The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-15

that the zone of negro lust and conse- quent negro extermination has spread. For the influence of the latent lawless- ness thus called into activity can but be the precursor Of 9 train of evils. the inevitable result of defiance to the majesty of the law. .....
 It is not so much the race problem that we have to deal with in this coun- try as it is the problem of enforcing the laws by weeding out unhealthy public sentiment and substituting therefor @ wholesome regard for laws, to the up- building of which all citizens are bound as parties to the social compact. Cor rect thoroughly the tendency toward anarchy, and the race problem will set- tel itself. :.
 There is the same pretence. the same excuse offered for the barbarous lynch ings in the North that there is in the, South. It is said that while lynching is barbarous the crimes for which the &C., cused are mobbed are heinous. That is true. and we do not for an instant fail to take 1t Into account. But that, at best. is but palliative; it consti- tutes no valid excuse. It is said that the crimes are so heinous and revolting that the law provides no adequate punishment for those who commit them. If that be true, why not provide ade- quate punishment by law? If tortue and burning be a proper punishment for criminal assault, why not provide for these by statute? The fact that no one offers to do so proves that the claim of inadequacy in the statutes is not sim cere. ,.....
 Again it is claimed that mob violence is justified because of the unreasonable and unnecessary delays in the courts. If this claim be sincere, why is it that those who make 1t, put forth no serious effort to secure expedition in the courts through the exercise of their Suffrages? Or, failing in that way, why do not they go to the root of the trouble. as they claim. by lynching some of the officers of the court responsible for the delays The fact, however, is that the delays of the courts rarely 8relate to cases wherein black men are defendants. There are few ifeany cases on record in which negroes charged with murder of or assault upon white men or women
 
 been adduced against them. Not in the South nor in the North is there the slightest danger. that a negro charged with the commission of any serious crime will be acquitted where there is anything like reasonable proof against him. The delays complained of are tlsu- ally privileges of the wealthy or in- fiuential.
 It is also asserted that the commits sion by g. negro of a '1ameless crime against woman so incenses and enrages a community that reason is for the time dethroned, and that in their fury the people take justice into their hands. It is proper, perhaps, to make some allow ance for the passion of the populace on such occasions, but we find it difficult to believe that it is altogether responsible for disobedience and defiance of the law. For if we inquire into sentiment of the people antedating the occurrence we will sometimes find that the idea has been expressed and inculated long in advance that in cases of criminal as- sault mob violence is the appropriate | punishment. Therefore, lynching is not wholly the result of spontaneous upris- ing, of irresponsible public indignation. It is largely the result of condition produced in calm moments. It is pre- | meditated. It is the ember of anarchy tanned into flame when the looked-for ] occasion has transpired.
 There is no excuse for mob violence, look at it as you may-whether the man be black or white. whatever the crime may be-because in the most re- volting cases the accused is sure to be promptly convicted and executed ac- | cording to law. Moreover, it appears never to have served in the least to deter from commission Of the crime against which it is alleged to be di- rected. In fact, this crime-Iynching- has in almost every instances been di- rectly responsible for series of crime Worse still. it sears public conscience, and blackens the communities which plume themselves on their holiness and | their abhorrence of outlawry.
 Such is the condition and such the