[Illustration:  Heroes of the brawny arm whose service was no less effective than that of the combatants.  A detail of negro railway builders engaged on the line from Brest to Tours.]

[Illustration:  Negro engineers building roads in France.  An indispensable feature of the service of supply.]

[Illustration:  Negro troops in France enjoy an old-fashioned meal.]

[Illustration:  Negro machine gunners on the road near MAFFRECOURT, France.  Part of 369th infantry.]

[Illustration:  Captain Hinton and officers of 1st battalion. 369Th negro infantry on road near MAFFRECOURT, France.]

[Illustration:  Auto horn Warns Americans of coming gas attack.  Soldiers Don masks and sound the alarm.  Insert, left corner, machine gunners.]

No elaborate defense of the Negro will be attempted in the matter of the desertion record.  It is not necessary.  The words of Provost Marshall General Crowder, the man who knew all about the selective draft and who engineered it through its wonderfully successful course, completely absolved the Negro in this connection.  The following quotation in reference to the above figures is taken verbatim from the report of General Crowder to the Secretary of War, dated December 20, 1918.

“These figures of reported desertions, however, lose their significance when the facts behind them are studied.  There is in the files of this office, a series of letters from governors and draft executives of southern states, called forth by inquiry for an explanation of the large percentage of Negroes among the reported deserters and delinquents.  With striking unanimity the draft authorities replied that this was due to two causes; first, ignorance and illiteracy; especially in the rural regions, to which may be added a certain shiftlessness in ignoring civic obligations; and secondly, the tendency of the Negroes to shift from place to place.  The natural inclination to roam from one employment to another has been accentuated by unusual demands for labor incident to the war, resulting in a considerable flow of colored men to the north and to various munition centers.  This shifting reached its height in the summer of 1917, shortly after the first registration, and resulted in the failure of many men to keep