The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1900-08-02
MURDER AT HOME AND ABROAD.

The shooting and clubbing of ne
groes by mobs in New Orleans will be
condemned as strongly by the great
majority of the white people of that
city and of the South generally as by
those of other sections. MObs are pro-
verbally brutal, reckless and cruel,
whether they are animated by reli-
gious motives, as was the case with
that which. not many months ago in
a New England State, subjected to
shameful indignity and suffering
man whose theology differed from
that of his neighbors, or whether
they are maddcned by industrial
wrongs or race prejudices. The out
break in New Orleans, while not to be
defended, has at least the eStenuation
of the tragedy that preceded it, in
which several policemen were delib-
erately shot down by negro des-
perado, and of the aggravation pro-
duced by the general growth of negro
lawlessness and crime among the
colored population of the South,
especially Of the Southern cities. The
feeling of insecurity and danger en-
gendered by the peculiar and trying
conditions in the South finds express
sion in mob outbursts and lynch law.
It is not merely the motive of revenge
or the punishment Of criminals which
is behind all this, but the question of
self-preservation. Mob law is not the
proper solution of the race question
in the South, but in considering the
moral and legal wrong involved in
such excuses the situation in that
section should be remembered. When
we come to apportion the responsible
ity for the lynching Of negroes or at
tacks upon them by mobs, a very
large part must in justice be placed
at the door of the Northern fanatics
who have been crusading against the
South for so many years and who
have created sentiment Of distrust
and hostility between whites and
sistent trouble-makers and stirrers-up
of strife will now once more raise
their pious voices in holy horror at
the Southern '.barbarians" and cen
emies of civilization" who slaugh
ter defenseless and inoffensive ne
groes, forgetting their own part in
creating the conditions giving rise to
these occurrences. Many of these
same sermOnizers, who will condemn
the New Orleans mob in particular
and the Southern white people in
general, are among the strongest sup
porters of the Administrations war
against the Fi]ipinos, and doubtless
read with great satisfaction the mill
tarv bulletin issued each week giving
the number of natives killed during
the preceding seven days. The MUIR
South will call forth from these
critics columns of fiery denunciation.
but they have not a word of condem-
nation for the murder of thousands Of
Filipinos, whose sole offense is their
desire to be free. According to re-
ports of participants, our forces in
the Philippines have more than once
turned their guns indiscriminately
upon men, women and children flee
ing from captured villages, and in
Mindanao but recently 80 natives
were slaughtered in revenge for the
murder Of one soldier. The wholesale
murders in the Philippines do not
justify the retail murders in New
Orleans, but supporters of the Adj
ministration would do we'll to remove
the beam from their own eyes before
going into spasms over the mote in
the eyes of their Southern brethren.
As long as the Government remains
in the business of slaughtering gen
tlemen of color in the Philippines it
must expect its example to have a
bad effect at home. baltimore SIN.