e acquired such an immense volume.

It has been seen, moreover, that this recent exodus was a sort of
spontaneous movement of the masses of the Negro population and not one
composed of its leading elements. This fact has been marveled at,
because in this migration the rank and file of Negroes, accustomed to
being led, showed some initiative by acting of their own accord, and
thereby abandoned the old policy of seeking and awaiting the advice of
their leaders.[175] While this is true, and is, indeed, a very
commendable performance, yet a careful view of the situation will show
that it is hardly a phenomenon to be considered a marvelous affair. As
we saw in Chapter IV of this dissertation, this movement was largely
precipitated and stimulated by the labor agents who were seeking a
supply of labor to satisfy the demand of northern industries. The
Negroes, then suffering from the pangs of maladaptation, were seeking
an avenue of escape, and this was pointed out to them by these agents.
The latter offered the Negroes free transportation, and promised them
higher wages, better working conditions, better social advantages, and
on the whole better things than the southern environment could afford
them. In many instances, for a time all the Negroes needed to do was
to decide to leave the South, and, thereafter, they had very little to
worry about until they had reached their destination places. In this
whole matter it seems that the Negroes were confronted with what
Professor Sumner calls the first task of life, which is the task of
living, not thinking. Conditions in the environment had brought to
them necessities which had to be satisfied at once. Need then was
their experience and was followed immediately by efforts to satisfy
it. This was the impelling force.[176] Through the efforts of the
northern labor agents the Negroes obtained instruction as to the means
whereby this need might be satisfied. They, therefore, were the actual
leaders of the movement, and thus rendered it unnecessary for the
Negroes to turn to seek and await the counsels of their customary
leaders.

While this movement was in operation, furthermore, the opinion of a
few was to the effect that this migration would act as a means of so
distributing the Negro population throughout the country as to bring
on an equalization of the racial problem. This, it was alleged, would
be a good thing, first, because it would remove the fear of race
domination in the S