Introduction 15 



increase and decrease within the South, which seemed to in- 

 dicate well denned drifts in the colored population. A consid- 

 erable amount of work had been done on the problem before 

 the movement of 1916-17 was influenced by abnormal war 

 conditions, the boll weevil, and the Northern labor agent, and 

 before it extended discussion and complicated the normal 

 currents. 



This first study of a fairly simple set of causes revealed 

 the underlying factors of rural organization from which 

 the Negroes were moving. The only element changing the 

 fundamental conditions from which they were shifting in 

 Georgia during the years 1916-17 was the boll weevil, and 

 this pest was not new in the more western portions of the 

 Cotton Belt. The principal difference in the volume of the 

 war migration and that of the earlier steady shift was an 

 alteration in the proportions going North in response to the 

 better wage conditions which were widely advertised by 

 labor agents, discussion and correspondence. 



The causes of migration were worked out first. It was 

 determined that the shift of predominating importan ce from 

 l 1 865 to 1916 was from one rural district to ano ther, that 

 th e chief cause of this shift was discontent wi th land tenure, 

 and that after 1916 this discontent was only aggravated by 

 the war conditions and the boll weevil. From this it was 

 evident that a thorough understanding of the movement is 

 dependent upon a clear idea of the importance of the com- 

 plex social and economic conditions which are associated 

 with the different systems of farming or land tenure. 



A real understanding of this institution necessitates a 

 broader viewpoint than can be obtained from the study 

 of the economic principles of farming alone. The system 

 is basic in rural life. Upon the quality of the land, the 

 number and quality of the people, and land tenure — the 

 institutional tie between the land and the people — depends 

 the whole organization of men who produce from the soil. 



The presentation of this material therefore embraces first 



