Enthusiastic Service of Colored Women in the Wartime Emergency ---Overcoming the Problems of Race, by Pure Patriotism---Work for the Red Cross---The Young Women's Christian Association---The Colored Hostess Houses and Rest Rooms for Soldiers---War Problems of Living---The Circle for Negro War Belief---Colored Women in the Loan Drives---Important Work in War Industries.

When the world war began, even before the United States had entered the conflict, the women of this country were thrilled as women have ever been since wars began, with the desire to serve. As if in anticipation of the days soon to come when their own men would be sent forth to battle, they began to sew and knit and plan relief work for the men of other nations. It was but an earnest of the days to come, when every nerve of the nation would be strained to care for its own men.,

When, after that day in April, 1917, so filled with direful possibilities for the nation, the women realized that they were indeed to be called upon to give up their all, there was but one desire in the hearts of all the women of the country---to do their utmost for the men who were about to go forth to battle for an ideal. Overnight careless idlers were transformed into busy workers; social butterflies into earnest grubs; thoughtless girls into poised women; card clubs into knitting circles; aspirants to social honors into workers whose sole ambition was to be a definite factor in helpful service. Where there had been petty bickering, there was now a realization that this was -no time for the small things of life. The one common sorrow of loss of the men dearest to them, of seeing their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands in the great conflict, welded together the women of the nation, and purged the dross of littleness from their souls by the fire of service.

One thing which served to strengthen and intensify the feeling of responsibility and seriousness of the women of the country was the fact that for the' first time in the history of the world, a nation at war recognized its women as a definite asset in the conduct of the war. Hitherto, her place had been that of those in the poem, "For men must work, and women must weep." Hers was the task of sending her men forth to return with their shields or upon them, while she remained at home to weep and perhaps make bandages against the return of her wounded men, As a factor in the war she was nil, save in those isolated and abortive cases in history where she became an Amazon or a Molly Pitcher.

But in April, 1917, all this was changed! The nation called, upon its women to do definite and constructive work, far-reaching and real. It called them not only to nurse the wounded, but to conserve the health of those at home; not only to give aid and comfort to the fighting men, but to preserve the health and morals of the women whom they must meet, love, and marry; not only to make bandages for the stricken soldiers, but to provide ambulances and even drive them; not only to give love and tears, but money, which they raised from every legitimate source; not only to cheer the men as they marched to the front, but to keep up the morale of those left at home; and to fan into a flame the sparks of patriotism in the breasts of those whom the country denied the privilege of bearing arms. With one stroke the Government organized every woman of the nation into an inclusive body, and mobilized the formerly overlooked greatest asset of the nation.

Into this maelstrom of war activity the women of the Negro race hurled themselves joyously. They asked no odds, remembered no grudges, solicited no favors, pleaded for no privileges. They came by the thousands, hands opened wide to give of love and service and patriotism. It was enough for them that their country was at war; it was enough for them that there was work to do. Centuries of labor had taught them the love of labor; a heritage of service had taught them the beauty of giving of themselves, and a . race record of patriotism and loyalty had imbued them inherently with the flaming desire to do their part in the struggle of their native land.

The problem of the woman of the Negro race was a peculiar one. Was she to do her work. independently of the women of the other race, or was she to merge herself into their organizations? There were separate regiments for Negro soldiers; should there be separate organizations for relief work among Negro women? If she joined relief organizations, such as the Red Cross Society, and worked with them, would she be assured that her handiwork would reach black hands on the other side of the world, or should she be great-hearted and give her service, simply for the sake of giving, not caring who was to be benefited? Could she be sure that when she offered her services she would be understood as desiring to be a help, and not wishing to be an associate? As is usually the case when any problem presents itself to the nation at large, the Negro faces a double problem should he essay a solution---the great issue and the lesser problem of racial adjustment to that issue.

However, the women of the race cut the Gordian knot with magnificent simplicity. They offered their services and gave them freely, in whatsoever form was most pleasing to the local organizations of white women. They accepted without a murmur the place assigned them in the ranks. They placed the national need before the local prejudice; they put great-heartedness and pure patriotism above the ancient creed of racial antagonism. For pure, unalloyed unselfishness of the highest order, the conduct of the Negro women of the United States during the world war stands out in splendid relief, a lesson to the entire world of what womanhood of the best type really means.

At the very beginning of the war, the first organization to which the women of the country naturally turned was the Red Cross Society. It was to be expected that the colored woman, preeminently the best nurse in the world, would necessarily turn to the Red Cross Society as a field in which to exercise her peculiar gifts. Red Cross branches were organized in practically every community in the country. Yet it is extremely difficult to tell just what the contribution of the colored woman hag been to this organization. We are told that, "The American Red Cross during the war enlisted workers without regard to creed or color and no separate records were maintained of the work of any particular Auxiliary. We know that some eight million women worked for the Red Cross in one way or another during the war, but we have no figures indicating how many of them were colored."

In the Northern cities the colored women merged their identity in their Red Cross work with the white women, that is, in some Northern cities. In others, and in the South, they formed independent units, auxiliaries to the local branches presided over by the women of the other race. These auxiliaries sent hundreds of thousands of knitted garments to the front, maintained restaurants, did canteen service where they could; sent men from the local draft boards to the camps with comfort kits; in short, did all that could be done---all that they were allowed to do.

But the story of the colored woman and the Red Cross is not altogether a pleasant one. Unfortunately, her activities in this direction were considerably curtailed in many localities. There were whole sections of the country in which she was denied the privilege of doing canteen service. There were other sections in which canteen service was so managed as to be canteen service in name only. Local conditions, racial antipathies, ancient prejudices militated sadly against her usefulness in this work. To the everlasting and eternal credit of the colored woman be it said that, in spite of what might have been absolute deterrents, she persisted in her service and was not downcast in the face of difficulties.

The best part of the whole situation lies in the fact that in the local organizations of the Red Cross the Negro woman was the beneficiary. The Home Nursing classes and the classes in Dietetics not only served to strengthen the morale of the women engaged therein, but raised the tone of every community in which they were organized. This was shown during the influenza, epidemic of 1918, when a panic-stricken nation called upon its volunteer nurses of every race and color, and the women of the Red Cross were ready in response and in training.

Theodore Roosevelt has said, "All of us who give service and stand ready for sacrifice, are the torch-bearers. We run with the torches until we fall, content if we can then pass them to the hands of other runners." If that be the case, the gray chapter of the colored nurses in overseas service is a golden one. Early in 1918 the Government issued a call for nurses. The need was great overseas; it was greater at home. Colored women since the inception of the war had felt keenly their exclusion from overseas service. The need for them was acute; their willingness to go was complete; the only thing that was wanted was authoritative sanction. In June, 1918, it was officially announced that the Secretary of War had authorized the calling of colored nurses in the national service. It was an act that did more complete justice to our people, in enfranchising our women for this noble service than any other of the war. All colored nurses who had been registered by the American Red Cross Society were thus given the right to render service to their own race in the army. Colored nurses were assigned to the base hospitals at Camp Funston, Kansas; Camp Grant, Rockford, Illinois; Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa,; Camp Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky; Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, and Camp Dix, Wrightstown, New Jersey. At these camps a total of about 38,000 colored troops were located.

Colored people throughout the country felt deep satisfaction over this authorization of the enrollment of colored nurses at the base hospitals and camps. Hundreds of competent colored nurses had registered their names for many months with the Nursing Division of the American Red Cross, in the hope of finally securing positions where their skill and experience could be utilized to proper advantage. These last were particularly gratified over the happy turn of affairs. At the convention of the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses held at St. Louis, Missouri, a formal message of appreciation was sent to the War Department, the American Red Cross Society, and other agencies that had been instrumental in pushing their claims.

Mrs. Adah B. Thomas, R. N., president of the National Association of Graduate Nurses, attached to the staff of the Lincoln Hospital and Home in New York City, gave a typical expression of the sentiment of the colored nurses and the colored people generally with reference to the admission of colored women to this branch of service. She was the first to offer herself for overseas service. Indianapolis, Indiana, sent a contingent for active service at once. Elizabeth Miller of Meharry Medical College, Nashville, Tennessee, answered the Government call and was assigned to duty at a, nitrate plant in Alabama.

These were but sporadic instances indicating the instant response to the long-waited call to service. Unfortunately, before any considerable change in existing circumstances surrounding this branch of service could be made, the Armistice was signed and history will never know what the colored woman might have done on the battlefields of France as a Red Cross Nurse. Rumor, more or less authentic, states that over 300 colored nurses were on the battlefields, though their complexion disguised their racial identity.

Of the remedial agencies at work for the relief of humanity, and the shouldering of responsibility for the health, morals, and happiness of those also working for the relief of humanity, the Young Women's Christian Association in its operation among the colored girls, women, and men stands out pre-eminently. The reason for this is not hard to seek---the qualities of personality in the leader of this work among colored women, Miss Eva D. Bowles.

At the time the country faced the possibility of war, the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association was confronted with the great responsibility of helping to safeguard the moral life of women and girls as affected by war conditions. Request came from the United States War Department Commission on Training Camp Activities and from the Young Men's Christian Association, for women workers to undertake work among girls in communities adjacent to army and navy training camps. Hence the formation of the War Work Council. It was organized in June, 1917, with a membership of 100, its function to help meet the special needs of girls and young women in all countries affected by the war. Allied with this was the Junior War Work Council, and the Patriotic League. The extension of these activities among colored girls and women was simultaneous, and one of the brightest chapters in the story of women in the war is the one which records how this work measured up to the responsibilities laid upon it.

The War Work Council of the Young, Women's Christian Association, recognizing the loyalty and the need of the colored women and girls of the country, devoted $400,060 of its 1918 budget to the work among the colored girls. When it was organized there was one colored National Secretary and sixteen associations or communities, with nine paid workers. The great demand for a better morale among the girls of the country soon raised that number to twelve National workers, three field supervisors, and forty-two centers, with sixty-three paid workers.

There were opened up in the various camps fifteen hostess houses with complete staffs of colored women. These houses served a splendid purpose. When the War Department planned the great training camps it may not have remembered the women of the country in the stress of making up the army of men, or it may have thought that if it said that there were to be no women in the camps, there would be none. But every woman knows that as long as there is a path to the camps, that path the women will follow; be it on foot, by boat, in cars, trains, trolleys, motor cars, or on horseback; and if there be no trail, the women will blaze one. They must see if their men are ill, or living, and how they are living. If they are ill, they must get to them; if homesick, they must cheer them; if they are leaving for overseas, they must say good-bye to them. And if there are none of their own, they must be charitable enough to extend their good-will to the lonely and heart-hungry of others.

Hence the birth of the, Hostess House idea; a bit of home in the camps, a place of rest and refreshment for the women folks belonging to the soldiers; a sheltering chaperonage for the too-enthusiastic girl; a dainty supplement to the stern face of the camp-life of the soldiers; an information bureau for women and soldiers alike; a clearing-house for the social activities which included the men in camps and their women visitors.

As the colored troops came into the camps in large numbers, there was an urgent appeal to meet the needs of their women. The first house to be opened was at Camp Upton, when the "Buffaloes" (367th) were being made into the crack regiment that it afterward became; Mrs. Hannah O. Smith, the pioneer among the Hostess House leaders, going there to take charge in the early part of November, 1917. Only great enthusiasm and faith in the value of the work to be done could have brought about the results which Mrs. Smith achieved at Camp Upton at this time. The temporary headquarters for the hostess house were in a barracks with few conveniences and almost no possibilities. Mrs. Smith, with her co-worker, Mrs. Norcomb, soon made the place as homelike as possible. This was the beginning of the Hostess House work for colored women.

In no very great while Hostess Houses in seven of the large camps were in operation and others soon followed. In some camps, where there was a definite surety, work was begun in the barracks. From many Southern camps came the request for the immediate erection of houses on an insufficient plan, but these plans were rejected. Finally, in the natural progress that came, the houses were erected, and used the same as other Hostess Houses. The relationship of the staff to the whole staff of the camp developed into an ideal, and all groups working under the general tutelage of the Young Women's Christian Association understood each other and had a better appreciation of mutual problems by working together.

As the war progressed, our colored girls were taken into almost every phase of the industrial field. It was then recognized early in the work that the success of the movement depended largely upon the correct interpretation of the colored girl to her employer and her white co-worker, and of a fair, just attitude of the white worker toward the colored girl. The war opened up many avenues of employment and service to the colored girls that bad not hitherto been her privilege to accept, principally in the industrial field, and with the opening up of these new lines of work, new problems were developed; consequently there came a demand for women to go into localities where factories were located, to make investigations as to working conditions, housing and recreational facilities; to create a better understanding between the employer and employee, and to assist in the opening up of new opportunities for work. As a result of this, an industrial worker was placed at such vital points as Detroit, St. Louis, Louisville, East St. Louis, Nitro, West Virginia; Penniman, Virginia, and Philadelphia, with one appointed for Baltimore, and an acute situation in Washington cared for.

Not only was there need for the care and protection of the girl in the factory, but equally as much so for those in more social communities. This led to the development of club and recreational centers especially in cities near which camps were located. To-day, these centers reach from New York to Los Angeles, California, and from St. Paul, Minnesota, to San Antonio, Texas. These clubs and recreational centers are also an important feature in industrial communities.

Not only in groups, but as individuals, the women felt the call of this great and important work, and responded from every walk of life. There were many offers of volunteer service, and Miss Mary Cromwell, of Washington, D. C., was one of those to offer. She spent the summer at Camp Dix as a volunteer information and emergency hostess, and completed her two months of observation and service, feeling that there was an imperative need for the workers to be able to differentiate between types of people and to deal with each type scientifically as well as sympathetically; to know enough about such things as Home Service, War Risk Insurance, Protective Agencies, and Allotments, to answer any question that might be asked.

Miss Cromwell was well fitted both by training and experience for her work. As an undergraduate at Ann Arbor, she spent her summers in New York doing special investigations for the Charity Organization Society. After graduating, she became a teacher in the Dunbar High School of Washington, and there she became interested in the Washington alleys, and opened a settlement in one of the most congested districts. Later, she received her "master's degree" from the University of Pennsylvania for special research work in psychology.

The arduous task of directing the work of the Industrial Section of the War Work Council was given over to Miss Mary E. Jackson, as Special Industrial Worker among Colored Women for the War Work Council. She was appointed in December, 1917. Prior to that time, Miss Jackson did statistical work in the Labor Department of the State of Rhode Island.

Associated with Miss Bowles in this War Work Council of colored women as heads of departments in addition to Miss Mary E. Jackson, were Miss Crystal Bird, girls' worker; Mrs. Vivian W. Stokes, who at one time was associated with the National Urban League and assisted in making a survey of New York City in connection with the Urban League of New York (Mrs. Stokes' work in connection with the Room Registry work has already been mentioned); Mrs. Lucy B. Richmond, special worker for town and country; Miss Mabel S. Brady, recruiting secretary in the Personnel Bureau; Miss Juliette Dericotte, special student worker; Mrs. Cordelia A. Winn, formerly a teacher in the public schools of Columbus, Ohio; Mrs. Ethel J. Kindle, special office worker. Miss Josephine V. Pinyon was appointed a special war worker in August, 1917. She is a graduate of Cornell University, a former teacher, and a student ,Y. W. C. A. secretary from 1912 to 1916.

The field workers were Mrs. Adele Ruffin, South Atlantic Field, appointed in October, 1917. Mrs. Ruffin was a, teacher for some years at Kittrell College, and then secretary of the Y. W. C. A. branch at Richmond, Virginia. Miss May Belcher had charge of the South Central field and Miss Maria L. Wilder of the Southwestern field. Miss Elizabeth Carter was loaned to the Association Work by the Board of Education of New Bedford, Massachusetts, where she is the only colored teacher in the city. She is chairman of the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, and former president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. She was placed in charge of the center in Washington, D. C.

Aside from these, there was a small army of club and recreation workers, Hostess House workers, industrial workers, and supervisors. Throughout the trying ordeal of directing the work of these assistants, and meeting the huge problems presented to the council, Miss Bowles remained perhaps the most effective and achieving, and at the same time, noiseless worker among the colored women in this country.

The Council of National Defense made the best organized attempt at mobilizing the colored women of all the war organizations. In most Northern States it was felt that separate organizations were superfluous, yet, on the other hand, in many cases it was agreed that the work could be best served by distinct units. There were many ramifications to the work of the Council of Defense; registration of women, the weighing and measuring of babies, the establishment of milk stations, health and recreations centers, supervision of women in industry, correlation with other war organizations. Different States excelled in different phases of the work. In the establishment of Child Welfare and the conservation of infancy Alabama seems to be the banner state, the best work emanating from Tuskegee, where the examination of infants was under the care of Mrs. J. W. Whitaker. At Birmingham, Alabama, Mrs. H. C. Davenport had charge, of the activities of the Council and was particularly successful in the establishment of Community houses at two great industrial centers, Acipeo and Bessemer. In the first community, where the managers of the plant had established a model village with community house and all forms of Community life, the entire program of the Council of Defense was carried through, conservation of children, attention to health and recreation, with a very strong emphasis on food conservation. In the latter instance, a Community house established in the heart of the village of Bessemer concentrated on child welfare, food conservation, and war gardens.

Two women in Florida stand out as doing yeoman service under the work of the Women's Committee of the Council of Defense. Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune,. who at Daytona, where her splendid school is situated, pushed forward the work of the Emergency Circle, Negro War Relief, and Miss Eartha White, the State Chairman of the Colored Woman's Section of the Council of Defense. Under her direction Florida was organized into excellent working units, with a particular concentration on a Mutual Protection League for Working Girls, who had taken up the unfamiliar work of elevator girls, bell girls in hotels, and chauffeurs. From this it was not far to a Union of Girls in Domestic Service, a by-product of war conditions that might well be continued in every city and hamlet in the country.

In Colorado, the women formed themselves into a Negro Women's Auxiliary War Council, a Negro Women's League for Service, and a Red Cross Auxiliary, all apparently working under the general management of the Council of Defense. In Georgia, the president of the Georgia State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, Mrs. Alice Dugged Carey of Atlanta, reported organizations in Tallapoosa County, a community canning center in Bremen, Coweta and Cobb counties, with other organizations in every important city. The Illinois women, organized into a Committee on Colored Women, worked in cooperation with the Urban League for training of Negro Women.

Delaware did not have a separate organization of the Council of Defense, but the race was represented on the State Committee, and through them work was carried on. Mrs. Blanche W. Stubbs, president of the City Federation of Christian Workers, represented the women, and through her efforts the usual classes in food conservation were established at the Thomas Garrett Settlement, while a baby-weighing station was established, and a public nurse appointed.

The work in Indiana was carried on by a separate division, largely directed by the State President of Colored Women's Clubs, Mrs. Gertrude B. Hill. Kentucky, with no special woman's division, specialized on the protection of girls. The best work done in Louisiana was in the conservation of children through the weighing and measuring of babies, and in the effective registration of the women and the conservation of food.

Maryland did some splendid and effective work under the direction of Miss Ida Cummings, the State Chairman of the Colored Women's Committee. Practically every phase of the inclusive program mapped out by the Council of Defense was carried through, and a public-speaking class at the Bowie Summer School was most successful. Mississippi was organized by Miss Sallie Green, of Sardis, into eleven sections, corresponding with a similar organization among the white women, with good work done in child conservation at Jackson. Mrs. Victoria Clay Haley saw to it that Missouri did effective work. Colored women in North Carolina merged their war activities into one, and were most successful in training camp activities, the War Camp Community Service maintaining an interesting work at Charlotte. In Portland, Oregon, the Rosebud Study Club, as was the case with so many clubs, turned its attention to knitting and a practical study of food conservation. In Columbia, South Carolina, the Phyllis Wheatley Club opened a community center to be used as a clearing-house for war activities, welcoming all war organizations to work within its walls---Y. W. C. A., Red Cross, War Camp Community Service, and Council of Defense.

In Tennessee, Mrs. Cora Burke, of Knoxville had a successful work; registration of nurses was particularly complete. The colored women of Nashville had a tag day to raise funds for their Branch Council of National Defense. Virginia concentrated on food conservation and the Children's Year, with most successful war gardens. A Colored Woman's Volunteer League was organized at Newark, New Jersey, as a branch of the Mayor's committee, of the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense, Mrs. Amorel Cook, president. This league established a canteen and specialized on making soldiers feel at home.

The problems of living, made by the war, which were solved sometimes in whole, sometimes in part by the Woman's Committee of National Defense, were many and various. For instance there was the shifting of the percentage of women in the rural population particularly in the South, the same condition which was met in the North in industrial plants. The employment of women in the cotton fields was as great a problem in its way as the mass of girlhood in the Northern mills. This employment of the women could not but react upon the child, with a consequent lowering of child vitality and raising of infant mortality. It was this condition which the Council of Defense tried to meet, and to forestall the inevitable problems of reconstruction. Hence the establishment of stations where babies were weighed, measured, tested, and placed under weekly supervision with competent nurses in charge. Perhaps the, various units did not always accomplish this end, but it was an ideal worth striving for.

One of the fundamental problems of the War---no new one but suddenly aggravated by the abnormal atmosphere and excitement accompanying the presence of large numbers of soldiers---was that of the relationship of the young girl and the soldier. What has been called "the lure of the khaki" is but an expression on the part of the girl of her admiration for the spirit of the men who are willing to give their lives, if need be, in the defense of their country. How to win this feeling into the right channels was one of the problems of the women in the war. It was met by two organizations, the Young Women's Christian Association, of which we have spoken, and the War Camp Community Service. It was the duty of the latter organization to recreate home ties for enlisted men in cities adjacent to training camps. It was in providing this home atmosphere that the War Camp Community Service was most successful. Entertainment was developed for the colored soldiers; concessions let for poolrooms, picture shows, canteens and cafeterias in connection with the work. But where the War Camp Community Service was most successful was in the chaperoned dances, given at the clubrooms. Here "the lure of the khaki" might find conventional self-expression. The largest of the Negro Community Service Clubs were in Des Moines, Iowa; Battle Creek, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky; Chillicothe, Ohio; Charlotte, North Carolina; Petersburg and Newport News, Virginia; Washington, D. C.; Baltimore, Maryland; Atlanta, Georgia; Montgomery, Alabama; and Columbia, South Carolina.

This working together for a common purpose is resulting in building up a new community consciousness among our own people and in turning our thoughts to community projects of a permanent nature. Early in the war, work was started at Des Moines, Iowa. From that time, with the next two centers at Chattanooga, Tennessee, there were established in all sixty-six centers, located in Richmond, Newport News, Lynchburg, Norfolk, Petersburg and Peniman, Virginia; Nitro, West Virginia; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Williamsport, Germantown, Pennsylvania; San Antonio, Houston and Fort Worth, Texas; St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri; Washington, D. C.; Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina; Youngstown, Dayton, Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; St. Paul, Minnesota; Orange, Jersey City, Burlington and Montclair, New Jersey; Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia; Brooklyn and New York City; Charleston and Columbia, South Carolina; Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana; Little Rock, Arkansas; Louisville, Kentucky; Chicago, Illinois; with a special industrial worker at Chester, Pennsylvania, in the person of Mrs. Sarah Fernandis, of Baltimore, an experienced social worker.

Time and time again it was borne in upon the inner consciousness of the women of the race that though the various organizations for war relief were doing all that was humanly possible for the soldiers of both races, they were inadequate for all the needs of the Negro soldier and his family. There were avenues open for more extensive relief; there were places as yet untouched by any organization; there were programs of direct War Relief and Constructive Relief work which needed to be carried out and some separate organization for this work was an imperative necessity. So the Circle for Negro War Relief came into existence in November, 1917. The leading spirit in this movement was Mrs. Emily Bigelow Hapgood, the president, and associated around her were the best minds of the country, white and colored. The Circle was incorporated, and dedicated itself to the purpose of promoting the welfare of Negro soldiers and their dependent families as they might be affected by the emergencies of war.

The success of this Circle was immediate and phenomenal. Within a few months, sixty "units" were formed, extending from New York to Utah, to the far South, throughout the East, and middle West. Each unit dedicated itself in its particular locality to the relief of some vital need either in the Community or in some nearby camp. For instance Ambulance Unit of N.Y. gave a two-thousand dollar ambulance to Camp Upton. Unit No. 29 in St. Helena, South Carolina, not only did the usual war knitting and letter writing, but during the influenza epidemic formed itself into a health committee in cooperation with the Red Cross.

It would be difficult to give a complete report of the work of all the units. It forms a voluminous mass of interesting and illuminating statistics. The activities of the Circle ranged from the making of comfort kits to the furnishing of chewing gum to the soldiers; from the supplying of victrolas and records to the introduction of Theodore Roosevelt, Irvin Cobb and Needham Roberts at Carnegie Hall; from the giving of Christmas trees in Harlem to Southern dinners for the home-sick boys in Augusta, Georgia; from contributions of air-cushions from Altoona, Pennsylvania, to the issuing of educational pamphlets on the subject of the Negro soldier.

The Circle of Negro War Relief and the Crispus Attucks Circle organized in Philadelphia in March, 1918, constituted the nearest approach to a Red Cross or other organization of this character through which the colored people cooperated during the war. The Crispus Attucks Circle did for Philadelphia what the Circle of Negro War Relief did for New York. Its name fitly commemorated the first Negro who gave up his life to help make "the world safe for democracy." The one great project to which it directed all its energies was the attempted establishment in Philadelphia of a base hospital for Negro soldiers, in which Negro physicians and Negro nurses should care for their own.

It may be objected and is frequently a source of controversy that separate hospitals are non-essential. Idle and fallacious reasoning!, They are needed in some places as schools, churches and social organizations are needed. A moot question, not to be thrashed out here; merely a remark in passing that the Crispus Attuck Circle saw a need, a vital need, and aimed to fill it. Certainly if every individual in the world saw the vital need in his own particular home circle or community and met that need with joyous service, there would be no more wars. This is what the women of the race have done since April, 1917.

As the Circle of Negro War Relief radiated its influence from New York City and the Crispus Attucks Circle concentrated its efforts in Philadelphia, so all over the United States various independent and private organizations for the relief of the soldier came into being. The Soldiers Comfort Unit of the War Service Center opened headquarters on Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. It was one of the hundreds of similar organizations made up of women who instinctively got together to work for the great cause, and who, with a small beginning, found themselves a part of a big work with possibilities only limited by the ability to meet them. In February, 1918, Mrs. H. C. Lewis called together a small group of women who in a week's time supplied an urgent need for knitted garments at Newport News. From this beginning, made with a dozen women, the unit grew into an organization of a hundred and seventy-seven women and eventually connected itself with the Circle of Negro War Relief.

In the first days the work was almost exclusively for the comfort of the soldiers, but before many months had passed the scope of the organization had widened to a place of entertainment for the soldiers, visits to hospitals, visits to the nearby camp-Devens, with home-made pies and cakes; liberty sings on Sunday afternoons; lectures on social hygiene and special educational lectures; cooperation with "Company L" auxiliary, and with the Red Cross.

The officers of the Soldiers' Comfort Unit were: President, Miss M. L. Baldwin; first vice-president, Mrs. C. H. Garland; second vice-president, Mrs. Mary E. Rollins; recording secretary, Mrs. Geo. W. Torbey; financial secretary, Mrs. Win. L. Reed; treasurer Mrs. C. Henry Robbins; executive secretary, Mrs. U. A. Ridley.

Executive Committee---Mrs. Lucy Lewis, Chairman; Mrs. Wm. J. Williams, Mrs. Maud Cuney Hare, Mrs. Win. Cromwell, Mrs. Geo. B. Lewis, Mrs. Amos Mason, Mrs. Alice Casneau, Mrs. Jas Hinton, Mrs. Agnes Adams. Chairman Red Cross, Mrs. A. M. Gilbert; Chairman House Committee, Mrs. Geo. Drummond; Chairman Hospitality Committee, Mrs. Nellie Brown Mitchell.

After a year of work the Soldiers' Comfort Unit found itself facing a still larger field, the returning soldiers coming from scenes of horror and devastation with problems and needs. Like all of the war organizations of the women of the race, they found their work bad only just begun.

In the early days of the old Fifteenth New York Regiment, when colored men were volunteering as members of the military organization which was to become the first New York State Guard composed of colored men, it occurred to a thoughtful woman of the race, a New Yorker by birth, that earnest colored women banded together could be a potent factor in the life of the regiment.

The idea was carried out, and the Woman's Auxiliary, Fifteenth Regiment, was organized May 2, 1917, with one hundred members. It received its credentials from Colonel William Hayward, May 9. The first definite work undertaken was the investigation of the cases of men whose dependents claimed exemption for them. This was an important factor in the perfect recruiting of the regiment and won commendation from the commanding officer and his official staff.

It is the exclusive privilege of the colored people to adopt the slogan, "No Color Line." It would seem a strange commentary on the magnanimity of the American people to note that those who are the first to adopt the policy of no discrimination are the ones against whom that discrimination is most often practiced. We have noted how in every instance where organizations of colored women have been formed for War Relief there is a definite policy of "No Color Line. " Now and then the fact was proclaimed publicly in sign or in motto, as in Boston and by the Josephine Gray Colored Lady Knitters of Detroit, Michigan, who "knitted for all American soldiers regardless of race, color, or nationality."

But not only in the definite work of relief, in knitting, sewing, care of dependents of soldiers or in the more spectacular forms of war work were the women engaged. The raising of the sinews of War was a problem which the United States faced. Every man, woman, and child in the country needed to be taxed to the utmost. How to make the giving a pleasing privilege rather than a doleful duty devolved upon the women of the country. Five Liberty Loan drives, six Red Cross drives, the constant Thrift Stamp. Drive, and a tremendous United War Camp Drive, wherein uncountable billions were spoken of airily, staggered the average mind both in prospect and retrospect. But Americans learned to think in big figures. Every one got the habit of saving; and the purse-strings of America were permanently opened for the relief. of the needs of the nation and to aid needy peoples overseas.

This reaction on the national conscience is of inestimable value. Charity will never again be the perfunctory thing that it was before the Great War. Penury in giving will be frowned down upon as immoral. And this quickening of the national conscience, this loosening of the national purse, is due in no small measure to the fervor and zeal with which the women of the nation threw themselves into the campaigns for filling the war coffers.

As was to be expected, the colored women were foremost in all the financial campaigns. The National Association of Colored Women organized at the very beginning of the war to cooperate in every way with the Woman's Council of Defense. Mrs. Philip North Moore, President of the National Council of Women, says, "No women worked harder than the women of the National Association of Colored Women."

Mrs. Mary B. Talbert, President of the National Association of Colored Women, which has a membership of a hundred thousand, is authority for the statement that in the Third Liberty Loan the colored women of the United States raised about five million dollars. Savannah, Georgia, alone raised a quarter of a million dollars. Poor colored women in a tobacco factory of Norfolk, Virginia, subscribed ninety-one thousand dollars. Macon, Georgia, subscribed about twenty thousand.

The National War Savings Committee appointed colored women to conduct campaigns for the War Savings Committee. One of the most notable of these appointments by the Secretary of the Treasury was that of Mrs. Laura Brown, of Pittsburgh. She maintained an office from which whirlwind campaigns emanated, and set a standard of efficiency of organization not easily equaled.

One of the most effective ways of reaching the people of any community is through the children. Hence the work of the colored teachers in reaching the race through the children under their care, has been in the highest degree effectual. Throughout the South, in the middle Atlantic states in which there is a separate school system, in the Middle West, and in the Southwest; in public schools, in endowed institutions, in colleges---in short wherever colored teachers are employed to teach colored children, there was a constant and beneficial influence being exerted in the entire race through its children. This influence made for loyalty, patriotism unquestioning and devoted; and particularly did this influence raise the quota of the race's contribution to the National war chest. Colored schools taught by colored teachers sent in every community a pro rata to the Thrift Stamp, Red Cross, United War Campaign, and Liberty Loans in considerable excess of the natural percentage. It would have been easy to have failed just here with the children; it was difficult in many communities to overcome the natural obstacles. But they were overcome. The amounts raised in all National drives through the colored women teachers working with their children, are a monumental credit to the women of the race.

Such a move as this was more important than appears on the face of the bald statement of the fact. In the Northern cities directly affected by the exodus of Southern Negroes in 1917 and 1918, a byproduct of the war, there was suffering, intense and widespread, among the Negroes suddenly thrust into a climate and conditions for which their life in the South had given them no preparation. Some cities, notably Detroit, met the situation with a whole-hearted desire on the part of the civic authorities to cope with the condition correctly and humanely. Other cities lamented the influx into their borders, and let the new population shift for itself as best it could, resulting in a pitiful increase of the death rate in pneumonia. The unprecedentedly hard winter of 1917-1918 was trying even to those inured to the rigors of a Northern winter. Some cities drove out the invaders, or made conditions so uncomfortable that they drifted away, or suffered in silence. In other cases, notably Chester, Pennsylvania, the colored women of the city took the matter in their own hands, and saved as best they could the pitiful strugglers in their search for homes and work.

The tide of migration swept northward, and broke in a huge wave, beginning at Chester, Pennsylvania, in the East, St. Louis and East St. Louis in the Middle West, and Los Angeles in the West, the crest of the wave breaking in Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago. It was a situation which the war had inevitably brought about---the increase in munition plants and shipyards, with their need for more help, and consequent high wages; it was helped by nature---the bollweevil devastating the little which the, Southern laborers owned in cotton-field and home; it was fostered by the growing unrest and bitterness due to lack of economic and educational opportunities and to injustice dealt at home. When the true history of the great Negro Exodus of 1917-1918 shall be written, it will prove as fascinating and as peculiar in its psychological ramifications as the story of the Exodus from Egypt.

Not the least interesting and splendid is the part played by the colored women in those cities where the crest of the wave broke. Hunger and privation, even in the face of the big wages paid by the huge war plants, stared the newcomers in the face, for there was not always work enough, and illness laid off many of those who had made places for themselves in the industrial elysium. The housing conditions, or rather the lack of them, constitute one of the blackest chapters in the history of the movement. Here is where the Christian fortitude and love of the colored women who lived in those cities shine forth resplendently. They gave up their own homes to the newcomers; they endured discomforts and inconveniences to help the women thus pitifully thrust into these adverse conditions; they taught the women from the South the art of coping with the northern climate; they nursed them when the inevitable sickness broke out; they gave them warm clothing and taught them how to spend money to the best advantage in purchasing suitable clothes and proper food; they took women and children. into their homes, and helped them in ways that only women understand how to help each other.

Rumors, many and various, of the disaffection of the Negro, of his lack of patriotism , of the influence upon him of so-called German propaganda, of the need of stimulating his patriotic fervor, swept through the country in the spring and summer of 1918. Just how much of this so-called propaganda was German, and how much American, and how much of it rumors which had their rise in hysterical fear, it is not given us to know. Why there was a loss of patriotic interest in certain localities was not hard to discover. Here and there studied indifference on the part of certain organizations toward the well-meant efforts of the colored women in attempting to help in war relief; labor conditions; the old, old stories of prejudice and growing bitterness in the labor situation; rumors of increased lynching activities---from all these a lukewarnmess towards the conduct of the war had grown up in-various cities. And it was here again that the women met a difficult problem and helped to solve it.

Again we look to the army of women teachers, and, their subtle and pervasive influence over the youth of the race, and through children over their parents. It would be difficult to measure the service of these women in this particular direction.

Here and there, however, there was a more spectacular appeal made to the patriotic emotions of the race through pageants, demonstrations, or mass meetings. In some cases, the schools through school pageants and plays appealed directly to the patriotic emotions; plays written by Negro authors were staged, commencement exercises became rallying grounds of calls to the warmth of the race in its love for the nation.

War has a way of forcing expedients. From 1914 until November, 1918, the economic balance of the nation was sadly upset, first by the stopping of the tide of immigration from Europe, second by the exodus of the Negro to the North, third by the drastic sweep of the draft law. The first opened the door of opportunity to the Negro laborer, the second depleted the fields of the South, the third plunged the colored woman pell-mell into the industrial world---an entirely new place for her.

"For generations colored women have been working in the fields of the South. They have been the domestic servants of both the South and the North, accepting the positions of personal service open to them. Hard work and unpleasant work has been their lot, but they have been almost entirely excluded from our shops and factories. Tradition and race prejudice have played the largest part in their exclusion. The tardy development of the South and the failure of the colored woman to demand industrial opportunities have added further values. Clearly, also, two hundred years of slavery and fifty years of industrial boycott in both the North and the South, following the Civil War, have done little to encourage or to develop industrial aptitudes. For these reasons, the colored women have not entered the ranks of the industrial army in the past."

But war expediency, for a time at least, partially opened the door of industry to them. it was an experiment and like all experiments, it fell against problems, and those problems were met by the earnest consideration of several agencies. We have already spoken of the splendid work of this department of the Young Women's Christian Association, under the direction of Miss Mary E. Jackson of Providence, Rhode Island. In June, 1918, a joint committee was formed in New York to study the employment of colored women in that city and its environs. Serving on that committee were representatives from practically all the philanthropic organizations in the city, and the result of its labors through two investigators, Mrs. Gertrude McDougald (colored) and Miss Jesse Clarke (white), were given publicity in an interesting pamphlet, from which the above paragraph was quoted. It is a significant fact that the colored woman in industry in a short time had reached the point where she merited trained investigation.

"Come out of the kitchen, Mary," was the slogan of the colored woman in war time. She doffed her cap and apron and donned her overalls. Some States, such as Maryland and Florida, specialized in courses in motor mechanics and automobile driving.

The munition factories took the girls in gladly. Grim statistics prove that their scale of wages was definitely lower than a man's doing the same work, and sad to say a, considerable fraction below that of white girls in the same service, although Delaware reports some very high-priced, skilled ammunition testers, averaging seven to twelve dollars a day. The colored girls blossomed out as switch board operators, stock takers, wrappers, elevator operators, subway porters, ticket choppers, track-walkers, trained signallers, yard-walkers. They went into every possible kind of factory devoted to the production of war materials, from the most dangerous posts in munition plants to the delicate sewing in aeroplane factories. Colored girls and colored women drove motor trucks, unloaded freight cars, dug ditches, handled hardware around ship ways and hardware houses, packed boxes. They struggled with the discomforts of ice and fertilizing plants. They learned the delicate intricacies of all kinds of machines, and the colored woman running the elevator or speeding a railroad on its way by signals was a common sight.

Just what the effect of this marvelous influx of colored women into the industrial world would have upon the race was a problem viewed with considerable interest. Pessimists predicted a sociological and psychological upheaval in the ranks of the women of the race. A strange thing about it was that there was no perceptible racial disintegration and the colored women bore their changed status and higher economic independence with much more equanimity than white women on a corresponding scale of living. The reason for this may perhaps be found in the fact that the colored woman bad a heritage of 300 years of work back of her. Her children were used to being left to shift for themselves; her home was used to being cared for after sundown. The careful supervision of the War Work Council and the Council of Defense over the health and hours of the woman in industry averted the cataclysm of lowered vitality and eventual unfitness for maternity.

The possible economic effect of this entrance into the unknown fields of industry on the part of the colored woman will be that when pre-war conditions return and she is displaced by men and is forced to make her way back into domestic service, the latter will be placed on a strictly business basis and the vocation of housekeeping and home-making will be raised to the dignity of a profession.

We have touched lightly the Negro woman in the world war. Lightly perforce, because of her innate modesty and reticent carelessness in proclaiming her own good deeds. She emerges from the war more serious-minded, more responsible, with a higher opinion of her own economic importance; with a distinct and definite aim and ambition to devote her life to the furthering of the cause for which her men died on Flanders fields. She has served the Red Cross at home and begged to serve it abroad; she has probed to the depths the real meaning of the word Christianity; she has formed a second line of defense at home; she has learned the real value of community service, and what it means to give of her time, means, and smiles to the weary soldiers passing through her town; she has organized special circles of war relief on her own initiative, and given all that she could afford, from the homely apple and sandwich and cigarette to an ambulance for service overseas.

She has given regally, munificently of her little to help fill the national war chest, and when there was no more in her slender purse she has given her time and persuasiveness to induce others to follow her example. She has endowed and maintained Hostess Houses and helped support the wives and children of the men in service. When disaffection threatened, she fostered patriotism and overcame propaganda. with simple splendid loyalty. She gave up ease and clear skies for the dangers and hardships of death-dealing labor. She shut her eyes to past wrongs and present discomforts and future uncertainties. She stood large-hearted, strong-handed, clear-minded, splendidly capable, and did, not her bit, but her best, and the world is better for her work and her worth.

Important Welfare Work of the Young Men's Christian Association, and Other Organized Bodies---Negro Secretaries of the Y. M. C. A.---The Problem of Illiteracy in the, Camps---The Social Secretaries---Results of Education---The Y. W. C. S. Hostess Houses---The Knights of Columbus---Caring for Returned Soldiers.

Prior to the outbreak of the war it was a well-established fact that the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's Christian Association, the Red Cross, and other organized bodies primarily concerned with the welfare of people in general, had figured so largely in the life of the young men prior to their call to arms that something should be done to enable these agencies to throw around them the same influences under which they came when at home. One of the first efforts, therefore, to provide for the social betterment of the men under arms was to connect these movements officially with the Government, that they might function efficiently in caring for the soldiers at the front. It was observed that the social welfare organizations could adapt themselves as successfully to the needs of men in times of war as in times of peace. At the beginning of the war the War Work Council declared that the same thing done for white men would be done for colored men when in the various cantonments, and while it has been difficult to carry out this letter of the law, for many reasons too tedious to be mentioned, Dr. J. E. Moorland, the Senior Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association in charge of colored men's work, believes that the Negro has come more nearly to receiving a square deal in this instance than in anything else in the history of the country.

When the unusual appeal was made to the American people, adequate funds were raised to finance the work of the welfare organizations. Nearer to the end of hostilities, however, when a more systematic effort for financing all of these social organizations had to be made, the Government provided that all such agencies should be absorbed by the seven recognized groups, and a national drive for $170,000,000 was made by these organizations, resulting in raising the desired amount. They were therefore at an early period in a position to construct successful machinery for the training of social workers to supply these needs throughout the camps in this country and among the soldiers overseas. While it must be admitted that it was impossible to choose upon such short notice persons who met in every way the requirements for this unusual task, the personnel of the Young Men's Christian Association staff so far as the colored workers were concerned were of a high class.

At the head of this staff, to select and equip for this unusual service the numerous secretaries needed in the camps and cantonments, was Dr. J. E. Moorland, Senior Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association. Associated with him was Mr. Robert B. DeFrautz, visiting secretary of the Des Moines camp, and formerly engaged in the work at Kansas City, Missouri. There were also the placement secretaries, Mr. William J. Faulkner and Mr. Max Yergan, who after his return from Africa, assisted in recruiting men; Professor Charles H. Wesley of Howard University doing similar work. J. Francis Gregory and George L. Johnson, two specialists in religious work, were later added. The former directed his efforts toward the religious life of the men in the camps, while the latter, a noted tenor, rendered valuable service with his singing.

At the beginning of the War Work Council it was decided to send Negro secretaries to care for troops of their own race. There were fifty-five centers or groups in Army camps with Association privileges, served by two hundred and sixty-eight secretaries in the home camps and forty-nine secretaries serving overseas. The grand total of all colored secretaries was three hundred and thirty-one. The buildings in which these secretaries worked were twenty-five "E" type and National Guard buildings. The other centers were housed in barracks, mess halls, and tents.

This work, too, according to Dr. J. E. Moorland, its moving spirit,

"was not a haphazard one. It had a definite purpose, promoted by carefully selected specialists. To be more explicit, it is well to describe a staff organization which is responsible for the work in a building. It is composed of a building secretary, who is the executive; a religious work secretary, who has charge of the religious activities, including personal work among the soldiers, Bible class and religious meetings; an educational secretary, who promotes lectures and educational classes, and uses whatever means he may have at hand to encourage intellectual development; a physical secretary, who has charge of athletics and various activities for the physical welfare of the soldiers, works in the closest relationship with the military officers and is often made responsible for all of the physical activities in the camp; a social secretary, who promotes the social activities, including entertainments, "stunts" and moving pictures; a business secretary, who keeps close tab on the sale of stamps, postcards, and such supplies as may be handled by the Association, and is held responsible for the proper accounting of finances. In every case these secretaries were thoroughly investigated before being appointed and were required to be members of evangelical churches in good standing, and men capable of commanding the respect of the soldiers with whom they work.

 

"The large number of illiterates who were brought into the various camps of the country brought with them a tremendous problem. Many of them could not sign the payroll. Some of them did not know the right from the left hand, and not a few were not sure about their names. The Association was able to. solve this problem by teaching thousands of men to read and write their names. "Some men after having learned to write their names," says Dr. Moorland, "have actually shouted for joy over the new-found power which at last had released them from the shackles of an oppressive ignorance. Speakers of both races have inspired the men and enlarged their vision. Many men with a better educational equipment have increased their talents by sober thinking along with-purposeful programs of reading.

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"The religion of the soldiers was not neglected. Hundreds of Bible classes were conducted and religious meetings with purpose were largely attended. The best of both races have been able to give encouragement and helpful messages to the men, many of whom have had their faith strengthened; many others for the first time in their lives accepted the Christian faith. The effort was to give a religious program adapted to the lives of the men and enable them to go overseas and come back fit to look mother, wife, sister, and sweetheart in the face and not be ashamed.

"The emphasis, however, was placed upon life, and speakers were requested to avoid emphasizing death. Although the training in the army camps is physical development to a very marked degree, it was soon learned that there must be a recreational side. The physical director had to meet this need to prevent men from becoming sullen and morose. Baseball teams, football teams, boxing and all sorts of recreational games were staged. These proved to be as essential in the matter of self-defense as lectures and private talks on health and the protection of the body against the ravages of every form of vice."

The social secretaries rendered no less a service than the other workers. In providing programs for the entertainment of the men, in presenting interesting moving pictures, in utilizing the talent of various communities near the camps for the needs of the men in camps, they accomplished a task which in the past had seemed impossible. The social secretary, moreover, enabled these men to entertain themselves. The Selective Draft brought together men of all grades, from the most illiterate to the highly trained university graduate, messing together side by side daily. Men. who had lived in the atmosphere of vice and those who had been trained in the best Christian homes were thrown together in a common cause, wearing the same uniform, obeying the same orders. In this great mass the social secretary discovered remarkable talent, which was able to provide entertainment for the soldiers in the camps and at certain times for the people outside the camps.

According to Dr. Moorland, the letters of appreciation received from many of the soldiers for the service rendered by these faithful secretaries sound like a new edition of the Acts of the Apostles. "Not only in France are our men serving. We also have secretaries in East Africa, working with natives and British troops, and their story is that of pioneers laying foundations as Christian statesmen for the building of future manhood in that great continent; for they are serving men representing tribes from all parts of the continent of Africa, and these men are learning what unselfish service means as well as, in many cases, learning to read and write in the little evening schools provided for them."

There were thirty-nine official directors, giving their entire attention to directing recreational activities and thirty secretaries who served as song leaders. There were six or more secretaries, physical and social directors, however, to do recreational work and direct singing. It has been estimated that two million men attended these various centers for Negro soldiers every month; that there were two hundred lectures with an attendance of eighty a month; ten thousand Scriptures circulated every month; nine thousand personal interviews; seven thousand Christian decisions; eleven thousand war roll singers; one hundred and twenty-five thousand taking part in physical activities; five hundred motion picture exhibitions with an attendance of three hundred thousand; 1,250,000 letters written., and $110,000 worth of money orders sold.

Out of such unusual efforts to educate, in fact to remake, the enlisted man, came important results. The Negro soldier was brought, so to speak, from a sequestered vale into the broad light of modern times, where various agencies which have constituted a leverage in the elevation of men gave him during these few months more opportunity for mental improvement than he had experienced during the other part of his life. Thousands of men were not only taught to read and write, but also formed the habit of reading good books, which in a short time showed results in the appreciation of higher ideals and in giving them a more intelligent attitude toward life. These agencies, too, operating among the whites and the blacks equally deficient in education during their early careers, tended to promote better relationship between the races and as a result to produce a higher class of men.

The record of these secretaries was highly commendable. First among those to attain recognition was Dr. Geo. W. Cabaniss, of Washington, D. C., known for a long time as the dean of the colored secretaries, a man who had much to do with making possible the camp for the training of the colored officers at Fort Des Moines; and who after the camp had been provided went Into the service with them to serve these young men as a Y. M. C. A. secretary. Returning home after they were commissioned, Dr. Cabaniss abandoned his lucrative practice in the city of Washington and went to Camp Meade to serve as a secretary at one of the Y. M. C. A. huts. Being a Christian gentleman, Dr. Cabaniss was especially anxious to look after the morals of the young men, and in the end he was glad to report that the habits in general of the men who came under his supervision were of a very high order, and that they exhibited evidences of being men who would make good at the front. Among those who won distinction in reaching men may also be mentioned Matthew W. Bullock, William Stevenson, and J. C. Wright.

Some mention should be made also of those men of color who although Y. M. C. A. workers went to France for supervision, to render a larger service than that of the average social worker. Among them were Mr. Max Yergan, President John Hope of Morehouse College, and Dr. H. H. Proctor of the First Congregational Church, Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Max Yergan had already rendered distinguished service as an earnest worker among the British troops of color in Africa. His work in France, like that of President Hope, was largely that of a field secretary to consider cases of friction, discipline, and general difficulty and to administer affairs which could not be attended to by the staff on this side of the Atlantic. It was only late in the war that Dr. Proctor answered the call to engage in this same work. These gentlemen, in manifesting a spirit of sacrifice and interest in the welfare of, the men at the front, not only exhibited examples worthy of emulation, but rendered the race and the country a distinguished service.

The work had not gone forward very far when the peculiar need for a plan by which the wives and daughters of the enlisted men might visit them at camp necessitated the bringing in of women as Y. W. C. A. workers. It was accordingly provided that each of these camps, wherever practicable, should have hostess houses, to be placed in charge of a woman of honor. The hostess house was a means of communication between the enlisted men and their relatives. Here the sweetheart came to say good-bye to her loved one, the wife to see her husband for the last time, and the mother to bid her son farewell. The Y. W. C. A. maintained a colored hostess house in every camp where there were colored soldiers, the plan being the same as that for the white soldiers. The official report states that these houses "are not only hospitality centers, but also demonstrations to visitors of the best ways of entertaining and of serving food. Many men and women are here first brought in contact with high yet simple standards of social intercourse. Each house is a training center for new colored social workers."

The heads of these houses are among the best known women of the race, many of whom have been doing social work of a high type among their people for years. The need for such women, of course, was experienced abroad, but there was much objection to the sending of women of color to the front, just as there had been in the case of barring them from the Red Cross units. In the course of time, however, this prejudice was overcome and it was possible to send a number of women of color to serve in the hostess houses in France. The first of these to sail was Mrs. Helen Noble Curtis of New York, the widow of the late James L. Curtis, Minister Resident of the United States to Liberia. For a number of years she had been a member of the committee of management of the colored women's branch of the Y. W. C. A. As she had been in France and had learned to speak the language thoroughly, she was much desired for this work.

The appointment of Mrs. Curtis proved to be such a success that another colored secretary was sent over in the following month. This was Mrs. Addie W. Hunton of Brooklyn, New York, widow of the late William A. Hunton, the first International Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. for colored men in America. She is an educated woman of excellent standing and had for a number of years been a moving spirit in Y. W. C. A. work. She had also traveled in Europe, studied at the University of Strasburg, and formed certain connections which enabled her to render the race invaluable service abroad. Mrs. Hunton was soon followed by Miss Kathryn M. Johnson, and later by twelve or more women of the same high character.

"The colored Y. M. C. A. workers here in France," said Ralph W. Tyler, working under handicaps, and limited, as to numbers, in proportion to the number of white Y. M. C. A. workers, and considering the proportionate number of colored soldiers in France, have been paid a high tribute by Colonel (now General) W. F. Creary. Writing to Win. Stevenson, colored Y. M. C. A. secretary of Hut No. 2, General Creary said:

" 'I have seen the workings of your huts along the line, from the frontline trenches to the base ports, and have been a personal recipient of the comforts afforded by them on many occasions.

" 'I have always been impressed by the zeal with which the secretaries, and others, have prosecuted their work, with untiring energy, and with their valor and bravery, for the work at the front cannot be done except by real red-blooded men.

" 'I have been particularly interested in the activities of your huts, devoted exclusively to the interests of colored soldiers since my assumption of the command of this camp, and I congratulate you on the progress you have made, and are making now.

" 'Besides the splendid athletic, social; and canteen service offered by yourself and your assistants, I have been much impressed by your activities in the educational departments, and have been much pleased to see many of OUR Colored soldiers, who have had but few advantages of early education, availing themselves of the advantages offered by you for the acquirement of knowledge of the elementary branches of education.

" 'Your thrift department is the means of many of OUR men saving their money and purchasing money orders to send back home, thereby placing their money where it should be. '

"In Mr. Stevenson's hut, Mrs. James L. Curtis looks after the canteen, and most laudably aids in the work of comforting the thousands of colored boys who are contributing their might in the interest of world democracy. Mr. Stevenson, to whom General Creary wrote this commendatory letter, is a Cincinnati, Ohio, boy, and he fairly bubbles in his enthusiasm in his work for colored soldiers.

"While visiting this particular point, I came in contact with the work of colored Y. M. C. A. people, who are seconding and cooperating with the work of the Army in a most effective way. Here I met Mrs. James L. Curtis, widow of our late Minister to Liberia, who is idolized by the men in the camp in which is located the particular Y. M. C. A. hut in which she labors. I also came in contact with and investigated the splendid work of Miss Kathryn Johnson, of Chicago, and Mrs. A. W. Hunton, the other two colored women Y. M. C. A. workers over here, and, unfortunately, the only three (with Mrs. Curtis) colored women assigned over here for war work by the Y. M. C. A. The effect of the work these three splendid colored women have done, and will continue to do, will be in evidence long after this war has been fought to a glorious peace. Here I also met the following colored Y. M. C. A. secretaries: Franklin Nichols, of Philadelphia, who has been here for more than a year; Prof. Moses A. Davis, of Evansville, Ind.; Rev. D. Leroy Ferguson, erstwhile rector of the Colored Episcopal church at Louisville, Ky.; Leon James, J. Green, and Wm. Stevenson. When I considered that all these Y. M. C. A. people, and most especially the women, forsook comfortable homes and zones of culture and refinement to come over here and, far from immediate relatives and friends, bury themselves among these colored soldiers in order that the greatest possible amount of sunshine might be shoved into the lives of these men helping to establish world democracy, I could not help but feel that those of the race, back in the states, who are at an absolutely safe distance from German bullets, shrapnel and gas, should consecrate themselves, also, so far as within their power, to the rendering of aid and comfort to these soldiers of ours.

"When I visited the hospital at this point and noted the many colored boys who were bearing their illness with a cheerfulness that was amazing, I could not help but feel much of the criticism one hears back in the states could well be held in abeyance and instead the efforts put forth in criticism expended in sympathy and efforts for 'our own' boys who are here so many thousand miles from home, enduring cheerfully for their country's sake.

"The 'Work being performed by the stevedores, and by these colored Y. M. C. A. workers in the camps I have just visited, and the amicable relations existing between them and superior army officers, I feel certain, would be as disillusioning to the race back home as it has been, in many respects, to me.

"Here one finds these colored men performing nearly every kind of work, skilled and unskilled. Their camp is a model of cleanliness---a cleanliness that would put to shame most of our cities back in the States, and a cleanliness in which the colored boys take a commendable pride. A fine brass band here, composed exclusively of stevedores, frequent moving picture showings, educational work, etc., conspire to make the 'after work' hours of these thousands of colored service men pass quickly and profitably. Recently General Pershing visited this camp and gave the boys an interesting talk, which has since been regarded by them as epochal.

"Thus far, my only regret is that there were not more colored Y. M. C. A. workers over here to enlarge and spread the splendid work being done by Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Hunton and Miss Johnson. The right sort of women, fine, big-hearted, devoted colored women, have such a refining influence in camps such as this, and the colored Y. M. C. A. secretaries themselves are anxious for them, and feel that colored women, to a number proportionate with the number of white women sent over by the Y. M. C. A., would further tend to make camp life for these soldiers ideal, and render easier the disciplinary work of the army."

Early in April, 1919, some ten or twelve additional well-educated, solid, substantial women were selected and sent to France to work among colored soldiers and to supply the need mentioned by Mr. Tyler.

Another organization was of much service in making Negro soldiers comfortable at the front. This was the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic society, which has to its credit that, unlike the other social welfare organizations operating in the war, it never drew the color line. It provided separate huts for Negroes at some of the camps when special requests to this effect were received. These were recreational buildings, provided with home surroundings for the preparation of which no pains were spared. Such arrangements were made at Camp Meade, Camp Dodge, Camp Funston, Fort Riley and Camp Taylor. As an evidence of the general liberality of the management of the war work conducted by the Knights of Columbus, no better testimony can be given than that by Joseph J. Canavan in a report to the Kansas Plain-Dealer.

"Under the system as it now has been working out," says he, "the Negro soldier needs no other countersign than his khaki uniform to gain for him every advantage offered by the Knights' service. True there are places both in this country and abroad where the Knights of Columbus have erected special huts for the use of the Negro soldiers, but where that has been done it has been at the express request of the Negro soldiers themselves, who in numerous instances have expressed a preference for a building of their own where they may enjoy their own pleasure in their own way and be assured of meeting their own friends when and where and under circumstances they desired. Similarly the other day," says he, "when there were six Negro soldiers in training at, Port Jervis, New York, on their way to Goshen, New York, whence they were to start upon their journey to a training camp, it was a group of Knights of Columbus' secretaries who met them and supplied them with cigarettes and tobacco." It happened, however, that the six Negroes did not take a train for Port Jervis. Instead the Knights loaded them into automobiles and drove them across the pretty hilly country to their point of departure for the camps. There were only six men in that draft consignment, but the Knights would have been as hearty and as generous if there had been 600. There have been innumerable instances where a larger number of men have been cared for and had their wants provided for by the Knights, as the men themselves have testified.

Upon the signing of the. Armistice and the return of soldiers from France, severing their connections with the social welfare organizations which had once cared for them, a serious problem presented itself to the American people, Many cities were stunned by the sudden influx of so many soldiers. In some cases small towns did not have facilities adequate to the task of accommodating the number which came even if it had been expecting them. Vice conditions in the communities became unspeakably bad, soldiers were mingling with lewd women, and when their funds became exhausted, they became dissatisfied and even rebellious. The situation was in every sense an acute one, but no one could be blamed and no one was willing to accept the responsibility for improving the situation.

Realizing the seriousness of this problem the whites and blacks endeavored to find some solution of the peculiar problem. This, however, was no problem peculiar to the Negro soldiers, for the whites were similarly situated. There were, however, a few narrow and prejudiced whites believing that anything was good enough for Negroes. There were also a good many men of color, and especially ministers and the like, who maintained an attitude of apathy towards these men returning from the war. Then there was, worst of all, a strained feeling between the whites and blacks in the various communities---a feeling apparently of long standing and intensified by war conditions. Upon the appearance, therefore, of a few unusual types of soldiers of both races, with the misdemeanors which usually characterize persons lacking self-control the situation was decidedly aggravated.

To find a way out of this difficulty it was planned to extend the War Camp Community Service. To various cities, and especially to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Newport News, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Augusta, Chattanooga, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and San Antonio, Texas, were sent directors to enlighten the communities as to the inevitable results of the war, the reason for the appearance of the returned soldiers in the towns, and their responsibility to these veterans. Their first problem was to reach the churches and the schools. They addressed mass meetings, spoke before social groups, and had personal conferences with men of influence, to find their way into the hearts of the people. The next step was to convince the community that such an effort was worth while. A club house, too often some abandoned dilapidated building, was secured and remodeled to suit the peculiar needs of the time. Adequate furniture and equipment for dormitories and cafeteria service were supplied and a desirable club with a file of newspapers, branch circulating library, a hall for entertainments, in fact a social center, was provided for service in the community. Men generally stood aloof, but it was soon found that while in some cases the support of the schools and the churches could not be obtained, some business men and professional men of intelligence, character, and vision came to the support of these War Camp Community Service workers, and it was not long before the entertainment and the atmosphere maintained by the center convinced a majority of the people of their importance and value.

It was soon possible thereafter to enlist the support of a larger number of influential people in the various communities. One organization after another engaged in the service and appeared at various times to entertain the soldiers assembled at-these centers. Out of such beginnings came the support of the churches and other religious organizations. It was necessary to add other men and even women to the staff, so rapid was the progress and so extensive was the work. Club activities increased; soldiers were visited in the various camps and hospitals, friendly relations were established and business men were brought together, so as to cause a contact helpful to them in other ways. It then became possible to organize clubs in school buildings and Sunday schools, and women in clubs worked together in a practical way whenever the opportunity came. Various ways in which they contributed may be summarized as follows: The community became reconciled and active in the service; it was then an. easy matter to welcome the returning soldiers. Provision was made for their entertainment in the theaters; community centers and concerts were arranged for them; large numbers of citizens attended the recreation rallies and entertainments, dinners, and dances multiplied throughout the period of demobilization.

Eager Response of Colored Draftees---Notable Tributes to the Patriotism of the Negro Race by the White Press---Also by President Wilson, Secretary Baker, Secretary Daniels, and Others---Negro Loyalty Never Doubted---Patriotic Negro Demonstrations and Other Instances of Loyalty

When the United States declared war against Germany and the Teutonic allies, there were internal conditions existing in America that were by no means ideal so far as the Negro was concerned, nor were they altogether conducive to loyalty and a healthy morale among this particular group of American citizens. Beset by a vicious and persistent propaganda on the one side, and by continued instances of lynching and mob violence of which he was the chief victim on the other, the Negro in America faced a real crisis at the beginning of the war. Temptation after temptation was presented to him to render lukewarm and half-hearted support to the Government in the prosecution of the war, without making himself criminally liable, but Negro leaders in all parts of the country recognized at once that the national crisis demanded, and the plain duty and best interests of the Negro racial group required that, without bargaining, there must be a pledge on the part of the Negro of his undiluted and unfaltering loyalty.

History records no parallel where, under similar conditions, any racial group has been more loyal to the Government or has maintained a higher morale than was true of colored Americans during the trying period of the recent war. The Negro pledged his loyalty and was depended upon in all sections of our country. He entered fully and bravely into the work of defending the "Stars and Stripes." All propaganda efforts to weaken his morale absolutely failed. A black skin during the war was a badge of patriotism.

The Negro was not unmindful of certain wrongs, injustices, and discriminations which were heaped upon his race in many sections of the country, but in the face of it all he remained adamant against all attempts to lower his morale, and realized that his first duty was loyalty to his country. America is indeed the Negro's, country, for he has been here three hundred years, which is about two hundred years longer than many of the white racial groups; he realized that he was formally declared a citizen of this country by the Constitution of the United States. and that although many of the rights and privileges of citizenship were still denied him, yet the plain course before him was to perform all of the duties of citizenship and at the same time continue to press his demands for all of the rights and privileges which the Constitution has vouchsafed to him. He realized that he would not be in a, position to demand his rights unless he fully performed his duties as an American citizen, and in thus lending his loyal allegiance he exemplified his belief in the doctrine expounded by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt to the effect that "rights and privileges" are contingent upon the faithful discharge of the "duties and responsibilities" of citizenship in any country. And so it was that although the lynching evil and other wrongs against the Negro proceeded with unabated fury, unrestrained even by the President's proclamation, the Negro remained steadfast in his loyalty to the Government. His last ounce of devotion was pledged without question to the principles of freedom and democracy for which America stood, and the thought uppermost in the minds of twelve million colored Americans was that the Teutonic allies should be brought to their knees, and that the war would result in the downfall of all kinds of tyranny and oppression.

If there was ever any question as to the Negro's loyalty, it was soon dispelled by the readiness with which lie answered the draft call, by his eagerness to volunteer, even though in many instances denied this privilege; by the splendid spirit in which thousands of Negroes, educated and uneducated, accepted tasks assigned to them in non-combatant and Service of Supply regiments; and by the whole-hearted way in which Negro civilians, men, women, and children, representing every section of the country and every walk of life, responded to every call of the Nation. The valiant, varied, and effective services rendered by four hundred thousand Negro soldiers who were called to the colors, both in camps and cantonments at home as well as upon the battlefields of Europe, canceled every possible doubt and furnished proof positive of the Negro's unfaltering loyalty.

Many agencies sought to lower the morale of the Negro. Not only did German propagandists labor diligently in certain sections of the country, particularly among the unlettered element of the Negro population, in the effort to impress upon their minds the two fallacies that (1) America had no right or cause to engage in a foreign war, and (2) that the Negro was foolish in fighting for a country which did not fully protect him in his rights as a citizen. Propagandists sought to advertise every instance of lynching, mob violence, or other wrong visited upon a member of the Negro race, with a view of turning him against his own country, and found additional fuel for their seditious flames in the anti-Negro attitude manifested by a number of white newspapers, governors of states, mayors of cities, legislators, race-prejudice-breeding moving picture shows, etc., that were allowed to propagate a dangerous hate doctrine and to exert a disquieting influence even in the critical period of war.

Propagandists emphasized racial discriminations of one kind or another and unfortunately were able to refer to the facts that the black American, supposedly a citizen, was in many states denied the ballot; that he was "Jim Crowed" on many of the railroads and public carriers, although charged first-class fare for transportation; that he was denied admission to most public places of amusement, hotels and the like. Using such arguments as a basis, the question was raised as to why the Negro was willing to jeopardize his life, his liberty, and his pursuit of happiness in coming to the rescue of America in her extremity and thus helping to defeat Germany, a country where, it was said, such racial discriminations did not exist.

None of these questions, however, disturbed the thoughtful leaders of the Negro people. They knew the designing motive back of such propaganda. They recognized, without question, that the moment the American Negro failed to perform all of the duties of citizenship, he immediately abdicated the right of claiming the full privileges of citizenship. The Negro leaders knew that the central thought in the German mind and the traditional policy of the Central Powers was "might," and that "compelling force" was intended to be used, as a part of a world-wide conquest, to reduce to German domination the weaker and other peace-loving peoples of the earth. They remembered something of the history of Germany's African colonies. They recognized that the great masses of the Negro race in America belong to a submerged group seeking education, industrial opportunity, wealth---and, more than all, liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, and as a means of obtaining possession and permanent enjoyment of those priceless privileges (along with white Americans who were fighting for the same cause), they declared in the public press, in pulpits, upon the public rostrum, in lodge-rooms, in schools and everywhere---that no discouraging or untoward conditions existing among the Negro people must interfere with their whole-hearted support of their country's war program.

As a part of the Government's program of promoting a, healthy morale among colored soldiers and colored Americans generally, the author was delegated by the Secretary of War to visit various camps and cantonments where colored soldiers were stationed, also leading centers of Negro population; first, for the purpose of learning as to conditions existing likely to affect their patriotism; and, second, for the purpose of delivering addresses such as would be calculated to promote the continued loyalty and a healthy morale among the members of this racial group.

Preliminary to his tour of the Middle-West he made a careful investigation of conditions existing in Camps Meade, Dix, Lee, Upton, and others, and had sought to ameliorate conditions existing among colored soldiers stationed at those camps. This middle-western itinerary served to give the colored people full opportunity of hearing directly from a representative of the War Department with respect to its policy concerning Negro troops.

The 92nd Division (colored) was trained at seven different cantonments. Early in May, 1918, it became evident that orders would shortly be issued for the entire division to go overseas, and it was therefore arranged that the author should "swing around the circle," visiting all camps not already visited, where any units of the 92nd Division were stationed, and speaking at such strategic centers en route through the West where his itinerary would permit. As a part of this program he spoke at various times in all parts of the country, including Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; New York City; St. Louis, Missouri; Indianapolis, Indiana,; Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, Maryland.

His return to Washington about the middle of May brought the itinerary to a close. Though the gait at which he traveled was a strenuous one, he was immeasurably strengthened for his work by this intimate contact with the people of the country of both races, soldiers and civilians. Wise counsel and friendly encouragement were met with at every turn and he was convinced that the extended tour had not been made in vain. He had spoken thirty-two times, to thousands of his fellow-citizens, all of whom were impelled by a common impulse of patriotism.

A high note of patriotism was sounded by thoughtful leaders of the Negro people in all walks of life. Negro editors, with but few exceptions, rallied to the Nation's call and wrote in a martial spirit; the Negro clergy put on the whole armor of patriotism and awakened the Negro laity to a sense of its duty, opportunity, and responsibility

Negro educators in all sections taught loyalty as a cardinal virtue and representative Negro public speakers sought diligently to maintain a healthy morale among the rank and file of colored Americans.

It was also recognized on the part of the white people of the South and elsewhere that the Negro's loyalty was not to be questioned, and representative white Americans, both North and South, testified in the public press that they regarded the Negro's undivided loyalty as a valuable asset to the Nation. White newspapers all over the country devoted column after column of space to the whole-souled loyalty of colored Americans.

"The Negro population of the United States," said the St. Louis Globe Democrat, "is loyal to the core, and of all the fantasies of Germany diplomacy toward the alienation of elements of our composite population, after it was recognized that our declaration of war was coming---none was more fantastic than the well-accredited plot to turn our native colored citizens against the country with which all their fortunes are bound up and identified.

"It has been possible for Prussianism to find among us some weak and credulous people and some even who, coming here as aliens, have prospered greatly under our institutions, to be deluded with the notion that they could reap advantage out of the nation's humiliation and defeat. The colored citizen of the United States has a shrewd understanding of the fact that we must all stand or fall together, and he doesn't want to fall.

"Aside from all -such practical considerations," continued the editor, "there is a Negro loyalty which is one of the finest traits of the race. It has been sung in song and story. The older generations were loyal even to those who were fighting to hold them in slavery, out of ties of love and affection which nothing could break. Men of the South, intelligent and high-charactered men, some of whom had personal and family knowledge of this fine fidelity and devotion, have permitted grosser elements to persecute the race, purely out of political considerations. We trust, and now believe, that that discreditable era is drawing to a close. It has been the one blot on an escutcheon never marred by want of valor or chivalry in fighting for a lost cause.

"The colored people are justifying all of our faith. Not only are they, at home, responding to every patriotic need, but their men in the field, in France, are proving themselves worthy comrades of those who so signally earned laurels at San Juan, and those who, on the Mexican border, under Pershing, proved themselves at Carrizal to be of the stuff American soldiers are made of."

In Jackson, Mississippi, in the heart of the South, Rev. George Luther Cady, pastor of the First Congregational Church, preached a special sermon pleading for a deeper consideration of the black man and a fairer judgment of him in view of his demonstrated patriotism and dependability, especially in time of war. He emphasized the fact that the crimes with which the Negro is charged are few in number and in proportion to those of the white population, and that, through the narrow viewpoint of the whites, his crimes have been magnified without keeping in mind the shortcomings of his white brothers.

Mr. Bolton Smith, a representative white Southern gentleman of Memphis, Tennessee, impressed by Negro, loyalty and possessed with a high sense of justice, wrote Governor Tom C. Rye, of Tennessee, as follows: "The Government of the United States is controlled by Southern men. It has called the Negro to the defense of the colors, and the American people will demand that a race thus honored shall be granted the justice of a fair trial when accused of crime. We all know that when guilty there is no doubt of full punishment. As Secretary of the Tennessee Law and Order League, organized to stop lynching, I urge you to issue a proclamation to our people pointing out. the treasonable effect of such lynchings."

A white newspaper of Texas published an article that was reprinted in the Houston Observer and other Negro journals, headed "The Black Man Stood Pat and Fought the Good Fight." In the course of the article it was stated:

"The war did more for the American Negro than had been accomplished in several decades of peace. He demonstrated that he could fight---that his willingness and capacity for work were unlimited; that he could easily adapt himself to strange surroundings, and that he understood the purpose of Liberty Bonds, which he almost invariably bought--- until it actually and positively 'hurt.' One of the most glorious things that happened to the Negro, however, was the revelation of his absolute, unshakable loyalty to the Stars and Stripes. Evidence adduced before a Senate Committee shows that German propagandists failed miserably in their efforts among the blacks. That they operated principally among the plantation Negroes of the South and there made no headway whatever, is significant. It is a splendid tribute to the Americanism of the, Negro. It might be supposed that among men and women who are not regular readers of the newspapers, who trust to the 'grapevine,' which makes a wireless station of every cabin, for most of their information, the fairy tales of the paid German agents would find fertile ground. But the Negro stood pat. 'You have no country,' was an insidious remark that was dinned into his ears night and day. 'You'll never get your Liberty Bond money back,' was another.

'You'll get forty acres of land if the Germans win,' they were told. And they were assured that victory for the 'humane' Germans meant an end of all hangings and instant leveling of all social lines in the United States. Many white 'intellectuals' in the North succumbed to sophistries and lies, but those black millions did not. Their hearts proved pure gold and they stood by Uncle Sam. The Secret Service needed no special trains for Negro excursions to internment camps. It is that same inborn spirit of loyalty to the Government that has prevented the I. W. W. from gaining converts among the blacks of the South, no matter how poor they are or how unjust their position economically."

 

President Woodrow Wilson, in a special memorandum which accompanied his commutation of the sentences of a group of Negro soldiers who were charged with being implicated in the Houston (Texas) riot, paid tribute to the loyalty and fidelity of colored Americans. Similar tributes were frequently paid by Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of War. In a special message of encouragement and confidence which he addressed to the Chicago Branch of the National Security League, which held a patriotic mass meeting at the Coliseum in Chicago, February 12, 1918, the Secretary of War wrote:

"As stated to you in the telegraphic reply which Mr. Emmett J. Scott, my Special Assistant, forwarded to you at my instance and request, I sincerely wish it were possible for me to be present on the occasion referred to., for I would then have a splendid opportunity to tell of the fine spirit with which the great test of the quality of America is being met by the colored people of our country. * * * I wish, however, in view of my enforced absence, to send, especially to the colored Americans of your community and elsewhere, just a few words of encouragement and confidence. * * * In a most encouraging degree, it is being regarded by colored citizens throughout the country as privilege and as a duty to give liberally of their substance, of their time, of their talents, of their energy, of their influence, and in every way possible, to contribute toward the comfort and success of our fighting units and those of our allies across the seas. The colored men, who were subject to draft, are to be commended upon their promptness and eagerness in registering their names for service in the National Army, and likewise mention is made of the relatively low percentage of exemption claims filed by them. Those in the service of their country, I am sure, will prove faithful and efficient, and will uphold the traditions of their race."

In addition to the splendid tributes paid to Negro loyalty, time after time, by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and William H. Taft, both former Presidents of the United States, Hon. Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, at a banquet given in his honor by the citizens of Albany, N. Y., on Flag Day, June 14, 1918, warmly commended the colored people for their never-failing devotion to the American flag. In introducing Secretary Daniels at the afternoon gathering, following a monster parade, former Governor Martin H. Glynn referred to the fact that Henry Johnson, an Albany colored soldier who was cited by General Pershing for extreme valor on the battlefield, was born in North Carolina, near Secretary Daniel's home. The Secretary, in mentioning Private Johnson in his speech, paid a high tribute to the colored people of the South; he said that while "there has been occasion to question the patriotism of some of the people in this country, the loyalty of the colored citizens had never been in doubt."'

Upon the floor of the House of Representatives of the United States, a Southern Congressman---Hon. R. W. Austin, of Tennessee, paid glowing tribute to Negro soldiers, and warmly commended the loyal part that the Negro citizenship of the country was playing in helping to win the war. He read into the Congressional Record the wonderful tribute which General Pershing, Commanding Officer of the American Expeditionary Forces, paid to the colored soldiers, and stated that not only in the military ranks were Negro patriots to be found, but likewise they were serving in munition plants, in mines, in factories, foundries, and upon the farm, doing their utmost to support their Government in the time of stress and storm. He bore cheerful testimony to the loyalty of this racial group and stated that in his section of the country, the South, the Negro people had not only furnished their full quota for the Army but had liberally subscribed to Liberty Loans, the Red Cross, and the Army Y. M. C. A. funds. He closed his address by saying: "It gives me pleasure to place upon the enduring records of the Government this brief but true and deserved tribute to the loyalty, fidelity, and patriotism of the colored citizens of America."

Even though white men who held positions high in the public life of the country were, in some cases, under suspicion as to their loyalty and several members of the United States Congress were charged with entertaining anti-American ideas---one of the latter being convicted in a court of law on the charge of disloyalty, be it said to the everlasting credit of the American Negro, it was never necessary to question his loyalty. This racial group placed itself squarely on the side of a wider democracy for all peoples, as expressed by the President in his public utterances, and gave cordial sanction to that sentiment contained in the President's address delivered July 4, 1918, at Washington's Tomb, when he said: "What we seek is the reign of law based upon the consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion of mankind. "

Notable among the patriotic meetings and parades conducted in all sections of the country to sustain the morale of the colored people were those which occurred (1) at Wilmington, Delaware, under the direction of Mrs. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, whose splendid efforts in mobilizing the colored women of the country for war work is referred to elsewhere in this volume; and (2) at St. Louis, Missouri, where a "Negro Loyalty Day" was observed, June 13, 1918, featured by a "Loyalty Day Parade and Patriotic Benefit" under the auspices of the Colored Women's Unit of the Council of National Defense, with Mrs. Victoria Clay Haley, as Chairman. Colored men and women from every walk of life, including thousands of school children enthusiastically took a part in these patriotic demonstrations; some of the special sections of the St. Louis parade included representatives of the Colored Waiters' Alliance, Wayman A. M. E. Church, Summer High School, Banneker School, Simmons School, Cottage School, Dessalines School, Lincoln School, Delany School, colored employees of the Post office, St. Louis Medical Forum, Boosters' Club, Young Ladies Reading Club, colored Patrons from Kinlock and Ferguson, Missouri, First Baptist Church, Church of God, A. M. E. Church, Olive Street Terrace Realty Company, Negro business and professional men of St. Louis, and others. The two parades mentioned above, and many others, reached the high-water mark of Negro patriotism.

In New Orleans, La., a monster parade was held by colored citizens, each marcher carrying an American flag. Some of the strikingly worded. banners were: "Stand by Our President"; "What It Takes To Lick the Kaiser, We've Got It"; "Victory Calls Us"; "The Colored Man Is No Slacker." A squad of stevedores who had served under General Pershing in France and sailors from the Algiers Naval Training Station headed the parade; they were some of the troops who built the great docks in. France.

In point of numbers, enthusiasm and fidelity to the cause the parade held in Atlanta, Georgia, was also a tremendously significant demonstration. Negro laborers, factory hands, porters, and workers in stores and office buildings, chauffeurs, gardeners, and other colored employees were granted by their employers a special half-holiday in order that they might participate in the Loyalty Parade; and along with them marched hundreds of other men, women, and children, representing practically every phase of Negro life. Along the route of the parade the marchers were liberally applauded by their white fellow-citizens, who were much impressed with the spirit of the occasion and who gladly contributed to its success.

The enthusiastic farewells that were given to departing Negro draftees and soldiers by their mothers, wives, and other relatives and friends furnished by no means the least valuable evidence of the self-sacrificing loyalty of this entire racial group. In numerous cities could be witnessed scenes where Negro enlisted men marched through the streets, on their way to camp, accompanied by cheering throngs of colored women, men, and children carrying flags and filling the air with shoutings of patriotism. Nor was their loyalty merely vocal, for it found additional concrete expression in the purchase of Liberty Bonds, War Savings Stamps, and the like. Miss Kate M. Herring, Director of Publicity for the North Carolina War Savings Committee, has published in Northern and Southern magazines some interesting facts in regard to the thrift campaigns among Negroes in her State. In the "Black Belt," where in fourteen counties the Negroes average 56 per cent of the population, "she wrote, the average subscription was 80 per cent of the allotment, 4 per cent more than in the State at large. In the county which subscribed 128 per cent of its allotment, the Negroes constitute 47 per cent of the population. They furnished 42 to 61 per cent of the thirteen of the nineteen counties which subscribed 100 per cent or over. Subscriptions ranged from that of a Negro who took the limit of one thousand dollars for each member of his family to those whose subscriptions were paid for in 25-cent stamps, including a washerwoman with a blind husband who subscribed for $50 worth for herself and him.

Another extraordinary case indicating the sublime patriotism and loyalty of the Negro was that of David H. Haynes, a. colored farmer of Thibodeaux, Louisiana, who subscribed for $100,000 worth of the Fourth issue of Liberty Bonds while fighting was at its height, making note of his confidence in the Government and his determination to risk his all in defense, of the lofty purpose and high ideals that caused America's entrance into the arena of war. This is said to be the largest individual subscription made by any citizen in the state of Louisiana and was certainly the largest purchase of its kind made in the country by a colored man.

That the Negro was a willing factor in the war has been so convincingly demonstrated on so many occasions that additional evidence is scarcely necessary; a striking case in point, however, may be noted in the journeying at his own expense from Birmingham, Alabama,, to Washington, D. C., of Archie Neely, a stalwart young colored American, to enlist in the Army. It was stated that he bad been refused by the Local Boards at his home, denied the privilege of voluntary enlistment, but was so determined to battle for Uncle Sam that he scraped together the necessary funds and came to Washington to see the officials of the War Department in person and tender his services; his personality was so inviting and his plea so effective that he left the War Department with a paper authorizing him to proceed at once to Camp Meade.

Another striking individual case is that of John Ward, colored, of Goldsboro, North Carolina, who, according to the sheriff of the county, had thirteen (13) of his eighteen (18) sons in the United States Army, while his daughters were busy with war work.

Aside from the immensely valuable part performed by the Negro press during the war, representative colored men and women in every section of the country appeared upon the public platform and delivered patriotic addresses before countless audiences composed of members of their racial group with a view of stimulating their patriotism, and to prevent any possibility of their yielding to sinister influences which tended to weaken their morale. All of them seemed to realize the fact that no matter how well equipped a nation may be in a material way, it cannot win any worth-while victory unless it is able to maintain among all groups of citizens that indefinable, spiritual something which is called "MORALE." In its general application it is a "moral condition" or a "mental state" which renders a man capable of endurance and of exhibiting courage in the presence of danger, but in time of war it becomes a spiritual force which keeps men constant in their devotion to their country's flag. Whether the Stars and Stripes was carried into battle by Negro soldiers or held in the hands of patriotic Negro citizens during the recent war as in all other wars, "the old flag never touched the ground."

Henry Watterson, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal, a Democratic newspaper, published an editorial expression regarding the address of a colored man which was quite generally republished throughout the country. The address was also published in the Congressional Record. Mr. Watterson wrote:

With all his genius and culture, Roscoe Conkling Simmons is a Negro. His college degrees and personal refinement cannot change his blood or color or make him one bit less a member of a race regarded as socially, economically and mentally inferior to the white.

That Louisville is proud of him as a citizen; that the Negro people of the country look to him for leadership much as they did to his illustrious uncle, Booker T. Washington; that men of prominence in the nation accord him fellowship and a place in high councils, does not change his status.

For these very reasons, his words, spoken the other day before a gathering of his own race, should spread a blush of shame on the Caucasian skins of some who are conspicuous in the eyes of the nation just now. When men of superior learning and vaunted super-race connections, intrusted with the solemn duty of serving and protecting their country's destiny, join with foreign tyrant cut-throats to heap contumely upon the nation's head and tie the hands stretched out to protect the lives and rights of Americans; when sniveling white pacifists join with all the traitor-slacker crew to invite, national disgrace and ruin, well may this member of an "inferior race" boast:

"We have a record to defend, but no treason, thank God, to atone or explain. While in chains we fought to free white men---from Lexington to Carrizal---and returned again to our chains. No Negro has ever insulted the flag. No Negro ever struck down a President of these United States. No Negro ever sold a military map or secret to a foreign government. No Negro ever ran under fire or lost an opportunity to serve, to fight, to bleed and to die in the republic's cause. Accuse us of what you will---justly and wrongly---no man can point to a single instance of our disloyalty.

"We have but one country and one flag, the flag that set us free. Its language is our only tongue, and no hyphen bridges or qualifies our loyalty. Today the nation faces danger from a foreign foe, treason stalks and skulks up and down our land. In dark councils intrigue is being hatched. I am a Republican, but a Wilson Republican. Woodrow Wilson is my leader. What he commands me to do I shall do. Where he commands me to go I shall go. If he calls me to the colors, I shall not ask whether my colonel is black or white. I shall be there to pick out no color except the white of the enemy's eye. Grievances I have against this people, against this Government. Injustice to me there is, bad laws there are upon the statute books, but in this hour of peril I forget---and you must forget---all thoughts of self or race or creed or politics or color. That, boys, is loyalty."

That this address was a notable I piece of diction and oratory means little, save as a tribute to the talent and erudition of its author and an augury of what may come from others of his race when given his opportunities. As a rebuke to the traitors and Americans not worthy of the name it deserves the widest reading, while such white men as La Follette, Stone, O'Gorman, Vardaman, Works, Bryan and all their ilk, instead, perhaps, of being tarred and feathered black, should be forced to read these words of a black man. 

In one of his interesting letters from France, Ralph W. Tyler, the accredited representative of the Committee on Public Information, wrote as follows:

"For some time, prior to sailing for France, I was cognizant of a very general belief that many of the colored soldiers here in France, because of the unrestricted freedom and. absolute equality doled out cheerfully to all people of the Allies, without respect to color, would locate. here after the war. I have interviewed hundreds of the boys, and I have not found one who expressed a desire to remain here. This reluctance to remain in France longer than the close of the war is no reflection upon La Belle France, but rather a high testimony to the loyalty of the colored man to his own and native land. I have talked with colored men who came from Dr. Vernon's "Everglades of Florida"; with many who came from the State of Texas, made famous so far as colored men are concerned, by Emmett J. Scott, the achieving Special Assistant to the Secretary of War; with those from Alabama, known principally because of the fact that the late Dr. Booker T. Washington laid the foundation for his fame there. I have talked with many from Mississippi, Georgia, and other Southern States, and, without exception, all, while willing to remain here until German militarism is crushed, want to get back 'home' to the States as soon as peace is declared. The burden of their song is: 'My country! Right or wrong, my country!' 'With all thy faults, I love thee still.'

"To me this eagerness, on the part of colored soldiers, in the face of the absolutely unrestricted freedom offered them by France, and while willing cheerfully to remain here, and die here if necessary, to secure world democracy, is the finest possible testimony to the loyalty to their country---the United States---of the 175,000 colored soldiers who are now in the service of their country on French soil. To a man they will return to the States as gladly as they embarked for France.

"Those of the race back in the States who complain because of a restricted sugar and flour allowance, etc., but who, nevertheless, enjoy Sundays and holidays for themselves as days bereft of work, perhaps would not complain were they over here at the front where, there is neither rest nor Sundays for the boys who must fight and work seven days in the week, rain or shine, hot or cold. But these boys over here accept most cheerfully the inclusion of Sundays and holidays as duty days, and rain and cold as no excuse for relief from work. and fight---a necessity, now, to achieve world democracy. The colored men of this Division, commissioned officers and men in the ranks, I find, are anxious to contribute their mite and their MIGHT to maintain the best traditions of the American Army."