The new age. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1902-190?, 1902-07-12
capable of advancement. they will in.

capable of advancement. they will In.
eyitably advance; II not. they will as
inevitably fail and fall out: and no
artificial conditions. temporarily Great.
ed. can permanently affect the opera.
ton OF this law.
Yet 1t will not do. on this principle.
to say. as is so often said In the South,
that the negro has had his chance and
has failed. He Ia but a generation
from seryitude and almost complete
illiteracy. During that time he has
lived under the cloud OF his former
state, and in the miasmic atmosphere
OF unfriendliness and repression.
That he has made any progress Is
strange; that he has made the pro-
gress that he has is little short OF
wonderful. For the development OF a
servile people cannot be measured by
the standards OF the free. But free.
dom Is not a matter of form and
statute only. No people is free whose
simple human privileges and posi-.
bilities are curtailed or denied by the
public sentiment that surrounds them.
No people is free that is dominated
and terrorized by a more numerous
and powerful class. No people is free
whose inherent rights to life. liberty.
and the pursuits of happiness. how
much soever guaranteed by the or
ganic law. are, in practice and in fact
held on sufferencc. and constantly al
the mercy OF 8 lawless mob.
Freedom does not. indeed imply so
cial, intellectual. or moral equality
but its very essence ia the equality o.
the fundamental rights OF human
creatures before God and the law.
Such freedom is not human instItu.
ton and no man or men have any
right inhering in their birth. color
or traditions. TO tamper with or cur.
tail such freedom at their arbitrary
pleasure. or In accordance with the
dictates of their frenzied passions
Such men are violators OF the law
both human and divine.
ovfnrBdkozi goo shrdlu rdatshrdlrast
And here lies the remedy for the
condition of things as existing in the
South. The white man who wrongs
black and the white mob thatlynches
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. II should nc
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
negro. II should be the rule. And
as for lynching-let all the officer
of the law. with all the powers OF ths
law, defend the rights and life Of
every prisoner. Surely we who car
revel in the burning OF a fellow hu
man being. and a section some oI
whose prominent men can soberly de
fend such a bloody proceeding, ough
not to have any oyer-sensitiye scruplei
at the shedding Of a little additiona
blood. and that too Of criminals caugh
in the very act OF crime. So let oul
marshals have instructions. failure =
lobey which shall result In crimina
prosecution. 10 protect at any cost tbs
accused who come into their care.
n this seems bloody. is It mor'
bloody than the lyncher's purpose
Or is he any the more murderer
who. in silence and alone. takes th'
life of a fellow human shrdulhrdluaf
life OF a fellow man. than every mem
her Of a mob which, without the pro
cess Of the law. takes a human lie
And If the mob calls murder a justin
cation for It's course OF vengeance
does il not. by its own act and attl
tude condemn itself 10 a Ike penal
ltvg At any rate. this is the only re
stralning influence that our lyncher
can comprehend. and this. togethe
uirb the most rigid administration o
the law in the case Of every ~ron
dome 10 a negro. Is the only ayailao.
remedy for conditions as they NOV
I.xigt Our lower classes must b
made TO realize. by whatever mean
that the black MAJ has rights "hie