Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1920-06-03

II stands good cnance Oh hecohiuH a
law. For the first time IN our history
Congress seems really determined to have
lynching put in the same class with muir
der and treated accordingly
Eighty-hve people were hanged, shot,
or burned at the stake In the civilized
United States last year, and tins year
similar atrocities are accommodating AZ
RAPIDLY. In the past thirty years $500
persons have died at the hands OF IN
furiated mobs, and not more than hall
dozen of the offenders were ever fined or
imprisoned
When Chinese. Mexicans, and other
foreigners know that they are in danger
of death by violence if they offend the
people OF their neighborho0d 1t Is no
wonder that abroad America has repu-
tation of being land where life Is beset
with hazards Ever since the days when
Tory svmpathzers were tarred and feath-
cred and then ordered to salute the Col
onial colors, lynching has been named by
foreigners as one of the typical American
sports, like bull fighting in Spain Amer
lea, they say, is a wild country IT makes
q treaty with another nation IN which ITS
people in America are promised the same
protection of law as the Americans have.
But il those people come to be disllked Tor
their religion or nationality, they arc
quite likely to be seized by their neigh
bors and put to death.
FOREIGNERS NOT SAFE HERE.
As one witness before the Judiciary
/ committee Of the House remarked: 1t
is not surprising that Mexico refuses 70
get excited over the fact that a few Amert-
scans arc killed in her revolutions. Was
not Mexican subject hung by Americans
in California and another in Texas IN
1898? Or to come down 10 recent tunes
were not twenty-five Mexicans lynched IN
one State in 1917, and two more last year.
and nothing was done to bring the per
sons responsible to Justice?
This witness. said that when IN Turkey
he heard Turk deliver lecture on Amer
lea in which pictures Of lynchlngs were
used to show that America Is not q civilized
nation.
Unfortunately. these accusations that
. Americans lapse frequently into State OF
| barbarity are fully supported BY facts.
| Since 1881, VIC have paid out over SS0O,OoO
. to Mexico, China and European coun-
! tries for attacks on their subjects 10y
American mohs The State Department
lnow has before it unadjusted claims for
deaths of Italians, Austrians, Greeks and
japanese. -.
The usual procedure is for the Italian
ambassador, for instance, TO call our at
tention TO the fact that three Italian
workmen were hung to a tree IN certain
state The State Department waits sew
eral months and then expresses its sorrow
and explains that the United States gov
eminent leaves responsibility Tor such
affairs as lynchings in the hands OF the
State governments But to show that the
United States is willing to do the right
thing. we offer the Italian ambassador
thousand dollars or SO to console the
families of the dead.
NEGROES SUFFER MOST.
Negroes in this country have 4 stronger
case than the aliens against American
mob law. A witness at the hearing on the
anti-lvnching bill put the situation iorclbly
when ne said. How can you expect 70
breed aQ orderly law-ahldIng Cltlzenry,
when 1000, 600 of its people i've con
tlnuallv in fear OF bodily violence, when
they sec yearly from , II 100 Of their own
people burned and murdered by mohs -
mobs often composed of nearly the whole
communicated no organized effort on
the part OF the body polite to correct lt
Colored people have since the Civil
War been the most frequent ElctlmS u
mob violence. Al hrSf the outbreaks 10
southern States were declared justified on
the grounds that the persons put "a death
by the mobs had attacked women. and
southern honor demanded PREPARATION
Soon. however mobs began to selze Neero
prisoners awaiting trail for any otfense
Whatsoever In some cases. the prison.
ers innocence was proved after he had
been slaughtered in an orgy d violence.
Sometimes the courts took a case Up Ia
an attempt al meeting out justice 10 the
lyuching party, but nobody could ever
be found who remembered any partlcl-
pant In an affair, and the court had 10
dismiss the incident as q mystery.
In recent wears only nineteen per cent
Of the persons lynched have been accused
of violence against women. But, no
matter what the charge lynching Is Ii
direct opposition to the principles Of Amer
lean government. In no section OF the
country is lawless killing any longer de-
Tended. The governor Of Georgia, where
lynching bees are most frequent, Is strong
" opposed TO mob violence, while the anti
lynching bill before Congress was drafted
BY Representative Dyer 81 Missouri
the State listed next TO Georgia IN fire.
ouency OF lynchings.
Law MAKES LYNCHING MURDER
The bill presented by Representative
Dyer provides that any person involved
In removal of prisoner from custody Of an
officer Of the law viii be heavily fined II
3 person Is killed at the hands 81 mob OF
three or more individuals all concerned
will be regarded as guilty Of murder and
tried on this charge I'D the Federal courts
Furthermore, IN every case Of unlawful
killing by mob, the county IN which the
lvnchng occurs and every county through
which the victim is carried must forfeit
$4,000 as a fine.
Other provisions further secure the /
safety Of prisoners, notably one which |
allows q prisoner TO demand a transfer /
from State to federal jurisdiction if there |
is danger Of an attack on his person 4
Inability OF states to cope with lynching /
is nationwide. Even where States have +
their own laws against mob attacks, and I
even when lynchings are announced sew /
eral days beforehand, sheriffs and gov (
ernors stand aside and declare themselves /
helpless. This failure Of the States Is
the main reason why the federal govern
ment has al last concerned itself with
the lynching proposition.
The chief obstacle In the way Of Con-
legislation is the possibility
that a national anti-lynching law might
be found unconstitutional The House
Judiciary Committee decided this ques-
ton to its own satisfaction before it re-
ported the bill favorably to be placed On
5he calendar. Maintenance Of order is
regarded as a state matter
n which Congress is not authorized to
interfere. But the Judiciary committee
points out that the fourteenth atnood