“Cherry Growers, Canners Find Negroes Satisfactory Workers” from the August 10, 1948 Door County Advocate
[Because political correctness has changed since 1948, this article describes racial tensions in a way that isn’t seen in newspapers today. The article is worthwhile to read, in part to reflect on present day things by proxy. There are still unsolved social problems today. It is possible to compare the attitudes and choices made in this article with the present situation involving immigrants.
An additional use of this article is to refute the idea that racism has never been an important factor in Door County.
The confident and condescending attitudes in the article remind me of the articles about Door County by the Washington Post journalists, along with the comments to their articles. They could benefit by understanding that no matter how progressive and prosperous people are, all are subject to upheavals. Just as readers can look back on people quoted in the article and reflect on their hubris, other readers someday may find the time to look back at the journalists and commenters. Reflecting this article should result in a sense of humility.
Another consideration is that many pickers had positive experiences, despite the downsides. There could be grandchildren and great-grandchildren a thousand miles away who remember hearing interesting stories about what it was like in Door County.
Another positive aspect is the money earned. The CPI Inflation calculator reports that daily earnings range reported in the article, $5 to $15, was in August 1948 equivalent in value to $64.10 to $192.29 in May 2024: https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl?cost1=15&year1=194808&year2=202405 ]
Cherry Growers, Canners Find Negroes Satisfactory Workers
(NOTE: The publishers of The Advocate feel that because the cherry industry here is of such import, it is imperative that the county understands the entire picture. The following article was the result of a detailed survey into the harvest situation and what might be done in the future to protect other interests in the county that feel the influx of undesirable labor is threatening them.)
A survey made by The Advocate this week reveals that most cherry orchard and cannery officials are satisfied with their Negro labor and have no serious difficulties.
The director of the United States employment service at Green Bay, R. E. Larson, reports that no trouble with USES recruited Southern labor has been reported. The Green Bay office recruited about 800 Negro workers for Door county, he stated.
Larson also said that the M. W. Miller orchards do not use USES recruited labor from Louisiana.
Miller in a statement to The Advocate last week blamed the trouble at his camp, in part at least, on the employment service which recruits and screens workers in Louisiana, claiming that “Poor screening is the cause.”
In regard to screening, Larson said: “No amount of screening could counteract the conditions in at least one of the camps, which were apparently the underlying cause of the tragedy which occurred in Door county last week.”
The Miller orchards recruited their own Negro labor, according to authoritative sources, from those workers employed in the Miller strawberry fields in Louisiana, and through individual colored labor contractors one of whom is here.
Miller Camp
In an interview with Howard Glaspel, Hammond, La., Negro labor agent for the Miller orchards, late in July, Glaspel stated that no fault could be found with the Miller camp. He said food was good, the camp was perfectly clean and recreation was provided.
“I have never known Mr. Miller to misuse any of my people,” emphasized Mr. Glaspel, “and in the four years I have worked for him, he always treated them well.”
“No misrepresentations were made to prospective pickers,” Glaspel states. About 200-250 Negroes are employed by Miller, according to Glaspel.
Fruit Growers Co-Op
Jerry Bates, Manchac, La., supervisor for the Fruit Growers Co-Op, who recruited its Negro labor, believes that misunderstanding is the keynote of difficulties with Negro labor. The Co-Op, he stated employs about 50 per cent of the Negro help here, having about 150 in the Sister Bay Area and about 200 near Sturgeon Bay.
“The trouble Is that people here are afraid of Negroes,” Bates said. “They abuse them unconsciously, because they don’t understand the race. The Negroes, many of whom are single, get up here and they get lonely. Freedom doesn’t go to their heads; you don’t find much of that feeling of independence.”
Fruit Growers workers can make $5-$15 a day “if they work.” Transportation to the harvest is free. Bates stated that food in the camps is good; he eats most of his meals there.
Fruit Growers have something of a recreation program for their help, according to Bates. His suggestion for solving problems with Negro workers in part, is to provide a recreation center where Negros could enjoy their free time.
“Negroes don’t want to be with white people any more than the opposite is true,” he said. Another suggestion of his, which will probably be adopted by the Co-Op next year, is to have one white supervisor for every 50 Negroes.
“In about five years about 90 per cent of the Northern crops will be harvested primarily by Southern labor,” predicts Bates. “The only answer is to educate your people to understand the Negro race.” claims this Southern supervisor. “The way you handle Negroes is what’s important. None of the Negroes I’ve recruited have been in jail.”
Mutual Understanding Lacking
Lougee Stedman, manager of the Co-Op, also stated that Negro workers have been quite satisfactory and that while the Co-Op might employ 50 per cent of the Negroes in the county, it was not having a comparative percentage of any trouble.
“Lack of mutual understanding” is the cause Stedman assigned to difficulties. He emphatically said that “to claim wholesale immoral conditions is just not correct.”
Stedman also criticized unthinking talking, hysteria and sensationalism arising from the recent fatal stabbing of a colored picker by his girl friend, Bessie Mitchell, in the Miller orchard camp last week. He regards this as a case in itself, stating “You can’t connect this murder and the cherry industry.”
The Fruit Grower manager believes that it will be necessary to use more Negro labor in the years to come. He believes that, as Negroes gain experience picking, they will prove to be even more satisfactory workers.
Martin Orchards
Negro workers have proven perfectly satisfactory at the Martin orchards, states W. L. Thenell, manager. An extensive recreation program is provided by Martin’s including sports and evening programs of movies, amateur shows and other planned entertainment. This orchard reports no trouble with its colored pickers.
Reynolds Orchards
The Reynolds Bros. orchards does not employ any Negro help, according to Erv Kossow, office executive.
“We prefer the steadfast type of worker—domestic, Jamaican and Mexican national or Texas-Mexican—rather than the transient type,” states Kossow.
Reynolds use the national and state employment services to whatever extent services are offered. They also do a great deal of their own recruiting, making use of the labor-pool formed with asparagus, pea, sugar beet, etc. canners.
City Action
A voluntary petition distributed to all tavern and drug store owners in Sturgeon Bay, stating that liquor would not be sold to Negroes, has been signed 100 per cent by these dealers according to Mayor Leo Stoneman.
However, it is reported that signers of the petition are not living up to their signatures, thus rendering the measure meaningless. On the other hand, the petition in itself carries very little weight when applied to American citizens.
Courtesy of the Door County Library Newspaper Archive
[author not stated]
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