Great Falls tribune., 1922-01-03
THE ANTI-LYNCHING LAW

THE ANTI-LYNCHING LAW
WHEN congress meets after the
w holiday vacation it will take
up the anti-lynching law, which
failed to pass the house before the
Christmas holidays. This bill pro-
vides for the punishment of sher-
ifs and state officials that permit
mobs to take prisoners from their
custody, without resistance or
proper defense of their prisoners ;
punishment for the members Of
lynching mobs, for prosecuting Of
ficers who fail to prosecute such
offenders, and for compensation for
the relatives Of the victims of lynch
law, recovered from the taxpayers
Of the community where such lynch,
ing takes place. While the law
is not in any way partisan issue,
yet the fact that southern congress
men are mostly against it, leads to
the democratic vote being rather
solidly arrayed against the bill.
Not that lynchings are solely con-
fined to the southern states, for we
have had a good many outbreaks of
that kind in border states, and even
in the far northern states. But it
is fact that lynchings have been
more numerous in the southern
states than elsewhere, mostly di-
rected against negroes who have
committed some crime against
white men or white women, par
ticularly the last mentioned. The
average southern white man who
defends lynching colored men be-
cause Of rape, will tell you that
if it was not for fear inspired by
the certainty of such summary
Justice, this fearful crime in the
south would be much more commoa
than it is. Conceding that the man
in the south who holds this view of
the effect of lynching, as prevent
ative of assault on white women,
knows more about the matter than
northern men not resident in the
south can possibly do, yet the OBJ
vious fact remains that not all
these lynching crimes in the south
and north are due to charges of
violence against white women. They
arc often the result of charges OF
violence against white men by col
ored men, and sometimes under
circumstances where self defense
on the part Of a colored man might
reasonably be deduced. Again
sometimes they are not directed
against colored people at all, but
against foreigners, or even native
whites. 1t is conceded by leading
white men in the south, and by
many of their newspapers, that
this lynching habit has produced
very bad consequences, and that a
denial of trial to the victims has in
many instances resulted in innocent
men being hung for crimes commit
ted by others. Race prejudice is
an important element in large per
cent of these lynching crimes, both
in the north and the south, we be-
lieve.
We note that the dear old consti-
tuition is invoked against this anti
lynching law, as it is invoked
against about every law that steps
on the toes Of anyone these days.
They tell US that it is against the
rights of the state under the con-
stitution, and we presume that is
true, if the constitutional rights Of
the states were to be interpreted
strictly by the courts. as they were
interpreted half a century ago. But
the federal courts have been whit
tling away at state rights under the
constitution for the past fifty years,
so that they have almost disappear
ed from that constitution by judi
cial Interpretation, and not by di-
rect action Of the people. We are
not ready to grieve much about the
change, as the whole country comes
to be welded into one nation in