The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1916-09-29
URGES COLORED PEOPLE
TO STAY IN THE SOUTH
Continued from First Page)


with two or three dozen other fami-
lies. a situation next door to the
neither regions, for the man who
wants to raise a family, will cost him
from S25 to S35 or more per month.
He must pay, necessarily. from So to
Sc per month to get back and forth
from his work.
Such a family's grocery bill, in
jackson. would amount, we will say
to SIS per month, while in the larg-
er cities, far removed from the gar
dens and farms, the same family's
grocery bill would amount to from
$40 to S25 monthly, to say nothing
of the scores and scores of nickles
and dimes one spends in a large city
which he is unable to spend in the
country or Smaller town.
Then, what has been gained by the
change? According to my calcula-
ton. he made more in Jackson at
$3.50.
] have spent considerable time in
the North and | know conditions
there just as we'll as here. but of the
two, you see | have elected to be
here. | know it to be a fact that the
white mar North. at heart, does not
want negro labor, but he is simply
forced to take him now because of
the European war, which for the past
two years has cut off the influx of
fully 100000 immigrants from
Europe, and their places must be
filled. The Northern white mar
knows nothing about negro labor and
does not want him except as a last
resort; therefore, it but stands to
reason that just as soon as the wal
is over, which is liable to end any
day, and the foreigner returns from
the trenches, and that endless tide of
immigration, unparalleled in the
country's history, which must set in
from Europe just as soon as the war
is over, arrives, these negroes, by the
hundreds of thousands must walk the
plank and turn their sad faces back
toward Dixie-will be summarily dis
charged and thrown upon the cold
mercies of charity in a strange land,
far from home and friends, to finally
ern home" only to find friends es-
tranged and his place filed by the
horde of immigrants who, sweeping |
over the entire continent, will have
preceded him. Quite a serious prop
osition to me Then let us beware.
Truly all that ~glitters, beyond the
mountain. is not golden. The old
adage. "a rolling stone gathers no
moss was never more true than will
be found to be in this case. Let US
not become a nomadic or rowing peo-
pie. History affords no example of
rovers ever improving their condi-
ton or getting up in the world.
Once a rover, always a rover.
AS the late and lamented Booker
t. Washington has well admonished
us: Let down your buckets where
you are" Neither can | ever forget
his story of the negro who moved so
much that his old rooster on the first
day of every January always came
to the front door and lay down and
crossed his legs to be tied to get
Of course, the labor agents will !
tell you of the hard times now in the
Well, we admit that the
just now are o the very best,
but how could we expect better times
this awful war, coupled with
short crops, and our principal staple,
not allowed access to Euro
pean markets? But we may rest as
sured they will not be this way al
ways. Behind each cloud there is
silvery lining" The North would
be in the same condition as the South
Or worse, but for the war,
out for the fact that they are fur
Europe with its cannon and
to kill millions and mil
ions of men, and wheat to feed them
IN while they do their deadly work,
when the wal is over, the South
S coming into her own and is going
o be the recipient of a prosperity
unparalleled in its history.
If the war were closed today, cot
on would sell for % cents per
ound.
Again, statistics show that the
outhern negro accumulates prop
and improves his condition far {