Bois, W. E. B., _Survey_, 38: 227, June 2, 1917.

[50] Edens, B. M., _Survey_, 38: 511, Sept. 8, 1917.

[51] _Ibid._

[52] Haynes, G. E., _Survey_, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.

[53] _Negro Migration in 1916-17_, Rep. U. S. Dept. of Lab., p. 145.

[54] Haynes, G. E., _Survey_, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.

[55] _Ibid._, May 4, 1918.

[56] _Survey_, 38: 227, Je. 2, 1917.

[57] _Ibid._, 40: 116, May 4, 1918.

[58] _Ibid._, 38: 28, April 7, 1917.

CHAPTER IV

CAUSES OF THE RECENT NEGRO MIGRATION

In the study of the migration of any group or groups of mankind a
consideration of its causes is highly important, because it seems that
therein largely lies much of the significance of the movement. It has
already been seen that for every migration there must be some definite
cause, since man always moves in response to a rational impulse.
Moreover, we saw that the cause must be a very powerful one, because
it is the tendency of men to become attached to the locality in which
they find themselves. In the investigation of this particular movement
under consideration, we are, therefore, justified in seeking to know
its causes; and this seems the more legitimate because we desire
greatly to know why it was that at this particular time, perhaps more,
or, at least, as many Negroes left their Southern homes for points in
the North and West than did through a series of migrations which had
been in progress for forty years.

The fundamental and immediate cause of this Negro exodus is economic,
the basic and predominant cause of most of the movements of modern
times. Its sudden occasion had its origin in the great labor shortage
at the North, which was due to conditions growing out of the European
War. This great war had the effect of cutting off the large and
accustomed immigration stream from Europe and of withdrawing from this
country thousands of foreign-born residents who were needed in the
service of their respective native lands. Northern employers who had
been dependent on them for their labor soon faced a serious shortage
of labor, on the one hand, while, on the other, they saw their
contracts with European concerns for war supplies increase
tremendously. Being hard pressed for labor, these owners and operators
of the various industrial enterprises, as a last resort, turned to
the South and began to solicit Negro labor in order to meet their
demands. Thus a Negro exodus from the South was started, and we say
that the c