The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1919-02-01

ing RADIO or wireless geography,
Medical Corps, Field Artillery, Coast
Artillery, Sanitary Corps, Ambulance
and Hospital Corps, Stevedore Regi.
ments, Labor Battalions, Motor Trans
port Corps, etc.
Now that the war is over, it is nat
urally and undoubtedly the desire Of
a large number of soldiers to be hon
orably discharged from the Army at
once, in order that they may return
to their families and, if possible, find
or resume employment in the com
munities where they formerly lived;
but, on the other hand, there are
grave problems presented when you
think of the matter of demobilizing
two or three million American sol
diers and returning them to the status
of civilians. When it is considered
that there has beer a shift in the oc-
cupation of some 100000 persons in
this country. during the World War,
as / have been reliably informed, not
counting the two or three million sol
diers who left civilian occupation to
go into the Army, one can family ap-
NNlaN IN COlObSdl tCOIlOIllC DTOD-
lem that is now confronting the War
Department and gain some idea of the
tremendous tasks OF readjustment
that lie just ahead of us.
These problems become all the more
complicated and difficult of solution
when you remember that the wal
came to a close Cor at least the armis-
tice was signed) right on the verge
of the winter season, and it is requir-
ing much time and serious thought
on the part of the Secretary of War,
the office of the Chief of Staff, and
other officials of the War Department
to carefully work out a safe and SEN
sible program or policy that will sat
tsfactorily meet the difficult situa-
ton thus presented. Now, if the Wa
Department were to Immediately dis
charge two or three million soldiers
and turn them loose without employ
ment right now, in the middle of the
winter season, when many of the
northern states are bound up in ice
and snow, when most of the northern
and eastern factories and foundries
NAS oAlOphg tlONuCu Will ldDOltIS,
and when southern and western fields
are not yet open or available for farm
ing operations-before these soldiers
are able to resume their former occu-
Pations and thus support their wives
and children-in short, before the
fields of Industry and Agriculture
have become readjusted so as to make
it possible to absorb such a large
number of men-it. would undoubtedly
work a serious hardship not only upon
white and colored soldiers themselves,
including their families and Deepen
t dents, but it would also work a hard
l ship upon, and, indeed, might consti-
, tute a serious menace to various COM
munities all over the country. 1t is,
therefore, a wise, far-seeing, and even
generous decision and policy of the
War Department to gradually demob-
: ilize these hundreds of thousands of
men. for any different policy would
inevitably produce idleness, suffering,
/ want and, perhaps, even more-ghast-
ly crime!
: 1t is cheering to note, however, the
- SAAANAdl announcement vi llS w d LIE
partment that fifty per cent 5000
e of the combat divisions in the United
o States have been authorized or or.
e dered to be discharged, and that the
e following Negro military units, now
e overseas, have been assigned for early
e convoy and will likely reach America
V within a very short time:
367th Infantry, headquarters and
o first battalion, 40 officers and 1896
men; headquarters company, supply
f company and third battalion, 40 off
d GERS and 1876 men.
{ 369th Infantry, headquarters supply
company, I'd battalion and sanitary de.
t tachment, 56 officers and 1902 men.
370th Infantry, headquarters, I'd and
e Sd battalions, medical detachments, 6S
officers and 1855 men.
S 372d Infantry, less I'd battalion, 65
5 officers and 1855 men. (Later order
includes I'd battalion and medical de.
g tachment.)
S Many complaints are reaching my
S office in the War Department, coming
from colored soldiers, and based
. ioA 6OlN upOh lhSil uSolIG W Dc oDttu-
t lily discharged from military service.
For the present | would earnestly
n counsel the soldiers of my race, as
l well as their families and friends, to
e be patient a While longer, and trust
the Negro press may concur in the
e wisdom of counseling likewise. Pa
e thence on the part of the public, in
r Guiding both white and colored sol
o diers and their families, is all the
War Department asks and rightfully
expects while it is endeavoring to
e work out the great problem Of De
e mobilization that is equally, if not
n more, complex than the original prob
lem of creating a mammoth American
Army under the spur of the Selective
e Service Law. The Wan Departments
o success in modifying, in an incredibly
short space of time, the three million
S men comprising the American Army
S. is ample guarantee that the otheI