for his children. He was assured employment
at $4 a day for eight hours' work.[33]

A still more powerful, though insidious factor, was the work of
public speakers who hid their intentions behind their unique method of
presentation. In a lecture on the question of migration a speaker, who
is a widely known character, made these remarks:

So many of my folks are leaving that I thought I'd go up and
see whether or not they had made a mistake. I found thousands
of old friends up there making more money than they'd ever
made in their lives. I said to one woman in Chicago, "Well,
Sister ----, I see you're here." "Yes, Brother ----, I'm here,
thank the Lord." "Do you find it any colder up here than it
was in Mississippi?" "Did I understand you correctly to say
cold? Honey, I mean it's cold. It is _some_ cold." "But you
expect to return, don't you?" "Don't play with me, chile. What
am I going to return for? I should say not. Up here you see
when I come out on the street I walk on nice smooth pavements.
Down home I got to walk home through the mud. Up here at
nights it don't matter much about coming home from church.
Down home on my street there ain't a single lamp post. And
say, honey, I got a bath tub!"[34]

He related the instance of his visit to an automobile plant where he
was met at the door by a "stalwart, handsome, six-footer as black as
midnight." He asked his companion the name of this "potentate." He was
told that this man was an experienced machinist. Every car that passed
out of that plant must have his O.K. He added further that his salary
was something like $100 a week and that the incident showed the
unlimited chance for expansion in the North. When he began to
enumerate some of the positions which "men of the race" were holding,
the audience became enthusiastic beyond control. One man in the
audience, who had been to Detroit, could restrain himself no longer
and stood up to inform the audience that there were also colored
street car conductors and motormen and that he had seen them with his
own eyes. The speaker paid no attention to this interruption and the
audience appeared not to notice it, but began to exchange reports
among themselves. The speaker added that he had found negroes in the
North, well dressed and looking like men--for the first time in
their lives--men who were simply "bums" at home. In excusing the
indisposition of some negroes