ok after the economic welfare of the Delta
country, but in reality to develop some plan for holding labor. A
subcommittee of seventeen men was appointed to look into the
labor situation. There were twelve white men and five negroes. The
subcommittee met and reported to the body that the present labor
shortage was due to the migration, and that the migration was due to a
feeling of insecurity before the law, the unrestrained action of mobs,
unfair methods of yearly settlement on farms and inadequate school
facilities. As a result of the report, it was agreed to make an
appropriation of $25,000 towards an agricultural high school, as a
step towards showing an interest in the negroes of Bolivar county and
thus give them reasons for remaining. A campaign was started to make
unpopular the practice among farmers of robbing negroes of the returns
from their labor, and a general effort was made by a few of the
leading men behind the movement to create "a better feeling" between
the races.[95]

Wide publicity was given to the experiment in plantation government,
and the policy was accepted by a number of planters as opportunistic
action. Thus, one Mr. Abbott of Natchez, Mississippi, told the
planters of his section that good treatment, adequate and sympathetic
oversight are the important factors in any effort to hold labor. He
made a trip to his farm every week, endeavoring to educate his tenants
in modes of right living. Every man on his place had a bank account
and was apparently satisfied. This example was presented with the
statement that where these methods had been used, few had left. One
planter purchased twenty-eight Ford automobiles to sell on easy terms
to his tenants with the hope of contenting them.

The newspapers published numerous letters from southern negro leaders
urging negroes to consider well their step, asserting that the South
is the best place for them and that the southern white man knows them
and will in consequence be more lenient with their shortcomings.
The papers further urged an increase in wages and better treatment.
Wherever possible, there were published articles which pointed to the
material prosperity of negroes in the South. For example, a writer of
Greenville, said of negroes' loyalty in 1917:

The prosperity as well as the patriotism of the negro farmer
has been shown in the purchase of Liberty Bonds in the Delta.
Many colored farm laborers subscribed for bonds. Every family