The daily sentinel., 1908-08-20
SAME THE
WORLD OVER
Northern Communities is Quick
ds Southern munifies
10 Start Mob Violence

1t is a pretty difficult thing to alter
the laws of human nature and it will
be found that men are pretty much
the same the world over, although
climate and racial characteristics may
make some difference in their man
ner of action. 1t is difference that
is not basic, however. and human
passions have changed little since the
primal days of the race, although civ
ilization has put a certain gloss-a
veneer, thin enough over the un-
restrained exhibition of license.
The Springfield affair, in which a
mob went to extraordinary excess in
the effort to mete out swift and con-
dign punishment to a negro accused
of ravishing a white woman, is an
example of the essential truth of the
foregoing statement. This happened
in the north, in state that processes
the utmost horror whenever the news
of a lynching in the south is record
ed, and moreover, Springfield is the
capital of the state, the city where
it's administrative head is located.
Had the ravisher been a white
man, although there might have been
extreme indignation, there would
probably have been no riot; but he
was a negro, and the minds of tho
people have been inflamed upon this
venge; race prejudice; the element
of lawlessness that is more or less
dormant in every community, broke
forth with violence. and the result is |
three innocent men killed, a numberl
wounded, a subversion of law and or
der. practically martial law for an |
ordinarily peaceful city, and dis
grace to the community, the common
wealth and the country.
1t is true that negro lynchings are |
more frequent in the south than in
the north; but then there are more
negroes in the south than in the
north and tire race problem is there
fore more acute. In the south, how
ever. it rarely happens that mob vio-
lence reaches the great pitch in these
cases that characterize the northern
episodes. The northern people in
such an instance apparently become
drunk with blood lust and go to ex-
cesses, because of the very fact that
an occurrence of the sort is rarer,
than do those of the south. AS a
consequence. there is more notoriety
attending these things in the north,
wider publicity is given them and
they really work greater injury.
Now the fault of this sort of thing
lies largely with the negro himself
By this is not meant that the accusa-
tions brought against the negro are
always true. They may or may not
be. and undoubtedly sometimes are
and sometimes are not. But what is
the fact is that the negroes in com
mon with all races that are in great
minority in any country, are largely
In the habit of protesting invariably |
that the men accused are innocent, |
and this cannot be the case. They
take up the cause of the accused with
too little investigation
1t is absolutely true that there are
many law-abidlng negroes and also
true that there are many lawless ne
groes. The trouble is that the law
abiding portion of the race take the
part of the lawless with too much |
fervor. The presumption of inno-
cence, theoretically the same with
the negro and white man, is actually |
less with the negro than with the
white, and the negro may as well rec |
ognize this fact. The sooner he does
so the better will it be for him. for
then he will learn that it is not to
the advantage of his race TO uphold
evildoers.
The best thought among the ne
groes has already taken this view.
but this has not permeated the race.
and 1t should do so. The negro needsl
broadening. He should not be the
political nor the personal asset OF
any man or set of men, nor of any
party When he learns this acute
lesson, while there will still be pre-
judice against him. it will have lost
much of its present virulence, and
the so-called race problem wiIlI
have taken long step toward solu-
tion.-Pueblo Star-Journal.
County Clerk Reuben e. Starr will