The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1903-09-14
The Lynching Evil.

| No nation ever retains liberty after
1t ceases to maintain the law, writes
Bishop Warren A Gambler. in his adj
mirable and timely excoriation of the
lynching evil, which The Constitution
| publishes today. And no nation can
| rightly boast of having attained a
| high stage OF civilization whose PEG
| pie do not make respect for the law
| the corner stone of their practice, as
well as OF their profession. Only
| through respect for the law, and the
| determination to see ii upheld in eV-
| cry instance and at any hazard. can
! that state be reached in which the
rights Of men are respected and per
! feet justice secured.
Bishop Gambler uses language none
| too strong in criticising those who
would condone the anarchy which
takes the form OF lynching. For 1t is
anarchy in its most dangerous form
anarchy which does not deign to no.
tice property. but goes after human
life The dangers ne sees in the
spread of the lynching evil are not
overestimated. Drive from the people
respect for the law, and you strike
down the law: and then comes an
archy and the deluge.
There are. unquestionably, extreme
provocations for lynchings in some
cases, but there is no honesty in the
claim-north or south-that lynching
is resorted to only as summary pun
ishment for single crime. Take the
country over and the records will
show. as pointedly emphasized by
Bishop Gambler, that not more than
one-fourth the lynchings OF recent
years have come as punishment for
the unspeakable crime. An Indiana
lynching which resulted in the killi..g
of several people had its inception in
resentment toward criminal for
shooting policeman; a Mississippi
lynching was inspired by an attempt
at arson: mob broke loose in Hi
nois. oyerthrowing the law and com
hitting murder because some limo
cent negroes attempted to work in the
mines there there have, unquestion-
ably, been many lynchings which had
no possible relationship to the crime
OF rape.
Everybody. knows that the day has
long since pissed when the mob CON
fined its lynching outbreaks to punish
ment for that one crime. Once that
may have been the case, but it is not
true now. This fact demonstrates the
insidious progress this particular form
OF anarchy is making, and fully war
rants the conclusion that unless the
good people put down the mob, the
mob Will put down the good people.
Condone the action of lynchers in
overthrowing the law and taking unto
themselves the right to Judge and pun
ish Tor one crime. and they demand
wider latitude and greater power.
Tell the mob it is right in disregarding
the courts and defying The sworn Off
GERS Of the law in one instance, and it
Immediately declares itself superior to
the law in all instances. If it IS to be
allowed 10 act as regulator in one
thing. it sees no reason why il should
not administer punishment in all
things according to its own pleasure.
II requires no violent stretch Of the
imaginatiOn 10 see the mob unless
properly put down, demanding as a
right that it be permitted to infiict its
death penalty upon man because Of
his political or his religious beliefs.
That has been the experience OF 9th
er lands. and human nature is not
greatly changed by few years, few
decades. or even a few centuries.
This lynching mania has manifested
itself in all parts of the country. Its
consideration furnishes no merely To-
cal or sectional problem. 1t is blot
upon American civilization, a menace
to the peace OF the land Instead Of
seeking to find excuse for it, all good
people should join with Bishop Cand-
Ter in condemning it and in putting
down. and keeping down, the mob
every time it seeks to trample the law
under foot.
Lynching is no cure for any evil;
ii is in itself an evil that is working
grave harm to our American civiliza-
ton. one that must be stamped out if
that civilization is to be ono worthy
the name.