The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1917-07-24
DANGEROUS STORIES
WERE TOLD TO BLACKS
LABOR AGENTS WORKING IN
THE SOUTH SAID WHITE Sol.
DIERS WOULD KILL THEM.
MOVEMENT BEGUN TO
SEND THEM BACK SOUTH
Hundreds Are Idle, and Without
Places to Sleep, Says Member of
Race. Representative Howard of
Georgia Finds Out Some Things.

N"SS' representative howard OF
Georgia Finds Out Some Things.
WASHINGTON, D. CA pro-
gram. for a movement to return to
the South the tens of thousands of
negroes who have been led by vari-
Gus inducements, many of them
fraudulent, to seek work in the
North was laid before Secretary of
Labor Wilson this week by a delega-
ton from Richmond, Va.
Representative William S. Howard
of Georgia accompanied the visitors
having become interested in the plan
through hearing it outlined by Giles
B. Jackson, negro of Richmond,
and one of the most dependable men,
bers of his race, according to the
white members of the delegation.
Mr.. Howard said that thousands of
negroes had been lured away from
the South by fraudulent promises. He
spoke of circulars pledging high
wages, which did not materialize.
False stories of the existence of So
cial equality in certain sections were
spread before gullible black men.
Another device used to good effect
was flaming poster telling how the
white troops, when they were mobil-
lied, expected to kill all the black
men before going off to the war.
Propose Negro Bureau.
The originators of the idea of hav-
ing these negroes returned propose
the establishment of a bureau in the
department of labor which will en-
ploy negroes to visit the members of
their race in the industrial centers
of the North and ascertain whether
they have work and are comfortably
housed and if not, induce them to
return to the South
William T. Dabney, business man.
ager of the chamber of commerce of
Richmond, said the issues involved
were national in scope and that the
whole country would profit from a
proper settlement, which he indicat-
ed would be to have the government
aid in returning the negroes to the
Southern farms where they were so
much needed.
Even where the negroes are APP
parently well placed, said Mr.. Dab
ney, they are in an abnormal condi-
ton, as was proven by the recent
outbreaks in East st. Louis.
Giles Jackson, who made the prin-
cipal address, was formerly slave.
He said he had never been inside of
a school house in his life, but has
not only acquired an education, but
been admitted to the bar. He was
commissioned by President Roosevelt
to take charge of the negro exhibit
at the Jamestown exposition.
Provide For Future.
Jackson said plans should not only
be made to meet the present emerg-
ency, but to provide for the future.
He thought a negro should be placed
IN charge of the bureau and report
directly to the secretary of Labor
"The colored people belong in the
South" he began. "They are more
useful there than anywhere else.
They can produce commodities there
of value to the nation. Yet the color
ed people by tens of thousands and
hundreds of thousands are leaving
the South, leaving the horse and the
mule standing in the furrow Why
are they leaving? Because they have
been told they can get better wages
in other sections. Agents have gone
through the sections where they live
and told these black people about
the high wages, and the schools where
their children and the white folks
children meet on equal terms.
II have lived in the South for II
years. 1t is the only home | ever had.
The relations between the white peo~
pie and the colored people in Virgil
mia are good. We have two banks
and four insurance companies in
Richmond owned by colOred people.
81 believe a government bureau
made up of negroes to work among
uSSIOSS COulu dCCOHlpllS SOOU. A
white man could not handle the sit
uation as well as a colored man
could. The bureau could also work
to get the negro farmers to cooper
ate in the governments food pro-
duction plans. We could find out
where the colored boys have gone to,
and write them to come back to the
farm where they belong, | believe
many of them would come if they
were only helped
Hundreds Are Idle.
"On a trip to Philadelphia recent
ly | have seen hundreds of colored
men who had nowhere to sleep. Go
up to One hundred and Thirty-fourth
street, New York, some night and
you will see tens of thousands of ne
groes who are mighty close to the
bread line. "You might ask, why
do you want these people back if
they won't work. | say we can make
them work"
POULTRY PARASITES.