The forum. [volume] (Springfield, Ill.) 1904-192?, 1910-11-19
EDITORIAL
A QUESTION FOR TEXAS.

appetite grows with what 1t feeds
on When mobs began burning men
in Texas nearly twenty years ago, it
was predicted that, if persisted in,
the habit would, in the course OF
time, cease to draw the color line in
selecting victims, and in designating
but one offense as meriting the tor
tnre of death by fire. The answer
was a loud cutlery for "a white mans
government" and the sanctity of the
home" neither of which was in ser
ious danger in Texas, where enemies
of the white mans government could
be overwhelmed at the polls and VIC
lators of the sanctity of homes would
Mind short shrift at the hands OF
juries.
There have been other burnings
during the intervening twenty years,
but all of black men. and for the I'M
speakable crime. 1t had begun TO APP
pear that those who had warned the
state that such passion and fury, If
unchecked, could not be held within
color lines or lines of degree in crime,
had been at fault But the burning
OF the Mexican, Rodriguez, at Rock
Springs, shows how the madness, once
allowed to creep into the blood of
Texas. has spread Rodriguez was
not a negro and the crime charged
against him was not the one hereto
fore held to be the only one justifying
the stake. He was burned for muir
dering a woman who had refused
him food. The witnesses testifying
against him left no doubt of his guilt
in the minds of the mob, but neither
would they have left doubt of his
guilt in the minds of a jury. 1t is
written so plainly that he who runs
may read, that the idea of burning
Rodriguez would never have oc-
Cured to the men of Rock Springs if
it had not been incucated by burn
ings in Texas of other human beings
in the last score of years The mobs
which set up their own statute of
limitations have now repealed it. VIII
they adopt a new one, making the
murderous "greaser" type of Mexican
the new limit? And If they do what
will the new limit be worth in the
face of provocation to break over 1t?
There is blood, brain and Drawn in
Texas. 1t is a state of which every
American, with knowledge of its vast
extent and vaster resources and the
many tiiihS HhdiiNiNS VI 10 PNOpiOi
Is proud. To all such, news of the
worldwide evil advertising of Texas
through the burning of Rodriguez,
and the reprisals against Americans
in the City of Mexico, is a rude shock.
Nowhere will there be more sincere
regret than in Texas that any act of
Texans has involved Americans any
where. If a rescuing party of Texans
could settle the difficulty, one could
be quickly raised. But the question
goes much deeper. The sovereignty
of Washington can take care of the
Americans in Mexico. But what of
the sovereignty of Texas? VIII the
sovereign State of Texas continue to
permit mobs which, after defying its
laws as against its own citizens, have
now reached the point of widening
the scope of their lawlessness so far
as to bring reproach upon the Texan
name the world over? This is a ques-
ton for Texas to answer in a way to
comport with the character of her
average citizenship and the many
glorious pages written in her history
st Louis Globe-Democrat
We are afraid yet that the spirit
of mob violence will cripple this ma
ton. Whatsoever a man soweth that
shall he also reaD