Phoenix tribune., 1919-03-15
Relation of the Negro
To the Selective Draft
Report of Provost Marshal General tc
Secretary of War Tells Authorita-
lively of the Patriotism, valor
and Cheerful Service of coIored
Americans Called to Defend
The Flag. The Labors
of Special Assistant
Scott Commended

Washington, D. C.-The following
extract from the official report of the
Provost Marshal General of the United
States army to the secretary of war,
gives highly interesting and inform
ing story of the part played by the
colored soldiers who were called to
the defense of the flag of this nation
through the operation of the selective
draft law
"The part that has been played by
the Negro in the great world drama
upon which the curtain is now about
to fall is but another proof of the COM
plete unity of the various elements
that go to make up this great nation
Passing through the sad and rigorous
experience of slavery; ushered into
a sphere of civil and political activity
where he was to match his endeavors
with those of his former masters still
embittered by defeat; gradually work
ing his way toward the achievement of
success that would enable both him
and the world to justify his new life
of freedom; surrounded for over half
a century of his new life by the spec
ter of that slavedom through which
he had for centuries past laboriously
toiled; met continuously by the preju-
dice born of tradition; still the slave,
to large extent, of superstition fed
by ignorance-in the light of this his
tory, some doubt was felt and ex-
pressed, by the best friends of the
Negro, when the call came for draft
upon the man-power of the nation,
whether he would possess sufficient
stamina to measure up to the full duty
of citizenship, and would give to the
Stars and Stripes, that had guaran-
teed for him the same liberty now
sought for all nations and all races, the
response that was its due. And, on
the part of many of the leaders of the
Negro race, there was apprehension
that the sense of fair play and fair
dealing, which is so essentially an Am
erican characteristic, would not, nay
could not, in country of such diyersi-
fed views, with sectional feeling still
slumbering but not dead, be meted out
to the members of the colored race.
Fears GroundIess
"How groundless such fears, how
ill considered such doubhts, may be
seen from the statistical record of the
draft with relation to the Negro His
race furnished its quota, and uncom-
plainingly, yes cheerfully. History, in
deed, will be unable to record the full
ness of his spirit in the war, for the
reason that opportunities for enlist
ment were not opened to him to the
same extent as to the whites. But
enough can be gathered from the rec
ords to show that he was filed with
the same feeling of patriotism, the
same martial spirit, that fired his
white fellow citizen in the cause for
world freedom.
"As a general rule, he was fair in
his dealings with draft officials; and
in the majority of cases. having the
assistance of his white employers, he
was able to present fairly such claims
for deferment or discharge as he may
have had, for the consideration of the
various draft boards. In consequence,
there appears to have been no racial
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