The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-11-14

Birmingham, Ala, Nov. 1.-The negro migration from Alabama to Northern and Western states was giv- en momentum by the activities of the boll weevil and the summer floods in the cotton district of the state. The progressive little insect that disheart- ems cotton growers struck hard iii Lower Alabama counties this year, and floods literally washed away crops. Negro tenant farmers were advised by their landlords to look out for themselves until spring, when a new crop can be planted.
 The Birmingham mining district was asked to take care of many ol the poverty stricken neg4oes from the cotton or black belt. It was about this time that the Pennsylvania and Erie railroads were urged to stop re- cruiting laborers in Georgia and Flori- da. The labor agents turned to Ala bama at the psychological moment and did a lively business for several months. with the result that more than 60,000 negroes have migrated to the north, east and west from the state. County upon county has been almost deserted by negro men for the coal fields of West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana and the great industrial centres of New York, New Jersey, Michigan and Illinois. It was the middle of September before the business men of Birming- ham realized that the state was losing it's negro workmen by train loads. Between 10000 and 12,000 colored neoDle left Rirmingharn
 A mild protest was uttered by local papers, but the ''big howl' did not come until the recruiting agents be- gan to carry away trained coal dig gers from the mining district. Mine operators in the vicinity of Birming- ham employ 10000 negroes, most of to s100 a month.
 In contest with white union la- bor several years ago the operators of the Alabama mines won out by em- p1oying large numbers of colored men. It was believed at that time that the labor troubles of the district were over for years to come. The employers never dreamed that any body could come in and induce their we'll paid negroes to quit their jobs. But the inducements offered by northern labor agents reached all classes of southern labor, demoraliz- ing mine workers as we'll as oth- CTS.
 Law Against It.
 About the middle of September at- tention, was called to the fact that Alabama had law prohibiting the oif 0f yn1,1xY a conditions. It reads:
 '.Any person doing the business of an emigrant agent without having first obtained a license as required by law shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, shall be punished by a fine of not less than $500 and not more than $5,o00, or may be impris- oned in the county jail or sentenced to hard labor for the county for not less than four months nor more than one year, within the discretion of the court"
 Another section of the law reads:
 'Any person who entices, decoys or persuades any apprentice or servant to leave the service or employment of his master must, on conviction, be fined not less than $20 nor more than $10O; and may also be imprisoned in the county jail or sentenced to hard labor for the county for not more than three months'.'
 The publishing of this law, accom- panied by an announcement that 1t would be enforced, served to frighten the labor agents but did not stop the migration of negroes, which was in full swing by that time.
 The labor agents had travelled through the black belt and had made it known that employers in the North, wages to all negroes applying for East and West would give increased work. Money for transportation was pro- vided for thousands of men, and train load after train load of negroes left the state by night, and no prosecutions were started.
 Reasons for the Exodus.
 B. A. Brown, a leading business man of Birmingham and a native of South Carolina, gave The World cor respondent the following reasons for the departure from the South of so many negroes:
 First, the negro likes to rove-he is of a rowing disposition-and will give up hundred dollar job in a mine to take a thirty-dollar one on a Pull man car, so he can ride and travel from place to place.
 Second, the negro resents the road and street taxes put upoh him in counties and municipalities. An an- nual tax of $5, called a street tax, is required of every man in Birming ham, A negro would rather go to jail 10 days than pay this $5, or work it out on the streets at the rate of dollar and a quarter a day. Such tax interferes with what he considers is his freedom
 Third, the fee system in cities and towns, which gives an officer so much for arresting and presenting a man for a violation of the law. For in- stance, a negro who is caught shoot ing craps does not like to pay fine of s5 and costs, amounting to $10. Prohibition. laws weigh heavy upon the negro from his viewpoint; he re- sents them.
 Fourth, the negro has been told by the labor agents that negro men mar ry white women and negro women marry white men in the North; pic %1,ai, 1,Sk