The forum. [volume] (Springfield, Ill.) 1904-192?, 1916-10-28
CHANGES DUE To
EUROPEAN WAR
Effect Of tho Great Conflict
Upon the Negro.
NEW AVENUES FOR SERVICE

Foreign Laborers-Abundant Supply
of Labor South Cause of Low Wages.
In discussing the effect of the Euro
pean war ON the Negro in recent is
sue of the New York Evening Post VII
son Jefferson in part says:
The present war has brought the
blacks of the British and French colo
MES to the front. Up against the vary
| ing fortunes of war and on foreign
soil. they have proved both apt and
| traetable. These countries are not un-
aware of their strength and hardwood
and of the uses to which this strength
could be put In the great work of re-
building their destroyed cities. indus
tries and railroads.
France particularly will need them
sorely and, judging her by the past
treatment of her black citizens, will
not hesitate to use them freely. How
ever, our more immediate concern is
with the American Negro, and 1t is
chiefly of the effects of the war upon
him that this article wishes to treat.
Heretofore the workers In our mines,
| on our railroads and in the shops and
factories have been recruited almost
wholly from Europe. This army of
people which swarms to our shores at
the rate of over 100000 year has
| now practically ceased to come at all.
For the present they cannot come on
account of conditions over which they
have no control. In the future, on ac-
count of their depleted populations, the
countries now at war win no doubt
frame laws to keep at home the able
bodied survivors of the conflict.
If the war lasts another two years,
or even If it ends sooner, this country
will be almost entirely dependent upon
the Negro of the south for its supply
of unskiled labor. This supply of la
Dor is plentiful. Like the market of
Europe, the black man of the south
wants to better the conditions under
which he works He is not satisfied
with his wages, with his status in So
ciety or with the homes and neighbour
hoods he must live in. He is eager 70
avail himself of opportunities to la
Dor under better conditions.
The picked Negro laborer makes the
best unskiled worker In the world.
The south will acknowledge this. But
the south has not protited by this Ia
Dor to the extent that it is willing to
pay for it a decent, living wage. Ne
gro wages in the south are a standing
disgrace The Negro has been at the
mercy of the employer class of the
south. And this wage scale for Ne
groes has, next to liquor, been pro-
life cause of crime.
You cannot blame man much for
not wanting to work for So or 81 a
week in the hot sun of the fields or In
the malarial brickyards or at the lum-
Der camps. Petty thieving, where
there is chance, grows out of petty
wages. 1t has not been on account
Of its poverty that the south has paid
the black man so poorly. The wage
has been low because the supply of
labor has been plentiful. Only in re-
cent months have there been signs
that this supply might be drawn upon
by the east and middle west to the
detriment of southern industries.
In the south the poorer whites will
be forced to do some of the harder
tasks of the shop and field and will
be forced to do what they have never
hitherto done-fit themselves for house
work and other work calling for more
or less personal service. And 1t will
all work to the Negroes gain. The en-
ployer will not be able to get along
without the help Of both, and the
white worker will not be willing to
work for the Negro wage.
Some of the trades in the south offer
an example of white and Negro coop
Grafton. In them Negro and white
unions affiliate for their mutual pro
lection. As a consequence, in the
building trades, for example, the wage
compares favorably with the scale in
other parts of the country. Among un7
skilled workers there will be unions
and affiliations of a similar nature and
a much higher wage scale will prevail
as result.
Nothing has hampered the Negro
more as race than the inability of its
great body of workers to make a de
cent living. From the beginning he
has been dependent upon a cold and
Indifferent white south, which has al
ways been willing to feed him and to
praise him las servants), but never will
ing to pay him very much in the way
of wages. The Negro is rapidly learn
ing that $40 a month and regular hab-
its are infinitely better than SIS or 500
a month and irregular habits.
There will not be much difficulty at
tending the effort of the Negro to adj
just himself to the discipline of the
shops and factories and business places
of the north and west Only those of
US who live very near to their strug
giles know Just how Indifferent has
been the average southern employer to
the needs of his workmen. The laws
give these men absolutely no protec-
ton. The bulk of them are as capable
and live as clean lives as do CORE
spending class among any people.
They are as ambitious. Given a fair
chance they will, no doubt, prove more