Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1917-07-10
By RICHARD STOKES.

EAST ST. LOUIS, July 10.-Probably
the most absorbing municipal enigma
in the United States today is the city
of East st. Louis, and no doubt all over
the country the question is being
asked
| Through what lamentable train OF
events did it happen in the State OF
Abraham Lincoln, in the Northern city
where for many years whites and ne
groes had dwelt amicably side by side,
there developed within only few
months sucha cold and implacable fer
ocity of race hatred that mob could
rise I'D with the deliberate purpose OF
massacreing the negro population ana
wiping out with fire the sections in
which it dwelt and did put scores to
death. with every circumstance of ap-
palling cruelty, and without distinction
of age or sex, innocence or guilt?
The answer to this tragic puzzle was
sought yesterday from leading business
men, city officials and others who are
| in a position to be we'll informed.
Cause of East st. Louis Riots
Under the present conditions OF un-
rest, they did not desire to be quoted.
but the story they told follows:
1t should be prefaced with the state
ments that East st. Louis now has a
population of probably $4,000; that II
has grown with leaps and bounds in
the last two decades, its population
having been only 1855 in 1900; that
it is a fiourishing industrial center,
boasting of great packing and manu-
featuring plants. some the largest OF
their kind in the country; and that
owing to the nature Of the work IN
many of these industries, it is one OF
the biggest markets in the United
States for common, unskilled labor.
On the other hand, the city govern
ment of East st. Louis is bankrupt. AS
the events of Monday night showed, its
police force was not only demoralized'
| hut feeble in numbers. 1t can muster
only sixty-three men, including PLAIN
clothes men and officers, as well as the
uniformed patrolmen. The city should
have twice as many, but has not the
money to pay them.
War Opened Places TO Negroes.
In the packing plants, stockyards
and ore factories there is an abund-
ance of hard, dirty and unpleasant
work which no white American would
consent to do. These jobs were
abandoned by the skilled white work
men to negroes and foreigners. Many
of the latter. native of Austria and the
Balkan countries, were summoned to
the colors. which meant additional ne
groes were employed in their places.
The tremendous boom given to bust
ness in the city by war orders for the
Allies created still greater demands for
negro labor It is estimated that in the
last two years the negro population
has increased one-fourth. At the end
OF May, when the first outbreak OF
rioting occurred, there were probably
IS 900 negroes in East st, Louis, OF
whom today perhaps not more than 81
600 or 5000 remain.
Received 81 10 S6 Day.
The negroes found themselves receiv-
ing such unprecedented wages as "a, 50
and Sc a day, and it was not strange
many of them wrote glowing letters to
friends and relatives in the South, in
viting them to come and enter into the
financial paradise. They responded in
focks. Every evening, especially on
Sunday evenings, the Relay depot
would be damned with negroes arriv-
ing on the trains and friends gathered
to welcome them.
The uneasiness felt by the white
DODuldIlOu over the lllAuA Va lS=i OSo
became acute alarm because of an cpl
demic of holdups and shootings by ne
gro footpads during April and May 1t
is not the belief of the authorities these
crimes were committed by negroes
from the South who went to the city
to work, but that they were the deeds
of professional crooks from other cit
| les, including st Louis
The city on the east side of the river
offers almost unrivaled facilities for the
operations of criminals. Besides it's
undermined police force, it provides
the easiest of opportunities for escape.
T. is entered by twenty-seven railroads,
whose trains ar constantly moving out
of the city and there are three bridges
over which flight may be made to st.
Louis.
Epidemic Of RObberies.