The Underlying Causes of the War---Racial Hatreds and National Enmities---Germany's Ambition to Rule the World---The Gathering of the War Clouds---Germany's Attempt to Stir Up Trouble Between the United States and Mexico---Events that Led to America's Participation in the War.
As all the world now realizes, the Great War which came to an end by the surrender of Germany and the signing of an Armistice on November 11, 1918, had its roots in racial hatred and international jealousy between the peoples and rulers of different European countries. What directly brought on the war was the resentment of the Serbians of the effort of the Germanic Austrians to rule them. For centuries the oppression of one race by another had been going on in Europe. All over Europe there were races ruled and exploited by people of another race. The Poles had no government of their own, but were divided among Germany, Russia and Austria. Italians bitterly resented the rule of Austria over large territories, including some great cities, whose population was almost wholly Italian. On the west, the French people of Alsace-Lorraine were held in subjection by Germany. The Czecho-Slovaks of Bohemia were under the control of Austrians; Turkish authority tyrannized over the Armenians, and the Lithuanians were the subjects of Russian masters.
Confident of her ability to overcome all resistance, determined to reduce still more nations and races to subjection and to extend her dominion from the North Sea to the Indian Ocean, Germany entered upon this war to crush friend and foe. The whole civilized world revolted when the German Government declared that its solemn treaty in which it had agreed to the permanent independence of Belgium was only "a scrap of paper," and sent its army into that neutral country. The invasion of Belgium was the act that brought England into the war against Germany; the atrocious treatment of the Belgians and the French by the Germans was the moving force that stirred the American people and prepared them for this country's own entrance into the war even before atrocities committed upon our own citizens forced the issue.
So, in a very literal sense, it may be said that our American soldiers of the Negro Race went over to France to fight for the liberation of the oppressed peoples of Europe. It was a marvelous thing to have occurred, that a race itself so long oppressed should have had the opportunity to help save others from oppression. It is something for every man and woman of the Negro race to be proud of, that our people did eagerly welcome this opportunity and play so glorious a part. The pistol shot which put an end to the life of Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne, at Serajevo, June 28, 1914, turned Europe into a battlefield six weeks later. The Serbians were blamed for the assassination, and on July 23 Vienna sent an ultimatum to Belgrade demanding the punishment of the offenders and Austria's participation in their trial in Serbia. Russia supported Serbia in rejecting the last demand; Germany supported Austria. England, France, and even Italy, then the ally of Austria and Germany, suggested arbitration by the Great Powers. By treaty Germany was obliged to support Austria if attacked by two or more powers, France to support Russia for a similar reason, and Italy to support her allies in case of a defensive war.
Germany deemed Russia's mobilization tantamount to a declaration of war against her and declared war on August 1, 1914. Alleging that France had already begun hostile action against her, Germany declared war on France on the third of August and invaded Belgium in order to attack France. Great Britain declared war on Germany the fourth of August. Italy, deeming Austria the aggressor, proclaimed her neutrality.
But these were merely the culmination of a long-standing conspiracy on the part of Germany and Austria-Hungary soon to. be revealed by German propaganda. Germany wished to render France impotent and absorb the Germanic provinces of Russia; she would then be in a position to coerce Great Britain. Austria-Hungary wished to absorb the Balkan Slavs and make her way to the AEgean. For Germany there was a corollary to the success of the Austro-Hungarian scheme, which, by the bribery of Turkey, would establish German dominion from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf. In November Turkey entered the war on the side of the Central Empires. All this was arranged, even to the minutest detail, at the German Kaiser's Potsdam conference on July 5, 1914. There it was believed that if the corollary did not come into evidence too soon, both Great Britain and Italy would remain neutral. That Japan would enter the war on account of her treaty with Great Britain was thus discounted. Germany attempted to defend her position morally on the ground that she had been attacked by Russia on account of the Pan-Slavonic ambitions of that empire, and by Great Britain on account of the latter's jealousy of her world trade and industry. She was, therefore, "fighting for her existence."
Her enemies in defending themselves entered into treaties for mutual advantages after the war, in case of the defeat of the Central Empires. There was cooperation, but no great unity of action or purpose among them.. This gave Germany a great advantage until the spring of 1917, when the United States entered the war. That event, besides bringing the material deciding factor to the Allies' cause, established their war aims upon a world basis of a fight for humanity of republicanism against absolutism, for the rights of small nations, and "to make the world safe for democracy." All this was to be done by annihilating Prussian militarism and Hohenzollern absolutism. On these humane principles twenty-nine nations arrayed themselves against Germany, of which twenty-four declared war.
The war, which brought to the state of practical application the. principles for which the enemies of Germany have been fighting, has been prodigious in geographic and social extent and unprecedented in expenditures of lives and treasure. Through battle, atrocities, and massacres it is estimated that 10,000,000 lives have been sacrificed; that $50,000,000,000 of property, not including the waste of war material, has been destroyed in various ways; that the productive wealth of the belligerents, which in 1914 was estimated at $600,000,000,000, has now been mortgaged for over $200,000,000,000, much of which now seems unrecoverable.
Germany's initial plan was to place France hors de combat and then obtain a victorious peace over Russia. Austria-Hungary, meanwhile, would attend to the Balkans. The intervention of Great Britain brought this to nought. Germany then directed Turkey to attack Egypt and the Suez Canal, and so strangle Great Britain in the East. The first act of Great Britain was to isolate the German fleet; her second to send an expeditionary force under the command of Sir John French to Belgium and France. The Germans advanced into France to within fifteen miles of Paris, and were then driven back to the Aisne at the battle of the Marne, September 5-12, 1914. Russian armies advanced into East Prussia, were held in the center of Posen and overran Austrian Galicia. The Turks were defeated at the Suez Canal on February 24,1915. In the following April the Austro-Germans began a drive in Galicia, which by the following November had carried them eastward to a 450-mile perpendicular extending from near Riga to the Russian frontier.
From March until October the Allies attempted to gain Constantinople from the Peninsula of Gallipoli, and then withdrew to Saloniki in an attempt to defend Serbia, Bulgaria having joined the. Central Empires on September 22. Bulgaria overran Serbia and established communication between Berlin and Constantinople via the Orient Railway. Meanwhile Italy had declared war on Austria on May 23, and had invaded Austrian territory, isolating the Trentino and advancing to the River Isonzo. The Russians, advancing through the Caucasus, were defeating the Turks in Armenia.
The sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, and the atrocities of the Germans in Belgium, the Austrians and Bulgars in Serbia, the Turks in Armenia, and the criminal propaganda in the United States to prevent supplies from going to the Allies, all tended to
lower Germany's moral standard in the war. By the naval battle off the Falkland Islands on December 8,1914, Germany's only fleet on the high seas had been put out of existence; a similar fate soon followed her commerce destroyers. Japan had taken the German leased territory of Kiao-Chau in China, and soon, out of Germany's oversea possessions of 1,027,820 square miles, none remained. Japan has been fighting down to the end of the -war.
The second year of the war, 1915-1916, saw the Germans completing their occupation of the Balkans down to the Saloniki line. held by the Allies; there was a British defeat on the Tigris, with the surrender of Kut-el-Amara, on April 28. There were also the battle of Verdun, which began on February 21 and cost the Germans half a million casualties; the sea fight off Jutland on May 31, which left the British Navy in control of the sea; the battle of the Somme in France, July 1-November 13, which regained 170 square miles of territory and secured several strategic positions which five months later forced the great German retreat; General Brusiloff's campaign on the eastern front, which regained 7,300 square miles of territory and captured 358,000 prisoners from June 4 till December, 1916.
On August 27, 1916, Rumania entered the war on the side of Germany's enemies and by the dawn of 1917 had been crushed. In March and April, 1917, took place the German retreat to the Hindenburg line, which surrendered to France nearly 1,500 square miles of territory. There were British victories at the ridges of Vimy and Messines, respectively April 19 and June 7, and the great attack of the French from Soissons to Rheims, which secured 100,000 prisoners. In Mesopotamia the British recovered Kut-el-Amara and on March 11 occupied Bagdad; the Arab kingdom of Hedjaz joined the Allies.
But the most important events of the third year of the war were political, however---the Russian revolution, March 15, and the entrance of the United States into the war, April 6. The former was brought about without any premeditation by the Cossacks refusing to fire on the Petrograd mob and the Duma taking advantage of the situation and establishing a mild Provisional Government, which opened the country to destructive German propaganda and the rise of the anarchy known as Bolshevism. The moral and material grievances of the United States against Germany culminated in a series of revelations showing the latter's criminality. On January 31 she proclaimed her intensified U-boat campaign, repudiating the promise of May 4, 1916, and on February 28th came the revelation of the Zimmerman note to Mexico, and Japan. Up to the time the United States declared war this country had lost by the illegal operation of U-boats twenty-two ships, amounting to more than 70,000 tons, together with hundreds of lives, most of which, however, had been lost on other neutral ships or on the passenger ships of Germany's enemies.
Early in the fourth year of the war, November 7, 1917, saw the collapse of the Russian Provisional Government and the dominance of the Bolsheviki. They finally drove Russia from the war by the betrayal at Brest-Litovsk, which culminated in the treaty of peace of March 3, 1918. Rumania was forced to make peace on May 6, at Bucharest.
Other events which occupied the closing months of 1917 were equally discouraging for the Allies, whose morale, however, was kept firm through the rapidly augmenting evidences of American aid, which would be decisive. Even here there was fear that this aid could not be brought overseas, due to the intensified action of the U-boats, whose toll of merchant shipping for 1917 had been in the first quarter 1,619,373 tons; in the second, 236,934; in the third, 1,494,473; and in the fourth, 1,272,843. And as vet there were no sure grounds to believe in the great victories which were to come to the Allies a year afterward.
On the western front the battle of Flanders, which had been begun by the British on July 31, ended with the capture of Paschendaele Ridge on the 6th of the following November. There was the abortive battle of Cambrai, November 20-December 5. In October Pétain secured the Chemin des Dames on the Aisne front. Italy advanced over the Bainsizza to within 35 miles of Laibach, between August 20 and October 1, only to be defeated at Caporetto and driven back to the Piave, losing a large part of the Regione of Veneto.
The allied front in Macedonia continued to remain inactive save for the excursions of Greek troops, whose now Government had entered the war on the side of the Allies on the second of July. The war against the Turk, however, showed encouraging signs; in Palestine General Allenby captured Jerusalem on the 22nd of . December; in Mesopotamia General Marshall, who had succeeded to the command on the death of Maude on the 18th of November, extended his advance to the Euphrates, and was still ascending the Tigris toward Mosul.
It was known before 1917 closed that Germany, released from war with Russia, was preparing a great offensive. The Austro-German reply to the Pope's peace note of August 1 revealed merely a readiness to talk peace on the basis of the military status quo. President Wilson, in his reply to the Pope on the 27th of September, reaffirmed the great moral issues at stake, but in the chancelleries of the Allies in Europe men like the Marquis of Lansdowne lowered the morale by constantly asking for the war aims of the belligerents, and there was anti-war propaganda abroad. France had her Caillaux and Bolo Pacha, Italy her Giolitti, and England her Irish Sinn Fein.
With these distracting and discouraging influences lightened only by the hope placed in the United States and the faith that the U-boat campaign was being neutralized, the combat was carried for three months into 1918 with forebodings for a long war.
Then Germany on March 21, 1918, began her great offensive on the western front with the object of separating the British and French armies by reaching the Channel ports at the mouth of the Somme and then defeating each army in turn and occupying Paris. Between March 21 and July 15 her offensive had passed through four phases, giving her Lys, the Picardy and the Marne salients. She had stretched a 195-mile front to one of 250. However, the Allies held the sectors which bound the salients and also strategic positions on their perimeters. Germany's huge losses prevented her from proceeding further unless at a given point she could break the Allies' line. This in a desperate effort she attempted to do on July 15 by driving across the Marne. She failed and began a highly organized strategic retreat to save her armies.
Meanwhile, the Allies had decided, in April, on unity of command and had placed the conduct of the war in the hands of General Foch. The arrival of nearly 1,000,000 American bayonets in Prance gave him the opportunity to organize an army of manoeuver.
His attacks begun between Soissons and Chateau-Thierry against the Marne salient on July 18 were unceasing down to the time of the armistice, steadily pushing the German armies east through Belgium and north to the French frontier, a series of battles in which the First American Army played its full part west of the Meuse.
The series of sledge-hammer blows administered by Foch's army began to have their effect not only on the battlefront, but in Berlin and Vienna, in Sofia and Constantinople. The enemy was not reaping the material benefits he had expected to derive from a Bolshevist Russia. There the Czecho-Slovak armies---former prisoners of war released by the Provisional Government---were fighting against the Germans and Bolsheviki and were soon joined by contingents of the Allies and Russians of the educated class. The Allies recognized the belligerency of the Czecho-Slovaks' country---Bohemia----and the national aspirations of the Slavonic subjects of Austria-Hungary.
On the 14th of September the allied armies in Macedonia under General Franchet d'Esperey made an attack which, on the last day of tile month, drove Bulgaria to seek unconditional surrender.
On the 15th of September the forces under General Allenby in Palestine annihilated three Turkish armies, which forced the Turks out of the war, on the same terms, October 31.
On the 4th of November, Austria-Hungary, whose note to President Wilson on the 5th of October, asking for a peace parley, had been rejected on the 15th of October, and which was being severely punished by an Italian offensive begun on the 27th of October, accepted an armistice which left her helpless, with revolutionary movements in Vienna, Prague, and elsewhere tending toward the complete dissolution of the dual monarchy of the Hapsburgs. As far back as the 14th of September Austria-Hungary had attempted to have all the belligerents meet in conference, and President Wilson had rejected the proposal on the .17th of September.
On the 6th of October the new German Chancellor, Prince Max of Baden, prepared a peace parley on the basis of the President's 14 Articles of January 8 and subsequent utterances of formulae for permanent peace. On the 8th of October President Wilson asked. for the Chancellor's mandate---did it come from the authorities who bad begun and carried on the war or from the people? Germany on the 12th of October pointed out the reforms that were going on in the empire and asked for a mixed commission on the evacuation of the occupied territory in Belgium and France.
To this note President Wilson replied the next day, defining the process by which Germany might receive terms for an armistice, but insisting that the mandate must come from the German people and be preceded by an evacuation of the occupied territories.
Other notes were exchanged, Germany answering on the 21st of October and the President on the 23rd of October; and, respectively, on the 27th and the 5th of November, when the President sent to Germany a memorandum saying that the military advisers of the associated governments were prepared to submit to Germany the terms on which an armistice might be secured.
On the 8th of November. the German commissioners received the terms of the armistice at General Foch's headquarters and seventy-two hours were allowed them in which to make answer. The armistice was signed on November 11., 1918.
Negro Troops That Were Ready When War Was Declared---The Famous 9th and 10th Cavalry, U. S. Army---The 24th and 25th Infantry---National Guard Units of Colored Troops---The 8th Illinois---The 15th New York-National Guard Units of Ohio, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland and Tennessee---First Separate, Battalion of the District of Columbia---How All of These Responded to the Call.
Nearly 400,000 Negro Soldiers served in the United States Army in the Great World War. About 367,710 of these came into the service through the operation of the Selective Draft Law. How this selective draft operated and how the Negro responded to the call to the colors, will be discussed in another chapter. It is a matter of pride, however, to realize that at the instant of the declaration of war, there were nearly 20,000 soldiers of, the Negro race, in the United States, uniformed, armed, equipped, drilled, trained and ready to take the field against the foe. Proportionately to the total Negro population of America, this was a splendid showing.
Many of these Negro soldiers of the Regular Army and the National Guard bad already seen as long and as active service in the field as any of the Regular Army or National Guard regiments of white soldiers. About 10,000 of these Negro troops that were ready when war was declared were in the original four colored regiments of the Regular Army. Of these, the most famous are the 9th and 10th Cavalry. It was the 9th and 10th Cavalry, the Negro troops of the U. S. Regular Army, that saved the day at San Juan Hill for Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders, and helped to give him much of his military prestige and fame. The story of the famous charge of these black troops who rushed the Spanish stronghold, singing "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," is a familiar story to everyone.
In the war with Spain, in the Philippines, on the Mexican Border, these Negro troops and the two colored infantry regiments of the Regular Army, the 24th and the 25th, won high distinction and merited praise.
Besides these 10,000 Negro soldiers already in the Regular Army, there were nearly 10,000 more in the National Guards of several States, such organizations as the 8th Illinois, the 15th New York, the First Separate Battalion of the District of Columbia, the First Separate Company of Maryland, the 9th Battalion of Ohio, the First Separate Company of Connecticut, Co. L of Massachusetts National Guard and Co. G of the Tennessee National Guard. Some of these, when the United States became a belligerent in the World War, had only recently seen service on the Mexican border.
In the regular army one colored man, Charles Young, of Wilberforce, Ohio, a graduate of West Point, rose to the rank of Colonel, prior to his recent retirement the highest rank attained by any colored man. Benjamin Oliver Davis, of Washington, D. C., rose from the ranks, entering during the Spanish- American War, to Lieutenant-Colonel, and is now stationed with the 9th U. S. Cavalry in the Philippines. Walter H. Loring, retired, another Washingtonian, served with distinction as bandmaster of the Philippines Constabulary Band, and is now a Major. Several colored chaplains of the Regular Army retired with rank of Major, as did one paymaster, Major John R. Lynch, of Chicago. Col. Young was U. S. Military Attaché in the Republic of Haiti, and Lieut.-Col. Davis served in a similar capacity in the Republic of Liberia. Quite a number of colored men were Colonels and Majors in the various National Guard organizations.
The Negro people have always taken particular pride in the records of the four Regular Army units, and they were gratified beyond measure that when war was declared April 6, 1917, there became immediately available not only the. Regular Army military units but also the National Guard units, to which reference has been made.
According to the records of the War Department, the Colored National Guard units were called into Federal service as follows:
1st Separate Battalion, District of Columbia National Guard, March 25, 1917; 50 officers, 929 men; Medical Corps attached with 5 officers, 21 men.
1st. Separate Company, Maryland, July 25, 1917, 3 officers, 154 men.
1st Separate Company, Connecticut, July 31, 1917, 1 officer, 136 men; I officer, 4 men attached.
1st Separate Company, Massachusetts (Co. L), August 5, 1917, 3 officers, 150 men.
9th Separate Battalion, Ohio, August 5, 1917, 14 officers, 600 men; 1. officer, 7 men attached.
8th Illinois Regiment, July 25, 1917, 42 officers, 1,405 men.
15th New York Regiment, July 25, 1917, 54 officers, 2,053 men.
All of those units were afterwards brought up to full strength.
The 15th New York went into final training at Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, S. C., where the New York National Guard units were trained; the 8th Illinois went into training at Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, along with the Illinois National Guard; the Separate Battalion of the State of Ohio at Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, Alabama, where the Ohio National Guard units were trained; while the various National Guard Companies of Massachusetts, Maryland, and Tennessee were eventually amalgamated with the troops here mentioned at Camp Stuart, Newport News, Virginia, from which point these units were sent overseas as members of the 93d Division (Provisional), under command of Brigadier General Roy Hoffman.
At the beginning of the war the War Department apparently was uncertain as to just exactly what attitude it should take with reference to having Negroes enlist. Eager youths of the race volunteered their services, but after the four regular military units had been brought up to their proper strength, Negro enlistment was discouraged. A sample of the kind of thing which served to discourage the colored people in the early days of the war was reflected in the following Associated Press telegram, which was sent out from Richmond, Virginia, April 24, 1917:
"Richmond, Va., April 24.---No more Negroes will be accepted for enlistment in the United States Army at present. This was the order received by Major Hardeman, officer in charge of the recruiting station here, from the War Department. 'Colored organizations filled,' was the explanation."
The Negro press and Negro leaders generally became insistent and pressure began to reach the War Department from all parts of the country to make provision for colored troops. The attitude of the Negro people was reflected in the editorial expressions of the colored newspapers. Up to the time of the war there had been among colored people generally a great deal of hostility to the administration at Washington, which was regarded as unfriendly to them, and this attitude of mind is reflected in many of the editorial expressions which then appeared in the colored newspapers.
Of particular interest to Negro Americans, however, is the fact that on March 25, 1917, the Secretary of War, by order of the President, called the First Separate Battalion, District of Columbia Infantry, National Guard, to the colors to defend the National Capital. This was even before a formal declaration of war. The telegram follows:
2557669 AGO
March 25, 1917.
To Brigadier-General William E. Harvey,
Commanding General District of Columbia National Guard,
Washington, District of Columbia.Having in view the necessity of affording a more perfect protection against the interference with postal, commercial, and military channels and instrumentalities of the United States in the District of Columbia and being unable with the regular troops available at his command to insure the faithful execution of the laws of the Union in this regard, the President has thought proper to exercise the authority vested in him by the Constitution and laws and to call out the National Guard necessary for the purpose.
I am, in consequence, instructed by the President to call into the service of the United States forthwith, through you, the following units of the National Guard of the District of Columbia, which the President desires shall be assembled at the places to be designated to you by the Commanding General, Eastern Department, now at Governor's Island, New York, and which said Commanding General has been directed to communicate to you:
First Separate Battalion District of Columbia Infantry, National Guard.
(Signed) NEWTON D. BAKER,
Secretary of War.
Brigadier-General Harvey at once issued orders for the First Separate Battalion to be mobilized for instruction and muster. Before breakfast following the issuance of this order of March 25, 1917, the entire strength of the battalion was ready for orders and assembled at its armory under command of Major James E. Walker, a colored officer.
The battalion was placed in charge of watching the water supply system, guarding six immense reservoirs, the Potomac River projects, and the various power plants of the District of Columbia, to counter any possible scheme of enemy aliens interfering with these projects and various utilities.
The colored Americans of the District of Columbia and all Washington regarded this assignment of the First Separate Battalion to guard duty within the shadow of the White House as a compliment not exceeded by any since the Negro became a full-fledged citizen of the American Republic. The duty of protecting life and property in the Nation's capital was regarded by them as being comparable to the assignments usually given the guard regiments in England, where men of undoubted loyalty and integrity are given the sacred obligation of protecting St. James's Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and the Houses of Parliament, the places that stand nearest to the welfare and dignity of the British crown.
The men of the First Separate Battalion and the colored citizens of the District of Columbia, and of the whole United States, regarded the call of the First Separate Battalion to the colors as having in it a special compliment from another point of view. It was highly significant that their very color which was the basis of discrimination in time of peace was considered prima facie evidence of unquestionable loyalty in time of war.
In this battalion there were to be found no hyphenates. In fact, the Negro has always proved himself to be 100-per-cent American, without alien sympathies and without hyphenate allegiance. The fact that a colored military unit was placed in this first honor post, to protect the President, the Congress, and the, great Executive Departments of the Nation, as well as the vital supply stations that make for the health, happiness, and personal security of the capital of the American Republic, was an honor keenly appreciated.
At about the time that the First Separate Battalion was called out to guard the National Capital the Baltimore Sun, a white newspaper, contained the following expression:
"The Afro-American is the only hyphenate, we believe, who has not been suspected of a divided allegiance."
It was altogether natural that there should be speculation among both white and colored citizens as to why this particular regiment should be the first called to the colors on the eve of the great war declaration. Probably the editorial expression of the Baltimore (Maryland) "Afro-American" may be quoted as to the speculative attitude at least, of colored Americans, which was as follows:
"WHY THIS PARTICULAR HONOR?" "Washington, A C., has assumed a rather warlike aspect through the calling out of the National Guard to keep an eye on the railway bridges in and around the city, the public buildings, and the water and lighting systems. Strangely enough the First Separate Battalion of colored troopers were mustered in to perform this service, and by this time have perhaps taken the oath, which will incorporate them into the ranks of the regulars.
"In answer to this question of why such honor should be conferred upon the colored troops when the white national guards of the same city are more nearly prepared---the Separate Battalion is still wearing its old, blue uniforms---many explanations have been heard in the capital city.
"There are some who have in mind President Wilson's statement that great care should be exercised in calling out the Guardsmen, and every precaution taken that the industrial plants of the country might not suffer by premature loss of workers belonging to the Guards. Should this be the explanation of the Government's move in Washington, then Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois might also expect that their colored troopers will be the first to be called into service.
"However, there is also another whisper going the rounds in the capital of the nation, to the effect that the white regiments of the National Guards have so many foreigners and especially Germans belonging that the Government was afraid to entrust to them the task of watching over Governmental buildings of such immense importance as the Capitol, White House and the houses where the various departments transact their business. It is said that a white trooper on guard at some strategic point might be a German-American and be persuaded to let pass a German confederate armed with dynamite to blow up the Capitol. On the other band, the colored troopers are known to be loyal Americans, and the army officials are certain that no one can pass their lines, not even the Commanding General, unless he has the password.
"For loyalty of this kind our country ought to be willing to pay something. It ought to be willing to pay the price of having its loyal colored men educated for commissioned officers in the very best schools in the nation; it ought to be willing to pay the price of having these citizens enjoy every right and privilege that German-Americans or any others enjoy; it ought even to be willing to have trustworthy colored officers command regiments of white men, which may not be regarded as quite so trustworthy.
"Our Government will do these things, if the Negro will regard his loyalty as an asset, to be sold at the price of citizenship."
Major James E. Walker, the colored officer who was in command of the First Separate Battalion, District of Columbia Infantry National Guard, when it was called to guard the National Capital, was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, September 7, 1874. He attended the public schools and was graduated from the high and normal schools of the District of Columbia. He was connected with the public schools of the District for more than twenty-four years as a teacher and supervisor of the Thirteenth Division and served as such until ordered to the Mexican border with the District of Columbia National Guard in 1916.
His military services began in 1896, when he was appointed first lieutenant in the First Separate Battalion of the National Guard of the District of Columbia. In 1909 he was commissioned captain; in 1912, by and through a competitive examination, he was commissioned major, after the resignation of Major, now Lieutenant-Colonel, Arthur Brooks.
The First Separate Battalion, under Major Walker, was the first unit of the District National Guard to be recruited to war strength in Washington City, and they were among the first troops to be sent to the Mexican border at the time war threatened between Mexico and the United States in 1916. They immediately relieved the troops of the regular army and were assigned to the duty of guarding the water works at Naco, Arizona, which supplied five or six towns in the vicinity. Aside from his duties there as battalion commander, Major Walker was selected to act as intelligence officer for the Government.
On March 25, 1917, the battalion was called on to guard the National Capital, and it was there that the constant vigil of Major Walker began its inroads on his health. He realized that in selecting his command to safely guard. the National Capital, with its public buildings, water supply, railroads and all other important facilities, the Government was prompted in its selection by the high rate of efficiency and undoubted loyalty which his battalion had established for itself, and in order to continue in this high regard, he sacrificed health and everything else save that which makes for the true soldier---duty.
He was ordered to Fort Bayard, New Mexico, to the United States hospital, for treatment, hoping to regain his health. However the best medical skill was of no avail and he died, April 4, 1918, the first officer of the military forces of the District of Columbia to give his life for the Nation and world-democracy. His remains were sent home with military escort, and his body was interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
His funeral, which was conducted from the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, Washington, D. C., of which Rev. W. H. Brooks is pastor, was attended by a large proportion of the colored citizenship of the District of Columbia, who, despite the cold, bleak day, followed his remains to Arlington Cemetery.
Appointment of Emmett J. Scott as Special Assistant to the Secretary of War---Difficulties Encountered in Establishing Negro's Status---Opportunities Afforded for Effective Work on Behalf of Colored Soldiers---Better Opportunities for Negro Officers, Soldiers, Nurses, Surgeons and Others Obtained Through This Official Connection.
On October 5, 1917, the OFFICIAL BULLETIN (published under the direction of the Committee on Public Information), and the Associated Press, carried the following announcement:
"ADVISOR TO WAR DEPARTMENT" "Secretary Newton D. Baker of the War Department announces that Emmett J. Scott, for eighteen years confidential secretary to the late Booker T. Washington, and at present secretary of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes has been assigned to duty in the War Department as confidential advisor in matters affecting the interests of the 10,000,000 Negroes of the United States, and the part they are to play in connection with the present war."
This was the first intimation that the Secretary of War had been giving attention to the matter of calling to his side a colored man to advise with him matters concerning colored soldiers and colored Americans generally. There has been very great curiosity on the part of a great many people as to how this appointment came about.
Unfortunately, at the outbreak of the war with Germany there seemed to be in America an epidemic of racial disturbances, such as friction due to the rapid emigration of Negro labor from the South to the North, lynchings of Negro men and women in a number of the states, etc., all of which disturbances were seized upon and magnified through the lens of a well-directed German propaganda, with the manifest purpose of stirring up a feeling of bitterness and unrest among both white and colored Americans. There is ample evidence to support the statement that pro-German influence was for a time diligently at work in the vain effort to dampen the ardor and cool the patriotism of Negro Americans and to thus make them careless or indifferent in support of their country's war program. With a view to stabilizing conditions, as an earnest of the Government's desire to secure the unqualified support of all classes of American citizens, and evidently for the special purpose of reassuring Negroes throughout the country that the Government in general, and the War Department in particular entertained a friendly and just attitude toward them, a representative member of that racial group was appointed by Secretary Baker to serve with him as Special Assistant during the period of the war.
My designation was due primarily to a call during the month of August, 1917, by Dr. Robert R. Moton, Principal of Tuskegee Institute, upon the Secretary of War, in which he pointed out the need and necessity of having in the War Department a colored man in touch with Northern and Southern white people and colored people, who could advise whenever delicate questions arose affecting the interests of the colored people of the United States. Dr. Moton sought to convey the heartening impulse, which would come to the colored people of the country if the Government during its period of war should in this direct way recognize the racial group of which he is himself an honored member.
Prior to Dr. Moton's call at the 'War Department to confer with the Secretary of War, the author had been in direct correspondence with Mr. Julius Rosenwald, a member of the Advisory Board of the Council of National Defense, to whom he addressed a letter under date of March 24, 1917, reading as follows:
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, March 24, 1917.
Mr. Julius Rosenwald,
Member National Defense Board,
Washington, D. C.Dear Mr. Rosenwald:
I have not been in the slightest degree confused as to what attitude the, Negro people should assume in connection with the present threatened war situation, but I have been somewhat concerned at what the attitude of the Administration will be with respect to the Negro people. There are ten millions of us in this country---the only country to which we owe allegiance, etc.
You will note by the attached interview which was sent out by the Associated Press last summer following the Carrizal incident, what I had to say respecting the threatened trouble with Mexico. The Negro people feel just the same way with respect to the German situation.
The point of this letter, then, is to ask you as a member of the National Defense Board as to whether or not you will carefully bear in mind what I have written, and command me and all of us here at Tuskegee most freely in connection with any and all situations in which we can be of service during this crucial hour.
In all former wars in which they have participated, the Negro people have proved by their courage and valor their willingness to fight for American liberty, and I believe they will respond in like measure in the present emergency; and I also believe that the American people will find themselves more and more disposed to accord full appreciation to a people who are willing to lay down their lives in defense of democracy and the well-being of their great country.
My responsibilities here at Tuskegee Institute you know about as fully as any one else, but I wish you to know at the same time my entire willingness to serve the present situation in any way that in your opinion may seem wise and desirable.
Yours very truly,
(Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT.
Mr. Rosenwald suggested that the author prepare a resolution expressive of the feelings of the colored people that might be presented to the Council of National Defense. The answer was as follows:
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, April 7, 1917.
Dear Mr. Rosenwald:
I have your letter of April 4th, and am returning the papers here with, together with revised resolution which I trust may have your approval.
I am very much gratified to learn that the Council of National Defense is entirely sympathetic and disposed to pass a resolution of this character. .It will accomplish very great good. It should be done, however, as you say, in just the right way.
Throughout the South there is considerable apprehension at this time as to whether or not the Negro people are going to remain loyal to the country in this crisis. There need be no fears on this score. As I sought to express in my letter of March 24, the American people, I believe, will be disposed more and more to remove such handicaps and to right such injustices as we now struggle against after the settlement of the great emergency which now faces our common country. I have referred to the patriotism of the Negro rising above wrongs and injustices so as to disarm that element of our people who are urging that the Negro emphasize his wrongs and injustices so as to force from the Government his recognition of his guaranteed rights under the Constitution, etc. My thought and idea is that a sentence of this character will take note of the fact that the Negro does labor under certain handicaps and injustices and yet rises above it in the face of national emergency and need. I hope that the resolution as drafted may have your approval.
With best wishes, I am,
Yours very truly,
(Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT.
The Resolution as finally drafted and submitted to Mr. Rosenwald follows:
"1. There are in the United States ten million Negro people. These People have shown allegiance to no country other than the United States. They are in a peculiar and noble sense the children of a united republic. They possess a patriotism which has always risen above wrongs and injustices. There are no hyphenates among them. These people take pride in the fact that it was the charge of Negro troops at San Juan Hill in the Spanish-American War that turned the tide there, and that Negroes have fought bravely in every war in which this country has engaged. The Negro was with Jackson at New Orleans, with Perry on Lake Erie, and 180,000 Negro soldiers served in the Civil War.
"2. The Government and the people of the United States are deeply sensible of the loyal support rendered by the Negroes of America to their country in past days of national emergency and need.
"3. Therefore, Be It Resolved, That the Council of National Defense and the Advisory Commission thereto, in joint conference assembled, urge that this Government shall, without regard to racial, political or geographical divisions, give due heed to, and exercise appreciation of the past loyalty of its Negro citizens and of their eager desire to bear anew a generous and helpful part in the common cause of the national defense."
There were still some doubts and misgivings, however, as to whether the Council of National Defense should pass the resolution, which led to further correspondence:
Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, April 17, 1917.
My Dear Mr. Rosenwald:
I do most earnestly urge that the resolutions, preamble and all, be published. My reasons rest on the concrete fact that the opinion prevails in many quarters that colored men are not desired by the Administration to have any part in the prosecution of this war. For instance, as I write, I have before me now a letter just received from a man who is probably the most prominent colored physician of Philadelphia, with this paragraph:
The war. There is not much to be said. about it. Mr. Wilson has plainly shown that he would like to get along as much as possible without the Negro. I see in tonight's "Bulletin" that it has been decided for the first time in two years to enlist colored men for the regular infantry and cavalry. Active enlistment campaigns are going on here for crews for various warships, but Negroes are not wanted save as waiters and lackeys. It is hard to be loyal and patriotic under these circumstances, though it will not do any good to be otherwise.
This same thing is being said over and over again by other colored men, and by many of the colored newspapers of the country. I enclose two statements I have just clipped from one of our most prominent colored newspapers. I have kept watch on this phase from the beginning and fundamentally this was back of my original communication to you.
I appreciate the point of view suggested by members of the Council, and am of the opinion that what I have here suggested and mentioned, bears out the fact that there is an existing feeling that there is "some evidence (or feeling) of discrimination sentiment," if not in action. The compelling reasons, in my opinion, overbear the suggested objections. I have taken occasion to mention the matter to Dr. Moton and he concurs with me in my conclusion.
With thanks always for your interest and generous support of all that concerns us as a race, I am
Yours very sincerely,
(Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT.
Shortly after the author's appointment as Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, hundreds of letters poured into the War Department from colored citizens residing in all parts of the country, commending Secretary Newton D. Baker for his action in selecting a colored man to represent the interests of that racial group during the period of the War, and expressing their satisfaction with the particular choice which had been made. The sentiment of the white South with reference to this appointment is best conveyed by the following typical editorial expression which appeared in the Mobile News Item, a white newspaper published in the heart of the South:
"The appointment is a wise move and a wise selection. While the Government is coordinating all the interests of the country in the movement to win the war with Germany, it should not overlook the colored people. Thousands of them have been drafted and are being trained for duty in the trenches. They are to wear their country's uniform and represent their country in the greatest conflict of all times. Millions will stay at home tilling the fields and working in the country's industries. They have their problems no less than others, and it is well that one who knows them so intimately is to advise the, Government how to meet these problems."
The colored newspapers were equally responsive in their endorsement of the new policy adopted by Secretary Baker as indicated by his appointment of a representative of the Negro race to advise him on all matters affecting the interests of that particular group during the period of the war, and in numerous editorial comments and special articles warmly commended the selection.
Important white Americans, including such representative citizens as Mr. George Foster Peabody, the New York philanthropist, and Mr. Julius Rosenwald, a member of the Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense, approved the appointment at various times and have given the author the warmest encouragement and support; without such encouragement and support from colored Americans and white Americans alike, it would have been most difficult to handle even a small proportion of the many problems which came to the office.
Mr. Rosenwald, in an address at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, of which he is a trustee, speaking to the officers and teachers and students of the school, March 12, 1918, said:
"In noticing this flag, this Service Flag, hung here in the Chapel, I could not help but feel that there ought to be one very large star there, because the Secretary of War said to me---although I was not directly responsible, and I wanted to deny the responsibility, while I would have been proud to claim it, for Mr. Scott's coming into the War Department---but, notwithstanding that, the Secretary of War has thanked me over and over again, as a Trustee of Tuskegee Institute, for the service he is rendering the War Department and the Nation. When the question came up, I said that nothing would please me better than to see Mr. Scott in Washington, in the War Department, and, of course, none of us would question but what we would all be proud of him in that work as we always have been in everything he has undertaken. There was no question about his making good. That was a foregone conclusion, and as a Trustee I know you, teachers and students of Tuskegee, share that pride with me and the other Trustees in having Mr. Scott in that conspicuous position. Certainly no prouder honor could come to anyone!"
Professor Kelly Miller, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, a colored college professor of high standing, at a mass meeting of the colored citizens of the District of Columbia at the Dunbar High School, October 22, 1917, also in referring to the appointment said:
"The thanks of the race, amounting almost to gratitude, are due the Secretary of War for his statesmanlike grasp of the situation in designating one of our number to help in bringing the race into sympathetic understanding and cheerful coöperation with the plans and purpose of the Government as they relate to the great struggle in which the world is now involved. Secretary Baker in meeting the impending military emergency has laid the basis of a broad and far-reaching statesmanship. I have always contended, and shall always contend, that the fundamental grievance of the Negro against the American people consists in the fact that he is shut out from participation in the making and administering of the laws by which he is governed and controlled. The nation cannot expect that the Negro will always remain an ardent, enthusiastic citizen, eager to play his part, if he is to be forever shut out from equal participation in and protection under the law. It is imposing too great a tax upon the docility even of the Negro, to make him the victim of harshly enforced discriminatory laws and expect that he will forever exhibit this patriotism and loyalty with ecstatic enthusiasm and paeans of joy. The race may rest assured that its interest will be looked after and safeguarded so far as the military situation is concerned as long as Emmett J. Scott sits at the council table.
"I regard the appointment of Mr. Scott, as Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, as the most significant appointment that has yet come to the colored race. Other colored men have been appointed to high office under different administrations, but the appointments have been mainly a reward for political service, or representation of a contributing element to party success. Such appointments are altogether worthy and desirable, but they are not supposed to carry with them any particular function affecting the welfare of the colored race. The appointment of Mr. Scott, on the other hand, for the express purpose of securing the cheerful coöperation of the Negro race in the accomplishment of the greatest task to which our Government has committed itself. This is not merely representation For the sake of political reward, but representation carrying with it the vital governmental function."
Shortly after the appointment of the Special Assistant, letters written by a number of representative colored Americans in all sections of the country, and representing many of the leading Negro organizations, denominations, etc., were received by the Secretary of War, to which he made reply similar in tenor to that indicated in the correspondence printed below:
Financial Department of the A. M. E. Church,
Washington, D. C.October 8, 1917.
Hon. Newton A Baker,
Secretary of War,
Washington, D. C.Dear Sir:
Please allow me to express to you my very great delight and appreciation of your appointment of Mr. Emmett J. Scott as a special assistant or aid of the War Department to represent the Colored race during this war period.
The selection and appointment of capable colored men to such positions of trust and responsibility will prove of very great value in the work of a proper adjustment of matters so vital to the best interest of our common cause.
This act of yours is a fitting recognition of the Negro's high sense of patriotism and faithfulness to duty as well as his fitness and willingness to contribute his best in mind and spirit to the cause of right.
Very sincerely yours,
(Signed) JOHN R. HAWKINS,
Secretary, Financial Department, A. M. E. Church.
War Department
Washington
Office of the Secretary of WarOctober 9, 1917.
My Dear Mr. Hawkins:
I have received your letter of October 8th and am delighted to know that the appointment of Mr. Scott is meeting with such general approval among his people.
I have long known of his splendid character and of his attainments, and it is source of comfort to me to know that I can have the benefit of his advice more constantly, now that he has accepted a permanent relation to my office.
Cordially yours,
(Signed) NEWTON A BAKER,
Secretary of War.Mr. John R. Hawkins,
1541 Fourteenth Street N. W.
Washington, A C.
To make my work effective as I went from camp to camp, Secretary Baker addressed a letter to Division and Brigade Commanders which was inclusive enough to give me authority to make any inquiries I deemed necessary to be made in camps or cantonments regarding conditions affecting Colored Troops.
The Secretary of War's letter read as follows:
War Department
Washington
Office of the Secretary of WarNovember 1, 1917.
TO DIVISION AND BRIGADE COMMANDERS: I have appointed Mr. Emmett J. Scott, of Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, to advise with respect to the colored people of the United States, colored drafted men, and the colored men who constitute units of National Guard Divisions.
He will be visiting National Army cantonments and National Guard camps, and it is my desire that he be given every opportunity to follow up the work I have entrusted to his care.
He will personally present this letter.
(Signed) NEWTON D. BAKER,
Secretary of War.
There was considerable misunderstanding and false impression at the beginning as to the real function of the office of "Special Assistant to the Secretary of War," as to the real scope and limitations of the appointment, and as to the real purpose that called the author to Washington. Judging from thousands of letters he received, covering every subject imaginable, and from various public comments and utterances during a period of twenty-one months, it would seem that he had been appointed a "Special Committee of One" to adjust and settle at once any and all matters and difficulties of whatsoever kind and nature which had any bearing upon the race problem in America.
Some of the correspondents, and a few critics, seemed to forget that this appointment was never intended to be an immediate cure for all of our racial ills in America. My call to the Nation's Capital was to advise in matters affecting primarily the interests of colored draftees and colored soldiers, as well as to render counsel and assistance in those matters, including the interests of soldiers' families and dependents, and, in a sense, the morale of Colored Americans generally during the war. Some seemingly failed to remember that the race problem in America has been pending ever since the Civil War; that certain phases of that problem have remained troublesome and unsolved even in the ordinary times of peace in spite of the vigorous and consecrated efforts of prominent race leaders who have ably pleaded our race's cause before the bar of public opinion for the past fifty years. It was therefore manifestly unfair to expect that the mere appointment of a "Special Assistant to the Secretary of War" would effectually abolish overnight all racial discriminations and injustices, some of which were sanctioned by law; or that the Special Assistant would be able to solve, during twenty-one months of the critical and abnormal period of war, all those intricate problems affecting the Negro race in America that others were unable to solve in fifty years of peace. While the author has never minimized any wrong, nor acted in the role of an apologist, nor condoned any injustice visited upon a single member of the Negro race, either before or during the recent world war, yet he has diligently directed his efforts towards securing the best possible results obtainable out of every situation that has arisen.
Guarding the Interests of Negro Soldiers and Civilians---Promoting a Healthy Morale---Cases of Alleged Discrimination Against Negro Draftees---The Edward Merchant Case---The John D. Wray Case---How Justice Was Secured---A War Department Inquiry---Training for Colored Officers.
At the time that the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War was called to Washington, in October, 1917, the war was in progress and the first draft law was being enforced. His first duties consisted principally in urging the equal and impartial application of the Selective Service Regulations to black men and white men alike, and formulating plans calculated to promote a healthy morale among Negro soldiers and civilians. In his effort to properly represent the interests of Negro draftees throughout his tenure of office, he received and keenly appreciated the prompt and cordial coöperation and support of the Secretary of War and of the Provost Marshal General's office. While it is true, and only fair to state, that Negro men, in many cases, were not treated as equitably and justly as white men in the application of the draft law, and that in certain sections they were made victims of many errors, irregularities, and injustices in the matter of classifications, inductions, etc., yet it is a fact that three Local Draft or Exemption Boards were removed from office by the Secretary of War, because it was proven that these Exemption Boards had flagrantly violated the Selective Service Regulations by discriminating against Negro draftees; furthermore, it was ordered that all wrongful classifications, etc., made by them should be corrected forthwith. The office was also instrumental in obtaining justice for a large number of Negro draftees who sent in countless letters, affidavits, and the like, registering their complaints against the unfair treatment of various Draft Boards; and the victories won in their cases, together with the wide newspaper publicity connected with the removal of three local Draft Boards mentioned above, because of their unfairness and injustice to Negro men, served as helpful and warning precedents and had a most salutary effect in the application of the second and third draft laws.
In handling these numerous cases of alleged discrimination and injustice, much correspondence passed between the office of the Special Assistant and the office of Provost Marshal General E. H. Crowder and numerous telephone messages and personal conferences were required.
A small portion of the correspondence in typical cases is hereto appended that indicate the efforts made on behalf of Negro draftees as well as the sympathetic attitude of the Provost Marshal General's office in its partially successful effort to correct abuses and injustices that arose in the application of the Draft Law by various Local Boards:
Provost Marshal General-Army. February 21, 1918.
Adjutant General,
Jackson, Mississippi.Number 4496.----Case of Edward Merchant of Local Board of Leake County, serial number 792, has again been brought to this office. Please direct the board to wire at once if they did or did not grant discharge to this registrant prior to November 13, and transmit original reply from local board by mail after wiring contents.
(Signed) CROWDER. ------- State of Mississippi
The Adjutant General's Office
Jackson, Miss.February 22nd, 1918.
FROM: Adjutant General Mississippi.
TO: F. E. Leach, Govt. Appeal Agent, Carthage, Mississippi.
SUBJECT: Status Edw. Merchant.I am directed by the Governor to inform you that the Provost Marshal General desires the Local Board of Leake County to advise the status of Edward Merchant, therefore, please answer the following questions on the bottom of this letter.
Did the local board grant Merchant a discharge from the draft?
If a discharge was granted, was it issued, prior to November 13th?
(Signed) EDW. C. SCALES,
Brigadier General.------- Carthage, Miss., Feb. 23, 1918.
1st. Records of Local Board show that Edward W. Merchant was discharged by them on reconsideration of his claim.
2nd. Date of discharge is November 7, 1917.
F. E. LEACH,
Govt. Appeal Agt., Leake County, Miss.------- War Department, Washington. February 26, 1918.
Memorandum for the Provost Marshal-General's Office:
Attention of
Major Roscoe S. Conkling, Judge Advocate.With further reference to the case of Edward Merchant, of Leake County, Mississippi, who was transferred from Camp Pike, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Camp Upton, New York, and to your memorandum bearing on his case which you forwarded me under date of February 14th.
I am venturing to raise the question as to whether or not this man is not entitled to discharge under the Selective Service Regulations in view of the fact that the Local Exemption Board of Leake County, Mississippi, on the 7th day of November, 1917, actually discharged Edward Merchant, as stated in affidavit filed by H. N. McMillan, Circuit Clerk, of said County-notwithstanding the disinclination of the State authorities of Mississippi to recommend such discharge.
The said Edward Merchant, whose letter I brought to your attention under date of January 25th, states that he has "a mother 50 years old and feeble, a wife and baby," and that his wife is pregnant and not able to perform any work whatsoever, that he is their only support and in the shape they are in it will be impossible for the Government allowance to keep them from suffering. This man is also a productive farmer, and it appears from all the evidence at hand that the decision of the Local Board discharging him was wise and just, and should be affirmed.
This man's case was up twice before the Local Board of Leake County, Miss., after which he was discharged, and in your memorandum to me, of February 9th, you stated "This was apparently in accordance with Compiled Rulings No. 12 (m) of this office, and it appears that the man (referring to Edward Merchant) should have been discharged from service.
In telegram of February 12th, the Provost Marshal General (see last clause of telegram) asks the Adjutant General at Jackson, Mississippi, to "Please advise why Adjutant General's office recommended that registrant be held, to service." I fail to find, in the documents you kindly transmitted (and which are hereby returned as requested) any satisfactory reply to the inquiry above quoted, and in view of the discharge granted Edward Merchant by his Local Board (verified by the affidavit of the Circuit Court Clerk of Leake County) it does seem that a serious injustice has, in some way, been done this registrant, inasmuch as the telegram from "Scales" (presumably the Adjutant General of Mississippi) states "that the records submitted to State headquarters did not grant an exemption from the draft." Will you, therefore, kindly have a full investigation of this case made, and ascertain if the action of the Local Board was properly made known to the State authorities. I would very much appreciate a further report on the findings in this case, as soon as the reasons for ignoring or over-ruling the action of the Local Board by the State authorities can be ascertained.
(Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT,
Special Assistant to Secretary of War.------- March 4, 1918.
FROM: Office of the Provost Marshal General.
TO: The Adjutant-General of the Army.
SUBJECT: Case of Edward Merchant, Serial No. 792, Order No. 109,
Ofahoma, Leake County, Mississippi.1. Your attention is respectfully invited to the case of Edward Merchant, Serial No. 792, Order No. 109, Ofahoma, Leake County, Mississippi, inducted into military service by operation of the Selective Service Law and forwarded to Camp Pike, thence transferred to Camp Upton, where he now is. As a matter of identification, it is stated that Merchant was at Base Hospital, Ward G-6, Camp Upton, on February 12th.
2. This case has been under investigation by this office for more than two months, and it appears that on November 7, 1917, after due and proper reconsideration of the facts, the local board. of the proper jurisdiction granted a discharge on dependency grounds; that through an error or negligence the man was not discharged from service.
3. It appears that the regular procedure prescribed by the regulations has been followed up to the point of transmittal of the final recommendation to the Camp Commander, and that through an error of the State headquarters, the man has been held to service. It therefore appears that the discharge should have been issued, in due course, more than three months ago.
4. A special request is made that prompt action be taken in this matter, as severe hardship and distress is reported to this office from various sources, due to this failure of the proper functioning of local officials, and that this office be advised of the final disposition of the case in order that it may speedily inform the parties interested.
E. H. CROWDER,
Provost Marshal General.
By Roscoe S. Conkling,
Major, Judge Advocate.------- 201 (Merchant, Edward) E. M. 1st Ind.
War Dept., A. G. O., March 7, 1918.---To the Commanding General 77th Division, Camp Upton, Yaphank, N. Y., for investigation, necessary action and report.By order of Secretary of War: J. W. RILEY,
Adjutant General.------- 201 (Merchant, Edward) 2nd Ind.
Hdq., 77th Division, Camp Upton, New York, March 15, 1918.---To Commanding Officer, 367th Infantry, for compliance with the first indorsement hereon.By Command of Brigadier-General Johnson:
Louis B. GEROM,
Capt., Field Artillery, N. A., Asst. to the Adjutant.------- 111 K 3rd Ind.
Hq. 367th Inf., Camp Upton, N. Y., 19th March 1918.---To Comdg. Gen'l,
Camp Upton.Private Edward Merchant states that on being inducted into the service at Camp Pike, he was informed that his certificate of discharge on account of dependent relatives was unnecessary, as he was to be discharged for physical disability. This not being done, he wrote to his mother who appeared before the Board and obtained the certificate which is inclosed herewith.
W. G. DRANE,
Lieutenant-Colonel, 367th Infantry, Administrative Officer.------- March 28, 1918.
Memorandum for Colonel Easby-Smith:
In re Edward, Merchant, Leake County, Miss.The discharge of this registrant was recommended by this office in our letter of March 4th to the Adjutant General of the Army. We have received no advice that such discharge has been granted.
History of the Case December 26, 1917, registrant wrote Special Assistant Emmett J. Scott of the War Department, stating that his Local Board had by order of the Adjutant General of Mississippi, reopened his case and granted his exemption. November 7, 1917, his discharge was refused by the Camp Commander.
January 25th, Mr. Scott referred the matter to this office.
February 11th, the Adjutant General of Mississippi advised that the Local Board for Leake County had refused to grant exemption to the registrant. The certificate of the Secretary of the Local Board showed that the discharge of the registrant was recommended by his Local Board on November 7, 1917.
On February 18th, the matter was presented by Senator Williams.
On February 27th the Adjutant General advised that their records show that the discharge of the registrant was actually recommended on November 7, 1917. The error in the case was obviously in the office of the Adjutant General of Mississippi.
March 4th, discharge recommended by this office in letter to The Adjutant General of the Army.
March 22nd, memorandum from Mr. Scott, "Is this in accordance with the decision reached?"
JAMES H. HUGHES, JR.,
1st Lieut., Infantry, R. C.-------
September 3, 1918.
Memorandum for Colonel Roscoe S. Conkling,
Office of the Provost Marshal-General:Dear Colonel Conkling:
Mr. John D. Wray, who is a substantial Negro farmer engaged in Coöperative Extension Work, headquarters A. & T. College, Greensboro, North Carolina, has written me the enclosed letter concerning certain definite cases of alleged injustice to colored draftees in said State, and I wish to bring the same to your attention for such investigation as they may merit.
Sincerely yours, (Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT,
Special Assistant to Secretary of War.Enclosures.
WHD------- September 9, 1918.
Honorable Emmett J. Scott,
Special Assistant, Office of The Secretary of War.
Washington, D. C.Dear Sir:---Your letter of September 3, with enclosure from Mr. John D. Wray attached,, has been referred to The Adjutant General of North Carolina. with instructions to have an immediate investigation made of the matters complained of in Mr. Wray's letter and to make a report of the results of said investigation.
Upon receipt of this report you will be further advised.
(Signed) E. H. CROWDER,
Provost Marshal General.
By Roscoe S. Conkling,
Lieut. Colonel, J. A., Chief, Classification Division.JDL
------- October 11, 1918.
Mr. Emmett J. Scott
Special Assistant,
Office of the Secretary of War, Washington, D. C.Dear Sir:
There is returned herewith a letter from John D. Wray of Greensboro, North Carolina, which accompanied your memorandum of the 3rd ult., together with photostat copies of reports from the Adjutant General of North Carolina and from various Local Boards, relating to the cases of the several registrants named in the complaint filed with you by John D. Wray.
(Signed) E. H. CROWDER,
Provost Marshal General.
By Roscoe S. Conkling,
Lieut. Colonel, J. A., Chief, Classification Division.WGdeR-gm
Encls.------- War Dept., P. M. G. C., September 9, 1918.-To The Adjutant General, Raleigh, N. C.
1. Referred.
2. Nothing could be more harmful to the Administration of the Draft than to have an impression prevail that race discrimination exists in any section of the country.
3. You are requested, therefore, to cause an immediate investigation to be made of the matters complained of in the attached letter, and upon completion of the investigation, to make a full report to this office.
4. It is suggested that, in making such investigation, the attached letter from Mr. John D. Wray be treated as confidential.
(Signed) E. H. CROWDER,
Provost Marshal General.
By Roscoe S. Conkling,
Lieut. Colonel, J. A., Chief, Classification Division.-------
The following communication is typical of the manner in which the author took up a number of matters involving injustice to colored workers in the departmental service at Washington and elsewhere:
March 21, 1918.
Memorandum for Dean F. P. Keppel, 3rd Assistant Secretary of War
Dear Dean Keppel:
I very much hope it will be possible to hold up the suggestion which has been made to eliminate all of the colored messengers who have successfully passed the Civil Service examination for that grade, and have thereby secured their positions through Civil Service regulations in the Procurement Division, Office of Chief of Ordnance, War Department, Washington, D. C. Such a recommendation has been made, and, I understand, is being seriously considered.
It is highly desirable, in my judgment, to ameliorate rather than inflame Negro public opinion here at the National Capital by these movements and suggestions of one kind or another which seem to indicate a willingness to altogether disregard this group of people who are striving in every way possible to support our Government.
(Signed) EMMETT J. SCOTT,
Special Assistant to Secretary of War.
Likewise, in the Camp Lee (Virginia) case, the Special Assistant found hundreds of educated young colored draftees, many of them college graduates, hailing from some twenty or more of the leading educational institutions of our country, all assigned to stevedore regiments and labor battalions, without any regard for their educational or technical qualifications, limited to the use of the spade, pickaxe, and shovel and to the digging of ditches, trenches, and the like, instead of being permitted to be trained as infantrymen with gun and bayonet. In direct response to repeated representations made by the author, hundreds of these men were transferred to infantry, artillery, and other units where they could more effectively and more agreeably serve their country, and the Secretary of War issued the following public statement, which was published in The Official Bulletin, of December 4, 1917, indicating his attitude with reference to such discriminations:
"War Department,
"Washington, November, 30, 1917."Mr. Emmett J. Scott,
"Special Assistant, War Department:"Referring to various telegrams and letters of protest received at the Department, to which you have called my attention, concerning certain alleged discriminations against colored draftees, I wish to say that a full investigation of the matters complained of has been ordered.
"As you know, it has been my policy to discourage discrimination against any persons by reason of their race. This policy has been adopted not merely as an act of justice to all races that go to make up the American people, but also to safeguard the very institutions which we are now at the greatest sacrifice engaged in defending and which any racial disorders must endanger.
"At the same time, there is no intention on the part of the War Department to undertake at this time to settle the so-called race question. In this hour of National emergency and need white and colored men alike are being called to defend our country's honor. In the very nature of the case some must fight in the trenches, while others must serve in other capacities behind the firing line.
"I very much regret what seems to be a certain amount of over-worked hysteria on the part of some of the complainants who seem to think that only colored draftees are being assigned to duty in Service Battalions, whereas thousands of white draftees already have been, and more of them necessarily will be, assigned to duty in such Service Battalions.
"Some of the complaints or charges of discrimination seem all the more unwarranted in view of the fact that there is far less hazard to the life of the soldier connected with the Service Battalion than is true in the case of the soldier who faces shot and shell on the firing line. Furthermore, the attitude of the War Department toward colored soldiers is clearly shown by the following facts: More than 626 of the 1,250 colored men who completed the course at the Reserve Officers' Training Camp, at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, have been commissioned as officers in the United States Army, nearly 100 colored physicians and surgeons have received commissions as officers in the Medical Reserve Corps, and a full fighting force of 30,000 colored soldiers, including representatives in practically every branch of military service, will constitute the Ninety-second Division, to be detailed for duty in France under General Pershing.
"The relations between the colored and white men in the camps containing both have been worked out on a very satisfactory basis, and little or no trouble seems likely to arise. All of my reports indicate that the colored men are accepting this as an opportunity to serve and not an occasion for creating discord or trouble, and white men and officers are passing over the question of race difference in a helpful spirit. What we need in this emergency is the help of right-thinking people in the cities and towns around the camps, and we are getting that coöperation so generally that our course seems free from embarrassment if German propagandists, who want to make discord by stirring up sensitive feelings, are simply not allowed to do their work.
"As a matter of fact, the colored people and the white people in this country have lived together now for a good many years and have established relationships in the several parts of the country which are more or less well organized and acquiesced in. Gradually the colored people are acquiring education in the industrial arts, and are rendering themselves more and more useful in our civilization and more and more entitled to our respect. On the other hand, the white people are coming more generally to realize the value of the good citizens among the colored people through their industrial importance and their eager desire to learn and qualify themselves for usefulness in the country, and this has brought about a growth of good feeling, marred, it is true, here and there by such incidents as that at Houston and that at East St. Louis, which grew out of sad misunderstandings and were perhaps contributed to, in at least one of these instances, by the malicious activities of people who would rejoice to see any embarrassment come to us as a sign of weakness against our enemy. Therefore, unrest among the colored people and suspicion of the Government on their part are, by all means, to be discouraged at a time like this.
"We are bending all our energies to the building up of an Army to defeat the enemy of democracy and freedom, and the Army we are building contains both white and colored men. We are expecting that they will all do their duty, and when they have done it they will be alike entitled to the gratitude of their country.
(Signed) "NEWTON D. BAKER,
"Secretary of War."
Every case of racial discrimination or injustice that was brought to official attention, involving either Negro draftees and soldiers or Negro war workers and civilians, was taken up and brought to the attention of the proper officials of the Government, including the War and other Departments, the Military Intelligence Bureau, and in some cases the Department of Justice. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of War regarded all such cases of unfair treatment as calculated inevitably to affect the morale of the Negro people, the maintenance of which was such an essential factor in the winning of the war.
The official files of the Adjutant-General of the Army, which is the administrative branch of the War Department, as well as the files of the Office of the Secretary of War, contain scores and scores of memoranda which the Special Assistant has submitted in the interest of Negro soldiers, Negro chaplains and Negro officers in the National Army, now known as "The Army of the United States." They reveal a strenuous effort to have the worth of the Negro as a soldier fitly recognized by the formation of combatant Negro units in addition to the noncombatant units, known as Stevedore and Labor battalions and the like, to which latter class of military service Negro soldiers, at the beginning of the war and regardless of their educational and special qualifications, seemed to be disproportionately assigned, if not completely doomed.
An effort in behalf of the proper training and increased utilization of Negro men as infantry and artillery officers, as medical officers, as chaplains, and of colored women as army nurses and the like, likewise, in part, succeeded because it was worthy in itself and received the hearty, intelligent, and continuous support of practically the entire Negro press of America, to whom the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War owes so much personally as well as officially for the most loyal and valuable help rendered during his tenure of office in the War Department.
To any one who is acquainted with the military status of the American Negro before the war with Germany, and who is familiar with the organized and determined efforts that had to be put forth to have the merits and rights of Negro soldiers suitably recognized, there must come the conviction that the privileges, opportunities, and honors accorded him during the war were, in spite of some discouragement, not merely incidental or accidental; but were due, in some measure at least, to the fact that the Negro soldiers were permitted to have a "friend at court" who was backed up by the best thought and sentiment of the Negro race and by influential white friends of that race in formulating and carrying forward a constructive program that has given to them quite a number of military and other advantages never before enjoyed in the history of our country. While the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War would not by any means exaggerate the importance of the office which he has been holding in the War Department, nor assume any credit which does not rightfully belong to it, yet it is highly significant and proper to note the contrast between the condition of the Negro in the United States at the beginning of the war and the military opportunities and advantages which our race acquired during the progress of the recent world-wide conflict.
Before the European war the Negro was represented in only two branches of the United States Army, namely, the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry units, comprising all told less than 10,000 men, and less than a dozen Negro officers; while during the war, approximately twelve hundred (1200) Negro officers were admitted into practically every branch of military service, including Field Artillery, Coast Artillery, Cavalry, Infantry, Engineer Corps, Signal Corps (radio or wireless telegraphy, etc.), Medical Corps (physicians, surgeons, dentists, etc.), Hospital and Ambulance Corps, Veterinary Corps, Sanitary and Ammunition Trains, Stevedore Regiments, Labor Battalions, Depot Brigades, and quite a number of them served as Regimental Clerks, Surveyors, Draftsmen, Auto Repairers, Motor Truck Operators, several Regimental Adjutants, one or more, Judge Advocates and a number of Negro Military Intelligence Officers, Negro chemists, Negro mechanics; indeed, the Negro served in nearly every branch of the Army with the exception of the Air Section of the Aviation Corps (operating airplanes, etc.).
These increased opportunities for Negro men and officers were not a matter of chance, for they would not have been possible if the "fight for a chance to fight as Negro combat units" had not been successful. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of War made a systematic effort to mobilize college-trained Negro men for Artillery and other technical branches of military service, including the 317th Engineer Regiment, the 325th Field Signal Battalion, and as Negro officers for the 92nd Division, etc., realizing, as he did, the imperative necessity of obtaining the very best material his race could afford in trying out this most important, this historic, and now successful military experiment. Scores of technically qualified young men were enabled to consummate their desire to render that particular service in the Army for which they were best fitted by talent and special training.
Perhaps one of the most important and far-reaching projects developed by the War Department was the provision for the training of nearly 20,000 young colored men in military science and tactics, at Government expense, in conjunction with their general education, through Students' Army Training Corps and Vocational Detachments, established in some twenty or more of the leading colored schools, institutes, colleges, and universities of the United States. Similar provision has also since been made for the formation of Reserve Officers' Training Corps for colored men in a number of colored educational institutions, North and South.
Another useful function performed by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, and one which has afforded him as much genuine satisfaction as any other service he has rendered in the War Department, is the matter of looking after hundreds, if not thousands of cases relating to voluntary and compulsory allotments, extra Government allowances and compensations, war risk insurance, and the like, due to the families and dependents of enlisted men and of deceased Negro soldiers. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of War has personally looked after or handled through his office many of these cases pending before the Bureau of War Risk Insurance at Washington, believing that one of the best services he could render the Negro soldier was to protect the financial interests of his wife, his little ones, or other dependents.
Along with many others the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War fought for the establishment of the Fort Des Moines Reserve Officers' Training Camp for Negro officers; likewise, after his appointment in the War Department, he used every argument and resource at his command to induce the War Department to make adequate and equal provision for the training of Negro officers in connection with the various camps and cantonments where the National Army was being developed. Never before in the history of our country did we have a Special Officers' Training Camp for the training of Negro officers, to serve in the United States Army, like the one which was conducted by Army officers at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, from June 15 to October 15, 1917, where nearly 700 Negro officers were commissioned; or like the Third, Fourth and Fifth Series of Reserve Officers' Training Camps that were later conducted for the benefit of enlisted men, Negroes and whites alike, in conjunction with the National Army camps and cantonments throughout the country.
The admission of Negro officers into Field Artillery units was only secured after a struggle. It seemed difficult to convince certain subordinate members of Secretary Baker's staff that Negro men possessed the mentality and college training considered as a necessary prerequisite to being trained as Field Artillery officers, but with the creation of the 349th, 350th and 351st Field Artillery regiments (all Negro organizations) the "ice was broken" and quite a number of Negro soldiers, hailing from some of the leading colleges and universities of America, were trained as artillery officers.
The retirement of Colonel Charles Young from active service occasioned much feeling among the colored people. This is referred to elsewhere in this volume. Nothing gave the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War greater pleasure than to coöperate with the friends of Colonel Young to bring about his call to active duty again through the following order:
WAR DEPARTMENT.
The Adjutant General's Office.Washington, Nov. 6, 1918.
FROM: The Adjutant General of the Army.
TO: Col. Charles Young, U. S. Army (retired),
1912 1/2 Fourteenth St., N. W.,
Washington, D. C.SUBJECT: Assignment.
The Secretary directs as necessary in the military service that you proceed to Camp Grant, Rockford, Illinois, and report in person to the Commanding General of that camp for assignment to duty in connection with the Colored Development Battalions at Camp Grant.
WILLIAM KELLY, JR.,
Adjutant General.
One of the most important functions of the office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War was to help maintain a healthy morale among Negro soldiers and the twelve million colored Americans, whose continued loyalty was so severely tried during the war. In coöperation with the Committee on Public Information, he conducted a systematic campaign of publicity through the Negro press, the Official Bulletin, leading white newspapers and magazines, etc., which kept the colored people and the country at large fully informed as to the aims and policies of the Government and especially as to the attitude of the War Department with reference to opportunities offered and treatment accorded colored draftees and soldiers. This campaign did much to reassure the colored soldiers, to maintain the morale of colored Americans generally, and to vitalize their efforts toward winning the war.
While it was not possible to accomplish even a small proportion of favorable results in all of the matters which arose; and while in many instances the full measure of justice was not accorded Negro soldiers, sailors, and civilians, it yet remains a fact that during the whole period of the war the office of Special Assistant continued to urge a program of One Hundred Per Cent Americanism, it sought to obtain for them the fullest measure of opportunity possible and to promote friendly feelings between white and colored citizens of the country, based upon the highest ideals of justice and fair play.
Selective Service Law the Most Complete Recognition of the Citizenship of the Negro, North and South---All the Duties and Responsibilities of Patriots Imposed Upon the Negro by the Draft Act---Tribute by the Provost Marshal General to the Colored Soldier---Assignment of Negro--- Draftees to Cantonments.
On May 18, 1917, Congress enacted what came to be known as the Selective Service law. As stated in the First Report of the Provost Marshal General, "It was unequivocal in its terms. It boldly recited the military obligations of citizenship. It vested the President with the plenary power of prescribing regulations which should strike a balance between industrial and economical need on the one hand and the military need on the other. It provided that men could be summoned for service in the place in which it would best suit the common good to call them. It was a measure of undoubted significance and power and flung a fair challenge at the feet of those doubters who did not believe that the country would respond to a draft upon the man-power of the republic."
It is of moment to state that on June 5, Registration Day, a number of representative colored citizens served as Selective Service registrars to the entire satisfaction of the Provost Marshal General. There was complaint, however, that so small a number of colored men were permitted to serve as Selective Service registrars, considering the large number of colored men who were called upon to register under the draft.
Under the first selective draft 9,586,508 men between the ages of 21 and 31 were registered; of this number 8,848,882 were whites and 737,626 were colored. Thus it appears that the total registration of citizens of African descent was nearly eight per cent of the entire (racially composite) registration. Of the number of white and colored draftees who were certified for service, official figures show that, in the first draft, 75,697 colored men, or 36.23 per cent of the total number were called to the colors and served as soldiers; while 711,213, or 24.75 per cent of the total number of white men certified were called to the colors and served as soldiers. On this particular point I quote directly from Provost Marshal General Crowder's First Report:
"Thus it appears that out of every 100 colored citizens called 36 were certified for service and 64 were rejected, exempted or discharged; whereas out of every 100 whites called 25 were certified for service and 75 were rejected, exempted, or discharged."
Further drafts during the course of the war led to increasingly large numbers of whites being called to the colors, and of course increasingly large numbers of colored selectmen as well. Nineteen months brought the total enrollment for service up to twenty-four million (24,000,000), including those who were enrolled under subsequent calls, which were put into operation as the result of Congressional legislation, which afterwards enrolled even those men who reached the age of 45 years.
Under the law, as has been stated, no difference was made as between white and colored citizens. The citizenship of the Negro as provided in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution. was fully recognized; color and race were not material, and the regulations for the purpose of classification did not exempt the Negro. A comparison of white and colored registration at the end of the war discloses the following facts: That between June 5, 1917, and September 12, 1918, there were registered 21,489,470 whites and 2,290,527 Negroes, the proportion of colored registrants to the whole being 9.63 per cent. The figures above, however, do not include some 300,000 additional registrants during September and October.
| State |
White |
Colored |
| Alabama |
36,172 |
25,674 |
| Arizona |
8,308 |
77 |
| Arkansas |
33,217 |
17,544 |
| California |
71,026 |
919 |
| Colorado |
24,178 |
371 |
| Connecticut |
33,802 |
941 |
| Delaware |
3,879 |
1,365 |
| District of Columbia |
6,576 |
4,000 |
| Florida |
12,769 |
12,904 |
| Georgia |
34,748 |
34,303 |
| Idaho |
13,222 |
95 |
| Illinois |
178,036 |
6,754 |
| Indiana |
70,701 |
4,579 |
| Iowa |
70,899 |
929 |
| Kansas |
43,761 |
2,127 |
| Kentucky |
48,977 |
11,320 |
| Louisiana |
29,230 |
28,711 |
| Maine |
16,415 |
50 |
| Maryland |
26,211 |
9,212 |
| Massachusetts |
82,765 |
1,200 |
| Michigan |
99,027 |
2,395 |
| Minnesota |
76,406 |
511 |
| Mississippi |
21,182 |
24,066 |
| Missouri |
67,920 |
9,219 |
| Montana |
27,965 |
198 |
| Nebraska |
31,520 |
642 |
| Nevada |
3,227 |
26 |
| New Hampshire |
9,174 |
27 |
| New Jersey |
69,974 |
4,863 |
| New Mexico |
9,082 |
51 |
| New York |
260,759 |
6,193 |
| North Carolina |
40,740 |
20,082 |
| North Dakota |
19,087 |
87 |
| Ohio |
139,695 |
7,861 |
| Oklahoma |
61,287 |
5,694 |
| Oregon |
18,182 |
68 |
| Pennsylvania |
197,336 |
15,392 |
| Rhode Island |
11,785 |
291 |
| South Carolina |
19,909 |
25,798 |
| South Dakota |
22,132 |
62 |
| Tennessee |
44,405 |
17,774 |
| Texas |
91,583 |
31,506 |
| Utah |
77 |
11,631 |
| Vermont |
7,294 |
22 |
| Virginia |
37,295 |
23,541 |
| Washington |
30,912 |
173 |
| West Virginia |
41,362 |
5,492 |
| Wisconsin |
75,261 |
224 |
| Wyoming |
8,095 |
95 |
| Alaska |
1,957 |
5 |
| Hawaii |
5,523 |
|
| Porto Rico |
15,787 |
|
| Totals |
2,442,586 |
367,710 |
Of the colored men who were classified, 51.65 per cent were put in Class I, while of the whites between the same dates who were registered 32.53 per cent were put in Class I.
The Provost Marshal General at some length offers an explanation of the high figures for colored registrants in Class I, but the essential fact stands that under the Selective Service Regulations 51.65 per cent of the colored registration was placed in Class I, while only 32.53 per cent of the whites were so classified. The Provost Marshal General in his Second Annual Report to the Secretary of War discusses "The Negro in Relation to the Draft." Officially he states:
"The part that has been played by the Negro in the great world drama upon which the curtain is now about to f all is but another proof of the complete unity of the various elements that go to make up this great Nation. Passing through the sad and rigorous experience of slavery; ushered into a sphere of civil and political activity where he was to match his endeavors with those of his former masters still embittered by defeat, gradually working his way toward the achievement of success that would enable both him and the world to justify his new life of freedom; surrounded for over half a century of his new life by the spectre of that slavedom through which he had for centuries past laboriously toiled; met continuously by the prejudice born of tradition; still the slave, to a large extent, of superstition fed by ignorance---in the light of this history, some doubt was felt and expressed, by the best friends of the Negro, when the call came for a draft upon the man-power of the Nation, whether he would possess sufficient stamina to measure up to the full duty of citizenship, and would give to the Stars and Stripes, that had guaranteed for him the same liberty now sought for all nations and all races, the response that was its due. And, on the part of many of the leaders of the Negro race, there was apprehension that the sense of fair play and fair dealing, which is so essentially an American characteristic, would not, nay could not, in a country of such diversified views, with sectional feeling still slumbering but not dead, be meted out to the members of the colored race.
"How groundless such fears, how ill considered such doubts, may be seen from the statistical record of the draft with relation to the Negro. His race furnished its quota, and uncomplainingly, yes, cheerfully. History, indeed, will be unable to record the fullness of his spirit in the war, for the reason that opportunities for enlistment were not opened to him to the same extent as to the whites. But enough can be gathered from the records to show that he was filled with the same feeling of patriotism, the same martial spirit, that fired his white fellow citizen in the cause for world freedom.
"As a general rule, he was fair in his dealings with draft officials; and in the majority of cases, having the assistance of his white employers, he was able to present fairly such claims for deferment or discharge as he may have had, for the consideration of the various draft boards. In consequence, there appears to have been no racial discrimination made in the determination of his claims. Indeed, the proportion of claims granted to claims filed by members of the Negro race compares favorably with the proportion of claims granted to members of the white race.
"That the men of the colored race were as ready to serve as their white neighbors is amply proved by the reports from the local boards. A Pennsylvania board. remarking upon the eagerness of its colored registrants to be inducted, illustrated this by the action of one registrant, who, upon learning that his employer had had him placed upon the Emergency fleet list, quit his job. Another registrant, who was believed by the board to be above draft age, insisted that he was not, and, in stating that lie was not married, explained that he 'wanted only one war at a time.'"
General Crowder requested a statement as to the cooperation shown the office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War by the Provost Marshal General's office in the matter of selective service administration as it affected the Negro people, especially in reference to complaints which were from time to time received from his office. He quotes in his Report the following extract from a memorandum written to him by the Special Assistant under date of December 12, 1918:
"'Throughout my tenure here I have keenly appreciated the prompt and cordial co-operation of the Provost Marshal General's office with that particular section of the office of the Secretary of War especially referred to herein. The Provost Marshal General's office has carefully investigated and has furnished full and complete reports in each and every complaint or case referred to it for attention, involving discrimination, race prejudice, erroneous classification of draftees, etc., and has rectified these complaints whenever it was found, upon investigation, that there was just ground for the same. Especially in the matter of applying and carrying out the Selective Service Regulations, the Provost Marshal General's Office has kept a watchful eye upon certain local exemption boards which seemed disinclined to treat Negro draftees on the same basis as other Americans subject to the draft law. It is an actual fact that in a number of instances, where flagrant violations have occurred in the application of the draft law to Negro men in certain sections of the country, local exemption boards have been removed bodily and new boards have been appointed to supplant them. In several instances these boards so appointed have been ordered by the Provost Marshal General to reclassify colored men who had been unlawfully conscripted into the Army or who had been wrongfully classified; as a result of this action hundreds of colored men have bad their complaints remedied and have been properly reclassified.'"
The Special Assistant also ventured in the same memorandum which Gen. Crowder quotes, to say:
"'In a word, I believe that the Negro's participation in the war, his eagerness to serve, and his great courage and demonstrated valor across the seas, have given him a new idea of Americanism and likewise have given to the white people of our country a new idea of his citizenship, his real character and capabilities, and his 100 per cent Americanism. Incidentally, the Negro has been helped in many ways, physically and mentally and has been made into an even more satisfactory asset to the Nation.'"
In view of the restiveness which obtained in the South with reference to sending colored soldiers into the training camps an acute problem was presented to the War Department. Toward the latter part of August, 1917, a conference was held to discuss this question. It was attended by a number of educators who were in Washington for the purpose of being present at an Educational .Conference which had been called by Hon. P. P. Claxton, United States Commissioner of Education, an appointment having been made with the Secretary of War, at which conference the whole question was discussed at some length. Present were Mr. George Foster Peabody, New York, philanthropist and unfaltering friend of the Negro; Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard, then editor and owner of the New York Evening Post; Dr. T. H. Harris, State Superintendent of Education for Louisiana; Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones of the Phelps-Stokes Fund Foundation; and such prominent colored men as Dr. Robert R. Moton, Principal of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute; Dr. John Hope, President of Morehouse College; Bishop George W. Clinton of the A. M. E. Z. Church, and a number of others, including the author. This conference was followed by another which was held by Mr. Peabody, Dr. Moton, and the author, with Messrs. Walter Lippman and Felix Frankfurter, who were advising the Secretary of War at that time in matters relating to the colored people. At this latter conference it was substantially agreed that while the South might object to having colored men from Northern states sent into the various camps and cantonments of the South, it could not well refuse an acceptance of the principle of having such colored selectmen as might be called in such states trained in the cantonments of the states in which they lived.
Considerable hardship followed, however, as the result of this principle; as, for instance, while Alabama has a large colored population, colored soldiers were not sent to Camp Sheridan, Alabama, where a camp was located, but instead were sent to Iowa, because Camp Sheridan was not a cantonment but a camp at which the Ohio National Guardsmen were trained,---the colored battalion from Ohio for a while, along with the whites; but the colored selectmen from Alabama could not be trained at this camp under the program agreed upon. Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Ga., however, was called upon to accept colored registrants from Georgia because it was a cantonment rather than a camp, and the same thing was true of Camp Jackson, South Carolina, to which colored selectmen of South Carolina were assigned.
|
Approximately |
||
| To | Camp Devens, Ayer, Mass., its own colored quota |
600 |
| To | Camp Upton, Yaphank, L. I., New York, its own colored quota |
5,800 |
| To | Camp Dix, Wrightstown, N. J., its own colored quota and Florida colored quota |
4,500 |
| To | Camp Meade, Annapolis Junction, Md., its own colored quota and Tennessee colored quota |
6,100 |
| To | Camp Lee, Petersburg, Va., its own colored quota |
6,300 |
| To | Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, its own colored quota, and Oklahoma colored quota |
3,000 |
| To | Camp Jackson, Columbia, S. C., its own colored quota |
5,900 |
| To | Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Ga., its own colored quota |
9,000 |
| To | Camp Pike, Little Rock, Ark., its own colored quota, and Louisiana colored quota |
9,600 |
| To | Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Mich., its own colored quota |
600 |
| To | Camp Grant, Rockford, Ill., its own colored quota and North Carolina colored quota |
7,200 |
| To | Camp Taylor, Louisville, Ky., its own colored quota |
3,000 |
| To | Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Ia., its own colored quota and Alabama colored quota |
6,600 |
| To | Camp Funston, Ft. Riley, Kas., its own colored quota and Mississippi colored quota |
8,300 |
| To | Camp Travis, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, its own colored quota. |
6,500 |
| To | Camp Lewis, Washington, D. C., its own colored quota |
400 |
| Total |
83,400 |
The effect of the above distribution was in many cases to throw, in the beginning, the colored selectmen of Georgia, for instance, with some 30,000 selectmen from the North and East; the same thing was true at Camp Pike, Arkansas, to which some 30,000 .Western selectmen were first sent. Under this program it was proved that colored and white men could be trained together in Southern camps without friction. Long before the nineteen months of the war had ended, colored selectmen were being sent into practically every camp in the South, and it is a matter of congratulation to both races that no such friction and trouble followed as had been feared beforehand.
The draft revealed the fact that the Negro could stand the high physical tests of the Selective Service Regulations, a smaller proportion of his number proportionately being rejected than was true of the rest of the composite American population. Americans generally were more or less amazed to find that the Negro not only stood up physically, but that in many important respects where he was supposed to be "off color" his record stood the test.
