The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-08-21

with this excess of eriminai,.y, as some
 eontendf There must be some eaus. | for what appears to be an ab normal
 condition in city and s.ata which
 have not in the past be,n noted for
 iswiessness The explanation given by
 The Boston Advertiser do.sn't help
 matters any. If the cities and smaller
 towns of the State contain settlements
 of criminals banded together for the
 put~ese of making forays in tfe rural districts. there ought to h. enough
 rower and energy in the police and
 other officlA.s to put it down sLc either drive ou. t,,e eriIninais or arrest and punish them The reportL from up there indicate . condition that calls to mind fos.ner days in the Wild West. old Tanueil Hall is being discredited.
 number of causes and numbers of remedies have been discussed. Among the causes 1t is not unlikely that in- discriminate immigration may have much bearing. It is well known that many of the foreigners who come to this country are not only without knowledge of our ways and customs. but in too many cases they are wholly without regard for law and order. They come from countries where tn ere Is little of personal liberty, and large per centage of them are without means Of support. If they fail to get such employment as they are capable of performing they will resort to crime rather than suffer for the necessaries of life. It will not be surprising to learn that this class is largely respon- sibIe for many crimes that are being committed up there. It Is one of tho penalties that New England pays for getting an undue share of immigrants.
 As to the remedies proposed. if any of them have been given . trial there has been nothing to indicate success, for the lawisssness goes on without check. More stringsl. immigration laws and the barring out of the un- desirabies would be hslpfui as far ss the future ts concerned, nut what :s | needed just now is to find soma ireans | of putting an end to conditions nov | existing. If relief is not givea the ru- ral and suburban population we need feel no surprise to hear that people | up there have taken the Ia into tbeIr hsnds, and already we have seen hints in Massachusetts papers that lynching may be reScrtsd to. Evidently some of them are already feeling the symp- toms. as the following item from The Brockton Enterprise shows:
 A few more such eases of outlawry as that at Jamaica Plain and Methuen and lynch Jaw may not seem so heinous to Massachusetts as it has in a fairly law abiding past.
 The heinousness of an ofYeuse against the law depends somewhat on the To- cality of 1t. If lynching were confined to the South 1t would be superlativelv ah tHS cEhltndLtOn OI MaBea- l chusetts. but if something of the kind should take place up there we've no doubt but that some of them, at least, would seek to justify the act on the plea that the law has failed to do jus tice. But as The New Bedford stand ard reasons, ''if the time comes when the people of Massachusetts resort to lynch law the time will come after wards when they will be sorry. Out lawry can never be cured by outlawry. However leniently the application of lynch law may be regarded in the first moment of passionate indignation. a to the temptation will be cer- tain to bring the occasion for bitter 1 repentance. Those who desire to per petuate the good name of Massachu- setts and to cure the evils of outlawry will insist on the most scrupulous ad- nerence to the law in every detail of iealing with criminals"
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