Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1903-08-13
ROOSEVELT ON
LYNCHING
Says Courts Should Expedite Trial Of
Brutal Criminals.
PRAISES GOVERNOR DUR

And has no Respect for the LawleSS men
Who Join MObs and Commit Barbar-
GUS acts
Oyster Bay, Aug. 9.-In a letter, the
publication of which was authorized TO-
day, President Roosevelt commends GOV
ernor Durbin, ofIndiana, for the attitude
he assumed recently respecting lynchlng'
The president also embraces the opportun'
ity to express his own views in reference to
lynching and mob violence, generally
pointing out that mob violence is merely
one form of anarchy, and that anarchy is
the forerunner of tyranny.
The President vigorously urges that the
penalty for that crime which most fre
quently induces resort to lynching shall
be applied swiftly and surely, but by due
process of the courts, so that 1t may be
demonstrated "that the law is adequate
to deal with crime by freeing it from every
vestige of techDicality and delay"
THE TEXT OF THE LETTER
President Roosevelt's letter in full to
Governor Durbln folows:-
Oyster Bay, n, Y.
August 6, 1908.
My Dear Governor Durbin:-
~permit me to thank you as an Amer
lean citizen for the admirable way in
which you have yindicated the majesty OF
the law by your recent action in reference
to}ynching. feel, my dear sir, that you
have made all men your debtors who be:
lieve, as all fsr-seeiDg men must, that the
well.being, indeed the very existence, OF
tho Republic depends upon that spirit OF
orderly liberty under the law which is as
incompatible with mob violence as with
any form of despotlsm. Of course, mob
violence is simply one form of anarchy;
and anarchy is now, as 1t always has been,
the handmaiden and forerunner OF
tyranny.
feel that you have not only reflected
honor upon the State which for its good
fortune has you as its Chief Executive,
but upon the whole nation. 1t is incum'
bent 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 thoughtful men must feel the grav
est alarm over the growth of lynching in
this country and especially over the
peculiarly hideous forms so often taken by
mob violence 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 certain proporuon of these cases the
man lynched has been guilty Of a crime
horrible beyond description; crime sc
horrible that as far as he himself is con-
cerned be has forfeited the right to any
kind of sympathy whatsoever. The feel
ing of all good citizens that such hideous
crime shall not be hideously punished by
mob violence is due not in the least tC
sympathy for the criminal, but to q very
lively sense of the train Of dreadful con-
sequences which follow the course taken
by the mob in exacting inhuman ven
geance for an inhuman wrong.
SINS AGAINST RACE.
In such cases, moreover, it is well to re-
member thatthe criminal not merely SIM
against humanity in INCAPABLE and un
pardonable fashion, but sins particularly
against his own race, and does them {
wrong far greater than any white man car
possibly do them. Therefore, in sucf
cases the colored people throughout th'
:. land should in every possible way show
4 their belief that they, more than all Others
1 in the community, are horrifed at tn
commission of such crime and ar
peculiarly concerned in taking every posi-
BILE measure to prevent its recurrence AM
-. TO bring the criminal to immediate justice
slightest lack of vigor either IN de
tnciation Of the crime or in bringing tn
,33criminal to justice is itself unpard enable
, Moreover, every effort should be mad
under the law to expedite the proceed
ings ofjusticel in the case of such an awfr
crime. But it cannot be necessary
order to accomplish this to deprive an
citizen of those fundamental rights to B
heard in his own defense which al
30 dear to us all and which lie at the rot
of our liberty. 1t certainly ought to
possible by the proper administration
the laws to secure swift vengeance upo
the criminal, and the best and immedia
nNsforts of all legislators, Judges and citizel
kould be addressed to securing such r
forms in illegal procedure as to leave
vestige of Excuse for those misguided m'
who undertake to reap vengeance throul
violent methods.
COURTS SHOULD ACT QUICKLY.
Men who have been guilty of a crlr
like rape or murder should be visited WI
swift and certain punishment and the j.
effort made by the Courts to protect the
:. Ill. ~;.Lto ebo,,ld undor no circu