Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-27
PRESIDENT WARNS
AGAINST MOB SPIRIT
Americans Guilty of Lawless Acts
Are Aiding Enemy, He Says
in Message.
WASHINGTON. July 26.

President Wilson today, in a statement
addressed To his fellow countrymen"
defining mob spirit and vigorously con-
demning all forms of lawlessness, called
upon the nation to show the world that
while it fights for democracy on foreign
soil it is not destroying democracy at
home.
The President did not confine his
definition of mob spirit toward those
suspected of being enemy aliens or enemy
svrnpathizers, but made a particularly
strong plea against lynchings; he re-
Trained from specifying lynchings OF Nc
groes in the South. but it is clear that he
included them in his characterization OF
mob spirit as "a blow at the heart OF
ordered law and human justice.
The statement follows:
My Fellow-countrymen: | take the
liberty of addressing YOU upon subject
which so vitaly affects the honor ot the
nation and the very character and IN
teerity of our institutions that ! trust
YOU will think me justified IN speaking
very plainly about IT.
i aII,de to the mob spirit, which
has recently here and there very ire
rr,entIv shown its head among 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 a blow at the heart
of ordered law and human justice No
man who loves America. no man who real
lv cares for her fame and honor and char
acter. or who is truly loyal to her instit+
tions. can Justify mob action while the
courts of Justice are open and the govern
ments of the States and the nation are
ready and able to do their duty. We
are at this very moment fighting lswless
psssion. Germany has outlawed herself
among the nations because she has dis
regarded the sacred obligations OF law
and has made lynchers Of her armies.
Iynchcrs emulate her dlsgraceiul eX-
ample. |. for my part, am ANXIOUS To see
every community IN America rise ahovc
that level with pride and a fixed resolution
which no man or set Of men can afford
to despise.
MOB SPIRIT GERMAN ASSET.
VIC proudly claim to be the champions
of democracy If we really are, IN deed
and in truth, let us see 10 1t that we do
not discredit our own. ! say plainly
that every American who takes part IN
the action OF a mob or gives It any sort
of countenance ls no true son OF this great
democracy, but its hetrayer, and docs
more to discredit her by that single dis
LOYALTY to her standards Of law and OF
night 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 savior. How shall
we commend democracy to the accept
ance of other peoples If VIC disgrace our
own by proving that It Is, after all, no
protection 10 the weak? Every mob
contributes to German hes 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
.rr,ont in times OF revolution, when law
is swept away
| therefore very earnestly and sol
EMMY beg thst the governors Of all the
States, the law officers of every community
and. above all, the men and women OF
eyerv community In the United states, all
who revere America and wish to keep her
name without stain or reproach, VIII CO.
operate-not passively merely, but aC-
lively and watchfully- to make an end
OF this disgraceful evil 1t cannot live
where the community does not coun-
tenance It.
CALLS PEOfLE TO RE- sRRESCE LAW.
have called upon the nation TO put its
great energy into this war and 1t has re-
sponded responded with spirit and
genius for action that has thrilled the
world | now call upon 1t, upon Its men
and women everywhere, to see TO 1t that
its laws are kept inviolate, its fame un-
tarnished Let us show our utter con
tempt for the things that have made this
war hideous among the wars OF history
BY showing how those who love liberty
and right and justice and are willing TO
Law down their lives for them upon for
eign fields stand ready also to illustrate
10 all mankind their loyalty TO the things
at home which they wish 10 see established
everywhere as blessing and protection
TO the peoples who have never known the
privileges of liberty and self-government.
| can never accept any man as cham
pior of liberty, either for ourselves or for
the world who does not reverence and
obev the laws of our own beloved land,
whose laws we ourselves have made.
He has adopted the standards Of the enc
mics of his country, whom he affects
70 despise.
Woodrow Wilson