The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1919-05-05
Rev. Harvey j.. Moore, OF the First
Baptist Church, Sounds a Clarion
Voice for Protection Of
White and Black.
SWIFT JUSTICE FOR ALL
The Need Of tho Hour Is Calm Con-
s~ideration, Without Hate, OF a
Very Difficult Problem orish
mated by Whites.

Drawing the color line, was the
topic of the sermon by Rev. harvey
J. Moore, at the First Baptist church
Sunday evening. The minister SAID:
"When a crime so needless, 30
crnel. so brutal as that which is SO
fresh in our minds is committed, II
is hard for us to hold our feelings
in leash. There is something print
tive in us that calls loudly for swirl
and terrible vengeance. Get a crown
Of us together and 1t is easy to incile
us TO do things we should regret the
remainder of days.
.eHow much better things are with
us now than they might have been,
We heard men on the street demand
ing life for life, eye for eye, tooth for
tooth. II such a course had been
pursued, we should have had a STAN
on the reputation Of u community
that would have required years 10
emove. Our police officers and
those who had charge Of the matter
are to be congratulated and com
mended for the tactful and efficient
manner in which they handled the
affair. We would not have had 1t
otherwise for any consideration.
Swift Justice by Law.
Now we want the law to take its
course, and that swiftly and without
bubbles. technical or otherwise.
R%etribution must be visited upon the
perpetrators of this dastardly crime.
The highest moral interests of h
----~,.-tt,, ,l1pNonI ~ The hest in
terests of the negro population in
city will be served by it. The best
way to prevent occurrences of such
crimes is to deal resolutely and with
out delay with these men.
'But there are some other things
l want to say while we are dealing
with this subject. This is a good
time for us to do some serious think
ing on the whole question Of the
negro problem. This is the most
serious problem the American nation
is facing today. 1t has no parallel
In all history. Whenever in the past
two races have lived together, one
has always absorbed the other, or
they have intermingled until all diff
ference was eradicated. But in this
case such a thing cannot be. No
one can say how the problem is to
be solved.
Armenians and Turks.
Zone thing is certain-it cannot be
by men who say that a niger
is a Niger and who hate them all
because they are 'niggers.' In Tur-
key, two races lived side by side, the
and the Armenians. The
hated the Armenians, and they
deliberately planned to a%nnihilate
them by a campaign Of wholesale
murder and massacre. How did our
blood run hot in our veins, and with
words did we condemn them.
But the man in this country who
hates a niger because he is a mig
ger is a Turk at heart, and, accord
to Christ's own definition, he is
a murderer. God can and will for
give a negro who murders a white
man, as quickly and easily as He
a white man who hates the
in this way.
White Man Made the Problem.
1.-THE white man is to blame for
the negro problem. The day our
forefathers landed on these shores
with a cargo of African negroes to
be sold as slaves, they began laying
up trouble that should be visited
their children and their chill,
dren's children I the tenth and
twelfth generations.
I'VE cannot wash our hands Of this
1t is a heritage from our
and we must accept the bur-
den and devote our best efforts 70
its solution.
And let me say further that the
Is upon US to help our col
orded brethren in their struggle up
ward more than it is upon them to
help themselves. We call ourselves
the superior race. Very well, let US
prove our superiority by giving them
the helping hand to lift them to the
plane of life that is possible Il them.
/ am speaking now from a christian
point of view, and not as the man
of the street might speak. 1t is our