Phoenix tribune., 1919-03-15

WulJe men. Dl lHc luOu5d1uS. were
permitted to do in connection with
National Guard units and other bran
ches Of military service which were
closed to colored men. One Of the
brightest chapters in the whole his
tory of the war is the Negro's eager
acceptance of the draft and his splen-
did willingness to fight His only
resentment was due to the limited ex-
tent to which he was allowed to Join
and participate in combatant or fight
ing units. The number of colored
draftees accepted for military duty,
and the comparatively small number
of exemptions, as compared with the
total number of white and colored men
called and drafted, presents an inter-
esting study and reflects much credit
upon this racial group"
MANY influences were brought to
bear upon the negro to evade his duty
to the government. Some effort in
certain sections of the country was
made to induce them not to register.
That the attempt to spread German
propaganda was a miserable failure
may be seen from the statement of
the chief of the bureau of investiga-
ton of the department of justice to
the United States senate committee:
"The negroes didn't take to these
stories, however, as they were too
loyal Money spent in the south for
propaganda was thrown away
How Morale Was Promoted
"Then, too, these evil influences
were more than offset by the various
publicity and promotion of moarle'
measures carried on through the of
fee of the special assistant to the sec
retary of war and his assistants. Cor
respondence was kept up with influen-
tial negroes all over the country. Let
ters, circulars and news items for-the
purpose of effecting and encouraging
the continued loyalty of the negro citi-
zens were regularly issued to the va
rious papers comprising both the
white and negro press.
"a special committee Of 100 colored
speakers was appointed to deliver
public patriotic addresses all over the
country under the auspices of the
committee on public information, stat
ing the war aims of the government
and seeking to keep unbroken the
spirit of loyalty of colored American
citizens.
"a special conference of negro ed
itors was called to meet in Washing
ton in June, 1918, under the auspices
of the committee on public informa
ton, in order to gather and dissem.
mate the thought and public opinion
of the various leaders of the negro
race. Such has been only a part Of
the work of the department of the
special assistant to the secretary of
war in the record of the marshaling of
the man power of the American ma
tion.
"The appreciation of this represent
ative of the colored race for the CO.
operation shown by the selective serv-
ice administration, especially as it af-
fected members of the colored race, in !
reference to occasional complaints re-
.ceived, will appear from the following
extract from a memorandum written
to this office on September II by the
special assistant to the secretary of
war:
MIR. Scott Tells of Draft Fairness
Throughout my tenure here have
keenly appreciated the prompt and
cordial cooperation of the provost
marshal generals office with that par
ticular section of the office of the sec
retary of war especially referred to
herein. The provost marshal gener-
ais office has carefully Investigated
and has furnished full and complete
reports in each and every complaint
or case referred to it for attention,
involving discrimination, race preju-
dice. erroneous classification Of
draftees, ETC., and has rectified these
complaints whenever it was found,
upon investigation, that there was just
ground for the same. Especially in
the matter of applying and carrying
out the selective service regulations
the provost marshal generals office
has kept watchful eye upon certain
local exemption boards which seemed
disinclined to treat negro draftees on
the same basis as other Americans
subject to the draft law. 1t is an
actual fact that in number of in
stances, where flagrant violations
have occurred in the application Of
the draft law to negro men in certain
sections of the country, local exemp-
tion boards have been removed bodily