29, p. 17. Census Bureau.

[18] _Negro Population in U. S., 1790-1915_, Bureau of Census, pp.
69-70.

[19] _Negro Population in U. S., 1790-1915_, Bureau of Census, p. 65.

[20] Scroggs, W. D., _Jour. Pol. Econ._, 25: 1038, D. '17.

[21] _Ibid._, D. '17.

[22] Woodson, C. G., _A Century of Negro Migration_, pp. 123-4.

[23] _Negro Population in the U. S., 1790-1915_, p. 65.

[24] Haynes, G. E., _New York Times_, Nov. 12, 1916, II, 12: 1.

CHAPTER III

SOURCE, VOLUME, DESTINATION, AND COMPOSITION

The exodus of the Negroes during the years from 1916 to 1918 occurred
with such suddenness and attained such an immense volume that for a
time it appeared to many observers that the whole "Black Belt" was
shifting itself northward. Inasmuch as at the very time this migration
reached its zenith this country had just entered into a state of war
with Germany, it attracted almost nation-wide attention, and from some
quarters the fear was that it would have the effect, either directly
or indirectly, of obstructing the National Government in its
prosecution of the war. Numerous also were the apprehensions of the
economic, political, and social problems that might follow in the wake
of this movement. On almost every hand, therefore, the discussions
concerning this migration became legion, and varying were the opinions
expressed regarding its causes and its probable effects upon the
sections of the country involved and upon the migrants themselves.

It is uncertain as to the exact time when this movement began, because
it was going on some time before any notice was taken of it. It is
known, however, that conditions favorable to its beginning were
manifest shortly after the outbreak of the European War, when, on
account of this catastrophe, immigration practically ceased and
thousands of alien laborers departed for their native lands. This
caused a serious labor shortage in the Northern industries, and in
order to obviate this employers, during the spring of 1915, sent
agents into the South to seek Negro laborers. If, as a result of the
efforts of these agents, Negroes were induced to go North, then the
number of those who moved was so small and in such scattered instances
as to make it unworthy of being called a migration. This view is
taken because it was not until nearly a year afterward that Negroes
began to move in numbers sufficiently large to attract public notice.

The Negro migration in its truest sense,