The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1915-08-27

advanced in the past. "What II some
of tie objections whereby our insti-
tutions are assailed are extreme and
speculative" said Massachusetts, great
scholar, "and the reformers tend to
idealism; that only shows the extraV-
agance of the abuses which have
driven the mind into TIE opposite ex-
treme."
The greatest debate this nation ever
witnessed was staged in the senate OF
the United States between a son OF
Massachusetts and son of South Car
olina. Both were imbued with the
highest patriotism, and each was
striving towards the same goal, but
along different paths. Looking back
to that time, We can see the gloom of
civil war, in which brother was to be
pitted against brother, was already set
ting upon our great nation. A few
years later the inevitable storm was
upon US. Fifty years have now passed
since its fury was spent, and today
South Carolina and Massachusetts, by
the fervid devotion to principle which
helped to bring on the great battles in
which the sons of one wore the gray
and The sons of the other the blue,
can clasp hands with higher respect
each for the other and with the friend
ship of brothers each of whom knows
the courage of the other and his de-
votion to a common mother. And
am glad that today South Carolina's
voice can be raised in Massachusetts
in the interest of the great reforms
which I would urge. : ,.-.~s~ ~.
1 hear sometimes expression from
the North and the East and the West
as to the treatment Of negroes and
negro prisoners in the South. Let me
say that while 1 was governor Of South
Carolina, three-fourths, at least, of the
cases in which 1 exercised clemency
were those involving negro prisoners.
The best friend the negro has ever
had, so long as the negro stays in MS
place, is the Southern white man, and
the negro knows it. The South will
work out her own problem along this
line, and outside criticism and inter
ference can only retard the solution.
But in tne underlying principles of i'm
proving our systems generally we
should all work hand in hand. sl2'
In this connection, l may say that
recently ] visited the penitentiary Of
my State, and saw walking around in
a large, comfortable corridor; two ne
groes held upon the charge of having
criminally assaulted white women.
They had escaped their just deserts
for the time being. Locked and barred
inside of cells about four feet wide and
about seven feet long, with a little
window, iron-barred, about two feet
square, were three white men, charged
with having killed negro who had
criminally assaulted a white woman.
I do not mean to say tae incident is
usual, but it was in South Carolina. ~;
In conclusion, would again urge
the importance. of the duty Of the chief
executives in the proper andling and
treatment of prisoners Our chief ex-
executives are clothed with large pow
ers, and heavy responsibility is
theirs. A man in jail awaiting trial is
presumed to be innocent-a presump-
ton too often trampled upon by the
law which has made it. A prisoner
serving a sentence is human being,
with a soul-a being created IN the
image Of the same God in whose I'M
age YOU and l were created. Society
must be protected, but the most EN-
cient means of protecting it is the re-
form of the criminal, and just as sure
ly as we make criminals more hard
ened by the punishment which we
mete out, as surely is society going to
suffer, and those responsible must
give an accounting some day, if not in
this life, then at the bar of the Great
Judge, who, I must believe, is going
to hold to stricter accountability
those who nave violated His laws un-
der TIE hypocrical cloak of laws made
by men, than he will hold the poor un-
fortunates who have erred through the
frailty of their human natures,
For they appeal from tyranny to God"
NOTICE.