The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1917-08-14
CHICAGO IS ALARMED
OVER NEGRO INFLUX
THOUSANDS WHO APPLY FOR
WORK EACH MORNING AT
STOCKYARDS REJECTED.
MANY OTHERS FROM SOUTH
CANNOT FIND EMPLOYMENT
Chicago Paper Says They Have Been
Brought There by False Repre-
sensations. Conditions Will Be
Worse With Coming of Winter.

Sentatlons. Conditions VIII Be
Worse With Coming of Winter.
A feature of the negro problem
in Chicago which has not received
the attention is that of unemploy-
ment, says the Chicago Tribune.
Continuing, that paper tells as fol-
lows of the situation in regard to
Southern negroes who have emigrat-
ed to that city:
At the stockyards alone about L.
600 negroes who apply for work
each morning are turned away.
Many of these people-and the
number increases-are brought TO
Chicago as the result of what are ac-
tual false representations For the
purpose of this statement it makes
little difference whether they are per-
suaded to leave the South through
the beguilements of labor agents and
the misleading advertisements of
Northern employers, or because of
the articles printed in negro newspa-
pers and the letters written home by
individual negroes who have found
better paying jobs in the North.
If it is a fact that there are
large number of Southern negroes in
Chicago who are out of work-for
whatever resason-it is a bad situa-
ton for the negro race and for
everybody else. The Southern negro
will be able to get along here at this
season of the year much better than
he will next fall, when the weather
begins to get cold. When the winter
shuts down, with a severity to which
he is entirely unaccustomed, he will
find himself in desperate condition.
1t is fair to say that there has
been in Chicago less race prejudice
than in any other great Northern
city And in Chicago the negro race
has made astounding progress. 1t is
probable that in the "Black Belt" of
Chicago there are more handsome
store buildings, banks, and lodge halls
than in any other similar district in
the country.
Yet the fact that they are all in
the "Black Belt"-that the negroes
in Chicago are practically living in
segregated districts proof that
race prejudice does not exist here. It
is further fact, however, that race
prejudice is increasing.
Among the negroes-as among
other people who feel themselves UNI
fairly treated-there is too great a
tendency to defend a black man sim
ply because he is black, without
much reference to whether or not he
is guilty of the charge against him.
Substantial and conservative ne
groes say that the better leaders
among them are not sufficiently ag-
gressive in denouncing offenders of
their own race.
That they are wanted and needed
in the South there is no question.
The great cotton fields will soon be
ready for the pickers. The leaders
among them are pointing out that if
the negro is to be kept in the South
he must be treated justly and paid
better wage.
If there are any considerable num-
Der of negroes, recently come to Chi
cago, who would be willing to go
back home, The Tribune knows how
the journey can be arranged without
cost to them. 1t may even be posi-
bic to guarantee them regular work
in the neighborhood of their old
homes, and wages which will be sat
isfactory.
1t is time to plant rape. Dawson