Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-09-11
OUTSIDE POINT OF VIEW
lorthe Times-Republican.


Whenever writer takes his pen in
hand" to give to the world his opinion
of the southern lynching party, its
cause, effect and cure,several things can
be assumed to appear in his essay.
First, sit is a blot on our civilization"
Again, the burning Of the negro at the
stake does not lessen the crime of
rape" and once more, sin all cases law
should take its course" In what fol-
lows this scribe will carefully avoid any
expression of opinion on any of the
three above mentioned stereotyped
statements. II the reader sees fit to
draw conclusions well and good.
Before going farther this statement
should he made and can be relied upon:
Up to the time of the civil war. or to
put 1t another way, While the black
man was slave, the crime of the negro
raping a white woman was unknown.
Not only that, but the slave was the
guardian of women and children. The
southern planter left home leaving his
wife and daughters in the care of the
black man, and history shows his faith
was we'll founded. The writer had an
uncle in business in Baltimore before
the war. His wife lived on his planta-
ton forty miles from town, and was
from Monday morning till Saturday
night surrounded and cared for by some
fifty slaves. This was the day before
Maryland had as many miles of rail-
roads as at present, and this woman
and her three daughters were guarded
against the possible deeds of the poor
white trash by the faithful black slave.
The condition today is that no where,
north or south, does a sensible man
leave his wife or daughters in the care
of a black man, unless near by other
safeguards are in evidence. This by no
means assumes that all black men are
unsafe guardians of women and chill
dren, but it is to state in general terms
that all black men are now looked upon
with suspicion. 1t can not be otherwise
when statistics show that the crime of
black men raping white women is on
the increase the United States over.
And note this last sentence. 1t Is in, the |
United States this crime is on the in
crease. In the West Indies we hear !
little or nothing of this crime, altho
thousands of black men are living
there. In France and England the col
ored man has as few in number of this
particular crime laid at his door as the
white man. So that 1t is fair state
ment that it is the negro born in the
United States and. with here and there
an exception, born since the day of {
Lincoln's emancipation proc I
lamation, that is the rapist. In other
words, the freed black man is the one
guilty of the crime of rapng white I
Now, to get at the cause of this un-
usual state of affairs. 1t goes without
saying that among uncivilized people
the only protection the female has is
the strength of the male. and for pur-
poses of protection the males unite in
a sentiment that the violator of the per-
son of the woman shall be killed. This
is shown among all animals Qor man
is an animaD, only in the lower types
the redress. the vengeance, comes from
the individual brute. whereas man, the
higher type. delegates this police power,
for purposes of greater security, to the
many. And here let us remember that
among the unciviliZed tribes 1T is the
sentiment of fear of punishment and
death that protects the female. par
allel case is in our crowded cities. 1t is
not the lock, the pane of glass or the
orick wall that protects our treasures.
And If the reader agrees With the wr-
.er so far, again we can assume that
he reason why in this country in 1850
4 white woman was safe, surrounded by
black men, was because of an inherited
sentiment of fear Because generation
after generation had been controlled by
his sentiment of fear, for 1t is worse
han folly to suppose that the ignorant
slave on the southern plantation in 1850
lad but few ideas of morality, or of self
government.
Then, Sin the twinkling Of an eye"
he slave became the freed man. Lib
.rty to him was license. The former
lave still on the plantation did not
,asily let loose from his mental envir-
but his children grew up, alb
orbing many erroneous ideas of the
lights of the black man. The senti-
nentalist of the north helped on this
education in no less degree
han the southern fire-eater antagon-
zed the better nature of the freedman.
rhe one taught him che was as good