The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1906-10-06
A Mistaken Remedy.


the Ku-Klux Klan as a means of in.
timid ating the colored population and
protecting white women from criminal
assault by negroes. The News claims
that this crime can be suppressed i
the white men will band themselves
| together in secret conclave and 'shold
| the leaders of the negro race response
| BILE" for the acts Of black criminals.
The ultimate object our esteemed
contemporary has in view commands
| the unqualified Endorsement and sup
port of every decent white man in the
country and OF every decent negro as
we'll, but there is much reason to
question the efficacy of the remedy
sought to be applied, which is tanta-
mount to seeking the extirpatlon OF
one species Of crime by committing
several others. ku-kluXism, if re-
vived, would degenerate and demora-
lize the white people as well as the
blacks. BY intoxicating contempt for
the law and propagating the idea that
night-riding, assassination and mob
violence are justif liable substitutes for
prescribed legal methods of prosecut-
ing and Furnishing suspected Grimm ais;
and the example set by prominent and
reputable citizens of a community in
employing such clandestine and extr a.
judicial proeeedings-albeit from
good motives and desire to promote
the general weIfare-Would encourage
the ignorant and vicious classes to
adopt like means for the qualification
of personal enmities and the redress
OF real or fancied private grievances.
The Chief has already expressed the
belief that by aiding IN the exposure,
capture and punishment of negro
criminals, instead Of harboring them
and conniving at their escape as is
too often done, the colored people can
do more for their own protection from
such mob vengeance as was wreaked
at Atlanta than anybody else can do
for them; and if the influential white
men and newspapers Of the southern
states will bend their energies towards
impressing this fact upon their negro
neighbors, we venture to say far better
results will be accomplished In sup
pressing crime than can ensue from
ku kluxing or other laWless methods.
The proposition to hold leading
negroes both physically and morally
responsible for the deeds of the Grim
inals OF their race would be consid-
cred a INDUSTRIOUS absurdity and in
justice if sought to be applied to white
communities or to any other people
than negroes, and therefore it ought
to be forthwith dismissed as unworthy
of serious consideration. Mrs. War
rem Boyd, a prominent Atlanta wo-
man, has given utteranee to some
sensible views on this subject which
may we'll be pondered by thoughtful
minds: II cannot express too strongly
my condemnation of the mob spirit,
nor do I hesitate TO say that the riots
are almost Invariably originated and
led by white men OF the lowest class,
whose only mark of supremacy is
white skin. believe, however, that
the mob spirit has been deliberately
famed by certain Atlanta neWspa-
per, which for weeks has been mob
organizer, and in Offering TO purchase
and use bioodhounds, has usurped the
functions Of the police. IA further
reason for the agitation is due to the
politicians who have for years made
the negro the issue in the politics Of
the south. We must not forget that
after we have disposed Of the criminal
assaulter, as we will, the cause of the
disease is still here and will generate
others. We must remember that
the negro is here through no fault Of
his own, and that the whites can never
cure one crime with another. We must
demand the protection of our homes
and our women, and we must meet
every crisis with the justice and the
Christianity that have made the Anglo
Saxon supreme. -