work through the organization
he represents and be responsible for one specific phase of the
problem.[142]

Notwithstanding the efforts that were made to improve the housing
conditions, the situation in this respect continued to grow worse. In
December of 1917, representatives of the various social agencies
and of the corporations employing large numbers of negroes met in a
conference on the housing situation. "All the questions involved in
the reasons for the colored people coming north and the problem of
housing and caring for them were seriously discussed."

Some representatives of the corporations asserted that the men
were not reliable and dependable, going from place to place
and only working a few days in each week. The social service
workers stated that the reason for this is that there are not
a sufficient number of houses in which to take care of the men
and their families, and that the districts in which they lived
were shamefully crowded. According to these workers the only
way in which the men can be made satisfied is by providing
more homes for them in sanitary and wholesome quarters. After
thoroughly considering the problem a permanent committee was
appointed to deal with the problem in all its aspects.[143]

One of the most effective agencies for dealing with the situation
created by thousands of negroes migrating north was the Armstrong
Association. This association gave special attention to stabilizing
negro labor and to improving the housing conditions. The association
brought before several corporations conditions of housing and
recreation which would enable them to retain their workers. They
provided a negro welfare worker for the American International
Shipbuilding Company, to attend to the stabilizing of negro labor. The
association is perfecting plans for better housing of negro workers
and the providing of recreation centers, such as are now enjoyed in
virtually every city by the white workers. The association obtained
the cooperation of a number of large industrial firms and corporations
in this city, to aid it in the employment of competent negro welfare
workers to help adjust existing conditions, making for greater
efficiency and reliability among the negro race.

The demand for labor by the many industrial plants located in New
Jersey caused that State to get a very large proportion of the negro
migrants and as a result to have, in acute form,