lished,
however, for the colored soldier, out of the mouth of many witnesses.
The colored troopers just did so well that praise could not be
withheld from them even by those whose education and training had bred
in them prejudice against Negroes. It can no longer be doubted that
the Negro soldier will fight. In fact such has been their record in
past wars that no scruples should have been entertained on this point,
but the (late) war was a fresh test, the result of which should be
enough to convince the most incredulous "Doubting Thomases."

[Illustration: CONVENT AT CAVITE, WHERE AGUINALDO WAS PROCLAIMED
PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC (JUNE, 1898).]

The greater portion of the American people have confidence in the
Negro soldier. This confidence is not misplaced--the American
government can, in the South, organize an army of Negro soldiers that
will defy the combined forces of any nation of Europe. The Negro can
fight in any climate, and does not succumb to the hardships of camp
life. He makes a model soldier and is well nigh invincible.

The Negro race has a right to be proud of the achievements of the
colored troopers in the late Spanish-American war. They were the
representatives of the whole race in that conflict; had they failed it
would have been a calamity charged up to the whole race. The race's
enemies would have used it with great effect. They did not fail, but
did their duty nobly--a thousand hurrahs for the colored troopers of
the Spanish-American war!!

In considering their successful achievements, however, it is well to
remember that there were some things the Negro had to forget while
facing Spanish bullets. The Negro soldier in bracing himself for that
conflict must needs forget the cruelties that daily go on against his
brethren under that same flag he faces death to defend; he must forget
that when he returns to his own land he will be met not as a citizen,
but as a serf in that part of it, at least, where the majority of
his people live; he must forget that if he wishes to visit his aged
parents who may perhaps live in some of the Southern States, he must
go in a "Jim Crow" car; and if he wants a meal on the way, he could
only get it in the kitchen, as to insist on having it in the dining
room with other travelers, would subject him to mob violence; he must
forget that the flag he fought to defend in Cuba does not protect him
nor his family at home; he must forget the murder of Frazier B. B