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Show ! IS THE NEGRO A NATIONAL MENACE? The President and Mr. Root will I. admit that the order commanding all the uegr - regiments to steam for the Philippines i issued i ! anticipation of possible and irritating eontingen- cies which may follow the debates on the dismissal i from the service for riotou conduct of a whob- battalion of negro infantry. Some of' the Republican Repub-lican members and senators, fearing a drift of tin-negro tin-negro vote to the Democratic beach, are insistent in their condemnation and. indeed, denunciation of the President for what they stigmatize as arbitrary arbi-trary and hasty action toward the black battalion. Here is the case summarized. The outrage foi' which three companies- of negro soldiers wen? di-missed di-missed occurred on Aug. 1: lar. in Fort Brown. Texas, where the regiment was stationed. About midnight a band of unknown ruffians r;vi amuck through the town of Brownsville, "shooting it up." as the expression is. In the scrimmage one man. a 'bartender, was killed, and another seriously wounded. wound-ed. The wonder is that no more were killed, for bullets flew everywhere, some of them piercing beds where women and children were sleeping. Then a-suddenly a-suddenly as the desperadoes appeared they vanished. van-ished. Charges were at once made to the officers commanding the negro troops that men from the garrison were the murderers. An investigation was made at once, one of the first moves of the commanding com-manding officer being to examine the men's rifles. . These were all clean, but the bullets fired the night f S before were dug out and proved to be army ammu- nit ion. . , " Against this strong piece of circumstantial evi- dence the men made no defense. They all denied that they were implicated, and also denied that they kmv anything of the guilty parties. The colonel of the regiment, unable to fasten the guilt upon I any of his men. reported the matter to Washington. The President at once sent down an officer to in- j vestigate. On receiving this officer's report the j President demanded that the regiment. furnish him j the narnes of the assassins. The men claimed t' I know nothing of the murderous affair. The Presi- I dent now threatened to expel from the service three j companies, whom he daimed shielded the mur- . derers. unless the names of the guilty men were'; sent him inside of 'a given time. Again the men j I pleaded ignorance, and at once the President for- I warded an order discharging the three companies. All the men w?re dishonorably discharged and uor. one of them is eligible to fight for "old Glory" ? again. Xaturally the dismissed men resented what ' they contended was unfair treatment, for uiidoubt- ' edly many of them knew nothing of the outrage on 1 the citizens of Brownsville. Hie entire regiment V felt the disgrace and sympathised with their corn V' rades. The regiment claimed that three companies ' I should not be disgraced for the sins of a f ew J drunken men. This is the feature of the case tharS has inspired the congressional friends of the black ) troops. Xo one takes the ground that the m,;hvJ I men should not have been dismissed, or hanged fort that matter, or that those who knowingly shielde 1 1 them should not also have been punished It U t charged, however, that the investigation into the 1 I whole unpleasant business was farcical and that a - 1 shrewd persistent investigator would have diseov- ' S ered the truth. The President deemed the affai j of suff.ctent importance to give it a place in his ff congressional message, and since then he is re- i Ported to have said that he will veto any measure J congress may pass to nullify Ids decision. ThV I Democrats are holding their fire, for -it is plain that the severest criticism of Mr. Roosevelt's ao I will come from his own party, two of whom ha e ! Iready introduce,! motions on the matter. periM f ously close to censure on the PresidentV acti t V. U ( Has he President, either as chief executive or com- ' ' mander-in-cluei of the United States army. or as He claims he has the black battalion J hJ in politics and give rii . faCtor' bate. Tch wimcniious de- |