CHAPTER VIII.
RECRUDESCENCE OF SOUTH'S INTOLERANCE CONFRONTED BY RACIAL PEEJUDICE--- SPLENDID ATTITUDE OF NEGRO SHAMED IT--KEPT OUT OF NAVY--ONLY ONE PER CENT OF NAVY PERSONNEL NEGROES--MODIFIED MARINES CONTEMPLATED--FEW HAVE PETTY OFFICERS' GRADES--SEPARATE SHIPS PROPOSED--NEGRO EFFICIENCY IN NAVY--MATERIAL FOR "BLACK SHIPS"-- NAVY OPENS DOOR TO NEGRO MECHANICS.
Old feelings of race prejudice and intolerance, appearing mainly in the South, confronted the Negro at the beginning of the war.

The splendid attitude of the Negro shamed and overcame this feeling in other sections of the country, and was beginning to have its effect even in the South.
It is true that men of the race were not accepted for voluntary enlistment in numbers of consequence in any section, but had the voluntary system continued in vogue, the willingness and desire of the race to serve, coupled with the very necessities of the case, would have altered the condition.
No new Negro volunteer units were authorized, but the demand for men would soon have made it imperative.

It would have been combatted by a certain element in the South, but the friends of the few volunteer units which did exist in that section were firm in their championship and were winning adherents to their view that the number should be increased.

The selective draft with its firm dictum that all men within certain ages should be called and the fit ones chosen, put an end to all contention.
The act was not passed without bitter opposition which developed in its greatest intensity among the Southern senators and representatives; feelings that were inspired entirely by opposition to the Negro.
It would have been a bad thing for the country and would have prolonged the war, and possibly might have lost it, if the selective draft had been delayed.

But it would have been interesting to see how far the country, especially the South, would have progressed in the matter of raising a volunteer army without accepting Negroes.