HOWING--PERCENTAGES OF WHITE AND BLACK--FIGURES FOR GENERAL
SERVICE.

In 1917 and 1918 our cause demanded speed. Every day that could be saved
from the period of training meant a day gained in putting troops at the
front.

Half of the men in the Army must be skilled at special trades in order
to perform their military duties. To form the units quickly and at the
same time supply them with the technical ability required, the Army had
to avail itself of the trade knowledge and experience which the recruit
brought with him from civil life. To discover this talent and assign it
to those organizations where it was needed was the task of the Army
Personnel organization.

The army could hardly have turned the tide of victory if it had been
forced to train from the beginning any large proportion of the technical
workers it needed. Every combat division required 64 mechanical
draughtsmen, 63 electricians, 142 linemen, 10 cable splicers, 156 radio
operators, 29 switchboard operators, 167 telegraphers, 360 telephone
repairmen, 52 leather and canvas workers, 78 surveyors, 40 transitmen,
62 topographers, 132 auto mechanics, 128 machinists, 167 utility
mechanics, 67 blacksmiths, 151 carpenters, 691 chauffeurs (auto and
truck), 128 tractor operators and 122 truckmasters.

Besides these specialists each division required among its enlisted men
those familiar with 68 other trades. Among the latter were dock
builders, structural steel workers, bricklayers, teamsters, hostlers,
wagoners, axemen, cooks, bakers, musicians, saddlers, crane operators,
welders, rigging and cordage workers, stevedores and longshoremen. Add
to these the specialists required in the technical units of engineers,
ordnance, air service, signal corps, tanks, motor corps and all the
services of supply, and the impossibility of increasing an army of
190,000 in March 1917, to an army of 3,665,000 in November, 1918,
becomes apparent unless every skilled man was used where skill was
demanded.

To furnish tables showing the number of Negroes which the selective
draft produced for the various occupations mentioned was at the
compilement of this work not practicable. In many cases the figures for
white and black had not been separated. The Army Personnel organization
did not get into the full swing of its work until well along in 1918.

A good general idea of the percentages of white and black can be gained
from the late drafts of that year. Figures for white drafts