The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-08-13
rlP. GRAVES SPEECH.

FIR. GRAVES SPEECH.
Mr.. John Temple Graves, the Georgia
orator made great speech at Chau-
!, tauoua. on Tuesday last, as reported N
fun in The Times Dispatch Of yesterday
on the negro problem and its solution, Nj.
Graves brought the whole subject fairly
and fully before his northern audience
and the audience was all the more I'M
pressed because the North is now face
Ito face with the negro problem on It's
M own account. He paid q beautiful tribute
NO southern womanhood and southern
(, chivalry, and made his audience under
\ stand why it is that southern white men
Il are so intoerant Of the uncomfortable
Ii crime which negro brutes commit.
Coming finally to speak Of lynching 40
\ .. punishment for this crime, Mr.. Graves,
while admitting that ynching was an
archistic, declared that 1t was the only
III means OF holding the negro brute In
y. check. as he did not fear, but rather
liked, trial which made him conspi-
cuous, and an execution which made him
in his own estimation a sort OF hero. Mr..
4 Graves decla red, moreover that without
lyuching this crime would be enormously
I increased
we do not believe that ,ynching is the
remedy for anything. He may be right
in saying that there would be more cases
X OF criminal assault # the negro did not
stand in dread of the mob, although that
\ is mere guesswork.
But however that may be, everybody
N knows that lynching is demoralzng. even
\ when the method Of taking off is the rope,
ana brutalizing when the victim is burned
Il. at the stake in the presence of thou
sands of people. Nobody thinks that
lynching or even burning at the stake Is
too severe punishment for those negro
i devils but we must face the fact that
/ such sucptacles react upon the white race
I and make a bad matter worse, 1t Is this
phase Of the lynchlng question that white
men must consider. We cannot ourselves
be brutal without brutalizing ourselves.
Mr.. Graves discussed other remedies
which have been suggested time and
s{ again, all OF which ha finally discarded as
makeshlfts. and said that the only solu-
s. ton Of the negro problem was complete
separation Of the races. /.
IN saying this he came near to the true
solution, but not quite. In one sense there
is complete separation In the South. There
is no mixing of the races in social way
E We have separate schools and separate
85 churches. separate lodging places and
separate cars. We keep the races as much
4 apart as possible. for we havefound that
anything approaching social mixing Is
y sure to bring on serious trouble. This.
N to say nothing OF the instinct OF the
white man, which prevents him from
associatiug upon any terms OF equality
81 with the negro. But this Is not remedy.
III for 80 long as the negroes live in the
same country with the whites the negro
problem is ever present. politically, So
cially and tn every way,
R3 The sure remedy Is Punishment.
~ BY this We do not mean tho Punishment
n necessarily of all negroes, Some contend
that the good negro Is as much problem
that view. The good negro is not giving
trouble The negro who works faithfully
and conducts himself in q genteel manner,
whether he be on the farm or elsewhere,
Is getting along well and Is giving the
whites little or no concern. The trouble
all cemss from the bad negro, and II
we could &c. rid of the bad negro We
1, would In a great degree get rid OF thu
negro problem,
~ The United States government has man,
Islands IN its present prosecutions, anC
II II should select one or more Of these
would take the hrst step and mos
important step, and a most efficient stel
In solving the problem, Punishment would
B ~ not do for negroes convicted Of a capita
crime. They would necessarily be deal
with according to the existing law. Blu
for other crimes. great and small. Danish
ment would settle the matter for tn,
CONFLICT.
II We should send away every neer,
convicted Of crime, save lbose who Shout,
be executed according 70 law We shou!,
VIZ soen rid the land OF the bad negroes. an,
with the bad negroes out OF the way.
sE would be o. simple matter Ia deal with III
rest.
OF course. 1t will be objected that thl
would he Unconstitutional" We are nc
sure about that objection, II has bee
,n,ended that |, Is unconstitutional /
rsyens certain class Of negroes fror
,tins. but In some OF the States the