The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, November 29, 1904, Page 9, Image 9

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i ~0 &${ | l&Jfre I ! |3TRAU^,PRIT^§ea i.i •DISTILLERS • IM Mgm | CINCINNATI .0. I j| Big Spring Dist. Cos., Savannah, Ga. pi 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 - ••A light purse Is a heavy curse Sickness makes a light purse. The LIVER Is the seat of nine tenths ol all disease. Ms Pills go to the root of the whole mat* ter. thoroughly, quickly safely and restore the action of the UVER to normal condition. Give tone to the system end solid flesh to the body. take No Su<>tjtute. rosn?7otfin!/ra?™^ IS A FORM OF GREETING IN MANY SECTIONS, AND RECOGNIZES M fl&vSPlnM THE IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS OF THAT ORGAN, WwM A disordered liver bears its legitimate fruit—Kidney diseases, with their stealthy §S fatality, diseases of the heart and lungs, skin diseases, constipation, rheumatism, stomach H| troubles. If the liver is diseased L. \ impossible for you to be well. Don’t doctor the n symptoms; remove the cause. w&k rloipffil I Dr. Thacher’s Liver & Blood Syrup Cures HpjTSIJ by going directly to the source of the disease and curing the cause. If your liver on. thachen §§s and kidneys are healthy and your blood pure, you will die of old age, barring accidents. Mj -A N r ?nii?r F /12?w U Lu', H There are numerous “Liver regulators,” “Kidney remedies” and “Blood purifiers,” some of rf yellow dock* V them probably good for the one thing, but Dr. Thacker’s Liver and Blood Syrup is the if dandeuoii r _ . I only preparation on the market that contains all the recognized best remedies for the W senna ' * r B liver, kidneys and blood, accurately and scientifically combined. (See the formula). M sarsaparilla B I Your common sense will tell you it is in a &ass by itself. { Send a free sample and a copy 3i onx.ee.,, B l|d of “Dr. Thacher’s Health Book.” For sale by all druggists, 50 cents and SI.OO per bottle. *4 UUCHU EM fl*' THACH£R MEOW?/WC COMPANY , .. Chattanooga, Temu Push-Button Morris Chair The very latest novelty. A splendid invest ment for an Xmas Present. New lot just received. Leather, Velour and Corduroy Cushion. Be well to make selection early. 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. Where Happiness la Found. Don't look for true happiness In the tfianslons of the very rich, where high priced physicians are called in to doc tor every aliment. But seek It and find it, too, in the comfortable homes of the middle classes and so-called poor, where Green’s August Flower is al ways used to keep the family healthy— to cure all atomach troubles, whether Indigestion, dyspepsia. const ipstlon, loss of appetite, bilious attacks or tor pid-liver Trial bottle August Flower, 26c. Big bottle, 76c. At U druggists. Knight's Pharmacy, Southern Railway OFFERS # Double Daily Train Service TO Washington and New York Leave Savannah 1;00 p. m. and 12:15 a. m., Central Time. Both Solid Vestibuled Trains, with Day Coaches of Newest Design, Pullman Drawing-Room Sleeping Cars and Elegant Dining Cars . Por reservations or information apply E. C. THOMSON, C. P. & T. A., 141 Bull Street. 135 Minutes Saved to New York BY TAKING THE Atlantic Coast Line ' • Florida and West Indian Limited, Finest all year round train between the East and South, leaves Savannah daily at 2:15 p. m. (city time), arrives New York 1:53 p. m. following day. Pullman Drawingroom Sleepers and * Dining Cars of the highest standard of excellence. For Pullman reservations, rates, schedules, etc., apply Ticket Office, De Soto Hotel, Both Phones 73, and Union Station, Bell Phone 235, Georgia 911. $32.00 NEW YORK And Return —VIA— SEABOARD HOLD DOMINION Air Line Railway D Steamship Company. SCHEDULE— Lv. Savannah... 1:15 p.m. or 12:10 a.m. R. R. Time. Ar. Norfolk 8:00 a.m or 5.30 p.m. Eastern Time Lv. Norfolk .. 7:00 p.m. “ “ Ar. New York 2:30 p.m. M •* By leaving Savannah on the 1:15 p. m. train you can spend the following|day at Norfolk Old Point Comfortt by leaving on the 12:10 mid' train you make direct connection with the steaiLj" l^ Tickets at above rates are on sale di" .y; and are limited for return six (6) months from date of sale. Full information, reservations; etc., at City Ticket Office, No. 7 Bull street. Phone 28. CHARLES F. STEWART. Assistant General Passenger Agent. BELL PHONE 2173 BOARDTRADE BLOO. 9