The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1919-07-17
SAYS WHITE FARM LABOR IS
That Best Chance

SAYS WHITE FARM LABOR IS
That Best Chance
Head Of U. S. Employment Ser
vice In New Orleans Thinks
Rankin county and the hill sec
ton Of Mississippi has just gone
through the problem Of cleaning
the grass from crops with few
laborers. It has taken an extend
ed length of time with resulting
loss to the crop and hard work for
the few laborers. With the prob
lem the same, practically, in Miss
issippi and in Louisiana, the sug-
gestions of the Federal Labor
Bureau head at New Orleans re-
garding what he sees as "seri-
Gus labor situation which has to
be met some way" will be Of in
terest in Rankin county.
1.-THE only solution / see is for
the state to change from negro to
white labor" he said. "That will
also help to solve the negro labor
problem. There is lots of idle
negro labor, and we have tried
hard to get it to the farms. But
if negro knows that the Louisi-
ana farmers will not hire white
men, and the knowledge Of the
monopoly causes him to act the
the way he does. If room is made
for white labor the negro will
know that he is no longer the
sole dependence and will compete
for the job. With the white farm
hand there should be resort to
improved machinery and the COM
birstion will pay big.
1.-THE white labor recommends
ton IS ready to be acted upon
ir'mndiately. There is a surplus
Of white workers available. There
- idle whites in Lake
Charles alone. There are plenty
OF them in New Orleans, both
skilled and unskilled. About the
only place in Louisiana where
there is no surplus is Shreveport,
where great deal Of construc-
ton work is going on. Fifteen
hundred men are idle in this city
as result of the Industrial Cam
al strike. The government ware
houses will soon be completed and
that will release more men. We
sent home to Georgia, but there
do not seem to be any more calls
for white men.
"The Louisiana demand is for
negroes and we have enough re-
QUESTIONS on hand to more than
take up any slack. We have stop
ped solicitation of negro labor to
leave the state, but it will not go
on the farms. We have asked en-
. ,)loying farmers and planters to
put men in this office, giving
chem first chance to interview all
the negro applicants. Several
tried it but recruited very few.
Never mind the reasons. The fact
is plain that production is threat
ened owing to the shirtage of
fasrmhands, that men are plenti-
f,al and that some way must be
found to get men to go on the
farms. This Office willing to help
IN any way"
While the Office is helping to
obtain the place all kinds Of labor
ISits staff is not very sure how long
The government will maintain the
service. As far as known there
are no funds beyond this month,
and Mr.. Greer says he has not
much faith in oi1e-man bureaus
because no one n lan can do the
work. He has see n several such
offices in operation and knows.
While he has been in the Office
here only short time he has
kept track Of its service and be-
lieves good work was accomp-
lished for the people at very small
cost to the government, so he be
lieves continuance will be bene-
fetal. The New Orleans bureau
cost the United States $17,458.79
for twelve months during which
time it found work for 2O,8O9
people, or at. 35 cents per person.
Theprivate employment agency
charges fee of from 81 to S. for
each registIant, with further
charge when job is found. Of
ten men register at more than one