The business of a
European nation had become our business; in the face of all the world
we resolved to invade her territory in the interest of humanity; to
face about upon our own traditions and dare the opinions and arms of
the trans-Atlantic world by openly launching upon the new policy of
armed intervention in another's quarrel.
While the troops were mobilizing at Tampa preparatory to embarking for
Cuba the question came up as to why there were no colored men in the
artillery arm of the service, and the answer given by a Regular Army
officer was, that the Negro had not brains enough for the management
of heavy guns. It was a trifling assertion, of course, but at this
period of the Negro's history it must not be allowed to pass
unnoticed. We know that white men of all races and nationalities can
serve big guns, and if the Negro cannot, it must be because of some
marked difference between him and them. The officer said it was a
difference in "brains," i.e., a mental difference. Just how the
problem of aiming and firing a big gun differs from that of aiming and
firing small arms is not so easily explained. In both, the questions
of velocity, gravitation, wind and resistance are to be considered and
these are largely settled by mechanism, the adjustment of which is
readily learned; hence the assumption that a Negro cannot learn it is
purely gratuitous.
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