The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1917-12-08

of discrimination seem all the more
unwarranted, in view of the fact that
there is far less hazard to the life of
the soldier connected with the Service
Battalion than is true in the case of
the soldier who faces shot and shell
on the firing line. Furthermore, the
attitude of the War Department to-
ward colored soldiers is clearly
shown by the following facts: More
than 626 of the 1880 colored men who
completed the course at the Reserve
Officers Training Camp, at Fort Des
Moines, Iowa, have been commissioned
as officers in the United States Army;
nearly 100 colored physicians and sur
geons have received commissions as
officers in the Medical Reserve Corps,
and full fighting force of 10000 COL
ored soldiers, including representa-
tives in practically every branch of
military service, will constitute the
92nd Division, to be detailed for duty
in France under General Pershing.
The relations between the colored
ing both, have been worked out on a
very satisfactory basis, and little or
no trouble seems likely to arise. All
ored men are accepting this as an op-
portunity to serve and not an occasion
for creating discOrd or trouble, and
white men and officers are passing
over the question of race difference in
helpful spirit. What we need in this
emergency is the help of right-thing
ing people in the cities and towns
around the camps, and we are getting
that cooperation so generally, that
our course seems free from embarass-
ment, if German propagandists, who
want to make discord by stirring up
i sensitive feelings, are simply not al
| lowed to do their work.
AS matter of fact, the colored peo-
pie and the white people in this coun-
! try have lived together now for a good
lmany years and have established re-
lationships in the several parts of the
! country which are more or less we'll
organized and acquiesced in. Grad
ually the colored people are acquiring
education in the industrial arts, and
are rendering themselves more and
more useful in our civilization, and
more and more entitled to our respect.
On the other hand, the white people
are coming more generally to realize
the value of the good citizens among
the colored people through their in
dustriaI Importance and their eager
desire to learn and qualify themselves
for usefulness in the country, and this
has brought about a growth of good
feeling marred, it is true, here and
there, by such incidents as that at
Houston and that at East st. Louis
which grew out of sad misunderstood
ings, and we're perhaps contributed to
in at least one of these instances, by
the malicious activities of people, who
would rejoice to see any embarass
ment come to us as sign of weak
, ness against our enemy. Therefore
unrest among the colored people and
suspicion of the Government on theil
part are, by all means, to be discour
aged at time like this.
We are bending all our energies tt
the building up of an army to defeat
| the enemy of democracy and freedom
: and the army we are building contains
t both white and colored men. We are
: expecting that they will all do thei1
duty, and when they have done i
J they will be alike entitled to the graft
l tude of their Country.
: (Signed) .- ....
NEWTON D. BAKER,
) Secretary of Wa