St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1946-10-11
Washington
Spotlight
By Louis LAutier

Secretary OF war hODert +. rat
terson was put in an anomalous
situation respecting enlistments
and inductions Of colored men in
the Army. No one who knows him
will say aught but what is good
about his attitude on the race ques-
ton. A good deal of the progress
made by the Army in its handling
Of colored personnel during the war
period was directly attributable to
him. While he was civilian aide
TO the Secretary Of War, Bill HASTE
carried the problems he was unable
to solve 10 Judge Patterson and
always received from him sympa-
thetic consideration.
But the personnel division Of the
Army General Staff placed him in
a very unfavorable light by decid-
ing TO cancel voluntary enlistments
of colored men. Then, by some
specious reasoning, Major General
Willard s. Paul, director Of the
personnel division Of the General
STAFF, decided that since the Army
was not going to allow eolored
youths TO enlist voluntarily it would
be unfair for the Army to draft
them when the draft holiday ended.
When Charley Houston and Joe
Waddy, attorneys, brought suit
in behalf Of Robert Kelly, 49,
year-Old Armstrong High School
graduate, Judge Patterson and
General Lewis B. Hershey, d.
rector Of Selective Service, were
named as defendants, although
Judge Patterson had no knOwl-
edge Of Army orders to SelectiYe
Service not TO draft or permit
any cOlOred youths 10 be indicted
into the Army.
General Paul ascribed his de-
cisiOn TO suspend voluntary enlist
ments Of eolored youths in the
Army to the fact that colored vol
unteers were running about 16 or
II per cent Of the total number Of
volunteers each month. The real
reason, however, was a well laid
plan to rid the Army Of cOlored
men Of low intelligence and build
up a Jim Crow army Of superior
eolored men.
The Army could have attained
this end by simply raising its quail
flying score on the Army General
Classification test from 10 to 80.
But this would have kept out some
illiterate white men as well as col
ored men, and the Army did not
want TO bar any white men from
voluntarily enlisting. So, it adopted
the color-expedient in direct viola
ton Of the Selective Service Act.
Justice Department lawyers
were unwilling to defend the Ac-
tons Of the Army and the Sc
lective Service System In Tefus-
ing TO allow eOlOred registrants
10 be indicted and In refusing TO
draft them until the number Of
eolored soldiers in the Army was
reduced TO the proportion eOlored
people represent in the general
population.
Houston and Waddy were unwill-
ing to compromise on the issue of
voluntary enlistments.
The Army debated whether to
requisitiOn a specified number of
colored men, or simply to requisi-
ton $4,000 men for October and
let Selective Service call all regis
trants according to their order
number. The latter would be the
democratic thing to do.
Selective Service would have 1t
appear, In the manner Of POntius
Plate, that it is innocent and has
simply filled the acquisitions Of the
War Department. Such is not the
case, II is charged with the re-
sponsibility of administering the
Selective Service law. An overall
provision in that law prohibits race
or religious discrimination in the
selection and training Of men.
There Is no record anywhere
that Selective Service ever pro-
tested 10 the Army against re-
quests for the deferment or non
drafting Of eOlOred men. On the
other hand, the record will show
that shortly after the passage of
the Selective Service act in 1910
Selective Service broke down the
reEistrants by states and these
state quotas by racial quotas,
and ever since the first draft Of
men for military training and
service II has aeQuiesced in the
discriminatory acquisitions of the
War Department.
Quotas were first fixed by the
late President Franklin d. Roose-
welt. In October, 1910, in annOunc-
ing Army policy respecting colored
men, he said colored men would be
indicted into the Army in the
same proportion that colored peo-
pie represented in the general popu-
lation. That fixed a colored quota
Of approximately 10 per cent. Sc
lective Service and the Army fol-
lowed that quota.
The Gillem Board, which studied
the effective utilization Of colored
personnel in the postwar Army,
also fixed 10 per cent quota.
Quotas obviously are diserimin-
atOry and have nothing TO do with
the qualifications Of a man 10
serve his country. II Houston
and Waddy can get the issue Of
voluntary eRliStments squarely
before the courts, racial quotas
for Army service will become a
thing Of the past.
Incidentally, Waddy has no love
for the Army. Although he was a
lawyer OF several years Of practic-
ing experience, he was drafted, as
signed to a QuaTtermaster truck
company, sent to Camp Mccain,
Miss, and Camp Maxey, Texas, and
then shipped to India, where he
served on the Assam Trunk High.
way and the Ledo- Burma (StilwelD
Road. Now is his chance to even