also much trouble on the street cars.  The Negroes interested themselves in politics and even succeeded in placing in office several men of their choice.  In February, 1917, there was a strike of the white workers at the Aluminum Ore Works.  This was adjusted at the time, but the settlement was not permanent, and meanwhile there were almost daily arrivals from the South, and the East St. Louis Journal was demanding:  “Make East St. Louis a Lily White Town.”  There were preliminary riots on May 27-30.  On the night of July I men in automobiles rode through the Negro section and began firing promiscuously.  The next day the massacre broke forth in all its fury, and before it was over hundreds of thousands of dollars in property had been destroyed, six thousand Negroes had been driven from their homes, and about one hundred and fifty shot, burned, hanged, or maimed for life.  Officers of the law failed to do their duty, and the testimony of victims as to the torture inflicted upon them was such as to send a thrill of horror through the heart of the American people.  Later there was a congressional investigation, but from this nothing very material resulted.  In the last week of this same month, July, 1917, there were also serious outbreaks in both Chester and Philadelphia, Penn., the fundamental issues being the same as in East St. Louis.

Meanwhile welfare organizations earnestly labored to adjust the Negro in his new environment.  In Chicago the different state clubs helped nobly.  Greater than any other one agency, however, was the National Urban League, whose work now witnessed an unprecedented expansion.  Representative was the work of the Detroit branch, which was not content merely with finding vacant positions, but approached manufacturers of all kinds through distribution of literature and by personal visits, and within twelve months was successful in placing not less than one thousand Negroes in employment other than unskilled labor.  It also established a bureau of investigation and information regarding housing conditions, and generally aimed at the proper moral and social care of those who needed its service.  The whole problem of the Negro was of such commanding importance after the United States entered the war as to lead to the creation of a special Division of Negro Economics in the office of the Secretary of Labor, to the directorship of which Dr. George E. Haynes was called.

In January, 1918, a Conference of Migration was called in New York under the auspices of the National Urban League, and this placed before the American Federation of Labor resolutions asking that Negro labor be considered on the same basis as white.  The Federation had long been debating the whole question of the Negro, and it had not seemed to be able to arrive at a clearcut policy though its general attitude was unfavorable.  In 1919, however, it voted to take steps to recognize and admit Negro unions.  At last it seemed to realize the necessity of making allies of Negro workers,