The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1906-12-04

pause and deliberate by hostile pub
lie criticism. In the case Of judges
having a life tenure, indeed, their very
independence makes the right freely
to comment on their decisions of great
er Importance, because it is the onlr
practical and available instrument NJ
| the hands of a free people to keep
such judges alive to the reasonable
demands of those they serve
ION the other hand, the danger OF
destroying the proper influence of ju-
dicial decisions by creating unfound-
ed prejudices against the courts JUS
titles and requires that unjust at
| tacks shall be met and answered.
| Courts must ultimately rest their de-
| tense upon the inherent strength OF
| the opinions they deliver as the ground
! for their conclusions and must trust
| to the calm and deliberate Judgment
Of all the people as their best vindi-
cation"
There is one consideration which
should be taken into account by the
good people who carry a sound propo-
sition to an excess in objecting to any
| criticism of a judges decision. The
instinct of the American people as a
| whole is sound in this matter. They
will not subscribe to the doctrine
that any public servant is to be above
! all criticism. If the best citizens,
| those most competent to express their
judgment in such matters, and above
all those belonging to the great and
| honorable profession of the bar, so
profoundly influential in American
life, take the position that there shall
be no criticism Of judge under any
circumstances, their view will not be
accepted by the American people as a
whole. In such event the people will
turn to, and tend to accept as justi-
fiiable, the Incorporate and improper
criticism uttered by unworthy agitat-
ors. Surely it is misfortune to
leave to such critics a function, right
in itself, which they are certain to
abuse. Just and temperate criticism,
when necessary, is a safeguard against
the acceptance by the people as
whole of that Incorporate antagon-
ism towards the judiciary which must
| be combated by every right thinking
man, and which, if it became wiue-
spread among the people at large,
would constitute a dire menace to the
Republic
As to Lynching.
In connection with the delays of the
| law, l call your attention and the
| attention of the nation to the preva-
| lence Of crime among us, and above
all to the epidemic Of lynching and
one part Of our country, now in an
| other. Each section, North, South,
East, or West, has it's own faults; no
| section can with wisdom spend it's
| 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 it is
| necessary to have an awakened pub
| lie conscience, and to supplement this
by whatever legislation will add speed
and certainty in the execution of the
law. When we deal with lynching
even more is necessary. A great
many white men are lyqnched, but the
crime is peculiarly frequent in resuect
to black men. The greatest existing
cause of lynching is the preparation
especially by black men, of the hid
eous crime of rape-the most abomin-
able in all the category of crimes, even
worse than murder. Mobs frequently |
avenge the commission of this crime |
by themselves tOrturing to death the |
man committing it; thus avenging in |
bestial fashion a bestial deed, and re- |
ducing themselves to a 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 lynch
for many other kinds of crimes, so
that two-thirds of the lynchings are
| not for rape at all; while a consid- !
| cradle proportion of the individuals
| lynched are innocent of all crime. !!
Governor Chandler, of Georgia, stated
on one occasion some years ago: 81
| can say Of a verify that have, within
the last month saved the lives of half
! a dozen innocent negroes who were
pursued by the mob, and brought them
| to trial in court of law in which they
! were acquitted" AS Bishop Gallo |
| way, of Mississippi, has finely said
| <k4 IL %