Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1907-08-31
CONCERNING THE vACRANT NE.
GRO

Before 7 get away from observa-
lions OF The low-ciass Negro ! must
speak OF the subject of varrancy.
Many white mcu have told me with
impatienCe OF the great number of
lale or partly idle Negroos-idle
while every Industry and most OF the
farming districts of Georgia are cry
Ing for more labor. And from INV OBJ
serNaton iu Atlanta. ] should saw
ihat there were good many idle or
partly idle Nerroes-evon efnco mo
riot, which served. understand ro
drive many of them away. Five
days before the riot OF last Sopten-
Der, "a committee of tho civ cr,r.,l
visited some forty saloons on. .ffar-
noon, and hy actual couu. found
500 Negroes (and 1862 white monl
drinking at the bars or Iounrinr
around the doorways. In some of
these saloons conducted bv white
men and permitted 90 exist bv tho
CITY authorities-pi pictures of nuda
white women We're displayed as am
ADDED attraction. fIas This anything
10 DO with Negro crimes acafnst
"hlle women Since The riot these.
conditions in Atlanta have much
improved
Increased Negro idleuess is the
result, in large measure. of the mari
Velous and rapid changes in SOUTH
ern conditions. The South has been
ana ls to-day dependent uu a sinrIeI
labor supply-the Negro. Now
Negroes, though recruited bv q hirhI
birth rate, have not been Increasing
In any degree as rapidly as the dc-I
mand for labor incident TO the de-
Velopment OF every sort OF industry
railroads, numbering. mines. 20 saw
nothing of the increased farm area
and the added requirements of grow
ing cities. With this enormous in
creased demand for labor the Negro
supply has. relatively. been dccreas-
Ing. Many have gone North and
West. many have bought farms oil
their own, thousands. hy education
nave become professional men.
teachers, preachers, and even mer-
chants and bankers+alwavs drain
ing away the best aHd most indus-
trious men OF the race and reducing
by so much the available supply of
common labor. IN short. those
Negroes who were capable have been
going the same way as the unskiued
lrishman and German in the North
upward through the door OF educa- |
uon-but, unlike the North. there
have been no other laborers coming
In 20 take their places.
What has been the result2 Natural |
~, fierce contest between agricul- |
ture and industry for the limited and |
dwindling supply OF the only labor
they had
So they bid against one another
II was as though the Negro had a |
monopoly on labor-and within the
last few years day wages for Negro
workers have jumped from fifty orI
sixty cents 10 $1.25 and $3.50. often
mora pure matter of competi- |
ton. A similar advance has affected
all sorts of servant labOr-cooks.
walters, maids. porters.
High wages, scarcity Of labor. and l
the consequent loss OF opportunity
for taking advantage of the prevail
ing prosperity would, in any commun-
lty, South or North, whether the Ia
Dor was white or black, produce a
spirit OF impotence and annoyancel
on the part OF employing class. I
found II evident enough last summer
In Kansas where the farmers were
unable 10 get workers TO save their
crops; and the servant problem is
not more provoking, certainly, in theI
south than in the North and West.
Indeed, IL is the labor problem moreI
than any other one cause. that has
held the South back and is holding
ii back to-day.
But the South has an added causeI
OF annoyance. Higher wages, instead
OF producing more and better labor
as they would naturally be expected
TO do. have actually served to reduce
the supply. This may, at first. seem
paradoxical: but 1t IS easily explain
able and IL lies deep down beneath
many of the perplexities which sur
round the race problem.
Most Negroes. as have said, were
Cand still are, OF course) farm-dwel-l |.
lers, and farm-dwellers in the hither-I
TO wasteful Southern way Their
living is easy to get and very simple: II