Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-08-30
.DRAFTOF NEGROES
CONDEMNED BY
T FORMER SENATOR
MiSsissippian Thinks Excess
Profits Tax Will Be About
80 Per Cent

Negroes should never have been
made subject to the selective draft
act, declares former United States
Senator lie Toy Percy OF Grrenville,
Miss arlo Is making 4 round trip to
III" Stands on the Matson sream"!
MdUi
They should never have been in
Guided IN the draft, because they are
not proper representatives OF the
American people a, the battle front.
They d. not represent in lndividua!
action the IDEAL for which We are
fighting, the Mississippi statesman
declares with all the frankness of the
usual southerner when he is discuss
ing Americas race problem.
1t was after the former senator was
asked where he thought the admins
FtratiOI would locate the training
camps for the coIored draft that he
made these remarks. His answer was
that he feared the Houston, Texas,
riot would not prove a sufficient les
sea- 10 the War Department and that
arrangements would be made fox
u o0llhS lAC LCSIO 6OIoAOl6 III luE
south, from where they largely will be
drawn
Despite the senator's displeasure at
the drafting Of colored soldiers, he
says that he expects no objection
among the negroes to the draft.
They'll be proud to CO." he AYERS. He
has no information as to whether the
cobred troops will be segregated by
divisions or by regiments. The anti,
draft demonstrations Of the negroes,
In1ians and mixed breeds in Okla
homa he considers only as an in
ctpisnt uprising and that the southern
negroes will make no such moves.
Senator Percy was in Washington
about six weeks ago. He expects con-
eress to pass the revenue bill and
place the excess profits tax some
where in the neighborhood of 80 per
cent, as last recommended by the
finance committee. The income tax
on excessive incomes will be proper.
tionately higher, he thinks, although
vouching no estimate as to specific
figures.
If the senate follows the administra-
tons recommendations, as he thinks
will be the case, the revenue bill will
be accepted by the house in very much
the same manner it comes from the
senate.
Senator John Sharp Williams of
Mississippi is an efficient and trust
worthy representative of the admins
tration in the senate, he says, and is
supported by the other democrats, al
though some petty opposition, even to
important war measures is apparent
almost endlessly from political op.I
ponents Of the President.
Senator Percy is the only man who
has ever had the distinction of de-
feating Senator J. K. Vardaman for
election to the United States senate
He was elected. by the Mississippi
legislature in 1910 and served until
1918. In the 1911 primaries, the first
held in Mississippi, he was in turn de-
feated by Senator Vardaman. This
was the only political position to
which Senator Percy has ever aspired
or held.
Like his father and three brothers,
Senator Percy is a prominent attorney
and a descendent of one of MISSISSIPPI
pi's oldest and most respected fam
lilies.
Senator Percy Is an old friend of
Collector NJ A. Franklin to whose Of
flee he went Immediately after leaving
the Maui yesterday. They will be
travelling companions on the return
voyage of the Maui to San Francisco
where Collector Franklin has been
called to Washington for a conference
with the treasury officials.