the only negro blacksmith came. The +Urban League also sent up some men from Chicago. The company was so +pleased with the men's service that they called upon the Urban +League for more men and placed in its hands a fund for their railroad +expenses.[114] + +Negroes were promoted from time to time and were used in every +department of the shop. One of the men was an inspector. Two new +machines turning out work faster than any other machine were turned +over to the negroes. All of them were given steady work without +being forced to lay off, and their wages were increased. Street car +companies and officials in Rockford have congratulated the men +upon their conduct. Two of the men who came up from the South were +purchasing property. + +When the increase in negro population became noticeable, a good deal +of discrimination appeared in public places. The mayor of the +city, therefore, called a conference of the Chamber of Commerce, +of representatives from Camp Grant, hotels, skating rinks and other +public places and read the civil rights law to them. He gave them to +understand that Rockford would not stand for discrimination between +races. When some of the conferees thought they would like to have +separate tables in the restaurants the mayor opposed them and +insisted that there should be no such treatment. One restaurant, which +displayed a sign, "We do not cater to colored trade," was given orders +by the Chief of Police to take it down in fifteen minutes, when his +deputy would arrive with instructions to carry out the law in case the +sign was not removed. + +Waukegan, a town thirty miles northwest of Chicago, with a total +population of about 22,000 has approximately 400 negroes, where two +years ago there were about 275. The Wilder Tanning Company and the +American Steel and Wire Company employed the largest number of these +negroes. These firms worked about 60 and 80 respectively. Smaller +numbers were employed by the Gas Company, the Calk Mill, the Cyclone +Fence Company, the Northwestern Railroad freight house and a bed +spring factory and several were working at the Great Lakes Naval +Training Station. A few found employment as porters in barber shops +and theaters. At the Wilder Tanning Company and the American Steel and +Wire Company, opportunity was given negroes to do semiskilled work. +The former was working negroes into every branch of its industry. The +average daily wage here was about $3.[115] + +The secretary of the Chamber of Commerce believed that the influx +did not cause anything more than a ripple on the surface. He said: "I +cover everything when I say that, no apparent increase in crime; +no trouble among themselves; no race friction." Theaters began to +discriminate, but soon ceased. The proprietor of the Sheridan Club +stated that he took a group of men to one theater which had shown +signs of discrimination. Each man was told to purchase his own ticket. +The owner observing the scheme admitted them. Very few restaurants +refuse to serve negroes. Only one openly segregated them to a +particular part of the dining-room. Absolutely no trouble was +experienced in the schools. The police commissioner sees that the +negroes have the protection of the law. + +East Chicago, an industrial center located about twenty-five +miles from Chicago with a population now made up in large part of +Hungarians, Poles, Italians and negroes, had only one negro family +in 1915. During the month of August, 1916, about 150 negroes came and +others soon followed. At present there are about 75 families, 35 or +40 children of school age and about 450 men working in the industrial +plants. The majority of these newcomers were from the rural districts +of Alabama and Georgia, with a few from Mississippi. A large number of +negroes, moreover, live in Indiana Harbor and in Chicago and work in +East Chicago.[116] + +Some of the people went to Indiana Harbor for church services. During +the summer of 1917, an attempt was made to organize a church, but it +was unsuccessful and almost excited a racial conflict. The negroes +from Alabama and Georgia complained about the wickedness of East +Chicago, and declared their intentions of going home, "where they can +sing without appearing strange, and where they can hear somebody else +pray besides themselves." Few racial clashes, however, have followed. +A strike which occurred at Gasselli's Chemical Company was at first +thought to be a protest of the foreigners against the 80 negroes +employed there. Nothing serious developed from it. The only apparent +dangers were in thoughtlessness on the part of negroes in their +conduct. They were too badly needed in industry to be harshly treated +either by the foreigners or their employers.[117] + +In Beloit, Wisconsin, as in other cities, it was impossible to find +out with any degree of accuracy the approximate number of negroes. +Estimates of the number ranged from 700 to 2,000, whereas, before the +influx, the black population was as low as 200. The total population +of Beloit is about 20,000. There are now two negro churches, a Baptist +and an African Methodist Episcopal. The Baptist church was said to be +made up entirely of new people. Beloit did not have a negro Baptist +preacher until the migration, and had no negro physicians. Prior to +the influx there was little discrimination, except in some of the +restaurants and occasionally in the theaters. One negro was working +at the post office, and another at the railroad station. Aside from +these, the negro men were practically all laborers and porters. + +As is true in most small cities, one company took the initiative in +sending for men from the South. The Fairbanks Morse Company was the +pioneer corporation in this respect in Beloit. This company hires at +present 200 men. Most of these came from Mississippi. In fact, Albany +and Pontotoc, small towns in Mississippi, are said to have dumped +their entire population in Beloit. A few from Memphis, Tennessee, +were employed there but the company preferred Mississippians, and had +agents at work in that State getting men for its plant. It was said +to be fair in its treatment of negroes and to pay the standard +wages.[118] + +Milwaukee was one of the ready recipients of negro migrants from other +points in the North. Following the outbreak of the war, the consequent +cessation of foreign immigration and the withdrawal of a number of +aliens from the labor market to follow their national colors, a large +demand for negro labor was for the first time created. Milwaukee +apparently could not attract voluntary migration, and the larger +plants were forced to import some 1,200 southern negroes to man their +industries. In 1910, the city had a negro population of 980. There are +now in Milwaukee about 2,700 negroes of whom 1,500 are newcomers, not +only from the South, but from the adjacent States of Illinois, Iowa, +Michigan and Minnesota.[119] + +This migration to Milwaukee caused a number of difficulties. The first +difficulty to arise was in the relationship of the migrant to the old +residents of the city. Like the newly arrived foreigners they lived +rather "close lives," had little contact with the people of the +community and as a consequence were slow in changing their southern +standards. This lack of contact was registered in the slight +attendance in the colored churches, which are by far the most common +medium of personal contact among negroes. The leading pastors and +two others who have made unsuccessful attempts to establish churches +complained that the newcomers, although accustomed to going to church +in their old homes, "strayed from the fold" in the large city. There +was also a certain unmistakable reticence on the part of the newcomers +with respect to the negroes of longer residence. The new arrivals +were at times suspicious of the motives of the older residents, and +resented being advised how to conduct themselves. They were for the +most part not in touch with any civic agency. The migrants, therefore, +came into contact with the lower element. The recreations and +amusements of the newcomers were those which the social outcasts +furnished them.[120] + +Another anomaly was to be observed in the motives behind the +migration. The most recent European immigrants, unfamiliar with the +character of the plants, having strong bodies and a disposition to +work, are engaged as unskilled laborers. They do not, of course, +remain at this level, but are continually pushed forward by later +comers. The men who filled these lower positions were not the best +type of foreigners. When the war began and this influx from Europe +was stopped, it was for these positions that the plants were forced +to seek men. Negroes were sought in the South, but, unfortunately, the +emphasis was placed on quantity and not quality. Those who were able +to move on shortest notice, those with few responsibilities and few +interests at home, were snapped up by the labor agents. This blunder +has also registered itself in the records of the city and the +character of the negro migrants. This was probably due to the fact +that little is known of Milwaukee in the South. Unlike Chicago, +Detroit, New York and other northern cities, it was not a popular +destination for voluntary migration. Agents who scoured the South for +men testified that in a large number of cases the first question asked +was whether or not Milwaukee was a wet town, for the southern States +have prohibited the sale of liquor. While Chicago got advertisement +in the South through its great mail order business, most of what was +known of Milwaukee related to its breweries. + +The negroes here, however, had numerous industrial opportunities. +The manner in which the trades suddenly opened up to them made it +difficult to ascertain the number of negroes so engaged. An intensive +study of a neighborhood showed a much wider variety of skilled negro +laborers and brought to light the cases of many not otherwise known. +One man in touch with the iron workers of the city ventured the +statement that there were perhaps 75 negroes engaged in skilled work +in the iron and steel industries of the city. In a large number of +other plants one or two negroes had succeeded in finding skilled +employment. Firms known to employ negroes in the capacity of skilled +workmen are the Plankington Packing Company, Wehr Steel and Machine +Shops, the National Malleable Iron Works, A.J. Lindeman-Hoverson +Company and the Milwaukee Coke and Gas Company. For the most part +skilled negroes are butchers and molders.[121] + +In the case of negroes from the South with trades, however, there +arose a situation which is seldom fully appreciated. A man in the +South may be skilled in such an independent trade as shoemaking, +tailoring, carpentry and the like, but in a northern city with its +highly specialized industrial processes and divisions of labor, he +must learn over again what he thought he had mastered, or abandon his +trade entirely and seek employment in unskilled lines. The wages for +skilled work were for butchers, 55 to 64 cents an hour; for steel +molders, 35 to 47 cents an hour; for firemen, $27 per week; for +chauffeurs, $15 to $30 a week; for shoemakers, $20 a week; stationary +firemen, $24 a week. The mass of negroes, men and women, gainfully +employed in the city was made up of manual laborers. Vacancies for +negroes in industry were made at the bottom. The range of occupations +in unskilled work, however, was fairly wide. They were packing house +employes, muckers, tannery laborers, street construction workers, dock +hands and foundry laborers. Their wages were for foundry laborers, +32-1/2 cents to 35 cents an hour; for muckers, $28 a week; for tannery +laborers, $24 a week; dock hands, 60 cents an hour; and for packing +house laborers, 43 cents an hour (male), and 30-1/2 cents an hour +(female). There were also porters in stores and janitors whose weekly +wages averaged between $15 and $18 per week. + +Several firms made strenuous efforts to induce laborers to come from +the South. The Pfister-Vogel Company employed a negro to secure them +for this purpose, and made preparation for their lodging and board. +This representative stated that he was responsible for the presence +of about 300 negroes in the city. Reverend J.S. Woods of the Booker +T. Washington social settlement, who was actively engaged in assisting +the plants, asserted that he had placed over 400. The Albert Trostel +Company paid transportation for nearly 100 men. + +The principal industries employing negroes with the number employed +were about as follows:[122] + + Number + Firm Male Female + +Plankington Packing Co. 78 10 +Albert Trostel Leather Co. 75 30 +Faulk's Manufacturing Co. 34 +Hoffman Manufacturing Co. 2 +Tunnell Construction Co. 10 +Milwaukee Coke and Gas Co. 38 +Pfister-Vogel Tannery 75 +A.J. Lindeman-Hoverson Co. 13 +National Malleable Iron Co. 22 +Solvay Steel Castings Co. 24 +Allis Chalmers 70 + + +On December 1, 1917, the Plankington Packing Company employed 93 men +and 27 women. The Pfister-Vogel Company had only 75 men in its employ. +This company, however, within 18 months had employed 300 negroes from +the South. + +Concerning the range of wages for negroes in these lines the data +provided by these firms gave some means of information. + +Firms Male Female + +Plankington Packing Co. 43c to 64c an hour 30-1/2c an hour +Faulk's Manufacturing Co. 35c to 47c an hour +Hoffman Manufacturing Co. 32-1/2c an hour +Tunnell Construction Co. $4 a day +Albert Trostel Co. 40c an hour 30c an hour +Milwaukee Coke and Gas Co. $3.67 to $4.79 a day +A.J. Lindeman-Hoverson Co. $3 to $5 a day +National Malleable Iron Co. 35c an hour to $4 a day +Pfister-Vogel Tannery $22 to $24 a week + +The quality of the workingmen is of interest both to the employers and +social workers. To get uniform data employers were asked the principal +faults and principal merits of their negro workmen. To the question, +"What are the principal faults of your negro workmen?" these answers +were given:[123] + + None that predominate. + + The principal fault of negro workmen is, they are slow and + very hard to please. + + Not good on rapid moving machinery, have not had mechanical + training; slow; not stable. + + Inclined to be irregular in attendance to work. + + Very unsteady. + + Leave in summertime for road work. + +To the question, "What are the principal merits of your negro +workmen?" these answers were given: + + They are superior to foreign labor because they readily + understand what you try to tell them. + + Loyalty, willingness, cheerfulness. + + The skilled men stick and are good workmen. + + Generally speaking they are agreeable workmen. + + Quicker, huskier, and can stand more heat than other workmen. + + +The attitude of white and black workmen toward one another in none of +the plants visited presented anything like a serious situation. The +following are answers to questions relating to this sentiment as +returned by the important industries:[124] + + No feeling--no complaints--no comments. + + White and black get along well. There was a little trouble + some time ago between a Jewish foreman and his negro workmen. + All the negroes quit. The matter was investigated and the + foreman discharged. + + Good. + + The relations are favorable, although negroes appear a bit + clannish. + + Good fellowship prevails. + + Negroes do not stay long enough to get acquainted. + + Good in most cases. Very little opposition. They are working + as helpers with whites. Few objections. + +As a final effort to get the opinion of employers themselves +concerning the best means of improving their labor, a suggestion from +them on this matter was solicited. Their views are subjoined:[125] + + A rather broad question and one that could only be answered + after considerable study. Believe the great trouble with negro + labor has been the fact that a poor class of negroes has been + employed by many. We have a good lot of workers now. + + Some means should be devised to get them away from their + general shiftless ways. + + Education. + + As a negro can be very contented and happy on very little, if + their living conditions were improved and the desire created + in them to improve their condition, this would be a help + towards encouragement in bettering their social condition. + In fact, we feel that anything that would help to better the + social attention of the negro would make him a better workman. + + Better housing and supervision through some responsible + organization. Some way to keep sympathetic watch over them. + +Without doubt there is an element of truth in each of these comments. +It is unquestionably true that a large number of these men register +by their actions instability, irregularity and general shiftlessness. +Some of these cases are inexcusable, and the only reason for their +connection with the industry is the fact that they were brought from +the South, where they were voluntarily idle, by agents of employers. +The importation merely shifted the scene of their deliberate loafing +and spasmodic contact with work. + +Employers in all of the plants know that they have had difficulty +in holding their negro labor, but do not know why. Most of the +men willing to leave the city were unmarried men with few +responsibilities. These are the ones who found employment there and, +being dissatisfied, quit. The highest negro labor turnover was in +the leather factories. But for this there was a reason. The only +employment permitted negroes there was wet and very disagreeable beam +work, and at wages not in excess of those paid by neighboring plants +with a different grade of work. Inquiries among laboring men reveal +reasons plausible indeed to the laborers themselves, which in many +cases would have been found reasonable also by the employers. + +It is generally known that all classes of labor of all nationalities +are in an unsettled state. Shifting to the higher paid industries +is common. In consequence the disagreeable and poorly paid ones have +suffered. The instability of negroes, especially in those industries +that have been so hard pressed as to find it necessary to go South for +men, is not so much a group characteristic as an expression of present +tendencies in labor generally. + +Reasons of a more intimate nature advanced by the men for changing +jobs are numerous. Among these are dissatisfaction with the treatment +of petty white bosses, the necessity for ready money for the care of +their families, the distance of the plants from the district in which +the negro workmen live[126] and the unpleasant indoor work in certain +factories. + +The social condition of negroes in Milwaukee is not alarming. There +are indicated, however, unmistakable maladjustments which require +immediate attention. But even these will not become alarming, if +checked now, when preventive measures can be made practicable, +attractive and easy. + +The neighborhoods in which negroes live have long showed evidence of +physical and moral deterioration. The addition of 1,400 negroes +from the South, over 70 per cent of whom were brought to the city by +companies seeking labor, hastened the deterioration and gave rise to +problems where only tendencies existed before. Neighborhood life is +conspicuously lax and the spirit of the community quite naturally +comports with the looseness and immorality of the district. Though +such conditions are plainly evident, no organized influence has been +projected to correct them. As with the neighborhood, so with housing, +crime, delinquency, education, recreation, industry, and the like, +the conditions which retard developmental habits must have constant +vigilance and treatment. + +[Footnote 110: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 111: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 112: The Detroit branch of the Urban League reported, for +example, that a great percentage of its applicants for work were from +Chicago.] + +[Footnote 113: The two large houses accommodated fifty to sixty men. +One of these was known as the Tuskegee Club House and housed only men +from Tuskegee Institute.] + +[Footnote 114: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 115: In May, 1917, the Sherman House on Genesee Street in +the heart of the city became a negro hotel. It has 19 bedrooms and +accommodates 35 men. It was poorly managed and dirty. A barber shop, +pool room and dining room were run in connection with it and were also +poorly managed. The manager of the hotel is one of the newcomers. +A rooming house and dance hall for negroes is operated in another +section of the city. The Wilder Tanning Company was building a hotel +for 50 single men and individual houses of five, six, seven and eight +rooms for families. Houses for white workmen were to be built by the +company after these were completed. Lawrence Wilder, president of the +company, stated that the building of these houses was no "experiment." +"They are being put up to stay." Hot and cold water, hot air, heat, +electric lights, and shower baths will be in the hotel. Single rooms +will rent for $1.25, double rooms $2.50 per week. No women will be +permitted to live in the hotel. A social room will be within easy +access of all occupants. No meals will be served at the hotel, but +will be served at the plant. The houses will be one and two stories +and can be purchased on a monthly basis. A street car line will +connect the plant and the subdivision. + +Before the influx the Cyclone Fence Company and the Calk Mill Company +were said to have sworn never to employ negro labor. The Wilder +Tanning Company and the American Steel and Wire Company have standing +invitations for negro men with references.--Johnson, _Report on the +Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 116: They were employed by the Gasselli Chemical Company, +Goldsmiths Detinning Company, the International Lead Refining Company, +the United States Reduction Company, the United States Refining +Company, Hobson and Walker's Brick Yard, the Inland Steel Foundry, +Interstate Mill, the Cudahy Soap Factory and the Republic Rolling +Mill. The Hobson and Walker's Brick Yard employed 200 and provided +houses within the yards for the families of the workmen. The +International Lead Refining Company provided lodging for its men in +remodeled box cars. Wages for ordinary labor ranged from $2.50 to +$4.50 per day. This did not include the amount that might be made by +overtime work. The brick yard employed negroes for unskilled work at +35 cents an hour. A few skilled negroes employed were receiving from +$4.75 to $7 a day. + +Negroes are fairly well scattered throughout the foreign residential +section. A small area known as "Oklahoma" or "Calumet" had perhaps the +largest number. The houses were overcrowded, dark, insanitary, without +privacy and generally unattractive. All of the rooms were sleeping +rooms, usually with two beds in a room accommodating six men. Rent was +high, and ranged from $15 to $25 a month for four and five room flats +in very unattractive buildings. Single lodgers paid from $1.50 to +$1.75 a week. Restaurant rates were exorbitant and food was so high +that many of the families bought their provisions in Chicago. + +There were no churches or in fact any wholesome social institutions in +town. There were many flourishing saloons. There was one colored pool +room, and one colored restaurant. On occasions, a hall belonging to +the whites was used for dances and socials.--Johnson, _Report on the +Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 117: Following each pay day from twenty to thirty negroes +left for their homes in the South. Some returned when their funds were +about exhausted and worked five or six months more. Others remained at +home for the winter. "It was expected that the brick yard would lose +a very large number on the 8th of November. On the 15th of December +another large contingent leaves for the South."--Johnson, _Report on +the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 118: There was great congestion in housing, as the negroes +were restricted to certain sections with homes usually kept in +insanitary condition. A very large housing plan of the company +met with objection on the part of the white citizens who sent in a +petition to the City Council against building houses for negroes. The +City Council said they wanted the housing property for park purposes. +The matter was taken to court. The Council condemned the property but +failed to sustain the belief that it was needed for a park. Through +various methods of red tape and legal procedure the matter was +delayed. The company then built houses on a smaller scale. The plans +included two apartment houses that would accommodate six families +each. There were also in the course of erection houses for men with +families to take the place of some improvised huts which the +company had found necessary to use to facilitate the work of the +men.--Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 119: Before 1910, 114 persons had arrived; between 1911 +and 1915, 72; during 1916, 74; during 1917, 102; and during 1918, 40 +persons had arrived.] + +[Footnote 120: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 121: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 122: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 123: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 124: Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + +[Footnote 125: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 126: A simple situation of this nature registers itself +without explanation against the character of negroes in the records of +the firms. The Pfister-Vogel Company had a house on Clinton Street +in which lived twenty or more negroes. This location is eight or ten +miles away from the community in which negroes live. There are no +amusements for these young men around Clinton Street. The cars stop +running at a comparatively early hour. If they go to the city they +must either come back in a taxicab or spend the evening away from +home. It is less expensive to spend the evening away. As a result they +are late for work and may not report. If they report, they are tired +and unfit for work. If they do not they are put down as irregular and +unsteady.--Johnson, _Report on the Migration to Chicago_.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +THE SITUATION AT POINTS IN THE MIDDLE WEST + + +The most important city in this section to be affected by the +migration was Pittsburgh, the gateway to the West. The Pittsburgh +district is the center of the steel industry. For this reason, the war +caused the demand for labor to be extremely heavy there. Pittsburgh +was one of the centers to which the greatest number of negroes went. +Before the migration, a considerable number of negroes were employed +there. In 1900, the negro population of Allegheny county, in which +Pittsburgh is situated, was 27,753. In 1910 it was 34,217. When the +migration began, the county had about 38,000 negroes. Investigations +and estimates indicate that, at the end of 1917, the negro population +of the county had increased to almost 66,000. Epstein in his survey of +_The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh_ said:[127] + + From a canvass of twenty typical industries in the Pittsburgh + district, it was found that there were 2,550 negroes employed + in 1915, and 8,325 in 1917, an increase of 5,775 or 227 per + cent. It was impossible to obtain labor data from more than + approximately sixty per cent of the negro employing concerns, + but it is fair to assume that the same ratio of increase holds + true of the remaining forty per cent. On this basis the number + of negroes now employed in the district may be placed at + 14,000. This means that there are about 9,750 more negroes + working in the district today than there were in 1915, an + addition due to the migration from the South. + +According to Epstein, the migration had been going on for little +longer than one year. Ninety-three per cent of those who gave the time +of residence in Pittsburgh had been there less than one year. More +than eighty per cent of the single men interviewed had been there +less than six months. In the number who had been there for the longest +period, married men predominated, showing the tendency of this class +to become permanent residents. This fact becoming evident, some +industrial concerns bringing men from the South, having learned from +bitter experience that the mere delivery of negroes from a southern +city did not guarantee a sufficient supply of labor, made an effort to +secure married men only, and even to investigate them prior to their +coming. Differences in recruiting methods may also explain why some +employers and labor agents hold a very optimistic view of the negro as +a worker, while others despair of him. The reason why Pittsburgh has +been unable to secure a stable labor force is doubtless realized by +the local manufacturers. Married negroes come to the North to stay. +They desire to have their families with them, and if they are not +accompanied North by their wives and children they plan to have them +follow at the earliest possible date. + +It would appear that the stability of the labor supply depended to a +very large extent upon the housing conditions. It was found that in +many instances men who had families went to other cities where they +hoped to find better accommodations. The Pittsburgh manufacturer will +never keep an efficient labor supply of negroes until he learns to +compete with the employers of other cities in a housing program as +well as in wages. The negro migration in Pittsburgh, however, did not +cause a displacement of white laborers. Every man was needed, as there +were more jobs than men to fill them. Pittsburgh's industrial life was +for a time dependent upon the negro labor supply, and the city has not +received a sufficient supply of negroes, and certainly not so many +as smaller industrial towns, although the railroads and a few of +the industrial concerns of the locality have had labor agents in the +South. Yet, in spite of the difficulties because of the obstructive +tactics adopted in certain southern communities to prevent the negro +exodus, they have nevertheless succeeded in bringing several thousand +negroes into this district. "One company, for instance," says Epstein, +"which imported about a thousand men within the past year, had only +about three hundred of these working at the time of the investigator's +visit in July, 1917. One railroad, which is said to have brought about +fourteen thousand people to the North within the last twelve months, +has been able to keep an average of only eighteen hundred at work." +These companies, however, have failed to hold the newcomers. + +The problems created by this sudden increase of Pittsburgh's +population were very grave. In the early part of 1917, plans were +formulated to make a social survey of the migrants in Pittsburgh. +Cooperating in this survey were the University of Pittsburgh, the +Associated Charities, the Social Service Commission of the Churches of +Christ and the National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes. +In March, 1917, the director of the Department of Public Health, +instructed the sanitary inspectors to pay special attention to all +premises occupied by the "newcomers." Another step in this direction +was the establishment in that city of a branch of the National League +on Urban Conditions among Negroes. + +A survey made in 1917 showed that the housing situation was the most +serious aspect of the migrants' social problems, and that in order +to have improvements in other lines housing conditions must be made +better. Because of the high cost of materials and labor incident +to the war, because the taxation system still does not encourage +improvements and because of investment attractions other than in +realty, few houses had been built and practically no improvements had +been made. This was most strikingly apparent in the poorer sections of +the city. In the negro sections, for instance, there had been almost +no houses added and few vacated by whites within the previous two +years. The addition, therefore, of thousands of negroes just arrived +from southern States meant not only the creation of new negro quarters +and the dispersion of negroes throughout the city, but also the utmost +utilization of every place in the negro sections capable of being +transformed into habitations. Attics and cellars, storerooms and +basements, churches, sheds and warehouses had to be employed for the +accommodation of these newcomers. Whenever a negro had space which he +could possibly spare, it was converted into a sleeping place; as many +beds as possible were crowded into it, and the maximum number of +men per bed were lodged. Either because their own rents were high or +because they were unable to withstand the temptation of the sudden, +and, for all they knew, temporary harvest, or perhaps because of the +altruistic desire to assist their race fellows, a majority of the +negroes in Pittsburgh converted their homes into lodging houses. + + Because rooms were hard to come by the lodgers were not + disposed to complain about the living conditions or the prices + charged. They were only too glad to secure a place where they + could share a half or at least a part of an unclaimed bed. It + was no easy task to find room for a family, as most boarding + houses would accept only single men, and refused to admit + women and children. Many a man, who with his family occupied + only one or two rooms, made place for a friend or former + townsman and his family. In many instances this was done from + unselfish motives and in a humane spirit.[128] + +How the negroes are employed will throw more light on their situation. +The Epstein investigation showed that + + Ninety-five per cent of the migrants who stated their + occupations were doing unskilled labor, in the steel mills, + the building trades, on the railroads, or acting as servants, + porters, janitors, cooks and cleaners. Only twenty, or + four per cent out of 493 migrants whose occupations were + ascertained, were doing what may be called semiskilled + or skilled work, as puddlers, mold-setters, painters and + carpenters. On the other hand, in the South 59 out of 529 + claimed to have been engaged in skilled labor, while a large + number were rural workers. + +The following table shows the occupations of migrants in Pittsburgh as +compared with statements of occupations in the South: + +Occupations In Pittsburgh % In South % + +Common laborer 468 95 286 54 +Skilled + or semiskilled 20 4 59 11 +Farmer -- -- 81 15 +Miner -- -- 36 7 +Sawmill workers -- -- 9 2 +Ran own farm or + father's farm -- -- 22 5 +Ran farm on crop + sharing basis -- -- 33 6 +Other occupations 5 1 0 0 + +It seems clear that most of the migrants were engaged in unskilled +labor. The reason given by the manufacturers in accounting for this +disparity were that the migrants are inefficient and unstable, and +that the opposition to them on the part of the white labor prohibits +their use on skilled jobs.[1] Ninety-five per cent of the negro +workers in the steel mills were unskilled laborers. "In the bigger +plants," says the investigator, "where many hundreds of negroes are +employed, almost one hundred per cent are doing common labor, while +in the smaller plants, a few might be found doing labor which required +some skill." Epstein believes that this idea is often due to the +prejudice of the heads of departments and other labor employers. A +sympathetic superintendent of one of the large steel plants said that +in many instances it was the superintendents and managers themselves +who are not alive to their own advantage, and so oppose the negroes in +doing the better classes of work. The same superintendent said that +he had employed negroes for many years; that a number of them had been +connected with his company for several years; that they are just +as efficient as the white people. More than half of the twenty-five +negroes in his plant were doing semiskilled and even skilled work. He +had one or two negro foremen over negro gangs, and cited an instance +of a black man drawing $114 in his last two weeks' pay. This claim +was supported by a very intelligent negro who was stopped a few blocks +away from the plant and questioned as to the conditions there. While +admitting everything that the superintendent said, and stating that +there is now absolute free opportunity for negroes in that plant, +the man asserted that these conditions have obtained within the last +year.[129] + +It was found that in the Pittsburgh district the great mass of workers +get higher wages than in the places from which they come. Fifty-six +per cent received less than $2 a day in the South, while only five per +cent received such wages in Pittsburgh. However, the number of those +who said they received high wages in the South is greater than the +number of those receiving them there. Fifteen per cent said they +received more than $3.60 a day at home, while only five per cent +said they received more than that rate for twelve hours' work there. +Sixty-seven per cent of the 453 persons stating their earnings here, +earn less than $3 a day. Twenty-eight per cent earn from $3 to $3.60 a +day, while only five per cent earn more than $3.60 a day. The average +working day for both Pittsburgh and the South is ten and four-tenths +hours. The average wage is $2.85 here; in the South it amounted to +$2.15. It may be interesting to point out that the number of married +men who work longer hours and receive more money is proportionately +greater than that of the single men, who have not "given hostage to +fortune." + +Judging from what has been said about the habits of living among the +negro migrants in Pittsburgh, they are of the best class of their +race. Chief among those to be mentioned is their tendency to abstain +from the use of intoxicants although it has often been said that the +cause of the migration from the South was due to the desire of negroes +in prohibition States to go where they may make free use of whisky. +In this city it was observed that out of 470 persons who answered +questions with reference to whether or not they imbibed only 210 of +them said that they drank, while 267 made no use of intoxicants at +all. It was also observed that among those who have families, the +percentage of those addicted to drink is much smaller than that of +others who are single or left their families in the South. This, +no doubt, accounts for the orderly conduct of these negroes who, +according to statistics, have not experienced a wave of crime. The +records of the courts show numerous small offenses charged to the +account of negroes, but these usually result from temptations +and snares set by institutions of vice which are winked at by the +community. + +These negroes, on the whole, are thrifty and will eventually attach +themselves permanently to the community through the acquisition +of desirable property and elevation to positions of trust in the +industries where they are employed. Evidences of the lazy and +shiftless and the immoral are not frequent, because of a sort of +spirit of thrift pervading the whole group. Many of the families have +savings accounts in banks, and practically all of the married men +separated from their families in the South send a large portion of +their earnings from time to time. Money order receipts and stubs of +checks examined show that these remittances to distant families range +from between $5 to $10 a week. Others have seen fit to divert +their income to objects more enterprising. They are educating their +children, purchasing homes and establishing businesses to minister to +the needs of their own peculiar group. + +In view of the desirability of most migrants in this city, several +persons have seen fit to make a comparison of the negro and foreign +labor, with a view to determining whether or not the employment +of negroes in the North will be permanent, as they may easily be +displaced by the foreigners immigrating into this country in the +future. The consensus of opinion is that the blacks are profitable +laborers, but that their efficiency must be decidedly increased to +compete with that of the white workers. Some of the faults observed +are that they are as yet unadapted to the "heavy and pace-set labor +in the steel mills." Accustomed to the comparatively easy going +plantation and farm work of the South, it will take some time for +these migrants to find themselves. "They can not even be persuaded to +wait until pay day, and they like to get money in advance, following +the habit that they acquired from the southern credit system. It is +often secured on very flimsy pretexts and spent immediately in the +saloons and similar places." Yet the very persons who make this +estimate of the negro laborer say that the negroes born in the North +or who have been in the North some time are as efficient as the +whites, and that because of their knowledge of the language and the +ways of this country, they are often much better than the foreign +laborers who understand neither. + +The principal industrial centers in Ohio to which the migrants went +were Cincinnati, Middletown, Akron, Dayton, Springfield, Youngstown, +Columbus and Cleveland. The city which took the lead in endeavoring +to handle the migration problem was Cleveland. This was due to +a considerable extent to the fact that the housing conditions in +Cleveland were especially bad. Investigations made in the summer of +1917 by the Chamber of Commerce showed that housing conditions never +were so in need of remedying as they were at that time. The influx of +negroes, thousands of whom were living in box cars on railway sidings, +was only one feature of the problem, investigators say. In nearly +every part of the city, and especially in the vicinity of large +manufacturing plants, workers are herded together, paying as much as +$8 a week for a single room for a whole family.[130] + +The Cleveland Welfare Federation appointed a committee composed +of representatives of both races, to study problems made acute in +Cleveland by the recent incoming of probably 10,000 negroes from the +South. At the first meeting of this committee, August 3, 1917, the +city welfare department announced that 61 per cent of the men in the +workhouse at Warrensville were negroes and that of 100 women 66 were +negroes. The normal proportion of negroes in the workhouse before +the migration began was about 10 per cent, he said. This had mounted +rapidly in the last year. It was brought out that the cause of +this increase lay in housing congestion, lack of opportunities for +recreation and because negro migrants are ignorant of the city's +customs, laws and ordinances. A subcommittee was therefore appointed +to look into this matter, as well as into that of perils surrounding +newly arrived negro girls. A subcommittee was also appointed to study +housing congestion and health problems. The secretary of the Cleveland +Real Estate Board reiterated that there were 10,000 houses, renting +at $25 and under, needed at the present time for both negro and white +residents, and that, owing to labor difficulties and the high price +of building materials, very little had been done to relieve the +situation. He stated that a partial solution could be found in +inducing both negro and white people who could afford to build or +buy houses to do so, and thus free more houses for those who can not +afford to buy them. It was asserted that unless something should be +done before cold weather the housing problem would become acute.[131] +To assist in meeting the house shortage a group of prominent negroes +organized "The Realty Housing and Investment Company."[132] + +The negro churches and other organizations cooperated in the effort +to solve the problem of caring for the newly arrived negroes. In +December, 1917, all the organizations and agencies working to aid +the migrants were united in the Negro Welfare Association of +Cleveland.[133] William R. Connors, a negro social worker, was +employed as executive secretary of the new organization, beginning +January 1, and offices were opened in the Phyllis Wheatley Association +Building at East 40th Street and Central Avenue. The budget for the +first year was estimated at about $5,000. + +The organization acted as a clearing house for all the problems +confronting the negro people there and cooperated with other agencies +in the following activities: relief work, nursing service, legal aid, +employment, promoting thrift, providing recreation through the public +schools and otherwise, studying the delinquency problem, caring for +discharged prisoners in cooperation with the workhouse and promoting +community singing. It investigated the social conditions among +negroes, with a view to establishing those agencies which are needed, +or to point out the needs to the organization already established. It +endeavored to educate the negro public to a full appreciation of the +possibilities of a definite social program and to its responsibility +for seeing that it is carried out. + +In June, 1916, a call was issued for a statewide conference of +representative white and colored people to be held at the capital of +the State, Columbus, on July 12, 1916, to take steps toward caring for +the 100,000 negro migrants believed to have remained in Ohio. Among +those who signed the call were J. Walter Wills, President of Cleveland +Association of Colored Men; Reverend H.C. Bailey, President of +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; W.S. +Scarborough, President of Wilberforce University; Charles Johnson, +Superintendent of Champion Chemical Company, Springfield, and Edward +T. Banks, member of Charter Commission, Dayton.[134] The mayors of +Ohio cities named delegates to the conference. At this conference the +Ohio Federation for the Uplift of the Colored People was formed, +and an extensive program designed to improve economic and social +conditions was outlined. Branches of the Federation were soon +established at Akron, Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati, Dayton, Piqua, +Steubenville, Youngstown and other points. + +Reports showing labor, housing, general welfare and health conditions +among the negroes throughout the State were compiled and distributed +broadcast. It was also decided to send lecturers through Ohio cities +to visit negro centers for the purpose of instilling within the race +a desire for better living conditions. A campaign was waged also to +bring about greater censorship of motion pictures. Efforts were made +to have the State Council of National Defense and the State and City +Labor Bureaus actively interest themselves in the problem of negro +employment.[135] + +The State of Ohio also undertook an investigation of the migration +movement. Reports to the Ohio branch, Council of National Defense, +indicated a very serious situation resulting from the exodus of +negroes. An investigation at direction of Governor Cox was conducted +by the Council and State Department, to get as much information as +possible concerning the unprecedented migration. The first work was a +study of health conditions in several cities by the State Department +of Health, which took immediate steps to correct evils. The negroes +who were coming into the State were being crowded into the negro +sections of the various cities in such a way that the health of these +communities, in many cases was being seriously threatened. The Council +of National Defense asked the Ohio branch for information on +the migration, particularly to learn if it had been artificially +stimulated and accelerated by agencies that have paid so many dollars +a head for every negro from the South.[136] + +Detroit, because of its importance as an industrial center, was one of +the places to which the largest number of migrants to Michigan +went. The negro population of the city in 1910 was 5,741. It is +now estimated that the city has between 25,000 and 35,000 blacks, +three-fourths or more of whom have come there during the past two +years. As elsewhere, the majority of the negroes are in unskilled +occupations. There is, however, a considerable number of skilled and +semiskilled workers. Detroit was formerly a city where the negro was +restricted to a very few lines of work. + +The wartime pressing needs of the industrial enterprises have caused +the barriers to be removed. The available evidence that Detroit has +removed the barriers from the employment of negroes in many lines +is considerable. There were calls for 336 truckers, 160 molders, 109 +machinists, 45 core makers and for a number of other miscellaneous +skilled and semiskilled men. Most of the women were wanted in domestic +and personal service in private homes, but 32 calls came from a +garment factory, 18 from a cigar factory and 19 for ushers in a +theater. + +Their wages were exceptionally high according to Dr. George E. Haynes' +intensive study of the returns of 407 families. One received between +$30 and $39 a month; three received between $40 and $49, six received +between $60 and $69; 20 received between $70 and $79; 96 received +between $80 and $89; 6 received between $90 and $99; 27 received +between $100 and $119; 21 received between $120 and $129, and 4 +received $140 or more a month. There was a man working at $6.30 a +day. The number of days they were employed a month could not be +ascertained. There were 161 men whose monthly wages were doubtful +or unknown, two men were the owners of a business and five were +unemployed. Of the 45 women who were the heads of families, 13 were +doing day's work at $2 a day and one at $2.50 a day, but the number +of days they were employed could not be ascertained and so the monthly +wages could not be calculated. There were two women earning between +$40 and $49 a month and three earning between $70 and $79 a month. The +monthly wages of 26 were doubtful or unknown. "As far as these figures +are typical of the wages of negro workmen in Detroit," says Dr. +Haynes, "they show that the prevailing wages of the men are from +about $70 to $119 a month; for, 159 of the 194 men whose wages were +ascertained were receiving wages ranging between these amounts. The +prevailing wage for women is about that of those doing day work, $2 a +day."[137] + +In Detroit, as in other places, there is conflict of opinion as to +the value of the negro as a laborer. The survey of the migrants there +showed that there were diverse views about the suitability of negro +labor. Mr. Charles M. Culver, General Manager of the Detroit Employers +Association, thought some employers were highly pleased with negro +workmen and some were not. He said: + + There are two lines of adverse opinion about the negro as a + workman; first, nine-tenths of the complaints of employers + are that he is too slow. He does not make the speed that the + routine of efficient industry demands. He is lacking in the + regularity demanded by routine of industry day by day. + Second, the negro has been observed to be disinclined to + work out-of-doors when the cold weather comes. Employers have + discussed this and have not found the negro satisfactory + on this point. Unless the negroes overcome this practice + employers will turn to other sources of supply when their + present extreme needs are past. Employers must have a labor + supply upon which they can depend at all seasons--laborers who + will work out-of-doors winter as well as summer. + +Speaking of the colored women employed in the manufacture of garments +by the Krolick Company, Mr. Cohen, the superintendent, said his +greatest difficulty was in overcoming the timidity of the girls and in +inducing them to believe they can become successful operators and earn +good wages. + +The peculiar situation caused by the sudden increase of the city's +negro population was met by organized efforts directed, in the main, +by the local branch of the National League on Urban Conditions among +Negroes, which here also took the lead in helping the migrants adjust +themselves.[138] Among the important things done by the league were +the establishing of a vocational bureau, a bureau of investigation +and information regarding houses, and a committee on recreation; the +inaugurating of a ten cent "newcomers" community dance, which was held +every Tuesday evening in a public school in the heart of the negro +district; the development of athletic features for the immigrants, and +the organization of a branch of "Camp Fire Girls." The league induced +one of the largest foundries to build low-priced homes for its negro +employes near the plant. It also somewhat relieved the housing problem +by the purchase of leases from the proprietresses of a number of +disorderly houses which were closed by the police. In each case the +league persuaded some manufacturer to take over the lease, and in this +way a large number of negro families were accommodated. It also kept a +list of vacant houses and was surprised to find how many of them were +not listed by commercial real estate agents. + +The league persuaded the police commissioner to appoint a special +officer, selected by the league especially for the newcomers. It is +his duty to mingle with crowds on the streets where the newcomers +congregate and urge them not to make a nuisance of themselves by +blocking sidewalks, boisterous behavior and the like. He was also +provided with cards directing newcomers to the office of the league +when in need of employment. The league itself kept a close watch on +the negro underworld of Detroit and immediately apprised the police +when dives were developed especially to prey on the immigrant. + +The Board of Commerce cooperated in a movement for the investigation +and improvement of working conditions of negro employes in the various +manufacturing plants in Detroit. The Board of Health gave considerable +assistance in obtaining better and more sanitary housing conditions. +The aid of several mothers' clubs among the colored women was enlisted +to instruct immigrant mothers in the proper diet and clothing for +children in a northern climate. From the outset, the aim was not only +to put each migrant in a decent home but also to connect him with +some church. Many times the churches reciprocated with considerable +material as well as spiritual assistance. + +Valued cooperation was given by the Young Negroes' Progressive +Association, a body of thirty-four young colored men, most of whom +attended the various schools and colleges about Detroit. They +have been the finest possible agents in the development of all the +different activities. In the adjustment of the negro, a definite +place must be given to the development of industrial efficiency. +In pursuance of this object the league, with the assistance of the +Progressive Association, carried on a movement.[139] Representatives +of the two organizations visit the various factories where large +numbers of negroes are employed and talk to them during the noon +hour on the necessity of creating the best possible impression at the +present time so that they may be certain of retaining their jobs in +the future. At the same time, the speakers circulate these cards: + + WHY HE FAILED + + He watched the clock. + He was always behindhand. + He asked too many questions. + He wasn't ready for the next step. + He did not put his heart in his work. + He learned nothing from his blunders. + He was contented to be a second-rater. + He didn't learn that the best part of his salary was not in his pay envelope. + --_Success._ + +[Footnote 127: Epstein, _The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh_, p. 7.] + +[Footnote 128: Epstein, _The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh_, pp. 7-8.] + +[Footnote 128: The latter objection is illustrated by the case of the +white bargemen of a big steel company who wanted to walk out because +black workers were introduced among them, and who were only appeased +by the provision of separate quarters for the negroes. While there is +an undeniable hostility to negroes on the part of a few white workers, +the objection is frequently exaggerated by prejudiced gang bosses.] + +[Footnote 129: The same superintendent told of an episode illustrating +the amicable relations existing in his shop between white and black +workers. He related that a gang of workers had come to him with +certain complaints and the threat of a walkout. When their grievances +had been satisfactorily adjusted, they pointed to the lonely black +man in their group and said that they were not ready to go back unless +their negro fellow worker was satisfied.] + +[Footnote 130: _Cleveland News_, August 11, 1917.] + +[Footnote 131: _Cleveland Plain Dealer_, August 4, 1917.] + +[Footnote 132: An advertisement of this company in the _Cleveland +Advocate_ was as follows: + + Cleveland is short 10,000 houses: + + The city on Lake Erie is face to face with the problem of + _"Housing the People!"_ We have been on the job day in and day + out and are pleased to announce that _we have just played a + master stroke_. + + You may ask what is it? We will answer. + + We have just secured the group of seven apartment houses which + are rapidly nearing completion on East 40th Street between + Central and Scoville Avenues. Three and four room suites + with bath, hot water, electric lights, gas ranges, heating + appliances, refrigerators, Murphy in-a-dor beds. Laundry just + waiting to be occupied. All for colored people. +] + +[Footnote 133: _Cleveland Town Topics_, December 22, 1917.] + +[Footnote 134: _Dayton News_, July 7, 1917.] + +[Footnote 135: _Cincinnati Enquirer_, September 12, 1917] + +[Footnote 136: _Columbus Dispatch_, August 1, 1917.] + +[Footnote 137: Haynes, _Survey of the Migrants in Detroit_.] + +[Footnote 138: The Urban League is maintained by the Associated +Charities and private individuals to study Detroit's negro problem and +improve the condition of the city's negroes. Forrester B. Washington +is director in charge of the league. The organization will aim to +direct negro sentiment and support along lines of best interests for +Detroit.--_Detroit News_, November 6. 1916.] + +[Footnote 139: Two surveys of the migrants in Detroit were made. One +was under the auspices of the negro committee of the Home Missions' +Council of the Churches of Christ in America and was published under +the title, "Negro Newcomers in Detroit." This survey investigated +industrial opportunities, housing and recreation facilities, and +the work which the churches were doing and should do for Detroit's +newcomers. + +The Church Extension Committee of the Detroit Presbytery made a survey +of the negro problem in Detroit. This survey showed that the negro +population of the city has grown from 5,000 in 1910 to 21,000 in 1917. +The negro churches of the city are utterly inadequate to take care of +the religious needs of the race here, it was shown.] + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE SITUATION AT POINTS IN THE EAST + + +No less conspicuous as attractions to the negroes of the South were +the various industries of the State of Pennsylvania. Although not so +closely connected with the Black Belt of the South as are so many +of the industrial centers of the West, Pennsylvania nevertheless was +sought by many of these migrants because of the long accepted theory +that this commonwealth maintains a favorable attitude toward persons +of color. It drew upon this population too because of the very urgent +need for workers in its numerous industries during the labor crisis +resulting from the falling off of the foreign immigration. When, +moreover, manufacturing establishments of the State multiplied as +elsewhere because of the demand for the manufacture of munitions of +war, this need became more urgent than ever. + +According to the census of 1910, the State of Pennsylvania had 193,919 +inhabitants of negro blood, 84,459 of whom lived in the city of +Philadelphia. During the recent rush to that commonwealth, however, +investigators are now of the opinion that the negro population of that +State is hardly less than 300,000. These migrants were, of course, not +all settled in the city of Philadelphia. Here we see another example +of a rerouting point, a place where the migration broke bulk, +scattering itself into the various industrial communities desiring +labor. Among the other cities and towns receiving this population were +practically all of those within a radius of about one hundred miles of +Philadelphia, such as Lancaster, Pottsville, York, Altoona, Harrisburg +and certain other towns lying without the State, as in the case of +Wilmington, Delaware, a site of a large munitions plant. In some cases +the negro population in these towns increased more than 100 per cent +in a few days. + +The chief factors in the bringing in of these negroes from the South +were the leading railroads like the Erie and Pennsylvania. During +the shortage of labor, these corporations found it impossible to keep +their systems in repair. In this situation, they, like the smaller +concerns further west, sent labor agents to the South to induce +negroes to supply this demand. Unfortunately, however, so many of the +negroes who had their transportation paid by these firms counted it +more profitable to leave their employ immediately after arriving, +because of the unusually high wages offered by smaller industries in +just as urgent need of labor. Instead of supplying their own demand, +therefore, the railroads were benefiting their neighbors. + +A better idea as to the extent of the congestion made possible by this +influx of newcomers may be obtained from the comments of observers +in that section. Traveling men tell us of the crowded houses and +congested streets which marked the places wherever these migrants +stopped. Housing facilities being inadequate, temporary structures +were quickly built and when these did not suffice, in the case of +railroads, ordinary tents and box cars were used to shelter the new +laborers. Owing to these unsatisfactory conditions and the inability +of employers to ameliorate them, the migration was to some extent +discouraged, and in a few cases a number of the migrants returned to +their homes in the South, so that the number that actually came into +the State is much less than it would have been, had it been possible +to receive and adequately accommodate the negroes in their new homes. + +In Philadelphia the situation at first became unusually critical. +Being closer to the Southland than most of the large cities of the +country, the people of Philadelphia are much more prejudiced against +the negro than those in some other northern cities. It was necessary, +therefore, upon their arrival in that city for them to crowd into the +district largely restricted to negroes, giving rise to such unhappy +conditions as to jeopardize the peace and health of the community. +Numbers of these migrants died from exposure during the first winter, +and others who died because of their inability to stand the northern +climate made the situation seem unusually alarming. It was necessary, +therefore, to organize social workers to minister to the peculiar +needs of these newcomers. Appeals were made in their behalf and a +number of prominent citizens felt that it was necessary to urge them +to remain in the South. + +The solution of this problem was rendered a little more difficult +for the reason that here, as in many other centers in the North, the +newcomers were not welcomed by their own race. Philadelphia had for +years been pointed to as having a respectable, thrifty and prosperous +colored population, enjoying the good will and the cooperation of the +best white people in the community. These northern negroes felt then +that the coming of their brethren in the rough did them a decided +injury in giving rise to a race problem in a northern community where +it had not before figured. This unusual influx of other members of the +race greatly stimulated that tendency to segregate negro children in +the schools, to the deep regret of the older citizens of Philadelphia. +Other social privileges as in theaters, churches and the like, +formerly allowed the negro citizens of that city, tended gradually to +be withdrawn. + +The negro migrants were not altogether innocent. Many of them used +their liberty in their northern home as a stumbling block. Receiving +there such high wages which they could not judiciously spend, the +unwise of their group used this unusually large income to their own +detriment and to that of the community. It was indeed difficult to +restrain a poor man who never had had a few dollars, when just arrived +from a section of the country where he had not only been poor but +restricted even in expending what income he received. Many of them +received $6, $7 and in a few cases $8 to $10 a day. They frequented +saloons and dens of vice, thereby increasing the number of police +court cases and greatly staining the record of the negroes in that +city. A number of fracases, therefore, broke out from time to time, +growing in intensity in keeping with the condition to which the +community, unaccustomed to negro neighbors, saw fit to manifest +its displeasure. This finally culminated in the recent riots in +Philadelphia in which a number of blacks and whites were killed. + +Feeling that they did not have the support of the officers of the law, +the negroes of the city organized a Colored Protective Association and +raised a fund for the prosecution of policemen and others who might +aid mobs. The method of strengthening itself is to organize the +churches of the city with a view to securing the cooperation of every +negro there. To advance this work, a large sum has been raised. Other +efforts of this sort in behalf of the negroes in Philadelphia have +been made by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored +People and the Armstrong Association in cooperation with the National +League on Urban Conditions among Negroes. + +Social workers in general soon found it necessary to address +themselves to the task of readjusting these migrants.[140] The +Philadelphia Academy of Medicine, composed of negro physicians, +dentists and druggists, put into effect measures calculated to meet +requirements for housing, sanitation, medical attention and education. +Systematic medical inspections were given, and projects for the +erection of houses and the adaptation of existing buildings for +lodgings are under way. Eighty negro physicians of the city collected +information which took the form of a weekly report of the Bureau of +Health. Real estate dealers were asked to submit lists of every house +immediately available for the relief of the overcrowded buildings then +occupied by the negroes and to provide hundreds of new ones, cheaply +but substantially constructed. Stereopticon lectures and talks were +given on an increasing scale in all the negro churches telling the new +arrivals how to care for themselves in the Philadelphia climate, how +to avoid colds, which lead to pneumonia and tuberculosis, the two most +common diseases among them, and other useful information in general. + +The Interdenominational Ministerial Union of Philadelphia, embracing +all the negro ministers of the city, drew up certain resolutions +setting forth their views relative to the migration and making some +suggestions concerning the situation in Philadelphia. They pledged +themselves to look after the comfort of the migrants in every way +possible, urged them to join the churches and other organizations for +improvement, and send their children to the schools, and to utilize +the libraries, night schools and other agencies of culture which were +denied them in the South. These ministers urged them also to work +regularly, and give their best services to their employers regardless +of pay, remembering always that the race is on trial in them; that +they save their money, and purchase homes and become a part of the +substantial citizenry as soon as possible.[141] + +A Negro Migration Committee was formed, composed of eight workers from +social agencies and charitable societies, to provide suitable housing +for negro families arriving in this city and to aid them in getting +work. Each member of the committee is to work through the organization +he represents and be responsible for one specific phase of the +problem.[142] + +Notwithstanding the efforts that were made to improve the housing +conditions, the situation in this respect continued to grow worse. In +December of 1917, representatives of the various social agencies +and of the corporations employing large numbers of negroes met in a +conference on the housing situation. "All the questions involved in +the reasons for the colored people coming north and the problem of +housing and caring for them were seriously discussed." + + Some representatives of the corporations asserted that the men + were not reliable and dependable, going from place to place + and only working a few days in each week. The social service + workers stated that the reason for this is that there are not + a sufficient number of houses in which to take care of the men + and their families, and that the districts in which they lived + were shamefully crowded. According to these workers the only + way in which the men can be made satisfied is by providing + more homes for them in sanitary and wholesome quarters. After + thoroughly considering the problem a permanent committee was + appointed to deal with the problem in all its aspects.[143] + +One of the most effective agencies for dealing with the situation +created by thousands of negroes migrating north was the Armstrong +Association. This association gave special attention to stabilizing +negro labor and to improving the housing conditions. The association +brought before several corporations conditions of housing and +recreation which would enable them to retain their workers. They +provided a negro welfare worker for the American International +Shipbuilding Company, to attend to the stabilizing of negro labor. The +association is perfecting plans for better housing of negro workers +and the providing of recreation centers, such as are now enjoyed in +virtually every city by the white workers. The association obtained +the cooperation of a number of large industrial firms and corporations +in this city, to aid it in the employment of competent negro welfare +workers to help adjust existing conditions, making for greater +efficiency and reliability among the negro race. + +The demand for labor by the many industrial plants located in New +Jersey caused that State to get a very large proportion of the negro +migrants and as a result to have, in acute form, the problem of +housing conditions and the other problems incident to a large number +of migrants being within her borders. To assist in caring for the +situation a Negro Welfare League was organized with branches at +various points in the State. + +Writing on the situation in New Jersey, a contributor of _The Survey_, +for February 17, 1917, states: + + The native negro residents of the city and suburban towns have + been kind and generous in helping the southern stranger. They + have collected money to send numbers back home, and when + the bitter cold weather began they collected and distributed + thousands of garments. Resident negroes have also taken + hundreds of newcomers into their own homes until rooms could + be found for them. But, while different churches and kind + hearted people had been most active in helping individually, + there was no concerted movement to bring all these forces + together until the organization of the Negro Welfare League + of New Jersey. Industries of New Jersey have utterly failed + to provide the housing which would enable their negro help + to live decently and in enough comfort so that while growing + accustomed to their unusual work, they might be stimulated to + become useful and efficient. + + In the last two weeks the Negro Welfare Committee, with the + help of an investigation of 120 self-supporting families, all + of whom were found in the worst sections of the city, showed + that 166 adults--only twenty of whom are over forty years of + age--and 134 children, a total of 300 souls, are all crowded + into insanitary dark quarters, averaging four and two-sevenths + persons to a room. These fifty-three families paid a total + rent per month of $415.50, an average of $7.66. The average + wage of these people is $2.60 a day. In not one of the 120 + families was there a wage earner making the maximum wage of + $3 and $4 a day. Some of the reports in brief were: "Wife and + children living over a stable. Husband earning $11 a week." + Three families in four rooms, "a little house not fit for a + chicken coop." "A sorry looking house for so much money, $15 a + month; doors off the hinges, water in the cellar, two families + in five rooms." "Indescribable; so dark they must keep the + light burning all day." "This family lives in three rooms on + the second floor of a rickety frame house, built on the side + of a hill, so that the back rooms are just above the ground. + The entrance is in a muddy, disorderly yard and is through + a tunnel in the house. The rooms are hard to heat because of + cracks. A boy of eighteen was in bed breathing heavily, very + ill with pneumonia, delirious at times." Unused to city life, + crowded into dark rooms, their clothing and household utensils + unsuitable, the stoves they have brought being all too small + to heat even the tiny rooms they have procured (the instalment + houses are charging from $20 to $30 for these stoves), + shivering with the cold from which they do not know how + to protect themselves, it is small wonder that illness has + overtaken large numbers.[144] + +Newark, New Jersey, was one of the places to which the migrants first +came in large numbers. William H. Maxwell, President of the Negro +Forward Movement, of that city, issued an appeal for the protection +from the unscrupulous of southern negroes migrating to Newark. He +declared that they were being made to work for lower wages than they +had been promised and that storekeepers and dealers were charging them +high prices for worthless goods. The Newark Presbytery took up +the matter of proper housing and clothing of the migrants who were +unaccustomed to the rigors of a northern climate. + +On September 23, 1917, a State conference of negroes was held +in Newark to devise ways and means to cooperate with the State +authorities in looking after the welfare of migrants. Soon after +this conference, it was decided to establish a State bureau, "for +the welfare and employment of the colored citizens in the State and +particularly to look after the housing, employment and education of +the citizens migrating from the South." On October 12, Governor Edge +had a number of social workers among the negroes to meet him, "to +discuss the several perplexing and grave economic, industrial and +social problems arising from the steady influx of the negro migrants +from the South." The conference was held in the Assembly room at the +State House. Col. Lewis T. Bryant, Commissioner of Labor, presided. +After many reports and discussions of work accomplished in various +parts of the State, the body voted to accept the proposed Negro +Welfare Bureau, under the Department of Labor. A fund of $7,500 is +available for the coming year's maintenance and work. The scope +of this bureau's work was employment, housing, social welfare and +readjustment, education and legal fairness. This bureau acted as +a welfare clearing house for all social agencies working for the +betterment of the colored people. + +At the next session of the legislature, a bill was passed, February, +1918, establishing in the Department of Labor the Negro Welfare +Employment Bureau. According to a report of the work of the Negro +Welfare Bureau made public in April, 1918, considerable progress in +the work of improving both the migrating negroes to New Jersey from +the South as well as the members of the race generally who have been +in this State for some time has been made. With the possible exception +of Salem and Hudson counties, the sheriffs of the State report no +increase of criminality from the migration of negroes from the South. +At Pennsgrove in Salem county, where the Du Pont powder plants are +located, Sheriff William T. Eiffin reports that considering the +increase in population there has been an increase in crime in that +county, but that the situation is well in hand and diminishing to +normal.[145] + +Hartford was one of the industrial centers to which large numbers of +the migrating negroes went. The housing problem became acute and +the chief efforts of those endeavoring to better the conditions of +migrants was along this line. Religious, civic and commercial bodies +gave attention to the amelioration of this problem.[146] The problem +of housing negroes who were coming in greater numbers each year to +Hartford was taken up briefly by speakers at the 128th annual meeting +of the Hartford Baptist Association at the Shiloh Baptist Church. It +was decided to bring the housing problem before the attention of +the Chamber of Commerce, which, it was said, some time before had +appointed a committee to investigate it. Negroes complained that they +were obliged to pay higher rent than white folks and that they were +obliged by landlords to live together in cramped quarters that were, +by reason of the crowding, insanitary. They said also that the living +of several families almost as one family leads to a breaking down of +the moral and religious ideals.[147] Conditions in Hartford resulting +from the bringing of more than 2,500 negroes from the South were +discussed at the fall meeting of the Confidential Exchange with a view +to preparing for these new arrivals. + +At the June, 1917, meeting of the Chamber of Commerce, a committee +was appointed from that body to investigate housing conditions and +to cooperate with other agencies in improving them. The committee met +frequently through the summer with the housing committee of the Civic +Club, in an endeavor to ascertain the facts bearing upon the present +situation. It had before it leading colored citizens, ministers, +business men and industrial workers, some of whom have lived here +for years and others who have recently arrived from the South. It was +discovered that there was, at that time, plenty of work and at good +wages, but the universal complaint was the lack of homes suitable for +proper living and the extortionate prices asked for rents. Negroes +in Hartford were suffering from the cupidity of landlords. They were +obliged to live in poor tenements and under unhealthful conditions +because accommodations of another class were withheld from them. +For such inferior accommodations they were charged outrageous rents, +because selfish property owners knowing that negroes must live charged +all the traffic would bear. Partial relief was obtained from the +immediate need by the purchase of buildings already erected, and homes +for them were later built. It appeared that for the first time in many +years Hartford had a race problem on its hands. + +[Footnote 140: The _Philadelphia North American_, February 2, 1917.] + +[Footnote 141: Resolutions of the Interdenominational Union.] + +[Footnote 142: _Philadelphia Inquirer_, March 2, 1917.] + +[Footnote 143: _The Living Church_, December 22, 1917.] + +[Footnote 144: Cotton Pickers in Northern Cities, _The Survey_, +February 17, 1917.] + +[Footnote 145: _The Courier_ (Camden, N.J.), April 30, 1918.] + +[Footnote 146: _The Hartford Courant_, September 19, 1917.] + +[Footnote 147: The _Hartford Post_, October 9, 1917.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +REMEDIES FOR RELIEF BY NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS + + +The sudden influx of thousands of negro workers to northern industrial +centers created and intensified problems. More comprehensive and +definite plans for aiding the migrants were, therefore, worked out and +more effective methods of help instituted during 1917. A conference +on negro migration was held in New York City under the auspices of +the National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, January 29-31, +1918. Among those attending the conference were representatives of +capital, of labor, of housing conditions, the Immigration Bureau of +Social Uplift Work for Negroes and others. The subjects considered +were causes and consequences of the migration, present conditions +of those migrating and what is to be done to aid in the negroes' +adjustment to their new environment. + +The conference was of the impression that negroes, then migrating to +the North in unprecedented numbers, were preparing to come in larger +numbers in the spring. It, therefore, recommended that wherever +possible, whether in the city or rural community, organizations be +formed to foster good feeling between the two races, to study the +health, school and work needs of the negro population, to develop +agencies and stimulate activities to meet those needs, by training and +health protection to increase the industrial efficiency of negroes +and to encourage a fairer attitude toward negro labor, especially in +regard to hours, conditions and regularity of work and standard +of wages, and to increase the respect for law and the orderly +administration of justice. It further recommended that similar +organizations be formed or existing organizations urged to take action +which, in addition to the purposes already mentioned, should seek to +instruct the negro migrants as to the dress, habits and methods of +living necessary to withstand the rigors of the northern climate; as +to efficiency, regularity and application demanded of workers in +the North; as to the danger of dealing or going with unscrupulous or +vicious persons and of frequenting questionable resorts; as to the +opportunities offered by the towns and cities of the North in schools, +hospitals, police protection and employment, and as to facilities +offered by the church, Y.M.C.A. and other organizations. + +The various religious denominations among negroes were profoundly +affected by the migration movement. The sudden moving of thousands of +communicants from one section of the country to the other caused many +churches in the South to become disorganized and in some instances to +be broken up. In the North the facilities of particular denominations +were inadequate to accommodate the new communicants who would worship +in the church of their particular faith. In some instances, it was +necessary to hold double services in order that all who wished +to attend the services might be accommodated. A writer in the +_Southwestern Christian Advocate_, the organ of the negro members of +the Methodist Episcopal Church, said: "The movement of the negroes +by the thousands from the South to the North raises a many sided +question. The missionary view is the logical view for the church, +and that side of the question falls logically upon her hands for +solution."[148] + +The Boards of Missions of white denominations carrying on work among +negroes made studies of the migration movement. Dr. Gilbert N. Brink, +Secretary for Education of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, +issued a pamphlet on "Negro Migration, What does it Mean?"[149] +"The Invasion from Dixie" was the title of a circular issued on the +migration by the Board of Home Missions and Church Extension of the +Methodist Episcopal Church. In this circular two questions were asked +with reference to the migrants. "What are you going to do for them?" +and "How may we best serve this most pressing need of the present +time?" The circular further said: + + The problem as seen from the viewpoint of the Methodist + Episcopal Church is twofold. First, somehow to conserve the + work we have already done in the South where the migration is + leaving. Second, to provide religious opportunities for those + people who have come from our own churches of the South as + well as those unreached by church influences, so that at the + beginning of their new life in the North they may all have + the influence of the Church of Jesus Christ to shape and mold + their future. + +The Home Missions Council, which is composed of representatives from +the boards doing missionary work in the United States, through its +committee on negro work had a survey made of the migrants in Detroit. +The results of this survey were published under the title "Negro +Newcomers in Detroit." Detroit was selected because of the large +numbers of negroes, who had been attracted to that city, and also +because it was believed that the conditions in Detroit, although +changing, were sufficiently typical of other northern industrial +centers as to give a fairly accurate understanding of this modern +phase of the negro problem, which might have acute and serious +aspects if not speedily cared for by an enlightened judgment, and the +quickened conscience of the Christian church. + +The African Methodist Episcopal Church through its annual conferences, +its Bishops' Council and its Missionary Department, undertook to meet +the migration situation as it affected and imposed duties on that +denomination. The Bishops' Council recommended to all the departments +of the church that, to meet the needs of the church as to the +expenditure of money in the home field of the North and Northwest for +the benefit of "our migrating people," that they should do the best +they could, "in assisting in the establishment of missions and church +houses for our beloved people, consistent with their obligations +already provided for by law and by the action of the Missionary +Board."[150] A circular containing the following questions was sent +out to the A.M.E. churches throughout the North. + + How many persons, to your knowledge, have come from the South + into your vicinity during the past year? + + In what sections of your city are they located? + + To what extent are they African Methodists? + + From what section of the South have they come? + + What reasons do they give for coming to the North? + + To what extent have they found employment? At what, and what + is the average wage paid? + + Have you a Lookout Committee in your church to seek these + people? If not, what organized effort is being put forth to + church them? + + Has any special mission work been started among or for our + southern brethren, in your vicinity? If so, what and where? + + What number of people from the South have united with your + church during the past year? + + How do they affiliate with your people? + + What is the attitude of your members toward them? + + So far as you have seen, is the better plan, where the numbers + warrant it, to establish a distinct mission for them or bring + them into the already established churches? + +Bishop R.A. Carter, of the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, after +an extended trip north in the interest of the work of his denomination +for the migrants, published in the official organ of his church a +description of the situation as he found it, and what the Colored +Methodist Episcopal Church should do to assist in meeting the needs of +the situation. He said: + + I have just returned from an extended trip through the great + Northwest, having visited St. Louis, Chicago, Gary, + Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Clarksburg and West + Virginia.... Heretofore the few church houses in those cities + have been sufficient for the colored people who were there. + Since the migration of our people in such great numbers, the + church facilities are alarmingly inadequate. It is necessary + to hold two services at the same time in many churches and + then hundreds are turned away for lack of room. It is pathetic + to have to tell people who attend one service not to return to + the next so that a new crowd may be accommodated. Yet that + is just what must be done in many instances up that way now. + There must be more churches established in all the large + cities of the North and East and Northwest for our people or + serious results will obtain in the future. + +He considered the opportunity and duty of the C.M.E. Church as great +and urgent. He recommended the purchase of vacant white churches +offered for sale and the transfer of some of the best pastors. He +urged that there be launched a movement for a great centenary rally +for $500,000 with which to take advantage of the great opportunity +which confronted the race in the North. + +Before the migration movement the strength of the negroes in labor +unions was largely in the South. In this section they were found +in considerable numbers in the carpenters, bricklayers, plasterers, +longshoremen and miners unions. In the North, however, they were +not generally connected with the unions mainly for the reason that, +excepting the hod carriers, teamsters, asphalt and cement workers and +a few other organizations of unskilled laborers, they were not found +in any occupation in sufficient numbers to necessitate being seriously +considered by organized labor. The necessities of the industrial +situation created by the war, however, brought thousands of negroes +north and into trades and occupations in which hitherto they had not +been found at all or only in negligible numbers. A change in attitude, +therefore, was necessary. At the 1910 annual meeting of the National +Council of the American Federation of Labor a resolution was +unanimously passed inviting negroes and all other races into the Labor +Federation. The officers of the Federation were instructed to take +measures to see that negro workmen as well as workmen of other races +be brought into the union. In 1913 this action was reaffirmed with the +assertion that + + Many years ago the American Federation of Labor declared for + the thorough organization of all working people without regard + to sex, religion, race, politics or nationality; that many + organizations affiliated with the American Federation of Labor + have within their membership negro workmen with all other + workers of their trade, and the American Federation of Labor + has made and is making every effort within its power for the + organization of these workmen.[151] + +At its 1916 annual convention held in November at Baltimore, the +American Federation of Labor considered the question of negro +migration. The question was brought formally before the convention +by the Ohio State Federation of Labor and the Cleveland Federation +of Labor reciting that: "The investigation of such emigration and +importation of negroes in the State of Ohio had demonstrated to the +satisfaction of labor leaders in that State that they were being +brought north for the purpose of filling the places of union men +demanding better conditions, as in the case of freight handlers." +Believing that "the conditions that prevailed in Ohio might apply +in all northern States," the president and Executive Council of the +Federation were instructed to begin a movement looking towards the +organization of negroes in the southern States."[152] + +At the 1917 convention of the American Federation of Labor held at +Buffalo, New York, the question of negro labor was again considered. +It was observed that the colored laborers and helpers throughout the +southeastern district were not as familiar with the labor movement +as they should be, especially upon the different railroads of +the southeastern territory; and that there were fifteen different +railroads in the district for which there were only four colored +locals. Feeling that a negro organizer, because of his racial and +social relations among his people, could accomplish much in organizing +the forces into unions, the National Convention appointed a negro +railroad man as organizer for the territory as above mentioned. +Another set of resolutions, relating to the general condition of +negroes in the United States, making suggestions to secure the +cooperation of the American people and the national government in an +endeavor to have the nations participating in the coming world peace +conference agree upon a plan to turn over the African continent or +parts thereof to the African race and those descendants of said race +who live in America and desire to return to Africa, and thus enable +the black race to work out its own destiny on an equality with other +peoples of the earth, was referred to a committee. The report was, +"Your committee can not be responsible for and rejects the statements +contained in the resolution, but, inasmuch as portions of it refer to +the organization of negro workers, the committee recommends that that +portion be referred to the Executive Council."[153] + +At the annual meeting of the National League on Urban Conditions +among Negroes, held in New York City, January 29-31, 1918, resolutions +relating to labor unions and the negroes were adopted and a committee +was appointed to place the resolutions before the executive committee +of the American Federation of Labor. The resolutions adopted were as +follows: + + For the first time in the history of America, the negro + working man is in large numbers getting a chance to offer his + service at a fair wage for various kinds of work for which he + is fitted. This opportunity, however, has come as a result of + conditions over which neither he, nor those offering him the + chance, have control. + + In the city of New York, on the 31st day of January, 1918, + we in conference assembled under the auspices of the National + League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, while in no way + seeking to condone the existence of the worldwide war which + has been forced upon our beloved country, wish to express our + gratitude for the industrial changes wrought and to record + our prayer that the benefits thus far derived by the negro + may continue and so enlarge as to embrace full and fair + opportunity in all the walks of life. + + I. We wish especially to address ourselves to the American + Federation of Labor which at its recent convention in Buffalo, + New York, voiced sound democratic principles in its attitude + toward negro labor. + + We would ask the American Federation of Labor, in organizing + negroes in the various trades, to include: (1) skilled as + well as unskilled workmen, (2) northern as well as southern + workmen, (3) government as well as civilian employes, (4) + women as well as men workers. + + We would have negro labor handled by the American Federation + of Labor in the same manner as white labor; (1) when workmen + are returning to work after a successful strike; (2) when + shops are declared "open" or "closed"; (3) when union workers + apply for jobs. + + We would have these assurances pledged not with word only, + but by deeds--pledged by an increasing number of examples of + groups of negro workmen given a "square deal." + + With these accomplished, we pledge ourselves to urge negro + working men to seek the advantages of sympathetic cooperation + and understanding between men who work. + + II. We would also address ourselves to the Labor Bureau of the + United States Government. + + In our national effort to speed up production of articles + essential to the conduct of the war as well as the production + of other goods, let us not lose sight of our duty to our + country in quantity production by an unreasonable prejudice + in many quarters against the use of negro labor. Negro workmen + are loyal and patriotic, cheerful and versatile. In some + sections there is an oversupply of such labor; in other + sections a shortage. + + We would urge the appointment of one or two competent negroes + in the Department of Labor to serve as assistants in each of + the bureaus in distributing negro labor to meet war and peace + needs. + + III. We would urge negro workmen to remain cheerful and + hopeful in work; to be persevering in their efforts to improve + in regularity, punctuality and efficiency, and to be quick to + grasp all opportunities for training both themselves and their + children. Success lies in these directions. + + IV. We would impress upon employers the fact that the + efficiency of their employes during work hours depends very + largely on the use made of the non-working hours. Most of + the complaints against negro labor can be removed if proper + housing, decent amusement, fair wages and proper treatment are + provided.[154] + +These resolutions were presented to the executive officers of the +American Federation of Labor on February 12, 1918, by a committee +composed of E.K. Jones, Director of National League on Urban +Conditions among Negroes, Robert R. Moton, Principal of Tuskegee +Institute, Archibald H. Grimke, Thomas Jesse Jones, specialist in the +United States Bureau of Education, J.R. Shillady, Secretary of the +National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Fred R. +Moore, editor of the _New York Age_, George W. Harris, editor of +the _New York News_, and Emmett J. Scott, special assistant to the +Secretary of War. The committee requested of the Executive Council +that a committee be appointed by the American Federation of Labor to +confer with a committee representing the interests of the negroes. +This request was granted. + +At the American Federation of Labor annual convention held at St. +Paul, Minnesota, in June, 1918, the problem of negro workers and +organized labor again received considerable attention. B.S. Lancaster, +a negro delegate to the convention from Mobile, Alabama, offered a +resolution asking for the appointment of a negro to organize negroes +not now affiliated with unions in the shipbuilding trades. Another +resolution was to the effect that negro porters, cooks, waiters +and waitresses, section hands and all negro railway employes to be +organized. The press reports of the convention under date of June 12, +said: + + Dr. R.R. Moton, Principal of the Tuskegee Institute, and J.R. + Shillady, of the National Association for the Advancement + of Colored People, are authors of a communication asking for + closer cooperation between white and colored workers. They ask + that Mr. Gompers prepare a statement on his stand toward + negro labor, and charge that some unions discriminate against + colored workers. They urge consideration of revision of + union charters to permit negroes to become members. The + communication was referred.[155] + +These efforts were not without some result, for sentiment began to +change. In its August, 1918, issue the editor of the _Labor News_ of +Detroit, Michigan, said: + + The time has arrived for the American labor movement to + face squarely the fact that the negro is a big factor in our + industrial life, and that he must be taken into account in the + adjustment of our economic differences. Never again can the + negro be ignored. Time and time again the selfish masters of + industry have used him to batter your organizations to pieces, + and, instead of trying to win him over, you have savagely + fought him, because they used him as a strikebreaker. But + the negro must be made to see the value of organization to + himself, and he must be incorporated into and made a part of + the great labor movement. It is a stupid policy to try to keep + him out. Let us work to shift him from his present unhappy + position, where he is despised by the big business element, + notwithstanding his utility as a strikebreaker, and hated by + unionists for his loyalty to the open shop element. Unionism + must welcome the negro to its ranks. + +[Footnote 148: _Southwestern Christian Advocate_, New Orleans, La.] + +[Footnote 149: Ibid.] + +[Footnote 150: Report of Bishop's Council, A.M.E. Church, 1917.] + +[Footnote 151: Report of Proceedings, American Federation of Labor, +annual session, 1913.] + +[Footnote 152: Report of Proceedings, American Federation of Labor, +annual session, 1916.] + +[Footnote 153: Report of Proceedings, American Federation of Labor, +annual session, 1917.] + +[Footnote 154: Minutes of Session, National League on Urban +Conditions, January 29-31, 1918.] + +[Footnote 155: Report of M.N. Work on migration to the North.] + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +PUBLIC OPINION REGARDING THE MIGRATION + + +It was to be expected that a movement which so profoundly affected the +social and economic life of the South would be widely discussed, and +that the resulting discussions, wherein were set forth at length +the views of whites and negroes, would throw much light upon the +conditions existing prior to the movement. How the South viewed this +taking away of a large part of her labor supply was stated in letters +to the newspapers and in newspaper editorials. There were two views +as to the effect of the migration on the South. One view held that the +movement would benefit the South in that the negro population would +be more evenly distributed over the entire country and as a result +the race problem would be more truly national. The other view was +that negro labor was a necessity for the South, and the drawing of a +considerable part of this labor north was seriously detrimental to the +South's economic interests. + +The following are examples of expressions by those holding the view +that the migration would benefit the South: + +The New Orleans _Times Picayune_ said: + + Despite the attitude of certain extreme papers of the North + that there was a broad conspiracy existing here to prevent + the negroes from leaving, the records show that many southern + papers and people welcomed the movement, believing that it + would have a beneficial effect on the South by removing the + negro majorities in many districts and in at least two + States, South Carolina and Mississippi. The problems of negro + majorities is rapidly working itself out. Louisiana, a State + in which the negro was more numerous a few decades ago, is + white today by several hundred thousand, and will have a + million more whites by the next census. South Carolina and + Mississippi expect to report white majorities in the next + ten years as they are drifting rapidly in that direction, and + negro emigration will help this condition along. + + During the first months of this negro movement northward, a + number of South Carolina papers, led by the _Columbia State_, + instead of expressing apprehension over these departures, + showed satisfaction that the State was getting rid of its + excess of negroes. At the Southern Commercial Congress in + a session at Norfolk, Judge Francis D. Winston, of North + Carolina, expressed this same view of the situation in a + resolution which declares that: "The complete industrial, + intellectual and social development of the southern States + can be secured only when the negro becomes a part of the + citizenship of our sister States, and that we will encourage + all movements tending to an equitable distribution of our + negro population among the other States of the Union. + + It is not likely that there will be any serious objection to + a declaration of this kind in favor of the more equitable + distribution of the negroes throughout the country as the + question involved can then be better handled. No encouragement + to the negroes to leave the South will be held out, but there + will be no effort made to keep the negroes from going beyond + explaining the situation to them.[156] + +A comment of the _Nashville Banner_ was: + + From a logical point of view that looks beyond immediate + emergencies, the southern whites should encourage negro + emigration to the North, not for the cynical motives that + impelled the late Hon. Jeff Davis while Governor of Arkansas + to pardon negro convicts on condition that they go to + Massachusetts to live, but to relieve the South of the entire + burden and all the brunt of the race problem, and make room + for and to create greater inducements for white immigration + that the South very much needs. Some thousands of negroes + going north every year and a corresponding number of whites + coming south would affect a distribution of the races that + would be in many ways beneficial and that at the very least + would take away from the race problem all sectional aspects, + which is and has always been the chief cause of sectional ill + feeling. And it would in the end give the South a homogeneous + citizenship. + +The _Vicksburg Herald_[157] was of the opinion that: + + Adjustments and compensation will, we have faith, come. The + northern drift as it continues, and carries thousands with it, + will lower negro congestion in certain sections of the South. + Such a change, restrained and graduated against violent + progression, promises ultimate benefit. In the South, the + effect of losing thousands of negroes from lands in southern + Mississippi is already ... producing a wholesome farm + diversification and economic stimulation. Then, too, a more + equitable distribution of the sons of Ham will teach the + Caucasians of the northern States that wherever there is a + negro infusion, there will be a race problem--a white man's + burden--which they are destined to share. + + +Among those holding the view that the South needed the negro was the +_Memphis Commercial Appeal_.[158] Concerning this an editorial in this +paper said that not only does the South need the negro, but that he +should be encouraged to stay. + + The enormous demand for labor and the changing conditions + brought about by the boll weevil in certain parts of the South + have caused an exodus of negroes which may be serious. Great + colonies of negroes have gone north to work in factories, in + packing houses and on the railroads. + + Some of our friends think that these negroes are being taken + north for the purpose of voting them in November. Such is + not the case. The restriction of immigration because of the + European war and the tremendous manufacturing and industrial + activity in the North have resulted in a scarcity of labor. + The negro is a good track hand. He is also a good man around + packing houses, and in certain elementary trades he is useful. + + The South needs every able-bodied negro that is now south of + the line, and every negro who remains south of the line will + in the end do better than he will do in the North. + + The negro has been a tremendous factor in the development + of agriculture and all the commerce of the South. But in the + meantime, if we are to keep him here, and if we are to have + the best use of his business capacity, there is a certain duty + that the white man himself must discharge in his relation to + the negro. + + The business of lynching negroes is bad, and we believe it + is declining, but the worst thing is that the wrong negro is + often lynched. The negro should be protected in all his legal + rights. Furthermore, in some communities, some white people + make money at the expense of the negro's lack of intelligence. + Unfair dealing with the negro is not a custom in the South. + It is not the rule, but here and there the taking of enormous + profits from the labor of the negro is known to exist. + + It should be so arranged that the negro in the city does not + have to raise his children in the alleys and in the streets. + Liquor in the cities has been a great curse to negroes. + Millions of dollars have been made by no account white people + selling no account liquor to negroes and thus making a whole + lot of negroes no account. Happily this business is being + extinguished. + + The negroes who are in the South should be encouraged to + remain there, and those white people who are in the boll + weevil territory should make every sacrifice to keep their + negro labor until there can be adjustments to the new and + quickly prosperous conditions that will later exist. + +Among those holding the same view that the South needed the negro was +the _Georgia Enquirer Sun_ of Columbus, Georgia.[159] An editorial in +this paper said that not only does the South need the negro but that +he should be encouraged to stay. + +The _Enquirer Sun_ further emphasized the fact that the South needs +the negro: + + With the certainty that a number will differ with us, we state + that the negro is an economic necessity to the South. Our + plantations are large, our climate is peculiar, and we + ourselves are not accustomed to doing the work that we ask + the negro to do. Serious labor conditions have confronted us + before, and it is exceedingly rare to find the native land + owning white farmer, who has been accustomed to employ negro + labor, taking the negro's place when the negro leaves his + neighborhood. The same conditions exist in the industries + where we of the South have been depending upon the negroes as + artisans in our industries or mines. + + The South has refused to accept immigration as a means of + supplying our demands for labor. The farmers stand up and howl + about preserving the pure blood of the South and invent all + sorts of reasons for prohibiting the immigration of the same + classes of people who have been making the North and East rich + for years; the same classes that build the eighth wonder of + the world--the Middle West. Now, if we are going to prohibit + immigration, we must consider the economic status sufficiently + seriously to preserve the only reliable supply of labor which + we have ever known. That is the negro. We should ponder over + the situation seriously and not put off until tomorrow its + consideration, because this movement is growing every day. + We should exercise our influence with our landlords and our + merchants to see that a fairer division of profit is made with + the negro and should watch the prices charged him as well as + the interest charged him. We should see that the industries + offer and pay to him a full and fair wage for his labor which + will compare favorably with the wages offered in the East. + We should see to it that the police in our towns, cities and + counties cease making distinction between the negro and the + white man when the negro is not absolutely known to be a + criminal. When we do these things, we will keep our labor and + we need to keep it. + +In connection with the discussion of the need of the South for the +negro, the duty of the South to the negro was pointed out. According +to the _Columbia_ (S.C.) _State_:[160] + + If the southern white people would have the negroes remain, + they must treat the negroes justly. If they refuse to do so + their hope of keeping negro labor is in the unwillingness of + the North to treat them justly, and we fear that this hope is + more substantial than the North likes to admit. Justice ought + to be cultivated everywhere for its own sake. Surely common + sense will dictate to the South that it ought to forestall the + disruption of our industrial establishment by causing negroes + to understand that they are safe where they are. + + The Macon _Telegraph_ said of negro labor: "If we lose it, we + go bankrupt." Yet this same paper only a few months before + was advocating the sending of 100,000 negroes into Mexico + to conquer the "mongrel breed," and at the same time rid the + South of that many worthless negroes. + + The black man has no quarrel with the Mexican, but, on the + other hand, he certainly has a disagreement with conditions as + they affect him in the South, and, when he desires to improve + those conditions by getting away from them, he must be + checked. Plenty of "sound advice" is given him about staying + in the South among his friends and under the same old + conditions. The bugaboo of cold weather is put before him to + frighten him, of race antagonism and sundry other things, but + not one word about better treatment is suggested to lighten + the burden, no sane and reasonable remedy offered. + + The black labor is the best labor the South can get, no + other would work long under the same conditions. It has + been faithful and loyal, but that loyalty can be undermined, + witness the exodus. + +A letter published in the Montgomery _Advertiser_[161] truly says: + + And the negro will not come back once he leaves the South. + + The World War is bringing many changes and a chance for the + negro to enter broader fields. With the "tempting bait" + of higher wages, shorter hours, better schools and better + treatment, all the preachments of the so-called race leaders + will fall on deaf ears. + + It is probable that the "well informed negro," who told the + Birmingham editor that it was good schools that were drawing + the negro, could have given other and more potent reasons had + he been so minded. He could have told how deep down in the + negro's heart he has no love for proscription, segregation, + lynchings, the petty persecutions and cruelties against him, + nor for the arresting of "fifty niggers for what three of 'em + done," even if it takes all of this to uphold the scheme of + civilization. + + From Savannah alone, three thousand negroes went, from sixteen + year old boys to men of sixty years. There must be something + radically wrong when aged negroes are willing to make the + change. There is greater unrest among negroes than those in + high places are aware. + + Let the _Advertiser_ speak out in the same masterful way, with + the same punch and pep for a square deal for the negro, that + it does for democracy and the right for local self-government. + +What was the attitude of the northern whites toward the migration? +Although the North had been accustomed to the adding of a million +foreigners annually to her population, these newcomers were white +people and as such did not occasion the comment or create just the +problems which a large influx of negroes created. The migration of the +negro attracted a great deal of public attention. A wide and extended +discussion of the movement was carried on through the press. The +attitude which the white people assumed toward the migrants was +expressed in this discussion. + +The _New Republic_ of New York City[162] pointed out that the movement +gave the negro a chance and that he, the South and the nation, would +in the end, all be gainers. + + When Austria found the Serbian reply inadmissible, the + American negro, who had never heard of Count Berchtold, and + did not care whether Bosnia belonged to Austria or Siam, got + his "chance." It was not the sort of chance that came to the + makers of munitions--a chance to make millions. It was merely + a widening of a very narrow foothold on life, a slightly + better opportunity to make his way in the industrial world of + America. + + In the beginning such a migration of negroes would increase + the present race friction in the North. Within certain limits + a racial minority is unpopular directly in proportion to its + numbers. Only as it increases to the point where political + and economic power makes it formidable, does it overcome + opposition. The negro's competition for jobs and homes will + probably exacerbate relations. As the negroes increased in + numbers they would not only seek menial and unskilled work, + but also strive to enter skilled trades where they would meet + with antagonism of white workers. Moreover, the negroes would + be forced to seek homes in what are now regarded as "white" + neighborhoods, and a clamor would be raised at each new + extension of their dwelling area. + + The antidote to persecution, however, is power, and if the + northern negroes are more numerous and more urgently needed + in our industrial life, they could protect themselves from the + worst forms of discrimination. If by 1930 the negro population + of the North has become three millions, instead of the + fraction over one million which it is today, and if these + three millions live better and save and spend more per capita + than today, they will profit more than they will lose from + their greater numbers. Their custom will be more valuable, + their political power greater and, as wage earners, they will + be strong enough to strike. Once they have completely filled + a new neighborhood, opposition will cease. Moreover, the + industrial competition with white workmen, while severe at + certain crucial points, should not permanently be dangerous, + since the very conditions which bring the negro north also + make for higher wages for the white workers. What the white + wage earner desires is not an industrial exploitation of the + negro, but the maintenance of the white man's superiority of + position. + + For the nation as a whole, such a gradual dissemination of + the negroes among all the States would ultimately be of real + advantage. If at the end of half a century, only 50 or 60 per + cent, instead of 89 per cent of the negroes, were congregated + in the southern States, it would end the fear of race + domination, and take from the South many of its peculiar + characteristics, which today hamper development. To the negro + it would be of even more obvious benefit. The race would be + far better educated, considerably richer, and with greater + political power. Success for the negroes of the North would + mean better conditions for southern negroes. For if the + southern negro, finding political and social conditions + intolerable, were able to emigrate to the North, he would have + in his hand a weapon as effective as any he could find in the + ballot box. + +The Oshkosh, Wisconsin, _Daily Northwestern_ felt that a large +influx of colored people would bring to the North the same perplexing +problems that long have disturbed the people of the southern States. + + This, in fact, is the most serious aspect of this reported + migration of southern blacks, and it is suggestive of no end + of trouble for some of the northern States, which heretofore + have regarded the so-called negro problem as something which + little concerns them. The South has struggled for years to + solve this problem, with its many phases and angles, and + never yet has found a satisfactory solution. Should the same + baffling questions be forced on the North it would give the + people something to think about, and many will gain a new + appreciation of the perplexities of the southern whites. And + the necessity of facing this new problem may come to the North + much sooner than generally is expected. + +The Springfield, Massachusetts, _Union_[163] was also of the opinion +that: + + The North has been strong for the negro, considered as a + political entity, but our communities are manifestly not + desirous of supplying a field for him to expand and adapt + himself to the social structure, and their leaders experience + more difficulty in this regard than do their co-laborers in + the South, with its vast colored population. This in itself + furnished food for careful thought. + + In a way, there is justification for a disinclination on the + part of New Englanders to add a large negro element to their + number. We have enough of a problem already to absorb and + educate the large alien element that has come into our midst + from the Old World. Our duty toward our colored residents + should not go unrecognized, and the first step toward a just + and fair disposal of related problems is to admit frankly that + a rather strict color line is being drawn among us. + + +The Beloit, Wisconsin, _News_[164] held that the migration had brought +the negro problem north and made it national: + + The negro problem has moved north. Rather, the negro problem + has spread from south to north; and beside it in the South is + appearing a stranger to that clime--the labor problem. + + It's a double development brought about by the war in Europe, + and the nation has not yet realized its significance. Within + a few years, experts predict the negro population of the North + will be tripled. It's your problem, then, or it will be when + the negro moves next door. + + Italians and Greeks are giving way to the negroes in the + section gangs along northern railroads, as you can see from + the train windows, and as labor agents admit. Northern cities + that had only small colored populations are finding their + "white" sections invaded by negro families, strangers to the + town. Many cities are in for the experience that has befallen + all communities on the edge of the North and South--gradual + encroachment of colored folks on territory occupied by whites; + depreciation in realty values and lowering of rents, and + finally, moving of the white families to other sections, + leaving the districts in possession of colored families with a + small sprinkling of whites. + + This means racial resentment--for the white family that moves + to escape negro proximity always carries, justly or not, a + prejudice against the black race. It hits your pocket too. + + Negroes will enter trades now monopolized by white men, + at first, perhaps, as strike breakers; later, as non-union + competitors, working for smaller wages. It will take some + time, probably, to get them into the labor unions' way of + thinking. + + Politicians, both good and bad, will seek the ballot of a + large new element, which will vote largely in the lump. Now, + what will be the effect in the southern States? Already the + offers of better jobs further north have caused strikes among + southern negroes--something almost unheard of. The South gets + no immigration, but the negro has been an ever present + source of cheap labor. With the black tide setting north, the + southern negro, formerly a docile tool, is demanding better + pay, better food and better treatment. And no longer can the + South refuse to give it to him. For when the South refuses the + negro moves away. It's a national problem now, instead of a + sectional problem. And it has got to be solved. + +The _New York Globe_[165] said that: + + For more than a year a migration of men and women of color to + northern States has been going on that has already deprived + thousands of southern farmers of cheap labor. And the movement + bids fair to continue. That it will have both good and bad + effects is obvious. It will distribute the negro population + more evenly throughout the States and thus tend to diminish + race friction. But unless there is a change of spirit on the + part of northern unions, it will increase the danger of labor + troubles in case of industrial depression. + +The Pittsburgh _Dispatch_[166] held that the migration was helping the +negro. It was of the opinion that: + + This movement eastward and westward of unskilled negro labor + will both directly and indirectly help the negro. The younger + element, those of ambition and of some training in the + schools, will be constantly emerging from unskilled to the + semiskilled classes, with a consequent increase in their pay + rolls and a betterment in their methods of living. + + A decidedly better treatment of the negro, both in the North + and the South, will grow out of the fact that the demand for + his labor has been limited and the supply unlimited. + +In the spring of 1918 the Walla Walla, Washington, _Bulletin_[167] +summed up the situation thus: + + There was much alarm a year or two ago over the migration of + negroes to the North in large numbers. It was felt that they + had far better stay in the South, in a familiar and congenial + environment, and keep on raising cotton and food, than crowd + into the inhospitable North for unaccustomed factory work. We + have heard less of that lately; it is still doubtful whether + the change is good for the negro himself, and there's no + question that his coming has complicated housing conditions + and social problems in northern cities. But economically the + matter appears in a new light. At a time when war industries + were starving for labor, the negro provided the labor. He is + recognized as a new industrial asset. + + The migration has been unfortunate, to be sure, for the + communities thus deprived of agricultural labor; but it is + said that from a broad, national standpoint the gain to the + manufacturing industries more than compensates. And there has + been an actual increase in the output of energy. The negro + works harder in the North. He produces more. He is thus of + more use to the community. And for the benefit he brings, + communities are more willing than they were at first to + tolerate the inconvenience due to his coming. + +Some of the negro newspapers opposed the migration. Prominent among +these was the _Journal and Guide_ of Norfolk, Virginia, and the +_Voice of the People_ of Birmingham, Alabama. In speaking against the +migration, the _Journal and Guide_[168] said: + + It is difficult, if not impossible, to check the operation of + an economic law, and it is perfectly natural that men should + seek fields of labor in which they are promised higher + wages and better conditions, but those who go and those + who encourage the going of them should get the facts of the + so-called inducements and learn the truth about them before + lending their influence to a movement that can not only + promise no permanent good to laborers, but works untold injury + to the foundation of their own economic structure. + + Another phase of the matter, and one that invites the + condemnation of all honest persons, is the manner in which + negro labor is at present exploited to satisfy the selfish + whims of a group of misguided and ill-advised agitators and + fanatics on the race question. All of the nice talk about + "fleeing from southern oppression," and going where "equal + rights and social privileges" await them is pure buncombe. It + is strange that negro labor should stand the oppression of the + South for fifty years and suddenly make up its mind to move + northward as an evidence of its resentment. + + The truth of the matter is that the element of negroes in the + South that feel the oppression most is not concerned in the + migration movement. Nor are they going to leave their homes + and accumulations of half a century as a solution of their + problems. They are going to remain here and fight out their + constitutional rights accorded them here in the land of their + birth. + +The editor of _The Star of Zion_, Charlotte, North Carolina,[169] +conceded the right of the negro to go wherever he had opportunity to +go; on the other hand, it was doubtful whether a wholesale exodus was +for the best. He said: + + While I concede the black man's right to go where he likes, + for he has the right of liberty and the pursuit of happiness, + yet I doubt the wisdom of such wholesale exodus from the + South. There are some things which the negro needs far more + than his wages, or some of the rights for which he contends. + He needs conservation of his moral life. + + In the North a negro is brought face to face with new + problems; among the many is the problem of adjusting himself + to the abundance of freedom into which he comes so suddenly. + His new freedom brings him new changes, as well as new + opportunities, for among the roses there lies the thorn.... + While the inducements of the North are very alluring, in the + end the negro problem must be wrought out in the South. + +Concerning the _Journal and Guide's_ position, the Raleigh, North +Carolina, _Independent_[170] took issue and said: + + Our disagreement with our estimable contemporary, the Norfolk + _Journal and Guide_, we are persuaded, is far less real than + seeming. Essentially we are in accord. We are certain that the + _Journal and Guide_ is not advocating the limitation of the + negro to any one section of the country. If the exigencies + of the present war have created a demand for his labor in the + North at better wages than he can secure in the South like + other people, he should take advantage of it and plant himself + firmly in the industrial life of the section. + + There are two ways by which we may improve our condition in + this country. The one is segregation--voluntary segregation. + The other is "scatteration." If we can come together, build + up communities of our own, promote them into towns and even + cities, we shall do well. If, on the other hand, we shall + scatter all over the land and have nowhere a numerical + congestion, we strengthen our cause. + +The _Dallas_ (Texas) _Express_[171] said: + + The strangest thing, the real mystery about the exodus, is + that in all the Southland there has not been a single meeting + or promoter to start the migration. Just simultaneously all + over the South about a year ago, the negro began to cross the + Mason and Dixon line. Indeed, this is a most striking case + where the negro has been doing a great deal more thinking than + talking, knowing he is not given the freedom of speech. Who + knows, then, what the providence of God is in this exodus. + This exodus is not by any means confined to the worthless or + the ignorant negro. A large per cent of the young negroes + in this exodus are rather intelligent. Many of the business + houses in Houston, Dallas and Galveston, where the exodus is + greatest in Texas, have lost some of their best help. To tell + the truth more fully, the negroes generally throughout the + South are more dissatisfied with conditions than they have + been for several years and there are just reasons why they + should be. Every negro newspaper and publication in this broad + land, including pamphlets and books, and the intelligent negro + pastor with backbone and courage are constantly protesting + against the injustices done the negro. And possibly these + agents have been the greatest incentives to help create and + crystallize this unrest and migration. + +How the negro should be treated and what would hold him in the South +was discussed at length and on many occasions in the columns of the +_Atlanta_ (Georgia) _Independent_.[172] An example of this discussion +follows: + + Last week we discussed at length the negro exodus. We tried to + point out in plain, simple and manly language the reason and + remedy for moving north. We warned our white neighbors that + city ordinances and legislation could not stem the tide; + that humane treatment would do more to settle the negro's + industrial and economic unrest than anything else; that the + South was his natural home and he desired to stay here; but in + order to keep him at home he must have contentment; he had to + be assured of protection of life and property; assured of + the enjoyment of public utilities; assured of educational + advantages, ample and adequate, to prepare his children for + useful and helpful citizenship; he must be permitted to serve + God unmolested and to assemble in the community where he + lives, in church, in society and politics; for his own moral, + intellectual and physical benefit he must be given living + wages and reminded in his daily dealings with his white + neighbor that he is a citizen, not a negro, and that he is + charged with responsibilities like other citizens. The negro + is conscious of his racial identity and not ashamed of it. He + is proud of his race and his color, but does not like to have + the word "negro" define his relation as a citizen. The white + man should understand that the negro is making progress; + that he is getting property and education; that his wants are + increasing in common with the white man's wants and that he is + not going to be bottled up or hemmed up in any community, so + long as there is another community on the face of the earth + where he can breathe freely and enjoy the pursuits of life, + liberty and happiness in common with other men. + +_The Christian Index_[173] the official organ of the Colored Methodist +Episcopal Church, published at Jackson, Tennessee, was of the opinion +that: + + There are two sets of causes for the negro leaving the South + at this time. One set may be known as the surface causes and + the other set beneath-the-surface causes. The surface causes + are easily seen and understood. These are economic causes. The + war in Europe has called home foreigners out of the industrial + centers of the North and West. These large factories and other + industrial enterprises, representing enormous investments, + had to turn in some other direction for labor. These large + industrial opportunities with higher wages made strong appeals + to the southern negro. + + The beneath-the-surface causes are to be found in the + handicaps under which the negro labors in the South and + the uncivilized treatment to which he is subjected. He is + segregated. To this he most strenuously objects. There is a + difference between segregation and separation, especially so + in the southern interpretation of segregation as observed + in the practice of the South in its enforcement of the idea. + Separation in matters social and religious is not necessarily + objectionable. Left alone each race group instinctively seeks + separation from other race groups. But segregation, as we + have it, means more than separation; it means inferiority and + humiliation. It means not only another section of the city for + the negro, but a section that is inferior in improvement + and protection; it means not only a different school, but an + inferior school both in building and equipment; it means not + only separate accommodations on the railroads, but deplorably + inferior accommodations; this, too, in the face of the fact + that the negro pays the same price that is paid by others. + + Another cause is the code of laws, or rather the practice of + it, that gives more concern to the color of a man's skin than + to the merits of a case he may have in the courts of justice. + The negro is taught not to expect justice in the courts, + however industrious, honest, law abiding he may be, when his + lawful rights to liberty and protection are contested by a + white man. The negro suffers in the courts, not always because + he is guilty, not because he lacks character, but because his + skin, not his heart, is black. + +What was the attitude of the northern negroes toward the migration? +With some exceptions, negroes north assumed a friendly attitude toward +the migrants. Many of these residents of the North were themselves +but recently come from the South. The newcomers were looked upon as +brethren, just coming into the "Promised Land." They were welcomed in +the churches and otherwise made to feel at home. In some cities there +were organizations of resident negroes to look after the welfare of +the new arrivals. In the northern race newspapers, the attitude of the +negro north was fully set forth, as the following extracts from the +_New York News_[174] indicate: + + We hail with no alarm whatever the influx of colored men + from the South. The colored people of the North will be + strengthened by the hard working, ambitious laborers added to + their numbers. The laboring conditions and life of the masses + of the colored people in the South will be made better and + brighter by their leaving. + + Yet a heavy responsibility rests upon every colored leader, + moral and civic, in these northern States to take an especial + interest in their newly arriving brethren. You must teach + them not to take their liberty to be ladies and gentlemen for + license to degrade themselves and their race here. You must + urge them to avoid the deadly vice and wasting extravagance of + the unhealthy congested city. They should find their homes and + rear their families in the suburbs, where they can buy their + own homes and properly train their children in head, hand and + heart. Urge them to get steady work and settle down. Urge them + to become good citizens and better parents. Urge them to go to + church, to lead patient Christian lives and all will come out + well in the end. + +The Philadelphia _Christian Recorder_[175] took the ground that: + + 1. The negro is an American. He speaks the language of the + country and is, therefore, superior to the foreigner in this + respect. + + 2. He knows the customs of the country and here again has the + advantage of the foreigner. + + 3. He is a peaceable worker and is glad to have an opportunity + to make good. + + 4. The negro is physically the equal and morally the superior + of the immigrant from Europe. + + There are reasons why the negro should succeed in the North. + So we have no doubt that many will come. + + Indeed, if a million negroes move north and west in the next + twelve months, it will be one of the greatest things for the + negro since the Emancipation Proclamation. And the movement of + a million negroes should not alarm anybody, especially when we + remember that a million immigrants were coming every year to + this country before the war. + + Let the good work go on. Let every community in the North + organize to get jobs for our friends in the South. Let a + million come. In coming the negroes will get higher wages. + + They will get first class schools, running nine months a + year--a thing worth leaving the South for, if there were no + other advantages. + + They will have a chance in the courts. If they should happen + to have a difference with a white man, they will not take + their lives in their own hands by standing up for their side. + + They will be able to defend their homes, their wives and + children in a way no negro can now protect them in the South. + + They will have the right to vote. The foreigner must wait + seven years for this--the negro only one year. If a million + negroes come north, they will soon get sufficient political + power, which combined with their economic power will be able + to force the South to do some things she is now unwilling to + do. + + With labor competition for the negro between North and + South with the North offering higher wages, better living + conditions, better education, protection and a vote, the South + must bestir herself if she would keep the best labor in the + world. And southern statesmen will see that the South must + cease to lynch, begin to educate and finally restore the + ballot. + + "But," says an objector, "these negroes coming north will + increase prejudice." What if they do? Then the northern + negro will sympathize more with his southern brother. But + if prejudice increases, the negro has the ballot which is an + effective way to combat it. If a million negroes come here + we will have more negro businesses, better churches, more + professional men and real political power, and the negro in + the North will begin to get a social position not based on + mere charity. + +What were the causes of migration? A very large part of the discussion +of the movement was taken up with setting forth the causes. The +Montgomery _Advertiser_ was of the opinion that the chief causes of +the negro's leaving central Alabama were floods and the cotton boll +weevil: + + The negro from middle Alabama is going north because of + economic conditions which he can not help and which he can + not overcome. He is not being forced out by pressure from + the white race. The relations between the two races in this + section were never better; the negro is not subjected to + oppression or to any outbreaks of violence, which have induced + the negro to leave certain sections of the South. + + The negro is going because he is the most unfortunate of the + victims of the combined disaster this year of the flood and + the boll weevil. There have been actual want and hunger among + some of the negroes on the plantations. The heads of negro + families have been without present resources and without + future prospects. The wise planter and farmer has said to his + negro employes and tenants: + + "You have not made anything this year. I have not made + anything this year. But we will do our best and I will see + what resources I can get together to keep you until next year, + when we can all make a fresh start." + + Another class of farmers, and we suspect that their number + is too large, has said, "You never made anything this year. + I never made anything this year. I can not afford to feed you + and your family until the beginning of the next crop year. You + must go out and shift for yourselves." + + This cold blooded business view of the situation, we suspect, + has been the best assistance that the labor agent has + received. It is not difficult to know what a negro farm hand + will do when he and his family are facing hunger, when a + labor agent offers him a railroad ticket and a promise of two + dollars and a half a day in the industrial works of the North + and East.[176] + +Lynching was one of the reasons most often given as a cause of the +migration. + + Current dispatches from Albany, Georgia, in the center of the + section apparently most affected, and where efforts are being + made to stop the exodus by spreading correct information among + the negroes, say: + + "The heaviest migration of negroes has been from those + counties in which there have been the worst outbreaks against + negroes. It is developed by investigation that where there + have been lynchings, the negroes have been most eager to + believe what the emigration agents have told them of plots for + the removal or extermination of the race. Comparatively + few negroes have left Dougherty county, which is considered + significant in view of the fact that this is one of the + counties in southwest Georgia in which a lynching has never + occurred." + + These statements are most significant. Mob law we have known + in Georgia has furnished emigration agents with all the + leverage they want; it is a foundation upon which it is easy + to build with a well conducted lie or two, and they have not + been slow to take advantage of it. + + This loss of her best labor is another penalty Georgia is + paying for her indifference and inactivity in suppressing mob + law. + + If Georgia is injured, agriculturally and industrially by the + negro exodus, the white people here have no one to blame but + themselves. + + The indictment is true, every word of it. The appeal to + humanity, to fairness and justice and right, has been + apparently without effect. It is unfortunate for the people of + Georgia that an appeal to the pocketbook should be necessary + to bring back the enthronement of law, but if moral suasion is + powerless, the question of personal interest has entered and + in no uncertain degree. + + The trouble incident to the migration of negroes from Georgia + and the South is exactly as stated. + + There is no secret about what must be done, if Georgia + would save herself from threatened disaster, which, in some + sections, has already become serious. + + In the first place, there must be no more mobs. Mobs and mob + spirit must be eliminated completely, so completely that there + will be no danger of recurrence. If a negro be charged with a + crime, even if it be known that he is guilty, he must be given + the same fair treatment before the law that is accorded the + white man. If anything, it would seem that ignorance and + childishness demand even more consideration than the crime + which lacks that excuse. + + But more than that, we must be fair to the negro. There is no + use in beating about the bush; we have not shown that fairness + in the past, nor are we showing it today, either in justice + before the law, in facilities accorded for education or in + other directions. Argue it as you will, these things which we + have not done are the things which we must do, or Georgia will + suffer for it in proportion as she fails.[177] + +In connection with lynchings there was the general fear of mob +violence. This fear was taken advantage of by labor agents, as the +following indicates: + + We are astonished, too, to learn that one of the reasons for + this unrest among the negroes who were born and reared here is + fear that all negroes are to be run out of Georgia. This idea, + of course, has been planted in the minds of the simple minded + of the race by the crafty and unscrupulous labor agents who + have operated in almost every section of the State. + + The negroes have this idea from the fact that there are + localities in the State right now where a negro can not live. + And we do not know of anybody that is doing anything to change + this condition. + + Labor agents are doing their best to put the fear into the + hearts of the negroes in this State that they are going to be + run out by the white people, some of them even fixing the time + as next June; but this work began long before the negro exodus + north was thought of. The example of one county in north + Georgia, which ran every negro out, was followed by other + counties adjoining, and the general public has little idea + how widespread the contagion became--for lawlessness is nearly + always contagious. + + If Georgia is injured, agriculturally and industrially, by the + negro exodus, the white people here have no one to blame but + themselves. They have allowed negroes to be lynched, five at + a time, on nothing stronger than suspicion; they have allowed + whole sections to be depopulated of them; they have allowed + them to be whitecapped and whipped, and their homes burned, + with only the weakest and most spasmodic efforts to apprehend + or punish those guilty--when any efforts were made at all. + + Has not the negro been given the strongest proof that he + has no assured right to live, to own property nor to expect + justice in Georgia? + + When the negro is gone, his loss will be felt in every large + agricultural section and every industrial community of the + South. For the average white man can not do the heavier work + at the sawmills, naval stores plants and in many lines + of manufacture, that is now being done by the negro. As a + consequence, these plants and many large plantations must + stand idle or import a class of white labor that will be a + great deal worse than the black. Confronted with cheap + white labor, and white men of a race of which they have no + understanding--then will the South have its labor problems. + + But at present, it seems, little can be done. Unless southern + white people who have their all invested in agriculture or + manufacturing take care of their own interest by seeing that + the negro gets justice when suspected and a fair trial when + accused, and assured that so long as he behaves he will be + guaranteed safety of life and property, it is perhaps as well + to let the negro go. It will mean an industrial revolution + for the South, but the present condition of affairs has become + intolerable.[178] + +The negroes of the South used both the white and negro newspapers of +that section in carrying on the discussion of the migration movement. +The substance of what the negroes said through the press was that, +first of all, the negroes wanted to stay in the South and were going +north not only because there they could secure better wages than +were generally paid in the South, but also because they would, in the +North, get protection and have privileges not accorded in the South. +Concerning the negro wanting to stay in the South, it was pointed +out that in the South he did have economic opportunity and received +encouragement. "The truth is that the negroes who are leaving the +South in large numbers, and others who are thinking of going, do not +want to go. They prefer to remain here."[179] + +It was pointed out that the passing of stringent labor laws would not +stop the exodus. The negro could not be kept in the South by force. + + Various communities [said a negro] are passing stringent + laws with the view of making the business of agents either + impracticable or impossible. This will ultimately have the + very opposite effect of what was intended. I am a negro and + know the deeper thoughts and feelings of my own people. I know + their yearnings and the religious zeal with which they look + forward to the future for better days, and to other climes + than this for better conditions. + + Now to pass severe laws to block this movement will not only + be a waste of time, but the most unwise way of dealing with + the problem. The problem can not be solved from the angle of + force. + + In order for the negro to be kept in the South he must be made + to see, to feel, that on the whole it will be better for him + to remain in the South than to migrate to the North. Stop + lynching. Teach us to love the South and be contented here by + ceasing to abridge us in such extremes in common rights and + citizenship. + + Another method of helping to keep the negro in the South is + for the better class of whites to get hold of the negroes. + In a word, there should be cooperation between the races. The + negroes should be given better schools and the whites should + set before the negroes better examples of law and order. The + North is offering better homes, better schools and justice + before the law. The South can do the same. + +"One of our grievances," said a negro correspondent of the +_Chattanooga Times_,[180] "is that in colored localities we have very +bad streets, no lights, no sewerage system, and sanitary conditions +are necessarily bad. Give the negro the right kind of a show, living +wages, consider him as a man, and he will be contented to remain +here." + +A good presentation of the negroes' side of the case is given in +the following letter from a negro minister to the Montgomery +_Advertiser_.[181] He wrote: + + Why should the South raise such objections to the jobless + man seeking the manless job, especially when it has held + that jobless man up to the ridicule of the world as trifling, + shiftless and such a burden to the South? Now the opportunity + has come to the negro to relieve the South of some of its + burden, and at the same time advance his own interests, a + great hue and cry is started that it must not be allowed, + and the usual and foolish method of repressive legislation is + brought into play. + +Addressing the editor of the _Advertiser_, another negro correspondent +said: + + I have read with profound interest the many articles published + in your paper upon the great negro exodus from the South. + + The negro has remained in the South almost as a solid mass + since his emancipation. This in itself shows that he loves the + South, and if he is now migrating to the East, North and West + by the hundreds and thousands, there must be a cause for it. + We should do our best to find out these causes and at least + suggest the remedy. + + The time has come for plain speaking on the part of all. It + will do us no good to try to hide the facts, because "truth + crushed to earth will rise again." In the first place, + the negro in this country is oppressed. This oppression is + greatest where the negro population is greatest. The negro + population happens to be greater in the South than in the + North, therefore, he is more oppressed in the South than in + the North. + + Take the counties in our State. Some are known as white + counties and others as black counties. In the white counties + the negro is given better educational opportunities than in + the black counties. I have in mind one Black Belt county where + the white child is given $15 per year for his education and + the negro child only 30 cents a year. See the late Booker T. + Washington's article, "Is the Negro Having a Fair Chance?" Now + these facts are generally known throughout this State by both + white and black. And we all know that it is unjust. It is + oppression. + + This oppression shows itself in many ways. Take for example + the railroads running through the rural sections of the South. + There are many flag stations where hundreds of our people get + off and on the train. The railroads have little stops at the + platform about six feet square; only one coach stops at this + point; the negro women, girls and boys are compelled to get + off and on the train sometimes in water and in the ditches + because there are no provisions made for them otherwise. + + Again take the matter of the franchise. We all agree that + ignorant negroes should not be intrusted with this power, but + we all feel that where a negro has been smart and industrious + in getting an education and property and pays his taxes, he + should be represented. Taxation without representation is just + as unjust today as it was in 1776. It is just as unfair for + the negro as it is to the white man, and we all, both white + and black, know this. We may shut our eyes to this great + truth, as sometimes we do, but it is unjust just the same. + + Take the matter of the courts. There is no justice unless the + negro has a case against another negro. When he has a case + against a white man, you can tell what the decision will be + just as soon as you know the nature of the case, unless some + strong white man will come to the negro's rescue. This, too, + is generally known and the negro does not expect justice. + + As yet, there has been no concerted action on the part of the + white people to stop mob violence. I know a few plantations, + however, where the owners will not allow their negroes to be + arrested without the officer first consulting them, and these + negroes idolize these white men as gods, and so far not one of + these negroes has gone north. I repeat there are outcroppings + of these oppressions everywhere in this country, but they show + themselves most where the negroes are in the largest numbers. + But all of this the negro is perfectly willing to endure, and + they all may be classed as the secondary cause of this great + exodus. + + The primary cause is economic. The storms and floods of last + July and August destroyed practically all crops in a large + part of the South, and especially in the Black Belt section. + These people are hungry, they are naked, they have no corn and + had no cotton, so they are without food and clothes. What else + can they do but go away in search of work? There are a great + many wealthy white men here and there throughout the Black + Belt section. They have large plantations which need the + ditches cleared and new ones made to properly drain their + farms. They could have given work to these destitute people; + but what have they done? Nothing. They say that it is a pity + for the negro to go away in such large numbers, and so it is, + but that will not stop them. They have it in their power to + stop them by making the negro's economic condition better + here. + + Thus far the average white man of the South has been + interested in the negro from a selfish point of view; he must + now become interested in him from a humanitarian point of + view. He must be interested in his educational, moral and + religious welfare. We know that we have many ignorant, vicious + and criminal negroes which are a disgrace to any people, but + they are ignorant because they have not had a chance. Why, I + know one county in this State today with 10,000 negro + children of school age, and only 4,000 of these are in school, + according to the report of the Superintendent of Education. We + can not expect ignorant people to act like intelligent ones, + and no amount of abuse will make them better. + + Sometimes we hear it said that the white man of the South + knows the negro better than anybody else, but the average + white man of the South only knows the ignorant, vicious and + criminal negro better than anybody else. He knows little of + the best class of negroes. I am glad to say, however, that + there are a few southern white men who know the better class, + and know them intimately, and are doing what they can to + better the negro's condition. I would to God that the number + of these few could be increased a hundredfold.[182] + +R.R. Wright, President of the Georgia State Industrial College for +Negroes, in a discussion of the causes of the migration movement +stated that it is undoubtedly true that the high wages offered is the +main cause. There are other aiding causes, however, for this movement +besides low wages. + +Naturally the negro is peculiarly adapted to a southern climate and +prefers to remain in the South. He has made his best progress in the +South. There are nearly a million negro farm operators and most of +them are in the South. The total acreage of their farms is 42,279,510: +valued at $1,141,792,526. In the value of farms operated there was an +increase of 128.5 per cent, during the last census decade, while the +value of farm property operated by white farmers for the same time +increased only 99.6 per cent. The negro is prospering in the South. +Now this and other facts constitute for the negro a strong tie to the +southern soil. + + This tie should not be broken lightly. The negro does not want + to leave the South. The only thing to break this tie is unfair + and cruel treatment of the negro on the part of the white man. + In this connection our white friends should know that not only + in the lynchings, and in the courts and in the unwholesome + conditions on the southern railway common carriers (as vital + as these are), but that in the general attitude of many of our + southern white people, there is exhibited a contempt for the + negro which makes the best of the negroes feel that they + are only tolerated in the South. And yet in their individual + relations there is no better friend to the negro in the world + than the southern white man. In the face of our friends it + is hard to explain this discounting and this contemptuous + attitude, and yet everybody understands that it exists. + "You are only a negro and are not entitled to the courteous + treatment accorded to members of other races." Another cause + is the feeling of insecurity. The lack of legal protection in + the country is a constant nightmare to the colored people who + are trying to accumulate a comfortable little home and farm. + + There is scarcely a negro mother in the country who does not + live in dread and fear that her husband or son may come in + unfriendly contact with some white person so as to bring the + lynchers or the arresting officers to her door, which may + result in the wiping out of her entire family. It must be + acknowledged that this is a sad condition. + + The southern white man ought to be willing to give the negro a + man's chance without regard to his race or color; give him at + least the same protection of law given to any one else. If he + will not do this, the negro must seek those north or west who + will give him better wages and better treatment.[183] + +One of the most thoughtful discussions of the causes of migration was +by W.T. Andrews, a negro lawyer and editor, formerly of Sumter, South +Carolina. In an address before the 1917 South Carolina Race Conference +he said: + + In my view the chief causes of negro unrest and disturbance + are as follows: the destruction of his political privileges + and curtailment of his civil rights; no protection of life, + liberty and property under the law; Jim Crow car; residential + and labor segregation laws; no educational facilities worthy + of the name in most of the southern States. These, I believe, + are the most potent causes which are now impelling the + southern negro to seek employment and find homes in northern + and western sections of the country. + + In South Carolina, and I believe it is equally true of every + southern State, except those classed as "border States," + statute after statute has been passed to curtail the rights of + the negro, but in not a single instance can a law be pointed + to which was enacted for the purpose of enlarging his + opportunity, surrounding himself and his family with the + protection of the law, or for the betterment of his condition. + On the contrary every law passed relating to the negro has + been passed with the intent of controlling his labor and + drawing his circle of freedom into smaller and smaller + compass. + + In the rural districts the negro is not only at the mercy of + the lawless white individual citizen, but equally at the mercy + of the rural police, the constables and magistrates. There + is hardly a record in modern history of greater oppression by + judicial officers than that dealt to the negroes by a large + majority of the magistrates and other officials who preside + over the inferior courts of South Carolina. + + In towns and cities, as a rule, mayors' and recorders' courts + are mills for grinding out negro convicts; negroes charged + with petty offenses are brought into these courts, convicted + and sentenced with lightning speed, before they even realize + that they are on trial unless they are able to hire attorneys, + whose fees often equal the fine that would be imposed. They + are beaten at will by arresting officers, frequently shot and + many killed if attempt is made to escape by running away from + the officer, and for any such shooting, officers are seldom + put to the inconvenience of trial, even if the victim die. + + In tragic truth it must be confessed that there is in the + South--South Carolina, more certainly--no protection for the + life or person of any negro of whatever standing, sex, age, + against the intent of the bloody-minded white man. + + The negro does not ask for special privileges or social + legislation in his behalf. He does not ask to be measured + by any standard less than the white man's standard, but he + insists that the same test shall apply to all men of all + races. He refuses to accept the declaration of men who claim + to be earthly agents and representatives of the Almighty, the + interpreters of His will and laws, and who solemnly assert + that the God of the Christian ordained and decreed the negro + race to be in slavery or semislavery to the white race. + + The negro believes that the world is built on a moral + foundation with justice as its basic rock. He believes that + the Almighty is just, merciful and benevolent, and that He + included all men in His plan of human development and reaching + out for protection. + + He asks only for justice. Nothing less than justice will stay + the movement of negroes from the South. Its continued refusal + will drive in the next two years a third or more of its negro + population to other portions of the country.[184] + +[Footnote 156: New Orleans _Times Picayune_, December 15, 1916.] + +[Footnote 157: August 19, 1916.] + +[Footnote 158: October 5, 1916.] + +[Footnote 159: December 2, 1916.] + +[Footnote 160: December 22, 1916.] + +[Footnote 161: _The Advertiser_, Montgomery, Alabama, September 22, +1917.] + +[Footnote 162: July 1, 1917.] + +[Footnote 163: July 16, 1916.] + +[Footnote 164: August 25, 1916.] + +[Footnote 165: July 31, 1916.] + +[Footnote 166: October 1, 1916.] + +[Footnote 167: March 13, 1918.] + +[Footnote 168: March 24, 1917.] + +[Footnote 169: July 19, 1917.] + +[Footnote 170: April 28, 1917.] + +[Footnote 171: August 11, 1917.] + +[Footnote 172: January 27, 1917.] + +[Footnote 173: June 24, 1917.] + +[Footnote 174: September 17, 1916.] + +[Footnote 175: February 1, 1917.] + +[Footnote 176: _The Advertiser_, Montgomery, Alabama, December 12, +1916.] + +[Footnote 177: _Atlanta Constitution_, December 10, 1916.] + +[Footnote 178: _Georgia Gazette_, reprint from _Atlanta Constitution_, +December 10, 1916.] + +[Footnote 179: _Age Herald_, Birmingham, Alabama, September 25, 1916.] + +[Footnote 180: Weldon Victor Jenkins, in _Chattanooga Times_, October +10, 1916.] + +[Footnote 181: _The Advertiser_, Montgomery, Alabama, October 7, +1916.] + +[Footnote 182: W.J. Edwards, Principal of Snow Hill Normal +and Industrial Institute (Colored), Snow Hill, Alabama, in the +_Advertiser_, Montgomery, Alabama, January 27, 1917.] + +[Footnote 183: Reprinted from the _Morning News_, Savannah, Georgia, +January 3, 1917.] + +[Footnote 184: From an address by W.T. Andrews at the South Carolina +Race Conference, Columbia, South Carolina, February 8, 1917.] + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHY + +BOOKS AND PERIODICALS + + +A Century of Negro Migration. C.G. Woodson, Washington, 1918. + +The Negro Migrant in Pittsburgh. Abraham Epstein, Pittsburgh, 1918. + +Negro Newcomers in Detroit. G.E. Haynes, New York, 1918. + +The Migration of a Race, 1916-1917, Annual Report of National League +on Urban Conditions among Negroes. + +The 1917 Report of the Chicago Branch of the National League on Urban +Conditions among Negroes. + +Negro Migration: What Does It Mean? Gilbert N. Brink (pamphlet issued +by American Baptist Home Mission Society, New York). + +Negro Migration. _New Republic_, January 1, 1916. + +How the War Brings Unprophesied Opportunities to the Negro Race. +_Current Opinion_, December, 1916. + +Negro Moving North. _Literary Digest_, October 7, 1916. + +Cotton Pickers in Northern Cities. H.B. Pendleton, _Survey_, February +17, 1917. + +Exodus in America. _Living Age_, October 6, 1917. + +Lure of the North for Negroes. _Survey_, April 7, 1917. + +Negroes Come North. K. Moses, _Forum_, August, 1917. + +Negroes Go North. R.S. Baker, _World's Work_, July, 1917. + +Negro Migration. P.H. Stone, _Outlook_, August 1, 1917. + +Negro Migration as the South Sees It. _Survey_, August 11, 1917. + +Passing of the Jim Crow. W.E.B. DuBois, _Independent_, July 14, 1917. + +Reasons Why Negroes Go North. _Survey_, June 2, 1917. + +South Calling Negroes Back. _Literary Digest_, June 23, 1917. + +Southern Negroes Moving North. _World's Work_, June, 1917. + +Welcoming Southern Negroes; East St. Louis and Detroit a Contrast. +F.B. Washington, _Survey_, July 14, 1917. + +When Labor Is Cheap. B.M. Edens, _Survey_, September 8, 1917. + +Interstate Migration. W.O. Scroggs, _Journal Political Economy_, +December, 1917. + +Negroes Move North. G.E. Haynes, _Survey_, May 4, 1918. + +Negroes a Source of Industrial Labor. D.T. Farnham, _Industrial +Management_, August, 1918. + +Negro Welfare Workers in Pittsburgh. _Survey_, August 3, 1918. + +Negroes and Organized Labor. _Survey_, February 9, 1918. + +Negro and the New Economic Conditions. R.R. Moton, Proceedings +National Conference of Social Workers, 1917. + +Migration of Negroes into Northern Cities. G.E. Haynes, National +Conference of Social Workers, 1917. + +Progress of Work for the Assimilation of Negro Immigrants in Northern +Cities. F.B. Washington, National Conference of Social Workers, 1917 + +Negro Migration. Ralph W. Tyler, _Pearsons_, November, 1917. + +Southern Labor as Affected by the War and Migration. Monroe N. Work, +Proceedings of Southern Sociological Congress, 1918. + +The Duty of Southern Labor during the War. R.R. Moton, Proceedings +Southern Sociological Congress, 1918. + +The Foundation (Atlanta), May-June, 1917. + +A.M.E. Church Review (Philadelphia), January, 1917; April, 1918. + +Voice of Missions (New York City), June, 1917. + +Causes of Migration from the South. W.T. Andrews, Address at Race +Conference, Columbia (S.C.), February 8, 1917. Specially printed. + +The Massacre of East St. Louis. Martha Gruening and W.E.B. DuBois, +_The Crisis_, September, 1917. + +_The Crisis_, October, 1916, page 270; June, 1917, pages 63, 65. + +_The Nation_, September 6; December 7, 1916. + +The Problem of the Negro Laborer. _Iron Trade Review_, April 12, 1917. + +Negro Migration Ebbs. _Iron Trade Review_, December 13, 1917. + +Proceedings of Annual Convention of Federation of Labor, 1916, 1917, +1918. + + +NEWSPAPERS + +(References for 1915, 1916. 1917, 1918)[1] + +Akron (Ohio) Press, July 12, 1917. + +Albany (N.Y.) Argus, Nov. 12, 1916. + +Albany (N.Y.) Journal, August 6, 1917. + +Albany (N.Y.) Knickerbocker Press, Dec. 21, 1916; Mar. 11, 26, 1917. + +Amsterdam (New York City) News, May 28, June 18, 1915; Apr. 17, July +14, Aug. 18, Oct. 1, Dec. 13, 1916; Jan. 24, Aug. 1, 1917; Apr. 10, +May 1, June 5, July 10, 24, Sept. 18, Oct. 2, 1918. + +Artisan (Jacksonville, Fla.), Aug. 5, 1916. + +Ashland (Ohio) Press, Aug. 22, 1917. + +Asheville (N.C.) Citizen, July 11, 1917. + +Atlanta Constitution, Aug. 23, 28, 1915; Sept. 13, 23, Oct. 10, 16, +18, 22, 24, Nov. 1, 4, 24, 26, 28, Dec. 1, 2, 4, 7, 8, 13, 21, 29, +1916; Jan. 8, 10, Mar. 10, 26, 31, May 14, 23, 26, 27, 29-31, June 5, +6, 11, 16, July 7, 13-15, Aug. 13, 30, Sept. 1, Oct. 24-26, Nov. 11, +21, 1917; Feb. 27, Mar. 2, Apr. 2, 4-6, 9, 17, 20, 24, 25, May 2, 7, +10, 21, 26, 27, June 2, 7, 8, 18, 22, 29, July 10, 15, 16, 18, 19, 25, +27, 28, Aug. 2-4, 10, 15, 19, 21, 25, 26, 30, Sept. 1, 21, 1918. + +Atlanta (Ga.) Independent, Dec. 2, 9, 16, 23, 1916; Feb. 24, Mar. 31, +May 9, 19, 26, June 30, July 21, 1917; Mar. 22, July 20, 27, Aug. 3, +17, 31, 1918. + +Atlanta (Ga.) Journal, Oct. 8, 1917, Mar. 28, 1918. + +Atlanta (Ga.) Post, June 26, Aug. 9, 1917. + +Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle, Feb. 18, 19, Dec. 9, 1917; Mar. 29, 1918. + +Aurora (Ill.) News, Feb. 7, 1918. + +Baltimore Afro-American, Jan. 26, Sept. 29, 1917; Apr. 19, May 24, +June 21, 1918. + +Baltimore American, Nov. 17, 1916; Aug. 9, 1918. + +Baltimore News, Aug. 13, 1915; Nov. 17, 1916; Apr. 3, 1918. + +Baltimore Sun, Mar. 1, 1915; Sept. 21, Nov. 1, 20, 1916; Apr. 1, Aug. +13, 1917; Mar. 13, 1918. + +Bath (Me.) Times, July 31, 1917. + +Beaumont (Tex.) Enterprise, Sept. 2, 1917; June 20, 1918. + +Beaumont (Tex.) Journal, June 24, 1917. + +Beloit (Wis.) News, Aug. 25, 1916; Apr. 24, 1918. + +Birmingham (Ala.) Age-Herald. Mar. 20, Sept. 25, Nov. 9, Dec. 2, 1916; +Mar. 21, Apr. 2, Dec. 24, 1917. + +Birmingham (Ala.) Ledger, May 3, 21, 24, 31, July 31, Sept. 27, 1917; +Apr. 23, 1918. + +Birmingham (Ala.) News, Aug. 31, 1917; June 21, 1918. + +Birmingham (Ala.) Reporter, July 28, 1917; Aug. 10, 17, Sept. 28, Oct. +5, 1918. + +Boston Christian Science Monitor, May 24, 1916; Jan. 4, July 10, 27, +Sept. 25, 1917; Jan. 28, 1918. + +Boston Globe, Mar. 23, 1917; Mar. 30, 1918. + +Boston Guardian, May 6, Aug. 22, 27, Oct. 10, 1916; Feb. 3, June 16, +Aug. 4, 25, Oct. 6, 1917. + +Boston Herald, Mar. 23, July 5, Sept. 13, 1917. + +Boston Post, Feb. 26, 1917. + +Boston Transcript, July 13, Dec. 15, 1916; Mar. 10, 31, Apr. 3, July +3, 7, 1917. + +Bridgeport (Conn.) Farmer, Jan. 8, 1917. + +Bridgeport (Conn.) Post, Oct. 7, Nov. 21, 1916; June 24, 1917; Jan. +24, 1918. + +Bristol (Va.) Courier, July 29, 1917. + +Bronx (N.Y.) Record and Times, Oct. 20, 1917. + +Brooklyn Eagle, Aug. 10, 1917; Mar. 28, May 12, 21, July 25, Oct. 6, +1918. + +Brunswick (Ga.) Banner, Oct. 10, 1917. + +Buffalo (N.Y.) Courier, Sept. 16, 1917. + +Buffalo (N.Y.) Express, Apr. 14, Oct. 23, Nov. 17, Dec. 7, 1916; June +15, 1917; Apr. 2, 1918. + +Buffalo (N.Y.) News, Jan. 1, Aug. 31, 1917; June 18, 1918. + +Buffalo (N.Y.) Times, Dec. 7, 1916; Nov. 20, 1917. + +Burlington (Vt.) Free Press, Oct. 14, 1916. + +Camden (N.J.) Courier, Apr. 30, 1918. + +Charleston (S.C.) News and Courier, Oct. 26, Nov. 6, Dec. 18, 20, +1916; Jan. 2, Feb. 1, 23, Mar. 14, 1917. + +Charlotte (N.C.) News, Mar. 11, 1918. + +Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, July 17, Sept. 2, 1917; Mar. 28, Apr. 13, +May 23, June 21, Sept. 21, 1918. + +Chattanooga (Tenn.) Times, Dec. 15, 1916; Dec. 7, 1917. + +Chester (S.C.) News, Aug. 13, 1918. + +Chicago American, Nov. 20, 1916. + +Chicago Defender, Mar. 16, 23, 30, Apr. 5, 27, 1915; every issue for +1916; every issue for 1917; almost every issue to Oct., 1918. + +Chicago Examiner, Oct. 9, 1916; Mar. 30, July 19, 1917. + +Chicago Herald, Oct. 13, 1916; Mar. 4, 19, July 3, 5, Oct. 10, Nov. +17, 1917. + +Chicago Idea, June 30, 1917. + +Chicago Journal, May 30, July 19, 1918. + +Chicago News, Dec. 11, 13, 1916; Jan. 13, Mar. 20, 30, Apr. 21, July +31, Sept. 14, 1917; Jan. 15, Apr. 29, July 13, Aug. 7, 1918. + +Chicago Tribune, July 25, 1916; June 9, July 8, 10, 26, Sept. 14, Oct. +27, 1917; February 13, 1918. + +Christian Century (Chicago), July 25, 1918. + +Christian Index (Jackson, Tenn.), June 21, July 19, Oct. 18, 1917; +Feb. 21, Aug. 8, 1918. + +Christian Recorder (Philadelphia), Aug. 3, 17, Sept. 14, Oct. 26, +Nov. 9, 15, Dec. 21, 1916; Jan. 4, Feb. 1, Mar. 10, June 7 (special +edition), Aug. 2, Sept. 20, 27, 1917; Jan. 24, Mar. 28, Apr. 11, 25, +May 9, Aug. 1, 8, 15, 22, Sept. 19, 1918. + +Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, Aug. 5, 10, Dec. 5, 1917; June 11, +1918. + +Cincinnati Enquirer, Aug. 23, Oct. 30, 1916; Feb. 28, Mar. 26, Sept. +8, 12, 1917; July 31, 1918. + +Cincinnati Post, Oct. 5, 1917. + +Cincinnati Star, Sept. 12, 1917. + +Cincinnati Union, Sept. 15, 1917. + +Cleveland Advocate, Oct. 5, Sept. 14, 1915; Aug. 10, Nov. 11, 1917; +Mar. 30, June 8, July 4, 27, Aug. 3, 10, 17, 1918. + +Cleveland Leader, June 7, Dec. 8, 1916; July 10, 1917. + +Cleveland News, Aug. 11, 1917. + +Cleveland Plain Dealer, Oct. 19, 1916; Aug. 4, Sept. 12, Oct. 25, Dec. +6, 1917; Feb. 14, 1918. + +Cleveland Press, Apr. 18, Oct. 25, 1917. + +Columbia (S.C.) State, Oct. 2, 3, 7, 19, 23, Nov. 1, 15, Dec. 17, 22, +1916; Jan. 8, Feb. 2, Mar. 2, July 15, Oct. 20, Dec. 10, 1917; Mar 10, +1918. + +Columbus (Ohio) Citizen, July 7, Aug. 7, Sept. 24, 1917. + +Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch, July 8, Aug. 1, 20, Sept. 3, 20, 1917; May +8, June 30, 1918. + +Columbus (Ga.) Enquirer-Sun, Nov. 21, Dec. 2, 17, 1916. + +Columbus (Ohio) State Journal, Aug. 2, 21, 22, Oct. 10, Nov. 8, 1917; +Aug. 6, 1918. + +Cumberland (Md.) Times, July 7, 1917; Apr. 9, 1918. + +Dallas (Tex.) Baptist Standard, Aug. 17, 1916. + +Dallas (Tex.) Democrat, July 28, 1917. + +Dallas (Tex.) Express, July 14, 21, Aug. 11, 25. 1917; July 20, 1918. + +Dallas (Tex.) Journal, May 10, June 7, Sept. 24, 1918. + +Dallas (Tex.) New Era, June 14, 1917. + +Dallas (Tex.) News, Aug. 1, 1917; May 14, 16, 1918. + +Dayton (Ohio) News, July 7, 30, Aug. 1, 1917; May 7, 1918. + +Deep River (Conn.) Era, Nov. 9, 1918. + +Denver (Col.) Star, July 28, 1917. + +Detroit Free Press, June 18, Nov. 6, Oct. 23, 1916; Sept. 7, 1917; +Mar. 23, Apr. 27, Sept. 28, 1918. + +Detroit Journal, Nov. 15, 1916; June 20, Aug. 6, 1917. + +Detroit News, Aug. 12, 1916; Oct. 21, 1917; Apr. 2, 7, May 19, 25, +Sept. 13, 16, 1918. + +Detroit News Tribune, Aug. 12, Nov. 19, 1916. + +Detroit Times, Apr. 12, 20, June 29, 1918. + +Dublin (Ga.) Herald, July 26, 1917. + +Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune, Oct. 9, Nov. 9, 1916. + +Elizabeth City (N.C.) Independent, Nov. 30, 1917. + +Elmira (N.Y.) Advertiser, Feb. 9, 1917. + +Evansville (Ind.) Courier, June 21, 1917. + +Fort Wayne (Ind.) Journal-Gazette, Oct. 22, 1916; Oct. 11, 1917; Aug. +22, 1918. + +Forth Worth (Tex.) Star-Telegram, Oct. 16, 1917. + +Fort Worth (Tex.) Record, Oct. 6, 1916; Mar. 27, July 22, Nov. 3, +1917; May 4, Aug. 11, Sept. 22, 1918. + +Galveston (Tex.) News, July 11, Aug. 3, 12, 17, 1917; Jan. 6, Sept. +20, 1918. + +Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press, Sept. 10, 1917. + +Greenville (S.C.) News, Apr. 3, 1916; Mar. 29, June 18, Sept. 10, +1917. + +Hackensack (N.J.) Record, Apr. 4, 1917. + +Harrisburg (Pa.) Patriot, July 7, 1917. + +Hartford (Conn.) Courant, Aug. 7, Dec. 18, 1916; Feb. 15, Sept. 19, +1917; Feb. 22, 25, Mar. 17, 1918. + +Hartford (Conn.) Post, Mar. 17, Sept. 15, 18, Oct. 9, 15, 17, 18, +1917. + +Hartford (Conn.) Times, Jan. 11, July 12, Oct. 9, 1917; Apr. 23, May +24, 1918. + +Henderson (Ky.) Gleaner, Aug. 24, 1916. + +Hoboken (N.J.) Observer, Oct. 18, 1917. + +Hotel Gazette (New York City), Oct. 20, 1917; July 13, 20, 1918. + +Houston (Tex.) Chronicle, July 22, 1917. + +Houston (Tex.) Observer, Oct. 21, 1916; July 7, Oct. 27, 1917; May 18, +21, June 8, Aug. 3, 17, 1918. + +Houston (Tex.) Post, files for 1916; files for 1917; June 20, July 29, +Aug. 31, 1918. + +Houston (Tex.) Press, Aug. 14, 1917. + +Holyoke (Mass.) Transcript, July 10, 28, 1917. + +Indianapolis Freeman, Nov. 26, Dec. 9, 1916; Jan. 6, 13, Mar. 31, June +2, Oct. 13, 27, 1917; Feb. 9, Mar. 2, May 25, June 6, 29, July 26, +1918. + +Indianapolis Ledger, July 16, Sept. 9, 1916; June 9, 1917. + +Indianapolis News, Nov. 9, 1915; Nov. 16, 22, 24, Dec. 8, 1916; Jan. +23, 1917; June 7, July 24, 31, 1918. + +Indianapolis Star, Sept. 21, 1918. + +Indianapolis World, Dec. 9, 1916. + +Jacksonville (Fla.) Metropolis, Dec. 22, 1916. + +Jacksonville (Fla.) Times Union, Aug. 14, Nov. 10, Dec. 22, 1916; Jan. +20, 1917; Apr. 4, 1918. + +Jackson (Miss.) News, June 12, Nov. 11, 1917; May 7, 1918. + +Jersey City (N.J.) Journal, June 30, Oct. 10, 18, 1917; July 19, 1918. + +Johnstown (Pa.) Democrat, Nov. 2, 1916. + +Kansas City (Kan.) Globe, Aug. 25, 1917. + +Kansas City (Mo.) Star, Aug. 17, 1916; Mar. 11, 1917; Mar. 9, 1918. + +Kansas City (Mo.) Sun, Aug. 11, Sept. 8, 1917. + +Kansas City (Mo.) Times, Apr. 6, 1918. + +Knoxville (Tenn.) Journal-Tribune, Aug. 3, Sept. 23, 1916. + +Lancaster (Pa.) Labor Leader, Sept. 1, 1917. + +Louisville Courier Journal, July 18, Dec. 5, 1916; Mar. 28, 1917; Aug. +4, 5, 7, 1918. + +Louisville News, Sept. 9, 1916; Sept. 15, 22, 1917; Feb. 23, Mar. 9, +June 1, July 6, 1918. + +Louisville Times, Sept. 29, 1916; Aug. 6, 14, 16, Sept. 11, 1918. + +Macon (Ga.) News, Feb. 14, Apr. 30, May 5, Aug. 27, Sept. 1, 29, 1918. + +Macon (Ga.) Telegraph, Sept. 5, Oct. 10, 1916; Feb. 18, Mar. 18, June +14, Nov. 21, 1917; Jan. 28, Aug. 7, 17, Sept. 3. 22, 1918. + +Manufacturers Record (Baltimore), June 29, 1916. + +Marietta (Ohio) Leader, Aug. 7, 1917. + +Mason City (Iowa) Globe-Gazette, Oct. 24, 1917. + +Memphis Commercial Appeal, Aug. 20, Oct. 5, 24, 1916; Sept. 9, 1917; +Jan. 5, Apr. 6, May 1, 9, 27, 1918. + +Memphis Press, July 5, 1917; Apr. 4, Sept. 20, 1918. + +Meridian (Miss.) Dispatch, June 25, 1918. + +Meridian (Miss.) Star, Jan. 4, Aug. 7, 1917. + +Michigan Tradesman (Grand Rapids), Dec. 12, 1917. + +Milwaukee (Wis.) Journal, Jan. 11, 1917; May 30, 1918. + +Milwaukee (Wis.) Leader, July 13, 1917; Mar. 29, 1918. + +Milwaukee (Wis.) Sentinel, Sept. 22, 1916; July 27, Oct. 5, 1917. + +Milwaukee (Wis.) Wisconsin, Oct. 3, 1916. + +Minneapolis (Minn.) Journal, July 12, 1917; June 11. 12, 13, 14, 1918. + +Mobile (Ala.) Register, Jan. 4, Aug. 19, 1917; Apr. 27, 1918. + +Montgomery (Ala.) Advertiser, Jan. 5, 1915; Mar. 5, 17, Aug. 5, 9, 20, +23, 24, Sept. 10, 15, 17, 19-21, 24, 27, 29, Oct. 4, 16, 25, 29, Nov. +5, 7, 8, 22, Dec. 7, 9, 10, 12, 17, 19, 21, 27, 31, 1916: Jan. 6, 9, +13, 16, 23, 25, 27, Feb. 1, 7, 14, Mar. 2, Apr. 22, May 5, 12, 21, 24. +30, 31, June 1, 2, 6, 11, Sept. 26, Oct. 1, 1917; Jan. 20, Feb. 3, +8, 10, 18, Apr. 23-26, 29, May 2, 4, 6, 27, June 2, 3, 6, 18, 27, 29, +July 5, 26, 31, Aug. 1-3, 10, 11, 23, 27, Sept. 4, 13, 1918. + +Nashville (Tenn.) Banner, Aug. 31, Nov. 4, 14, 17, 1916; Mar. 1, 28, +Oct. 7, Nov. 25, 1917; June 15, 1918. + +Nashville (Tenn.) Globe, Apr. 20, 1917; Feb. 15, Mar. 29, 1918. + +Nashville (Tenn.) Tennesseean, Aug. 27, Sept. 1, Oct. 2, 22, 1916. + +National Enquirer, July 25, 1918. + +Newark (N.J.) Ledger, Apr. 11, 18. 1918. + +Newark (N.J.) News, Mar. 10, 17, 29, Sept. 24, 28, Oct. 2, 10, 30, +1917; Feb. 20, Mar. 26, Apr. 9, July 19, Sept. 28, 1918. + +Newark (N.J.) Star, July 31, 1915; Nov. 20, 1916; Oct. 5, 9, Nov. 6, +9, 1917. + +New Bedford (Mass.) Mercury, July 20, 1917. + +New Bedford (Mass.) Standard, July 19. 1917. + +New Britain (Conn.) Herald, Sept. 11, 1917. + +New Haven (Conn.) Register, Sept. 11, 1917. + +New Orleans Item, Sept. 8, 11, 1917; Feb. 10, Mar. 31, May 13, 15, 20, +1918. + +New Orleans Times-Picayune, Oct. 1, 19, 26, Nov. 10, 28, Dec. 9, 12, +15, 18. 1916; Jan. 1, 14, Mar. 9, 24, June 13, Sept. 4, 8, 15, 21, +Oct. 5, 1917; Apr. 7, 30, May 12, 16, June 14, Sept. 21, 1918. + +New Orleans States, July 24, Aug. 7, 28, Oct. 10, 1916; Nov. 3, 1917; +Jan. 21, Apr. 6, July 23, 1918. + +Newport (R.I.) News, Sept. 1, 1917. + +New Philadelphia (Ohio) Times, Oct. 26, 1917; Mar. 17, 1918. + +New York Age, Feb. 11, 18, Mar. 4, May 27, Aug. 19, 1915; May 24, July +20, 27, Aug. 24, 31, Sept. 14, Oct. 26, Nov. 15, 23, 30, Dec. 14, 21, +1916; Jan. 4, 11, Feb. 1, 8, 15, 22, Mar. 1, 15, 22. Apr. 5, 19, May +3, 10, 24, June 7, 14, 21, July 5, 26, Aug. 21, Sept. 20, Oct. 10, 11, +18, Nov. 1, 8, 22, 29, Dec. 22, 1917; Jan. 26, 29, Feb. 9, 16, Mar. 2, +9, 23, 30, Apr. 6, 20, 21, 27, May 4, 11, 18, 25, June 2, 8, 20, 22, +29, July 6, 13, 15, Aug. 10, Sept. 14, 21, 28, Oct. 5, 1918. + +New York American, July 16, 17, Aug. 12, Sept. 20, 1917; June 23, +1918. + +New York Call, Feb. 28, Sept. 15, 1915; Sept. 30, Oct. 10, Nov. 16, +29. Dec. 3, 1916; July 1, Aug. 8, 9, Sept. 28, Nov. 13, 22, 1917; Mar. +5, Apr. 26, May 30, June 8, 24, Aug. 26, 1918. + +New York Commerce and Finance, Sept. 13, Nov. 8, 1916; Mar. 27, 1918. + +New York Commercial, Oct. 24, 1916; July 14, 1917. + +New York Globe, Feb. 10, 18, Mar. 12, 1915; July 31, Oct. 25, Nov. 13, +Dec. 6, 1916; Mar. 19, Apr. 9, Aug. 20, Oct. 9, 1917; June 5, Oct. 1, +1918. + +New York Herald, June 10, 1917. + +New York Journal, July 14, Aug. 25, 27, Oct. 12, 1916; Oct. 4, 11, +1917. + +New York Journal of Commerce, Aug. 14, 1917. + +New York Mail, Feb. 27, 1915; Nov. 1, 1916; Aug. 1, Sept. 20, 1917; +Feb. 6, 12, Mar. 11, 15, 18, Apr. 30, July 1, May 3, 1918. + +New York News, Mar. 4, 1915; Apr. 13, Sept. 11, 29, Dec. 21, 1916; +Jan. 25, Oct. 10, 1917; Feb. 14, Mar. 23, Apr. 10, 11, 25, Aug. 22, +1918. + +New York Post, Dec. 28, 1915; Oct. 5, Nov. 17, Dec. 1, 4, 16; 1916; +Feb. 3. July 13, 14, 16, Sept. 19, 20, Oct. 15, 25, 29, 1917; Jan. 31, +Feb. 15, June 22, Sept. 25, 1918. + +New York Sun, Mar. 27, Nov. 19, 22, 1916; Jan. 15, 20, Mar. 21, Apr. +4, July 2, Aug. 7, 10, 15, Sept. 21, Oct. 5, Nov. 19, 21, 1917; Jan. +31, May 1, 17, June 19, July 1, 2, 7, Sept. 17, 22, 1918. + +New York Telegram, Nov. 16, 1916; Sept. 9, 1918. + +New York Times, June 11, Aug. 17, Sept. 10, Oct. 21, Nov. 5, 12, Dec. +17, 1916; Oct. 7, 1917; Jan. 21, Feb. 1, May 25, 1918. + +New York Tribune, Oct. 22, Dec. 24, 1916; July 2, 21, 31, Oct. 16, +1917; Jan. 6, May 11, 22, Aug. 26, Sept. 22, 1918. + +New York World, Oct. 29, Nov. 12, 19, 1916; Mar. 21, 1917; Feb. 14, +23, Apr. 14, 18, May 21, June 23, 25, 1918. + +Norfolk (Va.) Journal and Guide, Sept. 9, Oct. 2, Nov. 18, 25, Dec. 2, +16, 1916; Jan. 23, Feb. 2, 24, Mar. 3, 17, 24, Apr. 14, May 12, June +30, July 7, 25, 28, Sept. 11, 15, 22, 29, Oct. 6, 13, 20, Dec. 1, +1917; Feb. 2, 9, 16, Mar. 10, 23, 30, July 13, Aug. 10, 1918. + +Norfolk (Va.) Virginian-Pilot, Oct. 20, 1916; Oct. 19, 1917; May 14, +1918. + +Oakland (Cal.) Tribune, July 13, 1917. + +Omaha (Neb.) Bee, Mar. 4, 1917; Mar. 24, 1918. + +Omaha (Neb.) World-Herald, Feb. 3, 1917. + +Oshkosh (Wis.) Daily Northwestern, July 28, 1916. + +Palatka (Fla.) Advocate, Mar. 10, 1917. + +Passaic (N.J.) Herald, Apr. 15, 1918. + +Paterson (N.J.) Guardian, Sept. 22, 1917. + +Peoria (Ill.) Journal, Nov. 23, 1917. + +Philadelphia Bulletin, Mar. 12, June 29, July 26-28, 30, 31, 1917. + +Philadelphia Inquirer. Feb. 24, Mar. 2, July 26-31, Dec. 14, 1917; +Jan. 31, 1918. + +Philadelphia North American, Aug. 9, 30, Nov. 24, 1916; Feb. 2, Mar. +27, July 26-31, 1917. + +Philadelphia Public Ledger, May 11, 1916; Jan. 26, Apr. 6, July 16,. +26-31 Aug. 26, 1917; Jan. 31, May 27, Aug. 2, 3, 14, 1918. + +Philadelphia Record, Apr. 8, 1915; Dec. 9, 1916; Mar. 2, Apr. 1, July +26-31 1917; June 12, 1918. + +Philadelphia Telegraph, Oct. 11, Nov. 21, 1916; July 17, 26-31, 1917. + +Pittsburgh Chronicle, Oct. 17, Dec. 1, 1916. + +Pittsburgh Courier, June 22, 1917. + +Pittsburgh Dispatch, Oct. 1, Dec. 7, 1916; Feb. 26, Mar. 16, Dec. 17, +1917; Mar. 7, Apr. 11, 14, 1918. + +Pittsburgh Gazette Times, Nov. 21, 1917; June 28, July 7, 1918. + +Pittsburgh Leader, Nov. 1, Dec. 7, 1916; June 28, 1918. + +Pittsburgh Press, Mar. 28, 29, 1917. + +Pittsburgh Sun, Mar. 26, 1917; Apr. 11, 1918. + +Portland (Me.) Express and Advertiser, Nov. 25, 1916. + +Portland (Me.) Press, Aug. 10, 1917. + +Portland (Ore.) Oregonian, Nov. 7, 1917. + +Providence (R.I.) Bulletin, Nov. 11, 1916; Feb. 13, 1918. + +Providence (R.I.) Journal, Aug. 17, 28, Oct. 29, Nov. 9, 20, Dec. 23, +1916; Aug. 7, 1918. + +Providence (R.I.) Tribune, Dec. 22, 1917. + +Raleigh (N.C.) Independent, Apr. 28, July 21, Sept. 15, Oct. 27, Dec. +22, 1917; June 1, 29, 1918. + +Raleigh (N.C.) News and Observer, Aug. 11, Oct. 4, Nov. 14, 1916. + +Reading (Pa.) Telegram, Sept. 7, 1916; July 11, 1917. + +Richmond (Va.) News Leader, July 6, 1917; June 4, 1918. + +Richmond (Va.) Planet, Mar. 10, Apr. 7, 28, May 5, 19, June 23, Aug. +18, 1917; Feb. 16, 28, Mar. 30, Apr. 20, June 8, July 6, 1918. + +Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch, Aug. 26, 1916. + +Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat Chronicle, June 5, 1916; Feb. 18, Mar. 27, +1917. + +Rochester (N.Y.) Post Express, Nov. 11, 17, Dec. 8, 1916; Jan. 8, +1918. + +Rochester (N.Y.) Times, Dec. 11, 1916. + +Rochester (N.Y.) Union and Advertiser, Dec. 8, 1916. + +Rome (N.Y.) Sentinel, Mar. 21, 1917. + +Sacramento (Cal.) Union, June 16, 1917. + +Saginaw (Mich.) Courier-Herald, Mar. 21, 1917. + +St. Joseph (Mo.) News. Feb. 17, 1917. + +St. Louis Argus, Aug. 25, Oct. 20, 1916; Jan. 6. Feb. 9, Mar. 23, June +1, 8, Sept. 14, Oct. 5, 1917; Mar. 15, 22, Aug. 9, Sept. 27, Oct. 4, +11, 1918. + +St. Louis Globe-Democrat, Feb. 15, May 30, 31, July 2-18, 1917; March +28, 1918. + +St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Dec. 1, 10, 14, 1916: May 30, 31, July 2-18; +Sept. 9, Nov. 3, 1917; May 10, 11, July 12, 18, Aug. 28, 1918. + +St. Louis Star, May 30, 31, July 2-6, 8-13, 15-18, 1917. + +St. Louis Times, May 30, 31, July 2-6, 8-13, 15-18, Aug. 11, 28, 1917. + +Salina (Kas.) Union, Aug. 30, 1917. + +Salt Lake City (Utah) Tribune, Mar. 4, 1917. + +San Antonio (Tex.) Light, Sept. 10. 1916; May 14, Sept. 1, 1918. + +San Jose (Cal.) Herald, Aug. 28, 1916. + +Savannah (Ga.) Morning News, July 31, Aug. 2, 1916; Jan. 3, July 18, +1917; June 6, 1918. + +Savannah Tribune, Aug. 5. 19, Sept. 9, 23, 30, Nov. 11, Oct. 28, 1916; +Feb. 3. Mar. 31, Apr. 7, 28, May 10, 12, 17, 19, June 2, July 2, 1917; +Feb. 13, Mar. 16, Apr. 13, May 20, July 20, 27, Aug. 3, 24, 1918. + +St. Paul (Minn.) News, June 12, 14, 17, 1918. + +St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer Press, July 9, Oct. 5, 1915; Dec. 1, 1916; +Aug. 6, 1918. + +Scranton (Pa.) News, Mar. 3, 1915. + +Seattle (Wash.) Post, Dec. 15, 1916; Aug. 16, 1917. + +Sharon (Pa.) Herald, Feb. 1, 1917. + +Shreveport (La.) Times, July 18, Aug. 2, Oct. 6, 1917; May 28, 1918. + +Southern Standard (Macon, Ga.), June 16, 1917; May 2, 13, 1918. + +Southwestern Christian Advocate (New Orleans), Dec. 7, 1916; Jan. 4, +11, Mar. 1, 22, July 19, Oct. 18, 1917; Mar. 9, May 30, July 25, Aug. +22, 1918. + +Spartanburg (S.C.) Journal, Sept. 11, 1917. + +Spokane (Wash.) Chronicle, Dec. 11, 1916. + +Springfield (Mass.) News, Mar. 6, 1918. + +Springfield (Ohio) News, Aug. 2, 1917. + +Springfield (Mass.) Republican, May 12, Sept. 8, 10, Nov. 1, 17, 27, +Dec. 3, 1916; Jan. 17, 19, 21, 25, Feb. 15, Mar. 8-11, July 7, Aug. 8, +Nov. 27, 1917; Jan. 20, May 15, 1918. + +Springfield (Mo.) Republican, Sept. 9, 1917; Mar. 14, 1918. + +Springfield (Mass.) Union, Apr. 16, 1915; July 16, Sept. 6, 1916; Apr. +2, 1917. + +Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.), July 19, Aug. 16, 1917. + +Steubenville (Ohio) Star, Aug. 4, 20, 1917. + +Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald, July 17, 1917. + +Syracuse (N.Y.) Journal, Aug. 4, 1917. + +Syracuse (N.Y.) Post-Standard, Aug. 2, 1916; Oct. 10, 1917. + +Tacoma (Wash.) News, May 25, 1918. + +Tampa (Fla.) Times, June 8, 9, 1917. + +Texas Freeman (Houston), Oct. 13, 1917. + +The Daily Herald (Baltimore), Nov. 22, Dec. 17, 1917; Jan. 5, Feb. 16, +Mar. 8, 16, 23, 27, 30, April 1, 2, 16, 17, 19, 22, May 11, 13, 17, +18, 28, 30, June 6, July 8, 31, Aug. 6, 1918. + +The Economic World (New York City), Mar. 9, June 29, 1918. + +The Living Church (Milwaukee), Dec. 22, 1917. + +The Observer (New York City), Oct. 7, 1916. + +The Piedmont (Greenville, S.C.), Mar. 16, 1917. + +The Progressive Farmer (Raleigh, N.C.), Jan. 27, 1917. + +The Public (New York City), Nov. 30, 1917; May 25, 1918. + +The Standard (Chicago), July 16, 1917; Jan. 26, 1918. + +The Voice of the People (Birmingham), Aug. 5, Dec. 2, 16, 1916; Apr. +22, May 19, July 14, 1917. + +The Watchman (New York City), Mar. 1, 1917. + +Topeka (Kas.) Plain Dealer, Dec. 20, 1916; June 29, 1917. + +Toledo (Ohio) Blade, July 12, Aug. 20, 1917. + +Toledo (Ohio) Times, June 14, 1917. + +Trenton (N.J.) State Gazette, Aug. 10, Sept. 24, Oct. 8, Nov. 14, Dec. +3, 1917. + +Trenton (N.J.) Times, July 28, Aug. 6, 1916; July 6, Sept. 18, 19, +21, 22, 28, Oct. 13, Dec. 3, 1917; Feb. 13, Mar. 9, Apr. 10, July 11, +1918. + +Troy (N.Y.) Times, July 7, Nov. 1, 1916; Feb. 16, Mar. 28, July 25, +1917. + +Utica (N.Y.) Observer, Nov. 17, 1916; Aug. 22, 1917. + +Utica (N.Y.) Press, Sept. 15, 1917. + +Valdosta (Ga.) Times, July 3, 1917; Jan. 29, 1918. + +Vicksburg (Miss.) Herald, Aug. 19, 1916; July 7, Dec. 7, 1917; July +30, 1918. + +Vicksburg (Miss.) Post, Nov. 9, 1917; July 31, 1918. + +Walla Walla (Wash.) Bulletin, Mar. 13, 1918. + +Washington (D.C.) Bee, Feb. 13, 1915; Nov. 11, 1917; Mar. 23, Aug. 17, +24, Sept. 7, 1918. + +Washington (D.C.) Herald, Jan. 23, 1916. + +Washington (D.C.) National Tribune, Nov. 10, 1916. + +Washington (D.C.) Post, Dec. 4, 1916; Feb. 25, 1918. + +Washington (D.C.) Star, Nov. 23, 1916; Apr. 2, July 18, 1917; Sept. 8, +1918. + +Washington (D.C.) Times, Nov. 13, 1916; Sept. 8, 1918. + +Waterbury (Conn.) Democrat, Feb. 8, Oct. 29, 1917. + +Waterbury (Conn.) Republican, July 4, 1917. + +Waterloo (Iowa) Courier, Apr. 3, 1918. + +Watertown (N.Y.) Times, Nov. 17. 1916: Feb. 2, 1917. + +Weekly Witness (New York City), Sept. 6, 1916. + +Wesleyan Christian Advocate (Atlanta, Ga.), Mar. 22, 1917. + +Westerly (R.I.) Sun, Nov. 8, 1916. + +Wilmington (Del.) News, Dec. 1, 1916; Sept. 17, 1917. + +Wisconsin Weekly Blade (Madison, Wis.), Jan. 18, Mar. 15, Apr. 5, +1917. + +Women's Wear (New York City), July 12, 13, 21, Oct. 3, 1917; Jan. 23, +Mar. 27, Aug. 5, 1918. + +Yonkers (N.Y.) Herald, July 12, 1915. + +Youngstown (Ohio) Telegram, Aug. 21, 1917. + +Youngstown (Ohio) Vindicator, Jan. 9, Mar. 23, 1918. + +[Footnote 1: The newspaper discussion of the migration had its +beginning in 1915 in statements about the conditions of negro labor +in the South and the outlook for it in the North. The discussion was +continued in the 1918 newspapers.] + + + + +INDEX + + + Adams, Henry, 4, 6. + + Abbott, William, 84. + + African Methodist Episcopal Church, 145. + + Akron, migrations to, 57, 126. + + Alabama: + migrations from, 4, 7, 59, 63-74, 95-96, 107, 109; + causes of migrations, 14-15, 20-21; + Colonization Council, 5; + efforts to check migrations, 72, 76; + effects of migrations, 86. + + Albany, migrations to, 56. + + Albert Trostel Co., employment of negro labor, 114-115. + + Allis Chalmers Co., employment of negro labor, 114. + + Altoona, migrations to, 134. + + Aluminum Ore Works, employment of negro labor, 100-101. + + Amaca, Tom, 37. + + American Baptist Home Mission Society, 144. + + American Car & Foundry Co., employment of negro labor, 97. + + American Cast Iron Pipe Co., employment of negro labor, 93. + + American Federation of Labor, 147-148. + _See also_ Labor Unions. + + American International Shipbuilding Co., employment of negro labor, 139. + + American Steel & Wire Co., employment of negro labor, 108-109. + + Andrews, W.T., 172. + + Arkansas: + migrations to, 3, 9, 65-68; + efforts to check migrations, 72. + + Armour & Co., employment of negro labor, 100. + + Armstrong Association, 137-138. + + _Atlanta Constitution_, 59. + + _Atlanta Independent_, 162. + + Atlanta Mutual Insurance Co., 64. + + + Badham, Henry L., 20. + + Bailey, H.C., 128. + + Banks, Edward T., 128. + + Beloit: + migrations to, 110-111; + wages in, 111. + + Beloit _News_, 159. + + Bibliography, 175-183. + + Birmingham _Voice of the People_, 160. + + "Bloody Isle," The, 99. + + Boll weevil, damage to cotton crops by, 14, 165. + + Booker T. Washington Social Settlement, 114. + + Bricklayers, wages of, 16, 86. + + Brickmasons, wages of, 86. + + Brink, Gilbert N., 144. + + Brown Farm, 37. + + Bryant, Lewis T., 141. + + Buffalo, migrations to, 56, 67. + + Building trades, negroes employed in, 122. + + Bus boys, wages of, 17. + + Butler, J.H., 75. + + Butchers, wages of, 114. + + + Cantonments, construction of, in South, 84. + + Capital, influence on migration of Northern, 47. + + Carpenters: + in Pittsburgh, 122; + wages of, 16, 86. + + Carter, R.A., 146. + + Causes of migrations: + Of 1879, 3-6; + unemployment, 14-15, 59; + failure of crops, 14-15, 165; + wages, 14-16, 83; + demand for labor in North, 14, 17-18, 28-29, 102, 111; + lack of educational facilities, 18-19, 81, 83; + treatment in courts, 19-20, 22, 83-85; + fee system and street tax, 20-21; + traveling accommodations, 21-22; + lynchings and mob violence, 18-19, 22, 79-81, 83, 166-167; + prejudice, 24-25, 83; + between cities in North, 117; + as expressed through the press, 152-174. + + Champion Chemical Co., 128. + + Charlotte _Star of Zion_, 161. + + Chart showing extent and trend of migrations, 71. + + _Chattanooga Times_, 169. + + Chauffeurs, wages of, 114. + + Chicago: + migrations to, 45, 58, 66-67, 69, 102; + opportunities, 29, 102; + increases in negro population, 7, 51; + housing, 102-106; + wages, 17, 102-103, 114; + welfare work, 103. + _See also_ East Chicago; + Illinois. + + _Chicago Defender_, 29-33. + + Chicago Renting Agents Association, 103. + + Chicago Women's Club, 103. + + Chisholm, J.N., 37. + + _Christian Index_, 163. + + Churches: + effects of migrations on, 86, 144; + aid rendered by, 132, 144-147. + + Cigar factories, employment of women in, 129. + + Cincinnati, migrations to, 57, 125. + + Cleveland, migrations to, 57, 126-127. + + Cleveland Association of Colored Men, 128. + + Cleveland Welfare Federation, 126. + + Colonization Council, 4-5. + + Colored Methodist Episcopal Church, 146. + + Colored Protective Association, 137. + + _Columbia_ (S.C.) _State_, 155. + + Columbus, migrations to, 7, 57, 126. + + Commerce and Labor, Secretary of, 99. + + Conferences to check migrations, 79-81, 83; + in Ohio, 128; + in New Jersey, 140; + American Federation of Labor, 147-148; + National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, 143-144, 149. + + Connecticut: + demand for labor, 54; + migrations to, 56, 58, 141-142; + wages, 142. + _See also_ Hartford. + + Connors, William R., 127. + + Convict system, 3-4. + + Cooks, 122. + + Core makers, 129. + + Correspondence, influence of, on migrations, 34, 69. + + Cotton crop, failures of, 14. + + Council of National Defense, 120. + + Courts, treatment in: + cause of migrations, 10-20, 22, 83-85; + effects of migrations, 89. + + Crawford, Anthony, 47. + + Credit system, 92-93. + + Crop failures, 14-15. + + Cudahy Soap Factory, 109. + + Culver, Charles M., 130. + + _Dallas Express_, 162. + + Davis, I.D., 81. + + Dayton, migrations to, 126. + + Discussion, stimulus to migration, 26. + + District of Columbia, migrations to, 57. + + Diversification of crops, 15. + + Delaware, migrations to, 57, 134. + + Delinquency problem, study of, in Cleveland, 127. + + Detroit: + opportunities in, 28; + negro labor, 51, 130-131; + wages, 129; + welfare work, 131-132; + housing, 131-132. + _See also_ Michigan. + + Detroit _Labor News_, 151. + + Detroit Employers' Association, 130. + + Dock hands, wages of, 114. + + Domestic service: + in North, 17, 50-51, 122, 129; + in South, 16. + + Domination, removal of fear of, 91. + + Dressmaking trade, negro labor in, 50. + + + East Chicago: + migrations to, 109-110; + wages, 109-110; + housing, 109-110; + recreation facilities, 110; + prejudice, 110; + returns to former homes from, 110. + _See also_ Chicago; + Illinois. + + East St. Louis: + migrations to, 57, 99-101; + riot of 1917, 98-101; + wages, 99; + demand for labor, 99; + housing, 100. + _See also_ St. Louis; + Missouri. + + East St. Louis _Journal_, 101. + + Economic policy of South, change in, following migrations, 87-88. + + Edge, Governor, of New Jersey, 140. + + Educational facilities: + lack of, cause of migration, 18-19, 81, 83; + improvement in, 83, 90-91; + separation in schools, 96. + + Effects on the North: + increase in crime, 141; + views of the press, 152-174. + + Effects on the South: + wages, 86-87; + change in economic policies, 88-92; + labor unions, 88, 147-151; + lessening of prejudice, 88-89; + welfare work, 88, 92-94; + increased educational facilities, 83, 90-91; + land tenure and credit systems, 92-93; + views of the press, 152-174. + + Efforts of the North to induce migration: + labor agents, 29, 36-37, 40, 60, 65; + in Milwaukee, 112, 114; + in Pittsburgh, 119-120. + + Efforts of the South to check migration: + suppression of labor agents, 38, 72-74, 76-77; + through Tuskegee Institute, 81-82; + through the churches, 83; + legislation, 72-73, 76; + increased wages, 79, 83; + change in policies, 84-85; + improved educational facilities, 83, 90-91. + + Eiffin, William T., 141. + + Ellis, J.B., 81. + + Emerson & Birmingham: + employment of negro labor, 106; + housing of its labor, 107. + + Epstein, Abraham, 18, 119-120, 122-123. + + Erie Railroad, demand of, for labor, 135. + + + Factories, negro labor employed in, 51. + + Fairbanks, Morse & Co., employment of negro labor, 111. + + Farm hands, wages of, 86. + + Faulks' Manufacturing Co., employment of negro labor, 114-115. + + Fee system, 20-21. + + Firemen, wages of, 114. + + Floods as cause of migration, 14. + + Florida: + migrations to, 9; + migrations from, 38, 43-44, 55, 59, 62-63, 69; + causes of migration, 14, 22; + efforts to check migration, 72-73. + + Floyd, William, 54. + + Foundrymen, wages of: + in Massachusetts, 17; + in Minnesota, 18; + in Chicago, 17, 114. + + Fraily, E.J., Jr., 54. + + Free Sewing Machine Co.: + employment of negro labor, 106; + housing of its labor, 107. + + Free transportation, 47-48. + + + Garment factories, employment of women in, 129. + + Gasselli Chemical Co., employment of negro labor, 109-110. + + Georgia: + migrations from, 38, 59-62, 69, 109; + causes of migrations, 14, 22, 79-80, 83; + efforts to check migrations, 72-76, 79, 80-81, 86; + activities of labor agents, 60. + + _Georgia Enquirer Sun_, 154. + + Glass works, employment of negro labor in, 100. + + Goldsmiths Detinning Co., employment of negro labor, 109. + + Gompers, Samuel, 151. + _See also_ American Federation of Labor. + + Great Lakes Naval Training Station, 108. + + Great Northern Drive, The, 30, 33. + + Grimke, Archibald H., 150. + + + Harrisburg, migrations to, 57, 134. + + Harris, George W., 150. + + Hartford: + migrations to, 56, 58, 141-142; + wages, 142; + housing, 142. + + Hartford Baptist Association, 141. + + Hartford Civic Club, Housing Committee of, 142. + + Haynes, George E., 129. + + Hobson & Walkers Brick Yard, employment of negro labor, 109. + + Hoffman Manufacturing Co., employment of negro labor, 114-115. + + Home Missions Council of Churches of Christ in America, 132, 145. + + Housing: + in St. Louis, 97-98; + in East St. Louis, 100; + in Chicago, 102-106; + in Rockford, 106-107; + in Waukegan, 108; + in East Chicago, 109-110; + in Beloit, 111; + in Milwaukee, 117-118; + in Pittsburgh, 120-122; + in Cleveland, 126-127; + in Detroit, 131-132; + in Pennsylvania, 135; + in Philadelphia, 137-139; + in New Jersey, 139-140; + in Hartford, 141-142. + + Howe, Frederick C., 53. + + + Illinois: + migrations to, 7, 58, 68, 108-109; + housing, 108; + wages, 108; + prejudice, 109; + migrations from, 112. + _See also_ Chicago; + East Chicago. + + Illinois Central Railroad, importation of negro labor, 102. + + Immigration Bureau of Social Uplift Work for Negroes, 143. + + Indiana, migrations to, 5, 57, 68. + + Influences on migrations: + discussion, 26; + public speaking, 27-28; + attitude of North, 27; + reports of opportunities in North, 28-29, 34; + rumors, 28-29, 40, 78-79; + activities of _Chicago Defender_, 29-33; + activities of labor agents, 29, 36-37; + correspondence, 34, 40, 69; + circulation of literature and poems, 35, 37. + + Inland Steel Foundry, employment of negro labor, 109. + + Interdenominational Ministerial Union, 137. + + International Lead Refining Co., employment of negro labor, 109. + + Intersectional migration: + number born in specified divisions and living in or out of these divisions, 10; + number living in specified divisions, 10; + migration north to south, south to north and east to west, 11; + net migration eastward and westward and northward and southward, 12. + + Interstate Mill, employment of negro labor, 109. + + Intoxicants, use of, among negroes in Pittsburgh, 124. + + Invasion, rumors of, 28. + + Iowa, migrations from, to Wisconsin, 112. + + Iron and steel industries, employment of negro labor in, 113. + + + Janitors: + in Milwaukee, 114; + in Pittsburgh, 122. + + Jersey City, migrations to, 57. + + Johnson, Charles S., 23, 128. + + Jones, E.K., 93, 150. + + Jones, Thomas Jesse, 18, 150. + + Joyce, labor agent, 72. + + + Kansas, migrations to, 3-6, 58. + + Kentucky: + migrations to, 68; + migrations from, 95. + + Krolick Co., employment of women by, 131. + + + Labor:-- + Labor agents: + activities of, 29, 36-37, 40, 60, 65; + from St. Louis, 96; + from East St. Louis, 99; + from Milwaukee, 112; + from Pittsburgh, 120; + from Pennsylvania, 135; + efforts of the South to suppress, 38, 72-74, 76-77; + inquiry of Council of National Defense, 129. + Labor Unions: + prejudice of, 49; + change in policy, 88, 147-151. + Suitability of negro labor, 115-116, 123, 130-131; + demand in North for, 14; + competition in North, 50-52; + comparison of negro with foreign labor, 125; + wages--_see_ Wages. + + Labor, Department of, 53, 78. + + Lancaster, B.S., 150. + + Lancaster, migrations to, 134. + + Land tenure system, improvement in, 92-93. + + Legal aid to negroes in North, 127. + + Legislation: + to check migration, 72-73, 76; + to aid migrants in North, 141. + + Lindeman-Hoverson Co., A.J., employment of negro labor, 113-115. + + Literature, circulation of, influence on migration, 35. + + Louisiana: + migrations from, 4, 59, 68; + causes of migrations, 14; + Colonization Council, 5; + efforts to check migrations, 78. + + Lumber stackers, wages of, 103. + + Lynchings: + cause of migrations, 18-19, 22, 79-81, 83, 166-167; + checking of, 94; + Anthony Crawford, 47; + in Georgia, 22, 79; + in Tennessee, 22. + + + Machinists: + in Detroit, 129; + in Massachusetts, 17. + + Macon _Telegraph_, 156 + + Marks Manufacturing Co., wages paid by, 103. + + Massachusetts: + migrations to, 56; + wages in, 17. + + Massacres, cause of migration of 1879, 4. + + Maxwell, William H., 140. + + Mechanics, negro labor in, 51. + + _Memphis Commercial Appeal_, 154. + + Michigan: + migrations to, 58, 68, 129-133; + migrations from, 112. + _See also_ Detroit. + + Middletown, migrations to, 126. + + Migrations: + to Kansas, 1879, 3-6; + to Arkansas and Texas, 1888 and 1889, 3; + of May 15, 1917, 30-33; + of August 15, 1917, 33; + chart showing extent and trend of, 71; + efforts to check--_see_ Efforts; + effects of--_see_ Effects. + + Milwaukee: + migrations to, 111-118; + efforts to secure negro labor, 111-112, 114; + recreation facilities, 112, 117-118; + wages, 113-115; + prejudice, 116; + housing, 117-118; + migrations from, 117. + + Milwaukee Coke & Gas Co., employment of negro labor, 113-115. + + Ministers, aid of, sought to check migrations, 83. + + Minnesota: + migrations from, to Wisconsin, 112; + wages in, 18. + + Mississippi: + migrations from, 4, 45, 59, 64-68, 95-96, 99, 109, 111; + Colonization Council, 5; + causes of migrations, 14-15, 20, 24-25; + efforts to check migrations, 72, 76-78, 82-83; + effects of migrations, 87, 89-90. + + Missouri, migrations to, 57. + _See also_ St. Louis; + East St. Louis. + + Missouri Malleable Iron Works, employment of negro labor, 100. + + Mob violence, 79-80, 83, 167. + _See also_ Riots. + + Molders: + in Chicago, 17; + in Detroit, 129. + + Moldsetters, in Pittsburgh, 122. + + Montgomery _Advertiser_, 150, 165, 169-170. + + Moore, Fred R., 150. + + Morris & Co., employment of negro labor, 100. + + Moton, Robert R., 150-151. + + Motormen in Detroit, 28. + + Muckers, wages of, 114. + + + Nagel, Charles, 99. + + _Nashville Banner_, 153. + + National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, 98, 128, 137, 151. + + National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes: + aid to migrations, 54, 56; + welfare work, 93, 143-144, 149; + conferences, 143-144, 149; + in St. Louis, 98; + in Chicago, 69, 104; + in Pittsburgh, 121; + in Detroit, 131-132; + in Philadelphia, 137. + + National Malleable Iron Works, employment of negro labor, 113-115. + + National organizations, remedies for relief by, 143-151. + + Nebraska, migrations to, 58. + + Nelson & Co., employment of negro labor, 100. + + New Orleans _Times Picayune_, 152. + + Newark. _See_ New Jersey. + + New Jersey: + migrations to, 39, 56-57, 139; + migrations to Newark, 56-58; + return of migrants to South from, 139; + housing, 139-140; + wages, 140; + legislation, 141; + effects of migrations, 141; + welfare work, 139-141. + + Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co., 93. + + New York, migrations to, 39, 56, 58, 67-68. + + New York _New Republic_, 157. + + _New York News_, 54, 164. + + _New York Age_, 43. + + _New York Globe_, 159. + + Norfolk _Journal and Guide_, 160. + + North: + opportunities, 17, 28-29; + attitude toward migrants, 27, 136, 152-174; + aids to migrants, 143-151. + + North Carolina, migrations from, 4-5, 39. + + Northwest, migrations to, 69. + + Northwestern Railroad, need of, for labor, 108. + + + Oates, W.H., 21. + + Ohio: + migrations to, 7, 57, 125-129; + housing, 126-127; + welfare work, 126-128; + conferences to aid migrants, 128. + + Ohio Federation for Uplift of the Colored People, 128. + + Ohio State Council of National Defense, 128. + + Ohio State and City Labor Bureau, 128. + + Ohio Charter Commission, 128. + + Oklahoma, migrations to, 9. + + Omaha, migrations to, 58. + + Oshkosh _Daily Northwestern_, 158. + + + Packing houses, negroes employed in: + East St. Louis, 100; + Chicago, 29, 102; + Milwaukee, 114. + + Painters: + in Pittsburgh, 122; + wages of, 86. + + Parker, Judge T.A., 81. + + Parks, Rev., 79. + + Pattern Makers, wages of, 17. + + Pass Riders, 77. + + Pennsylvania: + migrations to, 9, 38-39, 55, 57, 67, 134-139; + labor agents from, 135; + returns to former homes from, 135. + _See also_ Philadelphia; + Pittsburgh. + + Pennsylvania Railroad Co., demand of, for labor, 69, 135. + + Persuasion, use of, to check migrations, 79. + + Pfister-Vogel Co., employment of negro labor, 114-115, 117. + + Philadelphia: + migrations to, 57-58, 135; + prejudice, 135; + attitude of negroes in, toward migrants, 136; + wages, 136; + riots, 136; + housing, 137-139; + social work, 137-139. + _See also_ Pennsylvania. + + Philadelphia Academy of Medicine, 137. + + Philadelphia _Christian Recorder_, 164. + + Pittsburgh: + migrations to, 58, 67, 119-125; + efforts to secure negro labor, 119-120; + housing, 120-122; + social conditions in, 121, 124-125; + prejudice, 123; + wages, 18, 123-124; + comparison of negro labor with foreign labor, 125. + _See also_ Pennsylvania. + + Pittsburgh Associated Charities, 121. + + Pittsburgh _Dispatch_, 160. + + Pittsburgh, University of, 121. + + Plankington Packing Co., employment of negro labor, 113-115. + + Plantation government, 84. + + Poems, circulation of, influence on migration, 37. + + Political prosecution in South, 4. + + Porters: + in Chicago, 17; + in Milwaukee, 114; + in Pittsburgh, 122; + wages of, 17, 114. + + Pottsville, migrations to, 134. + + Poughkeepsie, migrations to, 56. + + Prejudice: + Rockford, 107-108; + Waukegan, 109; + East Chicago, 110; + Beloit, 111; + Milwaukee, 116; + Pittsburgh, 123; + Philadelphia, 135; + cause of migration, 3, 22, 24-25; + of labor unions, 49-51; + decrease in, 91. + + Press, causes and effects of migrations, as expressed through the, 152-174. + + Prisoners, care of discharged, 127. + + Professional men, migration of, 45. + + Public opinion regarding migrations, 152-174. + + Public speaking, stimulation of migration by, 27-28. + + Puddlers, employment of, in Pittsburgh, 122. + + + Railroads: + efforts of, to secure negro labor, 38, 120; + wages, 103; + in Pittsburgh, 122. + + Raleigh _Independent_, 161. + + Realty Housing and Investment Co., 127. + + Reeves, Alexander, 72. + + Remedies: + in Georgia, 80; + increased educational facilities, 83, 90; + through W.P. Thirkfield, 83; + through Tuskegee Institute, 81; + conferences, 143-144; + through churches, 144-147; + through labor unions, 147-151. + + Rents: + in Chicago, 105; + in Cleveland, 126; + in New Jersey, 139; + in Hartford, 142. + _See also_ Housing. + + Republic Rolling Mill, employment of negro labor, 109. + + Returns to South: + from East Chicago, 110; + from Pennsylvania, 135; + from New Jersey, 139. + + Riley, George S., 73. + + Riots: + in East St. Louis, 98-100; + in Philadelphia, 136. + _See also_ Mob violence. + + Robinson, Joe, 72. + + Robinson, William, 107. + + Rockford: + migrations to, 106-108; + housing, 106-107; + wages, 106-107; + prejudice, 107-108. + + Rockford Malleable Iron Company: + employment of negro labor, 106-107; + housing of its labor, 106-107; + wages paid by, 107. + + Rumors, influence on migrations of, 28-29, 40, 78-79. + + + St. Louis: + migrations to, 57, 66-67, 95-101; + separation, 95; + efforts to secure migrants, 96; + wages, 96-97; + housing, 97-98. + _See also_ East St. Louis; + Missouri. + + Sanitary conditions: + improvements in, 92, 94; + in St. Louis, 98. + + Scarborough, W.S., 128. + + Schwartz, John E., 37. + + Scott, Emmett J., 150. + + Scroggs, William Oscar, 9. + + Segregation, 95-96. + + Servants. _See_ Domestic service. + + Shillady, J.R., 150-151. + + Shoemakers, wages of, 114. + + Singleton, "Pap" (Benjamin), 5-6. + + Skilled workers, 122, 129. + + Smith, Bridges, 59. + + Social conditions: + in Pittsburgh, 121; + in Cleveland, 127. + _See also_ Welfare work. + + Social Service Commission of the Churches of Christ, 121. + + Solvay Steel Castings Co., employment of negro labor, 114. + + South Carolina: + migrations from, 46-47; + race conference, 172. + + _Southwestern Christian Advocate_, 144. + + Springfield, migrations to, 126. + + Springfield _Union_, 158. + + Stanton, V.L., 81. + + Steel industry: + demand for labor, 38, 119; + negroes employed in Pittsburgh, 122. + + Steel molders, wages of, 114. + + Stimulation of migrations. _See_ Influences. + + Street construction workers, wages of, 114. + + Street tax in South, cause of migration, 20. + + Superstitions of migrants, 40, 45-46. + + Swift and Company, employment of negro labor, 100. + + + Tannery laborers, wages of, 114. + + Teachers, wages of, 18. + + Tennessee: + migrations from, 4-5, 95-96, 99; + migrations to, 68; + lynchings, 22. + + Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Co., 93. + + Texas: + migrations to, 3; + migrations from, 4; + Colonization Council, 5. + + Theater ushers, women employed as, 129. + + Thirkfield, Bishop W.P., 83. + + Tifton _Gazette_, 79. + + Tobacco fields, wages of labor employed in, 17. + + Trakem Pump Co., employment of negro labor, 106. + + Tunnell Construction Co., employment of negro labor, 114-115. + + Tuskegee Institute: + efforts to check migrations, 81; + conference of, 82. + + Transfer yards, negro labor employed in, 100. + + Transportation, influence on migration of fears of, 28-29. + + Transportation paid by Northern employers, 135. + + Traveling accommodations, influence on migrations, 21-22; + effects of migrations, 91. + + Trenton, migrations to, 57. + + Truckers, employment of negro laborers as, 129. + + + "Underground Railroad," 68. + + Unemployment, 14-16, 59. + + Union Central Relief Association, 64. + + United States Production Co., 109. + + Unskilled labor, 122, 129. + + + _Vicksburg Herald_, 153. + + Virginia, migrations from, 39. + + + Wages:-- + South: + cause of migrations, 14-18, 29, 34, 83, 171; + comments of press, 84; + effects of migrations, 81, 83, 85-87, 91. + North: + In Pittsburgh, 18, 123-124; + in Massachusetts, 17; + in Minnesota, 18; + in St. Louis, 96-97, 99; + in Chicago, 17, 102-103, 109-110, 114; + in Rockford, 106-107; + in Waukegan, 108; + in Beloit, 111; + in Milwaukee, 113-115; + in Detroit, 129-130; + in Philadelphia, 136; + in New Jersey, 140; + in Hartford, 142. + + Walker, A.P., 37. + + Walla Walla _Bulletin_, 160. + + Warehousemen, wages of, 17. + + Waukegan, migrations to, 108-109. + + Waukegan industries, employment of negro labor, 108-109. + + Wehr Steel and Machine Shops, employment of negro labor, 113. + + Welfare work: + National League on Urban Conditions among Negroes, 93, 143-144, 149; + in Chicago, 103; + in Ohio, 126-128; + in Detroit, 131; + in New Jersey, 139-141; + in Philadelphia, 137-139; + in Hartford, 141-142. + + Wilberforce University, 128. + + Wilder Tannery Co., employment of negro labor, 108. + + Wills, J. Walter, 128. + + Wilmington, migrations to, 134. + + Wilson Packing Co., wages paid by, 103. + + Winston, Francis D., 153. + + Wisconsin: + migrations to, 110-111; + wages, 111. + _See also_ Milwaukee. + + Women's Health League, 88. + + Woods, J.S., 114. + + Wright, R.R., 171. + + + Yard workers, wages of, 17. + + York, migrations to, 134. + + Young Negroes' Progressive Association, 132. + + Youngstown, migrations to, 57, 126. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Negro Migration during the War, by Emmett J. 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