Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1918-12-07

of Labor. Mr.. SCOTS attitude is frankly that he
is not in the Department to explain the admin
istration to the Negro but instead to explain the
Negro to the administration. The Fl Des Mones
camp too is symptomatic. One of the chief con-
tentions of the Negroes has been for years that
they should be allowed to fight and to work un-
der leaders and supervisors of their
When the Government no longer puts out posters
advertising for white accustomed to handl-
ing Negroes" great step will have been TAKEN
according to the views of the colored people And
every time that shop factory puts Negroes
in charge of Negro laborers-as is happening now
an advance has been made.
The enormous migration of Negroes from the
South to the North during the past two years is
also speeding up the settlement of various prob
lens touching colored labor. The South is
facing the simple fact that the Negro is leaving
because he is not satisfied with either social
educational economic conditions there And
all over the South the better and the thought
full element among the whites is coming forth
frankly to say that the Negro is so valuable to
the South that fairer, better conditions must be
made and made at once that he may be in
duced to stay. There of freeaters
here and there who say if war is to mean that
the Negro is to get equal rights the had better
Is
dictory and saddening increase of lynching which
has been one great cause of the migration. And
yet on the whole this is new day for the Negro
in most parts of the South.
In the North the war shortage of labor has also
given the Negro new value Up to the present
perhaps the greatest disadvantage under which he
worked was his exclusion from the ranks of Or
ganized labor. All efforts by the laboring class
for fbo Of +boiy
forts exclusively for the white man. The Negro,
whether he would not, was looked largely
as "strike breaker" and an outcast. Now at
last the American Federation of Labor has made
the move, and it is now possible for the Negro
to enroll himself. He will thus be brought to the
notice of large element in population as a
fellow worker and even possibly human being.
The first international riviting prize went to a
Negro and everywhere hammers in black hands
moved more swiftly and proudly. Provision
is now being made by the Government for special
training of the young men of the in technical
and mechanical work. which will add to their
efficiency as factor in the army and render them
capable of earning better livelihood for them
selves at the clsoe of the Definite arrange
ments and contracts have been made with several
standard schools to give selected students training
during the summer and fall in such branches
radio engineering, general engineering wood
working, electricity, carpentry, auto-mechanics,
backsmithing and operation of motor vehicles of
many kinds. Accommodations had in June been
provided for about 5000 men, Several other in
situations were under contemplation and the
Der of men to be provided for will reach about
1000.
In the army itself the mechanical ability of the
Negro is being fostered and utilized. Educated
colored men have been afforded opportunities to
enlist or qualify for such branches the Field
Artillery, and there in active service three
regiments-the 349th, 35Oth and 351st Field Ar
tillery. training school to prepare officers of
the for these regiments has been established
at Camp Meade, Maryland and it is said that the
young detailed for this training are showing
marked adaptability for the intricate work in
volved. Many of them are college-trained-gra
yates from Amherst, Harvard, YALE University of
Pennsylvania Chicago University and other nsti-
tutions of the first rank in America. The Per-
sonnet Officer of the Coast Artillery has thrown