Watertown weekly leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1906-1908, 1908-04-17

! the people is with the farmers in their
! effort to force the trust to pay a rea-
/ sOnable and remunerative price for to-
/ bacco. Defeat means starvation prices
| and continued scarcity of money. Vic
| tory means prosperity for grower and
merchant alike. For this reason the
merchants are 5training every resource
to carry their tobacco growing custom
ers on their books and the farmers are
cutting expenditures to the lowest DOS
! sible limit. 1t is a struggle in which
practically all of Kentucky has a vital
! interest. Everywhere one goes he hears
word Of commentator for the Equity !;
the only condemnation is for the ex-
cesses to which the night riders have
gone
But there is an excuse for the night
riders. Their mildest action is, Of
course, Illegal but it is understand
able. The law Is slow. In every COM
munity in which there is q great strug-
gle for betterment, with consequent de-
Drivation and sacrifice, there are al
ways those whose cupidity prompts
them to take advantage Of the situa-
ton and reap a personal benefit, even
at the cost Of aiding the common enc
my. These individuals, though strict
ly within their legal rights, are neces-
sarily not popular with their neigh
bors, and to an extent these neighbors
are excusable when, persuasion failing,
| an appeal is made to coercion. There
is the law Of the statute books; there
is also the law of the community. In
fraction Of the one may be punished In
the courts; defiance Of the other Is
more difficult of correction.
So long as the night riders confined
themselves to the raking of tobacco
beds there was little criticism. When
valuable warehouses were burned there
was a general expression Of indigna-
ton and condemnation. When murder
was resorted to the manhood and de-
cency Of Kentucky were reused to a
height which demanded that all night
riding must cease and that the crimi-
nails who had gone to such terrible ex-
cesses must be discovered and pun
ished
1t is not difficult to account for night
riding in its incipiency. And from this
basis perhaps it is easy to understand
how irresponsible, daredevil young
men, prompted by a love of rough adj
venture and occasionally by personal
spite, took advantage of conditions to
commit excuses and outrages.
Accompanying the night riding which
has been such an unfortunate feature
Of the tobacco producers fight against
the trust there has been more than one
tragedy, but the one which attracted
the most attention and created the
greatest Indignation was the killing of
Hiram Hedges by some member Of a
masked mob.
Hedges was Woodworking, honest
man for whom it has been long strug-
gle to support his numerous family. He
was man Of decent morals, was count
ed good neighbor and was not known
to have had an enemy. Like all farm
ers in his part of the State, he was
tobacco grower, but in a small way. In
his immediate neighborhod there had
been very little organizing among the
farmers and he was not an Equity man
One night he was visited by a mob Of
about seventy-fve men, called to the
door accused Of planting tobacco, and
in the presence of his family was rid
died with shot.
The murder of Hedges was about as
unprovoked and cold-blooded a crime
as could re committed. 1t was a result
Of night riding Nevertheless neither
this nor other outrages should be attrIb.
uted either to the organized farmers OF
to their officers. They condemn such
criminaIity heartily and outside Of the
immediate sufferers, are the creates
losers.