Iowa state bystander. [volume] (Des Moines, Iowa) 1894-1916, 1911-07-21

prosperity on the one hand, sadness, re-
progression and national blunders on the
other God be praised for his goodness
and long suffering! May he hasten tho
day when his gospel of love- peace and
Justice shall be lived as well as preached
and taught throughout the land!
Oppression, murder license, class rule
by local and national demagogues. hui
initiation of man and men by legislation
and the slumbering Of justice over these
wrongs always result In sadness to the
sufferers. We call the attention OF the
nation to the lynch and bullet riddle fad
Of the less civilized section Of our coun-
try. There murder license is obtained by
common consent, and the murderers are
to be white and the murdered black.
There demons have decreed that colored
men must be beaten and murdered into
subsection, but God has decreed other
WISE The constitution safeguards their
freedom of speech, and they Will not hold
their peace.
Lynching Is relished for more than one
reason. In the first place. 1t gives evil
politicians platform ammunition drawn
from inexhaustible fountains Of magniaed
lies. In tho second place. 1t gives hos
tile press an opportunity not only to mis-
represent US. but to do US great harm In
many ways. BY charging on those things
which put the race in bad light and for
the most part remaining silent on those
things In our favor part Of the press
has fostered the cause of race prejudice
emboldened our cowardly prosecutors and
weakened the faith of many friends who
seem not to see the injustice OF the press
The recent Florida lynching may be
cited as typical of the treatment accorded
to the colored man. While this happy
= har re fov rnfp moi ho
measured up in atrociousness to some that
have gone before. 1t Is wild enough to
be used as an example. There six colored
men were put to death, six men who in
civilized communities are considered In
nocent for men are SO considered until
they are proved guilty. Those innocent
men We're murdered by those fiery demons
on suspected completely"
We commend those governors who have
endeavored to punish delinquent officers
for neglecting their duty. We hope the
day will soon come when the governor OF
every state where this crime Is resorted
to will look at lynching as the most cow
ardly crime among civilized men and take
stand against 1t. We also hope that the
president In search of recommendations
to congress will call for legislation against
this crime Of crimes.
We again call attention to the awful
jimcrow rules Of the south, rules brutally
enforced to the humiliation Of the race
and the spread Of crime against our in
telligence We know that jimcrow car
Laws are unconstitutional and call upon
manly men everywhere to resent them,
for the constitution forbids racial discrin-
nation. We regret that men who have
TO do with the enforcement OF the consti-
tuition have bowed to the behest Of these
brazen yiolators for the sake of being
held In the high esteem OF men who are
their eternal foes.
Our country has been made great by
sages and heroes whose lives may ever
be held up with pride to honest citizens
through all ages to come. We look across
our fair land with jealous pride at the
slabs which mark the resting place Of the
Union soldiers men who fought for thu
flag and for freedom, flag and freedom
fought for by men who stood for right
We stand today with those who stood 70,
these, and we entgeat the American PEG
pie to be fair in the making of laws and
the dispensing of justice. This was thu
balm of Lincoln when he went forth to
heal the nations wounds.
w. B. Reed. Rhode Island, chairman
N. s.. Epps. New York; w. P. Lawrence.
New Jersey; D. s Klugh. Connecticut.
w. T. Watkins, New Jersey: G. a. Sims
New York; T. J. King. New York: j. n
Wiley Rhode Island; N. A. Marriott,
Massachusetts.