506

-3-

It was proved conclusively that the various indus-
tries in St. Clair County (East St. Louis) were directly
responsible for the importation of these Negroes from the
South. Advertisements were printed in various Southern
newspapers, urging the Negroes to come to East St. Louis,
and promising them big wages. In many instances packers'
agents were sent through the South to urge the Negroes to
abandon profitable employment there, and come to East St.
Louis, where labor was high."

The above investigation was not conducted by the Federal
Trade Commission, but by a Committee from the House of Representatives,
composed of Johnson of Kentucky, Foster and Foes of Illinois, Raker
of California, and Cooper of Wisconsin.

Confronted with the present serious conditions, does it
not recall a remark made some time ago in an address by a former Sec-
retary of the Interior, in which he expressed himself as follows:

"The most amazing situation in the civilized world
is the utter ignorance of the heads by inheritance of five
of the nation's greatest packing concerns of the economic
principles underlying the industries they direct."?

Yours respectfully,

A. N. Green
725 Postal Tel Bldg.
Chicago, Ill.

84317