Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1903-06-24
IN A GLASS U

Inc Russian who said the other day
that no American was in a position
to point the finger of scorn at Russia
because of the ~anti-Jewish riots spoke
with a considerable measure OF truth.
We do indeed live in a glass house.
In parallel columns with the dispatch
es from Kishinef we find in our news
papers accounts of the hanging and
burning of a negro in lllinois-the
state of Abraham Lincoln-and a
wholesale killing of negroes, includ.
ing an innocent woman, by a mob in
Mississippi, the state of Jefferson Day.
is. The Americans have their own in
stinct for race persecution, and in the
qualification of it they do not need
TO look for points to any other nation.
And the particularly ominous feature
of the situation is that this IS suppos.
ed to be a civilized and s~elf-govern-
ing people.
Outbreaks of disorder may be ex-
pected from time to time in any coun-
try. jefferson cherished a notion that
they were rather a good thing, as an
indication of popular will, which
should not pay too great reverence
to laws, and a great body of his fol.
lowers sometimes seem to have adopt
ed that article of his creed and for.
gotten wiser ones which served to cor
rect it. Human nature is much the
same in Russia and the United States,
and elemental passions aroused in
either country are likely to result in
a breach of the peace. The Russian
peasant, however, is not a lawgiver.
He is a creature ruled from above,
feeling no responsibility for the con-
duct and character of his country. "
its laws are brought into contempt,
that is the affair of the Ear. II he
can give free rein to murderous in
stincts without punishment, he has
by so much circumvented the re-
~straints OF a despotism which, even
when II commands peace and order
and justice, does 1t as a power exter-
nal to himself. The American, how
ever, is the maker of his own laws.
The government is his government;
the courts are his courts. When a
certain procedure is prescribed for the
punishment of criminals and the pro-
lection OF innocent persons from mis-
taken accusations, 1t is he who makes
the rule.
Now, If the rulers can not obey
their own rules, il not only a few law
less spirits here and there. but whole
communities. give themselves up to
riot and b~loodshed, and then in their
capacity as administrators of justice
simpl. say that they will not punish
those who commit popular crimes, and
will make their own criminal justice
a farce, then the whole machinery Of
government seems to be going to
pieces at the foundation. The justi-
fication of democratic government is
found in the ability of the people to
govern themselves. II they a not
do this. then their democracy as an
order of civilized society is a failure.
The report from Illinois that nobody
can be found to identify the persons
who. In broad daylight and without
masks, hanged and burned the negro
school teacher for a supposed muir
der, which apparently was only an as
sault, perhaps with intent to kill, is an
indication of a demorallzed citizen
ship which is too frequently notice.
able in all parts of the country. The
grewsome catalogue of ~lynchings is
an Indictment of civilization more ser.
iously significant than the Kishineff
atrocities. More is expected of the
American. with his traditions, his
training and his boosted superiority.
And even if he does. on occasions, give
way TO evil passions. it is not expect
ed by any friend OF democratic gov
eminent that all his n~eighbors will
rally for the protection of lawlessness
and join with one consent to break
down orderly administration. Unpun
ished rioting and lynching with us
mean decay in the very bone and It's
sue of democratic national life.-Nev
York Tribune.