the
Negro a square deal and a man's chance in the South.

These preceding views, however, were not at all the general opinion
regarding the remedies to check the migration, for there was another
element, representing the old South, which did not consider them with
any degree of favor. It viewed the movement as a specific and
temporary thing, and held that had there been no floods during 1916,
and if the boll-weevil had not ravaged the cotton plantations, there
would have been no migration, for the Negroes never would have been
induced to go North. It alleged that the Negroes did not want more
money, if the getting of it meant harder work; and that what the Negro
needed was a soft climate. It also asserted that the relations between
the two races were never so good as they were then. Hence this element
favored standing aloof and allowing the movement to stop of its own
accord.[101]

Notwithstanding this view of the situation, there prevailed the
opinion that the remedy for checking the exodus lay in the adoption of
those measures promotive of sympathy and kindness, and forthwith plans
were effected with the aim of inducing the Negroes to remain and of
inviting others who had departed to return to the South. The following
are some of the chief measures which were adopted to achieve this end:
(1) A general and substantial increase in wages; (2) movement on the
part of the farmers to deal more fairly in business matters with the
Negro tenants by making clear at the outset the terms of all
contracts, and by keeping strict accounts and making prompt
settlements with them; (3) the correcting of certain former abuses
such as short weighing of coal, discounting of store checks, and
unfair prices in the commissaries; (4) instituting of crop
diversification in order to keep the laborers supplied with work the
year round; (5) better housing; (6) better school conditions; and (7)
the drawing closer together of the two races through the medium of
county meetings for the study of problems growing out of racial
relations. A typical example of this last-named policy is the
"Community Congress" plan in Bolivar County, Mississippi. The
essential feature of this body is a representative general committee
composed of twenty-five white planters and business men, and five
Negro leaders from the five supervisors' districts within the county.
The function of this organization is to consider and offer solutions
of any and all important proble