CHAPTER XXX.

VICTORY--PEACE.

THE GERMAN EMPIRE COLLAPSES--FOCH'S STRATEGY WINS--AMERICAN INSPIRATION

A BIG FACTOR--BULGARIA, TURKEY AND AUSTRIA QUIT WAR--MONARCHS FALL---

KAISER ABDICATES AND FLEES GERMANY--ARMISTICE SIGNED--NOVEMBER 11,

PEACE.

Then came the fall of autocracy--

Victory! Peace!

With a crash that echoed around the world the autocratic governmental

structure builded by the Kaiser and his forebears gave way and came

tumbling to the earth in ruins on Monday, November 11, 1918.

The most momentous event in ages had come to pass and victory was

perched upon the banner of democracy.

Out of the sacrifice of millions of lives, the desolation of homes and

countries, the expenditure of untold energy and incomprehensible

billions of dollars in money, there came everlasting, glorious peace.

The great German Empire lay a wreck, given into the hands of the people

for remaking, and the arrogant Emperor William Hohenzollern had fled

into Holland, and his example was imitated by the Crown Prince.

THE COMING OF THE END.

The end came swiftly and with dramatic action. Beaten back by the Allied

forces, which gathered strength and inspiration from the irresistible

American troops, the German army weakened all along the line from

Holland to the Swiss border. The press of power exerted against the

German strongholds on every side was felt within the domains and

produced internal strife and dissension which undermined and weakened

the military organization. Taking full advantage of this situation, the

Allied forces on every side quickened and intensified their blows.

The brilliant strategy of Marshal Foch, generalissimo of the Allied

armies, brought defeat to the Germans in less than four months. After

bringing to an end the German advance of March 21 to July 18 with the

second battle of the Marne, he compelled a hurried retirement to the

Hindenburg line with the evacuation of practically all the territory

conquered by the Huns.

Finally, in what may be termed the last phase of the war, he absolutely

demoralized the German forces. The thrust in this phase was started by

the Anglo-Belgian forces in Flanders and the Franco-American armies in

Lorraine on September 26.

The British also made a gigantic and brilliant drive between Cambrai and

St. Quentin. The whole colossal defense system of the Germans was

shattered and in less than three months more than 100,000 German

prisoners and 5,000 guns were taken and 8,000 square miles of French and

Belgian territory liberated.

VICTORIES ON OTHER FRONTS.

Not only was there great victory on the west, but in Syria the British

army broke the power of Turkey and liberated Syria, Mesopotamia and

Arabia. In Macedonia, too, an army made up of soldiers of many nations

under a French command compelled the surrender of Bulgaria and her

withdrawal, and swept the last vestige of German control from the

Balkans.

On the Austrian front likewise the Italian army, strengthened and

heartened by the presence of American and Allied forces, swept the

Austrians before them in one of the most picturesque offensives of the

war, capturing more than 300,000 prisoners and great quantities of guns

and supplies.

This in brief is the way the German command was driven to a point of

seeking peace to prevent the invasion of their territory.

The brilliant assaults of the various units and commands of the Allies

at points along the entire 200 miles of western front will go down in

history a wonderful military achievement.

AMERICAN VICTORIES ON THE EAST FRONT.

One of the wonderful attacks was that of the American First Army under

General Pershing, when St. Mihiel salient was annihilated. This salient

for four years resisted all efforts to penetrate it and stood a guardian

to great iron fields running through the Basin de Briey to the

Belgian-Luxemburg frontier. It formed a strong outpost to the fortified

city of Metz, with its twenty-eight forts, and made impossible the

invasion of German Lorraine from the west.

The offensive of General Pershing was one of the most carefully planned

of the war. More than 1,000 tanks were operated to open the way for the

infantry and cavalry. A greater force of airplanes than were ever

concentrated in a single attack menaced the Germans overhead and in a

week the Americans encompassed a territory of 200 square miles and

threatened the mining center and the forts of Metz, capturing 20,000

prisoners and hundreds of guns and great quantities of ammunition.

Moreover, the Verdun-Nancy railway was released.

Support was brought to the Germans and they stubbornly resisted, but

many points were gained and held by the Americans.

AMERICAN VICTORIES ALONG THE MEUSE-AISNE RIVERS.

Another corps of the First American Army, in command of General Hunter

Liggett, also made a brilliant attack between the Meuse and Aisne

rivers east of Rheims on a front twenty miles long, where the crack

Prussian Guards were routed. Here in one of the most bitterly contested

battles of the closing days the Americans made an important advance,

capturing half a dozen villages.

As at Chateau-Thierry, the Americans in the face of withering fire and

against all the instruments of modern warfare handled by the best

soldiers in Germany, fought their way through with a bravery that won

for them the praises of the highest commands in the French and British

armies, as well as from General Pershing.

At the very close of the struggle the Americans arose to the heights of

sublime heroism in crossing the river Meuse, capturing the town of Dun

and later the town of Sedan, famous as one of the scenes of bitter

fighting in the Franco-Prussian War.

GREAT VICTORY AT SEDAN.

The Americans forced their way across a 160-foot river, a stretch of mud

flats and a 60-foot canal in the face of terrible fire. Men who could

swim breasted the stream carrying ropes, which were stretched from bank

to bank and along which those who could not swim made their way over the

river. Some crossed in collapsible boats, others on rafts and finally on

pontoon and foot bridges, which were constructed under the enemy fire.

This difficult feat accomplished, the men waded through mud to the

canal, fighting as they went, and again plunged into the water, swimming

the canal, at the far side of which they were compelled to use grappling

hooks and scaling irons to mount the perpendicular banks of the canal,

along which were the resisting Germans. And finally, when the German

Empire fell, famed Sedan was in the hands of the Americans. With the

last forward movement they took possession of Stenay when hostilities

ceased.

The part the American soldiers played in winning the war, merely as a

matter of increased man power, is indicated by the fact that when the

end came there were 2,900,000 men in the forces abroad.

COLLAPSE OF THE TEUTONIC ALLIES.

The failure of the German submarine warfare and the ability of the

British, French and American naval forces to protect troop ships and

permit the landing of as high as 200,000 soldiers in France in a single

month, had much to do with discouraging the German command.

The withdrawal of Bulgaria on September 27 and her unconditional

surrender to the Allies was a distinct blow to Germany. The abdication

of King Ferdinand in favor of Crown Prince Boris was shortly followed by

the surrender and withdrawal of Turkey, which further weakened Germany's

position, and peace offers were made by both Austria and by Germany.

Austria sought a separate peace, but Germany, seeing the handwriting on

the wall, asked for an armistice through Prince Maximilian of Baden, who

had succeeded Count Von Hertling as Chancellor. But while agreeing to

accept as a basis of peace the points established by President Wilson as

necessary to an agreement, Germany's military forces continued their

ruthless and barbaric warfare.

President Wilson submitted a set of questions to the German Government

to ascertain the sincerity and purpose of the request and finally

brought the matter to an issue by declaring that nothing short of a

complete surrender would suffice and that further negotiations must be

taken up with the Allied command.

Meantime King Boris of Bulgaria abdicated and the Government was taken

over by the people. This was followed by the surrender of Austria on

November 8 and the abdication of the Emperor Charles.

THE END.

Austria in her surrender agreed to the immediate suspension of

hostilities, the demobilization of the army of Austro-Hungary and the

withdrawal of all forces from the North Sea to Switzerland, the

evacuation of all territories invaded, the evacuation of all German

troops from Austro-Hungarian territory and the Italian and Balkan

fronts, as well as the surrender of fifteen submarines and all German

submarines in Austro-Hungarian territorial waters, together with

thirty-four warships, and also the repatriation of all prisoners of war.

With her forces demoralized and Bulgaria, Turkey and Austria out of the

war and her power broken in Russia, Germany was driven to the necessity

of accepting terms submitted by the Allies as the basis of peace as

outlined by President Wilson.

SUMMARY.

Thus came peace after fifty-two continuous months of fighting, in which

it is estimated that nearly 10,000,000 were killed and that there were

about 27,000,000 casualties, while $200,000,000 were expended by the

combined nations.

America's casualties were 236,117, divided as follows: Killed and died

of wounds, 36,154; died of disease, 14,811; died from unassigned causes,

2,204; wounded, 179,625; missing, 1,160, and prisoners, 2,163.

England by contrast had 658,665 killed, 2,032,122 wounded and 359,145

missing and prisoners during the four years, while Italy had about

1,600,000 casualties; France, 3,500,000; Belgium, 400,000; Rumania,

200,000, and Russia, 6,000,000. All told, twenty-eight nations, with a

total population of approximately 1,600,000,000, or nearly

eleven-twelfths of the human race, were involved in the world struggle

at the close.

TERMS OF THE ARMISTICE ACCEPTED BY GERMANY.

I. MILITARY CLAUSES ON WESTERN FRONT:

One--Cessation of operations by land and in the air six hours after

the signature of the armistice.

Two--Immediate evacuation of invaded countries: Belgium, France,

Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg, so ordered as to be completed within

fourteen days from the signature of the armistice. German troops

which have not left the above-mentioned territories within the

period fixed will become prisoners of war. Occupation by the Allied

and United States forces jointly will keep pace with evacuation in

these areas. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be

regulated in accordance with a note annexed to the stated terms.

Three--Repatriation beginning at once and to be completed within

fourteen days of all inhabitants of the countries above mentioned,

including hostages and persons under trial or convicted.

Four--Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the

following equipment: Five thousand guns (two thousand five hundred

heavy, two thousand five hundred field) thirty thousand machine

guns. Three thousand minenwerfers. Two thousand airplanes

(fighters, bombers--firstly D. Seventy-three's and night bombing

machines). The above to be delivered in situ to the allies and the

United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions

laid down in the annexed note.

Five--Evacuation by the German armies of the countries on the left

bank of the Rhine. These countries on the left bank of the Rhine

shall be administered by the local authorities under the control of

the Allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation

of these territories will be determined by Allied and United States

garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine, Mayence,

Coblenz, Cologne, together with bridgeheads at these points in

thirty kilometre radius on the right bank and by garrisons

similarly holding the strategic points of the regions.

A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right of the Rhine between

the stream and a line drawn parallel to it forty kilometres

(twenty-six miles) to the east from the frontier of Holland to the

parallel of Gernsheim and as far as practicable a distance of

thirty kilometres (twenty miles) from the east of stream from this

parallel upon Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine

lands shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further

period of eleven days, in all nineteen days after the signature of

the armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation will be

regulated according to the note annexed.

Six--In all territory evacuated by the enemy there shall be no

evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or harm shall be done to the

persons or property of the inhabitants. No destruction of any kind

to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be

delivered intact as well as military stores of food, munitions,

equipment not removed during the periods fixed for evacuation.

Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, etc.,

shall be left in situ. Industrial establishments shall not be

impaired in any way and their personnel shall not be moved. Roads

and means of communication of every kind, railroad, waterways, main

roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones, shall be in no manner

impaired.

Seven--All civil and military personnel at present employed on them

shall remain. Five thousand locomotives, fifty thousand wagons and

ten thousand motor lorries in good working order with all necessary

spare parts and fittings shall be delivered to the associated

powers within the period fixed for the evacuation of Belgium and

Luxemburg. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over

within the same period, together with all pre-war personnel and

material. Further material necessary for the working of railways in

the country on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ.

All stores of coal and material for the upkeep of permanent ways,

signals and repair shops left entire in situ and kept in an

efficient state by Germany during the whole period of armistice.

All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to them. A note

appended regulates the details of these measures.

Eight--The German command shall be responsible for revealing all

mines or other acting fuses disposed on territory evacuated by the

German troops and shall assist in their discovery and destruction.

The German command shall also reveal all destructive measures that

may have been taken (such as poisoning or polluting of springs,

wells, etc.) under penalty of reprisals.

Nine--The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allied and

the United States armies in all occupied territory. The upkeep of

the troops of occupation in the Rhine land (excluding

Alsace-Lorraine), shall be charged to the German Government.

Ten--An immediate repatriation without reciprocity according to

detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of all Allied and United

States prisoners of war. The Allied powers and the United States

shall be able to dispose of these prisoners as they wish.

Eleven--Sick and wounded, who can not be removed from evacuated

territory will be cared for by German personnel who will be left on

the spot with the medical material required.

II. DISPOSITION RELATIVE TO THE EASTERN FRONTIERS OF GERMANY:

Twelve--All German troops at present in any territory which before

the war belonged to Russia, Rumania or Turkey shall withdraw within

the frontiers of Germany as they existed on August 1, 1914.

Thirteen--Evacuation by German troops to begin at once and all

German instructors, prisoners and civilian as well as military

agents, now on the territory of Russia (as defined before 1914) to

be recalled.

Fourteen--German troops to cease at once all requisitions and

seizures and any other undertaking with a view to obtaining

supplies intended for Germany in Rumania and Russia (as defined on

August 1, 1914).

Fifteen--Abandonment of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk

and of the supplementary treaties.

Sixteen--The Allies shall have free access to the territories

evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier either through

Danzig or by the Vistula in order to convey supplies to the

population of those territories or for any other purpose.

III. CLAUSE CONCERNING EAST AFRICA:

Seventeen--Unconditional capitulation of all German forces

operating in East Africa within one month.

IV. GENERAL CLAUSES:

Eighteen--Repatriation, without reciprocity, within maximum period

of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to

be fixed, of all civilians interned or deported who may be citizens

of other Allied or associated states than those mentioned in clause

three, paragraph nineteen, with the reservation that any future

claims and demands of the Allies and the United States of America

remain unaffected.

Nineteen--The following financial conditions are required:

Reparation for damage done. While such armistice lasts no public

securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a

pledge to the Allies for the recovery or repatriation for war

losses. Immediate restitution of the cash deposit, in the National

Bank of Belgium, and in general immediate return of all documents,

specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together with plant for the

issue thereof, touching public or private interests in the invaded

countries. Restitution of the Russian and Rumanian gold yielded to

Germany or taken by that power. This gold to be delivered in trust

to the Allies until the signature of peace.

V. NAVAL CONDITIONS:

Twenty--Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea and definite

information to be given as to the location and movements of all

German ships. Notification to be given to neutrals that freedom of

navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and

mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers, all

questions of neutrality being waived.

Twenty-one--All naval and mercantile marine prisoners of war of the

Allied and associated powers in German hands to be returned without

reciprocity.

Twenty-two--Surrender to the Allies and the United States of

America of one hundred and sixty German submarines (including all

submarine cruisers and mine laying submarines) with their complete

armament and equipment in ports which will be specified by the

Allies and the United States of America. All other submarines to be

paid off and completely disarmed and placed under the supervision

of the Allied Powers and the United States of America.

Twenty-three--The following German surface warships which shall be

designated by the Allies and the United States of America shall

forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports to

be designated by the Allies and the United States of America and

placed under the surveillance of the Allies and the United States

of America, only caretakers being left on board, namely:

Six battle cruisers, ten battleships, eight light cruisers,

including two mine layers, fifty destroyers of the most modern

type. All other surface warships (including river craft) are to be

concentrated in naval bases to be designated by the Allies and the

United States of America, and are to be paid off and completely

disarmed and placed under the supervision of the Allies and the

United States of America. All vessels of auxiliary fleet (trawlers,

motor vessels, etc.), are to be disarmed.

Twenty-four--The Allies and the United States of America shall have

the right to sweep all mine fields and obstructions laid by Germany

outside German territorial waters, and the positions of these are

to be indicated.

Twenty-five--Freedom of access to and from the Baltic to be given

to the naval and mercantile marine of the Allied and associated

powers. To secure this the Allies and the United States of America

shall be empowered to occupy all German forts, fortifications,

batteries and defense works of all kinds in all the entrances from

the Cattegat into the Baltic, and to sweep up all mines and

obstructions within and without German territorial waters without

any question of neutrality being raised, and the positions of all

such mines and obstructions are to be indicated.

Twenty-six--The existing blockade conditions set up by the Allies

and associated powers are to remain unchanged, and all German

merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture.

Twenty-seven--All naval aircraft are to be concentrated and

immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the

United States of America.

Twenty-eight--In evacuating the Belgian coasts and ports, Germany

shall abandon all merchant ships, tugs, lighters, cranes and all

other harbor materials, all materials for inland navigation, all

aircraft and all materials and stores, all arms and armaments, and

all stores and apparatus of all kinds.

Twenty-nine--All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated by Germany,

all Russian war vessels of all descriptions seized by Germany in

the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United

States of America; all neutral merchant vessels seized are to be

released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in

those parts are to be returned and German materials as specified in

clause twenty-eight are to be abandoned.

Thirty--All merchant vessels in German hands belonging to the

Allied and associated powers are to be restored in ports to be

specified by the Allies and the United States of America without

reciprocity.

Thirty-one--No destruction of ships or of materials to be permitted

before evacuation, surrender or restoration.

Thirty-two--The German Government will notify neutral Governments

of the world, and particularly the Governments of Norway, Sweden,

Denmark, and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the trading

of their vessels with the Allied and associated countries, whether

by the German Government or by private German interests, and

whether in return for specific concessions such as the export of

shipbuilding materials or not, are immediately cancelled.

Thirty-three--No transfers of German merchant shipping of any

description to any neutral flag are to take place after signature

of the armistice.

VI. DURATION OF ARMISTICE:

Thirty-four--The duration of the armistice is to be thirty days,

with option to extend. During this period, on failure of execution

of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be denounced by one

of the contracting parties on forty-eight hours' previous notice.

VII. TIME LIMIT FOR REPLY:

Thirty-five--This armistice to be accepted or refused by Germany

within seventy-two hours of notification.

THE NEGRO IN THE WORLD WAR.

BEFORE THE WAR.

Civilization evolves destructive forces of change. War is change in

explosive form. World notions, points of view, and general ideas of 1914

have spun the cycle of years with accelerated speed. At that time the

public mind gained its concept of the Negro from encyclopaedic

information. He was regarded as a "sub-species of mankind, dark of skin,

wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated nostrils, thick lips, thicker

cranium, flat foot, prehensile great toe and larkheel."

He was described as a creature with "mental constitution very similar to

that of the child, on a lower evolutionary plane than the white man, and

more closely related to the highest anthropoids." His brain weight, we

were told, was 35 ounces as compared with the gorilla's 20 ounces and

the Caucasian's 45.

In America, conception of the Negro has ever fluctuated in direct ratio

to the rise and fall of military domination of the affairs of the

republic. Whenever the military agencies of the government have been

exalted, the Negro has been benefited by reaction of the public mind.

From 1865 to 1870 exaltation of the military element of American life

brought along not only emancipation of the black man, but that

conception of him which resulted in the conferring of manhood rights and

privileges. In this short space of five years, so highly had the Negro

come into public estimation that, with the protection of the military

arm of the government, there were actively engaged in his interest an

Emancipation League, a Freedmen's Pension Society, a Freedmen and

Soldiers' Relief, a Freedmen's Aid Society of the M.E. Church, a Society

of Friends of Great Britain and Ireland for the Relief of Emancipated

Slaves of America, an American Missionary Association, a Freedmen's

Bureau, a Freedmen's Bank, a British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society,

an American Negro Aid Commission, and other organizations, too numerous

for mention. So important, however, was military organization and

predominance to the success of any one of these organizations, that Carl

Schurz, reporting to Congress the condition of the South, declared: "If

the national government firmly and unequivocally announces its policy

not to give up the control of free labor reform until it is firmly

accomplished, the progress of the reform will be far more rapid and far

less difficult than it will be if the attitude of the government is such

as to permit contrary hopes to be indulged in."

In 1870, as the military power of the United States weakened its control

over the nation, forces of opposition arose to pull down to the depths

the black man, who had been exalted by the agencies of military

government. The Ku Klux Klan, headed by the Grand Wizard of the

Invisible Empire, and the Grand Dragon of the Realm, with malignant

fanaticism worshipped the lost cause. Hatred of white man for Negro,

accentuated and embittered by hatred for the Yankee carpet-bagger and

the southern scalawag, resulted in the rise of a powerful southern

partisanship, stunned only so long as military power held sway. Peonage

took place of colored free labor. Disproportionate appropriation of

taxes between blacks and whites lowered the Negro measurably year by

year. With the complete removal of military supremacy, the Ku Klux

courted publicity which it had hitherto shunned. A leader, the statesman

of the new era, in the person of the late Benjamin R. Tillman, of South

Carolina, appeared. He split the loose organization of southern

aristocracy with the blacks with lily white wedge, and trampled into

dust every agency which favored the black man. He deprived the black of

all weapons of offence or defence, disfranchised him, shunted him off

into the ghetto, and called the world to mock him in his lowly position.

This southern statesman lived to see the Solid South come into national

power in 1912. From that time, until the beginning of the world war in

1914, the American negro reached the lowest point of his political and

social status.

Compared with Anglo-Saxon, Frenchman, Italian, Austrian, German or

Russian, he was of an order and degree reputed farthest down. No

celebrity attached to his menial state. No distinction might be his as

an award from the courts of nations. Dignity, grandeur and majesty

applied to Guelphs, Hapsburgs and Hohenzollerns. Theirs was all

arrogation of supereminence. And to them all, the Negro, throughout the

world, was, if a man at all, pre-eminently the mere Man Friday.

From such a status of debasement, existing in an intolerable atmosphere

of derogation and disrepute, the humble and humiliated American Negro

sought the exaltation of international honor. Denied and disavowed at

home, through vicissitude of international war, he hoped for affirmation

of a new world dictum in acknowledgment of his human qualities and

worth. He did not, like Toussaint, long for the high honors of the

continental emperor. He sought democratic equality, and he would as lief

think of bringing the Kaiser to his level as exalting himself to the

plane of that immortal celebrity.

He wanted to make good in public. He wanted to demonstrate both

efficiency and initiative. He desired that popular belief conceive him

as a man, not a monkey. He wished the Caucasian world to take into its

head that he might function as a valuable and serviceable element of

twentieth century civilization. He yearned to reveal his powers in

every field of endeavor. And he expected that when the Caucasian had

arrived at a fair judgment in his behalf, he would issue to him the

warrant certifying that he was four-square with the dominant opinion of

mankind, and, therefore, entitled to the honors of superior status.

He aimed to compensate the world by presenting a concept of beauty in

place of a general notion of repellent ugliness. Instead of being

regarded as a "Hottentot with clicking palate, whom the meanest of the

rest look down upon for all his glimmering language and spirituality,"

he wished the world to find in him fitness for survival, conformity with

civilization's ideal, example of the world philosophy of forbearance,

human relationships, symmetry and poise in adaptation to the world's

tasks, and moderation in respect of the higher laws, whose harmonies

order and rectify all creation.

He sought to neutralize the misteachings of Adam Smith, of Darwin and

Defoe. Smith's "Wealth of Nations" presumed the material debasement of

darker peoples of colonial populations, or, in lieu thereof, such

debasement of Slav, Serf or Serbian as would compensate the vanity of

the superior people. Indirectly, Darwin taught, that the Negro closely

approached the missing link between the savage beast and the human.

Defoe delighted the world with a picture of the ideal economic status

for the maintenance of white superiority over black man. These ideas the

Negro wished to topple over.

He felt it necessary to repudiate the indoctrination of racial hatred

proclaimed throughout the world by "The Birth of a Nation." He set over

against it the reception by all civilization of the Booker T. Washington

life story. He wished to substitute recognition of worth in place of the

things that debase and make ashamed.

His great puzzle was the Anglo-Saxon, cold, austere and uncomplaisant.

This Caucasian, fair of skin, with smooth and wavy hair, small

cheekbones and elevated forehead, appeared a worshipful master whose

station, under God, was of preordained and predestined eminence.

Occupying Eurasia from the Channel to the Ganges, together with the most

favored portions of Africa and America, he was the author and agency for

law and order for the world. St. Augustine, first archbishop and

lawgiver of Canterbury, himself of African descent, the son of Monica

and Patricius of Carthage, had left the Anglo-Saxon from semi-barbarism

to his position of world renown. Would this Anglo-Saxon ever degrade the

sons of women of Africa?

The Negro's next puzzle was the French, urbane, amenable and suave.

Negro emotions and French sensibilities mingled even without recourse to

the vehicle of language. Imbued with all the finer Latin qualities and

characteristics, the French ever invited the black man to a social world

which the Anglo-Saxon denied him. E.W. Lightner, writing as a war

correspondent, says:

"Long previous to the war thousands of blacks from various States

of Africa were in France, most especially Paris, at the

universities, in business and in the better ranges of service.

Everywhere and by all sorts and conditions of whites, they were

treated as equals. During several visits to the French capital I,

an American, knowing full well the prejudices of whites of this

country against the race, was amazed to see the cordial mingling of

all phases of the cosmopolitan population of the French capital.

Refined white men promenaded the streets with refined black women,

and the two races mingled cordially in studies, industries and

athletic sports. White and black artists had ateliers in common in

the Latin quarter...."

Thus, at hob and nob with the civilities and honors and embraces of this

social life, the Negro felt an unaccustomed giddiness seize him. This

giddiness was not caused by lack of social poise, nor incited by the

French, but it arose from the dilemma, or rather peril, in which the

French intercourse placed him with relation to the adjustment of darker

races to Anglo-Saxon civilization.

Nevertheless in 1914, the approach to this court of honour and equality

must be made by the Negro--and made under restraint sufficient to assure

Anglo-Saxon approval. This was, indeed, a complex problem. Traducers

proclaimed his undeveloped capacities; he answered with a claim of long

repressed aptitudes. They spoke of intolerable coalescence; he claimed

that the times demanded imperative coexistence. They said he had no

soul; he claimed the over-soul. They asserted his lecherous character;

he referred to statistics. But when they claimed he was pro-German, he

stripped for action. World war, and France, prostrate amid its terrors,

offered the Negro the great opportunity of the centuries to refute the

broadcast propaganda of his enemies.

Beyond the French appeared the German, ungainly, acrimonious and

obdurate. Part Saxon, part Hun, part Vandal and Visigoth, a creature of

blood and iron, he utilized every force of nature to exterminate his

enemies. The Negro knew how to exploit none of nature's elemental

energies. But he did know that he could learn how by seizing and

mastering the weapons of the enemy.

Of the energies of earth he lacked both scientific mastery and the

weapons which give them offensive power and direction. Of the air he

lacked all control. Fire he utilized only for purposes of cooking food,

but not for the development of machinery of warfare. He has no vessel

upon all the seven seas. To seize and master and utilize these energies

appeared a thankless job, albeit a necessary one. He voted a grim

"Aye."

[Illustration: This is the wreath presented by the Ford-Darney Orchestra

in memory of Lieutenant Jimmy Europe, leader of the famous Jazz band

which won its laurels with the 369th Infantry in France. His funeral

took place from St. Mark's Church in West 53rd St.]

[Illustration: The body of Lieutenant Jimmy Europe who died suddenly

this week is here seen being carried from St. Mark's Church. Europe was

the leader of the famous Jazz band which won its laurels with the 369th

Infantry in France.]

[Illustration: NEGRO NURSES MARCH IN GREAT RED CROSS PARADE ON FIFTH

AVENUE, NEW YORK CITY.]

[Illustration: THE ARREST OF THE ASSASSIN.

Scene immediately after the murder of the Archduke and Archduchess of

Austria in the streets of Sarajevo, Bosnia. The arrest of Gavrio

Princip, the murderer.]

[Illustration: NATIONAL GUARDSMAN WEARING COMPLETE EQUIPMENT, READY FOR

WAR.

A soldier's equipment consists of a great number of articles, skillfully

packed so that they make a small bundle, considering the number of

articles. The kit includes a blanket, rifle, bayonet, kit bag, cartridge

belt, canteen, pan, plate, knife, fork, spoon, tent spikes, rubber

blanket and other miscellaneous articles. The photo shows three

views--side, front and back, with equipment attached.]

[Illustration: THE PEACE CONFERENCE AT PARIS

This remarkable photograph taken during the Peace Conference at Paris

shows President Wilson and President Poincare in the center background

(directly underneath the clock). Seated next to Mr. Wilson is Secretary

of State Lansing. Next to President Poincare at the right are seated

Lloyd George, Balfour and Bonar Law. At the long table to the left of

the photo we see seated Clemenceau, Pichon and Marshal Foch.]

[Illustration: CARRYING OLD GLORY THROUGH LONDON.

United States soldiers, carrying the Stars and Stripes and Regimental

Standard, passed cheering crowds at the head of a National army command

that marched through London on May 11th, 1918.]

[Illustration: MARSHAL J. JOFFRE AND PARTY IN WASHINGTON, D.C.

This photograph was taken at the State, War and Navy Building, just

after they had called on Secretary of War Baker. Joffre stands on the

lower step in the centre of the picture.]

[Illustration: SIR DOUGLAS HAIG.

This is a late photograph of the commander of the British armies in

France.]

[Illustration: SOLDIERS OF THE DIFFERENT NATIONS ENGAGED IN THE WORLD

WAR.

This picture shows the portraits and headdress of reprsentative fighters

now engaged in the European war.]

[Illustration: CAPTURE OF BAPAUME BY BRITISH.

Scene on the day British troops entered Bapaume, a French city evacuated

by the Germans in their retreat to the Hindenburg line. Cheerful British

soldiers are seen in a street.]

[Illustration: FRENCH PASSING THROUGH RECAPTURED NOYON.

They are on the heels of the Germans. The photograph shows how the town

was wrecked by the Germans before they evacuated.]

[Illustration: HORSE AND MAN ALIKE PROTECTED FROM GAS ATTACK.

French army horses wearing gas masks, which look at first sight like oat

bags. They are used when the animals have to cross a gas zone in drawing

the shell wagons to the batteries.]

[Illustration: ONE OF THE METHODS OF TRANSPORTING WOUNDED.

This man is being taken over mountainous regions, and the method of

transportation has been devised in order to minimize the shock.]

[Illustration: "V-I-C-T-O-R-Y."

Sailors spelling the word "VICTORY" with flags.]

[Illustration: Sighting through the 40 power telescope on the U.S.S.

Pennsylvania. Objects at great distances are clearly distinguished

through this telescope.]

[Illustration: BRITISH SAILORS IN NEW YORK.

They are from the H.M.S. Roxburgh, and took part in welcoming the

arrival of Gen. Joffre in New York City]

[Illustration: THE GREAT AMERICAN HABIT.

French Jackies, for the first time in the United States, learn all the

delights of the great American drink, the Ice Cream Soda.]

[Illustration: BENJAMIN BAYLOR.

Wardroom Steward, U.S.N. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was torpedoed

and sunk September 30, 1918.]

[Illustration: WILLIAM GARFIELD MARSHALL.

Wardroom Officer's Steward, U.S.N. Lost when U.S.A.C.T. TICONDEROGA was

torpedoed and sunk September 30, 1918.]

[Illustration: SURVIAN AUSTIN WILLIAMS.

Mess Attendant U.S.N. Lost on U.S.S. CYCLOPS, June 14, 1918.]

[Illustration: T.A. LOUNDEO.

Water Tender, U.S.N. 909 N. 5th St., Richmond, Va.]

[Illustration: WM. M.T. BECKLEY.

Mess Attendant, 1c, U.S.N. Fell overboard and drowned, U.S.S. OZARK,

July 25, 1918.]

[Illustration: GEORGE FOWLER.

Cabin Steward U.S.N. Lost when Liberty Boat capsized, U.S.S. LANSDALE.

December 6, 1918.]

In doing so, he accepted the challenge of no mere enigma. Of his own

volition, he entered upon the path that led through untrod and dangerous

ground. It was his problem to cut the Gordian knot of Anglo-Saxon icy

reserve that in the end fair England might assume as a policy of world

administration the award of citizenship rights to the darker races in

the sphere of influence of the league of civilized nations. It was a

part of this problem to enter the equation with such deliberate caution

as to upset no part of the nicely calculated adjustments of white to

darker peoples. And it was also a part of his problem that he should not

relinquish his grasp upon the factors that led to honor, recognition and

equality.

Germany was indignant as the Negro sought entry to the war. The South

was sensitive. The North was quizzical. The whole world was hesitant.

The too ardent favor which the Negro found in France gave offence to

both America and England. Indeed, for the Negro to lift himself too

rapidly by his own bootstraps would have offended England, whose law

prohibited emigration of foreign Negroes to South Africa. And it would

also offend America, strangely jealous of any sign of unwanted

assertiveness the Negro might display. The Negro accepted the challenge

to penetrate this maze and labyrinth, with no surety, save God's good

grace, of the fate that lay beyond.

To attain the goal of Recognition, it was necessary for him to demand of

the people of England, France and Italy, that he be made subject to

every test calculated to reveal his worth or inferiority as an

individual, business, political or social equal of the allied peoples.

The goal of Honor, he had attained in every war waged by America. He was

with Jackson at New Orleans, a pioneer in the Mexican struggle, 200,000

strong in the great civil crisis, the acme of terror to Geronimo in the

later Indian wars, the hero of San Juan in the Spanish-American combat,

and at Carrizal in the latest Mexican imbroglio. By 1914, however, he

had lost all rewards of honor which he had previously won. As for

Equality, since the Civil War, he had been guaranteed this goal by

three amendments to the Constitution of the United States. These

forgotten amendments read in part:

"Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment

for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall

exist within the United States, or any place subject to their

jurisdiction....

"All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject

to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and

of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce

any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of

citizens of the United States; nor shall deprive any person of

life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny to

any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the

laws....

"Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States

according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of

persons in each State....

"The right of the citizens of the United States to vote shall not

be denied or abridged by the United States or any State on account

of race, color or previous condition of servitude."

America of 1914 was prone to look upon this part of the Constitution as

a mere scrap of paper. From what point of vantage might the Negro hope

for Honor, Recognition and Equality at the hands of the allied

governments?

Land of the free and home of the brave, America is assumed to be so

openhearted, munificent and princely, so liberal and so generous that

could she but behold a man, of whatever hue, trampled in the mire, or

hear his piteous cry, she would hasten to his aid and deliver him. So

much does she admire genuine human worth that a man of heart and spirit

and fortitude cannot perish while she is nigh at hand. Such, at least,

is the assumption.

From the debasement of industrial serfdom, the black workman wished the

American people of 1914 to stop the trend of their strenuous existence

and behold him ... and test him ... and proclaim him. He not only wished

to be given a free field and a fair chance to work at the same job, for

the same wage, during the same hours, and under the same conditions as

the white workman, but he was ready to contend for all of the industrial

privileges.

The black man of business not only wished to enter into business

competition with members of the Caucasian race under the same conditions

as customarily pertain to such arrangements, but he was eagerly hoping

to insure adjustment of this situation. The black social outcast wished

"jim-crow" railway accommodations and signs proclaiming inequality of

race to disappear. He wished sufficient education to enable him to

develop his own society. He, too, was willing for a world war, for he

had come to the point where he desired immediate and explosive change.

Looked down upon because of his despised blood, the black American

wished to elevate the status of his womankind, too long disproved and

betrayed, to the level of free and brave womanhood of all the civilized

world. Concerning this situation he was grim. It required but a spark

applied here to explode with terrific outburst the sinister silence of

the volcano.

But in India, in South Africa, in Nigeria, and in all countries where

English rule held sway, England was committed to the policy of the white

overseer or foreman for the black exponent of industry. Nor could she,

save through war, adopt a policy of employing either Indians or Africans

at the same job and for the same wage as that received by members of the

British Labor Party. On the other hand, France, whose political life was

convulsed from 1894 to 1899 by principles of racial prejudice exhibited

in the Dreyfus case, offered every form of equality to the darker races

under her dominion. However, such equality offered by France was not

equal in the sum total of advantage to the partial equality which the

Negro received in America. The French workman gave more hours of toil

for less monetary reward. The Negro wanted to bring the French principle

of equality to apply in American industry. But the British in 1914 could

not agree to industrial equality for black men. Such agreement would

upset the nicely calculated economic adjustments of the English system.

America would take no step until forced to do so.

It was the problem of the Negro, alone and single-handed, to grasp the

opportunity afforded by world war to bring America to this point of

recognition and democratic equality. The Negro, hitherto regarded as the

monkey-man, the baby race, the black brute, trained by such ruthless

propaganda to disrespect himself, hesitated.

There was no leadership. No ringleader arrayed the mob. No chief

appeared. No captain called the hosts. No generalissimo marshalled the

black phalanx. No statesman sought entanglement in the meshes of the

negro labyrinth. But the Negro proposition for a test of Negro fitness,

like Topsy, "just growed." The young Negro possessed the clear eye to

see the situation. College trained, his vision was not blinded by

proximity to issues of the Civil War, nor by financial dependence, nor

by excessive spirituality. The elder Negro possessed the oratorical and

linguistic powers to state the case. Also college trained, of long

experience, possessing a widespread oratorical clientele, he spoke with

a voice that stirred and played upon the heartstrings of all America.

Never was such a proposition advanced where men, old and young, despised

and rejected, penniless and without credit, without acclaimed leadership

or champion, sought position of honor and recognition and equality

beside the best fighting forces of the world to help defeat the greatest

military machine that hell had ever invented.

Capital and labor, in previous years, had found the Negro wanting. State

governments had utilized him for the purpose of increasing taxes and

court fees. The national government always handled him in accordance

with political expediency, despite his unswerving loyalty. Capital,

labor, State government and national government had brought the Negro so

low that he was ready in 1914 for any form of relief.

The Negro was ready for change, for one reason, because he had lost the

honor of ministership to Haiti, Henry W. Furniss being succeeded by a

white man. He was ready for change because, as the continental war

proceeded, it became evident that though America might participate, her

black colonel, Charles Denton Young, a graduate of West Point, and a

distinguished soldier, might receive recognition as the leader of black

forces on foreign soil. He was ready for change because it appeared that

there had been agreement that no American Negro should participate in a

test of world equality upon the field of world honor and renown.

In the American Navy Department, in 1914, time had destroyed the wake of

Negro tradition, and the log had been deleted. The Negro has rendered

honorable service in the navy. He was with Perry on Lake Erie. During

the Civil War, Robert Smalls, a Negro, single-handed, stole the Union

cruiser "Planter" from Charleston harbor and brought her into a Union

port. Half the men who accompanied Hobson into Santiago harbor were

Negroes. Matt Henson was the only man with Peary at the Pole. John

Jordan fired the first shot from Dewey's flagship "Olympia," opening the

battle of Manila. The Negro wanted change because in 1914 the naval

administration reluctantly offered Negroes positions as messmen and

cooks. No seamen, no members of the merchant marine, no petty officers,

no lieutenants, might apply.

In the American Treasury Department, an ex-Senator of the United States,

a colored man, Blanche K. Bruce of Mississippi, was honored by having

created for him the office of register of the treasury. Subsequently the

honor was conferred as a political favor upon Judson W. Lyons, of

Georgia; William T. Vernon, of Kansas, and J.C. Napier, of Tennessee.

The democratic executive was good enough to offer this position, created

as a direct result of the Negro's activities during and after the Civil

War, to Adam E. Patterson, of Oklahoma. But so great was the pressure

from opposing political forces that the name was withdrawn and another

position of honor lost to the race. Ralph W. Tyler, auditor of the navy,

resigned his position in 1912. A white man was appointed in his place.

Screens were erected in this department, shutting the Negro from the

view of his erstwhile fellow-clerk. He was sent down in the cellar to

emphasize his degradation as he attended to his physical wants. The

Negro cried aloud for change, and in his heart he cared not how soon

this change should come, nor what form it should take.

The American Post-office Department, by 1914, had taken over the bulk of

the express service of the United States. The Negro was found available

as a clerk, but seldom, if ever, as a foreman. The appointment of large

numbers of Negroes to mere clerical positions did not mean to the Negro

recognition of merit. The Negro postmaster had disappeared.

The American Department of the Interior is engaged with domestic affairs

of the nation. The Negro constitutes one-tenth of the population and

requires one-tenth of the necessities of American life. In 1914, a

definite attempt was made in a bureau of this department to give the

Negro recognition, honor and near-equality by the policy of segregating

him into a Negro bureau. This policy had previously been worked out in

Negro school systems and in the army. But the Negro clerks of the

Interior Department, by unanimous vote, rejected the proposition for

this sort of change. The kind of recognition, the kind of honor and the

kind of equality which they desired had taken definite shape in their

minds.

The American Agricultural Department, it would appear, should be made up

of a large percentage of Negroes. The Negro was essentially an

agriculturist before he came to America. He was brought to Virginia for

the specific purpose of engaging in agriculture. His development of

agricultural conferences in the South in recent years has been a great

source of production. The Negro wanted change because this department

employed messengers and clerks, but demonstrators seldom, if ever, of

his color. Agricultural strategy in 1914 might well have been exonerated

if it had employed Negro chief demonstrators and engaged them in

interstate contest for quantity production. In one Southern State the

Negro operates the greater agricultural area. In another he will operate

the greater portion of such districts at an early date. In still another

many of the communities of large Negro population have hardly had a

white foot set upon them in two decades. The Negroes of these three

states could have furnished surplus food for any nation of the allies,

but a Negro might receive honor if put in charge of their development at

the proper salary and with full authority to act. In 1914, this honor

must not be.

In the American Department of Commerce the masters of barter and

exchange are exhibited. America seeks to develop the man who can strike

a bargain and outbid his competitors. The Negro wanted change because,

since the invention of salesmanship he has been declared out of the

scope of this department. His social status prevents him from making the

proper sales approach. The Negro of 1914 came to this department only as

a depositor of funds, or as a beggar for charity. He was not seriously

regarded.

Lastly, in the American Department of Labor, the Negro wanted change

because he was regarded in 1914 as the man requiring a boss of another

color. He was not regarded as a master mechanic, manufacturer, artist or

journeyman, unless the labor union, to which he was ineligible, so

regarded him.

In these many ways, by capital and labor, by state and national

government, in every department, had the Negro of 1914 been reduced to

the state of man without honor in his own country. If war be change,

however explosive in form, in 1914 the Negro wanted the world war to

come to America from whatever angle that promised him the greatest

advantage.

Equality in citizenship, for which the Negro yearned, meant parity of

adjustment to conditions of life. Equality may be considered under three

forms, industrial, business and political. As the terms are understood

in America, the Negro was unanimous in 1914 in desiring industrial,

business and political equality. He eagerly watched the fuse of war if

perchance he might foresee from the consequent explosion the termination

of Anglo-Saxon prejudice. It is but fair to say that he was not the only

victim of discrimination at that time. The sub-dominant nations,

including the Jugo-Slavs, the Czecho-Slavs, the Serbs and the Serfs of

Russia, were subject to discrimination and deprived of the higher places

of honor in the world's society.

But the Negro was not immediately concerned with any one's status save

his own. He was not concerned that Mexicans, Chinese, Japanese,

Filipinos, Porto Ricans or South Africans did not enjoy the advantage of

living on American soil. He was only concerned with the fact that,

living in America, performing the full duties of American citizenship,

he was denied the advantages and privileges of its possession, while

Slavs and Serbs of Europe, with white skins, were accorded the fullest

measure of democratic opportunity whenever and wherever they set foot on

American soil. The Negro wanted the world war to prove that he, too,

was a coalescent element in the civilization of the world.

To summarize the burden of the Negro in 1914 we may include Caucasian

arrogance, hatred and prejudice of race, injustice of attitude and

treatment, personal fear for life and property, improperly requited

toil, unrewarded ambition, unmerited disfavor and debased self-respect.

What profound pathos in the love which he bore Old Glory!

THE WAR FOR DEMOCRATIZATION.

Germany of 1914 aimed to throw off the yoke which she claimed England

wished to fasten on her world relationships. She aimed to dominate the

world with German efficiency. She aimed to demonstrate German

superiority and expose what she called Anglo-Saxon hypocrisy and cant.

Already possessing the world's supply of potash, she struck directly at

the coal and iron region of Belgium and Northern France. And she took

them on the initial advance. With potash, coal and iron, this was a

Teutonic coup for industrial and commercial supremacy indeed. Now well

might she dictate who should boycott English goods. Now well might she

point to the political and military dishonor of the easy defeat of

Belgium and France. Now well might she proceed to the disintegration of

these countries by the weapons of poverty, disease, hunger and bitter

cold. Little did Germany dream what moral advantage she gave these

overrun lands in the hearts of the millions of Negroes of the world.

Germany felt assured that Negroes from all Africa would gloat over the

assassination of Belgium. She was positive that American Negroes would

rejoice. She expected the blacks of the world would rise up and hail her

as the champion of a new day.

In the twinkling of an eye she reduced Belgium to industrial serfdom.

She made the Belgian merchant a business pariah. She reduced the

Belgian citizen to a political Helot, and imprisoned the burgomaster of

Brussels, who refused to yield his citizenship honors. She made of

Belgium a desert. The Belgian woman she whistled at and made a bye-word

and reproach. And she called her treaty of Belgian neutrality a mere

scrap of paper. Namur fell, and Charleroi and lovely Louvain. Liege

succumbed in those hot August days, and Malines and Tournai and Antwerp.

Poor Belgian refugees, starved and naked, fled westward. In remembrance

of barbarities in the Congo under the international commission which

placed Belgium in control, the American Negro quoted the poet: "The sins

we borrow two by two we pay for one by one." But there was no

disposition to gloat. The American Negro, be it said, came to the

Belgian relief with money and goods and prayers and tears, and forgot

the sins of the fathers of the suffering little kingdom. The secret of

this reaction is revealed in the sympathy which the Negro bore toward

another people reduced to his American status, without honor,

recognition or equality.

On, on, precipitate, headlong came Germany with diabolic efficiency,

thrusting viciously at the heart of France. Running amuck through St.

Quentin and Arras, Soissons fell and Laon. Rheims surrounded, astride

the Marne, France awaited her invader. Joffre at the gate! Foch in

charge of the defence! On came the Germans! They crushed his left! They

pulverized his right! He dispatched his courier to headquarters with the

famous message: "I shall attack with my centre. Send up the Moroccans!"

These black troops, thrown in at the first Marne, with the British to

their left, pushed the German right over the stream. Continuing their

action, the colonials won on the Ourcq, and the Germans evacuated Upper

Alsace. Before their terrific attack, with the British steadily pressing

beside them, General Von Stein admitted his defeat by the white and

black allies. Paris was saved and Foch discovered to the allied world.

How the hearts of black Americans thrilled as slowly the news filtered

through to them of what the black colonials had done to hold the field

for France! It was then that they took it into their hearts that if the

United States were ever called upon to participate in this struggle,

they would not be denied a place of glory equal to that which their

African brethren had achieved.

But there was no time for resolve. The cataclysm involved in the

threatened overthrow of English law and orderly procedure throughout the

world caused the American Negro to tremble. Always conservative, if

there be anything to conserve, the Negro appreciated that English law,

when properly interpreted, meant freedom and life and hope eternal to

him. He was unwilling to take any chances with a German substitute. The

overthrow of English law he looked upon as the impending crack of doom.

On came the Germans toward Calais and the Straits of Dover! On to

Zeebrugge! On to Ostend! To Ypres! In her supreme desperation, England

looked about the world for a force to stay the invader until she could

prepare to meet the full force of the attack. She cared not whether aid

be white or black, or brown or yellow. She called for help, or else

Ypres should fall. Black men of Africa, brown men of India, white and

red men of Canada, and yellow men of the Far East heard her call. And

while America lifted not a finger, the American Negro lifted up his

heart to God and prayed that Anglo-Saxon justice, rigid and cold, so

often denied him, should not perish in triumph of the Hun, who knew no

law save his own lust and super-arrogation.

Aboard the "Lusitania" there were no known men of color. But there were

Caucasian women and children aboard. At what moral disadvantage did

Germany put herself with the black millions of America when she

riotously celebrated the horrible death her submarines had meted out to

these weak and helpless mortals. The "Belgian Prince," first of the

vessels torpedoed without warning after President Wilson's manifesto on

the subject, had one lone black survivor to tell the tale of horror. He

told it to his black brethren and they chafed under the diplomatic

restraint, which relieved itself by polite letter writing.

Germany threatened the Panama Canal by disruption in Mexico and Haiti.

The Mole St. Nicholas gave command of the canal to anyone of the great

powers who might seize it. German influence was at work in Port au

Prince. There occurred a riot involving both French and German

Legations. The President of Haiti was assassinated. The United States

marines stepped in and took over the situation. The American Negro heart

went out to little Haiti. Hoping for the best, he feared the worst.

In the midst of this situation, Pancho Villa attacked Columbus, New

Mexico. Overnight Negro regiments of regular army and of national guard

received word to go to the border. Black troopers of the 10th Cavalry

were reported near Casas Grandes on March 17. The 24th Infantry,

colored, set out for Mexico, and another Negro command was sent to

Columbus on March 22. Through storm and dust and desert of alkali and

cacti, the Negro troopers, led by Colonel Brown, came to Aguascalientes.

They had passed through a terrible experience that must have daunted all

save those who refuse to accept defeat. Hunger and thirst and mirage and

exposure must all be overcome. Because of hardships many cavalrymen

deserted on May 1, after three months' service in action. But every

Negro trooper with Colonel Brown held on and defeated the Villistas in

every skirmish.

On a day in June, 1916, a troop from the 10th Cavalry approached the

Mexican town of Carrizal. They were forbidden to enter the town for

purposes of refreshment. Captain Boyd resolved to make the entry

regardless of any regulations the Mexicans might seek to enforce. He

was called upon by General Gomez to advance for a parley. As he advanced

with his troopers, Mexicans spread out in a wide circle around them.

Gomez, himself, trained the machine gun which opened fire. The parley

was a mere sham and decoy. Captain Boyd with Lieutenant Adair and eleven

soldiers were killed. The rest of the troopers fell on the Mexicans,

seized their gun, turned it upon them, and brought to death scores of

their number, including Gomez himself. Seventeen black Americans were

interned in Chihuahua, but were released eight days after upon demand by

the American government. Captain Morey reported that his men faced death

with a song on their lips. The lesson which the Mexicans learned by

turning a machine gun on Negro troopers was of such force that no

trouble has arisen since in this section of the southern republic. The

Negro fell face forward in the scorching sand for his honor's sake, and

for the honor of all America. He knew that his real enemy was not the

Mexican, but the German who had furnished Mexico the means and the will

to create disturbance on this side of the Atlantic.

It was not until April, 1917, that President Wilson proclaimed in

Congress a state of war existing between the United States of America

and the Imperial German Government. At the call for volunteers, Negro

regiments of guard, who had served in Mexico, were found at war strength

and ready to double themselves overnight. These guard regiments

represented the cosmopolitan Negro populations of New York, Chicago,

Washington, Baltimore and the State of Ohio. Everywhere the Negro

dropped the mattock, left the ploughshare, poised himself at erect

stature, passionately saluted Old Glory, answered "Here am I!"--counted

fours, and away! Pro-German cried: "White man's war!" Propagandist

yelled: "Cannon fodder!" Reactionary declared: "It must not be." The

Negro burst the gate and entered the arena of combat in spite of all

opposition to his service in honorable capacity under the United States

government.

The honesty of his purpose was discredited. The Anglo-Saxon mind could

not conceive any more than could the German why a man downtrodden as the

Negro should rush to arms, save as a baser means of eking out a

livelihood better than his civilian state. The Anglo-Saxon little

dreamed that the Negro approached the war not only to uphold his

cherished tradition, but also with definite ideas of honor, recognition

and equality as its outcome. Or rather the Anglo-Saxon was too busy with

his own affairs to ascertain the reason why.

His loyalty impugned by those who did not wish to see him uniformed, his

fidelity the subject of bitter sarcasm, his trustworthiness disputed,

the Negro for once kept his own counsel. German agents were in his

midst. They came to his table. They mingled with him in all social

intercourse. They brought forward business propositions to seek to make

the interests of Negro and German one. Southerners, noting this

unaccustomed intimacy of black and white, announced that the Negro had

gone over to the enemy. But the Negro kept his own counsel. He called

upon the nation to investigate him. And when his loyalty was found

untarnished, he called upon the nation to investigate itself. It was

through the influence of Robert R. Moton, of Tuskegee, that, after

careful investigation, President Wilson put the stain of pro-Germanism

where it properly belonged. Said the President:

MY FELLOW-COUNTRYMEN:

I take the liberty of addressing you upon a subject which so

vitally affects the honour of the nation and the very character and

integrity of our institutions that I trust you will think me

justified in speaking very plainly about it.

I allude to the mob spirit which has recently here and there very

frequently shown its head amongst us, not in any single region, but

in many and widely separated parts of the country. There have been

many lynchings, and every one of them has been a blow at the heart

of ordered law and humane justice. No man who loves America, no man

who really cares for her fame and honour and character, or who is

truly loyal to her institutions, can justify mob actions while the

courts of justice are open and the governments of the states and

the nation are ready and able to do their duty. We are at this very

moment fighting lawless passion. Germany has outlawed herself among

the nations because she has disregarded the sacred obligations of

law and has made lynchers of her armies. Lynchers emulate her

disgraceful example. I, for my part, am anxious to see every

community in America rise above that level, with pride and fixed

resolution which no man or act of men can afford to despise.

We proudly claim to be the champions of democracy. If we really

are, in deed and in truth, let us see to it that we do not

discredit our own. I say plainly that every American who takes part

in the action of a mob or gives it any sort of countenance is no

true son of this great democracy, but its betrayer, and does more

to discredit her by that single disloyalty to her standards of law

and of right than the words of her statesmen or the sacrifices of

her heroic boys in the trenches can do to make suffering peoples

believe her to be their saviour. How shall we commend democracy to

the acceptance of other peoples, if we disgrace our own by proving

that it is, after all, no protection to the weak? Every mob

contributes to German lies about the United States what her most

gifted liars cannot improve upon by way of calumny. They can at

least say that such things cannot happen in Germany, except in

times of revolution, when law is swept away.

I, therefore, very earnestly and solemnly beg that the Governors of

all the States, the law officers of every community, and, above

all, the men and women of every community in the United States, all

who revere America and wish to keep her name without stain or

reproach, will co-operate--not passively merely, but actively and

watchfully,--to make an end of this disgraceful evil. It cannot

live where the community does not countenance it.

I have called upon the nation to put its great energy into this

war, and it has responded--responded with a spirit and a genius for

action that has thrilled the world. I now call upon it, upon its

men and women everywhere, to see that its laws are kept inviolate,

its fame untarnished. Let us show our utter contempt for the things

that have made this war hideous among the wars of history by

showing how those who love liberty and right and justice and are

willing to lay down their lives for them upon foreign fields, stand

ready also to illustrate to all mankind their loyalty to the things

at home which they wish to see established everywhere as a blessing

and protection to the peoples who have never known the privileges

of liberty and self-government. I can never accept any man as a

champion of liberty, either for ourselves or for the world, who

does not reverence and obey the laws of our own beloved land, whose

laws we ourselves have made. He has adopted the standard of the

enemies of his country, whom he affects to despise.

WOODROW WILSON.

The Negro braced himself, dismissed the German coldly from his household

and forbade the pro-German enter. From afar off the enemy propagandist

could resort but to derision and ridicule. What an attempt at laughter

he made when Haiti entered the side of the Allies! How he pretended to

be choking with the ridiculousness of the thing when Liberia offered her

services! He flouted the idea of Negro expertness in handling weapons of

modern warfare. He ridiculed the idea of Negro discretion in ideas of

likely foreign origin. He questioned the potency of the Negro's native

talent to meet the European situation. It was the black man's patriotic

fervor, ardent in response to the call of Old Glory, zealous with

passionate love of fireside and homeland, poignant with the throbbing

and thrilling reaction of public-spirited emotion toward France--which

overcame all.

The South asked three questions:

First--Shall Negroes and whites of the South both remain in America

while the North conducts the war? Second--Shall Negroes of the South

remain at home while the flower of southern chivalry, drafted for

service, is far away across the sea, annihilated in battle? Third--Shall

white men of the South be left at home while southern Negroes are

drafted and go abroad to do distinguished service? These questions were

resolved into the conclusion that southern Negroes and southern whites

both must be drafted and sent against the German foe. There was no

alternative.

It was altogether becoming and proper that a man whose race has suffered

as the American Negro suffers today, should point the way to this goal

of recognition, honor and equality which the Negro knew but as a

tradition of those days following the Civil War when Grant administered

the affairs of the triumphant party of freedom.

One of those New Yorkers of Hebraic origin, whose Semitic qualities are

of the highest ethical type, made the play for partial equality, for

partial recognition, for partial honor for the Negro. Joel Spingarn

suggested and propagated the idea of a military training camp for

Negroes, where they might receive instruction in all branches of

military service, be commissioned up to the grade of captain and receive

the recognition, honor and equality due to such military rank as they

might qualify for. In addressing Negro America, he said:

"It is of highest importance that the educated colored men of this

country should be given opportunities for leadership. You must

cease to remain in the background in every field of national

activity, and must come forward to assume your right places as

leaders of American life. All of you cannot be leaders, but those

who have the capacity for leadership must be given the opportunity

to test and display it."

Mr. Spingarn never realized what forces he would set in motion by mere

presentation of this proposition. He merely pointed out the gate. The

young Negro brushed aside the opponents among his own race of this

policy of segregation. He disregarded the moral principle which had

actuated the older Negroes of the Interior Department in refusing to

accept segregation, and seized the opportunity to produce some sort of

change and readjustment. He must go up. He could go no lower than the

policies of previous generations had brought him.

Directly to the President of all the United States he went. "Give us a

lift!" he cried, "We want to fight!" To the Secretary of War he shouted

most unceremoniously: "Give us place!" "But," was the indirect reply,

"we have not the facilities at present. For instance, we have no bedding

for the men whom you might muster." It was a young Negro Harvard

graduate, Thomas Montgomery Gregory, of New Jersey, who advanced before

Secretary Baker. "No bedding, Mr. Secretary? We will sleep on the

floor--on the ground--anywhere--give us a lift!"

The Anglo-Saxon mind is subject to orderly reactions. The Secretary of

War was taken aback. He realized that the young Negroes had not

approached him to sell their labor. He gleaned that it was not for the

purpose of barter and exchange they had come forward. Nor had they come

with dreams of political advantage and social eclat, nor with vague

glimmerings of spirituality. He was not ready to answer. He dismissed

the audience with a little more than the usual ceremony. One of the

older Negroes of the group, whose uncanny insight had often appeared

beyond the orbit of average intelligence, ventured this suggestion: "He

will put it up to Pershing."

And so the word got abroad that it would be left to Pershing as to how

the Negro should be disposed of. It would be left to John J. Pershing,

who in his earlier days had been instructor in a Negro college under

the American Missionary Association. It would be left to the man who in

1892 had been a First Lieutenant in the 10th Cavalry in connection with

the Sioux campaign in the Dakotas; who had been with the 10th Cavalry in

the Santiago campaign in 1898; who had led Negro troops in the

Philippines in 1899 till 1903, commanding operations in Mindanao against

the Moros; and who had been in command of the Negro troops sent into

Mexico in pursuit of Villa in March, 1916. It would be left to the man

whose whole life had been spent in close contact with darker races.

To this day the Negro does not know who was directly responsible for the

organization of the camp such as Spingarn proposed. It is probable that

the honor belongs as much to Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts as to any

one else. These black soldiers of Colonel Hayward's 15th New York

Regiment, already in France with other regiments of Negro troopers of

the national guard, were thrown across No Man's Land on a cold and foggy

night as a lookout, far in advance of the sleeping command of thousands

of white and colored American troops. The Hun planned their capture for

the purpose of psycho-analytic research. It was Roberts who detected

their stealthy approach. He called to Johnson. In the twinkling of an

eye, the two were surrounded by German troopers. The Negroes faced

certain death, but they had lost all claim to honor, recognition or

equality, if they did not take with them to eternity at least one German

each. Surrounded they resolved to fight it out with shot and gun. Too,

too slow! Around them the Germans swarmed like bees. Bayonets then! Too,

too close! Aye, butts! Wounded and winded, with knives, skulls, feet,

teeth and nails, prehensile toe and larkheel, Henry Johnson and Needham

Roberts defeated ten times their number of Germans and held the field of

honor. This was a great self-revelation to the Negro of his powers of

more than rudimentary culture, and a mighty incentive from the guard to

the soldiery of the 92nd Division.

It settled forever, in the mind of the Negro, what Pershing would say as

to the advisability of training Negroes to deliver their best service

for their country. That general's report electrified the entire nation.

Said Pershing:

"Reports in hand show a notable instance of bravery and devotion shown

by two soldiers of an American colored regiment operating in a French

sector. Before daylight on May 15, Private Henry Johnson and Private

Roberts, while on sentry duty at some distance from one another, were

attacked by a German raiding party, estimated at twenty men, who

advanced in two groups, attacking at once flank and rear.

"Both men fought bravely hand-to-hand encounters, one resorting to the

use of a bolo knife after his rifle jammed and further fighting with

bayonet and butt became impossible. There is evidence that at least one,

and probably a second, German was severely cut. A third is known to have

been shot.

"Attention is drawn to the fact that the colored sentries were first

attacked and continued fighting after receiving wounds, and despite the

use of grenades by a superior force. They should be given credit for

preventing, by their bravery, the capture of any of our men."

Whether this citation arrived May 19, 1917, by design or by accident, it

served the purpose of dissolving completely all opposition to the idea

of training Negroes to halt the Hun. Immediately thereafter the War

Department created a training camp for educated Negroes at Fort Des

Moines, Iowa.

THE CRISIS OF THE WORLD.

Des Moines Camp was organized in June, 1917, to train Negroes to the

military point where other military men must recognize them, honor them

and receive them on the plane of equality due their rank. The camp was

designed to develop Negroid snap and vigor to the maximum of military

efficiency. For this purpose, as at all other camps, there was created

the background of the mother's urge, and the sister's urge, and the

sweetheart's urge, the Y.M.C.A. spirit, the college fraternity spirit,

and, in addition, the spirit of the elevation of a Negroid order.

The change which came over the men was indicated by their music. Their

first group singing of a Sunday consisted of Negro spirituals in

spondaic and trochaic verse, and phrased in many minors. The vigor of

blood produced by methodical training soon permitted of vocalization

only in iambics. "Over There," "The Long, Long Trail," "Sons of

America," were songs they sung of hope and not of sorrow. They connoted

the Negro's reaction to the cosmic urge.

Over 1200 men took advantage of the experience of the trip to Fort Des

Moines for training. Theirs was the 17th Provisional R.O.T.C., but the

first of national proportions. Its quota was drawn from every section of

the United States. The immediate destiny of the men selected for

commission from this camp would be the training of colored draftees of

African descent.

Mr. Baker, the Secretary of War, in late summer, referring to the Des

Moines Camp, said:

"The work at Des Moines is progressing remarkably well, and the

reports I have from it are very good. The spirit of the men is

fine, and apparently this camp is going to do a great deal of good,

both to the country and to the men involved."

Colonel C.C. Ballou, of the War College, in charge of the work at Des

Moines, said on August 19, in a Sunday interview:

"The colored race constitutes more than ten per cent. of our

population, and has, since the Civil War, furnished more than its

quota of fighting men of the regular army. At home or on foreign

soil the ranks of colored regiments are always full, while the

white regiments have with difficulty been maintained at peace

strength. To question the valor of the colored soldier is to betray

ignorance of history. This is the first opportunity in his history

to prove on an adequate scale his fitness or unfitness for command

and leadership. At Fort Des Moines, Iowa, on June 16, 1917, there

assembled the largest body of educated Negroes ever brought

together for a single purpose. The candidates who survive are men

of marked intelligence and ability. Let any man who doubts the

colored men's patriotism go to Fort Des Moines and see men who have

given up professions, business and homes in order to learn to

defend their country and merit a more considerate judgment of their

race. Let any man who doubts the colored man's fidelity and loyalty

come to Fort Des Moines and revise his opinions on what he will

there learn of the spirit that has stood unswervingly behind the

commanding officer in every decision that he has been called upon

to make, even though that decision involved sore disappointment and

shattering of hopes. These men have been started out on correct

lines and will have no false ideas to unlearn."

Hardly any one in America, black or white, believed that 700 Negroes

would be commissioned in the army of the United States to receive

positions of honor not only beside her other troops, but on the field of

battle with the flower of French and English between veteran soldiery.

Everything possible to prevent, somehow or other, seemed to arise. The

men were put through the bitterest drill in the hottest sun, under the

most scorching orders the English language might devise. They

represented every section of the United States. Not once did they

break. The acid test came, when, already pricked by the numerous

situations which arose to flout them, East St. Louis broke forth in the

most savage pogrom Anglo-Saxon culture has ever revealed.

While 1200 Negroes, training for leadership, were undergoing the

terrific process of forced attrition, their nerves turned raw by army

usage, East St. Louis burst forth. Tidings reached Des Moines that the

Illinois militia, called in to break up a race riot at East St. Louis,

had joined the rioters and slaughtered the Negro population of the

community. White women had joined in these attacks, dragging out of

their houses colored women, girls and children, stoning and clubbing

them to death. Aged Negro mammies, afraid to come out of their homes,

had been burned to death by the mob which set fire to them. Black men

had been thrown into Cahokia Creek and stormed with bricks each time

they rose to the surface until drowned. A crowd of whites had torn a

colored woman's baby from her arms, thrown it into the fire of a blazing

dwelling, held the mother from its rescue until she, herself, was shot

nigh unto death, and then allowed her to plunge into the fire to rescue

her little one. Nor was this all.

But out there in camp, isolated from the usual social life, July 2 and 3

and 4, Independence Day, was indeed a test of nerve, already tried and

sore and raw, for the young Negroes in training. Why should men train to

fight for a country that permitted such barbarous atrocities against

their race with impunity. In savage Memphis charred remains of Negroes

burned at the stake before a gala mob of 15,000, were thrown from an

automobile in the Negro quarter of that city! And the Negroes at Des

Moines held on. It has not been recorded in history that there was here

proposed any hostile demonstration, or that vengeance and ruthless

retaliation was planned. Wise counsel prevailed, and the Negroes at Des

Moines held on.

For three months they held on without audible murmur. Negroes from

civilian life, from the national guard, from the regular army, destined

for every branch of the military service, defied any propaganda, by

whomever invented, to break their morale. For three months they held on.

And then word came they would not be graduated. A number, in disgust,

left the camp. But the great bulk of them, although at the last moment

learning that they could be assigned to no military branch save

infantry, remained in camp for another month and were finally

commissioned as officers in the national army. It was the eleventh hour

of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1917 that they received

their commissions forwarded from the President of the United States. The

hour and day and month a year later became famous not only in their

history, but in the history of the civilized world.

They were given a grade neither high nor low. The rank of captain was

granted to men who were to serve in France and England. The former

country proudly made the Negro a general when he merited promotion; the

latter was committed to the policy of white officers for colonial

troops. In assigning rank as high as the grade of captain, America took

the middle ground. In view of the international situation, she could

hardly be expected to do more. She had granted partial recognition,

partial honor, partial equality. It was for the Negro to gain the rest.

Seven hundred American Negroes commissioned! A baker's dozen of

captains, six hundred odd lieutenants, and five hundred who dropped by

the way. German propaganda had taken contrary suggestion and forced the

Negro to this point of moral advantage. Plunder, arson, lynching and

burning at the stake were employed against him to break his morale or

incite him against America. But he held on. Seven hundred of the

"sub-species, dark of skin, wooly of hair, long of head, with dilated

nostrils, thick lips, thicker cranium, flat feet, prehensile great toe

and larkheel" had passed every physical, mental, moral and social test

and were commissioned in the American army. Doubt existed in the minds

of every American citizen, including the Negro officers themselves, that

they would ever see service overseas.

Assigned to various camps, the problem of recognition by white soldiers

of colored officers immediately was raised, and promptly settled. In

only a few cases did open clashes occur. In far more cases was the Negro

received with full merited honors of his status, and in some sections on

the basis of complete equality. The Negro of a northern locality,

accustomed to all immunities and privileges of his home, experienced

great difficulty when first assigned to camps near Baltimore,

Washington, Houston or Norfolk. He would have passed through this state

of his development well enough, settling his difficulties himself as

they arose, had not some evil genius prompted the commanding officer of

the division in which he was finally to be assembled to issue Bulletin

35, which follows:

"It should be well known to all colored officers and men that no

useful purpose is served by such acts as will cause the 'color

question' to be raised. It is not a question of legal rights, but a

question of policy, and any policy that tends to bring about a

conflict of the races, with its resulting animosities, is

prejudicial to the military interest of the colored race.

"To avoid such conflicts the Division Commander has repeatedly

urged that all colored members of his command and especially the

officers and non-commissioned officers, should refrain from going

where their presence will be resented. In spite of this injunction,

one of the Sergeants of the Medical Department has recently

precipitated the precise trouble that should be avoided, and then

called on the Division Commander to take sides in a row that should

never have occurred had the Sergeant placed the general good above

his personal pleasure and convenience. The Sergeant entered a

theater, as he undoubtedly has a legal right to do, and

precipitated trouble by making it possible to allege race

discrimination in the seat which he was given. He is strictly

within his legal rights in this matter, and the theater manager is

legally wrong. Nevertheless, the Sergeant is guilty of the greater

wrong in doing ANYTHING, no matter how legally correct, that will

provoke race animosity.

"The Division Commander repeats that the success of the Division,

with all that success implies, is dependent upon the good will of

the public. That public is nine-tenths white. White men made the

Division, and they can break it just as easily if it becomes a

trouble maker.

"All concerned are again enjoined to place the general interest of

the Division above personal pride and gratification. Avoid every

situation that can give rise to racial ill-will. Attend quietly and

faithfully to your duties, and don't go where your presence is not

desired.

"This will be read to all organizations of the 92nd Division.

"By command of Major-General Ballou:

"ALLEN J. GREER,

"Lieutenant-Colonel, General Staff,

"Chief of Staff.

"Official:

"EDW. J. TURGEON,

"Captain, Assistant Adjutant,

"Acting Adjutant."

It was an altogether modern type of Negro that informed the commanding

general quietly, but firmly, that he had seriously impaired his

usefulness by the tone of his bulletin; that he had proposed a principle

which did not bode good for the future of white people of the world when

seven-tenths of the world's population was of darker hue. It is to

General Ballou's credit that he admitted the question to debate,

listened to reason, and capitulated.

But a certain type of southern statesmanship was not amenable to reason.

Despite the wishes of the President of the United States, there were

published in the "Congressional Record" articles describing the peril

involved in arming and training any black peoples for modern warfare.

What measure of offense these articles gave to Morocco, to India, to

Latin America, to Japan, to China, to Africa, loyally supporting all the

cause of France and England, can only be judged by the rebuke which

President Wilson gave when his chance came.

It was in the Spring of 1918 when Germany struck through the British

forces in Picardy. Then came the allies' "Hurry up!" call. The enemy

opened a tremendous drive against the British front, bombarding,

storming and attacking along fifty miles from Croiselles to La Fere. On

the first day, 16,000 British prisoners were taken. The shelling might

be heard across the Channel in Dover. The German penetrated to the third

British line, taking 25,000 more prisoners. William Hohenzollern,

himself, directed the drive from his headquarters at Spa. Peronne, Ham

and Chauny fell. Vast stores and war material was lost, including tanks.

At the Lotos club dinner, Lord Reading gave voice to a message from

Lloyd George urging the United States to rush men to fill the gap.

Albert fell. The real need of England and France became a question of

reserves. John J. Pershing, drawing no color line, offered the whole

American army.

Germany separated France from her ally. Apprized of America's

preparations, she sought to destroy both France and England before the

new enemy might hold place. Acceleration of all fighting forces to

overseas service became the imperative duty. Not a moment was to be

lost. The American Expeditionary Force must be expeditious. Casting

about to find those ready to answer the call, America could not deny the

preparedness of her 92nd Division of colored troopers.

On Germany came! On to Montdidier! To Amiens! To Hazebrouck! To Paris!

Montdidier gone! "Hurry! Hurry!" cried Clemenceau. "Hurry! Hurry!"

pleaded the aged Premier. He could no longer study the possible effects

of any action of his office upon the future. His concern was the very

present need. He wanted men, regardless of what adjustments their

presence might upset in future world relationships.

So came a day when the Negro troopers could no longer be gainsaid. "Give

me these men!" cried Joffre. "I am ready for the 92nd," announced

Pershing. "We submit that they are men without honor, and of inferior

American status," warned some Americans. "We shall test them," was

Foch's laconic reply. "But they are black men with but 35 ounces of

brain--a sub-species of mankind," America warned again.

And all France cried: "Send us men--men without fear of mortal

danger--men of intrepid heart--men of audacity--men of fortitude--men of

resolution--men of unquestioning, unreasoning, undying courage--men of

elan--men of morale! Send Jew or Gentile--white men, yellow men, brown

men, black men--it matters not! Send us men who can halt the Hun!"

So early in May of 1918 went up to sea, partly under their own officers,

90,000 and more American Negroes, registered as of African descent, and

drafted to do battle in France. It was sub-species against super-man,

broad head against long head, flat nose against sharp nose, thick

cranium against Hun helmet. It was this unprecedented synthetic group of

black men sailing the sea of darkness on a mission concerning the vital

interests of Englishmen and Americans who had misused them for

centuries, and concerning beloved France, which laid the real claim for

honor and recognition and equality for the American Negro.

The American Negro, as he bade his black comrades "Good-bye! Good luck!

God bless you! Take keer o' yo' self!" felt in his heart that all

America ought to forget her prejudices. He felt that if she did not do

so, she was indeed only fit to be characterized as narrow-minded,

mean-spirited, illiberal and warped--entirely unfit for the position of

leadership in democratization of the world.

So taken up with this idea was the entire Negro race that an editorial

appearing in the "Crisis," the leading Negro magazine, from the pen of

the Negro scholar, W.E.B. Dubois, came as a dash of cold water from an

upper window. This article set the whole race agog. There was nothing in

it about America's forgetting her prejudices, the idea which filled the

Negro heart and soul and mind. It was entitled "Close Ranks!" and read

as follows:

"This is the crisis of the world. For all the long years to come

men will point to the year 1918 as the great Day of Decision, the

day when the world decided whether it would submit to military

despotism and an endless armed peace--if peace it could be

called--or whether they would put down the menace of German

militarism and inaugurate the United States of the World.

"We of the colored race have no ordinary interest in the outcome.

That which the German power represents today spells death to the

aspirations of Negroes and all darker races for equality, freedom

and democracy. Let us not hesitate. Let us, while this war lasts,

forget our special grievances and close our ranks shoulder to

shoulder with our own white fellow-citizens and the allied nations

that are fighting for democracy. We make no ordinary sacrifice, but

we make it gladly and willingly with our eyes lifted to the hills."

While many questioned his motive, all accepted his advice.

While the grievance was not forgotten, it was not allowed to jeopardize

the success of the issue to weaken the black man's allegiance. Every

mother's son and father's daughter remained loyal under stress and

strain which would have caused the white man to curse and die.

THE FIELD OF ACTION.

Regiments of Negro stevedores, earlier in the year, had been drafted and

sent overseas. These men were drawn from a specific locality, and did

not represent the entire nation. They were in command of white officers.

They had been destined for the Service of Supply, a service which

America performed so marvelously well that it is difficult to tell, if

not here, where her chief glory lies.

Black stevedores from Alabama, and Louisiana, and Mississippi, Virginia

and the Carolinas, numbering far more than the entire black forces of

the 92nd Division, packed and unpacked the American Expeditionary Force

in a manner never attempted since Noah loaded the Ark. Rear Admiral

Wilson and General McClure cited several regiments for exceptionally

efficient work. The "Leviathan," formerly the German steamship

"Vaterland," was unloaded and coaled, in competition with other white

and black stevedore regiments, by Company A, 301st Stevedores, young

American Negroes, in fifty-six hours, a world record.

What a cheer went up from the black stevedores of the far South when

there landed in their midst a mighty band of black infantry, nearly

100,000 strong who, in a few short months had learned the use of powder

and shot, of sword and broadsword, of bayonet and bludgeon, of trench

knife and battle-ax. Cold steel or blackjack, smooth bore or sawed-off,

machine gun or automatic, were all the same to them. It was a great

experience for stevedore and infantryman. And the stevedore's heart

leaped to his throat as he saw the black officers of the 92nd Division

maneuver and march away the men under their command.

The black stevedore wondered why America had brought him so far under

white officers to behold such a sight. He beheld black quartermasters,

ranking and outranking captains, furnishing their men with provision

and supply. The handling of purveyance and cutlery on a huge scale by

black commissioned officers was a revelation to the black stevedore of

the far South who had never seen such a sight in all his days.

The stevedore beheld arrive Negro signal men, monitors of their troops

and of a million whites behind them, death watch to the German enemy,

destined to be sentinels and patrolmen of No Man's Land. He saw pass by

black American scouts and spies and lookouts and pioneers headed for the

frontiers of France to gain an immortal halo of glory.

The stevedore found in his midst elegantly groomed, but speechless

Negroes whom, his friends whispered to him, belonged to the United

States Intelligence Department. They had come, so the wide-mouthed

stevedore was told, to pit their 35 ounces of brain against the German's

45 ounces, and to prove that the Hun back brain is surplus overweight

and should be reduced to Negro proportions. They had come to furnish

General Pershing information, news, tidings and dispatch, embassy and

bulletin, report and rumor. And the stevedore wondered if General

Pershing would expect these Negro men to report to him information with

precision and correctitude.

It was the Negro band, fresh from America, which gave the stevedore his

greatest delight. Preceding the black troops everywhere, it produced a

potpourri of full and semi-scores, melodies and plantation arias, that

came as a refreshing novelty to weary English hearts and to the souls of

jaded France.

But there were no Negro "big gun" men. The stevedore wondered if the

black boys of the 92nd Division would have to get into the fight with

Germany, depending upon the kind of barrage which some of the men whom

he knew in America might lay down for him. True, the Negro artilleryman

had been left behind in America. At Camp Taylor he was spurned and

rejected. But he refused to accept rebuff. He won his way into the

heart of commanding officer and subaltern, gained his training, made a

superior record, witnessed the outpouring of the entire white soldiery

of the camp to present arms and salute him as he went away to service,

and arrived in France in breathless haste in time to lay down a perfect

barrage for his black comrades as they advanced through the terrific

fighting in the Argonne and the Marbache. Long will stevedore tradition

recite the story of how these black "big gun men" came by.

The black stevedore represented a section of the United States. That

section was thoroughly well represented. There was work done better than

it ever had been done before. But, on the other hand, the 92nd Division

had been drawn from every possible corner of the United States where a

quota might be raised. It was the 92nd Division especially, however

great might be the deeds of local regiments of guard, that would decide

the great ultimate question. Regiments of Negro guard troops from New

York, Chicago, Washington, Baltimore, and the State of Ohio, and Negro

pioneers from the mountain regions of the Carolinas, might cover their

respective localities with the surpassing glory of their achievements.

And every regiment of them did. But the real issue was wrapped up in the

great 92nd Division, the Negro national army commanded in large measure

by Negro officers, which stepped into the international arena on that

fateful day in June, 1918.