The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-10
PRESIDENT ON LYNcRIHG.
LETTER TO GOVERNOR DURBAS
 SETTING FORTH HIS YIEWs.
Commend. Action of Indlana,. oh.sf Executive in ,he Recent Outrage. in That state-Dsslares Lyaeh.ns An- arehy and Anarchy the Forsrunn.r of Tyranny-Usgs. swift rrlal by Due Process Of Courts Of Those Guilty of Crimes That Induee Lynehins.
mes That Induce Lynching.

or TyranDy-Urses Swift Trial by Due
 Process of Courts or Those Guilty ef
 Crimes That Induce Lynching.
 Oyster Bay, N. r. Aug. s.-In a let ter the publication of which was au- thorized to-day President Roosevelt commends Governor Durbin, of Indi- ana, for the attitude he assumed re- gently respecting aynching. The presi- dent also embraces the opportunity to express his own views in reference to lynching and mob violence generally. pointing out that mob violence is mere " one form of anarchy. and that an- archy is the forerunner of tyranny The president vigorously urges that the penalty for that crime, which most fre- quentIy induces resort to lynching. shall be applied swiftly and surely, but by due process of the courts, so that it may be demonstrated that the law is adequate to deal with crime,by freeing 1t from every vestige of stechnicality and delay"
 President Roosevelt in, concluding his letter says:
 This matter of lynching would be terrible thing even if it stopped with the lynching of men guilty of the inhuman and hideous crime of rape; but as matter of fact, lawlessness of this type never does stop and never can stop in such fashion. Every violent man in the community is encouraged by every case of lynching in which the lynchers go unpunished to himself take the law Into his own hands whenever it suits his own convenience. In the same way the use of torture by the mob in certain cases is sure to spread until it is ap- piled more or less indiscriminately in other cases The spirit of laWlessness grows with what it feeds on and when mobs with impunity lynch criminals for one crime they are certain to begin to lynch real or alleged criminals for oth- CT causes.
 In the recent cases of lynching over three -fourths were not for rape at all, but for murder, attempted murder and even less heinous offenses. Moreover, the history of these recent cases shows the awful fact that when the minds of men are habituated to the use of tor. .ture by lawless bodies te g assezg srlnaeg of a peculiarly revolting description other lawless bodies will use torture in order to punish crimes of an ordinary type. Surely no patriot can fail to see the fearful brlrta1izafion and debase-
 nent which the indulgence of such a spirit and such practices inevitably portend. Surely all public men, all writers for the daily press, all clergy men, all teachers, all who in any way have a right to address the public, should with every energy unite to de- nounce such crimes and to support those engaged in putting them down. As people we claim the right to speak with peculiar emphasis for freedom and for fair treatment of all men without regard to differences of race, fortune, creed or color. We forfeit the right so to speak when we commit or condone such crimes as those of which I speak.
 'eThe nation, like the individual, can- not commit a crime with innpunity. If we are guilty of lawlessness and brutal violence, whether our guilt consists in active participation therein or in mere .connivance and encouragement, we shall assuredly suffer later on because of what we have done. The corner stone of this republic as of all free governments, is respect for and obedi- ,ence to the law. Where we permit the law to be defied or evaded, whether by rich man or poor man, by black man or white, we are by just so much weak ening the bonds of our civilization and increasing the chances of it's overthrow and of the substitution therefor of a system in which there shall be violent alternations of anarchy and tyranny.''