The Republican courier., 1900-01-20
LONGING ON LYBCHIUG.
The Governor DenOnnCeS Law.
loSSneSS in the South.
Points to 1t as the Cause of Miss
iSsippi's Non Development.

The immigrant hunting a hom,
and the capitalist looking for prof
liable investment for his money
will be slow to go where life anC
property are not sacredly respect
ed by the people and protected by
the courts and the law. Though il
is true that the State is attracting
attention because of the unequalled
advantages it offers capital by way
OF profit in manufacturing, yet
mark my prophecy, the State can
never attain that magnificent de.
gree of prosperity and grandeur of
statehood that of right should be
hers so long as public opinion per-
mits the high-handAd mob to treat
the law with contempt, defy the
courts and officers, and murder the
people without prosecution or pun
ishment 1t must be admitted that
the work Of the mob is not of in
frequent occurrence in the State.
Lynching first found federation,
and then justification, in the state
in sublime respect for the virtue
and honor of our white women, and
true to the rule in this as in all
other cases where public opinion
either cOndOnes or approves the
disregard of the law, incentive is
thus given to other acts of lawless
ness and so on ad ignitum. AS a
common sequence, therefore, lynch
ing today in the state is visited
upon the suspect not only of rape.
but Of homicide, house burning
and even lesser accusations and of
feDses, and yet the mobist, though
in many instances acting without
mask or disguise, has, with but
few exceptions, gone his way with
out punishment OF even indictmen
so far as the public has been ad
vised. | apprehend the mob spiri
is no greater in Mississippi than il
other states where similar race in
tolerance exists, and yet we are
forced to admit it is on the increase
here, which fact may we'll be taken
as proof most true that there ex-
lists either a morbid increase of
laWlessnesS against which mob
penalty AS a corrective has utterly
failed, or that there is a growth of
intolerance among the white peo-
pie against the negroes, who are
the most useful victims of the mob.
Inspiring rash and hasty vengeance
for acts which the law does not re-
gard so highly penal as to merit
punishment by death.
The law in its amplitude pro
vides proper and commensurate
punishment for all manner of
crime. 1t, however, imposes the
death penalty alone on those guilty
of murder, arson or rape, and un-
der our present judicial system,
with honest. able and courageous
Judges on the bench, with States
attorneys learned in the law and
faithful in its maintenance, and
with juries taken from the intelli-
gent and taxpaying men in each
community, as may be done in
every case under the very wise
provisions of the present jury sys-
tenn, there remains no justifable
reason why those who are guilty
of crime, great or small, should not
be properly punished by the courts
of the country. [ go further, and
confidently predict thatsuch would
be done if the people properly ap
preciated the sacred Importance OF
maintaining the law and the supre.
macy Of the courts. The honor OF
| Mississippi and the good name of
her Christian civilization demand
this, and the suppression OF mot
violence, which, in my judgment
is the most demoralizing, brutaliz
ing and ruinOus species of lawless
ness known to any brave and free
people.
The fault lies in a defective oI
inactive public sentiment on th'
subject, and hence the remedy mus
come from the people. The Law
has all the while been ample ant
rigorous in its penalties for crime
the judges have done their full
duty for the suppression of mObs
while appeals to public opinion il
this behalf have been made by a
least three of the great religion
denominations of the State, re
, spectively in conference, synod
and conventions, and by the pres
, as a rule; but all have failed t.
bring apparent beneficial result
, in that regard. Since then mora
! persuasion fails to sufficient,
arouse the people to the DANCE
and enormity of the evil which i