The courier-index., 1917-10-19

| Man when ne comes rom the supply
 depot.
 An army uniform is a new toy to l the negro when he first receives if l and he has so many thumbs that he fails to get wholly inside when | the command comes to march to ] his barracks. A queer parade it is, | They file out of the building two | and two like the animals from the Ark. Each carries the clothing he wore to the camp under his arm. Three out of every four has his army hat beneath the cap or hat for which now has no use. Only one
 out of ten has his leggings on, leav- ing two inch gap of army hose between bottom of trousers and army shoe. Along goes the dusky recruit, studying the roots of the buildings, ike child in Wonderland his shoe laces clicking along behind, and every small obstacle in the path a stumbling block. He has not yet learned to pick up those feet, but he will
 In fours the negroes are taken in hand, non-commissioned officers from the regular army being assigned this task It is the first day of drill that
 brings the white boys to see the fun. Feet are the things the negro
 has not bothered with before, but feet is the big item in drilling a soldier. Many drafted negroes have taxed the supply depot to unearth a pair of shoes large enough to fit
 them, but when even the small footed
 negro gets out for first drill his feet are number IFS
 Within two or three days the negro is able to swing to right or left, in
 columns of four or eight with the best of them, and by the end of a week he is ready for drill with a
 rifle. They are by no means more adept at learning than the whites. | but they having only the one idea 1 display, the officers are making the | most of this. For this very reason l it would be surprising if training
 grounds over wonder" do not soon
 report the arrival of the first con l tingent of negro troops.
 Camp Pike has no negro officers 1 One arrived in the drafted army. holding a commission as lieutenant | in the medical e rps He was inn
 mediately permitted to go his way | to a place where there are others of the same standing
 There are thousands of youths at l Camp Pike who can be safely classed
 under that familiar southern title of
 ''hot heads.' If dire vengeance was
 contemplated, with the negro as the
 victim, it might rightfully be expect | ed to come from these. Instead
 these men show disposition to
 grant the negro the right of being
 soldier. And the privilege of talk | ing part in the worlds war for | Democracy. At the time hundreds
 of young officers now holding son. | missions at Camp Pike were gradu
 ated from the officers training corps
 at Fit. Logan H. Roots, some joker | threw a scare into some with the
 insinuation they were to officer negro
 companies. Finally one who was
 more familiar with military life than
 the rest, remarked:
 That won't bother me; I would | be king of my company Regular ] army officers who have had negro troops prefer them to others | And now there are dozens of young | officers, from prominent southern
 antilles, who are hoping the negro
 companies do not run out before | their assignment is reached. | What would you do if you met
 negro commissioned officer?" a youthful decendent of a follower of
 Lee and Jackson asked another, as they sat in the shade of a peach | tree, for that portion of Camp Pike
 was at one time we'll kept orchard I'd salute the very best I know
 how,' promptly came the reply
 '1 wouldn't be saluting the nigger | I'd salute that uniform no matter | what had it on"
 And strange as it may appear,
 that is the disposition on the part of
 twenty odd thousand men and off ] cers at Camp Pike. They are for the flag, the uniform, and the
 country-not right or wrong, but the | right, as they krow it will ever be. The negro question, it must be
 admitted. has caused no end of
 worry to high army officials, but if southern people had been consulted | they would have taken the wrinkles
 out of headquarter foreheads quite | early in the game. They want the | negro trained in the south where he | will be treated humanely and right,
 by people who l,now how to get the
 best there is in him. out in the most
 useful way
 Little Rock has never protested
 against the training of the negroes from Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi at Camp Pike" de- | clared Mayor Chas E. Taylor gro
 the contrary we have always expect
 ed him, and we have made prepara-
 tions for his coming. We do not an
 ticipate any trouble with the negro
 soldier He understands what he
 must do when he comes to town, for
 the uniform does not permit him to
 take liberties, but he knows it. The
 negro is as proud of his uniform as any race could be, and he takes pains
 to exploit it as the garb of a law abiding citizen"
 Few changes in civic life were
 rnadp or avon oCpfar,a nla4nJ oft,v