The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-08-14
NEGRO OFFICERS. AN EXPERIMENT THAT
FAILED.

There is not IA commissioned negro Of
fcer, in the United States regular army.
This fact is not due to the ostracism IF
Southern white men, because there is no
Southern white man in power and has
not been in thirty years.
Until Governor Russell, for purely pc
ltical ends, made a negro colonel OF
negro regiment in North Carolina, no
negro officer held that rank. The spec
tacle of that negro officer in his uniform
leaving his regiment and running up and
down the railroads to run political con-
vcntions, is evidence that the appoint
ment was made for politics. The shoot
ing of the negro by an officer, the pres
cnce of many negro troops making them
selves disgusting by their airs on the
railroads, the wholesale furloughs, the
activity of officers in politics-these and
negroes in high places to measure up to
the positions to which the Governor APP
pointed them to try to bolter up his fal-
len political fortunes.
The failure of the negro officers in
North Carolina has been more con
spicuous than elsewhere, perhaps, be-
cause the negro here was given higher
rank, but the same story of unhtneSs
comes from all quarters. Editorally the
Washington Post thus writes of AN Elk
pertinent that Failed
1--WE fear that the negro troops, and
especially those which have colored men
as commissioned officers, must be set
down rs il failure. Properly commanded
and disciplined, the negro makes II fair
soldier. He will fight. He has endur-
ance. He is sufficiently courageous.
But the experience of the past few
months has shown us that the negro of
fccr is impossible under any circum-
stances. and that the negro soldiers are,
rs IL rule, diScordant with our scheme of
society and civilization. 1t is useless to
ignore facts. This is a white mans
country. and the whites are not willing
and cannot be compelled to accept the
negro on equal terms i'll any relation of
life. White soldiers will not salute ne
gro officers, neither will they associate
with enlisted men of color. We have
tried the experiment and it has failed
Whether the negroes have been too
jealous and too swift in asserting their
imagined rights, we do not pretend TO
say. IT is characteristic of them to do
so. and the chances all are that they
have given free rein to their predictions.
But however that may be, the record
of conflict. of resentment, of turbulence
and of agitation has been so universal
and so ugly that we cannot shut our
eyes to its significance.
''There is another mtoward aspect, too.
III, appears that. although the regular of
ficers have hitherto had no great
trouble with their colored troops, the
breaking ont of war and the consequent
Introduction of abnormal conditions
have led to many alarming and unwel-
come revelations. 1T seems difficult if
not impossible to make the negro under
stand that he is amenable to the civil
law. 20 rid him of the idea that the
policeman is his natural enemy, to
awaken in him sense of obligation
to any authority other than that of the
military establishment. 1t may be said,
for it is true, that soldiers on liberty
NItlUeI N1lltc OF Dldch. are prone TO ulS-
turbance of the public peace, but the
fact remains that while white offenders
are always arrested without trouble by
the civil police or by the provost guard,
the negro is invariably protected by his
fellows. even TO the point of violence.
From Chattanooga. New Orleans, Tampa
wherever colored troops have been en-
camped, whether regulars or volunteers
we have the melancholy. the over
whelming proof. Within the past week
coiored troops have, on two occasions.
broken into Florida iails, inundated
the sheriff and rescued criminals be-
longing to their respective regiments. In
deed. If is of record that they have fire.
quently assaulted the police. both in Ten
nessee and Florida. for the purpose If
resculng negro criminals belonging, not
to the army, but to the local population
In word. the best friends of the negro
have been discoura ged by the revelations
of the past few months. and have been
forced to the conclusion that they are
forcing the negro's social evolution with
unwise energy.
THE underlying cause of the negroes
ATTITUDE toward organized society is not
far to seek. but it would make too long
story at this time. Enough to say that
1t IS far less his fault than would seem
at hasty glance, and that for the pres
ent we need deal only with the fact"