The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1904-03-25
THE SOUTH vINDICATED.
MIR. spight, OF Mississippi, Discusses
tho Race Problem.

In the house Wednesday, during
tho discussion OF the post ofrice appro.
priation bill, Mr.. Spight, of Missis-
sippi very ably discussed the race gus.
tion. He said he desired to vindicate
the South from the charge Of barbar-
ism. In the South, he said, the ne
gro had been denied the right to vote
and 10 hold office, but not the right
TO work for an honest living, as he
had been done in the Northern states
We some times kill them for out
rageons crimes" he said, but never
because they want to work" AS for
lynchings, he said, that sometimes
they have unnecessarily occurred III
the south. He referred to the Will
mington, Del, lynching last year,
and to the subsequent attacks on the
negro settlem ent. This never occurred
In the South. he said. when the
guilty wretch has paid the penalty OF
his awful crime, that is an end OF it,"
he continued; the mob is satisfied
and dos not wreak indiscriminate
vengeance upon the innocent because
SASJ oSAObS w UilC 6ault ldCG DIS UIlC
criminal" He said that unlike the
people OF the North, the people OF the
South don't 20 out with torch in
one hand a gun in the other, and,
pointing the i,un at defenseless women
and chi'dIen, and shoot them as they
lice for their lives" He said this hs :
occurred In New York City in 1900,
and he referred to number Of lynch
ings which had occurred in the North.
including those at Danville, ILL.,. and
Springfield, o., and said such race
prejudice finds no place in Southern
hearts"
OPPOSED TO MOB-BUT.
Mr. Spright contlnued: $50 far as
| am concerned, am oppcs ed to mob
violence as a general proposition. !
90 not think that lynchings for any
other crime than the namcless one
against "cmanhood ought ever TO oo-
cur. In all others the courts of the
country are ample and generally, with
us, swift to punish.
But, in the one class of crimes 50
brutal and destructive OF all that Is
GEAR to an enlightened people, no one
with spark Of manhood in him can
doubt that instant death to the per-
petrator should follow upon the ascer-
tainment of the guilty facts. The
poor suffering woman who has been
the victim OF the devilish lust of
brute, white or black. should not be
compelled to appear in court and re-
peat before a jury the horrible details
OF the outrage"
Mr.. Spight recited that the burn
Ing at the stake Of such brutes'' was
not confined to the South, but had
occurred In the North as we'll.
MIR. Spight spoke of the attempt of
certain white persons to put the negro
on social equality with themselves,
AZ 9 q. :. reterrscS To the necasia?i lleus
Booker Washington dined at the
White House with President Roose-
velt, said that this one incident had
done more to inflame the passions OF
the negro and give him a perverted
idea of his Importance and his near
approach to social equality than any
thing that had been done for 5he last
ten years.
ROCKER SHOULD HAVE DECLINED
iic ohlu booker washington had sat
down to dinner with the president ''as
graciously as if he had been the gov
crnor Of New York. He was he con-
tinued, sorry that Washington did
not have more sense and Self-respect
than to accept the invitation. 1t
would have been infinitely to his credit
had he declined. The more the ne
groeS are put on a social eoualitv -
he vigorously asserted, "the more
dangerous becomes their position and
the suTer death by violence Will over
take them sooner or later"