f his
character. For, on a battleship where the strictest system of
co-ordination and co-operation among all who compose the crew is
absolutely necessary, each man is assigned a particular and a special
duty independent of the other men, and should he fail in its faithful
discharge the loss of the vessel and its enterprise might possibly
result.

TRAINING FOR SERVICE.

Far be it from the intention of this article to condone the existing
policy of the navy of the United States as regards the Negro, where
unwritten law prescribes and precludes him from service above a
designated status. It is well known that no Negro has ever graduated
from the United States Naval Academy, at Annapolis, Maryland, which is
primarily essential to receive a commission as a line officer of the
navy. It is true that some three or four Negroes have attempted to
complete the course of instruction at this academy, but, their
treatment, as a result of race prejudice, made their efforts futile, as
well as their stay there more miserable than a decade of confinement in
a Hun penitentiary. Intimidation, humiliation, and actual physical
violence, notwithstanding their determination, finally resulted in the
conclusion to abandon the coveted goal of becoming officers in the great
navy of the United States.

It is also known that notwithstanding the urgent pressure for
experienced men to officer the expanding navy as a result of the World
War, it became necessary to commission hundreds of men, who as a result
of their experience as enlisted men, are temporary officers. But none of
these commissions was given to a Negro, despite the fact that scores of
them had rendered honorable service of from ten to twenty years and were
exceptionally qualified as stated by their commanding officers for these
commissions. During the war there were approximately eleven thousand men
commissioned as officers. A great majority of this number were
commissioned as pay clerks, paymasters, medical officers, and other
ranks, wherein no technical naval knowledge or experience is required.
And it is strange to note that not a single Negro received one of these
commissions.

INSUFFICIENT NUMBER OF OFFICERS.

In his annual report to the Congress of the United States, the secretary
of the navy department made the following statement: "The regular navy
personnel as it existed at the beginning of the war has been repeatedly
combed for warrant officers and enlisted men compe