Our war for human rights, being an intensely human and brilliant account of the world war and why and for what purpose America and the allies are fighting and the important part taken by the negro, including the horrors and wonders of modern warfare, the new and strange devices that have come into use, etc. ...

Front matter

i\.£^J_/XyY JYL1 i^Lv-fcvK., j\. JVL., Iv-m* D, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Howard University, Washington D. C.

OUR WAR

FOR

Introduction

While the underlying causes of the greatest war in all history must be traced far back into the centuries, the one great object of the conflict which was precipitated by the assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand of Austria, in Bosnia, at the end of June, 1914, is the ultimate determination as to whether Imperialism as exemplified in the government of Germany shall rule the world, or whether Democracy shall reign.

Whenever men or nations disregard those principles which society has laid down for their conduct in modern civilized life, and obligation and duty are forgotten in the desire for selfadvancement, conflict results.

Since the days of Athens and Sparta the world's greatest wars have in the large been conflicts of ideals — democracy being arrayed against oligarchy — men fighting for individual rights as against militarism and military domination.

In the present war, which ha, ainted the green fields of France and Belgium red with blood and swept nations into the most significant, and bitter struggle in all history, the fight is against the Imperial Government of Germany, by men and nations who concede that humanity the world over has rights that must be observed.

Germany has brought upon herself a threatened destruction by ruthlessly trampling upon her neighbors and assuming that "might is right."

The Imperial Government, led by the House of Hohenzollern is suffering from an exaggerated ego and is become paranoic. Her trouble is psychological. The men who study the strange workings and twists of the human mind which landsome men in the institutions for the criminal insane, agree that when any man becomes obsessed with an idea and "rides a vi INTRODUCTION.

hobby" to the exclusion of all else, he loses his balance and develops an obliquity of view which makes him a dangerous creature.

Germany as a nation is obsessed with the spirit of militarism and almost everything else has been sacrificed to this idol. The very first appearance of Germans in history is as a warlike peoples. The earliest German literature is composed of folktales about war heroes. These stories tell of high ideals and manly virtues of the heroes.

It is true that there are many scientists, poets and musicians among the Germans, but their warlike side must never be forgotten. The entire race is imbued with the military spirit, the influence reaching to every phase of national life. All that is best in the nation has been raised to its highest efficiency through military training, but in the accomplishment of its purposes the House of Hohenzollern, which is responsible for the development of the national fighting arm, has neglected much and produced millions of creatures who are but human machines, taught to obey orders without consideration as to the effect their acts might produce, whether right or wrong.

In their criticisms of the Prussian militarism the world democracies define militarism as an arrogant, or exclusive, professional military spirit developed by training and environment until it becomes despotic, and assumes superiority over rational motives and deliberations.

This attitude is reflected in the conduct of the Kaiser, who, as illustrative of the point, is quoted, at the dedication of the monument to Prince Frederick Charles at Frankfurt-on-the- Oder in 1891, as having said "We would rather sacrifice our eighteen army corps and our 42,000,000 inhabitants on the field of battle than surrender a single stone of what my father and Prince Charles Frederick gained."

His speeches are filled with similar bombastic and extravagant expressions which have been the subject of international z o

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THE NEGRO AND THE WAR v

• [From The Philadelphia North American, June 1, 1918]

Recently at Camp Upton Major General Bell addressed a certain regiment of soldiers, and among other things said to them :

" This is the best disciplined and best drilled and best spirited regiment that has been under my command at this cantonment. I predicted last fall that Colonel Moss would have the best regiment at Camp Upton, and you men have made my prediction come true. I would lead you in battle against any army in the world with every confidence in the outcome."

He was speaking to an up-standing, fine-looking body of men. Every face in front of him glowed with pride at his praise. A feeling fully justified, for every private in his 367th regiment and most of the officers are negroes. They call themselves "The Buffaloes," and undoubtedly when they get in action on the other side, the Huns unfortunate enough to be pitted against them will thereafter think of a buffalo as something to be avoided at any cost.

This 367th is the only regiment in the new national army with a name, regimental stationery and a regimental swagger stick. It is one of the few with a regimental song and a regimental pennant. And a person who thinks these are matters of small consequence exhibits a lack of knowledge concerning the nature and needs of men who are going out to fight.

We have heard that the negro doesn't make a good soldier ; that he is too lazy, too emotional or too unresponsive to discipline to be counted upon as a fighting factor. The facts in the case indicate exactly the opposite. The superlative praise we have quoted from General Bell, whose rank and long experience as a soldier lend added weight to such words, is amply backed by the record of history. As Lieutenant McKaine, himself a Buffalo, has said in an article in the Outlook —

"The traditions of the negro as a soldier may be traced in the history of the great Chaka in the Valley of the Nile thousands of years ago ; Hannibal, the greatest of tacticians, in the war between Carthage and Rome ; L'Ouverture in the Haitian rebellion against the mighty Napoleon ; Attucks as the first casualty in America's first battle against the tyranny of George III on Boston Common ; black sailors with Perry on Lake Erie ; Black Samscn at Brandywine ; Peter Salem at Bunker Hill ; Carney at Fort Wagner ; the Twenty-fourth and Twenty fifth regiments of infantry and the Ninth and Tenth cavalry at El Caney and San Juan in Cuba and during the insurrection in the Philippines ; and the feat of the Tenth cavalry at Carrizal while with the punitive expedition in Mexico."

And Colonel Moss, of the Buffaloes, a southerner by birth, and one of the best known military authorities in the world today, has said —

" If properly trained and instructed, the colored man makes as good a soldier as the world has ever seen. The history of the negro in all of our wars, including our Indian campaigns, shows this. He is by nature of a happy disposition ; he is responsive and tractable ; he is very amen, able to discipline; he takes pride in his uniform ; he has faith and confidence in his leader ; he possesses physical courage — all of which are valuable military assets. The secret of making an efficient soldier out of the colored man, lies in knowing the qualities he possesses that are military assets, which I have named, and then appealing to and developing them — this is, utilizing them to the greatest extent possible.

" Make the colored man feel that you have faith in him, and then by sympathetic and conscientious training and instruction, help him to fit himself in a military way to vindicate that faith — to " make good." Be strict with him, but treat him fairly and justly. Let him know that he will always get what is coming to him, whether it be reward or punishment. In other words, treat and handle the colored man as you would any other human being out of whom you would make a good soldier, out of whom you would get the best there is in him, and you will have as good a soldier as history has ever known — a man who will drill well, shoot well, march well, obey well, fight well — in short, a man who will give a good account of himself in battle, aud who will conduct and behave himself properly in camp, in garrison, and in other places. The American negro is going to perform a part in this war which will far outshine any pre vious service on his part. Already he is injecting into the new army a spirit which, if spread among all our soldiers in like degree, could not but greatly add to their effectiveness. Of all the men in our fighting forces, he is the one who most effectively uses the power of song. And this is a potent factor."

As an army officer recently remarked —

" The Metropolitan Opera Company, the Boston Opera Company, the Chicago Opera Company, the Hampton Quartet, the Fisk Jubilee Singers — you think some of these groups can sing. Well, you're wrong. They can't. You have never heard any singing unless you marched with the Twenty-fourth across the border after Villa in the spring of 1916."

For the first time since the war which liberated them from slavery and gave them citizenship, they have a chance on a large scale to show how much they really appreciate freedom. As their people on every side are being encouraged and helped forward and aided in freeing themselves from the conditions of life which make for inefficiency and immorality, so in turn these regiments now have gone or will go to free the world from intolerable conditions which threaten a worse slavery than that which their fathers endured. It is truly a wonderful chance for a people to show appreciation of a great service rendered them.

Surely regiments like the Buffaloes have it in their power to do something more than fight when they get to France. They have it in their power to refresh and renew in war-wearied comrades of other countries that spirit without which no military organization can be effective.

We have heard more than one story of troops going into action with a song on their lips. The most thrilling of these stories is yet to come, however. For when our negro soldiers march forward to the music of their own voices, a new note shall have been sounded. And its echo will earry not only to othei fighters near at hand, but to non-combatant millions far away, whose effectiveness is to be measured largely by the degree to which they can be inspired with the vision of democracy triumphant.

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Private Henry Johnson

Private Needham Roberts

Of the New York National Guards (now the 369th), who have been decorated by the French for routing 24 Germans and preventing the carrying out of a welldeveloped plan to assail one of the most important points of resistance on the American front. They have been awarded the War Cross by the French General of the division under whom they are serving.

Copyrighted bv Committee on Public Information COLORED SOLDIERS BUILDING ROADS "OVER THERE."

Copyrighted by Committee on Public Information. COLORED SOLDIERS IN THE TRENCHES "OVER THERE." (Note the tin hats.)

From The Argus.

NEWTON D. BAKER, SECRETARY OF WAR, Personally inquiring about the welfare of the Colored American Soldiers, who are now "over there."

MAKING SOLDIERS SOMEWHERE IN AMERICA. DO YOU KNOW THEM?

Copyrighted by Committee on Public Information. HOTEL BOOKER T. WASHINGTON "OVER THERE." The Negro Soldiers are surely fighting for Democracy. It is coming to them by leaps and bounds.

Copyrighted by Committee on Public Information.

COLORED SOLDIERS LEAVING AN AMERICAN PORT FOR "OVER THERE." (See them dancing on the right.)

■ llll II « IIB. .J. "

The Late Major Walker, of the First Colored Battalion, District of Columbia National Guard

THE late Major James E. Walker was born in Virginia, September 7, 1874. He was educated in the public schools of Washington, D. C, and was graduated from the M Street High School in 1893, and the Miner Normal School in 1894. For twenty-four years he was in the public- school service, and since 1899 was supervising principal. In 1896 he was made Lieutenant in the First Separate Battalion of the National Guard of the District of Columbia. In 1909 he was made Captain and in 1912, through competitive examination, was commissioned Major. His command was called out to guard the White House, and while on this duty Major Walker's health became impaired. He was sent to the U. S. Hospital at Fort Bayard, New Mexico, for treatment, where he died April 4, 1918.

I

INTRODUCTION. vii

comment for many years. Other countries besides Germany have maintained great armies, but their maintenance has been but an incidental part of the general business of the nation and there was no submerging of the spirit which seeks and demands appropriate public ideals in government and action. So that while other elements have always tended to produce friction between neighboring countries, it was adamant, stubborn, military Prussianism which asserted itself in the middle of 1914 and set the world afire.

What the ultimate cost in lives, money, morals and weakening of humanity as a whole will sum up cannot be written for years to come. In our own great struggle, which had for its object the liberation of the negro, the scars which the South received have not yet been eliminated. Portions of the country devastated by the soldiers still bear the marks of the invasion, but what was lost in money and material things was made up by the welding together of the two sections of the country. The Union was made a concrete, humanitarian body of citizens. The battle was for the right and liberty triumphed.

Just as America fought for liberty in the stirring days of 1776, and her peoples fought one another in the trying days of 1861-65, so America has been drawn into the world's war that the principles of liberty for which she has ever stood may be perpetuated throughout the world and an international peace may be established, which will for all time end such convulsions as have shaken the world since August, 1914, when the first shots were fired in fair Belgium by German invaders.

Contents

INTEODUCTION v

CHAPTEE L

THE FLASH THAT SET THE WOELD AFLAME m

Chapter I. The Flash That Set The World Aflame

Teutons Find in a Muedee the Excuse foe Wae — Germany Inspired by Ambitions FOE WOELD CONTBOL — THE StBUGGLE FOE COMMEECIAL StTPEEMACY A

Factob — The Undeelying Motives.

THE assassination of the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir apparent to the throne of Austria, together with his wife, in Bosnia, during the last days of June, 1914, is commonly regarded as the blow which forged the chain that bound the European powers in bloody warfare. The tragedy was the signal for putting on the world stage the greatest war play of all times.

When Austria, regarding the murder of the Archduke as a National affront, precipitated the conflict which has convulsed the universe, she marked the way easy for Imperial Germany to put into effect a long-contemplated plan for territorial expansion, and to wage a warfare so insidious, so brutal and so ruthless in its character as to amaze the civilized world.

Word-pictures were drawn, so to speak, of a mighty nation striving to burst iron bands that were slowly strangling her, and her perfectly natural wish to find outlets for her rapidly growing population and commerce. Germany sought to obtain "a place in the sun," to use one of the Kaiser's most unfortunate expressions, and the world soon found that the "place" included the territory embracing a few ports on the English channel, with control of Holland and Belgium, Poland, the Balkan countries, a big slice of Asia Minor, Egypt, English and French colonies in Africa, not to mention remote possibilities*

Germany's ambitions may have been laudable, but her methods of trying to satisfy these ambitions were not such as to either gain for her the "solar warmth" which she sought to win, or gain for her the friendship of the nations of the civilized world. The drama which Germany directed moved swiftly in this wise :

Austria claimed that Servia, as a Nation, was responsible for the assassination of the Archduke in Bosnia. She sent an ultimatum to Belgrade, making demands which the Servians could not admit. Thereupon Austria declared war and moved across the Danube with her army.

THE FOUR GROUPS.

Austria's attack threatened to disturb the balance of power, because at the time the continent was divided into four groups: The close alliance of the central powers — Germany, Austria and Italy — referred to as the Triple Alliance or Dreibund; the Triple Entente, or understanding between Great Britain, France and Russia; the smaller group whose neutrality and integrity had been guaranteed, or at least recognized — Belgium, Denmark, Holland and the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, sandwiched in between Germany, France and Belgium, together with Switzerland. The fourth group included the Balkan nations : Bulgaria, Servia, Montenegro, Greece, Turkey and Roumania, all drawn close to Russia; Norway and Sweden, and the Iberian nations, Spain and Portugal. The increase in the power of one of these groups would at any time have been sufficient to precipitate a war, but in the movement of Austria against Servia there entered a racial element. There was a threatened drawing of another Slavonic peoples into the Teutonic system. Besides this, the action let loose the flood of militarism which civilization had been holding in check.

With this situation in mind, it is easy to understand how Germany could precipitate a world conflict by attempting to keep open the way to the near East, and controlling the markets as against Britain, France and Russia. Back of all this was the question of commercial supremacy, Germauy showing her intention of keeping the way open to the near East and dominating the markets as against Britain, France and Russia. Russia could not stand by and see one of her Slavonic wards crushed, and France, which held the Russian national debt, prepared to support her debtor, whereupon Germany, threatened on both sides, struck. In doing so the Kaiser ignored the rights of the small neutral states, invaded Belgium and brought his armies within threatening distance of England. France prepared to defend her country against Germany, and England, alarmed by the move of Germany and sympathizing with Belgium, struck back to avert the disaster which she felt must follow the German movement, which had been threatening for years.

REGARDED EACH OTHER WITH SUSPICION."

All attempts to maintain a balance of power between the European countries were from time to time jeopardized by various developments. The elements in the continental group struggled against each other, and the Nations, while seemingly at rest, regarded each other with suspicion. One of the underlying forces that the world knew must at some time be felt was of racial origin. The historical explanations of the war would involve the retelling of almost everything that has happened in Europe for more than a century.

But it is necessary to the long train of evil consequences which have followed the interference of other powers in the settlement of affairs between Russia and Turkey after the war of 1877, when Russia was victorious. Russia and Turkey had agreed upon a large Bulgaria and an enlarged and independent Servia, but at the Berlin Congress, which Austria had taken the initiative in calling, Austria showed that she wished to have as much as possible of this Christian territory of Southeastern Europe kept under the domination or nominal authority of Turkey. Austria feared Russia's influence with the new countries of Servia, Roumania, Bulgaria and Montenegro, and therefore she desired to have this territory remain Turkish by influence, to the end that she might some day acquire part or all of it for herself.

One of the articles of the agreement of Berlin turned Bosnia and Herzegovina over to Austria for temporary occupation and management. Austria was a trustee of the country which lies between Servia and the Adriatic sea, and while Austria's management was efficient, Servia looked forward to the time when a union could be effected with Bosnia, which would provide Servia with an outlet to the sea.

THE SERVIANS EMBITTERED.

But when Russia fell humiliated by the Japanese and the Young Turks reformed their government, and there was prospect that the Turks might demand the evacuation of Bosnia by Austria, the powers that had engaged in the Berlin treaty were informed that Austria had decided to make Bosnia and Herzegovina a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Servians were embittered, because this stood in the way of their attaining their ideals, and their country was landlocked.

With this bitterness rankling in her national breast, Servia joined forces with Bulgaria, Greece and Montenegro to drive the Turks out of Europe. The larger powers, including Austria, tried to prevent the action, but the heroic Balkan struggle is a matter of history. Servia was to have secured as a share of the conquered territory a portion of Albania, on the Adriatic. This would have compensated her for the loss of Bosnia, but the great powers, led by Austria, stepped in, and a plan was devised of making Albania an independent state or principality, with a German prince to rule over it.

The Servians were bitter, and both Servia and Greece demanded of Bulgaria portions of the territory acquired in the war and which had originally been assigned to Bulgaria as her share. Bulgaria stood upon her technical rights and precipitated the last Balkan war, which was really made possible, or probable, by the Austrian policy. When the war was concluded Servia had acquired more territory to the south, but she remained a landlocked country, with Bosnia, Montenegro and Albania stretching between her and the Adriatic sea.

This was the situation when the assassination of the Archduke Ferdinand and his wife occurred in Bosnia. The Archduke was, in effect, a joint ruler with the Emperor Franz Joseph, who was nearly 84 years of age, and the entire world realized that great events were likely to follow the killing of the heir apparent to the Austro-Hungarian throne. The murder was committed by a young Servian fanatic, and Austria determined to hold Servia responsible for the murder, and therefore presented her now-famous ultimatum.

NO CAUSE FOR WAR.

Students of history hold that if there had been a proper respect for the commendable desire of the Christian peoples in European Turkey to throw off the Turkish yoke and become self-governing states, there would have been no cause for war, so far as relates to Servia and the situation which precipitated the conflict. There would have been developed a series of peaceful and progressive countries of the non-military type of Denmark, Sweden and Holland.

A wiser treatment of the Balkan problem might have averted the war, but it could not have set aside racial differences, nor could it have ended the curse of militarism or set at rest the distrust and fear which it promotes.

The end of European militarism might have come about, however, through a better understanding between Germany and France. This might have been arrived at years ago if Germany had opened the Alsace-Lorraine question, and had rearranged the boundary line between the two countries so that the French-speaking communities lost in the Franco-Prussian war be ceded back to France. The cost of maintaining the feud over Alsace-Lorraine has been a burden to both France and Germany, and the progress which Germany has made in world affairs, despite the burden of militarism which she has carried, is one of the marvels of the century. And the situation compelled France to maintain a defensive military organization which was as great a burden to her and barrier to world peace as the military burden of Germany.

STRAIN BETWEEN GERMANY AND RUSSIA.

Whether Germany conspired to bring on the war so that she could wage a campaign of aggression has not yet been made clear, but the strain between Germany and Russia had been growing for some time, and the assassination of the Teutonic heir, Francis Ferdinand, by a ward of Russia, created an occasion which gave Germany an opportunity to fight, without being compelled to directly precipitate the conflict. Russia could do naught else but come to the aid of Servia, and Germany by reason of her alliance with Austria must aid the latter country.

Germany anticipated the entry of Italy into the conflict as the third member of the Triple Alliance, but Italy did not regard Germany's action as defensive and declined to aid Austria. Germany had made overtures to Great Britain, but England had an understanding with France, which was in the nature of a limited alliance, and Germany might have kept England out of the struggle; but Germany proceeded with a plan to invade France by way of Belgium, which was in violation of international agreement establishing Belgium's neutrality and independence. Germany had nothing to gain by choosing the Belgium route, for the fact is that even had the Belgian government approved the movement, there must have been a French counter-movement, which would have made Belgium the theatre of war just the same.

Pan-Germanism has been described as one of the underlying motives in the world war, and Pan- Slavism has always opposed Pan-Germanism. Pan-Germanism is described as a well-defined policy or movement which seeks the common welfare of the Germanic peoples of all Europe and the advance of Teutonic culture, while Pan- Slavism, represented by Russia, seeks in the main the uniting of all the Slavonic folk for common welfare. The contact between these two has always been seething, and the racial differences made burdensome the arbitrary alignment and political geography arranged by the Berlin Congress.

OUTLETS TO THE WORLD'S MARKET.

The commercial side, however, was a big factor, for Germany sought world markets for its products. In the near East are the grain fields of Mesopotamia, and in the far East are the vast markets of India and China. The great banking and financial interests of Europe have been seeking the conquest of Asia for nearly half a century. German capital built railroads through Asia Minor, but English capital controls the Suez Canal. Russia welded the Balkan states until the Slavonic wedge from the Black sea to the Adriatic barred Germany's way to the Orient. England threatened the Kaiser's expansion on the sea; while Russia, on one side, with France her strong ally, closed the Germans in on opposite sides. So Germany must have outlets to the world markets.

The religious element was also a factor in the affairs of Europe, for the territory has been divided into four large religious groups for centuries. Moslems counted several millions of Turks, Bosnians and Albanians in Europe, the Protestants among the Germans, English, Swiss and Hungarians number about 100,000,000, while the Roman Catholics in all the Latin countries, Southern Germany, Croatia, Albania, Bohemia, and in Russian Austria and Russian Poland are about 180,000,000. The Greek Catholics in Russia, the Balkan countries and a few provinces in the Austrian Empire number more than 110,000,000.

The differences in religion have precipitated many European struggles, but for more than a century the countries have been forced to assume an attitude of tolerance, so that churches other than those established by the State have thrived. But just what influence religions may have had in the various incidents of the war it is difficult to determine.

The outstanding fact is that but for the arrogant, militaristic policy of Imperial Germany, the differences between nations might have been settled, and almost indescribable horrors of the war would never have been experienced.

Chapter II. Why America Entered The War

The Ibon Hand of Prussianism — The Arrogant Hohenzollern Attitude; — Secretaey Lane Tells Why We Fight — Broken Pledges — Laws Violated — Prussianism the Child of Barbarity — Germany's Plans for a World

Empire.

NOT merely to prevent Germany from opening avenues of commerce to the seas nor to throttle the ambitions of the Kaiser was America drawn into the vortex of war with France, England, Russia, Belgium, Italy and other nations ; but that the iron hand of Prussianism, as exemplified in the conduct of the German Government, might be lifted from the shoulders of men, and the world given that measure of peace and security which modern civilization demands.

Germany by her ruthless submarine warfare brought desolation to many American homes. She sank without a pang of conscience the great transatlantic steamship Lusitania, and, while pretending friendship for the United States and pleading no intent to disregard American rights, broke her own pledges and repeated her overt acts, ignoring international law and the rights of all neutrals at sea.

She began her outlawry by the invasion of Belgium, which was followed by conduct on the part of the German forces which clearly marked them descendants of the "wolf tribes" of feudal days, righting with the motto before them of, "To the victor belong the spoils."