The weekly herald. [volume] (Amarillo, Tex.) 1906-19??, 1908-08-27
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EXCHANGE COMMENT
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Tho Springfield Riot.

ever llnkeu WIN tue luta Ol hoblu
freedom and equality before the law,
in Lincoln's home town there should
have ragged for days and nights an
orgy Of rioting and bloodshed, haN'
ing origin and inspiration in the put
pose Of white men to wreak ven
geance on members of the very race
OF which he martyr president" is
the patron saint
Springfield saw scenes and was the
theater OF deeds such as tae South
has never yet witnessed. Here In
Texas, where contact between the
races is less close and race antipa-
thies are less acute than the are In
other parts OF the South, on five oc-
casions within sixteen years--once In
Lamar county, once in Smith, once
in Navarro, once in Cooke, and once
and most recently in Hunt-in a
storm and transport OF passion pro-
yoked by deeds OF barbarlsm, bIu-
atty and blood in the first three in
stances without parallel In the an
nails OF crime, the people executed
horrible vengeance upon the detilers
of womanhood and childhood.
In none OF these instances, low
ever, did the people, despite the
stress of most atrocious proyocation,
allow themselves to be carried to the
extreme OF murder or assault upon
innocent negroes, but coatented
themselves with inflicting deserved
penalty upon the actual offender
No arson, no rioting, followed. Yet
IL there can be any distinction In in
Iamy and atroclty between any two
instances OF such offending as breed
mobs in Texas and Illinois, most foul,
infamous and damnable as such
deeds are, the deeds wrought here
were most fiendlsh and most calcu-
lated to stir men to rage and sweep
reason from her throne.
No invidious or boastful compari-
son is intended by this reference,
but it is made only to impress upon
those who have often harshly crit
cised the Southern people that the
like wrong must be done them, tn "
must feel like blow, must suffer
a horrible trespass upon their rights
and their womanhood before they
could be preparedto sit in judgment
upon their fellow citizens OF another
section who are daily exposed to like
awful peril.
No right thinking man can read
OF the carnival Of rioting and crime
at Springfield but with regret and
horror. The man who could feel
otherwise about it is gansrened with
racial prejudice and sectional bit
terness.
For what has happened in Spring
field there is reason Of which, in
all likelihood, the people here have
not thought, and that is that in large
part he negroes who have migrated
and settled there are the most worth
less and dangerous of their race,
They are the kind who chafs and fret
and sulk and rebel against anything
which looks like subordination, So
cial or political, on the part of the
negro to the white man, They are
OF the class which at the South
would be extensively impudent to the
white man without provocation, sim
ply because he is white and refuses
to recognize any negro as his social
equal.
The negroes who 60 to Springfield
from the South have heard OF the
laws which make discrimination be-
tween the races in public places an
offense, and they go there dreaming
dreams and cherishing hopes of theil
social equality, which they look upon
as the logical outgrowth and Sc
quence of such sentiment as brings
forth such laws.
When they reach there they find
what they say is prejudice and hate
but which Is not, but is only the
ever-present, dominant, uEconquer
able, irresistible racial instinct
which Is as surely to be found In thu
very warp and wool Of the white
skinned, blue-veined Caucasian as
red blood is to be found in his veins
Before that unscalsbe barrieI
ereced by nature the negro stops
baffled, angered, hopeless and re
vengeful, and from such condition
and state OF mind are born deeds o.
lechery and murder.
This is the plain truth, and is tolC
in all kindness, because 1t needs Il
be told. The ordeal through whicl
the capital city of sister state ha
passed commands the sineerest sym