Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-08-10
President DEGREES the Crime
Of Lynching.
LAW MUST BE OBEYED
LETTER TO GOV. DURBIN OF IN
DIANA.
Attitude Of Indiana Executive in the
Matter Highly Praised by
Mr.. Roosevelt.

authorized today, President Roosevelt COM
mends Governor Durbin of Indiana for the
attitude he assumed recently respecting
lynching. The President also embraces the
opportunity to express his own views in
reference to lynching and mob violence gen.
orally, pointing out that mob violence is
merely 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 frequent
ly induces a resort to lynching shall be ap-
piled swiftly and surely, but by due process
of the courts, SO that 1t may be demonstrate
ed that the law is adequate to deal with
crime by freeing 1t from every vestige OF
technicality and delay
President Roosevelts letter in full to Gov
ernor Durbin follows:
"Oyster Bay N. z, August 6.
"My Dear Governor Durbin: Permit me
to thank you as an American citizen for the
admirable way in which you have vindi-
Gated the majesty of the law by your re-
cent action In reference to lynching. feel,
my dear sir, that you have made all men
your debtors who believe, as all far-seeing
men must, that the well being. indeed. the
very existence, of the republic depends
upon that spirit of orderly liberty under the
law which Is as Incompatible with mob
violence as with any form of despotism.
OF course, mob violence is simply one form
Of anarchy; and anarchy is now, as 1t al
ways has been, the handmaiden and fore
runner of tyranny.
Praise for the Executive.
IT feel that you have not only reflected
honor upon the state which for Its good for
tune has you as its chief executive, but
upon the whole nation. 1t Is incumbent
upon every man throughout this country
not only to hold up your hands in the
course you have been following. but to
show his realization that the matter Is one
of vital concern to us all.
"All thoue htful men must feel the gravest
alarm over the growth Of lynching in this
country, and especially over the peculiarly
hideous forms so often taken by mob vio-
lence when colored men are the victims
on which occasions the mob seems to lay
most weight, not on the crime, but on the
color of the criminal. In q certain proper
ton Of these cases the man lynched has
been guilty of crime horrible beyond de-
scription-a crime so horrible that far
as he himself Is concerned he has forfeited
the right to any kind of sympathy whatso-
ever. The feeling of all good citizens that
such a hideouS crime shall not be hideOusly
punished by mob violence is due not in the
least to sympathy for the criminal, but to
very lively sense of the train Of dreadful
consequences which follow the course taken
by the mob in exacting human vengeance
moreover, 1t Is well to remember that the
criminal not merely sins against humanity
In inexplicable and objectionable fashion.
but sins particularly against his own race,
land does them wrong far greater than
any white man can possibly do them.
Therefore, in such cases the colored people
throughout the land should in every posi-
bic way show their belief that they more
than all others In the community. are hor-
rified at the commission of such crime
and are peculiarly concerned in taking
every possible measure to prevent its re-
currence and to bring the criminal to i'm
mediate justice. The slightest lack of vigor
either in denunciation of the crime or in
bringing the criminal to justice is itself un-
pardonable.
Speedy Justice Demanded
Moreover, every effort should be made
under the law to expedite the proceedings
of justice in the case of such an awful
crime. But it cannot be necessary in order
to accomplish this, to deprive any citizen of
those fundamental rights to be heard in his
own defense, which are so dear to us all
and which lie at the root of our liberty. 1t
certainly ought to be possible by the proper
administration of the laws to secure swift
vengeance upon the criminal; and the best
and immediate efforts of all legislators
judges and citizens should be addressed In
securing such reforms in our legal pro-
cedure as to leave no vestige of excuse for
those misguided men who undertake to
reap vengeance through violent methods.
Men who have been guilty of crime like
rape or murder should be visited with swift
and certain punishment and the just effort
made by the courts to protect them in their
rights should under no circumstances be
perverted into permitting any mere techni-
cality to avert or delay their punishment
The substantial rights of the prisoner to a
fair trial must, of course, be guaranteed,
as you have SO justly insisted that they
should be; but, subject to this guarantee,
the law must work swiftly and surely, and
all the agents of the law should realize the
wrong they do when they permit Justice 10
be delayed or thwarted for technical or in
sufficient reasons. We must show that the
law is adequate to deal with crime by free
ing 1t from every vestige of technicality
and delay.
Wrong Done to the Community.
But the fullest recognition of the horror
Of the crime and the most complete lack of
sympathy with the criminal cannot in the
least diminish our horror at the way in
which 1t has become customary to avense
these crimes and at the consequences that
are already proceeding therefrOm 1t is, of
course, inevitable that where vengeance is
taken by a mob 1T should frequently light
on innocent people; and the wrong done in
such a case to the individual Is one for
which there is no remedy. But even where
the real criminal is reached the wrong done
by the mob to the community itself is we'll
nlgn as great.
Especially is this true where the lynch
ing Is accompanied with torture. There are
certain hideous sights which. when once
seen, can never De wholly erased from the
mental retina. The mere fact of having
seen them implies degradation. This Is a
thousandfold stronger when, instead of
merely seeing the deed. the man has par
ticipated in it. Whoever in any part of our
country has ever taken part In lawiessly
putting to death a criminal by the dreadful
torture of fire must forever after have the
awful spectacle of his handiwork scared
into his brain and soul He can never again
be the same man.
This matter Of lynching would be a terri
BILE thing even IL it stopped with the lynch.
ing Of men guilty of the inhuman and hid
eous 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 unpublished to himself take the
law into his own hands whenever 1t suits
his own convenience.
An Evil That Spreads.
tIn the same way the use of torture by
the mob in certain cases Is sure to spread
until 1t Is applied more or less indiscrind.
nately in other cases. The spirit of lawless-
ness grows with what IT feeds on and vvbav,