Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-02-07
WHAT is THE PROBLEM3
The Real Question Which Confronts the
South Is How to Restore tho Reign OF

The Real Question Which Confronts the
South Is How to Restore tho Reign OF
Law.
There IS great deal being said North
and South and by the public men and ews-
| papers OF both parties about the Southern
problem" as if the term were as well de-
| fined as the multiplication table, the Ten
! Commandments, or the rule In the Shelley
case. As matter of fact, however, tho
| real problem seems to be generally ignored
IN the discussion. The question is not who
shall be appointed postmaster at Confeder-
ate Cross Roads or Moonshineryllle. The
President-elect will no doubt direct his
chiefs of departments TO have the same
| policy for the entire country in the recog-
milton of political claims and their reconcil-
iation with official obligation.
The real problem for the South is how to
restore the reign Of law. Not only are the
constitutions, National and State, openly
and confessedly trampled under foot at
every election, but the spirit of mob law is
I everywhere rampant. 1t breaks out in
every part of Dixie in all sorts of ways,
and is fundamentally the same whether its
victims are white or black. Presidents are
elected only once in four years, and Con-
gressmen biennially, but outlawry, in some
phase, crops out all the year round, and is
the one constant, unfailing and ipexhaust-
lble quantity in Southern life. The worst
OF 1t IS, says the Chicago Inter Ocean, that
no effort Is being made to check It Poiti-
cally, to have a black skin or otherwise
bear marks of Republicanism works for
fixture of the right to vote and have ones
ballot counted, and in other matters to be
suspected even is to be outlawed This is
especially true of colored people, but not
exclusively so. The Law seems to be at
the mercy of popular passion. II the
people Of a locality see 6t, any number OF
them, TO take the law into their own hands,
melting out judgment to suit the frenzy or
freak of the moment, there is nc attempt to
prevent it. One instance and only one, can
be adduced TO the contrary.
The recent attempt to lynch white man
under arrest for numbering his family was
heroicaly and successfully resisted by the
sheriff at Birmingham Instead of being
praised for his fidelity he was put under ar
rest. He is now out Of jail, but only on bail
What he would have done had the prisoner
been black man, or TO what pitch Of indig
nation the Birmingham popuiace would
have been wrought up had the suspect had
black SKIN, and his supposed victim been
white, must be left to conjecture The pop
ular mind at the South seems TO be stepped
IN outlawry, and to have no conception Of
the majesty and sacredness Of law, nor of
the difference between being under sus-
plcion of CRIME and under conviction We
wonder at our medieval ancestors who
tortured suspects TO make them crimlnate
themselves, but that was less barbaric than
to substitute popular vengeance for legal
retribution.
Is the South justice blind and incapable
OF seeing the difference between ire
sponsible and illegal violence and the Or
derry processes of lawi IL would seem so,
one sheriff alone excepted. Take the case
Of the Mississippi war of races, and, even
on the showing made by the whites, the
reliance for furnishing the guilty eolored
man is not arrest, trial, conviction and ex-
ecution, but moo violence, indiscriminate
and unsuitable. The fact that the suspects
are believed 10 be armed and disposed 70
defend themselves may or may not cool
the ardor Of the avengers, but, evidently,
neither the sheriff Of the county nor the
Goyer-or of the State seems disposed TO
90 any thing TO restore law and order
To what extent the National Government
can intervene 70 restore the reign OF law re-
mains 10 De seer. The constitution sharply
limits Federal authority. and those limits
must not be overstepped, for that would be
another phase Of this SANE outlswry Bet
any and every violation Of rights guaran-
teed By the constitution OF the United
States is q crime against the United States
Of which our Federal courts ought to take
cognizsnce. Indirectly. Il 10, directly, thea,
the incoming sdninistT&:son WILL be able 70
promote TIC cause Of justice through legal
processes, and It Is Fol inpossible that
local public sentiment against r7eb vlose1ce
and all its kin ana utn WILL develop Itself IN
tie South Such public sentiment h TIE
most urgent Of Southern needs, the 0se i
thing necessary 70 any healthy growth OF i
tsAt sec:.oa II The l.ne u general prosperl.J. !