Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1918-08-03
SUPPRESS THE MOB SPIRIT


so 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.
| allude to the mob spirit which has re-
Gently shown it's 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 blow at the heart Of ordered law
and human justice No man who loves
America, no man who really cares for her
fame and honor and character or who is
truly loyal to her institutions can Justify
mob action while the courts of Justice are
open and the governments of the states and
nation are ready to do their duty. We are
at this very moment fighting lawless passion
Germany has outlawed herself among the
nations because she has disregarded the sac
red obligations Of law and has made lynch
ers of her armies. Lynchers emulate her
disgraceful example. I, for my part, am
anxious to see every community in America
rise above the level, with pride and fixed
resolution which no man or set Of men can
afford to despise.
We prOduly claim to be champions of
democracy If we really are, in deed and in
truth, let us see to it that we do not dis
credit our own | say plainly that every
American who takes part in the action of
a mob or gives it any sort of cOuntenance
is no true son of this great democracy, but
it's betrayer, and does more to discredt her
by that single disloyalty to her standards
of law and right than the words of her
statesmen or the sacrifices can do to make
suffering peoples believe her to be their
savior. How shall we commend democracy
to the acceptance of other peoples if we dis
grace our own by proving that it is, after
all, no protection to the weak? Every mob
contributes to German lies about the
United States what her most gifted liars
cannot improve upon by the way of ca
lumny. They can at least say that such
things cannot happen in Germany except in
times of revolution when law is swept away.
| 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 commun-
ity in the United States, all who revere
America and wish to keep her name with
out stain or reproach, will co-operate-not
passively, merely, but actively and watch
fully-to make an end to this dsgraceful
evil 1t canot live where the community
does not cOuntenance it.
| have called upon the nation to put it's
great energy into this war and it has re-
Sp0nded-reSpOnded with spirit and
genius for action that has thrilled the
world | now call upon it, upon it's men
and women everywhere, to see to it that it's
laws are kept inviolate, it's fame untarnish-
ed. Let us show our utter contempt for the
things that have made this war hideous
among the wars Of history by showing how
those who love liberty and right and JUS
tice and are willing to lay down their
lives for them upon foreign fields, stand
ready also to illustrate to all mankind their
loyalty to the things at home which they
wish to see established as a blessing and
protection to the peoples who have never
known the privileges of liberty and self
government. I can never accept any man
as champion Of liberty either for our
selves or for the world who does not rever-
ence and obey the laws of our own beloved
land, whose laws we ourselves have made
He has adopted the standards Of the enc
mics of this country whom he affects to
despise"