Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

should not hesitate to take a decided stand before the people in behalf of law, order and humanity. They should nominate for public office those men only, who, if elected to executive positions, will use every lawful means to suppress the crime of lynching; or if chosen to the work of legislation, will put upon the statute-book all necessary laws; or if placed upon the bench, will deal out justice to lynchers to the full extent of the law and without fear or favor, and also to those who commit crimes that excite the lynching spirit.

Our common schools should so train their students in the principles and practice and necessity of government by law, and so cultivate in them the law-abiding spirit, that they shall always stand firm for law and order and against the anarchy of mob violence.

And this crusade should enlist the unanimous and active support of all churches and denominations. Through their clergy and millions of members they can, if they will, wield an influence against this evil that would be irresistible. For this is not altogether a political question, but one of common humanity and Christianity.

The churches and all religious people should stand unitedly and aggressively for the protection of the weak of every race. They should insist upon just, fair, Christian treatment for all alike, for the humblest, the most ignorant and degraded, the blackest, equally with the stronger and the more favored; upon their "right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" in their own way, so long as they do not trespass upon the rights of their fellow-citizens; upon common, equal opportunities for all and a fair chance in life to make of themselves what they can. They should set themselves against that prejudice and spirit of caste which relegates any class of our population to a state of hopeless inferiority. Our churches can have no nobler mission than to lift such out of the slough of ignorance, moral weakness and de

generacy, wherein breed those crimes which afford the lyncher a specious excuse for his lawlessness.

Turning now to the duty and office of government in the prevention or suppression of lynching-in the first place, what course should be adopted by the authorities in those communities and states where lynchings have occurred, or where the conditions are such that they are likely to, or possibly may, occur?

"Be prepared for the unexpected, and take no chances" should be the guiding principle. Let the legislative department pass such laws as will give ample power to all executive officers for any and every emergency and shall hold them to strict account for failure to prevent the mob from accomplishing its purpose. Some of the States have already enacted such laws, imposing heavy penalties for any dereliction in duty. And what is perhaps the most important measure of all, the State should organize a state police, or constabulary, with special reference to the suppression of mob violence. It has been proved over and over again that the sheriff and his aids are a feeble dependence in the face of an enraged mob of hundreds and even thousands of men, bent upon lynching the prisoner. They are too few to cope with the situation, or they lack the necessary courage and determination, and weakly yield. And the state militia can seldom be relied upon for effective service; for its members are scattered, precious time is lost in calling them to the colors and moving them to the scene of the outbreak; and meanwhile the mob has accomplished its purpose. It happens not unfrequently that the officers or men, or both, are more or less in sympathy with the mob and make no determined effort to prevent the affair, and have even been known to coöperate with the lynchers. Their guns are not loaded, or are loaded with blank cartridges; or the troops are forbidden to fire, lest somebody should be hurt; or they even permit themselves to be disarmed.

The only way, therefore, to meet effectively the sudden situation is for the state to organize a permanent constabulary of sufficient numbers, under regular pay, well drilled, armed and equipped, and ready at a moment's call to be hurried to the scene, with their guns loaded, and who will be ordered to fire, should the emergency demand it. In view of the great increase in our population and its heterogeneous elements and the consequent exposure to sudden outbreaks of mob violence, the time has now come when our larger and more populous states, especially where the gravest crimes tend to multiply, should provide a state constabulary to be on duty all the time as a guarantee of public order. As a rural police such a body in constant service, with detachments posted at convenient points in the state, would be most efficient in maintaining good order throughout its confines and in preventing the very crimes which arouse the lynching spirit. It should be provided for by law, that whenever a crime has been committed, that is likely to stir the feeling of the community to a white heat and possibly lead to an attempt at lynching, the state constabulary shall immediately be ordered to the place, to aid the local officials in capturing the criminal if he is still at large, or to protect him from attack by a mob, if he is already in the hands of the authorities. In this as in other things "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

But if in spite of these precautions the lynching is consummated, the state should then proceed with all the power the laws can be made capable of giving, to bring the lynchers to the bar of justice, be they "our best citizens" or the dregs of the community. The former who engineer a "lynching bee" are far more dangerous to society than the latter. No stone should be left unturned to secure the punishment of these enemies of social order, no matter who they are or what their social standing. The participants

are generally known in the community; or if they are not, detectives should be put upon their trail until they are rounded up and punished. Until this result is reached the authorities should not cease their most strenuous efforts.

Even the summary measures of martial law would be better than to allow lynching to continue or lynchers to go unpunished. A community in the North or South, in the East or West, that possesses all the machinery for the orderly and legal punishment of crime, and yet tolerates within its limits the infamous brutalities of the lyncher and even justifies and applauds his action, and permits him to walk its streets unwhipped of justice— such a community is a fit subject for the rigors of martial law.

If the programme thus briefly outlined is carried out by the authorities of the community and state, we may be quite certain that lynching will be quickly suppressed. But if the executive, legislative or judicial powers of the state, one or all, prove themselves unable or unwilling to accomplish this result, have the American people no recourse? Must they stand by and permit this national disgrace to continue? Is there nothing that can be done through our national government? It may be said that there is no precedent for national action. If so, it is high time that a precedent be established. Or it may be urged that the doctrine of state rights stands in the way. The friends of that doctrine will do well not to interpose it as a stumbling block in the way of national interference, when local agencies have failed in their duty.

What can the national government do in these circumstances? is a question that merits most careful consideration. We believe that a fair, common-sense interpretation of its constitutional prerogatives and of the spirit and declared purposes of the Constitution fully authorizes the national government, as a last resort, to use its power to suppress lynching. If it is so shackled and lim

ited by constitutional regulations that it can take no effective action, surely the founders left it disgracefully impotent. We cannot believe that they did So. In the very preamble they declare that the Constitution was ordained "in order to establish justice and insure domestic tranquility." Where? Evidently in every state and territory within the jurisdiction of the government.

The first section of Article XIV., of the Amendments to the Constitution, provides that no state shall "deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law, nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws." Now a state may deny such protection in two ways, directly, by statute, or, indirectly, by failure

to pass the necessary laws or to use the

powers entrusted to it by existing laws, to insure equal protection for all. If the state authorities, either through inability or through unwillingness, have failed to suppress lynching and its accompanying atrocities, they have practically denied the "equal protection of the laws" to those citizens who have been subjected to mob violence. In pursuance of Section V. under the same Article, which says: "The Congress shall have power to enforce by appropriate legislation the provisions of this Article," Congress has passed several statutes, which, reasonably and fairly interpreted, apply to cases of lynching and read as follows:

Section 5508. "If two or more persons conspire to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate any citizen in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured to him by the Constitution or laws of the United States, or because of his so having exercised the same; or if two or more persons go in disguise on the highway or on the premises of another, with intent to prevent or hinder his free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege so secured, they shall

be fined not more than $5,000 and imprisoned not more than ten years; and shall, moreover, thereafter be ineligible to any office, or place of honor, profit or trust created by the Constitution or laws of the United States."

Section 5509. "If in the act of violating any provision in either of the two preceding Sections any other felony or misdemeanor be committed, the offender shall be punished for the same with such punishment as is attached to such felony or misdemeanor by the laws of the State in which the offence is committed."

Section 5519. "If two or more persons in any State or Territory conspire, or go in disguise on the highway or on the premises of another, for the purpose of depriving, either directly or indirectly, any person or class of persons of the equal protection of the laws, or of equal privileges or immunities under the laws; or for the purpose of preventing or hindering the constituted authorities of any State or Territory from giving or securing to all persons within such State or Territory the equal protection of the laws; each of such persons shall be punished by a fine of not less than $500 nor more than $5,000, or by imprisonment, with or without hard labor, not less than six months nor more than six years, or by both such fine and imprisonment."

If these statutes are not sufficiently specific to authorize the Federal Courts to intervene in cases of lynching, then Congress should enact any further legislation that may be needful to carry out the plain intent of the guarantees of the Constitution. If the state courts fail in their duty, let lynchers be prosecuted before United States Courts, and let all the legal and judicial machinery of the national government be brought into action. Cases of peonage and "whitecapping" have been taken into the Federal Courts; why may not also cases of lynching?

Justice and a common-sense interpre

tion of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Amendments justify the conclusion, that there is sufficient constitutional authority for national interposition. Will that step be taken? It will be, if the American people so determine. Let them say to local and state authorities: It is primarily your duty and business to put an end to lynching and its tragedies, and to maintain the supremacy of law. But if you will not or cannot do this, then we will make it our business to accomplish it through the constitutional and legal powers of the national government.

How can we tolerate within our own borders the savagery of what has come to be known distinctively the world over as "the American lynch mob," and at the same time have the face to lecture and rebuke other nations for the outrages which take place in their backyards? If we would escape the tu quoque retort and avoid being politely reminded to look at home and attend to our own affairs,-if we would make our influence strong and unimpeachable everywhere for law and humanity and against anarchy and cruelty, we should maintain law and humanity within our own bounds and extirpate the abominations which cry to heaven from our own back-yard.

us.

66

There are many who would temporize with this evil. Hands off!" they tell "Wait! Let natural and moral forces and influences have free course. Give them time, and they will gradually and quietly solve the problem." But will they do so? Have they accomplished very much during the last twenty

years? Are they likely, by themselves, to effect much more during the next ten or twenty? While the number of lynchings does not now reach the startling figures of fifteen or twenty years ago, yet for the last ten years, as we have seen, the number has seldom fallen below one hundred annually, race antagonism has deepened in intensity and there has been a marked increase in the violence and barbarity of its manifestations. But grant that these forces and influences will in time bring about a cure of the disease. While we are waiting, it will continue its ravages and add more to the number of its victims,-to be sure a slowly lessening number; but every new victim, every fresh exhibition of mob violence and brutality, will be adding to our national dishonor, when if our governing authorities would handle the evil without gloves, it could be suppressed almost immediately. No, we have temporized all too long. As well temporize with a frenzied mob of lynchers as with a jungle tiger just ready to spring upon you.

There is an old saying with more or less truth in it: "If you scratch a Russian with a pin, you will find a Tartar." If these scenes of mob violence, of murder, mutilation, torture and burning are permitted to continue, if the American people who can suppreess them, if they will, do not stamp out this lynching frenzy, then we need not be surprised if an impudent world shall feel justified in the taunt-Scratch an American, and you will find a savage.

WINTHROP D. SHELDON. Girard College, Philadelphia.

AT

ECONOMICS OF JESUS.

BY GEORGE MCA. MILLER, LL.B., Ph.D.

PART I.

T THE close of the series of articles on the "Economics of Moses" it was stated that Jesus, realizing the hopelessness of curing economic ills by the mere letter of law, sought the solution of the vexed economic problem with which Moses struggled by giving to the world a spiritualized ideal of economic life.

The burden of the articles on the "Economics of Jesus" must therefore be to show what this ideal is. This task may be best performed by giving in the first article its structure as derived from the teachings of Jesus and his first disciples, and in the second its function as derived from the history of attempts made to put it into practice.

This ideal has two distinct phasesthe psychological and the sociological.

The psychological principle is found in the emphasis which Jesus placed upon Life, making no distinction between existence here and hereafter. Under the Mosaic dispensation there is but little record of consideration of any continuation of Life beyond the earth period. The limited conception of Life of the earlier times resulted in a low estimate of its value and possibilities. More importance was given to the pleasure of the hour and the material means of producing such pleasure than to the preservation of Life or the means of developing its fullness. Life, therefore, by most minds, was considered of less importance than body, food, raiment or houses.

As evidence of this we note that Life was often sacrificed by the individual to secure these material things even when their acquisition was not necessary to existence; the law prescribed the death penalty freely for interference with sup

posed rights in these material things; and the lives of great masses of people considered the less fortunate were sacrificed for the pleasure of those considered the more fortunate.

There was but little conception of life as being a force greater than all material things, with power to control all such things, making them a means of its fuller and larger expression, or going on its way entirely independent of all visible adjuncts.

The economic laws of Moses grew out of the material conception of Life and were a laudable effort in the direction of regulating the ownership of the material things pertaining to life by external force, on the assumption that the life itself was beyond the possibility of being regulated so as to regulate from within the material things related to it. In the then state of development of the race that assumption was tenable; and the Mosaic system was probably the best that could be devised for its time.

Jesus assumed, whether correctly or not need not here be considered, that the time had come for at least the announcement of the dominant power of Life.

The following are some of the evidences of the emphasis placed by him on Life without in any respect discounting or depreciating the body or material things, as was the custom of the Ascetic Jews and the Stoic Greeks:

"I am come that they might have Life and that they might have it more abundantly."-John, 10:10.

"As the Father hath Life in Himself, (independent of material things), so hath He given to the Son to have life in himself."-John, 5:26.

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »