New-York tribune., 1918-06-30

~
w ing Of our many diverse and
conflicting elements into q
citizen army is written it will be found
that the smelters, as they poured the
nsgro element into the melting pot, did
itan 4 gingerly way and then stood
back to see if there would be an ex-
plosion- Whether it would blow up or
fuse into the whole no one could tell.
And that it has fused is due to the fact
tina. for the first time we have handled
this material IN an intelligent way.
In the early days of the planning of
our National Army one of the great
problems Of the Administration was
finding sites where large bodies of
negro troops could be trained. In a
spirit of complete abnegation Georgia
said that Ohio, having shown such
sympathy for the negro since its abo-
Htion days, could not fail to welcome
him to train there. Ohio politely but
hastily rose to disclaim any desire to
uproot the Southern negro from his
home 1t would be far better, said
Ohio, to train him in the familiar sur
roundings of the South. South Caro-
lima suggested Long Island, and Long
Island returned the suggestion to
South Carolina with thanks.
The quartering of troops aggravated
by the race question brought to COM
munities visions Of undeniable dread
the memory Of riots in Houston and
Broxnsyille. Which mikes the fact
more remarkable that large bodies Of
negro troops are now being trained in
both Southern and Northern eommuni-
ties. and there is no disorder.
The intelligence in the handling of
the negro has in large part been sup
Piled by the War Camp Community
Service, which forms the right wing
of the War and Navy Departments
Commission on Training Camp Actiyi-
ties, headed by Raymond B. Fosdick,
which WIS formed by the President in
the earliest days of the war.
Has Special Lookout
For Negro Soldiers
This national commission takes in all
the effort on behalf Of the soldier out
side the camp. The Y. NJ. c. A. work
supplies most of the needs Of the SOL
der inside the camp. For greater eff
fcjency the work of the commission
outside the camp has divided itself
into two wings-the Law Enforcement
Division aud the War Camp Commu-
nifty Service. The law enforcement
work lines up all the agencies by
which the areas surrounding the train
ing camp are, through legislation,
through police and detention work,
through education in social hygiene
aud clinical work, made safe for the
soldier. So thoroughly has it done it's
work that it is said in some COM
munities there is no cleaner place than
the five-mile area surrounding a camp.
The War Camp Community Service
does the constructive social work that
is essential to the building of that
mysterious and potent force--morale.
At the outbreak of tia war there was
no time to form new organizations---it
simply went up and down jerking
awake dormant organizations, assisting
some, consolidating others. All the
WeJaIe WORK tnat Is QOnc III Denal1 OF
the soldier outside the training camp
is its concern. >
For example. your boy in Camp Cor
don, Georgia, writes you that there was
a swell entertainment near the camp
last night--Charlie Chaplin, Garaldinc
Fafrar, Houdini or some such top
liners. And you needn't worry about his
being homesick. He's got acquainted
through a church sociable with the
nicsst kind of family in town--drops