The weekly Alaska citizen., 1917-12-03
NEAR ACCIDENT
 IS INVERTED BY
 A WISE CAPTAIN

" ASA VI IA AA4 '
 LOUISVILLE. Ky, Nov 7.-Louis- vile in winch much of the spirit Of the old South still lives, putting aside racial feeling and personal prejudice has settled for itself, periodically and unreservcdly. the question of the pro priety of white soldiers saluting ne gro officers This question which came to the fore recently, was on first thought answered negatively, but later a way was found to reconcile i inherent convictions with military regulations.
 The solution reached was, that an officer should not be regarded as a personality toward whom the salute was directed, but that the military yiewpo nt which makes the salute homage 10 the country, uniform and to the things 1t typifies should be ac- cepted
 An exposition of this viewpoint was voiced by General John E. Castleman, major in the army of the confed- 1 eracy, later Colonel of a Kentucky National Guard regiment. and Briga- dieI-Genera' of Volunteers who saw active service Forty Rico during the epanish-American wwar. He said:
 The discipline of the army must be maintained, and non-commiss issiOned officers understand little of the spirit of the army when they refuse to sa- i lute. have held several commis- | sons ,n the military service and l unhesitatingly say that I would or will, a. any timc salute an officer, superior or inferior. who salutes me without regard to the color of his l Shlu. lu6 ltsu'hlIOIlb, tiic lh"S 'tiANi the fundamentals of courtesy and dis cipline upon which these regulations 1 and lAwe are based prescribe this. ! It Is DO time to stand against them. I regret the incident and want to urge every soldier to be a soldier in the full sense of the term. We are at var, and soldiers are under the rules of tho American army. We are all under one flag. We salute the rank, not the individual"
 The incident which brought forth General Castleman's statement oc- cured here recently.
 Cap.ain William Glass. twenty-four years soldier in the United States army, recently appointed a commis- stoned officer, and two white non commissioned officers. were the prin- cipal figures. Captain Glass said the men passed him with heads turned without salrting though it was cer- tain they had seen him. He called them back. he said. because he felt that 1t was his duty to correct their lapse frcp military regulation. Only one of them returned in answer to Captain Class call.
 This man, a sergeant, in answer to inquiry as to why he had not saluted replied, "I will not salute negro" at the sane time expressing doubt that Captain Glass was what he repre- sented himself to be. Captain Glass displayed the insignia under his over ccat and the sergeant again said h" would not salute a negro. He gave his name ard organization to Captain Glass, saying: You can report me if you wish"
 The interchange had occupied sev- eral minutes and an excited crowd gathered. Captain Glass aDpar- |
 ent,y desirous of avoiding further unpleasantness, walked quietly away leaving several white officers to ex- plain to the crowd. The sergeant also disappeared in the crowd. No official report Of the incident was ever made to the authorities at Camp Zachary Taylor by Captain Glass, who express ed regre. that the incident had at tracted the attention of passerbys and for the excitement 1t caused.
 Because of the keen interest arous- ed by .ht incident and the conflict of opinion which 1t caused Gen. Castle man was asked for statement of his attitude on the subject. The position he assumed exercised great weight. and his opinion apparently soon be came that of the majority.
 IAnY/ HnnAITn