The Sentinel=record., 1911-03-12
MOB VIOLENCE
 MENACE TO SOUTH
SECRETARY OF WAR DICKINSON URGES MORE CONSISTENT oB-
 srRvANcE OF LAW.
Says Foreign Countries Have an Er. roneous Opinion of Southland--
 Speaks of Race Problem.

Atlanta Ga, March 1.-The commer
 cial development of the South can follow oHiy on the suppression of mob violence m the opinion of Jacob M Dickinson the secretary of war Addressing the south srh commercial Congress here, MT. Dick inson declared that because of Sreauent iawless outbreaks. an unjustifiable preiu- olce against the Southern states existed
 not only in the North but in foreign countries Such outbreaks. he declared, were the result of abnormal conditions produced by the civil war Broadly viewed, however, he added the Souln would be found to be a land of law and l order, and he emphatically urged the inn mediate necessity of establishing a rev.
 erence for and impartial enforcement Of
 the law as primary step in the future greatness of the South.
 As an ultimate solution of the race problem in the South Mir Dickinson
 suggested the possibility of the voluntary removal of the mass of young negroes
 to country of their own. fosteied and guarded by the United States.
 When they grow in wealth and edu- cation. said Mir. Dickinson "and still find themselves confined in their aspira- tions by insurmountable barriers which
 bar their social politccal progress ana ue- I ny them the opportunities or citizenship 1 open to all others, an ambition to free themselves from such conditions may, if substantiated by a liberal governmental | policy lead to such a movement.
 Secretary Dickinson called attention at the outset of his address to the fact
 that parallel to his subject. The En- forcement of the Law in the South" hardly would find a place at commer- cial congress in the North or in Great Britain, but declared that every informed person knows that the South through widespread. though not general lawless- | ness annd non enforcement of the law, is suffering injury-direct at home, and in- direct because of It's reputation, abroad Progress and protection of persons and property under the law" saiu MT. | Dickinson. are correlative terms. There l can be no general and steady economic development where there is a general non enforcement of the law The tre- l mendous and steady strides being made generally in the South for successive de- l cades in education. commerce. manufac- | tories. miSes, bank capital railroad. az riculture-indeed all that indicates steady gress-demonstrates that the people of the South, taken generally. are peace able and law abiding. The great accum ulation of property by the negroes, the most helpless politically and socially of all her people, SO widely heralded as evi- dence of the industry, thrift and progress | of the race, shows a general stable se curity under the law. Therefore, we may confidently proclaim this exponent | of the general fact that the South is a | land of law and order. And this we must | be diiiigent to do. for the South has suf- fered. Is suffering, and for a longtime | until the prejudice is removed. will suffer | from a general reputation partly just in | it's origin. but largely unjust, and ac quired under abnormal conditions. These conditions were produced by war. The demoralization from all wars | is great; that of q civil war is greatest. | Civil war of long duration. fought in the country of the party suffering defeat, al- ways brings an Ilaid of woes. This. fol- | lowed not only by the freeing of servile millions Of a different race. many hard | ly emerged from and all with an atavis- | tic tendency to barbarism, but their ele- vation to political citizenship exploited by partisan hatred for lawless gain and re- | venge. and the degradation of the former master from the place of power to that i of helpless and insulted observer of his | own spolation. and all enacted under a | military rule supplanting the civil courts l inculcates the body polite with so much 1 of evil as to make regeneration almost hopeless Such condition would be fatal
 to any but a strong and sound people. | "Tt is no wonder that state of law lessness prevailed and that 1t projected | it's balefu influences far into the future The wonder is that the law could so soon
 be enthroned and that out of such chaos | the foundation for peace and prosperity
 could in so short time be re-estab- | lished."
 Turning to the subject of crimes. MT. Dickinson declared that the war brought many changes and that attacks on white
 
 | evoke lawlessness in the South than all other causes combined.
 .There would have been without this. for long time" continued Mir. Dickin- son. much personal violence growing out of the hot temper of the people and the development by war of their fighting pro- clivities. But this would have subsided with greater rapidity than 1t has done If
 that one crime as breeder of crime had not affl -cted us. l say breeder Of crime. for there is no such hotbed for the propagation of crime a mob. If our people would only appreciate this, they would notwithstanding the horror and passion aroused in them, entrust the punishment of this the worst of crimes, to the orderly administration of the law. | I said this. the worst of crimes, but that | is wrong. The worst crime Is q mob. do not mean so far as the victim is con- cerned. I have no pity for him. It is the crime against society In averaging one great wrong it makes a mass of criIn inals The effect does not end with that one act. It is virus Of lawlessness tha | inevitably in greater or less degree in fects the nature of all who participated.
 ''If mobs stopped the recurrence of any particular crime we might for such con summation contemplate the sufferings or l the victim and even count contendediy up against the gain, the certain injury | to the body polite on account of the moral lesion to the actors and the evil consequences that certainly follow. But I reme0F out effect for anyone to believe that mo | ocracy will stop crime If the courts | work badly anywhere it Is possible to re ; form them It is impossible 10 regulate lawless volunteers. If courts are mad | equate it is our fault.
 | 'There never was a time in any South | ern state in the last thirty years that a negro could not be speedily and ad- equately punished for any offense for the white people controlled absolutely the ad ] minlstfation of the law. It does not help us to point out race prejudice and acts of violence to negroes in the North | No respectable public sentiment Justines l such violence there. If the communities there suffer on account of 1t. we are nor thereby helped. If 1t Is a good thing foi us to have mob law. then by all means encourage. amplfy and propagate ft. Make it recognized institution and regulate it's functions by referendum or some other device to take the sense of the people in it's administration. If T. hurts us. then do not sustain it by point ing te the bad example of others, thus indirectly defending t.
 Tn my judgment conditions have i'm proved and are steadily improving partly on account of our general progress and q imore pronounced and vigorous condernna
 tion from men and papers Of influence land character who appreciate the magni
 tude Of the evil. and partly because be
 ~n"se the .uore enlightened negroes havs
 taken a wiser and more determined atti
 tude toward the lawless of their owr
 race