The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-06-07

| Beginning to See Things as They Are.
The newspapers of the north that have
| been criticislng the southern people so Sc
| verely for lynchings that occur in the sou tn
for murder and rape are beginning to un-
dersiand that the northern people will re-
sort to lynch law Just as quickly as the
southern people under similar conditions.
| The lynching of the black man at Port Jer-
Wis, N. Y. the other day who was charged
! with a felonious assault upon white girl is
the subject of good deal Of comment in
| the northern papers, and it Is noticeable that
in the comments it is virtually admitted that
| if the crime of rape was committed as fire.
| quently in the north as in the south lynch
| ings would be as common IN that section of
the country as in this. The Philadelphia
Press, in commenting upon the Port Jervis
| lynching, says:
| 1.-THE fact that such lawless event could
take place in such an orderly community as
| Port Jervis is much more discOuraging than
if it had occurred in the south. The reasons
which 1T is held justify mob violence in the
south when revolving crimes are committed
| have no force when applied to this Port
Jervis case. The colored people number
only small minority of the population in
that neighborhood.
4 i
at is useless to denounce such violence in
| the south if it is to be encouraged in the
| north. There are thousand excuses i'll the
| south for lynching where there is one in the
| north. The colored population is much
! larger in the former section, and has not
reached the degree of civilization the coll
ored people in the north have. The law is
| ample to cover such cases here, the courts
sure to convict with proper evidence, and
punishment certain to follow. If, under
these conditions, mob gives way to its
| angry passions and commits murder, it is
| doubly as culpable as mob that lynches q
man under the conditions of society preva-
lent in the south"
The New York Tribune is not cutie as
frank az the Philadelphia Press. In its
comments upon the Port Jervis affair, it
| says:
mot one word has been said by any in
telligent aad respectable citizen in defense
of the lynching or the lynchers. They stand
condemned and detested by all whose good
opinion is worth having. While our breth-
rem in other states are discussing this &C.
currence, not without sneers at the con-
trast which they think they see between
profession and performance at the north
they should take this fact into considera-
ton, that the whole force of public
sentiment in this region is against this
crime and these criminals"
Aud so are lynchings condemned in the
south. All Of the southern papers are just
as ou,spoken against mob violence as are
the papers of the north But because lynch
ings are condemned by both the northern and
the southern people it does not follow that
there will be no more lynchings either in the
north or the south. People of either sec
ton who are sincere in their condemnation
of mob violence would not hesitate to help
lynch black brute who had inflicted upon
O woman belonging to the family of any OF
them an injury like, that inflicted upon thu
girl at Port Jervis. The Tribune says tina
not one word has bean said by any respect
able and intelligent citizen OF Port Jervis
in defense Of the lynching that occurred
there. No doubt all the people of the plac
condemn the lynching of the negro, bu
pretty nearly all of them indirectly partici
pated in the lynohing, 1t is alleged that q
thousand men witnessed the deed, ant
as they did not stop it a fsIl
inference is that they approved it
II would not be an easy matter for thu
Tribune to discover in any northern com
munity man who would admit that be
would not assist in lynching a black brut,
who had committed an outrageous assault
upon a female member OF his family. Mer
talk one way about lynchings and act il
another. That being the case it will b,
difficult to prevent lynchings, howeve
i strongly they may be condemned by publ
: sentiment.
There is more to be accomplished toward
checking mob violence by elevating tn
class that furnishes the victims of it thai
/, there is by striving to strengthen publi
sentiment against violence of that kind.
What about Mr.. Blaines successor in thu
cabinet7 OF the available material at tn
= Presidents hand there are: Pat Egan. G
r diplomat who knows when there is milk il
s the cocoanut; Charles Emory Smith, VIII,
e can tell when a watermelon is ripe evel
/ though he be 5000 miles away; Gen. I
It Burd Grubb, who has reached the chrysal
q stage of diplomacy, aud Green B. Raum
b. who never resigns. Which will it BET