"I wish to congratulate you," Mr. Roosevelt said, "upon the dignity and self-restraint with which the Circle has stated its case in its circulars. It is put better than I could express it when your officers say: 'They, (the Negroes) like the boys at the front and in the camps to know that there is a distinctly colored organization working for them. They also like the people at home to know that such an organization, although started and maintained with a friendly cooperation from white friends, is intended to prove to the world that colored people themselves can manage war relief in an efficient, honest and dignified way, and so bring honor to their race.
"The greatest work the colored man can do to help his race upward," continued Mr. Roosevelt, "is through his or her own person to show the true dignity of service. I see in the list of your vice-presidents and also of your directors the name of Colonel Charles Young, and that reminds me that if I had been permitted to raise a brigade of troops and go to the other side, I should have raised for that brigade two colored regiments, one of which would have had all colored officers. And the colonel of that regiment was to have been Colonel Charles Young.
"One of the officers of the other regiment was to have been 'Ham' Fish. He is now an officer of the 15th, the regiment of Negroes which Mr. Cobb so justly has praised, and when 'Ham' Fish was offered a chance for promotion with a transfer to another command, I am glad to say he declined with thanks, remarking that he 'guessed he's stay with the sunburned Yankees."'
A guest of honor at the meeting was Needham Roberts, who won his Croix de Guerre in conjunction with Henry Johnson. The cheering of the audience stopped proceedings for a long time when Mr. Roosevelt arrived and shook hands with Roberts.
"Many nice things were said at the meeting," commented the New York Age, "but the nicest of all was the statement that after the war the Negro over here will get more than a sip from the cup of democracy."
One of the splendid activities of the Circle was in the providing of an emergency relief fund for men who were discharged or sent back, as in the case of Needham Roberts, on account of sickness or injuries. Many a soldier who was destitute on account of his back pay having been held up was temporarily relieved, provided with work or sent to his home through the agency of the Circle.
While the war was in progress the Circle attended to a variety of legal questions for the soldiers, distributed literature, candy and smokes to the men going to the war and those at the front; visited and ministered to those in hospitals, looked after their correspondence and did the myriad helpful things which other agencies were doing for white soldiers, including relief in the way of garments, food, medicine and money for the families and dependents of soldiers.
The organization had over three score units in different parts of the country. They engaged in the same activities which white women were following in aid to their race. Here is a sample clipped from one of the bulletins of the Circle:
"On the semi-tropical island of St. Helena, S.C., the native islanders have, in times past, been content to busy themselves in their beautiful cotton fields or in their own little palmetto-shaded houses, but the war has brought to them as to the rest of the world broader vision, and now, despite their very limited resources, 71 of them have formed Unit No. 29 of the Circle. They not only do war work, but they give whatever service is needed in the community. The members knit for the soldiers and write letters to St. Helena boys for their relatives. During the influenza epidemic the unit formed itself into a health committee in cooperation with the Red Cross and did most effective work in preventing the spread of the disease."
Similar and enlarged activities were characteristic of the units all over the nation. They made manifest to the world the Negro's generosity and his willingness in so far as lies in his power, to bear his part of the burden of helping his own race.
After the war the units of the Circle did not grow weary. Their inspiration to concentrate was for the relief of physical suffering and need; to assist existing organizations in all sorts of welfare work. As they had helped soldiers and soldiers' families, they proposed to extend a helping hand to working girls, children, invalids and all Negroes deserving aid.
To the lasting glory of the race and the efficient self-sacrificing spirit of the men engaged, was the wonderful work of the Negro Young Men's Christian Association among the soldiers of this country and overseas. Some day a book will be written dealing adequately with this phase of war activity.