The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-07-27
THE MOB And THE LAW
GOV. DURBIN DENOUNCEs THE FIRST
AND sUsTAINs THE SECOND.
Apologies for Mob Rule Dissected
ernmcnt Clearly Stated.

won the admiration of the whole Nation
for the courageous and unfinching stand
he took against the mob and the mob spirit
during the Evansville riots We are very
glad to give our readers his views on this
increasing danger which threatens our de-
| mocracy." The Governors argument is here
given by courtesy of the publishers of the
Independent:
1t is a dangerous thing to possess free
institutions without knowing the cost at
which they have been attained or realizing
that eternal vigilance is the price OF their
maintenance. Back OF absolutism Is the VIII
| or an autocrat, whose continuance In au-
| thority is contingent upon the resolution
| with which he guards the institutions mat
i make his power possible. But back of free
| institutions Is only the popular Will or
| which they are the expression-the vast re-
| sponsibility of preserving them inyiolate
| dlnuSed among millions. Inc machinery
| of monarchical government is everywhere
| apparent; the ronIp of courts, the pageantry
| of fleets and armies, the strong arm OF au-
| thority reentlessy lifted TO make respect
| for the law compulsory, wherever Ii is not
voluntary. These things make II Impossible
| for those yielding allegiance 10 crown 10
| forget that they have government, and
| that it may not with impunity be INSTRUCTED
| in the exercise Of its functions. But TO the
| people of our Republic the semblance OF
national authority-the authority when
| stands lack OF the elemental guarantees OF
! our government-is not a familiar sight
| To millions of our people the sight OF
soldier is a. rare one; TO millions, SO far
/ as personal knowledge extends, there
might not be within the borders or the
| Republic fort or garrison, while mill
| lions more, scattered across the VIDE
| stretch of our national domain nave never
! looked upon battleship. The machinery OF
| our government moves noiselessly; 1t Is In
| effect invisible. Those in authority are clti-
zens among citizens, vested with respo RESPONSE
| bility for a season. and then returning
| again to the occupations and associations
| from whence they came. A government such
| as this realizes the ideals or the touneeIs
| of the Republic and the aspirations OF those
| who believe that an 'inalienable right OF
man is the broadcast liberty consistent
| with the rights of others, that with this
essential qualification the least govern
| ment is the best government. And yet 1t is
! easy TO understand how Ii is that under such
| conditions the patriotism OF generation
| which has received free institutions as an
| inheritance, which has neither won them nor
| defended them, and looks infrequently upon
| the things that symbolic the national au-
| thority, may lapse into lethargy in an era
| of commercialism such as that in which we
| live. -
To lose all that inheritance. which has
| come down to us from the centuries through
the struggles Of men seeking to be free, from
Runnymede to Lexington apd from Licking
ton through all our splendid history to this
| hour. it is not necessary that we should re-
pudiate our legacy. failure to rise TO the
duties and responsibilities such an inner
itance implies will, if sufficiently continued,
bring it all to naught despite our self-satis-
fled belief in a destiny decreed only for a
| people worthy of its opportunity. 1t is not
enough even that We shall give passive APP
prevail to our institutions and indifferent
| acquiescence to our laws. The duties OF cit
| iZenShip transcend such narrow limitations.
The fires of patriotic fervor set ablaze upon
| our shores century and a third ago, and
| which have lit up the pathway OF the Repup-
lie from that time down to this, must be
| refreshed by each succeeding generation OF
| Americans, lest they die away. This gov
eminent was established, il has been main
tanned, it can endure. only because IL EN-
bodies the aspirations of united people
and round about it have conferred their 10y
| atty and love.
J. Evidences of the negative possibilities OF
patriotism grown quiescent, OF respect FOL
law decaying through sheer forgetfulness OF
| first principles, or popular VIII Vltlateo
through lack OF conscious exercise and TAI
| tering in the execution of the defense OF
laws which are its own expression, are al
hand i'm the rise of mob spirit utterly
without palliation in a country where all
laws are popular creations, and where al
officials exercising administrative and judi
cial functions are made and may be un-
made at the ballot box. Yet there seems &c
be scarcely a community within the Shelter
of our flag and all for which II STANDS
where there does not Turk 1nclpient spirit
which, once aroused, prompts citizens of q
Republic in the madness of animal fury
to dash themselves insensately against ths
barriers erected by centuries OF CIVILIZATION
between brute force and human rights; Il
| trample their flag in the dust and to drae
through the mire OF the gutter the Constr
tuition of their country. with its sacred guar
anty of the inviolability of life and propert,
except through the orderly processes or law
APOLOGIES FOR MOB RULE.
The methods of extenuation adopted b,
1 orN,lnc tcfs
for lynch law have become familiar. Th'
awfulness of the crime and the outraged
sense of justice IL arouses are pictured II
palliation. But the essential issue raised b,
the rioters is not between the mob and III
victim or his crime but between the mol
and the law. The law is as much outraged
by a lynching based on heinous crime al
by lynching without provocation. III Their
is a shadow of justification for mob law II
vindica ton of the virtue of woman there Il
the justification for its exercise il
punishment of any other crime or no crim
at all, for the mob is, as Benjamin Franklin
said "a monster with many hands and N
brains" Its only claim TO jurisdiction i
that of the mad dog-that OF blood-thirstl
ness and brute strengthened If blood
thirstiness and brute strength are TO b
given license TO batter down the bulwark
of law and order where Is there safety 70
the life or the honor of any one? There ar
instances without number in which tn
mob spirit once aroused has led TO the pur
suit of objects entirely foreign to tina
. which brought ii into being. a riot in
augurated in the name OF race feeling ma.
eliminate in an assault upon soldiers mere
, ly because they represent the authority o
|. the State to which the rioters owe allegi
ance OF in any other lawless excess. Tn
sweep of the mob spirit through com
munity is like the rush of water through
, sewer; ii collects and losses into the foo
: all that is vilest in its pathway, and befor
the course of the current Is run the Nth ]
on the surface.
LOCATING RESPONSIBILITY.
The delays of the courts and the discrim
nation of officials in the execution of tn
laws is often assigned as an explanation
: not in palliation, of the mob spirit. b
whom are judicial and executive officer
chosen? Who, in a representative govern
: ment such as ours. is to be held responsible
for the delays made possible In crimina
procedure? The responsibility inevitabl
; falls back upon those who seek TO max
the shortcomings Of their servants in au
thority an excuse for overriding the Law
| By whom were the delays of the law delhi
| erately decreed? They are. in large par
the safeguards reared by the people them
selves for their own protection against sum
mary procedure. What member of a
American mob, charged with crime, woul
as essential Accomplishments OF free gov
ernment?
We are sometimes told. usually by ind
1 haf iS essential IN IN