The Dallas express. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1893-1970, 1919-05-03
DR. MOTEN GIVES REASON
FOR VISITING FRANCE
isIon with Negroes as officers.
A Single Failure Magnifed.
CONTINUED from page y.

isIon with Negroes as oficers.
A Single Failure lIagnifed.
l took q great deal Of pains and
care, as did also the gentlemen with
ms. 10 run down every rumor. We
spent much time In and out Of Paris
ferretting out every statement that
came from the whispering gallery"
We finally found that. so far as the
END Division was concerned, only
a very small portion Of a single bat
TALON, Of single regiment had
failed.
Later. in talking with the highest
american Military Official in France,
regarding his story OF the failure
Of Negro oficersr he said that the
possibilities were that any oficer.
white or black, under the same adj
verse circumstances that these men
faced, would have failed. as the very
few did. About a dozen oficers Of
the battalion were sent before a
board for trial for having shown
cowardice. They were not, however,
all found guilty; and to Offset this,
some Of the other Colored officers Of
this regiment. for conspicuous BRAY
cry in the same engagement were
promoted and decorated with the
Distinguished Service Gross.
1t would appear that this small
part OF battalion whose failure was
80 widely reported. had never be-
fore been under fire. and had been
taken from quiet sector and brought
forward with the expectation that
they would not be put into the fight
ing for several weeks; but it so hap
pened that the Germans were much
stronger than the French behind
whom this unit was placed. When
the French troops were badly cut
to pieces, the Negro unit In question
had to go into the fighting within
twenty-four hours after reaching the
front. which was much earlier than
expected. In connection with this
alleged failure, there are also some
other very important considerations
that win later probably be brought
out officially.
It was gratifying to find that the
Commanding General, who knew all
phases OF the affair. did not take
this failure anything like ais serious
ly as the rumor about it seemed to
warrant The facts in the case in
no sense justified the common re-
port
In talking with the Commander
General at lie Mans, referred to the
fact that something like fifteen Ne
gro officers thad been sent back as
inefficient" He said to me: III it
is any comfort to you / will tell you
this: We went back through Blois
TO America in six months, an aver
age OF one thousand white officers a
month. who failed in one way or
another in this awful struggle. /
hope. DR.. Notion" hes added. that
you won't loose your faith in my
race because of that. and certainly
am not going to loose my faith
in your race because of the record
OF few Colored officers who failed"
We talked with Colonel House,
Ray Stannard Baker, Capt. Walter
Lippman. and leading Y. M. G. A.
worker, and many, many others.
Everybody assured me that they. SO
far as they were able. would stop
the slanderous rumors concerning our
Negro soldiers. and were glad to get
the facts. / spoke to white officers
in number Of places-at one place,
to two hundred Of them, and can
didly stated the facts in the case.
raised the question, If they did
not think 1t was good and fair
thing to stop this rumor Of the
"whjspering gallery" which was de-
flaming a race, which might cut
down the efficiency of the Negro
troops, and was, Of course. putting
America In a bad light before the