Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-11-18
HIS COURSE DENOUNCED
PRESIDENT CONDEMNED FOR DIS
CHARGING CoLoRED TROOPERS.
Mass Meeting Of Boston Negroes to
Protest-Army Journal Says Pro-
ceeding Savors Of Orient.

Resolutions strongly disappearing of
the action of President Roosevelt in dis
charging from the United States army
three companies of the 25th Infantry.
composed of colored soldiers, were adopt
ed at a negro mass meeting in Faneuil
Hail. Boston, last night. James H. Wolf.
department vice commander of Massachu-
setts, g. A r., presided at the meeting.
Among those who spoke were Mayor
John F. Fitzgerald William Lloyd Garri-
son. Edward Everett Brown, williara NJ.
Trotter, Archibald P. Grimke, ex-minis-
ter to Hayti, and the Rev. Reverdy C.
Ransom.
. The resolutions after reciting the cir
culnstances of the disbanding of the
three companies, declare such an order
an act of unprecedented severity and in
Justice and make Indignant protest to
the country against the same." The cir
cumstances of their being stationed to
do garrison service at Fort Brown, near
brownsville Tex. and their treatment
Dy the white people of Brownsville. 'aS
southern white people treat habitually
members of the colored race are re-
counted, and the resolutions close:
Fund to Make Fight.
Funds have been assured to make a fight
for the reinstatement of the colored soldiers
of Companies B, C and D of the 25th In
fantry, who have been ordered dis
charged without honor from the United
States army, and to ascertain what rights
they have, against the effect of President
Roosevelts recent order debarring them
from future employment in the govern
ment service. Col. Alexander S. Bacon
and j. Douglas Wetmore, attorneys for the
Afro-American Council have been en-
ployed.
Mr.. Wetmore says he intends to have
two bills introduced at the next session of
Congress on behalf of the Afro-American
Council. one depriving the President and
the Secretary of War of the power to dis
charge soldiers without trial, and the other
for the reinstatement of the men discharged
from the 25th Infantry if they deprived
of their rights.
Calls were sent out yesterday for special
meetings of the Ministerial Association of
Colored Preachers, the Baptist Ministers
Meeting and the Clerical Union of Long
Island. on Monday, to take action on Presi-
dent Roosevelts attitude toward the negro
troops.
The Army and Navy Journal has this to
say relatively:
The action of the President in dealing
with the negro soldiers of the 18th Iafan-
try savors too much of oriental methods
to meet with the cordial approval of ei her
civilians or the army There would seem
to have been no sufficient reason for no.
leaving the matter to be dealt with in
the ordinary course, through the depart
ment commander and the War Department
II this had been done the government would
have avoided the mistake it has made in
anHlctlng punishment upon the delinquent
soldiers, which goes beyond the power OF
even the commander-in-chief 1t is I'M
fortunate that Gen. Darlington, upon whose
recommendation President Roosevelt acted
50 promptly, should have overlooked the
iact that the power of the President to
debar the discharged soldiers of the 2jtn
infantry from government employment does
not extend beyond his term of office, and
cannot be made perpetual by executive ac-
ton. Where does Gen. Darlington find the
authority ascribed to the President to de-
clare that these discharged soldiers shall
be forever debarred from employ
ment In any civil capacity under the gov
eminent?
Sentences Of disqualification were for
merly common in our army for offenses
other than those coming under the sixth
and fourteenth articles of war, in which
this penalty Is expressly prescribed. In
1870, however the attorney general held
In the case of the finding Of naval
court martial that sentences of disability
were mot in accordance with the custom
OF tne service except when expressly au-
thorized by law" The ruling was applied
to military case in G.C.M.O. % and 81
of 1870 and the punishment of disquali-
fcation imposed upon an officer was dis
ap. owed as unauthorized.
THE sympathies and the passions involved
In the treatment OF negro soldiers are such
that 1t was important that the action taken
in this case should be SO deliberate, SO
"Sti tooAioOu III iiiiildIy pTeCGQenl, ana so
strictly in accord with military usage that
1t could not be subjected to just criticism
AS 1T Is. we may be sure that we have not
heard the last Of the discharged soldiers of
the 25th. for those who are disposed to
befriend them now have it in their power
to charge to prejudice the action taken by
the President upon the initiative of an Of
f1cer of the army who is native of South
Carolina. and whose recommendation went
beyond the authority of the President.
THE justice of such criticism is apart
from the lesson which we are seeking to
enforce, which is that the well-esta blished
methods of the military service are those
which it is safest to follow. They may
seem to be slow to those disposed to i'm
pulsive action, but they are a safeguard
against conclusions formed without duly
considering all of the questions involved
In the determination of a given case. A
reference to the army regulations will
show that the discharge of soldier with
out honor is carefully Guarded against
abuse. and he is accorded the right to
have his case considered by a board of
officers before his commanding officer can