The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1916-08-11
The Super
huous Negro


Az VIC 4vOx bucf0 No8IO the
war In Europe has been of i'm
mense and unexpected sdvAnt-
age 1t has shut out the immi-
grant, who il the Negroes most
dangerous competitor. has doub-
led the demand for the Ne0ro's
labor, raised bis wages and Civ
en- chances to him which in the
ordinary course would have gone
70 white men. II immigration
still lags after the war, or 10 held
down BY law, the Negro will Sc
cure the great opportunity for
which be has been waiting for
these nifty years.
The average Pole or Italian
arriving ct Ellis Island does not
realize that he is . deadly foe TO
the native Negro. He hardly
knows there are Negroes. He
takes the first job he can get,
competes seemingly with other
white men, and, - be rises to
higher industrial reaches, makes
room for other white men. All
the while, however. he 10 uncon
sciously fighting the Negro. By
6lling all the jobs in the North
the immigrant forces the Negro
back on the South, where wages
are lower and industrial devel-
opment 10 more backward. 1t
is . silent conflict on . gigantic
scale.
In the half century between
1860 and 1910. the foreign borr
in the United States increased
from about two million to over
thirteen millions, of whom the
overwhelming majority-over IS
Der cent-remainsd in the North.
lndustrially. they tiled the
North to the saturation point.
In the same period. the Negro
increased from about four and
one-half TO ten millions. But OF
these, almost nine-tenths were
forced to remain in the South.
They were held there 90 effect
lively - though the white immi.
grants stood on the Mason and
Dixon line. armed with machine
guns.
Because Of the race prejudice,
the individual Negro can't easi y
rise above his race, - the indi.
viduaj German, Greek, Jew OF
Italian In America does. He ID
never . man among men. but q
Negro sharing the common lol
of Negroes. And that lot 10 bad
because industrislly the Northen
Negroes Are superb uous. They
bold no monopoly of skill. and
are largely debarred from &C
curing skill or using it il &C
quired. In the common occupa
ton, on the other hand, whers
numbers count, they are to-
few. In southern cities, in At.
lanta, Memphis, Birmingham
Richmond, Nashville, Savannah.
Charleston, Mobile, Negroes cor
stitute one-third to one-half OF
the population, and more thar
that proportion of wage earnsrs.
and are given . chance 10 carr
their living, because withou,
them the work of these cite s
could not be done.
In the city of Philsdelphia, on
the other hand, Negroes form
only 1-2 per cent OF the popu-
lstion, In Chicago only 2 per cent.
in New York . little less than 2
per cent. In almost every occu
patton they are . hopeless minor
ity. III white men will not work
them. il the employer il forced
10 choose between . large supply
OF white labor and . small sup
ply Of Negro labor. he will choose
the former. There are always
enough white men or women
thanks 10 our immigration to do
the work. The Negroes can be
replaced by white, but cannot
replace whites.
The New YORK example proves
bow replscesble and therefore
weak and defenseless the North
ern Negroes are. The colored
population of the Greator C;xv