Arizona republican., 1918-04-16
The CowardIiness of the Mob
Phoenix, Ariz., April 13 1e

Phoenix, Ariz., April 1S, 1918. Editor, The Republican,
 Phoenix, Arizona.
 Dear Sir:
 The letter which appeared in your publication this morning "The Func- uons of the Mob" expresses. or at least hope 1t expresses, the sentiments of every true American
 The most cowardly weapon of in justice ever devised is the mob. Cow ardly, in that they band together for mutual protection against law and or der: and unjust, because no matter how right their actions may be, they are going against the laws of the na- ton and are meting out a punishment that is unlawful. It is a primary doc | Urine of this free nation, that every man should have fair trial by jury. The power of life and death over human being is fearful thing and not to be trusted in the hands of irrespon- sible fanatics and sensation mongers Communities, for their mutual self protection, elect officers of the law for the maintenance of peace and order By mob rule we return 10 the primitive life, when every man is for himself and no man is safe. For this reason alone | the rule of a mob is revolting to an American.
 The mob spirit is not an expression of patriotism or loyalty. If it were, it might be forgiven as over-zealous- ness, but it most certainly is not. It would be interesting to conjecture just how many of the participants in re- cent mobs are physically fit. and ca pablo of bearing arms. They do not prove their loyalty to their country by 1 Joining the army and offering thoir lives for it's services. No, their pa triotism is displayed when in great numbers they attack one man. Per haps in many cases their attacks are justified, but to the spirit of fair play it seems a cowardly thing to do. One cannot help but think how much bet ter they would look dressed in khaki and meeting the Hun face to face. man to man, driving back his armies and crushing his autocracy, than picking on some harmless representative of his race in their own country. I think ii safe to hazard the guess that if these brave mob participants enlisted and sailed across the water the police and lawcourts would be capable of copine with foreign disloyalty in this country
 No, the spirit of the mob is not pa triotism. In many cases it is persona spite or envy. With others it is simply lnt lust TOT cfueltt-tne same luS1 that causes small boys to torture ami mals. With them, it is the desire tC infiict injury on someone without dan ger of suffering themselves
 And, mine times out of ten the mol is engaged in revenge for some per fectly trivial thing German spies dt not go about singing 'Hock der Kaiser and 1t is safe to venture that mob. have never captured a single spy of an1 importance to Germany. We have i; secret service bureau to look out fo that; and. really, the actually do knov a trifle more about it than does tn, mob. At Napoleons defeat, various European cities abolished the stree lamp post. because it was a French in vention. Laughahle. we say now. Ant iii few years from now we will b, laughing at Liberty measles and tn like. The mere fact that the govern ment does not encourage this foolish ness, is sufficient to prove that off cial circles disapprove of it. The gov ernment does not maintain bureau for the destruction of German books the manufacture of liberty measles and the like to defeat the kaiser but i does maintain recruiting stations fo the same purpose Take the hint-i you are of military age, enlist, if moi buy Liberty bonds-and we'll win tn war lot quicker than by participat ing in un- n-American mobs and riot that hurt the kaiser not in the least.
 Yours truly,
 HENRY SYLE.