Cayton's weekly. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1916-1921, 1920-01-31

that most of the talk about the overthrow of
the government by force is INDUCED in
merely to furnish an excuse for crushing out
radicalism. If there is sufficient proof to con-
vince sane men and women that there is an
organized movement on foot which threatens
the overthrow of the United States, that proof
has not yet been made public
There is lot of talk about plots being I'M
covered, plots to overthrow the government,
but just what these plots were and how they
were to be carried out is never stated. The
charges are being made against those who are
said to be conspiring to overthrow the gov
eminent by force, but the fight is being made
against all who have what are termed radical
ideas. In this way effort has been made
to bring the Negro in under the charge.
The Graham bill is intended not only to
secure the "safety of the government of the
United States,' but to cure all unrest by
means of repression. We are of course OPP
posed to such bill as Representative Graham
has drawn, chiefly on the grounds that it is
unnecessary and un-American; but there is
one section of the measure which interested
us very much
The sedtion section of the bill in part
reads as follows
"WhOever incites, sets on foot assists or en-
cages in any riot or breach Of the peace or
incites to the use of violence or force, or uses
violence or force with an intent to cause
state OF anarchy, or with intent to set up or
establish another form of federal or state
government, or with intent to destroy exist
ing organized society, and whoever by the
means aforesai dshall oppose, hinder or pre-
vent the execution of the laws of the United
States, or the free performance of official
duty by the president Of the United States or
by any officer Of the government of the
United States, including the state war and
navy branches thereof or by the Congress of
the United States, or by the judges of the
courts of the United States shall be guilty
Of sedition and on conviction shall be i'm
prsoned not more than twenty years and
fined not more than $4,000, but if any overt
act shall result or cause the death of an inno-
cent person the punishment shall be death, or
fine and Imprisonment as provided
For some time efforts have been made to
get Congress to pass law to punish lynch
ing; read the above section of the Graham
bill through carefully again, and see if you
can imagine better law that could be drawn
for the purpose of Furnishing lynchers, that
would have chance of being passed.
If we take out the clause, "Or with intent
to set up or establish another form of fed
eral or state government this whole section
is clear Indictment of members Of a lynch
ing mob. 10 ''cause state Of anarchy to
"oppose, hinder or prevent the execution Of
the laws of the United States' to 'oppose,
hinder or prevent the free performance Of
official duty by X any officer Of the
government Of the United States
or by the judges Of the courts Of the United
States" would with any common sense inter-
probation of the law cover the acts Of a
lynching riot as well as the acts of strike
riot; and there is no doubt that the interpret
tation would be stretched to cover the latter.
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Consti-
tuition was adopted for the purpose of secur-
ing to the Negro his political and civil rights;
under this amendment the Supreme Court has
rendered more than 900 decisions, but less
than five per cent of those decisions have had
anything to do with the question Of the Ne
GRO s rights The DrinciDal use of the Four