New-York tribune., 1918-01-06


living from no one knew where.
Their willingness to work for what
ever was given them made them un-
welcome in many laborn9 communl-
ties. The State of Oklahoma made
plain her lack OF enthusiasm for negro
workers. Other localities shared The
feeling. But through the cloud of pow
erty and ignorance the negro himself
was beginning to glimpse a better fut
ure.
Aunt Mandy So-and-So's boy had
gone to East St. Louis and had writ
ten back to those at home that he was
earning $2.CO day in a great packing
house. Some Of the men there made
as much as So and Sd. 1t didn't seem
true. In Tennessee they made little
more than that much week, work as
they might And the white people told
them they We're not thrifty because
they did not save.
The Missouri Malleable Iron Com
pany, in East st. Louis, advertised in
the daily papers of Nashville, Mem
phis, Nicksburg and Cairo. as follows:
"wANTED.
"Colorod laborers for foundry work;
81 TO $3.50 a day; can earn So to $3.50
piecework; steady work for steady
men,"
The Missouri Malleahle was swamped
with answers. Many of the writer's
asked to have their fare paid, but the
company had not included this in their
offer.
Strange white men went through the
country districts Of the South and when
they left fifty or hundred colored
men went with them. Sometimes the
agent left them at Cairo, ILL.,; some
times he carried his charges through
to Gary, Ind, and other points.
After many efforts the Congressional
committee succeeded in securing negro
witnesses who told Of being brought to
East st. Louis by q white agent. The
agent in this case was D. A. Allen, a
track foreman on the Mobil- e. Ohio
Railroad, which runs direct from East
St. Louis to the Gulf.
These negroes told the committed
that Allen brought them to East ST
Louis, promising them 50 day and
their board, besides free transportation
Upon their arrival in East st. Louis
: they were paid $1.40 a day, and found
they would have to buy two blankets
ut $225 each They said they stopped
work after three hours, and that Allen
threatened to have them arrested and
to make them pay for their transporta.
! ton. Whereupon they left him and
went to work elsewhere.
Allen denied that he had promised
the negroes such high wages. He told
pass" for forty-hve men, and had been
instructed in the use of it by the Off
cials Of the Mobile & Ohio Railroad.
Upon having it pointed out to him
that the colored men had only ligh;
weight clothing, and no bed coverings
Allen said, at does you no good te
think about their comfort. The more
you pay one Of them, the better yor
feed him, the less work you will gel
out of him."
Thousands of the negroes went nc
further than East St. Louis. Here were
the immense packing houses of Swift
Armour and Morris. Here were the
National Stockyards. Here was the
Aluminium Ore works, alone employ.
ing nearly three thousand men. Here
was the Missouri Malleable Iron Com
pany, which had advertised for coloret
help, and here were numbers of othel
plants furnishing employment for thou
sands Of men.
The negroes poured into East 81
Louis. And they got the jobs.
What White
Labor Thinks
Alois Towers, labor organizer o.
Belleville, Ill.,, the county seat of st
Clair County, in which East st. Louis j:
situated. told the Congressional com
mittee that the fight of the laborinl
man in East st. Louis against the op
pressions of the employers had been {
fight against tremendous odds
The labor unions in East st. Loui:
are powerful fighting bodies. But thu
strength Of the industries is itself st
great that all Of the great plants per
sist in maintaining the open shop.
A leader among the strikers at tn
Aluminium Ore works told the commit
tee that the white man had been prac
tically pushed GU, Of town by the negro
The Aluminium Ore Company employee
were organized into the Aluminium Or
Employees Benefit Association, which
was not affiliated with the American
Federation of Labor.
Numbers Of labor men complain tina
the negro was given precedence owe
the white man. They attribute this t
the bitter struggle between the EN-
rloyers and the labor unions. VIII
the entire South to draw on for non
unionized negro labor, the manufact
urers were in position to ignore thu
demands of the unions.
As one of the worlds greatest mar
kets for unskillcd labor, East st. Loui
attracts comparatively small numbe
of skilled negro laborers. The bulk o
her colored workmen are Of the com
mon or unskilled class.
J There is no organization in East st