hat they were not taken seriously. Soon, however, the daughter
came home with apparently unlimited money and beautiful clothes, and
carried her mother back with her. This was sufficient. It was remarked
afterwards: "If she can make $2.50 a day as lazy as she was, I know I
can make $4."[42]

The labor agents were a very important factor in stimulating the
movement. The number at work in the South appears to have been greatly
exaggerated. Agents were more active in large cities where their
presence was not so conspicuous. It was difficult to discover because
of the very guarded manner in which they worked. One, for example,
would walk briskly down the street through a group of negroes and,
without turning his head, would say in a low tone, "Anybody want to go
to Chicago, see me." That was sufficient. Many persons were found
to remark frequently on the strange silence which negroes _en masse_
managed to maintain concerning the movement of the agents. A white man
remarked that it was the first time there had ever happened anything
about which he could not get full information from some negro. Agents
were reported, at one time or another, in every section from which the
migrants went. When the vigilance of the authorities restricted their
activities they began working through the mails. Many sections were
flooded with letters from the North to persons whose names had been
obtained from migrants in the North or through a quiet canvass of the
community by unobstructed solicitors.[43]

Poems on the migration were also strong stimuli. In some instances
arrests of persons circulating them were made. A bit of poetry which
received widespread popularity was one called "Bound for the Promised
Land." It was said that this piece of poetry was responsible for much
trouble. The _Chicago Defender_ reported on June 1, 1917, that five
young men were arraigned before Judge John E. Schwartz of Savannah,
Georgia, for reading poetry. The police contended that they were
inciting riot in the city and over Georgia. Two of the men were sent
for thirty days to Brown Farm, a place not fit for human beings. Tom
Amaca was arrested for having "Bound for the Promised Land," a poem
which had been recently published in the _Defender_. J.N. Chisholm
and A.P. Walker were arrested there because they were said to be
the instigators.[44] Another very popular poem widely circulated was
entitled "Farewell! We're Good and Gone." It was said that this
poem influ