The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1907-01-26
IS THE NEGRO A NATIONAL MENACE?

The President ard Mr.. Root will not
. admit that the order commanding all the negr'
regiments to steam for the Philippines is issued in
authorization of possible and irritating contingeu-
eies which may follow the debates the dismisssI
from the service for riotous conduct Of a whole
battalion Of negro infantry. Some of the Repub-
lican members and senator's fearing drift OF the
negro vote to the Democratic beach, are 1nslstent
in their condemnation and, indeed. denunclat1on
of the President for what they stigmatize as arb-
trary and hasty action toward the black battalion
Here is the case summarized. The outrage for
which three companies Of negro soldiers were dis
missed occurred ON Aug. Is last. in Fort Brown
Texas. where the regiment stationed. About
midnight a band of unknown ruffians ran amucN
through the town of Brownsville shooting it up.
as the expression is. In the scrmmage one man, a
bartender. was killed and another seriously wound
ed. The wonder is that no more were killed, for
bullets flew everywhere. some of them piercing beds
where women and children were sleeping. Then a.
suddenly as the desperadoes appeared they van
ished. Charges were at once made to the Officers
commanding the negro troops that men from the
garrison were the murderers An investigation was
made at once, one of the first moves of the com
handing officer being to examine the mems rifles
These all clean but the bullets fired the night
before were dug out and proved to be army amrnu
milton
Against this strong piece of circumstantial evi
dence the men made no defense They all denied
that they implicated, and also denied that they
knw anything of the guilty parties The colonel
of the regiment. unable to fasten the guilt upon
any of his men, reported the matter to Washington
he
vestigate. On receiving this officers report the
President demanded that the regiment furnish him
the names of the assassins. The men claimed to
know nothing of the murderous affair The Presi-
dent now threatened expe from the service three
companies, whom he claimed shielded the muir
derers, unless the names of the guilty men were
sent him inside of given time. Again the men
pleaded ignorance and at once the President for
warded an order discharging the three companies
All the men were dishonorably discharged and moi
one of them is eligible to fight for "oId GLORY
again. Naturally the dismissed men resented 1vbt
they contended was unfair treatment. for undonbt
edly many of them knew nothing of the OUTRAGE a.,
the citizens of Brownsville The entire regimen
tet the disgrace and sympathised with their com,
rades. The regiment claimed that three con,,,a,,;,
should not be disgraced for the sins of fo,.
drunken men. This is the feature of the case H.
has inspired the congressional friends Of the bIoo
troops. NO one takes the ground that the gu;It, J
men should not have been dismissed. or banood e.
mat matter, or that those who knowingly sb;aIdo
them should not also have been punished. II :
charged however. that the investigation into tbo
"noie unpleasant business farcical and that 9,
shrewd persistent investigator would have d;sao.
cred the truth. The President deemed the offa;-
Oh sufficient Importance to give it place in II.
coilSr esslonal message, and since then no :; -
ported to have said that he will veto am, r,oo,..
congress &C may pass to nullify his decision tt
Democrats are holding their fire. for if i No,
'nat the seyerest criticism of Mr. Roosevalt,s "a
VIII come from his own party. two of whom no.
already introduced motions on the matte '.,
ouSiS close TO censure the Presidents actior,
iA"S the PRESIDENT either as chief executive -
,iia al -ll-chiet OF the United States army -.
ooth' the power and the right to dismiss 90.
company or battalion without trial h,
martialf lie claims he has, representatvo
MS own party dispute his claim The clain,. ~ !.
executive and his arbitrary action in deoIina :'S
the black battalion may become irr;ta+i, "''U
IN politics and give rise to much ACTORS
bate. 'iiluohous de-