The National tribune., 1907-01-03
HOPE FOR ATLANTA.

HOPE FOR ATLANTA.
BY far the most hopeful thing that
has yet appeared in the negro situation
is the report made by the committee
of Atlanta business men appointed to
investigate the recent so-called race
| riot. This report fully sustains all that
The National Tribune said at the time
| in commenting upon that Iamentable
| incident We said that the severest
blow was to the prosperity and the
business interests of Atlanta. The re-
port of the Business Mems Committee
| Is in stronger terms of denunciation
than The National Tribune used at the
| time. 1t says that "the tough element
had crucified Atlanta in the eyes of the
world and shocked the moral sense of
our people," The report says that 12
persons were killed and 20 wounded.
OF the dead two We're whites and 10
colored, two females and 10 males. OF
the wounded 10 we.e whites and 60
negros. The committee has investigat-
ed the matter carefully, and tried to
relieve distress as far as possible, ex-
pthuih5 Po,oOU III tLt VI itlici,
of which the city contributed $1,000.
| The report says in part:
Among the victims of the mob there
was not single vagrant. They were
earning wages in useful work up to
the time of the riot. They were sup
| porting themselves and families and
| dependent relativs Most of the dead
| left small children ard wives. mothers
or sisters, with practically no means
and very small earning capacity.
about. 70 persons We're wounded,
and among these there was an immense
amount of suffering. In some cases it
was prolonged and excruciating. Many
| of the wounded are disfigured, and sew
| eral are permanently disabled. Most
of them were in humble circumstances.
but they were honest. Industrious and
| law-abiding citizens and useful MEM
bers of society. AS ~ persons were
killed and 10 were murderously as
saulted, it Is clear that several hundred
| murderers or would-be murderers are
at large in the community.
1.-THE crimes of the mob included
robbery as well as murder. In num-
Der of cases the property of the inno-
cent and unoffending people was talk
en-. Furniture was destroyed, small
shops were looted, windows were
smashed and money was taken from
|
crime, men and women alike were
treated with unspeakable brutality.
| "Altho less than three months have
| past since the riots, events have DEM
onstrated that the slaughter of the
| innocent does not deter the criminal
class from committing crimes. Rape
| and robbery have been committed in
the city during that time. The slaugh-
1 ter of the innocent does drive away
| good citizens. From one small neigh
borhood 25 families have gone"
i A more complete exposition of the
deviltry of the Infamous affair could
not be made, and 1t is particularly
] hopeful that this comes from the busi-
ness men of Atlanta, who see the evils
of the preachments of such pestiferous
| demagogs as John Temple Graves, and
will take measures to suppress them.
They may not be suppressed, but they
will receive such condemnation from
| the better element of society as will
prevent them having any effect. The
very hideousness of the Atlanta riots
work will bring a halt to that species
of crusades. If the rioters had gone
| into the well-known dives and criminal
,
the miserable drunken Ioafers found
there, there would have been some jus.
tification for it, and its work might have
been to a certain degree beneficial; but
the business men have found that not a
single criminal or vagrant was killed
among those who fell victims to the
wicked passions of the toughs consti-
tuting the mob. Evidently it has been
a severe lesson for Atlanta, but one
which will bear rich fruit in the stern
repression of such outbreaks in the
future.
| Even Gov. Vardaman, bitter and in
temperate negro-hater as he has been.
has found very much the same condi-
ton of things In his State. and has had
the manhood and honesty to say as
Il much. His Investigations showed that
the so-called race riot was merely the
vicious attack of crininally-d disposed
whites upon negros who were peace.
able and well-disposed. They did mo-
i Join in the hunt for the negro crimina
who had shot the Deputy Sheriff, but
attacked negros who were inoffensive
orderly and Industrious. A few more
, expositions of this kind will bring the
!, preachers of race wars into the bitter
contempt of every one and do world
, Of good in promoting a saner attitude
toward a race which it is our Christian
duty to help lift up to a higher plane
of civilization.