It is stated that the bitterness between the black and
white races in the Southern States of the Union increases so rapidly as to alarm the central Government. The practice of lynching certainly increases, and this in spite of the fact that many of the best Southerners denounce it, and several of the Governors have tried energetically to prevent . the execution by mob violence of suspected criminals. The whites say that without lynchings they cannot make their women safe; while the negroes say that accusation when brought against them is taken for proof, and that they are treated as wild animals rather than human beings. In some districts an uprising is feared ; and it is believed that President Roosevelt intends to make a strong speech on the subject. It is probable that as Northern opinion is deeply stirred on the subject, a remedy could easily be found—for instance, by trying prisoners accused of certain crimes by Court-Martial or Special Com- mission—but then the criminal law is an attribute of the separate States, and beyond interference either from Congress or the Executive. It must not be forgotten that in almost every case of lynching the maddened mobs inflict death by torture,—that is, by burning.
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