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 themsel