y trains.

In the foregoing pages we have noted the causes of the migration from
three of the Southern States. Here we desire to pursue this line of
thought a bit farther, though, we hope, not at the risk of monotony,
in order to emphasize these causes in such a manner as to give an
impression of what was in general back of this movement from all the
states involved. In this regard we are to be guided by the testimonies
of Mr. W. T. B. Williams, who, under the direction of the U. S.
Department of Labor, made a general survey of the conditions which
gave rise to this Negro exodus.

One cause of the migration which seemed to have been general was low
wages. Small pay was indeed one of the leading grievances of the
Negroes. Up to 1917 on Southern farms common laborers received from
fifty cents to seventy-five cents, and rarely a dollar, a day. The
wages for women and children were thirty-five and forty cents a day.
It is true, in some instances, meals were given with these wages, but
oftener this was not the case. The following examples are typical of
the wages for common laborers in such industries as saw-mills and
cotton oil mills:

Newbern, N. C. $1.00 to $1.50.[67]
Americus, Ga. 1.25
Jackson, Miss. 1.25 to 1.75.
Laurel, Miss. 1.65 to 2.00.
Hattiesburg, Miss. 1.40 to 1.65.

There were, moreover, serious unsatisfactory farming conditions which
did much to drive the Negroes from the South.[68] One of these was the
injustice done to tenants by their landlords. The custom was for the
tenant to furnish the stock, plant, cultivate and gather the crop, and
to receive in return one-half of everything, except the cotton seed,
which was by far the most important part of the crop, and of which he
received nothing. When the crop was made the tenant could not sell it,
because the law of the State gave only the landlord a clear title to
any cotton which was sold. In order to hold the Negro to the land the
landlord often employed this legal advantage by selling the whole crop
and refusing to settle with the Negro till late in the spring, when
the next crop had been well started. Then, the Negro was well attached
to the farm and was forced to accept anything or any terms which the
landlord chose to offer. In some cases Negroes dared not ask any
settlement for fear of bringing down upon them the wrath of their
landlords. In other instances of