The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-10-30
TIME FOR THE MAILED HAND.

on in Tennessee. and the progress that is being made must be highly encour- aging. It may be that proper efforts have not heretofore been put forth, or
 that the authorities have not fully ap- preciated the gravity of the situation, but 1t is plain that the domination of night riders and their aids and as- sistants has gone on too long. It must
 be put down for good and all, or the
 government of law and order will exist only in name. and the lives of peaceful,
 orderly and law-abiding citizens will lie at the mercy of thugs and maraud-
 CTS who seem to have thrown off all
 restraint and become as iawless and
 brutal as savages on the warpath.
 Plainly Governor Patterson is in
 deadly earnest in his determination to put down night riding and bring the criminals to justice. The conditions were bad enough when the operations of the law-breakers were confined to
 threats and arson. to whippings and other. acts of personal violence. but the cowardIy, and brutal assassination of Captain Rankin was the limits and now there is a plain, unflinching de- termination on the part of the authori- ties of Tennessee to make such an ex- ample as will not soon be forgotten by the criminal element of that state. The undertaking involves both expense and danger, but that cannot be allow ed to stand in the way of enforcing the laws. Good men lose their lives but that also is one of the risks to be run. If 1t requires the employ msnt of all the civil and military pow CTS of the state they should be used | The sight of proven murderers at the end of the 'hAngman's rope wlll prove a more -deterrsnt example than all else that can be done to put down the law lessness, that exists in Tenpessee and in other sections of the e6untty; oon-] dItion that is bringing shame. .humlIia ton and rsprosch to the people and to the sovethhnehts' Of the states.
 There gre some who cannot under stand the apparent tendency towards anarchy that is prevalent in certain sections. and to them we will give pointer. There is a certain Ben Reit- | man up Chicago way who has obtain ed some notoriety as professional | tramp and hobo, an organiser of as- sociations of hOboes. and a general do nothing except with his mouth. Of late he has developed into an anarchist | of the Emma Golrnan type; and in a | recent speech in Chicago he used this language:
 My chances for going to prison for life or being hanged were never SO stsEt Drgt as Seey oTe of the s S the needy to take i wi what they want 1 in- stead of asking for it. I believe the lution in America that will make the French revolution look like Sunday school picnic. believe the working police and the government as their worst enemies. The time for striking |
 blow is at hand. l want to wipe out Jaws and tails.
 Now here Is man who Is publicly teaching and preaching the doctrines which lead to midnight assassinations, to arson, murder and other crimes of violence, and which teachings furnish a foundation for night riding and other forms of marauding. There may be anarchists in theory who do not but there are others of the Reitman brand who openly counsel it. Whether such men have the physical courage to carry out their teachings may be 2 matter of doubt, but there can be no doubt of the evil effects Of such talk nor do we think there can be any doubt that such violent harangues give en- couragment and momentum to much of the marauding which has reached such an acute stage In Tennessee.
 We hear much in these days about freedom of speech. and it is one of the most sacred and valuable rights guar anteed us by the constitution of our fathers. but like all rights and prfvi- leges 1t may be abused and made to do harm. When free speech promotes and encourages violence and crime it should be suppressed, for the consti- tuition is not violated by silencing those who advise the commission of crime. Only two or three nights ago this same Breitman and Emma Gold man were prevented from speaking in public in Indianapolis and threatened with Imprisonment if they persisted in attempting to set forth their vile doc trines.
 This was the proper course to take with them. If any mistake was made it was made on the side of leniency. Such characters are a menace to good government and to the peace and order of society. It is to such violent teachings as theirs that We owe much of the disrespect for law that is caus-