The Paducah evening sun. [volume] (Paducah, Ky.) 1906-1929, 1908-02-11
CRIMINAL SELFISHNESS.

The New York Times, moraizing
upon the latest Jackson tragedy, says:
Every observer of the Appalachian
rudiments of several virtues and in
sists upon the possibility of their re-.
generation. There are few signs of
such a possibility in the history of
James Hargis. He was neither igno-
rant nor poor, while he had associated
not a little with civilized men and had
participated with them in the conduct
of large public affairs. Having pre-
cisely what the mass of his neighhors
are supposed to need, he was worse
than they. and was only the more
powerful among them on that ac-
count"
What is more urgently needed in
the Kentucky mountains, and, la
mentally enough, in the more pro-
gressive sections of the state also,
comments the Courier Journal, is
moral development. Judge Hargis'
career formed a conspicuous example
of the evils of criminal selfishness. A
man of his moral bent in New York
becomes a grating political boss or
ing his ends By corrupting lawmakers
to make his thievery safe just as a
man of the Hargis stripe controls
courts to make the elimination of the
undesirable citizen safe. This same
criminal selfishness is now exhibiting
itself in the tobacco sections of Ken
lucky, and is spreading northward
and southwark beyond the borders of
this state.
The might rider" Is an exponent Of
Hargisism. His plan is to control the
action of local government by intimi-
dation or by gaining sympathy, ana 10
proceed by arson and If necessary
to regulate the affairs of the
Judge Hargis was a law
unto himself. and justified his acts
upon the high ground that the other
fellow deserved the punishment melted
out If a citizen of Jackson stood
between him and his desires he hired
someone to shoot that citizen. and de-
cided the action or inaction Of the To-
cal authorities. He was aided in &C
his ends by the complac-
ency of a corrupt political machine,
and when the Courier-Journal and
other newspapers made 1t perfectly
plain that he was guilty that machine
stood between him and the enforce
ment of the law.
The might riders" are now prac-
tlcing unbridled Hargisism upon to-
bacco growers who refuse to enter
he planters organization. Their
code is an exact duplicate of that of
he late Judge Hargis. the difference
n their guilt and his being one of de-
gree only. Up to the present time
arson, assault and threats of assas-
sination have been the clubs chiefly
used by the night riders. Unchecked,
they will in time resort to assassina-
ton instead of threats. Through the
of local peace officers,
and popular sympathy, the night
riders are getting a grip upon many
Kentucky counties similar to that with
which Hargis held Breathitt during
the period in which he controlled the
court of first instance, as county
Judge, and the circuit court as boss
Of the sheriff and by other means.
In the end the night-rider move
ment will doubtless prove as disast-
rous to the night riders as Hargisism
proved to Hargls. The damage done
IN the intermin is chargable to lack
Of the moral development of the night
rider himself and of the neighbor who
,onnives at and sympathizes with his
because of the Hargistic
belief that the victims of night rider
SIN deserve punishment and that the
night riders are justified In resorting
10 violence to achieve their ends.