St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1917-05-09


did opportunity to show to the world
our best selves.
Six hundred thousand black men
are fighting under the tri-colors of
France, and at the titanic struggle of
the Marine, the most stupendous battle
in the worlds history. the battle has
saved Paris, the heart of France. the
hayenets of the black Senegalese rifle
men We're a mighty factor in stem
ming the tide of the German hordes
and hurting them Rhineward. And
when our armies shall march upon
the blood soaked fields of France and
Belgium, fighting ut at Armageddon,
the battle of the aord, the black men
of America will be there to uphold
the traditions of our army, and to add
to the trophies won by the glorious
9th and 10th Cavalry and the cath
and 25th Infantry on many a hard
fought field
And in other spheres, We can nut
our. best foot foremost. In Red Crbss
work, on the fields, in the factories,
in munition camps. we can prove our
value to the nation as never before.
And when the war is over and Old
Glory, ragged and tattered, and torn,
but: victorious shall wave in triumph
once more over our beloved land. 1t
may. be that the nation will reckon
us an asset rather than a liability. We
shall at least have added to the debt
our country owes us.
a=Y Custom Makes Law.
Since custom long established, long
observed becomes law, we should be
patriotic, because. we have always
been so, so long that it becomes a
habit. Crispus Attacks was the first
American to lay down his life upon
the altar for American Liberty. Ne
groes have fought for the flag in
every war in which our national hon
or was at stake. In the Civil War
thousands of US fought for the Stars
and Stripes; and at the Crater and at
Fort Wagner signalized our devotion
and loyalty and patriotism by deeds
Of desperate va1Or.
And in Dixie, over which waved the
Stars and Bars, negroes chiva1rously
kept faith with their absent masters
and Zealously guarded the lives and
honor of the women of the South
while the men were fighting desper-
ately to sustain and restore the sink
ing fortunes Of the Confederacy. The
annals of history show no fairer page.
And in the Spanish American war he
did his bit on San Juan Hill.
Humanity and religion call US to
patriotism. The cause of America
and the Allies is the cause of human
ity, the. cause of God. Germany
stands indicted, yea, convicted before
the nations as ruthless robber, per-
yiclo o.,d Tn
violating the neutrality of helpless
Belgium, Germany perjured herself,
for she had sworn to respect the in
volatility of the lesser nations. Her
Zeppelins have bombed, and that re-
peatedly, unfortified villages and slain
defenseless civilians. Her league
with barbarous, unchristian Turkey
has placed upon her the ban of Chris
tendon. Ruined cathedrals, murdered
priests and .clergymen, evince her dis
regard for religion and put her at
war with God. The spirits of the
women and children who went down
when the Lusitania and other liners
sunk beneath the blows of submarine
assassins, call ON every true American
white or black. to march to battle.
q May Trust Negro.
America. you may trust'-us. Spor
adic eases, here and there, of Ne
groes listening to the propaganda of
servants of the Wilhelmstrasse may
have occurred, but the race is no more
to be judged by the isolated cases
than is the white American by ultra
pacifists like LaFollette and Stone.
America, you may trust us. These
h ooly 1,ra will holm
dig your trenches and build your forts
We black men will fight your battles.
Call 100000 of us to the colors Give
us Teddy and Leonard Wood and What
are left Of the fire eating captains
who wore the Gray; mix in the 9th
and 10th and the Gath and 25th, to
stiffen ouf. lines. '.' -
Train us we'll. Give us squadrons
of f1iers, machine guns, field artillery.
Ship us to fair and bleeding France;
launch us. "a black thunder bolt, upon
the German lines; and by the heavens
that bend above us, we'll break the
Prussian lines or report to God the
reason why. We are loyal. There ere
no hyphenates among as. Trust us,
for we deserve it.
When years of peace shall succeed
this time. Of strife, when democracy
has supplanted autocracy, when the
menace. of Prussian militarism has
been crushed, when HohenZollern and
Hapsburg shall follow Romanoff and
Manchu into the retirement Of private
life, when the. freedom of the seas haz
been won, and every numbering sub
marine enm eshed, when diplomacy shall
mean truth instead of falsehood, when
International Leagues" of Peace shall
bring all International quarrels to In
ternational courts of arbitration, when
our own country, purged from selfish
ness, class Distinction, greed, irrever-
ence and commercialism in the pur-
gatorial flames of war, shall rise a
new, more splendid PheniX, the Ne
groes of, this country will have had
their share in the regeneration of this
world And then shall We see that
contamination devoutly wished and
stated. by our peerless B. r. Washing
ton, rSeparate as the fingers, yet one
as the hand"