Page:Chicago Race Riots (Sandburg, 1919).djvu/80

70 negro in the south immediately come into evidence the moment there is a shift of negro population from south to north. Every circumstance of bad housing, bad sanitation, school neglect and economic inequality that exists in the southern states must be regarded as a national problem, this more especially in view of the shifts of population that are so easy now and which are sometimes an absolute necessity for the conduct of industry.

"There must be enlightenment of the intelligent whites of America on all phases of this problem. The intelligent white man who is not informed on the neglect and wrong training of the negro in the south is as dangerous to future peace and law and order as is the so-called bad negro. I have fought for my country two years as a major of infantry and I wish to give it as my mature judgment that no barbarities committed by the Prussians in Belgium will compare with the brutalities and atrocities committed on negroes in the south. In effect, you may say that the negroes who come north have issued from a system of life and industry far worse than anything ever seen under Prussianism in its worse manifestations.

"Every colored soldier that I have talked with in France, Germany or America has a grievance. If there should be a development of bolshevism in this country, it is plainly evident where these soldiers, at least those with whom I have talked, would take their stand.

"One of the most significant features in the Chicago situation is the stockyards labor union, and the apparent good will between the two races among the thousands of white and colored men in that organization. I am told that about 60 per cent of the stockyard workers are Poles, and that their leader, John Kirkulski, as well as the secretary and the 500 shop stewards of the