Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-08-07

and for every case so cited from five to
ten cases can be cited where 1t not only
did not hold good, but was not even pre-
tended by the workers of mob violence.
So, in a recent issue of noted and rabid
southern daily a case of lynching for
rape is indicated by large headlines;
and just beneath 1t is a short and insig-
niflcant paragraph noting the lynching
of two negroes for suspected barn-burn-
ing. But these latter cases are not men
toned in our advocates; or, If mentioned
are minified by those who feel that our
section must be defended at any cost, and
so plead"
Talks of Sam Hose.
Take another instance. The burning
of Sam Hose took place on Sabbath
day. One of our enterprising railroads
ran two special trains to the scene. And
two train-loads of men and boys, crowd
ing from cow-catcher to the tops of the
coaches. were found to go to see the in
describable and sickening torture and
writhing of a fellow human being. And
souvenirs of such scenes are sought
knee caps, and finger bones, and bloody
ears. 1t is tine purest savagery.
1.-THE utter shallowness and hypocricy
of this southern plea that this is a right
eous public sentiment, aroused and adj
ministering a rude but terrible justice, Is
in the clearest light by single simple
proposition. White men commit the same
and worse against the black man, for
which the black man pays this terrible
and ungodly penalty. Can any sane man,
white or black, north or south, suppose
for a single instant that southern COM
munity would either permit black mob
to lynch a white man. whether merely
suspected or known as guilty of his crime,
or that a white mob would lynch one of
it's own color for any crime against a
black? The idea is inconceivable. The
color of the victims skin is the determine
ing factor In most of our lynchings.
"And vet the home of the negro is as
sacred as that of the white man; his
right to live as truly God-given. If the
negro can be kicked and cuffed and cursed
rightly, so can the white man. If there
is no wrong in dishonoring a negroes home,
there is no more wrong in dishonoring the
white mans. If the negro criminal may
be burned at the stake with the usual
accompaniments of flendish cruelty, a
white man guilty of the same crime de-
serves, and should suffer, the same penal
ty There is nothing in a white skin, or
a black to nulify the essential rights Of
man as man. And yet to the average
southern white man this manifestly just
view seems both disloyal and absurd.
Mr.. SIedd's Remedy.
"And here lies the remedy for the con-
dition of things as existing in the south.
The white man who wrongs black and
the white mob that lynches a negro have,
by that act and to that extent, become
criminals in the eyes of the law, and
should be dealt with unsparingly as such.
1t should no longer be a notable thing,
to be chronicled in the news columns and
elicit editorial comment, that several
white men should be punished for the
"a
should be the rule. And as for lynching-
let all the officers of the law, with all the
powers of the law, defend the rights and
life OF every prisoner. Surely we who can
revel in the burning of a fellow human
being, and a section some Of whose prom
inent men can soberly defend such a
bloody proceeding ought not to have any
over-sensitive scruples at the shedding
of a little additional blood, and that too
of criminals caught in the very act of
crime So let our marshals have instruc-
TONS failure to obey which shall result
in criminal prosecution, to protect at any
cost the accused who come into their
care" $50
This is the heart of the southern prob
lem of the negro. If we call upon the peo-
pie of the north to give over their mis-
taken ideas of the equality Of the races
in superficial and accidental things, we
are called upon by the louder voice of SIM
pie humanity to give over our much more
vicious idea of the inequality of the races
in the fundamental rights of human crea-
lures. If we call upon them to lay aside
sentiment, we must lay aside cruelty. If
they are not to elevate the negro above
his proper sphere, we are not to debase
him to@the level of the brute. But in
mutual understanding, a frank Of sorrow
fuD recognition of all the facts-of the
limitations of the race on the one hand,
and of it's inalienable rights on the other,
with charity and good will between north
and south, and of both toward the black
man-let us give him fair and favorable
conditions, and suffer him to work out,
unhampered his destiny among u.s."