The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-07-09
MADE A GOOD TALK
Booker Washington Says lynchins
is Not Sectional
SPEECH BEFORE NEGRO EDITORS
Noted Negro Educator Addresses An
Immense Audience and Counsels
His People to Patience.

Louisville, Special.-Before an i'm
mense audience Booker T. Washing
ton, head of the Tuskeegee Institute,
Thursday night delivered an address.
He said that recent regrettable events
in connection with the race question
went to show that lynch law is not
confined to any n section OF the
country. Those events, he said, lead
to sympathy with the race problem
by making it national. He appealed to
the negro to be calm and exercise
seif-control.
Among the other speakers was w.
H. Lewis, assistant district attorney
Of Massachusetts, who was appointed
several months ago by President
Roosevelt. Principal Washington said
in part:
I'm the present season Of anxiety
and almost of despair which possesses
an element Of the race there are two
things | wish to say as strongly as l
may:
First, let no man Of the race be-
come discouraged or hopeless. There
are in this country, North and South,
men who mean to see that justice is
,meted out to the race. Such a man
is Judge Jones, Of Alabama, to whom
more credit should be given for blot
ting out the Infamous system Of peon-
age than to any other man.
Second, let us keep before US the
fact that, almost without exception
every race or nation that has ever got
upon its feet has done so through
struggle and trial and persecution.
NO one should seek to close his
eyes to the fact that the race 10 pass
ing through a very serious and trying
period Of its development, a period
that calls for the use Of our ripest
thought and sober judgment.
Let nothing lead as into extremes
Of utterance or action. It Is in the
long run the race or the individual
that exercises the most patience, for
bearance and s~elf-control in the midst
of trying conditions that wins its
cause. Let nothing induce us to de-
scend to the level Of the mob. In al
vocating this policy I am not asking
that the negro act the coward; we
are not towards. The part we have
played in defending the flag Of our
country is sufficient evidence Of u
courage.
The outbreak Of the mob en-
phasizes two lessons, one for our race
and one for the other citizens Of our
country, South and North; for it is
to be noted that the work of the
lvncher is not confined TO one section
Of the country. The lesson for us is
that w should see to it that SO far as
the influence CT parent, school or pull
pit Is concerned, no effort be spared
to impress on our own people that
idleness and crime should cease. We
should let the world know con all
proper occasions that we consider no
legal punishment too severe for the
wretch Of any ace who attempts to
outrage a woman.
"The lesson for the other portion Of
the nation to learn is that both in the
making and in the execution the
same laws should be made to apply
to the negro as the white man.
There should be meted out equal
justice to the black man and The
white man. Whenever the nation for
gets, or is tempted to forget, It's basic
principle, the whole fabric Of govern
ment for both the white man and the
black man is threatened with destruc-
ton. This is true whether it relates
to conditions in Texas, Indiana or
Delaware. 1t is with a nation as with
an individual: whatever we, sow, that
shall We also reap. If we sow crime
we shall reap lawlessness."