October 2, 1948

3 65

achieved in this way is indicated by the experience of the

United States,where 100,000,000 acres that were on
their way downhill have been restored nearly
to their
original fertility by the erosion-control measures of the
Federal Soil Conservation Service and the new methods
offarming taught by this service on demonstration farms.
It goes without saying &at industrial aotivitiesequally
require revision from the conservation point of view, not
only to eliminate water &stage, pollution of streams,
and so on, but to stop &e production ofarticles-like
the newelectric gadget for grinding up garbageand
flushing it down &hekitchen drain-that do more harm
than good.
,

Unfortunately, conservation and technologicalprogress alone will not ward off khe food and raw-materials
crisis. Current production of foodstuffs, dothing fibers,
and shelter materials is shoct of reasonable current: needs
by at least 30 per cent; conservation and technologywdl
do well, therefore, to provide more rthan a bare subsistence for the pveseM world population. Meetifig the re,quiremet& of the futurepopulation, which, if unchecked,
will be 2.7 billion by 1970 as against 2.2 billion today,
appears out of the question. Thus not onlyincreased
research and a world-wide conservation program but energetic measures to limit population growth are immediately necessary.

BY THOMAS SANCTQN
I V d ~ i ~ g t o September
n,
24
a view to establishing dtfgration iscomplete-with
mately the principle of integration khroughout the
URING thelast war the race issue was by all odds
services.
the army's most serious morale problem.
It caused
During $hewar the army found that all-Negro divia Jittle administrakive war within the framework
sions, such as khe Ninety-second and Ninety-third, were
of the big war,and a sizable foreign campaign codd
militarily inefhcient. The economic, educatiuml, and psyk
have been mounted with the material and man-hours
chological disadvantages suffered by Negroes in civilian
diverted to this phantom battlefront. A tremendous war
life were reflected in he poor morale of these divisions.
potential was wasted in lthe duplication of training and
During the Battle of the Bulge, however, 2,250 Negro
transportation facilities, the required poliltical and social
volunteers from labor and nun-combatassignments,
adjustments andliaisonactivities, and the brawls,disafter a briefperiod of training, wele interspersed as
couragements, and destruative attitudes of white and
rifle platoons among front-line white &mops.Their perNegro troops.
formance wasexceBent, and offcia1surveysrevealed
Despite progress at cefltain traini'ng levels, the probth& a Iwge majority of &he white 'troops andoflicers
lem of effective Negro integration is still largely unapproved
their use. The. Gillem Board's recommmdasolved. At the same time, Russia's raceequality doctrines
tions were largely based on this experheat.
create far more serious psychlogical and propaganda
In accordance with khe board's recommendations, the
difficulties forthe army than did h e self-defeating
army has now abandoned&heprinciple of all-Negro diviracism of Nazi Germany.
For these reasons President T , m a n ' s appointment sions and integrated Negro regiments with white regi- ,
ments within divisions.Except in rare instances intethis week of a seven-member 'advisory committee tohelp
end Idhe demobilization-era lethargy about race pr&)ems gration has not beencarried out at the platoon level.
in theservices was of first-rank military significance. The
limited but neverNegroes are nowbeingtrained-in
thelesssignificantpropoations-inspecializedcombat
task of this cumnittee will be in general to undertake
branches Iike &e paratroups and mechanized units. Sepathe reeducationandreindoctrination
of the command
rate recreationalandposit-exchange , facilitiesare progroups onthe basisof the services'owncostlywartime race experiences. The committee will undoubtedly . vided for Negro training areas, Eut regulations state
khat Negroes in white areas may not be !barred from
insist upon a more active and imaginativeuse d bhe
army's official Gillem Board report, which strongly advo- thesefacilities on the basis 'ofrace. Negroes will n o
longer be trained in khe South. On May 31 there were
cated that white and Negro troops be mixkd in small
63,5 11 Negroes in the army, 11.15 per cent of &e total
units like platoons. Lester Granger and John H. Sengpersonnel of 569,704.
stacke, two Negro membersof the commi,ttee,are unThe navy at &e beginning of Ithe war excluded N e
equivocallyagainstsegregation in any form as a fixed
goes from all combat ratings. They were assigned ex.
a m y policy, and they may succeed
in persuadingthe whole
dusively as messmen and i n , bhe commissary branches,
committeeand the defense'esta'blishment to support
However, race relations among whitte and Negro seamen
recommendations for experimen,tal units in which inte-

"

were excellent at sea,where they were a

t off from
communi9 antagonisms, and t!ne navy found it expedient to give up its all-Negro vessels and to liberalize its
integration practices. This policy brought a historic order
in 1946; Effwtive immediately dl res.tri&rns governing types of assignments for which Negro naval personnel are eligible we hereby Lifted. Henceforth they
shall be eligible forall typesofassignments
inall
ratings in all activities and all ships of &e service.
However, the navy falls far short of implementing the
spiri,t of &is order. More than two-bhirds of the Negro
navy personnel are still employed as stewards or in
commissaryunits. The Negro enlistment of 17,740 is
51/2 per cent of total navy personnel.
The air corps trained a ;token group of Negro
fighter pilots at Tuskegee Field during the war. This
program encountered local prejudice and obstruction and
has since been moved to Lochbourm Air Base, C o l m bus, Ohio. The air force now trains Negroes in all
branahes, including fighters and bombers, thoughthe
majority of its Negro personnel are service troops. Since
its separation from the army h e air force has indicaked
that it will continue to use the Gillem recommendations
as a guide. The command observes a poliq of complete
integration in its oflicer-training program at: Randulph
Field. Negro enrolment ithere is o d y 1 percent, but
James C . Evans, civilian aide to the Defense Secretary,
reports that ,this small i i p r e is due to the lack of qualified Negro applicants. The Randolph program, he says,

Dublin, September 17
INCE Mr. Attlee chose to spend a short holiday in
Eire-a
purely private visit, he emphasized-and
then to call onNorthern Ireland, the newspaper
boys have beenbusy with m o r s . In spite of denials and
diplomatic headshakes bhey have insisted ;that th,eDay of
Union was fast approaching. I often think as I read these
effusions, concocted largely in &he,Palace bar or similar
ports of call around Dublin, that in the interest of union
Mr. Costellos noncommittal answers are a clear indication of h e Line to follow.
One quality that the Irish, nmth and sou&, have in
commonis a fear of losing face. The North may be
MARGARET BARRINGTON is an IriJhzuomdn who
ldver d t SKibbereen in Coanty Cork. She wr2te.r 7egalady f o r tho BBC and has contributed to the N e w YorR
Herald Tribune m d Commonweal.

is an encouraging sign that the new air force contemplates an effecbive use of the nations Negro component.
In general terms, the rnili.tarys attitude on racecan
be charaderized as a grudging adjustment to realities,
h e phrase used in an excellent critical analysis of postwar race developments submitted to Secretary Forrestal
by sixteen Negro civilian leaders who were called in for
advice last April. Thhis group told rtihe armedservices
h a t the lack of progress since the war was discouraging
and ithat ,the army had failed t o solve the basic problem
of racemorale. The army points to the high rate of
Negro reenliskments as an indication that Negro service
men themselves are not dissatisfied. The, Negro leaders
maintain, and the army admits, h a t bhis is in some degree the res& of l& of opportunity and securi,b in
civilian life.
Thearmy, like the nztion of which it is a cross-section,
faces a &lemma: military logic urges integration, but
widespread prejudice-shared
by privakes and generals
alike-argues more vociferously against it., And like the
nation, khe army is being harried constantly- towardmore
rational racial practices by a militant Negro leadership
whose interference it resents. Phillip Randolphs threat
of a March on Washington during the war helped to
open many restricted employment areas to Negro lzbor,
and &hereby increased the countrys s8tril&g power. The
pressure which he and other Negroes have exerted in
recent months to end the disgrace of segregation in the
services may contribute as materiallyto military efficiency.

coaxed,cajoled, and maneuvered-there mustbe no

coercion. Mr. Costello understands, what Mr. De Valera
never could, that the 5rst movemustcome from the
North. He-can do l M e more than hcold the door open
with welcome on the rnsut. Neither Du:blin nor Westminster should attempt any ovmt pressure.
The war has ,brought about a great change in the-relatirons between Nor& and South. At the time of the split
the n o h e r n industrialists, backed by the smaller business Gterests and &e farmers, saw in Brikain their only
market and aheir political and financial support. All
during ,the initend between the two world wars the
Tories held power in England, and the Tories from bu;h
sentiment and interest were prepared to keep the Storrnont group in power. But this wax has altered that. A
Labor government Which handed back India, gave up
Egypt, and cleared out of Palestine was not likely to back
the North in maintaining an exclusive and expensive
government. The Stormomt group, s t i l l clinging to

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