Advocates and a number of Negro Military Intelligence Officers, Negro chemists, Negro mechanics;-indeed, the Negro served in nearly every branch of the Army with the exception of the Air Section of the Aviation Corps (operating airplanes, etc.).

These increased opportunities for Negro men and officers were not a matter of chance, for they would not have been possible if the "fight for a chance to fight as Negro combat units" had not been successful. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of War made a systematic effort to mobilize college-trained Negro men for Artillery and other technical branches of military service, including the 317th Engineer Regiment, the 325th Field Signal Battalion, and as Negro officers for the 92nd Division, etc., realizing, as he did, the imperative necessity of obtaining the very best material his race could afford in trying out this most important, this historic, and now successful military experiment. Scores of technically qualified young men were enabled to consummate their desire to render that particular service in the Army for which they were best fitted by talent and special training.

Perhaps one of the most important and far-reaching projects developed by the War Department was the provision for the training of nearly 20,000 young colored men in military science and tactics, at Government expense, in conjunction with their general education, through Students' Army Training Corps and Vocational Detachments, established in some twenty or more of the leading colored schools, institutes, colleges, and universities of the United States. Similar provision has also since been made for the formation of Reserve Officers' Training Corps for colored men in a number of colored educational institutions, North and South.

Another useful function performed by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, and one which has afforded him as much genuine satisfaction as any other service he has rendered in the War Department, is the matter of looking after hundreds, if not thousands of cases relating to voluntary and compulsory allotments, extra Government allowances and compensations, war risk insurance, and the like, due to the families and dependents of enlisted men and of deceased Negro soldiers. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of War has personally looked after or handled through his office many of these cases pending before the Bureau of War

Risk Insurance at Washington, believing that one of the best services he could render the Negro soldier was to protect the financial interests of his wife, his little ones, or other dependents.

Training of Colored Officers

Along with many others the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War fought for the establishment of the Fort Des Moines Reserve Officers' Training Camp for Negro officers; likewise, after his appointment in the War Department, he used every argument and resource at his command to induce the War Department to make adequate and equal provision for the training of Negro officers in connection with the various camps and cantonments where the National Army was being developed. Never before in the history of our country did we have a Special Officers' Training Camp for the training of Negro officers, to serve in the United States Army, like the one which was conducted by Army officers at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, from June 15 to October 15, 1917, where nearly 700 Negro officers were commissioned; or like the Third, Fourth and Fifth Series of Reserve Officers' Training Camps that were later conducted for the benefit of enlisted men, Negroes and whites alike, in conjunction with the National Army camps and cantonments throughout the country.

The admission of Negro officers into Field Artillery units was only secured after a struggle. It seemed difficult to convince certain subordinate members of Secretary Baker's staff that Negro men possessed the mentality and college training considered as a necessary prerequisite to being trained as Field Artillery officers, but with the creation of the 349th, 350th and 351st Field Artillery regiments (all Negro organizations) the "ice was broken" and quite a number of Negro soldiers, hailing from some of the leading colleges and universities of America, were trained as artillery officers.

The retirement of Colonel Charles Young from active service occasioned much feeling among the colored people. This is referred to elsewhere in this volume. Nothing gave the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War greater pleasure than to coöperate with the friends of Colonel Young to bring about his call to active duty again through the following order:

Above "The Raw Material of Soldiers." Negroes drawn in the selective draft arriving at the cantonment. Compare this photograph with the one below. Below-"Six Months Later.' American Negro troops marching along a French road toward the front. Six months before this picture was taken they were undrilled civilians.

Above-Arrival of a Bunch of the Chicago Boys.

Below-Happy return of (the old 15th Inf.) New York's famous colored regiment: receiving their shares of cigarettes and chocolate handed out to the boys at the chicken dinner given them at 71st Regiment Armory

Abore-How Our Soldiers Came Home. American Negro troops boarding the boat in New York Harbor for Camp Merritt, N. J., demobilization camp.

Below--It is said that the Negro, because of his constant cheerfulness makes the best soldier. However that may be, it is certain that these three specimens have acquired a reputation for being the most zealous workers in their company ind are shown as the three prize men of the company.