COLOR LINE IN THE ARMY--DIFFICULTY IN MAKING AFRO-AMERICAN COMMISSIONED
OFFICERS--HEROISM ON THE FIELD SURE TO REAP REWARD--MORGAN PREFERS
NEGRO TROOP TO THE WHITES.

General Thomas J. Morgan belongs to that class of Caucasian observers
who are able to think clearly upon the Negro problem in all of its
phases, and who have not only the breadth of intelligence to form just
and generous opinions, but who possess that rarer quality, the courage
to give them out openly to the country. General Morgan contributes the
following article to the _New York Independent_, analyzing the motives
which underlie the color line in the army.

[Illustration: GENERAL, THOMAS J. MORGAN, LL.D., Who says Negroes are
Competent to be Officers in the Army.]

He has had wide experience in military affairs, and his close contact
with Negro soldiers during the civil war entitles him to speak with
authority. General Morgan says:

"The question of the color line has assumed an acute stage, and has
called forth a good deal of feeling. The various Negro papers in the
country are very generally insisting that if the Negro soldiers are to
be enlisted, Negro officers should be appointed to command them. One
zealous paper is clamoring for the appointment, immediately, by the
President, of a Negro Major-General. The readers of _The Independent_
know very well that during the civil war there were enlisted in the
United States army 200,000 Negro soldiers under white officers, the
highest position assigned to a black man being that of first sergeant,
or of regimental sergeant-major. The Negroes were allowed to wear
chevrons, but not shoulder straps or epaulets. Although four Negro