The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-05-16

the Negroes for the Liberty ioah ahu
the response has been eager ana en-
thusiastic, an emphatic reputation
of the German propaganda which has
attempted to stir up the colored part
of our population to sedition.
The organizations in charge OF war
recreation work have not forgotten
the colored troops. AS much is being
done for them pro rata as for white
soldiers.
The Commission of Training Camp
Activities, which coordinates the
work for the soldier done by the Am.
erican Library Association, the Y. M.
C. A., the Knights of Columbus, the
Y w. C. A., the Jewish Board for
Welfare Work, and other organiza-
tons, looks out for the colored
troops as well as the white. The "Y'
huts and the Liberty theaters are
open to all, and at Fort Funston,
where the Ninety-second division is
stationed. a Liberty theater for col
ored troops alone is soon to be
opened
One of the most important factors
in gingering up the troops is mass
singing, which has both a recreation
al and a military value The singing
.of song lifts the weary men over
the last mile of long hike and I'M
der the discomforts of camp life
raises the spirits and breeds COM
radeship. The colored troops are the
best singers in the camps. They
have natural gift for expression in
song, and spontaneous originality
born of the joy they find in it. At
one camp quartet gave "A Perfect
Day with responses in gospel-hymn
fashion that brought down the house.
The War Camp Community Service
division, which takes care of the sol.
der in his relations to the adjoining
community, serves the soldier regard.
less of color 1t establishes hostess
homes in the cities adjoining the
camps for the use of Negro troops
when off duty. Dinners, dances. and
vaudeville shows are furnished. From
Washington, for instance, each week
amateur or professional entertainers
are sent out to Camp Meade to amuse
the men, Recently the teachers of
the Dunbar High School (colored)
gave French play and afterwards
repeated the same drama in English.
One of the purposes of the Com
munity Service is to fight the Ger.
man propaganda that has been busy
trying to poison the minds of the col
ored people. This took the form of
stories that the Negro troops are to
be sent to France first and are to he
sacrificed to save the whites. The
whisper ran that many more than the
proportionate number of colored men
had been drawn for service. Lead,
ers OF the Negro race went out and
answered these charges in meetings
explaining how baseless they were.
The war council of the Y. w. C. A
is devoting 100000 of its $4,000 GOO
war budget to its work among Negro
women. The money is used to nro.
vide maintenance for hostess houses
for the families of colored troops for
emergency housing and recreationa,
work among colored girls in war in.
dustrial centers, for furnishing work.
ers where there is no local Y. w G.
A. and for doing anything possible TO
protect colored girls in war time The
workers in these houses help the
women relatives of men in the ser.
vice and encourage them to take ad.
vantage of the present unprecedented
opportunities in the industrial world
Most of the Army camps already
have hostess houses for colored
troops, The one at Camp Upton is a