The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-15
MOB SPIRITS ORIGIN;
ITS EFFECTS AND REMEDY
Discussed at Chautauqua by Chief Justice Lore
of Delaware

tANs mug Ill lie
discussion of mob law and lynchings
was continued here to-day by Chief
Justice Lore of Delaware. His subject
was the Relation of Law to the Man
Hesitation of the Mob Spirit"
Let us consider the mob spirit" said
Justice Lore, with respect to It's origin,
its effects and its remedy.
THE origin is not always founded in
evil. 1t often enlists men, who are
pleased to call themselves the respecta-
BILE element of society, and are in the
main well meaning. Its Indictment is
generally some real or imaginary wrong
or some aggravated crime. In the mo-
ment of unguarded passion such men
forget their duty to themselves and So
ciety and lend countenance and aid to
lawlessness, thoughtless alike of its
consequences to themselves and socle-
ty in thus taking the law into their
own hands.
There is. however, a percentage of
every community whose criminal lives
tend to lawlessness. This element is
constantly on the alert and scents COM
ing violence, as a sleuth hound scents
blood. When mob law prevails, this
element furnishes the leaders of the
mob, and the respectable element be-
comes the follower of the most degrad-
ed; whose society under ordinary cir
cumstances would be Stunned with as
much care as the plague.
Free governments, where the peo-
pie are the source of power, are much
more subject to the mob spirit than
despotism or monarchies. In the lat
ter a standing army is ever at the COM
mand of the despot, to crush the mob.
In the former the army is a part of
the people ordinarily, and often in SYM
pathy with the mob: so that our very
freedom subjects us to this form of
evil.
1.-THE people in the mad frenzy of the
moment, lawlessly take back delegated
power even, though liberty regulated
by law receives thereby deadly
wound. 1t is a painful thought, that
this great government of ours has this
elemental structural weakness with all
its good. The mob spirit will continue
to exist in free countries, until all men
learn that our only safety is in ODE
dience TO law
From Origin to Effect.
I'VE pass from the orogin of mob
spirit to the evil effects of its exer-
else.
First. Mob law saps the moral
fiber of every participant in the law
less act and puts the most respect
level as the most degraded For once
they join hands. Both clothe them
selves with the garment of crime, the
most brutal and desperate naturally
take the lead, the respectable men
follow such leaders. Lawlessness
breeds crime, and when respectability
and crime lie down together respect
ability wallows in the mire.
1.-The man who violates law In any
case finds 1t easy to add other viola
tions of the last. He readily finds
plausible excuses for his violence, un-
til the time comes when he needs no
excuse at all. The practice becomes
habit, and breaks down every bar
rier against vice. No self-respectIng
man can be an active participant in
mob violence against law, order and
decency and retain his moral integrity
Every such act leaves a scar, and a
blot that a lifetime will not remove.
He can never forget that he once
Joined a cowardly mob in doing cow
ardly act that he as an individual and
alone would not dare to undertake.
Under cover of the multitude, it may
be the night, the mask or some other
disguise, he had become fractional
murderer without the courage to be-
come a whole murderer. In other
words, a coward In his crime. Such
men dare not stand forth in a court
of justice and avow his participation
its just course, and usually when ar
rested he puts in a plea of an alibi.
It's Effect ON Society.
Second. The effect of mob violence
upon society is even more startling. 1t
resolves society into original lawless-
ness; substitutes brute force for law,
and passion and vengeance for justice.
In the words of Gov. Durbin of Indi-
ana, 1T breaks down the barriers which
centuries of civilization have erected
between brute force and human rights
1t gives society over to the most de-
graded and criminal classes. 1t makes
every mobile, when human life Is
taken, murderer, as Judge Brewer
has well declared, and liable to be
tried and convicted for that offense.
Such. in general, Is the communal
result. 1t inoculates the people with
a deadly poison. 1t is as certain that
the mob spirit is contagious. The tri-
umph over law and order of a mob or
iCChiCoS pei SOub III OIlc
locality, Stimulates the same class in
every other locality.
There is always in every populous
community a considerable percentage
Of people criminal by instinct, and
though ordinarily cowed by public SEN
timent, and the forces of the law into
an outward respect for legal authority,
are always on the watch for an oppor-
tunity to trample law under their feet.
Little by little the mob spirit, W. h
has long been active i'm some local.
ties, has been spread, until almost ev-
cry issue of the daily press has news
of some outbreak of lawlessness, too
often successful and unpublished Every
triumphant mob emboldens criminals
In every community to riot, more read
lily and for less reason than before"
Treason Against Government.
Mob violence is deadly treason
against orr pOuprnroapf Vyhfob