Chapter II: The Negro’s Own Problem

The Negro migration is neither an isolated nor a temporary phenomenon, but the logical result of a long series of linked causes beginning with the landing of the first slave ship and extending to the present day. The slavery which was ended by the Emancipation Proclamation and the Fourteenth Amendment of the National Constitution has been succeeded by less sinister, but still significant social and economic problems, which are full of subtle menace for the welfare of America.

The intelligent Negro has long believed that his only escape from the measure of suppression which still exists is to go to the North, and he has seized the opportunity whenever it was presented to him. The present unprecedented influx of black workers from the South is merely the result of a sudden expansion of opportunity due to a war-depleted labor market in the North. The causes for his migration are basically inherent in the social and economic system which has kept him down for these long years in the South. The Negro is beginning to appreciate his own value and duties, and is proceeding to the North where he knows he can at least enjoy a measure of justice. This naturally means a tremendous problem for the North. The race question is no longer confined to the states below the Mason and Dixon Line, but becomes the concern of the whole nation. It may be presumed that the European immigration after this war will not be as great as it was before it. The Negro is taking the place of the foreign worker, and he is certain to become an increasingly important factor in our national political and industrial life. He is already an important political factor in some municipalities; he is soon to be a basic factor in our industries. The Negro who has lived in the North has taken advantage of the industrial opportunities which were open to him, and is continuing to do so more and more.

Our policy of _laissez-faire_ adopted towards the European immigrant can no longer be continued. This war has taught us some great lessons, and probably the greatest of all is the lesson of the necessity for a redefinition of social terms, and a reconsideration of human values. It has made us realize that if we want the nation to stand united in times of stress our policy must be consistent at all times. Democracy we have learned in this struggle, no longer means “each for himself, and the devil take the hind-most.” If it means anything at all, it is that we are “members one of another”, and that an injury to one is an injury to and the concern of all. Our old policy has shown us that the devil has taken too many, and we have come to say, “Halt!” This must no longer continue. We must see that all the elements which go to make up our body-politic are adjusted and placed in their proper relation. Our traditional attitude, this struggle has taught us, is too costly and we cannot afford longer to continue it. We know now that it is not sufficient that a few may have democracy and freedom while the rest are denied economic opportunity. We are also coming to realize that “we cannot hold a part of our fellow-men down in the gutter without remaining there ourselves.”

No exact estimate of the number of Negroes who have come North within the last year is possible. Estimates vary from three hundred thousand to seven hundred thousand. There are probably about two million Negroes now living in the North, and it is of paramount importance that we look into the conditions of these people who although in our midst, are yet so little known to us, and see that they are fitted into their new environment. Our little study of the social opportunities available, and the conditions existing among our Negro brethren may therefore be of great interest, and we are glad to present here some of the facts which were disclosed in our survey of these people who have recently settled amongst us, in order to avail themselves of our hospitality, and industrial opportunities. We have discussed in the preceding pages the immediate opportunities for Negroes in this city as to housing and wages. It may therefore not be amiss to discuss the possibilities of his attaining an advanced political, social and economic status.

Politically, the Negro in Pittsburgh is as free as the whites of the same group. Coming from places where the vote is denied him, he is naturally very glad to receive the privilege in Pittsburgh. It is a well known fact that the Negro vote is often a deciding factor in the results of municipal elections. Although there are a few shrewd Negro politicians, and the Negro vote is frequently “_en bloc_” there is never an issue made on some particular Negro problem. All candidates seem to assume that there is no special issue that concerns the Negro more than any other group in the city, and unscrupulous Negro politicians are not in the least perturbed. They always see to it, however, that no Negro vote will be lost, that their occupation tax is paid, and that they are registered. This was clearly brought out in this year’s municipal election. Although the Negro vote was a great factor in deciding this campaign, not one of the candidates made an issue of the housing and other problems which are confronting the Negroes at present. It can therefore be stated that in politics, while the Negro has been utilized by all sorts of politicians, he has at least nominally been as free as his white brother in the same position.

However, more and more we are coming to realize that political freedom without industrial opportunities means but little. Democracy must also mean industrial opportunity, and social democracy, as well as political democracy. But the industrial opportunity which the Negro demands is not even the same as is demanded by his more fortunate white-skinned brother. While his fellow-human beings demand a larger voice in industry and business, and a greater share of the product, the Negro is still meekly begging for his inalienable right to participate in industry, to help extend and build it up. It is the denial of this right that confronts the Negro in the North, and makes his problem of paramount significance.

The great majority of the Negro migrants come North because of the better economic and social opportunities here. But even here they are not permitted to enter industry freely. They are kept in the ranks of unskilled labor and in the field of personal service. Until the present demand for unskilled labor arose, the Negroes in the North were for the most part, servants. There were very few Negroes occupied otherwise than as porters, chauffeurs, janitors and the like. The Negro at present has entered the productive industries, but he is kept still on the lowest rung of the economic ladder.

_TABLE NUMBER XIII_[7]

_List of Industrial Concerns Visited in the Pittsburgh District_

+------------------+-----------+--------+---------+------------------+
| |No. of |No. |% doing |Wages per|No. of |
| NAME OF CONCERN |Negroes |employed|unskilled|hour of |hours |
| |employed at|prior to|labor. |unskilled|per day.|
| |present. |1916. | |labor. | |
+------------------+-----------+--------+---------+------------------+
| Carnegie Steel Co. 4,000 1,500 95% 30c 8 to 12 |
| (all plants) |
| Jones & Laughlin 1,500 400 100% 30c 10 |
| Westinghouse |
| Elec. & Mfg. Co. 900 25 90% 28-30c 10 |
| Harbison & Walker 250 50 80% 27½c 10 |
| National Tube Co. 250 100 100% 30c 10 |
| (all plants) |
| Pressed Steel Car Co. 25 25 50% 23c 11 |
| Pgh. Forge & Iron 75 0 100% 30c 10 |
| Moorhead Brothers 200 200 75% 30c 10 |
| Am. Steel & Wire 25 25 100% 28-30c 10 |
| Clinton Iron & Steel 25 25 75% |
| Oliver Iron & Steel 50 0 100% 25-28c 10 |
| Carbon Steel Co. 200 50 75% 30c 10-12 |
| Crucible Steel Co. 400 150 90% 28-33c 10 |
| A. M. Byers Co. 200 0 60% 10 |
| Lockhart Steel Co. 160 0 95% 27½c 10 |
| Mesta Machine Co. 50 0 100% 30c 10 |
| Marshall Foundry Co. 15 0 |
| U. S. Glass Co. No Negroes employed |
| Thompson-Sterret Co. No Negroes employed |
| Spang-Chalfant Co. No Negroes employed |
| ------ ------ |
| 8,325 2,550 |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+

From a study of colored employees in twenty of the largest industrial plants, in the Pittsburgh district, arbitrarily selected (Table No. XIII), we find that most of the concerns have employed colored labor only since May or June of 1916. Very few of the Pittsburgh industries have used colored labor in capacities other than as janitors and window cleaners. A few of the plants visited had not begun to employ colored people until in the spring of 1917, while a few others had not yet come to employ Negroes, either because they believed the Negro workers to be inferior and inefficient, or because they feared that their white labor force would refuse to work with the blacks. The Superintendent of one big steel plant which has not employed colored labor during the past few years admitted that he faced a decided shortage of labor, and that he was in need of men; but he said he would employ Negroes only as a last resort, and that the situation was as yet not sufficiently acute to warrant their employment. In a big glass plant, the company attempted to use Negro labor last winter, but the white workers “ran them out” by swearing at them, calling them “Nigger” and making conditions so unpleasant for them that they were forced to quit. This company has therefore given up any further attempts at employing colored labor. It may be interesting to note, however, that one young Negro boy who pays no attention to such persecution persistently stays there.

About ninety-five percent of the colored workers in the steel mills visited in our survey were doing unskilled labor. In the bigger plants, where many hundreds of Negroes are employed, almost one hundred percent are doing common labor, while in the smaller plants, a few might be found doing labor which required some skill. The reasons alleged by the manufacturers are; first, that the migrants are inefficient and unstable, and second, that the opposition to them on the part of white labor prohibits their use on skilled jobs. The latter objection is illustrated by the case of the white bargemen of a big steel company who wanted to walk out because black workers were introduced among them, and who were only appeased by the provision of separate quarters for the Negroes. While there is an undeniable hostility to Negroes on the part of a few white workers, the objection is frequently exaggerated by prejudiced gang bosses.

That this idea is often due to the prejudice of the heads of departments and other labor employers, was the opinion of a sympathetic superintendent of one of the largest steel plants, who said that in many instances it was the superintendents and managers themselves, who are not alive to their own advantage and so oppose the Negro’s doing the better classes of work. The same superintendent said that he had employed Negroes for many years; that a number of them have been connected with his company for several years; that they are just as efficient as the white people. More than half of the twenty-five Negroes in his plant were doing semi-skilled and even skilled work. He had one or two colored foremen over colored gangs, and cited an instance of a colored man drawing a hundred and fourteen dollars in his last two weeks pay. This claim was supported by a very intelligent Negro who was stopped a few blocks away from the plant and questioned as to the conditions in the plant. While admitting everything that the Superintendent said, and stating that there is now absolute free opportunity for colored people in that plant, the man claimed that these conditions have come into being only within the last year. The same superintendent told of an episode illustrating the amicable relations existing in his shop between the white and black workers. He related that a gang of workers had come to him with certain complaints and the threat of a walk-out. When their grievances had been satisfactorily adjusted, they pointed to the lonely black man in their group and said that they were not ready to go back unless their Negro fellow worker was satisfied.

From our survey of the situation it must be evident that the southern migrants are not as well established in the Pittsburgh industries as is the white laborer. They are as yet unadapted to the heavy and pace-set labor in our steel mills. Accustomed to the comparatively easy-going plantation and farm work of the South, it will take some time until these migrants have found themselves. The roar and clangor of our mills make these newcomers a little dazed and confused at first. They do not stay long in one place, being birds of passage; they are continually searching for better wages and accommodations. They cannot even be persuaded to wait until pay day, and they like to get money in advance, following the habit they have acquired from the southern economic system. It is often secured on very flimsy pretexts and spent immediately in the saloons and similar places. It is admitted, however, by all employers of labor, that the Negro who was born in the North or has been in the North for some time, although not as subservient to bad treatment, is as efficient as the white; that because of his knowledge of the language and the ways of this country, he is often much better than the foreign laborer who understands neither.

Paradoxical as it may seem, the labor movement in America--which it is claimed was begun and organized primarily to improve the conditions of all workers, and protect their interests from the designs of heartless and cruel industrial captains--has not only made no effort to relieve and help the oppressed black workers who have suffered even more than the whites from exploitation and serfdom, but in many instances have remained indifferent to the economic interests and even served as an obstacle to the free development of the colored people.

Since the East St. Louis race riots in July of this year, and later on the Chester and other race clashes, the press has been full of controversy concerning the colored labor problem in the North. Employers as well as many prominent persons openly laid the blame for the spilling of the blood of women and little children at the door of the labor unions. On the other hand, the labor men almost as a unit have charged the responsibility for these riots to the Northern industrial leaders who are bringing these laborers to be used as a tool to break up the labor movement in the North.

The motives of the employers who are bringing the colored migrants are obviously not altruistic. They are not concerned primarily with freeing the Negro from the economic and political restrictions to which he is still subjected in the South. It is not to be assumed that their interests extend further than the employment of these ignorant people as unskilled laborers. Indeed the sheer economic interest of the Northern industrial concerns which are bringing the Negro migrants, may be illustrated by the following contract, which is typical of many agreements signed by migrants when accepting transportation North.

“It is hereby understood that I am to work for the above named Company as ...................................., the rate of pay to be .................................. The ............ Railroad agrees to furnish transportation and food to destination. I agree to work on any part of the .............. Railroad where I may be assigned. I further agree to reimburse the ............ Railroad for the cost of my railroad transportation, in addition to which I agree to pay ................................ to cover the cost of meals and other expenses incidental to my employment.

I authorize the Company to deduct from my wages money to pay for the above expenses.

In consideration of the ............ Railroad paying my carfare, board, and other expenses, I agree to remain in the service of the aforesaid Company until such time as I reimburse them for the expenses of my transportation, food, etc.

It is agreed upon the part of the Railroad Company that if I shall remain in the service for one year, the ............ Railroad Company agrees to return to me the amount of carfare from point of shipment to ........................... By continuous service for one year is meant that I shall not absent myself from duty any time during the period without the consent of my superior officer.

It is understood by me that the ............ Railroad will not grant me free transportation to the point where I was employed.

I am not less than twenty-one or more than forty-five years of age, and have no venereal disease. If my statement in this respect is found to be incorrect this contract becomes void.”

....................
Laborer’s Name.

It is apparent that since the war has put a stop to the importation of foreign immigrants, the Negroes are so far the only cheap and unorganized labor supply obtainable. Indeed Mexicans were brought to work here in the same way, although the experience with them was not as satisfactory as with the blacks.

While it may be true that the motive for bringing these ignorant workers is primarily to fill up the unskilled labor gap, and not to break up the labor movement, it is self-evident that the employers would scarcely admit the latter motive even though it was paramount. It may be, that ultimately the employers may use these workers against the union organizations or against the securing of the eight-hour-day, which the local unions are aiming to attain. Indeed, the employment agent of one of our great industrial plants, which underwent a big strike a few years ago, pointed out that one of the great values of the Negro migration lies in the fact that it gives him a chance to “mix up his labor forces and to establish a balance of power”, as the Negro, he claimed, “is more individualistic, does not like to group and does not follow a leader, as readily as some foreigners do.” However, in only one instance in our survey of the Pittsburgh Trade Unions, was a complaint lodged against colored people taking the places of striking white workers. This was in a waiters’ strike and was won just the same, because the patrons of the restaurants protested against the substitution of Negro waiters. In all the others, there were no such occurrences. Indeed, the number of Negroes taking the places of striking whites and of skilled white workers is so small that it is hardly appreciable. They are, as we have seen, largely taking the places which were left vacant by the unskilled foreign laborers since the beginning of the war, and the new places created by the present industrial boom. No effective effort has been made to organize these unskilled laborers by the recognized American labor movement. These people, therefore, whose places are now being taken by the Negroes, worked under no American standard of labor, and the fear of these unskilled laborers breaking down labor standards which have never existed, is obviously unfounded.

The generalization cannot also be made that the colored people are difficult to organize, for from our survey we have found only one Union, the Waiter’s Local, that has made any attempt to organize the colored people, and was unsuccessful. The official of this Union explains it because the colored waiters “are more timid, listen to their bosses, and also have a kind of distrust of the white Unions.” The same official also admitted that while he himself would have no objection to working with colored people, the rank and file of his Union would not work on the same floor with a colored waiter. None of the other Unions made any effort to organize the colored workers in their respective trades, and they cannot therefore complain of the difficulty of organizing the Negroes.

In the two trade organizations which admit Negroes to membership, the colored man has proved to be as good a unionist as his white fellows. A single local of the Hod Carriers Union, a strong labor organization, has over four hundred Negroes among its six hundred members, and has proved how easy it is to organize even the new migrants by enlisting over one hundred and fifty southern hod carriers within the past year.

The other Union which admits Negroes--The Hoisting Engineers’ Union, has a number of colored people in its ranks. Several of these are charter-members, and a number have been connected with the organization for a considerable time. Judging from the strength of these Unions--the only ones in the city which have a considerable number of blacks amongst them--the Negroes have proved as good Union men as the whites. If the Pittsburgh trade organizations are typical of the present national trade union movement it would appear that there is little hope for the Negroes. If the present policy of the American labor movement continues, the Negroes can depend but little upon this great liberating force for their advancement. A few facts disclosed in our canvas of the trade unions in Pittsburgh will bear out our statements.

An official of a very powerful Union which has a membership of nearly five thousand said that it had about five colored members. He admitted that there are several hundred Negroes working in the same trade in this city, but his organization does not encourage them to organize and will admit one of them only when he can prove his ability in his work--a technical excuse for exclusion. This official was a man who was born in the South; he believed in the inferiority of the Negro, deplored the absence of a Jim Crow system, and was greatly prejudiced.

Another official of an even more powerful trade union was greatly astonished when he learned that there are white people who take an interest in the Negro question. He absolutely refused to give any information and did not think it was worth while to answer such questions, although he admitted that his union had no colored people and would never accept them. There are, however, several hundred Negroes working at this trade in the city. White members related numerous incidents of white unionists leaving a job when a colored man appeared. Several other unions visited had no Negroes in the union although there were some local colored people in their respective trades.

The typical attitude of the complacent trade unionist is illustrated by a letter which was written by a very prominent local labor leader, a member of the “Alliance for Labor and Democracy” in answer to certain questions asked him. This official refused to state anything orally, and asked that the questions be put to him in writing. His answers, we may presume, have been carefully worded after considerable contemplation of the problem.

The letter begins: “While I do not wish to appear evasive, I do not think some of the questions should have been asked me at this time.” Questions and answers follow:

Q. Number of white members in the Union?

A. Our Union has had a growth of one hundred percent in the past six months in the Pittsburgh district.

Q. Number of colored people in the Union?

A. None.

Q. Has there been an increase in the colored labor in your trade within the last year? If so, state approximately the proportion.

A. Yes, estimates can be made only by the employer, as we do not control all shops.

Q. Has there been an increase in the colored union membership within the last year or two?

A. Yes, statistics can be gotten from Mr. Frank Morrison, Secretary, American Federation of Labor, Washington, D. C.

Q. What efforts does your Union make to organize the colored people in your trade?

A. Same effort as all others, as the A. F. of L. does not bar any worker on account of race or creed.

Q. Has any colored person applied for membership in your Union within the last year?

A. Yes.

Q. Have the colored people in your trade asked for a separate charter?

A. Not that I know of.

Q. Do you personally know of any complaint by a person of color against your Union as regards race discrimination?

A. Yes.

The official admits that there are colored workers in his trade, that some have applied for membership, and that there have been complaints of race discrimination. His statement concerning efforts to organize Negro laborers would seem to have little meaning in view of his assertion that the growth of white membership during the past year was one hundred percent, while that of Negro membership was zero.

It may, however, be interesting to note that a man who joined this Union about the time this letter was written, said the President of the Union gave him the following pledge:

“I pledge that I will not introduce for membership into this Union anyone but a sober, industrious, WHITE person.”

Very often union officials are apt to point to their constitutions which guarantee that no color line be established, and say that the colored people make little effort to organize, and that they are really not trying to get into the Union. “Why don’t the Negroes organize locals of their own?” they ask. The assertion that colored people are making little effort to become organized is undoubtedly true, for it may be presumed that if they had continuously, insistently and in sufficient numbers knocked at the doors of the trade unions the barriers would have been unable to withstand the strain and would have opened to them. But unfortunately the attitude of the trade unions developed among the Negroes a feeling of hopelessness which is detrimental to both the Negroes and the labor movement. “What’s the use?” is the reply usually given by skilled colored workers when asked why they do not join the unions. They know well enough that they will not be admitted, and that even if they were accepted they could never hope to secure a job from the Union. This spirit goes even further, and is fraught with the most imminent danger. A very intelligent colored labor official said, that there is developing among many Negroes the feeling that the most laudable action is to do anything which will harm or break the labor movement.

That this fatalistic and dangerous attitude of the colored people is not groundless is again evidenced from our study of the situation. The attempt of union officials to becloud or to ignore the issue by saying that the colored people make no effort to become Union members, and do not try to organize their own locals is disclosed by the following case:

On January 1st, 1917, a group of about thirty unorganized Negro plasterers sent the following letter to the Operative Plasterer’s and Cement Finishers’ International Association of the United States with offices at Middletown, Ohio.

Pittsburgh, Pa., January 1st, 1917.

“We, the undersigned Colored Plasterers of the City of Pittsburgh, met in a session on the above named date, and after forming an Organization for our mutual benefit voted to petition to you our grievances on the grounds of being discriminated against because of our color. We therefore would like to have a Local Body of our own for our people. We also voted to ask you for the advice and consideration of such a movement, and hereby petition you that you grant us a license for a local of our own, to be operated under your jurisdiction, praying this will meet with your approval, and hoping to get an early reply.

This will show that to date we have the support of the men here listed besides a few more. Officers elected so far are as follows:”

The signatures of the officers and twenty-five members follow.

The International then sent the following reply:

“Replying to your letter, we are writing our Pittsburgh Local today in reference to your application for charter. According to the rules and regulations of our organization, no organization can be chartered in any city where we have a Local without consulting the older Organization.”

This was signed by the Secretary of the International Association.

The Pittsburgh Local then invited the Secretary of the colored organization to appear at their regular meeting. When the Secretary came, they told him he could have five minutes time in which to present his claims. Nothing resulted from this meeting and no written statement whatsoever was made by the Pittsburgh Local in spite of attempts to secure such.

On a further appeal to the International, the Secretary of the Colored Plasterer’s Organization received the following letter from the International Secretary.

“Replying to your letter, I enclose a copy of our constitution and refer you to section No. 34, page No. 8, which means that no charter can be issued to your organization unless approved by No. 31 of Pittsburgh, Pa.”

An official of Local number 31 admitted that the rank and file would never consent to have colored people among them, and attend the social functions given by the Union, although he claimed they could not possibly reject a man because of his color, as it is a gross violation of their constitution. He explained the reasons for his local refusing a separate charter to the Negroes as follows: First, that if a charter would be granted to them, they would all become members for the nominal charter fee while their initiation fee for individuals amounts to thirty dollars, and this he said would be a discrimination in favor of the Negroes. But the greatest objection was that the colored plasterers asked for a smaller scale of wages, ($4.50 a day as compared with $6 for whites). When questioned as to his reason why the colored people would not prefer a higher wage, he explained that they could not get work as no one would employ a person of color at the same wages as a white person.[8]

The Secretary of the short-lived colored organization gave as his reason for not joining the Union as an individual the fact that he was aware that the Union, even were he a member, would not supply him with a job, and that white Union men would walk out were he by any chance to be employed.

Another illustration of the difficulty confronting the colored person when he desires to join a Union, is the following: Two colored migrants, J. D. and C. S., painters from Georgia, had applied to the Union for membership in November and December 1916, respectively. Both of these persons have their families here, and claim fourteen and sixteen years’ experience in the trade, stating also that they can do as good a job as any other union man. Each one of these claims to have made from $25 to $30 a week in the South by contracting. The official in the office of the Union whom they approached to ask for membership unceremoniously told them that it would take no colored men into membership. The result was that one of these men was fortunate enough to find work in his own line in a non-union shop, receiving twenty dollars per week for eight and one-half hours, as compared with $5.50 for an eight hour day, the union scale. The second man, however, was not so fortunate, and unable to find work in his own line, he is now working as a common laborer in a steel plant making $2.70 for ten hours per day. That many of the colored skilled people do not attempt to join the union because they know the existing situation is obvious. The brother-in-law of one of the above men, also a skilled worker, when asked why he did not try to join the Union, characteristically shrugged his shoulders and uttered the fatalistic “What’s the use?”

The following case which throws light on the general situation, and illustrates the resultant effects of this injustice was related by the head clerk of the State Employment Bureau of this city.

“In the month of June, 1917, a man giving the name of P. Bobonis, a Porto Rican, came to our office and asked for work as a carpenter. Mr. Bobonis was a union carpenter, a member of the Colorado State Union. The first place he was sent they told him they were filled up, and when a call was made to determine if the company had sufficient carpenters, the foreman said that it was impossible for them to employ a colored carpenter as all of the white men would walk out, but that they were still badly in need of carpenters. It was then decided to call upon the different companies recognizing the union, to see if they all felt the same way. Much to our amazement we found it to be the general rule--the colored man could pay his initiation fee and dues in the Union, but after that was done he was left little hopes for employment. Four large companies were called for this man and he could not be placed. As a last attempt, a call on the Dravo Contracting Company was made and as they have some union and others non-union men, they employed the man.

Mr. Bobonis was not a floater, but a good man. He is a graduate of Oberlin College and is now working to raise enough money to enable him to study medicine.”

Although the attitude of the recognized American Labor movement on the colored question is generally known, the great mass of people are easily misled and appealed to on race lines. It is unfortunate that often a race issue is made of a purely labor question. An episode of the past winter is a case in point. The drivers in one of our department stores had organized themselves into a union and were locked out. The department store immediately substituted colored non-union drivers. Appeals to union people based on race issues were then carried to the patrons of that store until the department store was forced to discharge all of its colored drivers and re-instate the white ones. This was done in spite of the fact that the Union was not recognized, and was broken up, and although the manager of the store is said to have admitted that almost half of the colored drivers had proved one hundred percent efficient.

The difficulties and slow progress made in organizing the laboring classes generally is apparent to anyone who reflects that in spite of the long years of continued effort, and in spite of the fact that in many instances there was no resistance from the employers, hardly ten percent of the working population of the United States is organized in trade and industrial unions today. The problem is difficult for the white men, and it is exceedingly more difficult for the blacks. The white laboring classes have to contend only with the manufacturers. The Negroes, however, have to contend with the white trade unions as well as with the employers.

Until recently, very few colored people in the North were working in trades where the whites were organized. The great mass of Negroes were doing work of the personal service character, and acted as porters, janitors, elevator men, etc. This class of workers is extremely difficult to organize even among the whites. Within the past two years, however, Negroes have in increasing numbers entered the trades which have been organized by the whites. Being refused admission to most of the white unions the only thing the colored man can do is to form his own organization. The first step toward organizing the Negro working man and woman was taken in New York City in July 1917, when the Associated Colored Employees of America was organized. The bulletin used by this organization states that its purpose is to give “facts concerning conditions in the North compiled for the benefit of those who some day expect or desire to be actually free.” This organization aims to function as an employment bureau advising members where particular work may be found, and to give general information to those workers who are eager to come from the South.

The difficulty in organizing the colored people into a separate organization along Trade Union Lines was thus explained by a very prominent Negro leader. The Negro, he said, is escaping from the tyranny of the South to the freedom of the North. In the North he is opposed and at times even mobbed by white laboring men. Strange as it may seem, the industrial captain in the North is the Negro’s only friend. He at least is interested in him; he goes after him to bring him North, provides food and shelter for him, pays him better wages than he received in the South, and in many instances gives him medical attention, and helps him bring his family here. Can you expect him under the circumstances to alienate and betray his only friend in the North, for the trade unions whom he fears and distrusts?

It is obvious that the trade unions will have to make a more attractive appeal to convince the Negro that they are really his best friends. Their duty and policy are clear. Theirs is a struggle for the protection of the working people, in order to secure for all the oppressed some of the enjoyments of life. Theirs is a continuous battle for organization, the organization of all workers, irrespective of race, color and creed.

The Negro’s own problem and his tragedy in slavery and in freedom is probably best summarized in the following lines taken from the Emporia Gazette and written by William Allen White:

“If the black man loafs in the South he starves. If he works in the South he is poorly paid, more or less in kind--chips and whetstones--and his wife becomes a ‘pan-toter.’ If he leaves his own estate in the South and goes to work in Northern industry, he is mobbed and killed.”

“He was brought to these shores from Africa a captive. He is held by his captors in economic bondage today--forbidden to rise above the lowest serving class. He is herded by himself in a ghetto, and if, while he is there, he reverts to the jungle type, he is burned alive. If he tries to break out of his ghetto, and, by assimilating the white man’s civilization, rise, he is driven out by his white brothers.”

“If he goes to school, he becomes discontented and is unhappy and dissatisfied with his social status. If he does not go to school and remains ignorant, he is then only a ‘coon,’ whom everybody exploits, and who has to cheat and swindle in return, or go down in poverty to begging and shame. There aren’t ships enough in the world to take him back to the land of his freedom; there isn’t enough for him here except on the crowded bottom rung of the ladder, and there, always, the grinding heel of those climbing over him topward is mangling his black hands.”

“Race riots, lynchings, political ostracism, social boycott, economic serfdom. No wonder he sings:

“Hard Trials--

“Great tribulations,

“Hard trials--

“I’m gwine for to live with the Lord!”

No wonder as he looks dismally back at the forest whence he came, and dismally forward to the hopeless set to which he is slowly being pushed, he lifts his plaintive voice in its heartbroken minor and wails:

“Swing low, sweet chariot, comin’ for to carry me home!”

““_Home_” is about the only place he can go, where they don’t oppress him.”

[7] The figures in this table were secured during the months of July and August 1917, and have probably been changed since.

[8] The fear that admitting local Negroes to the trade unions would flood the city with skilled Southern Negroes, was given as a reason by one Negro for the exclusion of his race-men from the unions, but was not mentioned by any of the white union officials.

THE COMMUNITY’S PROBLEM