ere never
taught or encouraged to raise any crop other than cotton. When the
boll-weevil pest came and made the raising of cotton an impossibility,
it became necessary to shift from the cotton crop to another which was
not liable to be troubled by the weevil pests. While the transition
was being made, however, the prices of cotton fell considerably and
thus made it very difficult for landowners and Negro farmers to borrow
money at a reasonable rate of interest. The outcome was that the
Negroes suffered much in their struggle to maintain themselves.

Secondly, in 1916 there was a serious crop shortage due to floods.
During the spring and summer of that year the rivers overflowed their
banks and the water therefrom destroyed the crops throughout a large
portion of the state. This made it necessary for both farmers and
tenants to find other means of livelihood. The customary advances in
money and provisions to the Negro tenants were cut off and in many
cases the owners of large plantations were compelled to advise their
Negro laborers to move away. In other cases Negroes were so deeply in
debt for provisions furnished them during the past winter, for rent
and other causes that they were forced to forfeit their mules and
other property in payment of these debts. These conditions brought on
so much suffering among the Negroes that some sunk to the depths of
starvation and had to be given food by the Federal Government, through
the Department of Agriculture, and also by the Red Cross organization.

In the next place, shortage of railroad cars was another prominent
factor in causing migration from this State. Officials of railroad
companies reported that fully half the miners who left the Birmingham
districts did so because the companies were unable to obtain cars. In
June, 1917, the chairman of the Birmingham District Subcommittee on
Car Service stated that more than 7,000 cars of manufactured products
had accumulated for shipment in the district.[63] Also, certain lumber
companies were forced to reduce the number of their employees on
account of the impossibility of getting their lumber products removed
from the yards. The shortage of cars, therefore, necessitated the
discharge of many men and at the same time prevented the employment of
additional laborers.

There was, moreover, a great demand for labor in the North, rendered
effective by offers of higher wages than those paid in Alabama. There
was at this time too a gre