In the next place, the migration must have made it obvious to the Negroes that the North's interest in them is predominantly economic. The North wants the Negro, but to a limited extent only. It is glad to have him, but only so far as he can be of use to it in its industries. It is not at all disposed to invite and welcome him within its confines merely for the sake of enabling him to escape his unfortunate situation in the South. This is seen, to some extent, in the somewhat changed attitude on the part of certain employers toward Negro labor. It is reported that with the signing of the Armistice the barriers of race were again setup in industry. During the war Negro workers were used widely in the place of white workers to turn out war supplies, but with the ending of hostilities, making these products unnecessary, this policy came to an end. Employers are less willing now to hire Negroes than before, race riots are making it difficult for Negroes to get jobs, and firms which never employed Negro workers are loath to begin the experiment at this time.[185]

This movement perhaps has furthermore indicated very clearly another factor besides racial prejudice which has been a great obstacle in the way of the Negroes' admission into northern industries, and that with its removal there is a possibility of the Negroes becoming greater participants in them. This is foreign labor. This factor has worked along with that of racial antipathy, and has been the latter's most efficient ally in rendering insecure the interests of Negro labor in the North. As we saw, white workers for the most part have long objected to working with Negroes, and where this was the case, employers usually adopted the policy of non-employment of Negro laborers. With the coming of the hordes of immigrants from southern and south-eastern Europe this policy assumed a more rigid permanency, because from these foreign groups the employers could recruit all the labor they needed, and at the same time that sort of labor to which little or no objection could be made on the ground of race and color. Consequently, the Negro was pushed farther and farther back in industry, his opportunities for obtaining situations in the better paid occupations were considerably lessened, and he was thus forced almost wholly into those lines of work which are very menial, often irregular, and poorly remunerative. Even many of these were invaded by the foreigners to such an extent as to drive the Negroes almost completely out of them. This has been especially true of those occupations in which Negroes exclusively formerly served as cooks, waiters, butlers, footmen, coachmen, barbers, porters, janitors, bootblacks, and the like.[186]

When, however, the Great War came and suddenly removed thousands of the aliens from the industries of the North, employers experienced such an urgent need that they were only too glad to draw freely from the Negro population of the South to meet their demands. As the economic interests here were paramount, racial prejudice was apparently swept aside, and Negroes by the thousands were admitted into industries hitherto closed to them. In these they worked beside white men, and, where they measured up to the efficiency of the latter, they received the same pay. Hence, it is to a great extent the foreign labor element that has been a formidable barrier to the Negro in the industrial field, for it was seen that on its removal from this place Negro labor was employed in its stead, notwithstanding the force of racial antipathy. Though this force is capable of accomplishing much, the probability is that in the face of economic stress it would have been rendered impotent by the action of employers just as it was in the recent emergency, and Negroes would have been hired freely according to the exigencies of industries, if foreigners had not been available in such large numbers.

In view of the fact that Negro laborers have now been given a chance in these industries from which they were formerly barred, and the fact that the American Federation of Labor has consented to admit them into the international unions, and is endeavoring to urge these bodies to carry out this policy, the outlook for Negro labor begins to brighten; for there is a possibility of its becoming a potent factor in industrial affairs: but this outcome is conditioned by three things. These are the volume of post-war immigration from Europe, the extent to which Negroes are actually given effective membership in the unions, and the ability of industrial establishments, operating under normal conditions, to absorb fully the available supply of Negro labor. Already, immigration has attained such a height as to cause grave concern in that it threatens, if left unchecked, to surpass its pre-war records even at a time when an almost unprecedented industrial depression is in existence. So serious is the situation that Congress has passed a bill, which has been approved by the President, and thus will soon become a law, providing for a restriction of the number of immigrants from Europe, for a period of one year, to less than half a million. Judging from the past, one can hardly escape taking the view that, if foreigners should come here in numbers sufficient to meet the demands for labor as they were doing before the European War, the Negro's position as a laborer will be greatly endangered, for by this supply of alien labor it may again be pushed back to its old pre-war status. On the other hand, on account of racial prejudices, the international unions are still defying the American Federation of Labor by being unwilling to change their constitutions in order to grant the Negroes membership in their unions, and unless the Federation succeeds in coercing these bodies to execute its will, the withholding of this right will stand as another barrier in the way of the Negro workers.

It should be recalled, moreover, that most of the migrants were attracted North to work for great manufacturing concerns which were engaged in turning out supplies to carry on the European War. The ending of this war rendered, on the one hand, many of these establishments unnecessary because they had been erected for emergency purposes, and, on the other, it brought about a great curtailment of production in those plants of a permanent nature. The question now, therefore, is will production in those industries operating under peace conditions, barring industrial crises, be of such a magnitude as to occasion a demand for the full utilization of the very large available supply of Negro labor?

Here, it might not be amiss to give attention to the question as to whether or not the migration has, on the whole, been a success; or, in other words, have the Negroes in general given a good account of themselves in the new environment? A thoroughly satisfactory answer to this question at this point would be impossible, because such an attempt would lead us beyond the intended scope of this essays. A partially satisfactory reply may be had, however, by taking cognizance of the results of the efforts of the migrants in the various occupations in which they were engaged. On the basis of much that has been said concerning the migrants in this regard, one would at once be in serious doubt as to the success of this movement; but this viewpoint would not be altogether correct, because it would be based on facts which reflect conditions existing at the time when the Negroes had recently arrived North and were struggling to adjust themselves to the new life conditions. Under these circumstances it was almost impossible for them to make a record that could be considered creditable. Despite the hardships which many of the migrants have undergone, and those which numbers of them are undergoing at present because of unemployment, since sufficient time for adjustment has elapsed, the migrants have so wrought in industrial affairs as to furnish ground for reason to believe that the migration has, at least from that standpoint, been a success. This view is firmly taken by a representative of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. His conclusion in this regard is based on the discoveries of a recent study of the progress of Negro migrants in certain industrial centers in the North and West. These localities are Chicago, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, and the shipbuilding plants on the Atlantic Coast. This investigation showed that the Negroes were rapidly becoming adjusted to the new industrial and social conditions, that they were still being hired as laborers, that they were casting off the habits of tardiness, of indolence and of unreliability, were developing skill and efficiency, and were in every way giving satisfaction to their employers.[187]

More recently many employers of large numbers of Negroes were interviewed and the majority of them indicated that they were satisfied with Negro labor. Several steel mill superintendents said that they were agreeably surprised by the results of that sort of labor. The employment manager of a string of large foundries stated that Negro laborers are making good with him and that they can have their jobs as long as the foundries are operating. It was found also that the Pullman shops in Chicago, which hire 15,000 Negroes, were very well satisfied with Negro labor. A superintendent of one of the largest automobile plants in Detroit said that he knows that Negroes are good workers, and that he is trying to make his shop one which they will be eager to enter. In this same city an inquiry into the status of the Negroes in various industries showed that 60 per cent of the manufacturers employing Negro workmen were fully satisfied with their labor, 20 per cent were neutral, and 20 per cent expressed themselves as being dissatisfied.[188] A short while past, information from questionnaires sent out by the United States Department of Labor to thirty-eight employers of 6,757 Negro employees showed that the majority of these employers were promoting Negro workmen to the skilled ranks; that they were giving the Negroes the same opportunity as the whites to learn semi-skilled or skilled processes; that they were of the opinion that the Negro workmen show ambition for advancement; that there was no difference in the conduct and behavior of Negro and white workers in the plant; that there was no difference between white and Negro employees in the loss of materials due to defective workmanship; and that the time required to break in employees to the work was the same for Negroes as for whites.[189]

Besides, as evidence of their being satisfied with Negro labor, some employers are manifesting personal interest in the affairs of Negro workers by adopting plans of aid and conciliation which tend to encourage laborers and thereby render them more efficient. Accordingly, in a number of plants there exist industrial relations or "mutual interest" departments. The lines of activity of these departments vary from plant to plant. Some establishments merely offer bonus and insurance schemes, emphasize safety, and take steps that lead to the cultivation of cordial group relationship between labor and the management as a substitute for the old cordial individual relationship between the laborer and the boss. Others go beyond this. They see to it that absentee employees are visited, and when the latter are ill they have them provided with medical treatment and free nursing. They also supply their workers with better housing, lectures, clubrooms, playgrounds and cheap homes. In this welfare work an Ohio steel mill has gone to the extent of erecting a $75,000 school building and presenting it to the city for the purpose of educating Negro children. Few employers, moreover, have given Negro labor a voice in determining some of the policies of management through a shop council. Many plants, furthermore, have men of color on the staff of their employment office to see that these various programs adopted by the industrial relations departments be made effective among the Negro workers.[190]

Thus the foregoing examples of favorable opinions of employers regarding Negro labor and their acts of good will toward it are indications that the Negro migrants are giving a good account of themselves in the various occupations in which they are engaged. They are signs, too, that Northern employers are beginning to give more recognition to Negro labor and that they are learning that this labor is capable of becoming as profitable as any other labor when it is given a fair chance to demonstrate this. These instances also show that the Negro laborers themselves are awaking to the fact that indolence, irregularity, unreliability, and slothfulness will yield them nothing, and that if they would be successful in the great economic struggle they must make of themselves industrious, prompt, reliable, skilful and alert workers. In short, they are being made to see that they must be efficient. Finally, these favorable expressions and acts of employers in regard to Negro labor point to the fact that the Negroes are gradually approaching their due place in industry, and that they are likely in time to obtain it, provided they do not perpetually encounter effective obstruction by the prejudice of labor unions, by the force of foreign labor and by the failure of peace-time industry to utilize his labor to its fullest extent.

Henderson H. Donald