The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1884-04-24
IN. Y. Independent.1
The Remedy for Riots.

recently lost their lives, IN CINCINNATI,
and some one hundred and fifty 9TH
ers were wounded, suggests a great
variety of grave questions, one OF
which relates to the remedy for riots,
especially in large cities, where they
are most likely to occur, and, when
they do occur, to be most destructive
to life and property. What IS this
remedy?
Our first answer to this question is
that part of the remedy is preUentire
in the sense that it excludes the con-
ditions that give rise to riots. That
type of public sentiment which de-
mands and secures the enactment of
good and wholesome laws, that equal
" demands the faithful and honest
execution of those laws, and that az
rays itself on the side Of law and Or
der and against all attempts at dis
turbance of the public peace, is, in
every community and in every coun-
try on earth, the surest and best pre-
ventive of riots. These conditions
being present, riots never occur.
There is nothing to provoke them,
and nothing to feed or fan the flames
of popular passion. It is especially
true, in this country, that the heart OF
the people, as to what they want and
will have, is practically the law OF the
land. 1t is the great force that stands
behind the law, and controls legisla-
lures, juries, judges, and all the execu-
tive officers of government, whether
in the city, the State, or the Nation.
A just and law-abiding people will
spontaneously keep the peace, and
that, too, in proportion as they pos
sess this character. The best of all
remedies for riots, the least costly and
the most benefcent, is the ore that
prevents them altogether by exclud-
ing and superseding their causal con-
ditions. This remedy, however, sup
poses the civilization, the culture, and
practical ethics of the people to be OF
a very high order; indeed much high
er than exists in most communities.
What, then, shall be done in those
lower planes Of civilization and cul-
ture in which riots actually occur, and
have to be dealt with as matters OF
fact? Here comes in our second an
swer to the question proposed; and
the one answer that covers the whole
question is that organized society, op-
Grating through the constituted au-
thorities Of law, should always be in a
state summarily to suppress riot in
the very outset Of the lawless move
ment, and should apply to it the law
of force with such promptitude and
severity that suppression will be the
immediate result. Such was not the
fact in Cincinnati; and this is the
reason why the rioters had their own
way for more than twenty-four hours
The city police were not ready for &C
ton at the right moment; and when
they were ready they acted mainly on
the defensive; and the same was true
Of the military when they came into
the scene. An unorganized mob was
suffered to go on with the work Of de-
struction. when it might have been
crushed in twenty minutes by prompt
and proper action. This mode OF
dealing with riots is the sheerest kind
of nonsense. The one thing to be
done with a riot is to club it down IN.
stanter, in the very outset, and, unless
it Immediately yields, pour into it vol
leys of musketry Every city espe-
cially should be ready to do this al
short notice; and, when the occasion
calls for it, should then do it with
such decisive and telling blows that
the rioters will speedily come to theil
senses. There is no policy so bad and
none in the end so cruel as that which
hampers with a riot and makes exper-
iments with it. The life of every riot
er is instantly forfeited; and he may
and should be knocked down or shot
down with the same readiness that a
mad dog is killed. His liability to in-
slant death is the only argument that
he will understand; and this he will
understand when it is preached to him
under the law Of force. Cincinnati is
to-day a disgraced city, because it
failed to assert and exercise its organ
lied power in season against an unor-
ganized mob. It's Court House is
burnt and valuable records destroyed
and many people killed and more
wounded, for the want of timely and
efficient action in suppressing the riot.
Our third answer to the question is
that, in every State, there should be a
severe law against rioters, and that,
whenever riot occurs, the officers OF
law should exercise the utmost vigi-
lance in ascertaining who have been
participant therein, and in bringing
them to justice through the agency of
courts. It is not enough to put down
the riot and there leave the matter.
Rioters are to be treated as criminals;
Just as murderers and thieves are
treated. They are criminals of the
higher grade, and generally consist of
that class of persons who are ready
for the commission Of almost any
crime. And if they may be shot down
while engaged in the riot, as they GER
tainly may be, without the slightest
hesitation, then, when the riot is sup
pressed, they may, and should be pun
ished for this high crime. Add the
element of severe punishment after
ward to that of forcible and vigorous
suppression at the time; and the two,
in combination, will teach classes that
rioting in this country is very expen-
sive business.
Let it be remembered that a riot is
not a revolution, in which the people
fall back upon their original rights,
and in the interests of law and justice
displace a corrupt and oppressive gov
ernment, and put better one in its
place. We have not word to say
against revolution, when resorted to
as the only means of redressing intol-
cradle grievances Mobs and riots
are of an entirely different character,
being simply temporary and limited
disturbances of the public peace, and
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