The Washington bee., 1907-04-27

| l0slSIdllOn. l hat the president, the
Congress and political parties should be
held accountable for long neglect of
this constitutional obligation.
he League recognizes the valuable
assistance given by the Federal Admin
iStration in the prosecution of violations
Of the Thirteenth Amendment in the
so-called 'peonage cases." first initiated
by independent effort. All friends of
the cause hope that violations and dis
regard of other constitutional provisions
will not in the future remain ignored
either by the Executive or by the Con-
gress.
With trial by jury ignored, freedom
OF speech denied, the mandates of the
Supreme Court de6ed, with the consti-
tutional rights of citizens denied"
abridged" or more dangerously circum-
vented by perversion of the forms Of
law; with a weekly average of three
citizens put to death. without legal trial,
every week for nineteen years, it would
seem that the time for organized pro-
test and action had arrived.
1t is to the credit of sympathetic
America that we have been Mortified at
the Jewish massacres and Armenian as
Sassinations. but the outside world has
also stood aghast at the race mobs,
lynchings and massacres in christian
America" North and South.
The League desires the united infu-
ences of Christian civilization, North
and South. to uphold the law, adequate
" punish the guilty and make every
citizen respect the guarantees of the
Federal Constitution, without regard to
person or locality.
The League proposes, by means of or
ganized lawful resistance and positive
action, to aid in suppressing Iawlessness,
mob violence, lynchings, and all forms
Of the murder spirit, which, as statistics
show, make life in the United States,
five times less secure than in Australia,
six times less secure than in Japan, nine
times less secure than in Canada, four
teen times less secure than in Germany.
(See address Of Judge Thomas at Nash
ville)
The Leagues defense of the black
battalion has earned for it the moral
and financial support Of the nation. The
great history-maIling brownsville af-
fray will rank with the international
awakening which required ten years
hard work to clear the record of the
prosecuted French Jew, Dreyfus.
The League regarded as unjust, un-
and without due process /
OF law" the condemnation and punish !
ment OF the members of Companies B, /
c and D, Twenty Infantry, dis
charged without honor" 1t demanded |
an open hearing for these defenders of
the flag, and sent two commissions, part
white and part cOlored, to the scene OF
the disturbance in Texas, to San An
tonic and also to FL Reno, Oklahoma,
10 ascertain the facts. The facts and
gathered by the League were
aid before the President and the Senate
ii the United States (Senate Document
1917 IN consequence of which the
President sent two messages TO the SEN
ate document 1859, hastened his As
5lstant Attorney-General to Brownsville
and revoked the most drastic feature OF
MS sweeping order OF discharge. There
was then pTeClpltated one OF the most
debates on Executive author
y' that. the country has witnessed. 1t
las brought the people Of the United
States again face to face with the fun-
damental questions OF liberty, justice
and humanity. The investigation OF the
entire proceedings through the Senate
Committee on Military Affairs is now
under way, largely through the heroic
efforts of Senator Foraker, supported at
every point of the inquiry by the
Leagues commissioners and representa-
tives.
The League is representative. 1t in
yites and has the hearty cooperation of
independents, Democrats, Republicans,
labor organization men, ProhibitiOnists,
Socialists and others.
A large number of college presidents
and instructors are charter" members,
and there are in affiliated relationship
hundreds of Clergymen, and thousands
of professional business men throughout
forty States and the several territories.
Up to the present time the League has
been supported by the private contribu-
tions of a few patriotic citizens, but the
work has grown to such vast proper
tons that it is now necessary to nation
alize its support, and hereafter its plan
and scope" will be limited only by the
funds in hand. We use the term 'in
hand" advisedly, for the League is in
and will manage its affairs
on strictly cash basis without individ-
ual liability or corporate Indebtedness.