Omaha daily bee., 1918-07-27
MOB SPIRIT IS
DENOUNCED BY
THE PRESIDENT
Appeals to Nation to Put Stop
to LawIess Acts and Respect
Ordered Law and
Justice.

Washington, July 26.-President
Wilson today. in q personal state
ment addressed to his fellow country
men, denouncing mob spirit and mob
action, called upon the nation to
show the world that while it fights for
democracy on foreign fields it is not
destroying democracy at home.
The president denounced most en-
phatically mob action of all sorts, es-
pecially lynchings, and while he did
not refer specifically to lynchings OF
negroes in the south, it is known that
he included them in his characterize
ton of mob spirit as 4 blow at the
heart Of ordered law and humane
justice" ....
Text Of Statement
The prssident's statement In full
follows: e a.
my Fellow Countrymen: I take the
liberty Of addressing you upon . sub
jeet which 30 vitality affects the honor
Of the nation and the very character
and integrity of our institutions that l
trust you will think me justified in
speaking very plainly about it.
Il allude to the mob spirit which
has recently here and there very fire.
quently shown its head amongst US,
not in any single region, but in many
and widely separated parts of the
country. There have been many
lynchings and every one of them has
been q blow at the heart of ordered
law and humane justice. No man
who loves America, no man who
really cares for its fame and honor
and character, or who is truly loyal
to its institutions, can justify mob ac-
ton while the courts of justice are
open and the governments of the
states and the nation are ready and
able to do their duty.
1--WE are at this very moment fight
ing lawless passion. Germany has
outlawed itself among the nations
because it has disregarded the sacred
obligations of law and has made
lynchers of its armies. Lynchers EN-
ulate it's disgraceful example. I, for
my part, am anxious to see every
community in America rise above
that level, with pride and a fixed res
olution which no man or set of men
can afford to despise. Il
Denounces Mob Spirit.
"We proudly claim to be the cham
pions of democracy. If we really are,
in deed and in truth, let US see to it
that we do not discredit our own.
say plainly that every American who
takes part in the action of a mob or
gives any sort of countenance is no
true son of this great democracy, but
its betrayer and does more to dis
credit her by that single disloyalty of
her standards of law and of right than
the words Of her statesmen or the
sacrifices of her heroic boys in the
trenches can do to make suffering
peoples believe her to be their saw
ior. How shall we commend de-
mocracy to the acceptance of other
peoples, if we disgrace our own by
proving that it is, after all, no pro-
lection to the weak? Every mob con-
tributes to German lies about the
United States what her most gifted
liars cannot improve upon by the-way
of calumny. They can at least say
that such things cannot happen in
Germany, except in times of revolu-
tions, when law is swept away!
81, therefore, very earnestly and
solemnly beg that the governors of
all the states, the law officers of every
community. and, above all, the men
and women of every community in the
United States, all who revere America
and wish to keep her name without
stain or reproach, will cooperate
not passively merely, but actively and
watchfully-to make an end of this
disgraceful evil. I cannot live where
the community does not countenance
it.
Fair Name at Stake.
II have called upon the nation to
put its great energy into this war and
it has responded-responded with
spirit and genius for action that has
thrilled the world. l now call upon it,
upon its men and women everywhere.
to see to it that its laws are kept in
violate. its fame untarnished. Let US
show our utter contempt for the
things that have made this war hide
Gus among the wars of history by
showing how those who love liberty
and right and justice and are willing
to lay down their lives for them upon
foreign fields, stand ready also to, IL
lustratc to all mankind their loyalty
to the things at home which they
wish to see established everywhere
as blessing and protection to the
peoples who have never known the
privilege of liberty and self govern
ment.
Il can never accept any man as
champion Of liberty either for our
selves or for the world, who does
not reverence and obey the laws OF
our own beloved land, whose laws we,
ourselves, have made. He has adopt
ed the standards of the enemies of his
country, whom he affects to despise.
WOODROW WILSON,"
Anaconda Conner Mines !,