Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-06-01
A NEW SORT OF CRIME WAVE
AND THE kLAN'S PART IN IT
lynehino Totals Have Mounted High
Since the ku klus Brought Back
MASKS ard Mob Rule

60 MUCH is being written and shouted
~ about the need for moro law and stricter
law enforcement that few people have had
time to observe the steady spread of law
lcssncss in the United States. The more
laws We have tho less we seem to care about
the broad implications Of the general system
Of law.
Bootlcgging may for tho moment he left
aside. In Georgia YOU can find tho source
Of what might ho called n national crimn
wave. Goorgia no longer merely )In,hcs
Negro. \ few weeks ago typical mob
subjected its vlrrim 20 SLOW torUr" BY fir"
before hc was killed and mutlat"d in n
horrible manncr Other lynchprs cscwher"
in tho South hnv" not even waited until
their man was dead before mutInting him
in ways that could NOT he called barbara
ny any ono who didn't wish 20 Nu' q needless
insult on unprctcntious savagos,
Georgia. which tolerated the ku KIux. IS
suffering some OF the worst reactions Of the
mood Of random violence inspired delib-
eratcly or otherwise by Wizard Simmons
and his k!eaCrs and their propaganda, In
Columbus some citizens who didn't like
which he set up didn't resort 70 ballots or
tho conventional instruments Of public "rtti-
cism. They used bombs and Back Hand
letters and they forced tho Mayors city
manager 70 fce for his life.
In tho first six months OF 1921 thirty.si
lynchings were reported in th" United
States. In the same period of the previous
year. before the Ku KluN kcaglcs went out
10 SOW hate and fear broadcast, only twelve
lynchings were reported
II would be neither wise nor fair n sug.
cest that the ku Klux is directly responsible
for a national crime wave or thar It se' out
to establish lynchings and mob violence as
methods of the exclusive and extra legal
class or community government which It
frankly sanctioned The indirect rcsponsl
bIIty Of the kluxcrs cannot he denied or
cvadcd.
The large prctensions of tho kansmcn,
their marchngs and threats and outrages,
fired the imagination Of Others and certainly
awakened mob instincts in multi'ud"s Of
people who happen 10 be half coward and
half savage. It isn't enough for simmons
to say that his order attempts 10 discourage
mob action. II you put a mask on a man
YOU 60 long way toward making An outlaw
Of him. and YOU relieve him by that single
act Of all tho restraints imposed by fear
Of public opinion The Kan may NOT have
organized or sanctioned recent lynrhings in
the South or tn" North. Hut II did nj lpasr
make mob demonstrations popular and ho.
sides. II did It's hesr to mako mob law in.
tercstlng by making II picturesque.
The Russian Bolshcvists do not ito even
their most hated criminals 10 horses and
SO drag them through the streets to bo first
mutilated with knives and then slowly
burned TO death. II is doubtful II anv
Central African tribe gives itself So much
trouble in dealing out death 10 the con-
demnod. The United states ls the only
civilized country in which mobs are per
mitted 70 GO forth regularly 70 bc Judge.
jury and cXecutoner. Nor IS that the
worst Of Il. Iynching has become some.
thing Of fad in the North. and the State
Of Oregon has just hcen split wild" open and
divided, permanently perhaps. upon racial
and religious issues. through tho efforts Of
tho klcagles from Georgia