The Cairo bulletin., 1906-12-05


punished with death. AZ Is the cas'
: with murder; assauit with intent t.
} commit rape should be made a CAPT
tai crime. at least In the discretion
: OF the court: and provision should bt
: made by which the punishment ma,
follow Immediately upon the heels Of
! he Offense, while the trail should be
80 conducted that the victim need moi
he wantonly shamec while giving ties
timony, and that the least possible
tails.
Tho members of the white race on
the other hand should understand
that every lynching represents by
just so much loosening Of The bands
of civilization: that the spirit OF
lynching inevitably throws into prom
inence in The community all the foul
and evil creatures who dwell therein
No man can take part In the torture
OF human being without having his
own moral nature permanently low,
cred. Every lynching means Just 50
much moral deterioration in all The
children who have any knowledge of
1t, and therefore Just so much addi.
tional trouble for The next generation
Of Americans.
Let justice be sure and swift, but
! let it be justice nn1er the law, and
not the wild and crooked sayagery
OF mob.
There is another matter which has
a direct bearing upon this matter OF
lynching and of the brutal crime
which sometimes call it forth and at
other times merely furnishes The ex-
cuse for its existence. 1t is out of the
question for our people as a whole
permanently 10 rise by treading down
any Of their own number. Even those
who themselves for The moment profit
/ by such maltreatme nt of their fellows
will in the long run also suffer No
more shotsighted policy can be
imagined than. in the fanced inter
est OF one class, to prevent the educa-
ton OF another class. The free public
school the chance for each boy or
girl to get good elementary educa
ton, lies al the foundation of our
whole political situation. In everey
community The poorest citizens. those
who need the schools most. would be
deprived OF them il they only received
school facilities proportional to the
taxes they paid This is as true of one
portion Of onr country as of another.
1t is as true for the negro as for the
white man. The white man, if he H.
wise. will decline to allow the me-
groes IN mass to grow TO manhood
and womanhood without education
InquestiOnably education such as Is
obtained in our public schools does
not do everything towards making
man good citizen; but II does much.
The lowest and most brutal crimi-
mails, 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 %ho own
no prop artv; for the man who puts
money by ont of his earnings, like the
man who acquires education is
usually lifted above mere brutal
crimnality. OF course the best type
of education for The colorel man,
taken as whole, is such education
as is conferred in schools like Hamp-
ton and ruskegee where the boys ami |
girls, the young men and women are
trained industrially as well as in the |
ordinary public school branches. Til
graduates of these schools turn out |
well III the great majority of cases |
and hardly any of them become crimi |
mails. while what little criminality |
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 |
1ther cOlored man or woman-who !
leads life so useful and honorable |
as TO win the good will and respect |
Of those whites whose neighhor he or
she is, thereby helps the whole col.
nred race a. ii 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 be to better the rela
lions between the two. Great though
he benefit OF these schools has been
10 their colored pupils and to the
colored people, II may well be qnes.
Toned whether tho hnnant hac mn |
been al least as great to the white
people among whom these colored I
pupils live after they graduate.
BE II remembered. Furthermore. that
the individuals who. whether from
folloy from evil temper fro mgred
for office, or in spirit of mere base
lemagogy, indulge In the inilamma-
ory and incendiary speeches and writ.
ngs which tend TO arouse mobs and 10
bring ahom lynching. not only TINS
excite The mob. but tend by what Grim
nologists call suggestion" greatly 10
Increase the likelihood OF arepetition
Of the very crime against which they
are inveighing. When the mob Is
'ompo cd of the people of one race
md he man lynched il of another
ace, the men who in their speeches l
md writings either excite or justify ,
he action tend of course. 10 excite I
bGtfpr rapa feeling aud ~ oau5o 4,