Perth Amboy evening news., 1923-08-04
SOUTH'S B PROBLEM
TOLD OF BY HASKIN
Daily Letter by Frederic j. Haskin

WASHINGTON, Aug. 4.-since
last November approximately 3d.
900 colored workers have migrated
from the Mouth to industrial centers
north of the Mason and Dixon Line,
according to figures compiled by
Government statisticians. More than
$4,000 negro farm hands or laborers
have left Georgia, 22,750 negro
farmers have moved north from
South Carolina, Arkansas has lost
some $1,000, Alabama has reported
that approximately Sh per cent OF
the whole body of negro farm work
ers of that State nave Joined the
hegira, and other Southern States
show proportionate losses.
The result of this movement is
that the South has a labor problem
that is rapidly becoming acute. 1t
is a matter to hold conferences about
and State legislatures have found 1t
necessary or advisable to enact laws
prohibiting labor recruiting. The
South car not get along without the
negro with his Missouri tractor,
as the well known mule is sometimes
called, or if it loses him must hnd
other labor to tax his place.
At the same time it is TO be
pected that industrial conditions in
the North will be complicated by
this great influx of negro workers
from the South and LABOR troubles
may develop that will prove fully as
embarrassing as a labor shortage.
Until the last decade the move
ment of the southern negro has al
ways been TO the Southwest, al
though considerable numbers OF
them went North. This was chang
ed, however, when the war came on
and there was such a emand Tor
labor in the munition plants OF the
North. 1t was estimated that 45O,-
600 colored workers We're lured from
the plantations and farms of Dixie
land TO the mills and shops OF north
ern cities, and at least 100000 OF
them stayed on after the wal was
over.
Most of these latter had friends
and relatives down South to Whom
they were soon writing alluring let
tiers of easily secured jobs at hlgh
wages and twas not long until the
northward movement had set in.
For example, a Government expert
| has Inquired t out that In ~ traces
in the manufacture OF cotton, the
only large industry shared by North
ern and Southern States,
sets pays almost double the wages
that are paid in the South. Common
labor in almost all the trades n
Industries in the North gets from
42,5 cents an hour up, and when the
southern negro has that kind of bait
dangled before him he is inclined to
take it, hook. line and sinker.
BIamcs the Boil WeeviI
The boil weevil, the pest that has
added so much to the economic diff
hculties of the South, is held parti-
ally responsible for the labor exodus
in a statement issued by the Depart
ment Of Agriculture which says:
Boil weevil conditions last year,
which made cotton growing Cnproft-
able for q number of negro farmers;
unrest among returning negro troops,
who experienced more attractive liV-
ing conditions away from farms dur
ing nd after the war, and break
down OF the contract labor system
are given as co%ntributory causes"
This explanation is amplified in
a letter received by the Department
of Labor from a southern state Of
fetal, himself a white man, who says
that better wages, improved hous-
ing facilities, broader ATTITUDES of
social equality, political equality, ct
cetera, are among the reasons for
the movement Of the southern merge
to the North and East, and adds:
ITO the mind Of the writer, how
ever, the principal cause for such
a noticeable exodus is higher wages
paid weekly, and the generally un-
fair advantage taken of the ignorant
defenseless negro in agriculture
pursuits in the principal black belt
of this State.
IF the present rate OF migration
of the negro North and East con-
tinues for another year it is going tc
produce a material shortage OF
colored agricultural labor in the
black belt or delta section of this
State. From inquiry made among
negroes as to present disturbed con
ditions, it is conclusively indicated
that the negro has come to learr
that the more he produces on thu
average plantation the less he re.
ceives, and he has grown weary o.
being made the crude prey OF ex
tortion as practiced on him by th'
average plantation owner.
From my personal viewpoint, thu
average plantation owner is largel'