Page:The Negro a menace to American civilization.djvu/257

Rh THE CRIME OF LYNCHING Plain Words by Justice Brewer of United States Supreme Court. The following article by Justice Brewer on the crime of lynching will appear in the current issue of Leslie's Weekly. In it Justice Brewer sets forth more fully the views he has already made public in regard to lynch- ing as a blot on our civilization and what can be done to stay the epidemic of the crime. The full text of the article is as follows : "Our government recently forwarded to Russia a petition in respect to alleged atrocities committed upon the Jews. That government, as might have been expected, unwilling to have its internal affairs a mat- ter of consideration by other governments, declined to receive the petition. If, instead of so doing, it had replied that it would put a stop to all such atrocities when this government put a stop to lynchings, what could we have said? " No one can be blind to the fact that lynching is becoming altogether too common, and presents a serious question for the consideration of thoughtful lovers of their country. There have been two kinds of lynch-law, and it is well to distinguish between the two. In San Francisco, for instance, many years ago the better citizens became convinced that the of- ficials were in league with gamblers and other wrong- doers — hence, crime was rampant, neither life nor property being sacred. Deliberately they came to- gether, organized, and in effect took possession of the government, administering law promptly and severely ; with the results — as claimed — that crime was checked and order re-established. Whatever may be said of such a movement, it is not like the lynch-law that now prevails. It was more in the nature of a revolution, by which the regularly-elected officers were put out of office and a new government estab- lished. But the lynching which now attracts atten-