The Nashville globe. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1906-193?, 1917-09-07
EARLY ANNOUNCEMENT OF ARMY
POLICY TO Be MADE
TREATMENT OF COLORED TROOPS TRAINING
DISCUSSED SCERETA OF WAR BAKER
COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL INFLUENCE.
COMMITTEE OF NATIONAL INFLUENCE.

The past ten days have marked the
coming and going of many distin-
guished men and women in the Ma
tion's capital, The race problem has
occupied the foreground of consulta-
tion and debate throughout this period
almost to the exclusion Of other topics,
aside from the routine war program,
now so we'll in hand as to cause little
or no argument. The movement Of
troops, cantonment preparations, acti-
vities of the various commissions and
bureaus are proceeding with clock
like precision and it is only a matter
of time when the word "ready" will
be sounded from the cOmmanders-in-
chief of the American forces in the
field. But-that's another story than
the one we have uppermost in mind.
The race problem has held the CEN
ter of the stage during the current
week and the discussions have taken
wide range-covering every phase OF
this intricate theme from our status in
the war preparation to migration from
the Southland and Negro conditions
since the voyage of Noah's Ark. In
dication as to some of the conclusions
reached may be placed before the pub
lie through the dailies before this
letter reaches the general eye.
AS TO TRAINING CAMPS FOR
COLORED TROOPS.
The deplorable episode at Houston,
Texas, has given the military officials
and the people at large no end Of
concern as to what is best to be done
about training camps for colored
| troops. Can Negro soldiers be train
ed along with the whites of their
respective states in the cantonments
of the South? One element says Yes;
the safety of any kind of an Ameri-
can soldier should not be matter of
question anywhere the stars and
stripes wave. Every section of the
common country should he taught to
respect the national uniform. The
South should be permitted to get used
! to seeing dusky faces behind army
muskets and Negro manhood clad in
| battle array" Another element
pleads for a change of soil, with a
view of avoiding all possibility of
racial clashes among the hot-heads of
hln ole on1 urh opH fn pttt-
breaks that may lead to greater fric-
tion everywhere.
This question was brought to the
direct attention of Secretary of War
Newton d. Baker few days ago by
committee of national influence, and
representing the highest intelligence
and loftiest patriotism of both races.
Two of the most prominent members
of the delegation were Oswald Garri-
son Willard, editor of the New York
Evening Post, and George Foster Pea
! body, known far and wide as an eX-
ponent of education and civic right
e0usness. After a long interview be-
| tween the committee and Secretary
Baker, presumably as to the future
policy of the Department with refer
ence to the training of colored troops
and the location of probable Negro
camps, neither the Secretary nor his
callers would indicate to reporters the
result of the conference.
"Our opinion was unanimous" was
the cryptic statement of Mr.. Willard
and he could not be induced to say
more He refused to state whether
the committee had recommended the
training of colored troops in separate
camps or whether in the North or
in the South. 1t is known however
that a vigorous protest was made
against any species of segregation
that would lead to distinctly diff
ferent treatment of COlored and white
troops in the camps, and that there
was no strenuous objection to the To-
cation of colored camps in the North,
if such a course would lessen the dan
ger of race riots and tend to produce
better feeling in general among the
people with whom the army had to
deal. They agreed to cooperate with
the Department in any just movement
|
sible friction in or about the concern
tration camps in which Negroes were
quartered. 1t is expected that Secre-
tary Baker will shortly issue state
ment concerning the policy to be pur-
sued with reference to colored troops
and it is also believed that the an
nouncement will be agreeable to the
committee. This statement is awaited
with much anxiety by the millions Of
colored people throughout the coun-
try.
The colored members of the COM
mittee which called at the War De-
partment were DR.. R. R. Motion and
Emmett ]. Scott, of Tuskegee Insti-
tute, Ala; Bishop G. W. Clinton, Of
the A. M. E. Zion Church; DR.. A. S.
Jackson, educational secretary of the
A. M. E. Church; DR.. ]. E. Moor
land, of the Y. NJ c. A. work; Prof.
N. B. Young, of the Florida State
Agricultural School; Prof. w. T. B.
Williams, of Hampton Institute, Prof.
John Hope, of Morehouse College, At
lanta, Ca, and others. Among the
white members, in addition to Messrs
, Willard and Peabody, were: Bishop
W. P. Tirkield, DR.. ]. H. billiard, DR..
Thomas Jesse Jones, Prof. E. G.
= Branson, of the University Of North
!, Carolina; DR.. H. Paul Douglass, of
4 the American Missionary Association,
and L. HollingswOrth Wood, of the