The Kemper herald. (Scooba, Miss.) 1875-1908, 1906-12-06
TIE PRESIDENTS ANNUAL MESSAGE
Many Needed Laws Are Suggested to
the Peoples Representatives

that:
No Judgment shall be set aside OF
new trial granted in any case, civil
or criminal, on the ground of misdl-
rection of the jury or the improper
admission or rejection of evidence, or
for error as to any matter OF plead
ing or procedure unless, in the opm-
ion of the court to which the appli-
cation is made, after an examina-
ton of the entire cause, it shall affir-
matively appear that the error com
planned of has resulted In miscar-
riage Of justice.
Injunctions.
In nv last message / suggested the
enactment of a law in connection with
the issuance of injunctions, attention
having been sharply drawn to the
matter by the demand that the right
of applying injunctions in labor cases
should be wholly abolished. 1t IS at
least doubtful whether law abolish
ing altogether the use OF lnJunctlon5
in such cases would stand the test OF
the courts; in which case of course
the legislation would be ineffective.
Moreover, l believe it would be wrong
altogether to prohibit the use OF IN
functions. 1t is criminal to permit
sympathy for criminals to weaken
our hands in upholding the law; and
if men seek to destroy life or property
bv mob violence there should be no
impairment of the power of the courts
to deal with them. in the most sum
mary and effective way possible: But
so far as possible the abuse of the
power should be provided against by
some such law as | advocated last
year.
In this matter Of injunctions there
is lodged in the hands of the judiciary
necessary power which is neverthe
less subject to the possibility of grave
abuse. 1t is power that should be ex
e1cised with extreme care and should
be subject to the jealous scrutiny OF
all men, and condemnation should be
meted out as much to the judge who
fails to use it boldly, when necessary
as to the judge who uses it wantonly
or oppressively. Of course a judge
strong enough to be fit for his office
will enjoin any resort to violence or
intimidation, especially by consplr-
acy, no matter what his opinion may
be of the rights Of the original quar-
rel. There must be no hesitation Ill
dealing with disorder. But there
must likewise be no such abuse OF the
iniunctive power as is implied IN for
bidding laboring men to strive for
their own betterment in peaceful and
lawful ways; nor must the injunction
be used merely to aid some big cor
poration in carrying out schemes for
its own aggrandizement.
Lynching.
In connection with the delays OF
the law, I call your attention and the
attention of the nation to the pre-
valence of crime among us, and above
all to the epidemic of lynehing and
mob violence that springs up, now in
one part of our country, now in an
other. Each section, North, South,
East, or West, has its own faults; nc
section can with wisdom spend its
time jeering at the faults of another
section; it should be busy trying to
amend its own shortcomings. To
deal with the crime of corruption ii
lis necessary to have an awakened
public conscience, and to suppliment
this by whatever legislation will add
speed and certainty in the execution
of the law. When we deal with
Ilynching even more is necessary. A
great many white men are lynched
but the crime is peculiarly frequent in
respect to black men. The greatest
existing cause of lynching is the per
petration, especially by black men
of the hideous crime of rape-the
most abominable in all the category
of crimes, ever worse, than murder
Mobs frequently avenge the commits
sion of this crime by themselves tor;
turing to death the man committing
it; thus avenging in bestile fashion 6
bestile deed, and reducing themselve,
to level with the criminal.
Lawlessness grows by what it feeds
upon; and when mobs begin to Lynch
for rape they speedily extend the
sphere Of their operations and lyncl
for many other kinds of crimes, Sc
that two-thirds of the lynchings are
not for rape at all while a consider
able proportion of the individual:
lynched are innocent of all crime
Governor Gambler, of Georgia, stated
on one occasion some years ago: ''.
can say Of varity that | have, with
in the last month, saved the lives o.
half a dozen innocent negroes VIII,
were pursued by the mob, ant
brought them to trial in a court of :
law in which they were acquitted.
z AS Bishop Galloway, of Mississippi
has finely said: "When the rule O.
mob obtains, that which distin
guishes a high civilization is rurrend
cred. The mob which lynches negr.
charged with rape will in a littl
while lynch a white man suspected o
crime. Every Christian patriot il
America needs to lift up his voice il
loud and eternal protest against th
mob spirit that is threatening the in
tegrity of this Republic. !" Governo
Jelks, of Alabama, has recently spok
en- as follows: "The lynching of an.
person for whatever crime is mex