rew many out
of work and frightened away many more to other occupations which
seemed more secure. Thus, these difficulties and hardships attached to
their new jobs together with the strangeness of their surroundings
caused the Negroes to be very irregular in the performance of their
work.[143]

Mr. Eugene K. Jones, the executive secretary of an organization
interested in the economic and social welfare of the Negroes in
Northern cities, affirms that the testimony of many of the employers
was to the effect that the Negroes were rather inexperienced,
frequently undependable, and were of a roaming nature, being easily
tempted to change their places of employment on account of such
inducements as small increases in wages, shorter hours, and easier
work. Nevertheless, he takes the position that enough testimony is
available to show conclusively that Negro labor in the North, on the
whole, was extremely promising. This position is taken on the
following grounds: (1) That the Negroes were loyal to their employers;
(2) that they took a proprietary interest in their employers' plants;
(3) they did not either strike or become easily inflamed against their
employers; (4) they were tractable; and (5), above all, most of the
Negroes who proved unreliable did so because they had no hope on the
job, or because they had been chosen from a group of idle loafers in
some Southern city or community where real opportunity for training
for the Negro is unknown.[144]

Next in importance among the efforts of the migrants to adjust
themselves to the Northern environment was that of securing shelter.
It has already been shown that the housing of the newcomers developed
into a very serious problem and that unusual steps had to be taken in
order to meet the emergency. It was indicated also that this
unprecedented housing situation gave rise to high rents and caused
much congestion or overcrowding among the Negroes. Our aim here,
therefore, is simply to expand this further by means of specific
examples in order to furnish a more complete picture of this housing
problem, especially as it concerned the migrants themselves.

According to a report on housing conditions in Newark, New Jersey, we
are informed that old dilapidated buildings, long closed as
undesirable for habitation, were opened and rented to Negroes. These
houses were rented out as housekeeping apartments regardless of the
fact that there were no facilities for such purposes. Kitchen