Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-04

tne coioreo man VINO SHOWS Dy MS ire tnet
ne deserves such treatment: for II Is surely
tho highest wisdom to encourage In the
colored race all those individuals who are
honest. Industrious. law-abiding, and who
and citizens. Reward or punish the indi-
vidual on his merits an individual. EVIL
will surely come IN the end to both races
II We substitute for this just rule the habit
good and bad. alike. There is no question
OF social equality or negro domination"
involved; only the question Of relentiessiy
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
qualities Of heart head. and hand enable
him to achieve It.
Worst Enemy Of His Race.
Every colored man o ould realize that the
worst enemy of his race Is the negro GRIM
inal. and above all the negro criminal who
commits the dreadful crime of rape; and
1t should be felt as in the highest degree
an offense against the whole country. and
against the colored race in particular. for
colored man to fail to help the officers OF
the law In hunting down with all possible
earnestness and zeal every such Infamous
offender. Moreover, in 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 a 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 offense; 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
nfh hov .A
lynching represents by just so much a
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 lowered. Every lynch
Ing means just so much moral deterioration
In all the children who have any knowledge
OF 1t. and therefore just SO much additional
trouble for the next generation of Ameri-
cans.
Let justice be both sure and swift: but
let 1t 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 crime which sometimes
calls 1t forth and at other times merely
furnishes the excuse for its existence 1t is
out of the question for our people
whole permanently to rise by treading
down any of their own number. Even
tHOS0 WHO themselves IOr the moment prOlt
by such maltreatment of their fellows will
in the long run also suffer. No more
shortsfghted 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 po-
litical situation. In every community the
poorest citizens, those who need the schools
most, would be deprived of them if they
only received school facilities proportional
to the taxes they paid. This is as true of
one portion Of our country as of another.
1t Is as true for the negro as for the white
man. The white man. If he is wise. will
decline to allow the negroes In a mass to
grow to manhood and womanhood without
education. UnQuestionably education such as
Is obtained In our public schools does not
do everything towards making a man
good citizen; but 1t does much. The lowest
and most brutal criminals, those for in
stance 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 criminalty. OF 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
industrfalIy as well as in the ordinary pub
lie 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 GRIM
inality there is never takes the form of
that brutal violence which invites lynch
law. Every graduate Of these schools
and for the matter of that every other col
ored man or woman-who leads q life SO
useful and honorable as to win the good
neighbor he or she is. thereby helps the
whole colored race as 1t can be helped In
no other way; for next to the negro HIM
self, the man who can do most to help the
negro is his white neighbOr who lives near
him; and our steady effort should , to
better the relations between the two. Great
tho the benefit Of these schools has been
to their colored pupils and to the colored
people, it may well be questioned whether
the benefit has not been at least as great to
the white people among whom these col
ored pupils live after they graduate.
Be it remembered. furthermore, that the
individuals who. whether from folly, from
evil temper from greeu for office. or in a
spirit of mere base demagogy, indulge in
the inflamma tory and incendiary speeches
and writings which tend to arouse mobs
and to bring about lyme hing. not only thus
excite the mob. but also tend by what GRIM
biologists call 'suggestion. greatly to in
crease the likelihood of a repetition of the
very crime against which they are in
Weighing. When the mob is composed OF
the people of one race and the - n lynched
Is of another race. the men WHO in their
speeches and writings eth. excite or JUS
tify the action tend. OF course. II excite
bitter race feeling and 10 cause the people
of the opposite race to lose sight of the
abominable act of the criminal himself; and
in addition, by the prominence they give to
the hideous deed they undoubtedly tend to
excite in other brutal and depraved ma
lures thoughts of committing it. Swift,
relentless, and orderly punishment under
the law is the only way by which crimi-
nality of this type can permanently be sup
prest.
Capital and Labor.
In dealing with both labor and capital.
with the questions affecting both corpora
lions and trades unions. there is one mat
ter more important to remember than aught
else. and that is the infinite harm done by
preachers of mere discomfort. These are
the men who seek to excite violent class
hatred against all men Of wealth. They
seek to turn wise and proper movements
for the better control of corporations and
for doing away with the abuses connected
with wealth, into a campaign Of hysterical
excitement and falsehood in which the aim
is to inflame to madness the brutal pas
sions of mankind. The sinister demagogs
and foolish Missionaries who are always
eager to undertake such a campaign of
destruction sometimes seek to associate