The news-democrat. (Providence, R.I.) 1906-1909, 1906-12-04
DISCUSSES MANY SUBJECTS AND MAKES

usually suffer than the guilty. The white
people OF the South indict the whole coll
ored race on the ground that even the
/ better elements lend no assistance what
ever In ferreting out criminals OF their
| own color. The respectable colored peo-
! ple must learn not TO harbor their crimi-
nails, but to assist the officers in bring
| ing them TO Justice. This is the larger
crime, ana II provokes such atrocious Of
lenses as the one at Atlanta. The two
races can never get on until there IS an
understanding on tho part OF both 10
| mako common cause with the law-a1idng
against criminals Of any color"
| Moreover where any crime committed
! by member OF one race against a mem
Der OF another race IL avenged Ia such
4 fashion that II seems as II not tho indi-
vidual criminal, but the whole race, is at
! tackled, tho result Is to oxasporatc 10 the
] highest degree race feeling, There Is but
| one safe rule I'm dealing with black men
! as with white men; IL IL the same rule
J that must be applied In dealing with rich
7 men and poor men: that Is. 10 treat each
| man, whatever his color. his creed, or his
! social position, with even-handed justice
| on his real worth as a man. White peo-
1 pie owe IL quito as much 10 themselves
| as To the colored race TO treat well tho
/ colored man who shows by his life that
| no deserves such treatment; for IL is
| surely tho highest wisdom to encourage
| IN the colored race all those individuals
who are honest. Industrious, law abiding,
/ and who therefore make good and safe
/ rOghbors and citizens. Reward or pun
I
| dividual. EVIL Will surely come in the
end 10 both races IL we substitute for this
| Just rulo tho habit of treating all the
/ members Of the race, good and bad, alike.
! There is no question OF social equality"
| or negro domination" involved: only the
| question OF relentlessly furnishing bad
! men, and OF securing to the good man
! the right to his life, his liberty, and the
pursuit OF his happiness as his own quail
/ ties OF heart, head, and hand enable him
| TO achieve IL.
| tl,a,
| the worst enemy OF his race is the negro
! criminal, and above all the negro criminal
/ who commits the dreadful crime OF rape;
and 1t should bc felt as In the highest de-
| gree an offense against the whole coun-
| try. and against the Colored race in par
\ ticular, for a colorod man to fail 10 help
| the officers OF the law in hunting down
/ with all possible earnestness and zeal
| every such Infamous offender. Moreover,
! I'm my judgment the crime OF rape should
! always be punished with death, as Is the
| case with murder; assault with intent TO
| commit rape should be made capital
| crime, at least in the discretion OF the
| court: and provision should be made by
| which the punishment may follow imme-
| diately upon the heels of the offense;
while the trial should be so conducted
| that tho victim need not 10 wantonly
shamcd while giving testimony, and that
| the least possible publicity shall be given
| TO the details.
The members Of the white race or the
! other hand should understand that every
! lynchng represents by just so much
| looSenng of the bands of civiliZationi that
! the spirit OF iynchins inevitably throws
/ into prominence in the community all the
| foul and evil creatures who dwell there
| In. No man can take part In the torture
of human being without having ms own
moral nature permanently lowered. Every
! lynching means just 80 much moral de-
teroration In all the children who nave
any knowledge OF It, and therefore just
so much additional trouble for the next
generation of Americans.
Lot justice be both sure and swift; but
let it be justice under the law, ana not
the wild and crooked savagery OF "A mob.
There Is another matter which has di-
rect bearing upon this matter OF lynch
| ing and OF the brutal crime which some
| times calls II forth and at other times
| merely furnishes the excuse for It's exist
cnce IL is out OF the question for our
| people as "a whole permanently to rise by
| treading down any OF their own number.
! Even those who themselves :or the mo
| ment profit by such maltreatment OF their
| fellows will in the long run also suffer.
! No more shorts GIFTED policy can be I'M
! agined than, IN the fancied interest OF one
! class, TO prevent the education OF another
| class. The free public school, the chance
| tor each boy or girl to get a good ele-
| mentary education, lies at the foundation
OF our whole political situation. In every
community the poorest citizens, those
| who need the schools most, would be de-
| prived of them If they only received
| school facilities proportional 10 the tdHs
]
| OF our country as OF another II is as
! true for the negro as for the white man.
| The white man, IL he is wise, will decline
| TO allow the negroes in mass 70 grow
| to manhood and womanhood without edu-
| cation. Unuuestionably education such as
| is obtained In our public schools does not
/ do everything towards making a man a
| good citizen; hut IL does much. me low
| est and most brutal criminals, those for
/ Instance who commit the crime OF rape.
| are In tho great majority men who nave
! had either no education or very htuei
! Just as they arc almost invariably men
/ who own no property; TOR the man VINO
! puts money by out OF his earnings like
| the man who acquires education. is
! usually lifted above mere brutal crlmi-
| nalty.
| OF course the best type of education
| Tor the colored man, taken as a whoie'
is such education as Is conferred In
| schools like Hampton and Tuskegee;
| where the boys and girls, the you'G men
| md young women, are trained industrial
| ly as well as I'm the ordinary public school
branches. The graduates OF these schools
| turn out well In the great majority OF
| cases. and hardly any of them become
! criminals. while what little criminaIity
| there is never takes the form OF that prt.-
! tai violence which invites lynch law.
! Every graduate OF these schools-and for
! the matter OF that every other colored
man or woman-who leads life so use.
! fu and honorable as TO win the good VIII
! end respect OF those whites whose neigh
! Dor he or she is. thereby helps tho whole
! colorcd race as IT can be helped in no
| other way; for next to the negro himself.
| the man who can do most to help the ne
| gro is his white neighbor who lives near
| him; and our steady effort should be TO
! better the relations between the two.
| Great tho tho benefit of these schools has
| been TO their colored pupils and TO the
| colored people. IL may well be questioned
| whether tho benefit has not been at least
| as great 10 the white people among whom
J these colored pupils live after they grad
/ uatc.
BE il remembered, furthermore. that the
! individuals who. whether from folly, from
! evil temper from greed for Office, or IN
a spirit OF mere base demagogy. indulge
! i'm the irfiammatory ir and incendiary
speeches and writings which tend To
arouse mobs and to bring about lynchins,
not only thus excite the mob, but also
tend by what crimlnologists call ''sugges.
| ton" greatly to increase tho Likelihood
OF a repetition Of the very crime against
which they are inveighing. When the
mob IL composed OF the people OF one race
and the man lynChed If OF another race,
the men who In their speeches and writ
ings either excite or Justify the action
tend. OF course. TO excite "A bitter race
feeling and TO cause the people OF the op-
posite race 20 lose sight Of the abominablo