The Mena weekly star., 1908-04-23
A REPLY ID FORAKER
SENATOR WARNER OF MISSOURI ADDRESSES SENATE ON
 BROWNSVILLE AFFAIR.
ATTACKS ON PRESIDENT DEPRECATED
Senator Warner Declared That a Stu dious and Systematic Effort te Arouse Race Feeling of Negroes Against the Executive Had Been Made-The Evidence Analysed.

Against the Executive Had Been Made-The Evidence Analysed. Washington, Apr. 22.--A painstaking | anaylsis of the testimony taken in the several hearings of the Brownsville | affair. which led to the discharge of a number of negro soldiers of the Twenty-hfth infantry, and especially that by the committee on military af- fairs, was presented to the senate Tuesday by Senator Warner of Mis- souri.
 "In the war of 1S61-186s I served in the same command with negro troops" said MT. Warner. The sur
 viving veterans of those troops wear
 with me, as comrades, the button of
 the G. A. R., and certain 1t Is have
 no prejudice against negroes as sol
 diers because l believe that members of the Twenty-fifth infantry at Brownsville disgraced the United States uniform and stained the hon.
 orable record of their race as soldiers,
 Lawlessness is not the distinguishing characteristic of any race or color" The Missouri senator quoted freely throughout his discourse from testi-
 mony taken in the several investiga- tions of the charge that the negro sol 6iers shot up the town. Tt is to be regretted" he said, that studious and systematic effort has been made to arouse the race feeling of the ne- erroac af tho nnpptr,t oUsfnet ho v.raot- dent because of his action with refer ence to those companies. Those who thus work to arouse race issue have taken upon themselves heavy re- sponsibility, for their action must nec- essarily serve to increase the race prejudice which now exists to an un- fortunate extent It is incredible to me that any man, white or black. should have the hariihood to charge that the president, in issuing the or der discharging those soldiers. was prejudiced against them because of their color"
 Paying glowing tribute to the va
 Tor of negro soldiers at various critical moments in the wars of the nation. Mir Warner insisted that he had not shared the feeling of criticism against the administration for having ordered the negro troops to Brownsville. He had endeavored, he said, to weigh the evidence in this case with a view of doing even-handed justice and he said guided by this rule I am driven to the conclusion that members of those
 companies whose identity has not been
 shown made the midnight assault on
 the sleeping and helpless citizens of
 Brownsville"
 ITO have these soldiers in the serv-
 Ice with the stain of that crime rest
 ing upon them would have been crim-
 inal," declared MT. Warner. No con-
 munity in which they might be sta
 toned would feel secure. They wouli
 be feared as menace.
 While 1t is to be regretted that
 some of the battalion, who. in all prob
 ability. were guiltless. came within
 the order. yet better this than that a
 band of lawless raiders should con-
 tinue to wear the uniform of the
 United States soldiers"
 sT am convinced that the attitude of
 the Brownsville people toward the
 colored troops was unjust and that the
 feeling of deep resentment against the
 citizens which the soldiers had was
 but natural, yet such resentment. how
 ever just. could furnish no excuse for
 the attack, but the record of troops at other army posts in the south an1 west, whether the troops were white or colored, shows such an outbreak and shooting up of town to be method of revenge that naturally sug- rests itself to men who have arms at hand and have been trained in the use af them"
 While there was special motive fo< the negroes to shoot up the town, there was. he insisted. an absence of such motive on the part of any one else. The people whose houses were shot up were the people whose at- titude toward the soldiers was known to be hostile. There was direct evi-
 dence that the shooting was done by the soldiers. He said:
 "The claim that the saloonkeepers. tn order to get rid of the colored
 troops, fired into the homes of their friends with a reckless disregard of their lives, while they were careful
 of the lives of the soldiers, is too great tax on ones credulity."
 The claim that the citizens of
 Brownsville did the shooting. hs said.
 for the purpose of getting rid of the
 negro soldiers, finds no reasonable
 support in the testimony