The Race Question.
One of those homilies to which reference has been made is the President’s discussion of lynching and the race question. No one will take issue with him on what he says on the subject—unless it be on the statement that two thirds of the lynchings are for crimes other than rape. He quotes Ex-Gov. Candler as saying that he had, within one month, saved a dozen innocent negroes from lynching. After still further discussion of the question, the President advocates the infliction of the death penalty for rape and urges that assault with intent to commit this crime be made a capital offense, “at least in the discretion of the court.”
All this is, of course, a matter with which the states alone can deal, except in the territories under the exclusive jurisdiction of the federal government. On the general subject of lynching, The Brooklyn Eagle says that “the President is right in his preachment, but would be tempted to ignore it if he were in private life, and a citizen of a Southern state.”