The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1906-12-07

triot in America needs to lift up his
against the mob spirit that IL threat
ening the integrity of this republic"
Gov. Jelks, of Alabama, has recently
spoken as follows: THE lynching OF
excusable anywhere--it Is defiance Of
orderly government; but the killing of
innocent people under any provocation
is Infinitely more horrible; and vet in
nocent people are likely to die when
The lesson is this: No good citizen can
afford to countenance a defiance OF the
statutes, no matter what the provoca-
ton. The innocent frequently suffer,
ly suffer than the guilty. The white
people of the south indict the whole
colored race on the ground that even
the better elements lend no assistance
whatever in ferreting out criminals Of
their own. color. The respectable col
ored people must learn not to harbor
their criminals, but to assist the off,
GERS In bringing them to justice. This
Is the larger crime, and. 1t provokes
such atrocious offenses as the one at
Atlanta. The two races can never get
on until there Is an understanding on
the part of both to make common
cause with the law-abiding criminals
OF any color"
Danger OF Race Hatred.
Moreover. whore any crime commit
ted by MEMBER of one race against
member of another race Is avenged
the individual criminal, but the whole
race. Is attacked. the result is to exas-
perate to the highest degree race feel
ing. There Is but one safe rule in
dealing with black men as with white
men: It Is the same rule that must be
applied in dealing with rich men and
poor men; that is, to treat each man.
whatever his color. his creed. or his
social position, with even handed JUS
tice on his real worth as man. White
selves. as to the colored race to treat
well the colored man who shows by
his life that he deserves such treat
ment; for It is surely the highest wis
all those individuals who are honest
Industrious. law-abiding, and who
therefore make good and safe neigh
bors and citizens. Reward or punish
the individual on his merits as an in
dividual Evil will surely come in
the end to both races if we substitute
for this just rule the habit Of treating
all the members of the race, good and
bad alike. There is no question Of
involved: only the question Of reient-
lessly Furnishing bad men, and of se-
curing. 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 1t,
Every colored man should realize
that the worst enemy of his race is the
negro criminal, and above all the ne
gro criminal who commits the dread
full crime Of rape; and it 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 lin hunting down with all
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 in
tent to commit rape 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 offense; while the trial should, be
so conducted that the victim need not
timony, 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
much loosening of the bands of CIV
lization; that the spirit of lynching
inevitably throws into prominence in
the community all the foul and evil
WHO uWelI IneFeln. NO man
can take part in the torture of hui
man being without having his own
moral nature permanently lowered.
Every lynching means just so much
moral deterioration in all the children
who anof have any my knowledge Of it and
trouble for the next generation of
Americans.
Let justice be both sure and swift;
but let it be. Justice under the law,
and not the wild and crooked savagery
of mob.
Need for Negro Education.
There is another matter which has
a direct bearing upon this matter of
lynching and of the brutal crime which
sometimes calls it forth and at other
times merely furnishes the excuse for
it's existence. 1t is out of the question
for our people as whole permanently
to rise by treading down any of their
own number. Even those who them
selves for the moment profit by such
maltreatment of their fellows will in
the long run also suffer No more
policy can be imagined
class, to prevent the education of an
other class. The free public school. the
chance for each boy or girl to get a
good elementary education, lies at the
foundation of our whole political stu
alton, In every community the poor
est citizens, those who need the schools
most. would be deprived of them If
they only received school facilities
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 de-
cline to allow the negroes in a mass to
grow to manhood and womanhood
without education. Unquestionably ed
ucatiOn such as is obtained in our pub
lie schools does not do everything to-
wards making a man a good citizen;
but it 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
puts money by out of his earnings,
like the man who acquires education,
is usually lifted above mere brutal
OF course the best type
of education for the colored man, ta-
ken as whole, is such education as
is conferred in schools like Hampton
and Tuskegee;~ where the boys and
men: are trained industrially as well
branches. The graduates of these
schools turn out well in the great ma
jority of cases, and hardly any of them
become criminals, while what little
there is never takes the
form of that brutal violence which in
vites Slynch law Every graduate of
these schools-and for the matter of
man-who leads a life SO useful and
honorable as to win the good will and
respect of those whites whose neigh
Dor he or she is, thereby helms fhe