New-York tribune., 1917-06-01
Why Negroes Leave South
Not for Wages or to Avoid Draft
but to Escape Bondage

Sir: Herbert Spencer, in "The Study OF
Sociology" characterizes as grave dl'ncu''E
to the development Of social science the ten
dency Of the investigator to too often sup
press or overlook data unfavoraole TO MS
point Of view or objective.
Mr. Spencer's critics. even in our day are
numerous; but his conclusion in this partlcu-
lar instance finds ample corroboration ana
justification in The Tribune's Atlanta tGa')
correspondents communication IN to-day
issue of your splendid paper, in which the
country is informed OF the economic criSs
, Georgia is facing because black men are seek
ing more congenial cline. We read that the
Legislature OF Georgia must act IN order
that "these measures may stop the stream.
1T is necessary that it be stopped" "lf the
emigration continues indefinitely Georgia
faces economic collapse" she is literally
being bled white And why?
Because. writes The Tribune correspondent
% 900 negro adults have left Georgia since
last July in search of employment on farms
in the North and Northwest, where they eX-
pected to get $3.50 and s. day for their
labor; that before they leave. those who have
sell cabin, mule. corn-everything not porta-
BILE; that in the Land of Promise many OF
the negroes, failing TO find the higher wage,
accept the lower, become dissatisfied and
eventually. becoming public charges in a
strange country )the large cities, drift back
home sadder and wiser and "broker.
Not an Migrate
And now conscrlpton, That monster
which has famed anew the smoulderng en-
bers Of the Emma Goldman-Alex Berkman
combinations fire, which has uncovered more
pro- German plots. threatens alike the sensi-
tive Georgia vascular system-Georgia is al
most bled white.
The negro has never been proved an in
CRATE 1t is the fact Of American history in
the last 300 years that the negro has more
rearly typifed the injunction of the Christ 10
turn the other cheek" than any of the con-
glomerate extractions which in the aggregate
make up the American nation. And equally
true, that if Georgia regarded the negro as
the principal element of It's LIES blood
which it now confesses in your correspond
ent's gloomy picture, there has heretofore
been nothing in its conduct 10 reasonably
Justify such conclusion. On the other
hand its every attitude, manifest in count
less acts a thousand times a thousand, Jusu-
fes the contrary conclusion.
Does not its senior United States Senator
owe his political prefcrment to his successful
delusion of his fellows white voters) on the
negro issue. 10 which plane his opponent,
Georgas foremost editor, refused to de-
scend?
Does not its junior United States Senator
point with pride to his vote against the re-
tention Of negro fremen on the Georgia rail
road when a member Of the commission which
the Governor of Georgia appointed to settle
the controversy between the white iircmen.
who desired to oust negro iremcn. and the
Georgia railroad which determined to retain
them?
Does not Georgia lead the civilized world
in the taking Of human life. not only without
due process Of law, but in the most brutal and
public manner? And arc not most Of its mob
victims negroes? Did not Atlanta. the Geor-
ria metropolis, close the negro high school
and threaten to remove the highest grade Of
the negro graded school;
Simple Minded, Broken Spirited
So how can Georgia expect so much Of its
greatest economic force when il has built
under that force such fimsy social
structure?
If higher wages in that land OF plenty just
over the horizon were the cause of the negro
hcgira from Georgia. those who return sad
der and wiser ard broker" would prove an
asset 10 Georgia and deterrent to migra-
tion that not even conscrption could over
come The rural Georgian IS simple minded,
and the broken spirited, destitute returned
wandercr infames his imagination so as 90
turn the beautiful land Of promise into
virtual unfertilc wilderness. Inhabited by
huge man-eating beasts. Nesi The cause OF
the negro's desire to leave the South in gen
cral and Georgia in particular is not merely
10 get better wages and escape conscrptlor.
The colored track laborers along the New
Haven Railroad receive $40 a day and pay
s. a week for board. They can beat this on
the docks at Newport News. Charleston. Sa-
vannah or Jacksonville. And board wouldn't
cost as much. As to conscripton. there are
more negroes ready and willing to enter and
reenter the army than the Administration has
manifested any inclination to accept.
The principal cause Of the negro movement
away from the South is the response TO the
cry OF his soul 10 get out OF bondage. He
may not realize II as such; it may seem TO
most of him the fear of the evil spirit of
the South. of the spirit Of Georgia, that
burns. hangs and destroys him; but it is
none the less the cry of his soul TO 20, Go
where his children can have a chance to he
men and women, even if they perish in the
attempt, away from Georgia. that lynched
Frank and elected Dorsey, his prosecutor, in
vndication of the mob. Fly, fly from Geor-
ga whose spirit execrates Slaton and elori
fes Watsonl
It is because Georgia of the mob and for
the mob is no longer a government of the
l.
ocracy rather than democracy, that her
black sons have left her and "she is literally
being bled white" And no enactment Of the
Georgia Legislature can undo the mountain
of injury done by Hoke Smith and Tom Wat
son. If Georgia desires to do right by its
negroes let her Legislature put into motion
the machinery that will give its black citizens
the same right of citizenship its white sons
enjoy. Until then Georgia should literally
bleed white. X. b. LEMUS.
New London, Conn, May 30, 1917.