The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1912-04-03
fruits OF hls own endeavors or that

fruits of his own endeavors or that
he had acquired In any manner
THIS attitude, instiiled into the very
peinS OF these mountain people by
generations of warfare with the OIL
Gals representing vested authority,
whether they came as officials of the
Federal power in attempt 10 break UP
Illicit stills or whether they came in
the persons of their neighbors wearing
the badge OF the State, can, we be-
lieve, be established to be the result
OF ignorance OF the obligations which
one man owes to law and order in
the maintenance of well ordered eo-,
ciety.
In tho beginning might was right.
and each man was n prey TO every
other. and the doctrine OF the sur
vival OF the httcst applied with fun
force. But as people became more nu-
mcrous and began to live together In
towns and otherwise In close proximity
to each other means or protcc-
ton against wild beasts and some
times wilder men. civilized man found
II necessary for the safety OF the
weaker members OF the race that each
person should surrender. for the com
mon good, some of the individual
rights that heretofore had been exer-
ciscd by each without restraint.
Here began law and order Certain
rules. which have developed into what
we call law. were laid down by com
mon consent and a penalty prescribed
for their violation.
So this giving up OF personal rights
where they connicted with the rights
of others continued to spread until
where II applied to only few things
I'm the beginning. In the end It has
applied to man In all relations to his
fcliowman. The legal doctrine that
a man can use whatever is his he
chooses was. in time. limited by tho
doctrine that one cannot use even his
own property so TO work injury to
his fellowman, whether as an indi-
vidual or as State. And right here
is the distinction that the Southern
mountaineer has failed to grasp: he
has chung tenaciously to the first part
OF this doctrine without accepting tho
amendment
AS the world advanced and mans
nature was softened by education and
intimate association with his fellow
man, these Involuntary outcasts con-
tinued to dwell In the rugged fast
ncsses OF their mountain homes, as in
the beginning, removed from the
softcninE touch Of progress, standing
aside as It were and watching tho
world go by. In this condition they
never felt the respect for law and
order that was experienced by their
more fortunate brothers in the centres
Of population. and. neglected and
summed because OF their warlilte
proclivities, their minds wore never
made, by education, to understand
the brotherhood of man or the advan
tages to be derived from n protection
by that abstract personality. the law,
OF which they heard only when they
wero hailed before It's bar TO answer
some violation which their ignorance
prevented them from understanding.
Thus. they came to regard the law and
Its officers as their especial enemies;
deprived of its protection by their lack
Of understanding and mode OF living,
and brought before II only as defend
ants in some criminal prosecution, they
looked upon It as their great oppres-
sor. TO no fought and conquered, IL
possible. as they would fight and con-
qucr any wild animal on their native
heaths.
these nro the causes OF these peoples
utter disregard OF lawful authority:
!. the solution lice in education: into
the depths OF the mountain forests
must go emissnries, armed not with
pistols. but with books: not with
threats and harsh words. but with con-
ciliatory phrases. Do not leave them
to themselves until some great crime
necessary man hunt, but enter into
their midst before the law has haen
violated, educate them and make them
feel that they are not only In the
world, but of 1t; that tho law is their
protector. not their oppressor, and such
crimes az the Hillsville horror WIN
cease.
1t is blighting shame that white
millions arc spent in foreign missions
and philanthropists have expended
millions more 10 educate tho erstwhilc
slave not n dollar has been subscribed