The sun., 1906-12-05

that have, within the last month, saved
the lives OF half dozen innocent negroes
who were pursued by the mob, and brought
them TO trial in a court of law in which
they were acquitted" As Bishop Gallo
way. OF Mississippi has finely said: when
the rule OF a mob obtains, that which dis
tinguishes high civilization Is surrendered.
rth Tspe Ge viii IN tse While neSS nch hte
man suspected Of crime, Every
Christian patriot In America needs
to lift up his voice In loud and
eternal protest against the mob spirit that
is threatening the integrity OF this Re-
recently spoken as follows: The lynching
OF any person for whatever crime Is In
excusa able anywhere it is a defiance or
orderly government; but the killing OF inno-
cent people under any proyocation Is in.
people are likely TO o.e when mob's terrible
lust is once aroused. The lesson Is this:
No good citizen can afford TO countenance
defiance OF the statutes, no matter what
the provocation. The innocent frequently
suffer, and It Ii my observation, more
usually suffer than the guilty. The white
people Of the South indict the whole oolored
race on the ground that even the better
elements lend no assistance whatever In
ferreting out criminals Of their own cob r.
The respectable colored people must learn
not to harbor their criminals but to assist
the officers in bringing them TO justice.
This is the larger crime, and u provokes
such atrocious offences as the one at At
lanta. The two races can never get on
until there is an understanding on the part
of be tn TO make common cause with the
Aw-abiding against criminals OF any color.
! Moreover, where any crime committed
by a member Of one race AGAINST a me'nf er
OF another race Is aven red in such fashion
that II seems as II not the individual criminal
but the whole race is attacked, the result
is to exasperate to the hiThest degree race
feeling. There 10 hut one safe rule in deal
ing with Hack men as with white men;
II Is the same rule that must Re applied in
dealing with rich men and poor men; that 10,
to treat each man, whatever his color, his
creed OF his social position, with even
handed justice on his real worth as man.
White people owe Il quite as much TO them-
selves as to the colored race 70 treat well
the colored man who shows by his life
that he deserves such treatment; for It is
surely the hichest wisdom to encouraee
in the colored race all those individuals
who are honest. industrious, laval idiny.
and who therefore make rood and safe
neight ors and citizens. Reward or punish
the individual on his merits as an individual.
Evil will surely come in the end to 9th
races II we sui stitute for this Just rule the
hal IL of treating all the meml ers of the
race, good and 7 ad, alike. There is no
question OF social equality or -neyro
don nation involved; only the question
OF relentlessly Furnishing ad men, and OF
securing TO the GOOD man the ris ht to his
life, his lii erty and the pursuit OF his happi-
ness as his own qualities OF heart, head
and hand ena' le him to achieve IL.
Every colored man should realize that
the worst enemy Of his race Is the negro
criminal, and above all the negro criminal
who commits the dreadful crime OF rape;
and it should be felt in the highest de-
gree an of ence against the whole country,
and against the colored race in particular,
for a colored man to fail to help the officers
OF the law In hunting down with all pos
sible earDestress and zeal every such in
famous offender. Moreover, in my judg-
ment, the crime of rape should always be
punished with death, as Is the case with
murder; assault with intent to commit rare
should be made capital crime, at least in
the discretion OF the court, and provision
should be made by which the punishment
may follow Immediately upon the heels Of
the offence: while the trial should be so
conducted that the victim need not be
wantonly shamed while giving testimony,
and that the least possible publicity shall
be given to the details.
The members OF the white race, on the
other hand, should understand that every
lynching represents by just 80 much
loosening of the bands OF civilization; that
the spirit Of lynching inevitably throws into
prominence in the community all the foul
and evil creatures who dwell therein. No
man can take part in the torture OF a human
being without having his own moral nature
permanently lowerei. Every lynching
means j. st so much moral deterioration
in all the children who have any knowl-
edge of IL, and therefore just 50 much ad-
ditional trouble for the next generation OF
Americans.
Let justice be both sure and swift, but
let IL be justice under the law, and not the
wild and crooked savagery of a mob.
There is another matter which has a
direct bearing upon this matter of lynching
and Of the brutal cyime which sometimes
calls II forth and at other times merely
furnishes the excuse for its existence. 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 for the moment
profit by such maltreatment Of their fellows
will in the long run also suffer. No more
short-sighted policy can be imagined than,
in the fancied interest of one class, to pre-
vent the education of another class. The
free public school, the chance for each boy
or girl to get good elementary education,
lies at the foundation OF our whole political
situation. In every community the poorest
citizens, those who need the schools most,
would be deprived OF them II they only
received school facilities proportioned to
the taxes they paid. This is as true OF
one portion Of our country as Of another
IL 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 q II ass to
grow to manhood and womanhood without
education. Unquestionably education such
as Is obtained in our public schools does
not do everything toward making a man
o good citizen, but IL does much. The
lowest and most brutal criminals, those for
instance who commit the crime Of rape,
are in the great majority men who have had
either no education or very little; just
as they are almost invariably men who
own no property; for the man who
puts money by out OF his earnings, like
the man who acquires education, Is usually
lifted above mere brutal criminaGty. or
course the best type OF education for the
colored man, taken as a whole, is such
education as is conferred in schools like
Hampton and Tuskegee. where the boys
and girls, the young men and young women
are trained industrially as we'll as in the
ordinary public school branches. The grad
yates OF these schools turn out well in the
great majority of cases, and hardly any Of
them become originals, while what little
criminality there is never takes the form
OF that brutal violence which invites lynch
law. Every graduate OF the 70 schools
and for the matter of that every other
ooIored man or woman-who leads a life
40 useful and honorable as to win the good
will and respect Of those whites " hose
neighbor be or she is, thereby helps the
whole oolored race as IL can be helped in
no other way; for next 10 the negro him.