The morning journal-courier., 1908-08-19
THE LESSON OF SPRINGFIELD.


 From being the center of interest the country over, fortnight ago, for very creditable trial of the direct prim- ary, Illinois has now taken the center of the stage as the scene of the worst negro-w white outburst the country has seen since the riots of Atlanta If Illi- nois accepted the wide praise 1t receiy- ed then for It's attempt to protect the true principles of self government and individual rights with the direct prim- ary, 1t should now feel in no less de- gree its great disgrace,
 It seems peculiarly singular that the recent troubles should not only have taken place in the capital city of IT, linois, right under the very nose of its governor, but that Springfield should have been the city most intimately as- sociated with our great Abraham Lin- coln, whose one great aim In life was to eradicate inter-race conflicts To Springfield he went as the rail-splitter to become the young struggling lawyer. There were held the great debates with Douglas. The local cemetery contains his remains. Significant, too, is the fact that the young negro, the very man who was accused of assaulting a white woman, and whose supposed deed pre- cipitated the tragedy and necessltated the presence of $500 militiamen, very nearly all the state, has now produced an alibl, to which are ascribed the names of white as we'll as black wit nesses, to prove his innocence. As Is quite unanimously the case with such mob disorders. violence moves from the very beginning along channels where 1t Is least deserved.
 It must take the country some little time to recover from such outbursts of | lawlessness and to so far compose it. self as to be able to reflect ratlonally on what has happened, No adequate cause for the trouble need be sought As Is usual, none can be trumped up. Even granted that horrible outrages had been committed, there could have been no doubt in Springfield that to the guilty ones would be meted out the strictest justice at the hands of jury l The fact that Governor Deneen and his subordinates with great dispatch did all that could be done to better the sit. uation. for which they deserve all praise and that they still experienced serious trouble in quelling the riots but makes the situation the worse Such disturbances as we northerners have been accustomed 10 believe were only characteristic of that district south oi the Mason and Dixon line, have beer shown to be possible, with all theil sickening details. in the heart of oul north. In perfect fairness may oui southern brothers say that the desper ations of the lynch law and the mol are without section As the Bostor Transcript has significantly said Such outbreaks In such places q: these serve as special license to thu worst clements of the lower south t carry .on their nefarious work" No only that but friction between th races in the north, too, will result.
 The memory of the martyred Llncoli has been sorely desecrated. Howeve much that Is to be lamented, howeve great the Encouragement to those wh have hoped for suppression of racia differences remedy must be sought The difference is now that every sec tion of the country must combine in tn search for that remedy. Mob rule ha become a national disgrace. Concerted ly as a nation must We seek the rem edy It is problem as weighty as an. we have Both races must educat themselves to seeing the utter useless ness of such practices. Already negro Chicago preacher, has paved tho wa. for better things with his race, urgin national law and order or good citi zens league among the negroes tha shall fight this lawless element anon the blacks A similar movement anon the whites, who with all their boaste superiority, have shown as much lac of self control, would be equall praiseworthy. The work of reform mus begin on wholesale lines, without racia or sectional differences. If we boas self government, we must show self control of the basic passions.
 EVIL LEGISLATION.