The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-02-28
THE AMERICAN PERIL

as many as France. about twelve times as many as England and Wales. about twentY-five times as many es Ger many
 With ten thousand homicides yearly. and with a like number killed by rail- roads. factories. and mines, this Is indeed Q land reckless of human life. And how many? of these are the vic- tims of greed? of license? of lawless- ness7
 Lax Law Enforcement. What Is being done to remedy the situation? It Is common knowledge that murderers are rarely punished or influential. and the victim be poor or unknown. acquittal or light pun ishment is practically certain. Ii the slayer be of the negro or other colord race, and the slain be white per son, no matter how worthless. convic- ton or lynching Is the usual result. Seldom, except when equal stays equal is impartial justice administered. What sad commentary on our boasted ci- vilization.
 Laxness in law enforcement Is linlt- ed to no state or section, and the in- crease in murderous crime grows at a bewildering rate. Everywhere we have excess of liberty. unbridled li- cense, barbaric lawlessness. Both by
  this spirit be not checked, the coun- try Is doomed.
 The Lynching EvfL Reference has been made to lynch ing, and therein lies the most alarm ing feature of homicide crime. At first, for Justification. the usual cause" was assigned; then, murder and other felonies; then. misdemeanors and trifiing offenses: then. mere race mem bership. Negroes have been lynched because they were negroes. Worse than that they have been taken from the officers of the law. even from the temples of justice and murdered And this has been done when legal conviction and punishment were certain. and immin- ent.
 At first. lynching was infreauent; now. 1t is frequent Then. only ne- groes and uninfuenttal white men were the victims; now. people Of character and standing. without regard to race are executed. The mob spirit, whether it manifests itself in the the race riot" the black hand" or other form. is na respecter of per sons.
 And the lynching evil like other forms of h homicide, is confined neither to sec ton nor to state. One is constrained to wonder If the court Is 10 De super ceded by the mob; it self government Is to prove a failure; if the result Is to be complete anarchy--a drifting back into the darkness of barbarism.
 Popular Government JeOpardiEed.
 That there must be reversal of the tendencies of the times, is clear for popular government Is teopardized, civilization is in the balance. The mas ses must be made to realize that lyn- ching however. great the provoca- ton, Is indefensible; that 1t degrades and brutalizes all who participate, even all who witness or condone: that crime is not a preventive but pro- ducer of crime; that lawlessness be- gets greater lawlessness: that hatred and revenge breed hatred and revenge.
 Officers of the law must be mad to realize that yielding to the mob is
 Officers of the law must be made cowardly, criminal. traitorous; thai 1t is better for the lives of many lyn- chers to be takena If necessary. in successful effort to enforce the law, than that a single life. even that of the most depraved criminal should he sacrificed to the mob.
 Oh for a copious outpouring of the spirit of honesty and fearlessness In the execution of the laws of the land. Not till then will the highest function of government, the protection ct hu- man life be fully established.
 Moral Training Needed.
 A proper attitude toward lawless-