The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-11-20
THR nxAMPLr wAs rrarLY.


 There are two divergent but palpable points of view in connection with the Presidents action in dismissing an en- tire battalion of negro soldiers because some of them had committed crimes. One side insists that it was wrong to punish all for thA wrong -doings of a few. They admit that certain negro soldiers at BrownsyIlie were guilty of serious crimes. and that those who committed the offences should be pun- ished, but that II. was wrong to punish the innocent This is the opinion held by coIored people generally throughout the country. cofored organizations, re- ligious and othefs have held indigna- tion meetings and passed all sorts of severe resolutions and denunciations of the President and the War Department for their action. Negro papers up North out do each other in the violence of their language and the severity of their criticisms.
 But there is quite another and oppo- site view to take of this affair. When these critics talk so volubly and scoldingly about the wrong of pun ishing the innocent with the guilty, they lose sight of the fact thatIt is not known that there were any inno- cent ones in this afrair. A man may be accessory to a crime after it Is eom- mitted as we'll as before. If,,. one knows that crime is going to be com mitted, even if he takes no active part in 1t, if he refuses to divulge it he is "an accessory before the fact" So, it he knows that crime has been com mitted and refuses to give evidence or divulge the names of the real crimi- nals. he becoes "an accessory after the fact" Both are pnnishable under the laws of civihzed nations and one may be really as culpafle as the other.
 Here was just the trouble with the soldiers of this battalion. Some of them knew of the eutrages committed at Brownsville and knew who were the guilty parties. How many of them possessed this knowledge may never be, known, but all. without exception. per- sistently refused to give evidence against the guilty. The authorities made diligent and earnest efforts to locate the guilty parties but without effect. There was not a man in the battalion who could be forced to testi- fy. and the ends of justice were frus- trated. H
 Under such conditions what was left for the President to do2 We hear good deal of talk in certain quarters about the loyalty which soldiers or arr my officers should show to each other, but this virtue has its limitations. LOy- alty to a known criminal is not vir- tue but a crime. Standing by an in- | nocent man who has been wrongfully accused is commendable, but standing | by a known criminal and defying the law Is @ crime of itself.
 If the President had taken no action in this matter the plain inference would be that the army offers a safe refuge for criminals. It would be taken for granted that any crime com mitted by solder would be concealed by his comrades and justice be baked or prevented. The lines of the army of the United States would be an impassi- bic wall against justice If no one knew of a crime committed except the com- rades of the eriminak A
 We do not suppose that those who have so much to say about loyalty of soldiers to each other desire that the army shall come to be looked on as a safe hiding place for all the toughs and criminals of the country where they may rest secure from moIestation. The President may have adopted a some what drastic method of condemninR crime, and he may have established a precedent that may be abused in fu- i ture, but the case was an unusual one \ and required an unusual remedy. Let those who are so ready with their de- nunciation turn a portion of 1t on those who shielded the Brownsville crimi- nals. fsss
 And there is another point in this connection that is pertinent just here The action of these nest-hiding negro troops is an evidence of spirit that is responsible for much of the crime com mitted, and is indirectly responsible for much or the 4ynchihS tAat uiSSt0S0H some communities. It is a spirit which seems to govern the negro race generally-a spirit which causes them to hide and protect criminals of their own race. When a crime has been committed by a negro all other negroes take 1t on themselves to hide the gull ty one and prevent the law from deal ing with him. In short, negroes gen. orally pursue the same tactics adopted by these negro soldiers, and thus bring discredit on their race and often cause innocent parties to be punished" Il was time for an example to be made.
 HE SPENT FREELY.
 MT. Hearsts statement of his election expenses is misleading. He files ar