Chapter XII: Negro Slackers and Pacifists Unknown

SUCH WORDS NOT IN HIS VOCABULARY--DESERTIONS EXPLAINED--GENERAL CROWDER EXONERATES NEGRO--NO WILLFUL DELINQUENCY--STRENUOUS EFFORTS TO MEET REGULATIONS--NO "CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS"--NO DRAFT EVADERS OR RESISTERS--NEGRO'S DEVOTION SUBLIME--JUSTIFIES HIS FREEDOM--FORGETS HIS SORROWS--RISES ABOVE HIS WRONGS--TESTIMONY OF LOCAL BOARDS--GERMAN PROPAGANDA WASTED--A NEW AMERICANISM.

The only phase of the selective draft in which the Negro seemed to be discredited in comparison with his white brother, was in the matter of desertions. At first glance and without proper analysis, the record appeared to be against the Negro. Upon detailed study, however, the case takes on a different aspect. The records of the Provost Marshall General show that out of 474,861 reported deserters, 369,030 were white registrants, and 105,831 colored, the ratio of white reported deserters to white registrants being 3.86, and the ratio of colored reported deserters to colored registrants being 9.81. Everyone knows now that many, yes, the bulk of the reported desertions among both whites and blacks, were not desertions at all. Circumstances simply prevented the men from keeping in touch with their local boards or from reporting when called.

Desertions among white registrants might have shown a greater percentage had they not availed themselves of the exemption feature of the law. Negroes did not understand this clause in the act so well. Besides, as previously stated, many Negroes were placed in Class 1, even where they had dependants, because their rate of pay in the army would enable them to contribute as much to the support of their dependants as would their earnings outside of army service.

This was a policy with many draft boards, but it is not exactly clear in view of the increased earning power of the Negroes through wartime demands for their labor. Following are the complete figures on so-called desertions, the variances in the several states being given:

Total white and colored registrants, June 5, 1917, to Total Reported Percent of Percent of Sept. 11, white desertions, total white 1918. registrants. white. registrants. registrants. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- United States 10,640,846 9,562,515 380,030 3.47 3.86 ======================================================================================== Alabama 206,210 194,247 3,672 1.78 2.96 Arizona 40,179 39,884 6,930 17.36 17.40 Arkansas 168,287 117,111 2,476 1.47 2.11 California 316,302 313,994 15,323 4.84 4.90 Colorado 91,556 90,463 4,910 5.38 5.43 Connecticut 174,820 171,296 12,416 7.10 7.25 Delaware 24,559 20,761 686 2.79 3.30 District of Columbia 36,670 25,625 390 1.06 1.52 Florida 94,585 55,572 1,823 1.93 3.28 Georgia 260,197 147,001 4,499 1.73 3.05 Idaho 45,478 45,224 2,242 4.93 4.96 Illinois 707,070 685,254 21,673 3.07 3.16 Indiana 283,731 272,442 5,252 1.85 1.93 Iowa 240,703 237,744 5,283 2.19 2.21 Kansas 167,266 161,691 3,172 1.90 1.96 Kentucky 215,910 190,060 2,830 1.03 1.23 Louisiana 179,941 103,718 2,250 1.25 2.17 Maine 68,104 67,941 2,553 3.74 3.76 Maryland 136,501 110,066 3,831 2.81 3.48 Massachusetts 397,698 391,654 19,841 4.99 5.07 Michigan 411,019 404,040 17,222 4.19 4.26 Minnesota 249,291 247,750 10,108 4.05 4.08 Mississippi 157,525 75,977 1,713 1.09 2.25 Missouri 334,902 312,106 10,549 3.14 3.38 Montana 97,073 96,753 7,835 8.13 8.16 Nebraska 132,107 130,493 2,608 1.97 2.00 Nevada 12,640 12,581 1,392 1.10 11.06 New Hampshire 41,694 41,617 1,428 3.42 3.43 New Jersey 332,671 318,815 15,114 4.54 4.74 New Mexico 37,011 36,776 3,217 8.69 8.75 New York 1,118,035 1,092,061 57,021 5.10 5.22 North Carolina 228,459 155,102 1,175 5.14 .76 North Dakota 72,902 72,837 2,520 3.46 3.46 Ohio 617,001 588,170 22,846 3.70 3.88 Oklahoma 188,156 173,851 5,860 3.11 3.37 Oregon 69,520 69,376 2,023 2.91 2.92 Pennsylvania 902,469 863,106 31,739 3.52 3.68 Rhode Island 59,006 57,433 2,340 3.97 4.07 South Carolina 144,660 70,395 1,107 .77 1.57 South Dakota 65,040 64,896 1,243 1.91 1.92 Tennessee 213,409 169,674 4,389 2.05 2.58 Texas 460,056 376,385 19,209 4.18 5.10 Utah 46,099 45,930 1,735 3.76 3.78 Vermont 30,882 30,819 690 2.23 2.71 Virginia 206,072 141,714 3,090 1.50 2.18 Washington 124,125 123,752 7,261 5.85 5.87 West Virginia 142,144 128,852 4,803 3.38 3.73 Wisconsin 266,219 265,501 4,663 1.75 1.76 Wyoming 24,892 24,612 1,734 6.96 7.05 Alaska 601 Hawaii 184 Porto Rico 15

Total Reported Percent Percent colored desertions, of total of colored registrants. colored. registrants. registrants. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- United States 1,078,331 105,831 .99 9.81 ============================================================================ Alabama 81,963 10,835 5.25 13.22 Arizona 295 64 .16 21.69 Arkansas 51,176 4,770 2.83 9.32 California 3,303 268 .08 8.10 Colorado 1,103 91 .10 8.25 Connecticut 3,524 682 .39 19.35 Delaware 3,798 303 1.23 7.98 District of Columbia 11,045 616 1.68 5.58 Florida 39,013 8,319 8.71 21.32 Georgia 112,593 8,969 3.45 7.97 Idaho 254 108 .23 42.51 Illinois 21,816 2,911 .41 13.34 Indiana 11,289 1,199 .42 10.62 Iowa 2,959 517 .21 17.47 Kansas 5,575 255 .15 4.57 Kentucky 25,850 1,524 .71 5.90 Louisiana 76,223 5,962 3.31 7.82 Maine 163 29 .04 17.79 Maryland 26,435 2,410 1.77 9.12 Massachusetts 6,044 665 1.67 11.00 Michigan 6,979 1,015 .25 14.54 Minnesota 1,541 621 .25 40.30 Mississippi 81,548 8,112 5.15 9.95 Missouri 22,796 1,791 .53 7.86 Montana 320 114 .12 35.63 Nebraska 1,614 229 .17 14.19 Nevada 59 3 .02 6.08 New Hampshire 77 3 .01 3.90 New Jersey 14,056 1,535 .46 10.92 New Mexico 235 40 .11 17.02 New York 25,974 4,062 .36 15.64 North Carolina 73,357 4,937 2.16 6.73 North Dakota 65 19 .03 29.23 Ohio 28,831 4,048 .66 14.04 Oklahoma 14,305 1,223 .65 8.56 Oregon 144 18 .03 12.59 Pennsylvania 39,363 6,599 .73 16.76 Rhode Island 1,573 251 .43 15.96 South Carolina 74,265 4,589 3.14 6.18 South Dakota 144 27 .04 18.75 Tennessee 43,735 3,573 1.67 8.17 Texas 83,671 5,388 1.17 6.44 Utah 169 11 .02 6.51 Vermont 63 4 .01 6.35 Virginia 64,358 4,935 2.39 7.67 Washington 373 30 .02 8.04 West Virginia 13,292 2,013 1.41 15.14 Wisconsin 718 73 .03 10.17 Wyoming 280 63 .25 22.50

No elaborate defense of the Negro will be attempted in the matter of the desertion record. It is not necessary. The words of Provost Marshall General Crowder, the man who knew all about the selective draft and who engineered it through its wonderfully successful course, completely absolved the Negro in this connection. The following quotation in reference to the above figures is taken verbatim from the report of General Crowder to the Secretary of War, dated December 20, 1918.

"These figures of reported desertions, however, lose their
significance when the facts behind them are studied. There is in
the files of this office, a series of letters from governors and
draft executives of southern states, called forth by inquiry for an
explanation of the large percentage of Negroes among the reported
deserters and delinquents. With striking unanimity the draft
authorities replied that this was due to two causes; first,
ignorance and illiteracy; especially in the rural regions, to which
may be added a certain shiftlessness in ignoring civic obligations;
and secondly, the tendency of the Negroes to shift from place to
place. The natural inclination to roam from one employment to
another has been accentuated by unusual demands for labor incident
to the war, resulting in a considerable flow of colored men to the
north and to various munition centers. This shifting reached its
height in the summer of 1917, shortly after the first registration,
and resulted in the failure of many men to keep in touch with their
local boards, so that questionnaires and notices to report did not
reach them.

"With equal unanimity the draft executives report that the amount
of willful delinquency or desertion has been almost nil. Several
describe the strenuous efforts of the Negroes to comply with the
regulations, when the requirements were explained to them, many
registrants travelling long distances to report in person to the
adjutant general of the state. 'The conviction resulting from these
reports' says General Crowder, 'is that the colored men as a whole
responded readily and gladly to their military obligations once
their duties were understood."

So far as the records show, there were neither "slackers" nor "pacifists" among the Negroes. Hon. Emmett J. Scott, Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, said that the war department had heard of only two colored "conscientious objectors". When those two were cross-examined it was revealed that they had misinterpreted their motives and that their objections proceeded from a source very remote from their consciences.

Pacifists and conscientious objectors came principally from the class who held religious scruples against war or the taking up of arms. The law permitted these to enter a special so-called non-combatant classification.

It is a well known fact that Negro religionists are members of the church militant, so they could not be included in the self-declared conscientious pacifistic sects.

Neither was the Negro represented in that class known as draft resisters or draft evaders. A very good reason exists in the fact that opposition to the draft came from a class which did not admit the Negro to membership. Practically all draft resistance was traceable to the activities of radicals, whose fantastic dreams enchanted and seduced the ignorant and artless folk who came under their influence.

The resisters were all poor whites led by professional agitators. Negroes had no such organizations nor leaders.

The part played by the Negro in the great world drama upon which the curtain has fallen, was not approached in sublime devotion by that displayed by any other class of America's heterogeneous mixture of tribe and race, hailing from all the ends of the earth, that composes its great and wonderful population. Blind in a sense; unreasoning as a child in the sacredness and consecration of his fealty; clamoring with the fervor of an ancient crusader; his eye on heaven, his steps turned towards the Holy Sepulchre, for a chance to go; a time and place to die, HIS was a distinct and marked patriotism; quite alone in "splendid isolation" but shining like the sun; unstreaked with doubt; unmixed with cavil or question, which, finally given reign on many a spot of strife in "Sunny France"; the Stars and Stripes above him; a prayer in his heart; a song upon his lips, spelt death, but death glorious; where he fell--HOLY GROUND!

"The fittest place where man can DIE Is where he dies for man!"

A product of slavery, ushered into a sphere of civil and political activity, clouded and challenged by the sullen resentment of his former masters; his soul still embittered by defeat; slowly working his way through many hindrances toward the achievement of success that would enable both him and the world to justify the new life of freedom that had come to him; faced at every hand by the prejudice born of tradition; enduring wrongs that "would stir a fever in the blood of age"; still the slave to a large extent of superstition fed by ignorance, is it to be wondered at that some doubt was felt and expressed by the best friends of the Negro, when the call came for a draft upon the man power of the nation; whether, in the face of the great wrongs heaped upon him; the persecutions he had passed through and was still enduring, he would be able to forgive and forget; could and would so rise above his sorrows as to reach to the height and the full duty of citizenship; would give to the Stars and Stripes the response that was due? On the part of many leaders among the Negroes, there was apprehension that the sense of fair play and fair dealing, which is so essentially an American characteristic, when white men are involved, would not be meted out to the members of their race.

How groundless such fears, may be seen from the statistical record of the draft with relation to the Negro. His race furnished its quota uncomplainingly and cheerfully. History, indeed, will be unable to record the fullness and grandeur of his spirit in the war, for the reason that opportunities, especially for enlistment, as heretofore mentioned, were not opened to him to the same extent as to the whites. But enough can be gathered from the records to show that he was filled not only with patriotism, but of a brand, all things considered, than which there was no other like it.

That the men of the Negro race were as ready to serve as the white is amply proved by the reports of local boards. A Pennsylvania board, remarking upon the eagerness of its Negro registrants to be inducted, illustrated it by the action of one registrant, who, upon learning that his employer had had him placed upon the Emergency Fleet list, quit his job. Another registrant who was believed by the board to be above draft age insisted that he was not, and in stating that he was not married, explained that he "wanted only one war at a time."

The following descriptions from Oklahoma and Arkansas boards are typical, the first serving to perpetuate one of the best epigrams of the war:

"We tried to treat the Negroes with exactly the same consideration
shown the whites. We had the same speakers to address them. The
Rotary Club presented them with small silk flags, as they did the
whites. The band turned out to escort them to the train; and the
Negroes went to camp with as cheerful a spirit as did the whites.
One of them when asked if he were going to France, replied: 'No,
sir; I'm not going "to France". I am going "through France".'"

"In dealing with the Negroes," the Arkansas board report says, "the
southern boards gained a richness of experience that is without
parallel. No other class of citizens was more loyal to the
government or more ready to answer the country's call. The only
blot upon their military record was the great number of delinquents
among the more ignorant; but in the majority of cases this was
traced to an ignorance of the regulations, or to the withholding of
mail by the landlord, often himself an aristocratic slacker, in
order to retain the man's labor."

Many influences were brought to bear upon the Negro to cause him to evade his duty to the government. Some effort in certain sections of the country was made to induce them not to register. That the attempt to spread German propaganda among them was a miserable failure may be seen from the statement of the Chief of the Bureau of Investigation of the Department of Justice, made to the United States Senate committee:

"The Negroes didn't take to these stories, however, as they were
too loyal. Money spent in the south for propaganda was thrown
away."

Then too, these evil influences were more than offset by the various publicity and "promotion of morale" measures carried on through the office of the special assistant to the Secretary of War, the Hon. Emmet J. Scott, and his assistants. Correspondence was kept up with influential Negroes all over the country. Letters, circulars and news items for the purpose of effecting and encouraging continued loyalty of Negro citizens, were regularly issued to the various papers comprising both the white and Negro press. A special committee of 100 colored speakers was appointed to deliver public patriotic addresses all over the country, under the auspices of the Committee on Public Information, stating the war aims of the government and seeking to keep unbroken the spirit of loyalty of Negro American citizens. A special conference of Negro editors was summoned to Washington in June, 1918 by the same committee in order to gather and disseminate the thought and public opinion of the various leaders of the Negro race. Such was only a part of the work of the department of the special assistant to the Secretary of War in marshalling the man power of the nation.

It is only fair to quote the opinion and appreciation of this representative of the Negro race of the selective service administration, especially as it affected the Negro and in reference to occasional complaints received. The extract is from a memorandum addressed to the office of the Provost Marshal General on September 12, 1918 and is copied from the report of that official to the Secretary of War:

"Throughout my tenure here I have keenly appreciated the prompt and
cordial cooperation of the Provost Marshall General's office with
that particular section of the office of the Secretary of War
especially referred to herein. The Provost Marshall General's
office has carefully investigated and has furnished full and
complete reports in each and every complaint or case referred to it
for attention, involving discrimination, race prejudice, erroneous
classification of draftees, etc., and has rectified these
complaints whenever it was found upon investigation that there was
just ground for same. Especially in the matter of applying and
carrying out the selective service regulations, the Provost
Marshall General's office has kept a watchful eye upon certain
local exemption boards which seemed disinclined to treat the Negro
draftees on the same basis as other Americans subject to the draft
law. It is an actual fact that in a number of instances where
flagrant violations have occurred in the application of the draft
law, to Negro men in certain sections of the country, local
exemption boards have been removed bodily and new boards have been
appointed to supplant them. In several instances these new boards
so appointed have been ordered by the Provost Marshall General to
reclassify colored men who had been unlawfully conscripted into the
army or who had been wrongfully classified; as a result of this
action hundreds of colored men have had their complaints remedied
and have been properly reclassified."

It is also valuable to note the opinion of this representative of his race as to the results of the negroes' participation in the war:

"In a word, I believe the Negro's participation in the war, his
eagerness to serve, and his great courage and demonstrated valor
across the seas, have given him a new idea of Americanism and
likewise have given to the white people of our country a new idea
of his citizenship, his real character and capabilities, and his
100 per cent Americanism. Incidentally the Negro has been helped in
many ways physically and mentally and has been made into an even
more satisfactory asset to the nation."

Of the Negroes inducted into service, nearly all were assigned to some department of the army or to special work in connection with the army. Of the few who were permitted to enlist, a very small percentage was permitted to enlist in the Navy. Of this small number only a few were allowed the regular training and opportunities of combatants, to the DISCREDIT of our nation, not as yet, grown to that moral vision and all around greatness, NOT to be small.