The Colorado statesman., 1919-09-06
HOW SHALL THE BLACK
MANS BURDEN Be LIFTED?
GROWING FRICTION BETWEEN THE RACES rs REPORTED
AS RESULT WAR.

HE Habit of Torture and
protesting Southern Wo-
manhood" are the titles of
recent articles written, re-
spectively, by Prof. Edward
Raymond Turner, of the
University of Michigan, and by Herb
-ert j. Seligmann for the New YORK
Nation. They raise the entire Negro
question in its most sensational aspects
and indicate that relations between
the races are getting worse rather than
better. Professor Turner's method is
historical. With broad swep and
grasp of detail that at times is grue-
some, he traces the history of torture
throughout the ages, eliminating IN
our Southern lynchings. Mr.. Selig-
mann confines himself to contempOr-
airy events, which he treats in n spirit
of indignation tinged with irony. He
tries to show that passion is aroused
over mob murders not because they
are committed in defence of Southern
womanhod but because the entire rela-
tions of white and colored races are
involved. He tells us that in casual
conversations in Mississippi Delta cities
the following stimulantS to mob MUIR
der were cited to him:
l. The nationwide campaign for
equal rights for Negroes. This is spe-
cificaly referred to in the editorial of
the Vicksburg Weekly Herald of May
49, =. Induction of Negroes into the
United States army, putting them on
an equal with white men, Cheap poll
ticianS, of whom Senator Vardaman Is
typical, refer to 'Frenchwomen-ruine
Negro soldiers using every resource
of this kind to foment race hatred,
which is their chief stock in trade. 3.
Survival of the fear of. Negro domina-
ton inherited from carpet-bagger days.
f. The economic motive in all its vari-
ants, based upon the determination to
deny the Negro his rights, to keep the
nigger in his place D. The sport IN
torture Page l of the Nicksburg Even
ing Post, recounting the murder OF
Clay, had this passage: Have you had
enough fun, boysT IL leader asked.
Yes. cut him down.
unfortunately. Mr.. Seligmann pro-
ceedS. racial animoSity is exhibited not
only in lynchingS. Race riots are con-
Stantly threatened.
Not one Negro to whom l spoke in
the Delta region but wished to get
away Daily life for them is almost IN
tolerable. Negroes are subject to every
insult and abuse, not to mention jim
Crowism and they have had too much
experience of the courts to rely on
them. 1t is not surprising that they
have purchased arms in n number OF
Southern cities with the intention OF
defending their lives and the lives OF
their families if conflict is provoked.
A disastrous race riot was narrowly
averted i'm Memphis, Tennessee, on the
nights of Friday and Saturday, May
% and "a Says the Commercial Ap-
peal of May 81: There was powder
train all over Memphis Saturday. Ihat
there was no explosion was due TO
sheer luck. Somehow we have drifted
into a tense racial relation. 1t is no.
body's fault and yet it is everyone $
fault Open threats of attack hau
been made by white men, to avenge
the death of street-car conductor
The mayor and city officials in con-
ference were informed that the Ne
groes of Memphis had arms and am
munition. and proposed to use them III
self-defence. Police and sheriff $
deputies were posted, and what might
have become bloody race conflict
was averted. With every lynching, the
danger of such a conflict increases.
Convince men that they have no stake
in society and the courts, and no ref
uge in an enlightened public senti-
ment: insult injure. and degrade them
without redress and you create the ues-
peration out of which springs VOL
ence.'
MANY influential Southerners see the
danger that Mr.. Seligmann points out
MANY of the best Southern newspapers
are irving to create strong sentiment
against lynching Many Southern EN-
ployers have worried over the exodus