The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1904-08-10

perfect plainness. for l know it is
hopeless to think Of removing Or abat-
ing the crime Of lynching until the
crime which has called it into vogue
shall cease or be abated / do not
wonder, nor will anyone who will real
ly make the case his own wonder,
that lynching prevails at our South
as method OF punishment or revenge
for the crime Of criminal assault oy
negroes On white women. l think II
entirely safe to say that under IKE
circumstances it would prevail TO
like extent in any part Of our country,
or ic any AnglG-Saxon community.
Theoretically ! would say with Aora-
ham Lincoln, There IS no crime 50
bad that lynching fol- it is not worse;
but, practically, come very near 10
saying that l do not blame the South
for resortirg to lynching for TINS
crime.
And this terrible remedy has been
attended and followed by the usual
consequences OF any resort to laWless
methods. In the first place, it has
not been deterrent from the crime in
question. Ia the next place, it has
accumulated horrors such as do not
occur in any other part Of the whole
civilized world-the burning Of hu-
man beings at the Stake-not alore,
be it remembered, at the South, but
In several Of our Middle Western
States, and even in JOIN Browns
Kansas. Finally, lynching IS been
extended to he the frequent punish.
ment for other crimes or alleged
crimts. The depraved part Of society
sometimes resort to it for excitement
or for personal revenge.
What are we to say and Go about all
this?
MY ANSWER IS, STOP THE CRIME
which originally set this dreadful train
OF horrors in motion. But who can
do this: My answer is, the negro race
alone. If half the energy and thought
and money that is now wasted IN pull.
pits and politics and schools were de-
voted to one grand, overwhelming
crusade against the crime which hrSt
caused lynchings, the monstrous
thing could be stamped out. With.
out this, it Is as idle to preach and
pray against lynching as it would be
10 blow ones breath against gale Of
wind. But ] know CT no special OF
strenuous efforts on the part OF the
negro race or its chief leaders, or Of
those of the white race, who are c)n-
Sidered or consider themselves the
negros special champion, to extirpate
this crime. Hampton, Tuskegee, toe
Ogden Educational Trust, the Ameri'
can Missionary Society, all are alike
silent, 50 far as J know, or engage In
no special efforts 20 root out this fcul
crime, the direct cause Of so much
woe to both races. There is in the
whole range Of the problem under els
cussion no duty so imperative, none
so neglected, as that Of focusing ef,
fort, to the neglect, if need be, OF al
else, on the arousing Of all else, on the
arousipg Of the negro race itself to the
necessity of extirpating this one form
Of crime. II all the agencies nov
working for the negro race were turned
to this single end for the next decade
more could be done to forward the ne.
g!os welfare than all that Hampton
or Tuskegee or all the other edica
tional and religious appliances have
done or can ever do. I marvel that
no great voice proclaims this duty
that no great agency is directed sole.
ly to this work. In the tumult anc
din Of discussion scarcely a note Is
heard calling attention to this most
necessary, this absolutely indispen.
sable, Of all remedies OF efforts.
WHAT NOW DO WE SEE?
We see a race problem, in its origin
artitciallY complicated and intensi-
fed by rash and vain attempts to lift
backward or inferior raca-lnferior
certainly In present attainments-into
equality of social privileges and stand
ing and Of political power with race
long accustomed to rule the backward
race and filed with what at least we
must recognized as fierce prejudices
and apparently unconquerable repug-
nance to equality of any kind between
the two races. We see further the Sc
relations and long-standing feelings
aggravated to the pitch Of madness and
frenzy which overfides all law, in a
natural and uncomfortable exa pera.
tion at the prevalence Of a crime
which no community Of our race would
tolerate OF give over to orderly punish
ment by the usual methods Of the law.
shall here venture to ask anyone
to point out error, CT mistake, or mis-
statement in this summation Of the
conditions Of the race problem which
States at the present time.
n IT Hu,N5pHpT AIN