New-York tribune., 1906-12-07
THE LAW AND THE NEGRO TROOPS.

Secretary Taft's report regarding the Negro
battalion at Brownsville Tex, is fitted to remove
from the minds of unprejudiced persons any
doubt of the entire propriety of the soldiers
dismissal. When a soldier enlists In the army
he makes a contract by which the government
reserves the absolute right TO terminate his
employment whenever the interests OF the ser
vice demand it The chance OF such a dis
missal is one of the risks of his trade just as
much as the chance of death on the battlefield
is, and just as much similar discharge is
one OF the risks Of any private employment
The Brownsville soldiers have not been the
victims OF any extraordinary punishment" any
"cruel distortion OF the law" any arbitrary in
Justice" They have merely had their contracts
with the government terminated in perfect &C
cord with the terms of those contracts, when
for the best reason in the world, their discharge
''for the good of the service" To have
tanned them IN the army while there was In
force a military law permitting their discharge
would have been ineIcusable 1t would have
been utterly subversive of military discipline
II would have given encouragement to the IN
ruly spirits throughout the service TO band to-
gether for robbery. rapine or murder, and war
rant TO their comrades to shelter the wrong
doors by silence and by perjury. The dismissal
Of the battalion was imperatvely necessary as
well as legally proper. The criticism that the
tary law has been arbitrarily abused, is based
on ignorance Of the contract right Of the gov
ernment to protect itself. it has protected
itself in this case.
The essential facts Of the case are now clear.
AT midnight of August 13 a number Of the
soldiers, estimated at from nine to twenty,
shot up" the town Of Brownsville, killing one
man and wounding others. They acted with
murderous intent and every one Of that party
was guilty Of capital crime While the shoot
ing was going on, the battalion In the fort was
called to arms, and so, If none of those in the
fort were privy to the hostile foray. they had
abundant opportunity to learn who the alb
sentees were or who. hurTying back from the
shooting climbed over the walls Of the fort
and thus Joined the formation late. There Is
evidence that some OF the soldiers answered at
the rollcall to the names of some OF the party
OF murderers. The murderers may possibly
have obtained their arms for the foray without
the Negro sergeants' being privy 20 their act,
though that is doubtful. But when the ser
geants at the call to arms opened the gunracks
some Of the rifles were not therefor the firing
was still going on The sergeants could not
have failed TO notice the absence of from to
10 per cent Of the weapons, yet they declare
that not a rife was missing. The next day,
with the same non-commissioned officers in
charge Of the keys, the weapons were all IN
place and all cleaned. Any man Of common
sense can see that nearly every Negro in that
battalion knew who the raiders were. Yet all
denied knowledge. A large percentage per
cent to 10 per cent OF that battalion were muir
derers. Almost all Of the rest of the battalion
had a guilty knowledge Of the crime, before or
after its commission, and suppressed It They,
too, We're guilty Of a crime and deserved punish
I ment. 1t will hardly be urged that any of those
men who did the murder who shielded the
murderers should have been retained in the SER
vice. For the rest Of the battalion, it Is prOba-
BILE that some innocent men were by the dis
charge temporarily thrown out of employment,
but IN perfect accordance with the terms Of
their contract Of service. The government has
the moral right, and in this instance the legal
right, 10 protect itself.
Not all Of the criticism Of the discharge of
the Negroes is based solely on ignorance of the
terms of the enlistment contract Much of it
is purely captiOus If the government had not
taken the action It did take-H, having failed
to break through the conspiracy of silence, It
had permitted the battalion TO continue in the
service-the same critics would have shrieked
about the incompetency Of the army officers,
the demoralization OF the soldiers, the decay Of
discipline. the faulty Of the administration the
peril Of our civilization They would have seen
the bright red figure of MIlitarism stalking
abroad in the land and numbering In the secur-
ity Of its uniform, and they would have said
so and shuddered.