The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1924-08-09

ers, white and colored, complain bit
terly. Apparently, in order to secure
his labor, the landlord often will not
settle for the years work till late in
the spring when the next crop has
been picked" The Negro is then
bound hand and foot and must accept
the landlords terms. 1t is impossible
for him to get out of the landlords
clutches.
The Negro, like other sections of
our population, is not content with the
drudgery, the homelessness, the ex-
ploitation, and the cheerlessness and
discomfort which surround rural life
in the South. And, whenever he is
able to get out of his landlords
clutches, he moves to the North ex-
pecting to find something better.
Negro Dsfranchisement.
Disfranchisement of the Negroes in
Southern states is another important
cause of the Negro exodus. The fiji
teenth amendment provided that "tSe
right of citizens of the U. S. to vote
shall not be denied or abridged by the
u. S. or by any of the states on ac-
count of race, color, or previous con-
dition of seryitude." But the Negro
enjoyed the full use of the ballot only
so long as federal troops had control
of Southern elections. Following
their withdrawal, the black man was
debarred from the polls. At first the
whites used force, intimidation and
other extra-legal and illegal devices
to accomplish this end Later, wear
led with such methods, the states of
the South amended their constitutions
in such a way as to achieve the dis
reimbursement of the Negro without
expressly excluding him on the ground
of race, color, or previous condition
of servitude. Legal restrictions based
on the ability to read and write, own
ership of property, payment of poll
tax, long periods Of residence, good
character, good understanding of the
constitution, military service, and vot-
ing ancestors have fully achieved the
purposes of those who drafted the
amendments; they have deprived the
Negro of the ballot.
Educational Disadvantages.
Another source of long slumbering
discomfort is in the matter of Negro
schools. Seven years ago, DR.. Thomas
Jesse Jones made thoro study of
the school situation in the South. The
results of the study, embodied in bull
letins SO and SO u. S. Bureau of Edu-
cation (1917), reveals the great infer
iority of the colored schools. Condi-
tions at present are not any better.
''The Negro schoolhouses are miser-
able beyond description. They are
usually without comfort, equipment,
proper lighting or sanitation. Nearly
all the Negroes of school age are
crowded into these miserable struc-
lures during the short term which the
school runs. Most of the teachers are
absolutely unframed and have been
given certificates by the county board,
not because they have passed the ex-
animation, but because it is necessary
to have some kind of Negro teachers"
/ ~ 0COA SID, dC q ACSCAt ACPOAt onOHo,
four-ifths of the colored pupils must
meet in church buildings and lodge
halls for lack Of school buildings. And
even these schools" are wholly with
Tout equipment in the way Of desks,
blackboards, maps, charts, and the
like. High schools are badly lacking:
there are less than dozen junior
high schools for colored youths, and
only one with four-year course, while
there are more than 100 for whites
Even in training for their work, the
Negroes are not given a fair show,
although the Negro performs rs per
cent OF the agricultural labor of our
state. there is not a single flrst-class
agricultural school for colored people
in Georgia, and only of any kind, and
these receive such small appropria-