Eliminate The Negro

Eliminate the Negro

NAVY WILL DO AWAY WITH COLORED SAILORS.

DISSATISFACTION OF WHITE TARS ALLEGED THE CAUSE.

FIVE HUNDRED NOW SERVING BEFORE THE MAST.

Washington, Aug. 6. - The negro as a part of the enlisted force of the United States navy is to be eliminated. Hereafter it is to be the policy of the recruiting agencies of the navy to discourage the enlistment of black men for service on American war vessels. A system of elimination is to be inaugurated, and while it is to be put into operation gradually, it will eventually weed out every negro serving before the mast and the enlisted force of the navy will be composed exclusively of white men.

Officers of the navy are not willing now to discuss the subject, for fear of raising protests and criticism, but it is believed the idea of a white navy will be realized, notwithstanding any criticism that may be made.

Will Disappear In Time.

At present there are about 29,000 enlisted men in the navy. It is estimated that about 500 of these men are black. It is probable that only a few enlistments of the negroes will be made during the next three or four years, and as soon as the terms of those now serving expire they will be allowed to go. Thus the number leaving the service will be greater than those entering, and in time all the negroes will disappear.

It is alleged that the white men in the navy are dissatisfied over the present practice of enlisting negroes freely, and are constantly in a state of discontent, by reason of unavoidable close association with the blacks on shipboard. A striking illustration of the feeling of the white sailors against the black was furnished a few days ago, when at a northern port the white men of an American naval vessel committed a series of assaults on negroes serving on the same craft. Both parties were on shore leave, and the whites, coming in contact with the blacks, beat and hammered them until the negroes were obliged to seek refuge on board the ship, where they were under the protection of the commissioned officers.