Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1894-07-27
American one meets abroad were
Abolitionists. 1t is a passport to favor
and consideration which money will
not piYe
:
NO LYNCH LAW, NO MOB RULE.

From tie Ne@ York Nail ana ErpyesS
The meeting held last night, in this
city, under the auspices of the Afro
American League of the United States,
adopted unanimously a strong and STIR
ring address to the country at large in
condemnation of the heart-rending and
blood-curtlling atrocities practiced upon
Negroes in the Southern States. The
address is especially vigorous in its ar
raignment of mob and lynch law ''as
being subversive of social order, as
being contrary to Christian teachings,
as being inspired by race hatred which
should have no place in our civilization
and as being preiudieial to our moral
and financial reputation at home and
abroad" The spirit and tone of the
address are temperate and deliberate.
Facts are not sacrificed to eXtravagant
expressions or sensational statements
The substance of the address may be
summarized as follows:
While disclaiming any sympathy
whatever with crime or criminals of any
sort or degree, we insist that an orderly
administration Of the laws is the only
safeguard of society against untold in
justice and inevitable disorganization.
We protest against the general disfran-
chisement of the race in the Southern
States, as being unjust to the voters of
the other States, and as being opposed
to the fundamental doctrine of taxa
ton without representation, made one of
hn Sfr Nf of
ernment. and as being fruitful of crimes
against the national citizenship which
must necessarily react upon the entire
nation.
1t is. indeed, a terrible thing to con-
the victims of public vengeance in this
country every year, unaccompanied. by
any process of law, and that the large
men in the south. The following ac-
count of the lynching Of a Negro, in
South Carolina, is copied verbatim from
a well known newspaper of that state:
The crowd was composed of the best
men of the community, and was order
ly to the last No demonstration of
violence was offered. The crowd was
perfectly quiet and orderly throughout,
and having inflicted the punishment of
death on the culprit, the lynchers
quietly dispersed to their homes as if
nothing had happened
This lyncbing scene was subsequent
ly described by the Charleston News
and Courier in an editorial as "a model
affair While disappearing of lynch
ing in general, that paper commended
these lynchers in particular for having
performed their unlawful act in an
orderly manner" 1t is such scenes OF
brutality and lawlessness that have
made civilization in the South but a
thin veneer for essential barbarism.
1t is also true that this bad example
which the South has presented for i'm
imitation has produced mischievous re-
suits in many turbulent and unsettled
communities. Wherever lynchings and
riots are permitted and practiced. law
becomes a fiction, government an alb
straction and civilization a deceitful
varnish for violence and crime.
Now that the South is delivering fine
sentiments on the supremacy of law, in
view of the mob violence in the West,
it would be well for her to remember
that she has been teaching a lesson
which the Western mob has learned
only too we'll. Let the South change
her own practices and correct her own
faults The direct effect OF the disre-
gard of law shown with respect to one
crime is to excite and encourage con-
tempt for and defiance of law in regard
to all offenses