from the South
were the leading railroads like the Erie and Pennsylvania. During
the shortage of labor, these corporations found it impossible to keep
their systems in repair. In this situation, they, like the smaller
concerns further west, sent labor agents to the South to induce
negroes to supply this demand. Unfortunately, however, so many of the
negroes who had their transportation paid by these firms counted it
more profitable to leave their employ immediately after arriving,
because of the unusually high wages offered by smaller industries in
just as urgent need of labor. Instead of supplying their own demand,
therefore, the railroads were benefiting their neighbors.

A better idea as to the extent of the congestion made possible by this
influx of newcomers may be obtained from the comments of observers
in that section. Traveling men tell us of the crowded houses and
congested streets which marked the places wherever these migrants
stopped. Housing facilities being inadequate, temporary structures
were quickly built and when these did not suffice, in the case of
railroads, ordinary tents and box cars were used to shelter the new
laborers. Owing to these unsatisfactory conditions and the inability
of employers to ameliorate them, the migration was to some extent
discouraged, and in a few cases a number of the migrants returned to
their homes in the South, so that the number that actually came into
the State is much less than it would have been, had it been possible
to receive and adequately accommodate the negroes in their new homes.

In Philadelphia the situation at first became unusually critical.
Being closer to the Southland than most of the large cities of the
country, the people of Philadelphia are much more prejudiced against
the negro than those in some other northern cities. It was necessary,
therefore, upon their arrival in that city for them to crowd into the
district largely restricted to negroes, giving rise to such unhappy
conditions as to jeopardize the peace and health of the community.
Numbers of these migrants died from exposure during the first winter,
and others who died because of their inability to stand the northern
climate made the situation seem unusually alarming. It was necessary,
therefore, to organize social workers to minister to the peculiar
needs of these newcomers. Appeals were made in their behalf and a
number of prominent citizens felt that it was necessary to urge them
to rema