The labor journal. [volume] (Everett, Wash.) 1909-1976, 1918-08-02
MOB VIOLENCE
AIDS THE ENEMY

We have told the world that we
: are fighting for freedom and democ.
racy. Some of our people who have
tired of the slow administration OF
justice, in their zeal to stamp out
disloyalty, to punish violators of law
and for other reasons, have taken the
law in their own hands and through
mob violence have brought their
country into disrepute in the eyes of
the peoples of other nations.
When we hang man without due
process of law we are ourselves law
violators and subject to punishment
for murder.
Let us not get too fresh about re-
forming the world until we have re-
formed ourselves. Then we may
properly lay claim to leadership of
mankind for freedom, fairness, JUS
tice and democracy.
President Wilson feels keenly the
shame brought upon the country by
the lawlessness of mobs and has ad-
dressed his fellow citizens urging
that they desist from lynchings and
other forms of lawessness. In his
address to the people the President
says.
HMy Eollou Couptrup,a,.
81 take the liberty of addressing
you upon subject which so vitality
affects the honor of the nation and
the very character and integrity of
our institutions that | trust you
will think me JUSTIFIED in speaking
very plainly about it.
81 allude to the mob spirit which
has recently, here and there, very
frequently shown it's head amongst
us, not in any single region, but in
many and widely separated parts of
the country. There have been lynch
ings and every one Of them has been
a blow at the heart of ordered law
and humane justice. No man who
loves America, no man who really
cares for his family and honor and
character or who is truly loyal to
her institutions, can justify mob ac-
tion while the courts Of justice are
open and the governments of the
states and the nation are ready and
able to do their duty.
"We are at this very moment fight
ing lawless passion. Germany has
outlawed herself among the nations
because she has disregarded the
sacred obligations of law and has
made lynchers of her armies. Lynch |
ers emulate her disgraceful example. |
l, for my part, am anxious to see |
every community in America rise
above that level, with pride and a
fixed resolution which no man or
set of men can afford to despise.
"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. l say plainly that every
American who takes part in the ac-
tion of mob or gives any sort of
is no true son of this
great democracy, but it's betrayer
and does more to discredit her by
that single disloyaltys to her stand
ards of law and of right than the
words of her statesmen or the sac
rifces of her heroic boys in the
trenches can do to make suffering
peoples believe her to be their saw
iors. How shall we commend dem
ocracy 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
to German lies about the
United States what her most gifted
liars cannot improve upon by the
way of callumny. Taey can at least
say that such things cannot happen
in Germany except in times of revo-
lutions, 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 CO.
operate-not passively merely, but
actively and watchfully, to make an
end of this disgraceful evil. 1t can
not live where the community does
81 have called upon the nation to
not cOuntenance it.
put its great energy into this war
md n hoe raCpnnIad rasnoaJaL ,,,:4L |