easures apparently had no effect in checking the
movement, for Negroes continued to move to the North in large numbers.
When this was realized, a changed state of affairs followed. The
better portion of the public opinion of those States affected by the
migration condemned this policy of force as a means of stopping the
exodus, on the one hand, and on the other suggested the adoption of
measures which would conciliate the Negroes, and thereby remove those
conditions causing them to leave the South. This was urged by some of
the editors of leading newspapers, and by leaders of other social
agencies interested in problems regarding the relations between the
races in the South. These editors were for the most part very frank
about the whole matter, and, therefore, did not hesitate to make it
known that in order to check the movement there was need of a square
deal for the Negro, higher wages, and a more sympathetic attitude
toward the aspirations and general improvement of the Negro race.[95]

The following excerpts from the editorials of a few of these papers
will show what this opinion was. _The Charlotte Observer_ said:

"The real thing that started the exodus lies at the door of the
farmer and is easily within his power to remedy. The Negro must
be given better homes and better surroundings. Fifty years after
the Civil War he should not be expected to be content with the
same conditions which existed at the close of the War. We cannot
blame him for no longer countenancing life in the windowless
cabin, nor with being discontented with the same scale of
remuneration for his labor that prevailed when farmers were
unable to do anything better for him."[96]

_The Daily News_ of Jackson, Mississippi, moreover, had this to say:

"The Negro exodus is the most serious economic matter that
confronts the people of Mississippi today. And it isn't worth
while to sit around and cuss the labor agents either. That won't
help us the least bit in getting to a proper solution. We may as
well face the facts, even when the facts are very ugly and very
much against us. The plain truth of the matter is the white
people of Mississippi are not giving the Negro a square deal. And
this applies not merely to Mississippi, but to all the other
states in the South. How can we expect to hold our Negro labor
when we are not paying decent living wages? Hav