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RACE PROBLEM
ABLY DISCUSSED
BY JUDGE EMORY SPEER
H RINGING CHARGE TO THE
UNITED STATES GRAND JURY.
Appalling Increase of Crime in This
Country—Rural Districts Should
He Better Protected—Trent Negro
as an Individual—Consider His An.
teccdents—Utilise the Better Ele
ment Among the Negroes—lmprove
Rural Constabulary.
In an able and thoughtful charge,
one of the strongest he has ever deliv
ered in Savannah, Judge Emory Speer
In the United States District Court
yesterday discussed several questions
that are peculiar to the South.
In beginning his charge he quoted the
words of Webster, bringing out the
simile of the storm-tossed mariner im
proving the first glimpse of the sun to
consult his compass and get his bear
ings, and then pointed out to the grand
jurors the increase of crime in this
country, comparing the criminal
statistics of America with those of the
larger countries of Europe. The abun
dance and prosperity of Georgia were
commented upon, the court dwelling
at length on the fact that from the
cotton fields of the South came the
clothing for three-fourths of the hu
man race. If its granaries were lock
ed in a fortnight millions of the in- (
habitants of this country ‘wbuld be
starving. Yet, said Judge Speer,
vharacter is greater than wealth and
to the development of character the
greatest attention should be paid.
The race problem was taken up and
discussed in a manner that showed
that much careful and painstaking
thought had been given it. Deportation
the court held as impracticable, for if
such a course was to be carried out,
there would he no way to cultivate the
fields and industrial and agricultural
paralysis would follow. To treat each
negro as an individual and to be al
ways ready to welcome the good ne
gro and to secure his aid in the detec
tion of crime among the peoples of his
own race, is the proper course tp pur
sue, in the opinion of Judge Speer.
The laws of Georgia were discussed
and especially criticism leveled at that
law which prohibits the judge on the
bench from expressing any opinion as
to the evidence or as to
the guilt or innocence of the prison
er at the bar. This law. said Judge
Speer, is the thing to which the crim
inal of to-day clings as did the crimi
nal of old to the horns of the altar.
Lynching was discussed and
its results deplored. In closing the
court asked that true Georgians arouse
themselves and deal with the evil
that now confronts them before it
Mins such headway that In its flood
it sweeps away all that they hold
flea rest on earth.
The following are among the most
striking passages of the court's charge:
increTsTofcrime
In the United States a Matter of
Great Concern.
"It is shocking to reflect, as stated
by a recent authoritative writer, that
the homicides and murders in the
United States since 1881 have increas
ed 450 per cent.
"In other words, where one man was
hilled or murdered by another in that
year, four and a half are killed or
murdered now. We 'boast of the su
periority of republican institutions, and
in the main, justly so.
"Compared, however, with the centers
°f population In Europe, the showing
against us is as terrifying as it is hu
miliating. in London, with an area of
888 squure miles, and in a population
of 6,500,000, there were last year twen
ty-four murders. None escaped arrest
and trial except four, who committed
suicide.
"But the contrast more baleful than
?"• In England the perpetrator of one
homicide in three Is convicted and is
•bade to suffer, while in Georgia 9a
B ’tt of ioo escape ud only one Is con
victed and punished. Indeed, some
Georgian has said that In our state it
>8 safer to kill a man than It is to
*teal a mule.
"The growth of crim#—gigantic, omi
nous, demoniacal—towers with horrid
visage and lurid eyis and merciless
mng.'. casting Its horrid shadow
athwart the sailing landscape of our
funny land. It is the demon of law
lessness and crime, of outrage the moat
cfuei, of crimes upon Innocence and
ih U w would 'stir -a fever in
’ne blood of age or make the infant
inewg ntrong steel;’ In the dese
' ration •htl destruction of sweet rural
nomes, in the wild, frenaled and un
. a *°nlng vengeance of that ’many
i u * monster, the mob:’ In the well
mh universal reign of lyix h l.w; In
of the vocation and duty of
IOANNS KIDNEY CURfr.l
... *.f rUJ rrmi-4r hr ail Kldm-r Din
.,-*** ' r,r Camillalm, Fata. lu back ac
I r.o Hhi'e OWanaa. lirayar.
, y . TaaaMc, Tired. A. blaa l.lmb*.
__ iwiio mraltlna hom aluk at
kidney* w*. sown.
kIUHkV IIKK CM-, fklllr *•.
the noble profession of the law until
that temple which should be the
holy of holies to the civilized world,
the very temple of justice Itself, is
invaded and the walls which once
rang with the eloquence of the ad
vocate may now re-echo the screams
of the terrified victims: the bench
from which was expounded that larw,
whose voice is the harmony of the
world, may reek with blood like the
butcher's shambles.”
georgT/Tlynchings.
Rural Districts To-day in Greater
Danger Than Old Frontier.
"The pioture is not overdrawn.
Within recent years in our beloved
state, whose motto is ‘Wisdom, Justice
and Moderation,’ not less than four
prisoners have been dragged from the
presence of the judge on the bench,
and, with one torture or another, sent
swiftly to their doom.
“It is not to be gainsaid that'if the
crimes against womanhood, life and
home and the reign- of the mob- which
results are to continue, no matter how
much wealth we may accumulate not
only will the happiness of our homes
be utterly destroyed, but the very
character of the people will be changed,
and in a time of nominal peace there
will result in many localities condi
tions of savage warfare and reckless
massacre as bloody and merciless as
in those dark days when the rifles of
our fathers protected wives and chil
dren from the scalping knife and the
tomahawk of the Indian on the'bor
der.
“Indeed in many respects the con
dition of the brave frontiersman and
his family was less hazardous than
that of many, of our rural families.
There the savages were known. Here
the savage is unknown. Here danger
is ever possible. The sense of danger
is ever preseflt. There is perhaps not
a.man within the hearing pf my voice
wiio, if leaving an isolated home, fail- '
eel,to make provision during his ab
sence, for the protection of his loved
ones he left there. This ever present
anxiety among our people is, in part,
the explanation, though not the justi
fication of those terrible outbreaks
which have so dishonored the law, and
which throughout the • civilized world,
has cast such reproach on the good
name of our state.
“I speak as a Georgian, keenly alive
ta and familiar with our conditions,
sharing the dangers and the appre
hensions of the people to whom I
speak and yielding to no man in earn
est sympathy and affectionate solici
tude for their interest. I ask, can we
not, as a people, devise measures and
determine upon a line of policy which
will at once protect our homes and. put
behind us forever an occasion for the
recurrence of those frenzied actions of
the mob which have so fiercely stained
the pages of our history? What no
bler or more beneficent move can ani
mate the heart of the patriot and hu
manitarian?”
solvinglace problem.
Must Consider If Grave Mistake la
Not Being Made.
“It is obvious that In the limita
tions of an occasion like this I can
suggest the narrowest outline only, of
conclusions evoked by many hours of
solicitous and anxious thought.
“I have been long convinced that the
race problem can only be solved by
the long process of time, and only then
in a manner consistent with the teach
ings of humanity, civilization and re
ligion by the steady, effective and
righteous enforcement of the law. We
cannot deport these people. Could we
send them forth us the Huguenots were
driven from France, or the Moors
from Spain, the youngest person
within the sound of my voice would
not live, to witness a recovery from
the Industrial prostration which would
afflict the Southern states.
“We contemplate an impossibility.
The negro is here and he is here to
remain, for centuries after you and I
and our children shall have perhaps
lost interest in the problems of this
transitory life. It is then, in the ep
igram of Mr. Cleveland, 'a condition
and not a theory, which confronts us.’
“Let us, then, inquire if we South
ern men of the present generation are
not making the gravest mistakes in
our handling and management of
these black men who live among us,
and on whose labor our Industrial fab
ric so largely depends. In the first
place, do we not treat the negro, as a
negro, without regard to those dis
tinctions among them, which really
exist, and which their better classes
are striving ever to make .more dis
tinct? Now, we who were reared
among the negroes, on reflection I
think wilt concede that there are far
greater differences among them than
there are among our white population.
"The slave population of this coun
try was recruited from many fMbea.
The ancestor of a given negro may
have been a cannibal from the valley
of the Congo. Another might trace
his lineage to those vain Bechuanas of
whom £>r. Livingstone tells us when
one would .bring to him a miserable
goat he was wont to exclaim, ‘Behold
an ox'.’,.
"Another might spring from those
brave and devoted followers who ac
companied, served and guarded that
great missionary traveler and his wife
throughout all their long journeyings
through the Dark Continent, and since
the slave catcher extended his preda
tory operations to both shores of the
African continent, yet ■ another might
be descended from the brave ZamSi
beria. men like those who fought with
Stanley through many s thousand
mils of dangerous and desperate ad
venture as he hewed Ilia way down the
valiey pf the great African river. "
"You might be astonished Is the
perusal ol the appropriate article in
SAVANNAH MORNING NEWS: TUESDAY. NOVEMBER 29. 1904.
so well known a publication as the
Encyclopedia Britannic*. as I was,
to ascertain how many distinct tribes
the anthropologist has already locat
ed among the African peoples. That
there has been much commingling
since they had the good fortune to be
brought to this country cannot be
doubted. Still, It is true many pre
serve their distinctive tribal charac
teristics.
“That many are desperate, degrad
ed and vicious we all know. That
many are industrious, self-respecting,
ever striving for the betterment ef
themselves and their families, only the
professional negro hater and the de
magogue, who depends upon unceas
ing and unrelenting fomentation of
race prejudice, will deny.”
USE BETTER ELEMENT
Among Negroes to Aid In Detection
of Criminals.
"In view of these well known facts
do we not fall Into cardinal error in
our failure to utilize the better ele
ment of the colored people in the de
tection and arrest of criminals of
their own race and In the maintenance
of law and order among them?
"Those of us who recall the ancient,
regime know that when an offense had
been committeed in the 'quarter' it was
necessary for the planter to rely upon
one or mote of the best negroes to
aid him in the detection and punish
ment of the culprit.
“It is true now, even in the most
aggravated cases, that the negroes
rarely assist in the efforts of the offi
cers to arrest negro criminals. On
the contrary, it is generally believed
that many of them assist in the es
cape. If this is true I believe it to be
largely ascribable to the widespread
convention among them that if ar
rested the criminal, if his crime Is se
rious, may not be accorded due pro
cess of law, but many be put to death
by lawless methods.
“I further believe that if the law-re
specting elements among the white
people should unite and give assurance
to the better elements among the ne
groes that in all cases the negro ac
cused of crime should only be punish
ed In accordance with the law of the
land, that thousands of them would
aid their white friends In the most ef
fective manner.
“In view of the distressing and
alarming conditions which have ex
isted in some localities would it not
be well for the law-respecting mem
bers of the community to form law
and order leagues and give guarantees
of this sort and invite the co-operation
of such negroes as are well known to
live decent lives, who are securing
homes of their own, who are attempt
ing the education of their children and
who are struggling the best they can
with their limited opportunities to
become good citizens and to lift them
selves and their families to better
conditions of life?
“Men of this class never commit the
crimes which so outrage and infuriate
the white people. I believe there is no
recorded case of such crime on the
part of a negro who has a home or who
labored steadily at his vocation. The
criminals are the hobos, the nomads,
of their race. It is often
impossible for the negroes themselves
to give an account of their antice
dants. They are usually the vilest
and most degraded tramps.
“Is* not the suggestion worthy ot
consideration by our people? May it
not have the most beneficial results?
Certainly if carried out in good faith
it might tiring valuable allies to the
assistance of the officers of the law
when such assistance is sorely needed.”
RU R A LCONSTABU LARY
la Weak and Should Be Strength
ened In Ntn,' Way*.
“It can be demonstrated that bur ru
ral population has nothing like the
protection that they enjoyed fifty
years ago. Pardon me if I here give
expression to language used before in.
a baccalaureate address at Mercer
University five years ago.
“In the first place, I presume we
have the most ridiculously paid and
ineffective constabulary of any people
on earth. The costs allowed by law to
the bailiff or constable, the arresting
officer of a Georgia militia district,
would not adequately provide for the
necessities of a Digger Indian.
“The sheriff is a more important per
sonage. but it is usually several hours
after the commission of a crime before
he can be brought from the country
town. By this time ttie criminal is
far away. We need in each county
skillful, well trained and well paid
constabulary—men of courage and
character, skillful woodsmen and
trackers, who know the country, who
are accessible to the people and whose
business it shall be to pursue the
criminal until his arrest has been ac
complished.
“Under present conditions the first
thing essential to do when a crime
has been committed is to offer a re
ward, and this is found to be generally
necessary before effective efforts are
made to bring the criminal to justice.
“The existence of an effective rural
constabulary would do more perhaps
to stay the hand of the criminal than
all other causes put together. It is
moreover true that in the conditions of
our society the conviction of the crim
inal should swiftly follow his arrest:
that It, as swiftly as is consistent
with the exigencies of a fair trial. In
the way of this in my deliberate judg
ment there is opposed a provision of
our law which in the delay and ex
pense of trials and in their miscar
riage has cost the state more In the
administration of Justice than all oth
er causes put together.”
in laWslhFgeorgia
A Weak Point la Prohibition of
Comment by the Judge*.
“In its presence if every judge in
Georgia had the original -power of a
Marshal, the grateful erudition of a
Mansfield, and the detestation of crime
and influence with Juries of a Kenyon,
yet their judicial power would be
crippled and paralyzed, their lengthy
and costly trials Bet aside, justice de
layed. criminals go unpunished and
AN Oku ADACE
oavo -
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Sickness makes a light purse.
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LINDSAY & MORGAN
the people outraged by the operation
of a miserable statute which has been
the law of
"In it the criminal has found his city
of refuge and to it certain practition
ers cling as did the fugitive of old
to the horns of the altar. This statute
provides: ‘lt Is error for any or either
of the Judgeß of the'Superior Courts of
this state in any case, whether civil,
criminal or In equity, during its prog
reds, in his charge to the Jury to ex
press. or Intimate his opinion as to
what has or has not been proved or as
to the guilt of the accused, and should
any Judge of said court violate the pro
visions of this section such violation
shall be held by the Bupreme Court to
'be reversed and anew trial granted In
error, and the decision In such case
the court below with such directions
as said Supreme Court may lawfully
give.’
“Under the operation of this law.
If In that fearful crime in a county in
this district which frighted the public
mind from its propriety and Inspired
the mob to inexcusable defiance and
disrespect to the law, if in that case
the Judge had incautiously stated ‘lt
is not disputed that the offense was
committed in the county of Bulloch,’
it is perhaps true that it would have
been held an error because of which
the verdict of the Jury must be set
aside and anew trial granted, with all
the disasters to result.”
CHAINGANG SENTENCES.
It Is Baleful and Its Effects Are of
the Worst.
“Is it not true, then, that we have
no adequate provision for the arrest
of criminals?
"Is it not true thg.t our criminal
procedure seems designed for the ben
efit of the prisoner or his counsel, and
is it not also true that by a careless
and cruel system of penology, applied
to those guilty merely of misbehaviors
or tndeeencles. we are manufacturing
by the thousands criminals of the deep
est dye, and this by the local chain
gangs, whleh are used not merely for
the punishment or for the betterment
of convicts, but for the selfish gains
uf individuals and municipalities?
"Have we not a widespread system
of Involuntary servitude, not for crime,
but for misbehavior, and is it not true
that when a prisoner who, for disor
derly conduct or some minor municipal
offense, is matriculated into the local
chaingang, with its infamous and de
grading punishment, with Its horrible
associations, its manacles and stripes,
that however unformed his character
previously, however kindly his nature,
he graduates therefrom a hardened
criminal, an enemy to society, a brute
without discourse of reason?
"I speak of such offenses as are
tried before police courts, before one
man: and not of felonies or crimes In
volving a moral turpitude, tried by a
Jury. Is it not well for enlightened
Georgians to consider and determine if
there is not some punishment for mi
nor munlclpul offenses whleh does not
possess the bestial results of a sen
tence to hard labor on the public chain
gang?
"I dare make the statement that the
perpetrators of a majority of these
crlpies. so atrocious that they might
have beep perpetrated by the savages
of Dahomev or Ashantee. are done by
chaingang graduates.”
DISASTER IS AHEAD
Islna Uet Are Rigidly Enforced
and .laallee Administered.
"Brltrve ms, gentlemen, when I as
sure y oil that to glvf* expression lo
these reflections gives ms no pleas
ure.
“It Id indeed one of the moet pain
ful duties I have ever performed. If
we do not shake off the lethargy which
has brought about these conditions; if
there is no such a revival In Georgia
for respect to the courts, for the en
forcement of law and for the swift and
righteous administration of criminal
Justice, I see clearly the disasters
which are probably to afflict us and
certainly to afflict our children.
"There Is but one country In the
world where there are more murders
and homicides than In ours. That
country is Russia. It is stated that
even in Russia the percentage but
slightly exceeds ours. We cannot take
care of the whole country, but we can
take care of the state of Georgia.
“We must have in our state and in
our country a revival in obedience to
law. We must enforce the law, be
cause it is the one conservative force
that guarantees the possession of all
things this side of the grave that
men hold dear. Humanity demands It.
The aged parents with fading powers,
but vivid recollections of better times,
when life and chastity were safe and
law and order was the rule, when
courts were respected, when our civ
ilization was the most beautiful the
world has ever seen, these demand It.
“The wife of your love, the uncon
scious Infant smiling In her arms, these
demand it. Your manly boys, on
whose hearts the ferocious spectacle of
a lynching might indelibly stamp the
purposes and the bond of a Cain, de
mand It. Your daughters, blushing
with the virginal charms, shrinking
with tremors of young womanhood,
these demand It. The old-time relig
ion taught at your mother's knee, In
stilled by your father's exhortations
and prayers, that holy volume, the
Book of Books, written with the sa
cred power of inspiration, these de
mand It. The traditions of our heroic
past demand it.
"Let us. then, lift up our eyes to
that plane on which lived and moved
the noble dead who in their day and
by their lives gave to the manhood
of the South a name ever bright in
the glory of its gentleness, its hero
ism and its honor; such men pledged
their lives, their fortunes and their
sacred honor for what they believed
to be the best Interest of our civiliza
tion; they survived out defeat to ever
counsel devotion and love of common
country.
"What would be their admonitions
were they here to-day? Can you doubt.
Let us trust that under the providence
of God, in whatever heavenly home
their spirits dweil, that the gentle,
angelic hands closed their eyes
to the awful facts, and that
Francis S. Bartow, John B.
Gordon, Joseph E. Johnston an<i
Robert E. Lee are even now un
conscious of the sufferings and the
shame of their people; that they do
not and cannot know of the crime
which provoked and ths lynching that
followed in the Statesboro horror.”
BALE OF COTTON BROKE LEO.
M. Phillip Smith had his left leg
broken at the Philadelphia slip yes
terday by a falling bale of cotton
which wa being hoisted aboard an
outgoing ship. The Injured member
was set and Mr. Smith was resting
easily last night.
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9