The Tupelo journal., 1918-06-21
LABOR is

Conditions in the matter of labor
have become so deplorable on the
farms and in the small towns that
those who find it necessary to employ
labor in the prosecution of their bus
mess have reached the point of des-
pair.
Labor agents are securing the coun-
try gathering every able bodied la
borer to move him to some other
field of activity. Contracts of labor
ers with their employees are wholly
disregarded and the law seems mad
equate to stop the wholesale devasta-
ton of the farms and industries of
the town of the necessary labor.
Aside from this there are those who
are so thoughtless or wicked as to
advise the negroes that they should
go elsewhere to better their condi-
ton. This has been the case in Tu-
pelo. We heard Of one instance where
the negroes were advised to make no
effort to lay in a supply of coal for
next winter, that the war would be
over before winter and that those
people who are telling them other
wise were simply trying to deceive
them. On the other hand the negroes
should be encouraged to stay here.
Their rented houses should be provld-
ed with little coal houses, where their
winter supply of coal could be stor-
ed and made safe from the pilferlng
class, who idle their time away and
live on what they can steal from the
whites and industrious blacks. This
party who is discouraging the negroes
is an enemy to the town and should
be dealt with.
Senator John Sharp Williams has
been appealed to and the following
telegram has been sent to him by
citizens of Tupelo:
"Hon. John Sharp Williams, United
State Senate, Washington, D. c.
Labor agents from the government
plants at Sheffield and Mussel Shoals,
Ala, and Nashville, Tenn, coming
here and other places in Mississippi,
are d~emoralizing labor conditions to
such an extent that it has become des-
perate and alarming.
"These labor agents are paid a COM
mission per head, as we understand,
for procuring labor for contractors
working on a cost-plus commission
basis. It is to the interest of these
contractors employed on this basis
to pay as much as possible for labor
and do as little work as possible with
labor. We are reliably informed that
the contractors at Mussel Shoals and
Sheffield discourage real efficiency on
the part of their employees and en-
courage lettering and inefficiency of
labor. This has proceeded to such an
extent that it has become a public
scandal, as we'll as absolutely democrat
ling and destroying efficiency of la
Dor in all avocations in this section.
''The policy. of paying these labor
agents a commission per head for pro-
curing labor, and furnishing t%ranspor-
tation for the labor, keeps all labor in
a state of confusion and uncertainty,
and tends to disrupt all discipline and
stability Of labor, not only in indus
trial plants but on the farm.
eve are reliably informed that I'M
der this cost-plus commission basis
system, and the present method OF
sending labor agents into communities
to procure labor, that the government
is constantly bidding against itself.
agents have, within the last few
weeks and the last few days, taken
from the war aviation camp at Payne
near West Point, a large pro
portion of the labor engaged at that
plant to be taken either to Sheffield
or Nashville, and they are being tax
en- constantly from these places to
the other. Labor agents have taken
a large proportion of the employees
from the Tupelo Fiber Company,
which is preparing cotton linters for
making gun cotton and has govern
ment contracts. These same labor
agents are taking employees from
the Tupelo Cotton Mills to Nash
vile and Sheffield, a part of the out
put Of the Tupelo Cotton Mills hav-
ing been Communicated by the gov
eminent.
"The Generalization of labor, and
shifting Of laborers from one plant
to another, under the direction Of
the labor agents, and the employment
of farm labor in the midst of the
crop, has proceeded to such an ex-
tent in this section that we feel that