The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-08-15
MoBs PROTECT OUR WOMEN
Southern Man. Defends the Practice of
Ivnehing

Chautauuua. n. Y, August IL
| UNIQUE among all summer gatherings
| is the ''mob. conference" now in pro-
gress here. The increase" OF. mob spirit
| shown by feuds, Iynchings, riots, assas-
! sfnations and other laWless happenings
| gives great Importance to this confer
ence. Among today's speakers was
John Temple Graves. of Atlanta, Ca,
who spoke on The Mob Spirit of the
South" He defended lynching as a
remedy for the crimes OF assault, hold
ing that though lynching- is crime 1t
is justified by the crime which pro-
vokes it. and will never be discontinued
until that crime is eliminated. The
remedy for lynching must beNthe elm
nation of the crime of assault and this,
he maintained, could be done only by
the separation of the two races n\tne
United States. He said in part:
The problem of the hour is not how
to prevent lynching in the south, but
the larger question how shall We de-
stroy the crime which always has and
always will provoke lynching? The
answer which the mob returns to this
vital question is already known. The
mob answers it with the rope, the bullet
and sometimes, God save us, with the
torch. And the mob is practical; its
theory is effective to a large degree;
the mob is today the sternest. the
strongest and the most effective re-
straint that the age holds for the con-
troll Of ra9ine"
Mob Protects Women.
The lyncher does not eXtermtnate
the miscreant, Mr. Graves contended,
but he holds him nightly, in check. AS
a sheer. cold. patent fact, - the MOP
stands today as the most potenhll pull
Wark between the women of the south
and such carnival Of crime as wound
infuriate the world and precipitate the
humiliation of the negro race. The
masses of the negroes he held are not.
afraid of death coming on in the regu-
lar way. They love display and the
spectacular element of a trial and exc
cution appeal to their imaginations.
EXpediting the processes of the law
would not be adequate to eliminate
ynching. The repeal of the amend
ments and the establishment of tie
negroes inferiority IN law and society,
said Mr.. Graves, though desirable, are
not sufficient, for the negro" he
added, lis thing of the senses and
with this race and with all similar
races the desire of the senses must be
restrained by the terror of the senses,
il possible under the law"
But One Remedy.
No influence of suppression so mighty
and effective could be brought to bear
as law making amputation the penal
,ty for the crime of assault But this
is a cUrfew-like edict. separate laws
for white or black or the treatment of
the crime of assault as separate and
outside of all other codes are but eX-
pedients, he maintained; there is no
real remedy but one. Mo- statute will
permanently solve this problem. Re
ligiOn does not solve it. Educat ton
complexities it. Politics complicates 1t.
The truth which lies hey ond and above
all these temporiZing eXpedients," he
concluded, lis that separation is the
logical, the inevitable, The only solution
of this great problem of the racse.
In the afternoon mob conference John
Temple Graves answered questions. The
north and south were about equally repre-
sented. Mr.. Graves plan for the solu-
ton of the race troubles is a state set
aside for negroes and diSfranchiSement
outside of that territory. He proposed no
exodus, but a gradual emigration. !
He said the south would not object TO the
loss ofithe negroes for it is learning the |
superiority of white labor.
rs mob execution. he was, asked, "a
matter of economy to the south?
No" he replied the south never
weighs money iii the matter of woman's
Another question was: "Are not the |
southern mobs largely white trash and
men of murderous intent2'
He replied by no means. The mobs I
have included the highest in the land, Of
ficias and professional men,
He declared that the white man would |
be. lynched as quickly as, a negro for an I
He instanced in hrief the only lynching /
N New Orleans in recent years.