o show the relationship between
them, and to try to understand and account for the economic and social
forces involved. In pursuance of this it has, therefore, seemed
fitting to include in this study a brief survey of migration in
general, the origin, nature, and scope of the recent movement, its
relation to previous movements, its causes and effects, and some
conclusions regarding its meaning and significance.

In the preparation of this essay, moreover, the writer has drawn very
freely from the material contained in a report of the United States
Department of Labor. Accurately described, this source is rather a
compilation of reports based on investigations of this movement during
the summer of 1917. These inquiries were authorized by the Secretary
of Labor and were supervised by Dr. James H. Dillard, formerly a
professor and a dean of the faculty at Tulane University, New Orleans,
Louisiana, and, at present, Director of the Jeanes and Slater Funds
for Negro education in the South. The actual investigations were made
and reported on by the following: Mr. T. J. Woofter, Mr. R. H.
Leavell, Mr. T. R. Snavely, Mr. W. T. B. Williams and Professor F. D.
Tyson of the University of Pittsburgh.

This essay, however, views this movement as the Negro Migration of
1916-18 instead of the "Negro Migration of 1916-17," as some have
termed it. This position is taken on the following grounds: The
Negroes were attracted to the North largely through the great demand
for labor which had been made a fact by the departure of thousands of
aliens to serve their respective countries in the Great War. The Negro
migration stream began flowing in the spring of 1916, reached its
highest mark in 1917, and, even though much diminished, coursed on
through 1918 up to the signing of the armistice. With the occurrence
of this event the need for Negro labor became considerably less acute,
thus causing a decided dwindling of the movement, but not a sudden
stoppage of it. It drifted on, however, but with an ever-decreasing
volume. Even during the latter part of the summer of 1919 signs that
this movement was still in progress were evident, as Negroes were
found moving North, though in very small numbers.

A study of the movement of any group of mankind almost of necessity
reverts to the consideration of the relation of man to his
environment, both natural and human. In the first place, it is known
that man, like the plant or the animal, is greatly infl