The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1909-11-26

stand with the editors as the first and
foremost and boldest of all the adVo-
Gates of the supremacy of the law.
The reign of terror in Cairo last
week cannot be defended upon any
ground. 1t disgraced the civilization
of the country. For two days and
nights there was a perfect orgie of
crime and blood. The members OF
the mob danced with fiendish glee
around the burning members of a hui
man body. They tore the heart from
their victim and cut it into hundreds
of pieces to be distributed as souve-
Mrs. Little resistance was offered by
the sworn officers of the law. The
whole affair was destructive of law
and order and an affront to decency
And the ministers are the very last
people in the world one would expect
to condone such villainous conduct.
It is a strange doctrine this-that
the end justifies the means-to come
from the preachers, the moral instruc-
tors of the people. The end never
iustifes the means where the latter is
utterly subversive of every principle
Of good government 1t may be true
that for years there has been reign
NJ To CQIrn
that the trials have been farces, that
the people have lost confidence in the
agencies of the law If true, however,
the torch and the rope and the rifle
are not remedies in free country.
The people in a Republic are the
source of power. The officials who
have been recreant to their trust and
have been responsible for this de-
plorable condition are the creatures
of the people. The true remedy is at
the ballot box. The people always
have it within their power to right
every wrong in free country. The
true course lies in reform of govern
ment. not in its slow destruction.
Upon no reasonable ground can mob
law ever be defended or condoned.
Mobocracy is anarchy. And especially
is it indefensible where the victim is
worthless negro. The courts cannot
be charged with favoritism for this
class of individuals. Convictions in
such cases are comparatively easy and
executive clemency difficult to obtain.
The remedy is infinitely worse than
the disease. That the mob is always
unjust, always more or less inspired
by race hatred or some Interior motive
that does not go to the merits of the
case, is evidenced by the fact that It's
vengeance is never wreaked upon the
prominent citizen who is found with
hands stained with the blood of his
murdered victim. Hence 1t Is no de-
tense of the mob to say that but for
it's action the guilty would be unpun-
ished. On the contrary, the mob In
nine cases out Of ten wreaks its ven-
geance upon those whose conviction.
would almost assuredly follow legal
trial.
After all, the worthless negro and
the poor cringing murderer who were
hanged at Cairo, were not the real VIC
tins and real sufferers from the reign
of terror. The real victims OF that
orgie were the members of the mob;
the real sufferer was the community.
In a mad hour of unrestrained passion
and hate the clock of civilization was
turned back two thousand years. The
slow creations of the ages were given
to destruction to appease the anger
and thirst for blood Of wild demons.
After all is our civilization more
than skin deep? But we confess we
were not prepared to see ministers OF
the gospel in the attitude of mob de-
tenders What can be expected OF
the rank and file of citizenship when
those to whom the people have been
accustomed to look for advice and ex-
ample become apologists for riot, muir
der, and a carnival of blood? The
doctrine that the ends justifies the
means should never come from the
pulpit.