willing for the Negro's case to be tested upon its merits,
because they know that in nine cases in ten he would be acquitted in a
court of justice; and for this reason they take the law into their own
hands, rather than submit it to an intelligent, cool and unprejudiced
judicial body as every court is. Is there a man under heaven who would
charge this state of affairs up against the courts of the South?
Certainly, no one can be found who would do it. It has been my
experience in my State in the trial of criminal cases that in nine
cases out of ten, the white juries are in sympathy with the poor,
ignorant Negro. I think the game rule will hold good in other Southern
States. When we approach the subject of criminal law, we must
constantly bear in mind that the object of every criminal prosecution
is twofold: (1) to reform the criminal; (2) to make an example of him,
so that the public will be deterred from the commission of the same
offense. It is not the severity of a criminal prosecution that deters
crime, but it is the certainty of punishment, when crime is committed.
While it is true that the courts of the South as constituted, at
present, give the Negro equal justice upon the law and facts of his
case, yet we must bear in mind that a criminal prosecution is not
ended with judgment in the courts. There are other humane principles
to be put into operation, in order that the criminal may receive the
benefits of his punishment. The relation of the Southern courts
towards the Negro in this respect is particularly weak. Splendid
examples of this may be seen in the "Convict Lease System," prevailing
in the States of South Carolina, Arkansas and other Southern States.
Under this system a Negro may be convicted of a felony calling for a
minimum term of imprisonment, and yet serve out a life-time in prison.
It is a system which, instead of reforming the Negro, gradually
re-enslaves him. It has become such an outrage upon justice and common
decency that the eyes of the civilized world are upon the United
States to see how long a democratic government will tolerate such an
outrage upon common justice and a defenseless people. Yet, when we, at
home, begin to trace the causes of this evil, we invariably ascribe
them to the courts of the South. Wrong! Wrong! The courts of the South
are not legislative bodies, but judicial bodies whose function it is
to interpret the laws made, and not to make laws. That right in a
republic, like ou