136 Negro Migration 



wa ges of skilled labor run proportiona tely higher in the 

 N orth than in the South. The mass of Mfi gro day, laborers 

 has been disturbed only in Savannah. Macon r W avcross. 

 Albany, Thomasville and smaller towns in Southern Georgia. 

 Augusta and the smaller towns in Middle Georgia have lost 

 Negroes, but recent attempts to secure laborers for canton- 

 ment construction in three Middle Georgia cities were 

 successful. * * * The towns of the Upper Piedmont 

 have also suffered a relatively slight loss. 



]\^ seem.*? t hat the large majority of t he migrants from 

 to wns have been drawn f rom the best and poor est elements. 

 The unemployed an d sh,i ft1p<;<; wprp ta,ken up by . agents and 

 (a fterward, some of) the property-owning .a nri money- 

 sa ving class paid th ei r own wp y u p . 



*" Bricklayers. — I he bricklayers of Georgia are about 

 equally divided between the two races. In Augusta the head 

 of the Negro bricklayers' union reported that 12 out of 134 

 had moved North and 4 had returned (June, 1917). Reports 

 from other towns indicated that from 5 to 10 per cent of 

 the Negro bricklayers had moved. Enough have ^remained, 

 however, to carry on construction work without incon- 

 venience. The head of the bricklayers' union of Augusta 

 attributed the movement of these tradesmen entirely to the 

 fact that increases in wages, ranging from 10 to 15 cents per 

 hour, were offered in Northern cities. About the same con- 

 ditions hold for the plastering trade. 



"Carpenters. — Although a sprinkling of Negro carpenters 

 moved North from the towns, no great shortage has been 

 felt. From 2,000 to 4,000 carpenters have been employed in 

 Atlanta, 1,500 to 2,000 in Macon, and 1,000 or more in 

 Augusta for the construction of Army cantonments. About 

 half of these were Negroes. * * * Hitherto carpenters 

 have been getting 30 and 35 cents per hour ; cantonment work 

 pays 40 cents. 1 Ship carpenters are badly needed in Savan- 

 nah, but this is a new trade for the South. 



"Day Labor. — Practically all of the day labor in Georgia,, 

 outside of the Upper Piedmont and mountain towns, is done 

 by Negroes. All through the Cotton Belt fertilizer works, 

 oil mills, gins, and compresses employ Negroes, and in the 

 larger towns employment is also furnished to Negroes as 

 railway shop helpers, street laborers, porters, drivers, hod 

 1 Carpenters in the North in 1920 were making about five times 

 this amount and wages have also advanced in the South. 



