The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-12-07

cent people are likely To die when :
no6's terrible lust IS once aroused. The
lesson s this: No good citizen car a.
ford 10 conntenance 6 defiance Of the
statutes. No matter what the proyoca-
tion. The innocent frequently suffer.
and. Sc s ny observation. more usual
suffer than the guilty. The white
people Of the south indfct the whole
coicred raee on the ground that cvea
the better elements lend no assistance
whatever in f~erreting out criminals q
their own color. The respectable COL
ored people must learn not 20 harfpor
their criminals. but 10 assist the Officers
IN bringing them 10 justice. This is
the larger CRIME. and ii prorokes Ss;ch
atrocioas offenses rs the one 81 Attain
I'll. The W. races can not get on until
there is n understanding On the part
OF both TO make commo cause with
The law-abiding against criminals Of
any color"
Moreover. where any crime commit
ted by a member Of one race against
a member Of another race Is avenged
in such fashion that it seems AS .f not
the individual criminal, but the whole
race. is attacked. the result is 10 exas-
perate to the highest degree race feel
ing. There is but one safe rule in ieal-
ing with black men as with white men;
Il is the same rule that must be mp
ped in dealing with the rich men
and poor men: that is, to treat each
man., whatever his color. his creed. or
his social position, with even-handed
justice on his real worth as a man.
White people owe it quite as much
to themselves as to the cOlored race e.
treat well the colored man who shows
by his life that he deserves such treat
| ment; for it is surely the highest wis
dom to encourage in the colored race
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
dividuaI. Evil will surely come in the
end to both races If we substitute for
this rule the habit of treating al; the
members of the race, good and bal,
alike. There is no question of social
equality or negro domination in
yoIved: only the question Of relentless
" Furnishing bad men, and of securing
, TO the good man the right to his life,
his liberty, and the pursuit of happi-
ness as his own qualities of nelrt,
head, and hand enable him to achieve
it.
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 as
in the highest degree an offense against
the whole country. and against the col
ored race in particular. for a colOred
man to fail to help the officers of the
law in hunting down with all possible
| earnestness and zeal every such IN
famous offender. Moreover, In my
Judgment, the crime of rape should al
ways be punished with death, as IS
the case with murder; assault with in
tent to commit rape should be made a
capital crime, at least in the discre-
ton Of the court; and provision should
be made by which the punishment may
follow Immediately upon the heels nf
the offense; while the trial should be
so conducted that the victim need not
be wantonly shamed while giving tes-
timony. and that the least possible pub
Lefty shall be given the details.
The members OF the white race on
the other hand should understand that
every iynching represents by jus: 50
much a lOosening Of the bands of civil
ization; that the spirit of lynching in
evitably throws into prominence in the
community all the foul and evil crea-
lures who dwell therein. No man can
take part in the torture Of a human
being without having his own moral
nature permanently lowered. Every
lynching means just 20 much mora
deterioration in all the children who
have any knowledge of it, and there
fore just so much additional trouble
for the next generation of Americans
Let justice be both sur and swift
but let 1t be justice under the law. and
not the wild and crooked savagery al
A mob.
There is another matter which has a
direct bearing upon this matter Oh
lynching and of the brutal crime which
sometimes calls it forth and at other
times merely furnishes the excuse fo1
it's existence. 1t 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 them
selves for the moment profit by sucl
~naltreatment OF their fellows will ir
the long run also suffer. No more
shortsighted policy can be imagined
than, in the fancied interest of one
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 II
the foundation Of our whole political
situation. In every community tbs
poorest citizens, those who iced the
schools most, would be deprived al
them If they only received school faeil-
tiles prorortioned To the taxes thev
paid. This is as true of one portion OF
our country as of another. It Is as true
for the negro as for the white man. The
white man, IL he is wise. will 1ecline 10
allow the egroe in 4 mass 20 grow
TO manhood and woTnarhcod without
education Internationally education
such as is obtained i'm N public
schools does not do everything toward