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About The monitor. (Omaha, Neb.) 1915-1928 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 25, 1916)
THE FIGHTING TENTH. Major Frank Keck writes of the Tenth’s fifty years’ of service in the New York Sun. Here is to the Tenth, the gallant Tenth, which never fails us whether the bugles call amid the cactus of Mexico; the sage brush of Arizona; the chaparral of Cuba; or the palms of the Philippines! One of its troops the other day met with such courage and such cool dis cipline the onslaught of a superior force of Mexicans at Carrizal that the press was filled with praise of its conduct. To the military authorities the acts of the dusky horsemen were no surprise, for the Tenth Cavalry, U. S. A., is famed the world over for dependable service. Indeed, has the Negro ever for gotten the country in its hour of need? Crispus Attucks, an African, you will remember, led the American patriots into the main guard of the British in Boston in 1770, six years before the Declaration of Independ ence. The Colored man, even when in bondage, shared the hardships of Valley Forge; mingled his blood in the red and frozen trail from Dela ware to Trenton; and stood by the side of the commander in chief of the Continental Army. He served with his white brother in the War of 1812; joined in a conquest of the land of the Aztecs; and in the Civil war performed many a deed of valor for the Union cause. There were many Negroes in the Federal in fantry in the great struggle between the states, and after peace was de clared it was decided to retain some of them in the regular establishment. The Tenth United States Cavalry was organized in pursuance of an Act of Congress, passed on July 28, 1866. On the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of this noted command I would, as one who knows of the Tenth in action and as one interested in its development explain as best I can its history and traditions. The Tenth had inherited the prin ciples of discipline and obedience. Many of its members were veterans of the war, and recruits who came in to the regiment soon entered into its spirit. It was mustered in by Col. B. H. Grierson, a distinguished Union cavalry officer, who hod been in the Army of the Potomac and had re ceived the brevet rank of Major General. Col. Grierson was dashing and ag gressive, an American Murat, who had led his troopers on many a sudden raid into enemy country. He had the other white officers, for with a few exceptions the officers of the Black Tenth have all been Caucasian, es tablish a ready understanding with the men. I do not know of an officer, in fact, who has ever served with the Tenth and was transferred who did not wish to return to it if he had the opportunity. Hardly was the roster completed than the regiment was ordered to the West, and from that day to this the organization has scarcely been on this side of the Mississippi. Years of hard fighting and rough riding followed; years which brought high efficiency, promoted spirit and developed the personnel. Most of its members had come into the regiment as young men; they had been grooms to officers or were youths from the plantations, where they were accustomed to handling horses. They became crack shots with the carbine and used the revolver and sabre well. The practice they nad on the American frontiers made them one of the finest bodies of horsemen in the world. They grew to be to our army what the Numidian horse was to the Roman legions. This most interesting history of the Tenth will be continued next week. OBSERVATIONS OF A JAPANESE ON THE RACE PROBLEM “The Japanese who have come to American are laborers, uneducated coolies, ignorant of the American sys tem of government and type of so ciety, and they are not representative Japanese people. I am one of those who oppose sending Japanese coolies and laborers to America. When two countries come together, the poorest class should not be sent first. In your country you have had a num ber of disagreeable experiences. Be fore the civil war the Negro came from Africa, and you have had a fearful time with that problem. But if all the Negroes were like Booker T. Washington or Frederick Douglass, you would have thought of the black race as African gentlemen. At first, when the Irish came, you had the worst element. You still have Tam many as a disagreeable political in heritance. The Irish are clever, af fable, and kind-hearted. Without the Irish literary men and women, such as Goldsmith, Moore, and Lady Greg ory, English literature never would have attained its high position. If you had had such Irish as these in the beginning you never would have had any trouble.”—Viscount Keneko, in N. Y. Times. NO HOPE _ A three-hundred-pound man stood gazing longingly at the nice things displayed in a haberdasher’s window for a marked-down sale. A friend stopped to inquire if he was thinking of buying shirts or pajamas. “Gosh, no!” replied the fat man wistfully. “The only thing that fits me ready-made is a handkerchief.”— Harper’s Magazine. Mention The Monitor to our adver tisers. ITALY WILL STOP EMIGRATION Scarcity of Farm Labor to End De parture of Exempts. Rome, Oct. 30.—It is now gener ally admitted that the Government committed a serious mistake in not prohibiting emigration to America as soon as war was declared. As all the men unfit for or exempted from mil itary service were allowed to leave, many availed themselves of the chance to seek higher wages abroad, espe cially in North and South America. The inevitable result was a scarcity of agricultural labor in Italy, which had to be remedied by granting leaves of absence to men with the colors as stated periods to cultivate the land. This remedy has, however, proved ,-n sufficient and did not lower wages or the high cost of living. As agricul tural labor is scarce and wages high naturally enough intensified cultiva tion of the soil is impossible and the prices of foodstuffs are dear. By preventing emigration those ex empted from military service will be bound to work in the fields and culti vation will be necessarily intensified not only now but also after the war. In all probability emigration will be absolutely forbidden in the near fu ture and passports will be refused to all Italians going to America. RACE LEAVING SOUTH Hattiesburg, Miss., Nov. 10.—At tracted by offers made by Chicago packing houses, 200 Hattiesburg Ne groes, men and women have left here for the windy city. Efforts on the part of the police and county offi cials to find the labor agent responsi ble for the big emigration failed. The Negroes boarded the Northern train, and after it was under way, tickets were presented to them by the agents. Monitor Subscription Contest!! 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