The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1916-11-17

drawn from Otner employment mduy
thousands Of men who were formerly
engaged in rougher work on railroad
jobs and construction activities. In
some cases men have left clerical
work in order to get the high pay Of
fered by munition shops.
This situation necessitated an in
| crease in wages in iron and steel
works, and all of this activity came at
a time when We were not only deprlV-
/ ed of the million immigrants who had
prior to the war been annually coming
! to this country, but also of the many
! tens of thousands Of foreigners called
back to their governments to be-
come soldiers. The country was thus
faced with an enlarged demand for la
Dor beyond anything ever known, with
a complete closing down of immagra-
! ton and at the same time large emil
! grafton of labor Advancing rates ii
wages and the actual scarcity of labor
to carry on industrial operations caus-
ed iron and steel works and railroads
I'm the east and the west to turn to the
negroes of the south as a possible
source of supply.
While the north and the west were
in this condition and an unprecedented
shortage of labor and unprecedented
high wages, the south had for two
years been suffering from the effects
of war. It's agricultural interests had
ben depressed by reason Of the inabili,
ty to market it's cotton crop of 1914
and the low prices prevailing up to
few months ago. It's exports OF
phosphate and lumber and naval stores
had been seriously curtailed, and so
thisk section had a surplus Of labor
while the north and west had short
age The vacuum in the north and
west commenced to draw the surplus
from the south, for as nature abhors
a vacuum so do economic conditions.
Now the south is beginning to get
it's share of this abounding war-createu
prosperity, and, though naval stores
and lumber and phosphate, are not yet
exported as freely as in the part, there
is a general revival of industrial and
building work, and the high price OIL
cotton is stimulating every interest.
But negroes are being tempted north,
Notwithstanding the Improvements in
conditions in the south, by the fact
that they can command much higher
rate of wages north and west than
they can yet get in the south. Until
the situation balances itself by an ad-
vance of wages in the south to re-
lative parity with the wages in the
north and west the south will proba-
tly continue to lose great many OF
it's negro laborers This is an econo-
mic loss which should not be minlmlz-
ed, but the south can meet it to some
extent by more extensive work on the
part of it's people, by the large utiliz-
alton of labor-saving machinery, by
cutting down the acreage of CROPS In
connection with heavier fertilization,
intensifying cultivation so that out
of a smaller acreage greater yield
can be hecured at less labor and at a
large profit.
1t has been said that the boll-weevil
" 1L1S4 case uCAIol oSI4F4Iy SAA
the part of southern farmers. The
movement Of negroes from the suutn
to the north will have a SIMILAR eff
feet; anu those who have heretofore
depended wholly upon negro labor
will be compelled by increased mental
activity to turn to labor-saving ma
chinery and to other methods of les
sening the amount of manual labor by
supplanting it by power labor: The
situation has its bad side, but there
are also some redeeming features, ev-
en- from the economic point of view =:
and, as We stated some weeks ago
| the south will in the long ruiz be
benefited by the rest of the country
being forced to study the negro prob,
lem just as the south has heretofore
had to do.
The suggestions that have beer
made in the heat OF political cam.
paign that this movement of negroe;
to the north has been brought about
for political effect, to use these negro
emigrants as voters, is as foolish as is
the claim of the Federation of labor
that the negroes are being brough
north and west in order to break VI
the power of union labor. 1t is safe
to say that the men who have beer
securing the country to secure negro
laborers neither had politics nor un
ion labor in their thought in the
slightest degree. They wanted work
ers. and the negro was available ans
they went after him. That is thu
whole story.
! Some onepa stars GET enormous Sa