The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1906-10-17

menace to civilization. Upon this
vicious, ignorant, debased horde, the
puny schemes of race elevation were
as snowhakes falling into the seething
ocean. Still the southern whites pro-
tested, warned and ilnplored, but
northern sentimentality was proof
agaist the natural appeals Of race,
the ties of kinship and the dictates Of
nature.
Now it has at length come to pass
that the deluge has broken and this
problem, long in the brewing Of its
nalign factors, must be effectually
settled not alone by the South but
the North as well. We have had
enough of theorizing, temporizing,
pfilosophizing, it's time to act. North
ern people are not generally aware Of
the fact, but it is nevertheless true,
that the state Of the mass Of negroes
in the South is so debased, SO utterly,
hopelessly, fearfully lacking in moral
conceptions that there exists IN
many southern states a condition
which Ahis or any other respectable
journal Would not dare describe ex-
cept in the most general terms, so
ioathsome and shocking would the
details be if truly and plainly stated.
White women and children are not
safe, they can not walk unguarded in
the streets Of the cities even in day
time. At night, doors must be
locked and windows barred, the re-
volver must be ready at hand, if the
black assailant is to be kept out. In
many portions of the Black Belt, the
family Of the white man lives in
constant state of seige; a fate worse
than death awaits the members II
they dare relax their vigilance for an
hour Northern people do not know
the truth and their journals are not
enlightening them. The South. for
very shame, is 10th TO let facts be
known, but residence Of even &, few
weeks in any portion Of the country
where the ignorant negro population
is. congested will convince the most
sseptdcal9 that this hideous danger is
always imminent and very real.
s The csime. OF stealing is the. very
least Aef' 'sthsz negro's offenses. against
southern society The whites Of the
South have long since ceased to ex-
pect that he will respect the rights
of propety. Larceny is looked upon
as a joke AS we'll might one expect
the leopard to change his spots, as
the southern negro to refrain from
stealing. It is possible to protect
against this Comparatively minor Of
fense; it is the hideous crimes, the
unspeakabie horrors that are the real
menace. Against these the. law is
powerless, because it recognizes no
punishment adequate to the offense;
it can devise nothing that will pre-
vent its recurrence and the harm
done is irreparable.
Ordinary punishment, adequate in
the North to check crime, fails en-,
tirely in the South to restrain the
negro even from the commission Of
minor misdemeanors. The disgrace
Of imprisonment does not touch him,
IS rule. In many southern towns,
when cold weather approaches and
the shiftless and improvident blacks
feel its chill, numbers Of them de-
liberately and openly commit theft IN
order to pe arrested, convicted and
sentenced to the penitentiary during
the winter months, there to be main
tained in comparative comfort at the
States expense until spring returns.
When, once again at liberty, they
come back, they are met at the train
DV tU6lI uSIS1tDOIS, 1SiotASSS
friends and escorted in triumph to
their lurking places as if they were
heroes returning from an honorable
undertaking, instead Of idle, vicious,
debased criminals let loose from jail.
The fear Of immediate and dread
ful death is powsrless to control the
brutal, degenerated negro when ms
passions are aroused. His mind is TOO
feeble and shallow to consider the
consequences of his crime and the
brute in him, once awakened, reckons
nothing whatever Of future punish
ment. The force of example, even IN
its most terrifying form when frenzled
mobs wreak vengeance in, burnings
and sickening torture, does not I'M
press itself upon this class for more
thcn a very brief time. It's intellect
is so inferior and its imagination so