mencken statement to u.s. senate subcommittee on anti-lynching bill

8/20/2019 Mencken statement to U.S. Senate subcommittee on anti-lynching bill

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Punishment or the Crimeof Lynchin

HEARING

BEFORE A

SUBCOMMIITEEFTHE

COMMITTEENT~ ICIARY

UNITEDTA TES

JtY.NAT

. . .. :. .

.

,;. .

SEVENTY-FOURTH OONGRESS

FI.RS+ SESSION

ON

s

24

A BILL TO ASSURE TO PERSONS WITHIN EHE JURISDIC~

TION OF EVERY STATE THE EQUAL PROTECTION OF

THE LAWS BY DISCOURAGING, PREVENTING, AND

PUNISHING THE CRIME OF LYNCHING

FEBRUARY i4, 1935

Priuted for the use of the Committee ou the Judiciary



PVNISHMENT FOR THE CRIME OF LYNCHING 23

STATEMENTOF H. L. MENCKEN EDITOR ESSAYIST AND CRITIC

BALTIMORE MD.

Mr. MENCKEN.Mr. Chairman, shall I read this statement or just

fik~? -

Senator VAN NuYS. No; we would prefer to have you read it,

if you will.

Mr. MENCKEN. shall read it. It i very short .

The problem before ongt · i.: the simple on f proYiding

legi lati-ve

mea res to

exe

ut the

fourtee .nth amendment.

It

i too manifest

to

need argument that every lynching ae~ri ves

it victim of Ju life withou due process of law and den:ies him an

~ual protection o:f the law. The Stat.e are charCTedwith punish

ing all such invasions n the common ri(Yht- of the citizens, but

-some o:f them have fail cl in their effort t clo o. and others have

not honestly tried. Meanwhile, lynchings continue ', and thoi1gh they

do not increase in number, they show ome tenrlen y to increase in

.savagery . .

To larie numbers o:f American citizens life in certain parts o:f

tbe count ry become intolerably hazardous. They may be seized

on anv pretext, however flimsy, and put to death with horrible

tortures.

No government pretending to b cfrilized can o-o on condoning

such atrocities. Either it must make ,ery p

ssible

e:ffort to put

them down or it must suffer the scorn and con mpt. of hristend m.

That Congress has aspired o adopt necessary legi lati n eems to

be agreed by all law eJ:s, thotl"h they diffe_r omewhat ns to the

wisdom and the con titutionality o:f th

bill

no" before th "enate .

On

th is

point

I can ffer no opinion but I bope I may at least

sagge

t tl1at

the b

t

phm

will

be to make a heginning:

by

enacting

that bill and then waiting for the proper ourt to

adYise

upon it .

If

delec s a.re

£

und in it however. wbe her legal or pra ti cal, th

y

mo.y be remedied. But nothing can be accompli h d until an actua l

'C:\."])erime.nt undertaken. Even if the w-or comes to the wor

t

nnd we find that preventing lvnching is actually impossible, that

djscovery will at least be something.

uena r V A l ~ NUY . Thank you very much, Mr. Mencken, and

I am sure Senator Costigan, the author o:f the bill, agrees with m~

that you have been very helpful in bringing about a :favorable

-consideration.

Mr. MENCKEN.Thank you, Senator.

Senator VAN NUYs. Of this bill through your writings.

Mr. MENCKEN.Thank you.



PUNISHMENT FOR THE CRIME OF LYNCIDNG

There a.s been ome discussi on here earlier - toda especially , wher

Wagner was on the tan<l as

to

whether the provision

levy

a

line on

the

community would work.

I am

not prepared t

ar lle

that that a

i

tands j

completely defendab)e . My opinion

that that

provision

as

it

sto..nd probably

offer

a

ground

:for

argu

again st the bill that might be disposed of by leaving out the

provision which does not seem to be necessary a all .

1

The chief

vir

ue of this bill as I see it is

tha it

doe not

fry

-et up l mching as a new crime and

J?rovide

new penalties for

it

- lynching i · murder which is pr eci ely. wl1at it is . and

punishes it as such . The onJ-y new crime it sets up is the crime

at lynchlng. That i probably not sufficiently covered

by our existing law, and that part of the bill needs no defen e. Th

tha· provides for penaltie a I have said, on the tmvn is a

controver ial . There

are

unquestionably cases

in

which

the

burden would fall on the most innocent people; the

·tax

in a. lynchi no-

th well

to do

and

educated people very

seldom in favor

of

lyn chino-.

They

may

tind i

imp . s.ible for vari

ous rea ons to prote

t

again

t

it but I have never beard of man

of them being in favor of it .

At the time of the lyuchino- in Maryla .nd the d>c nt people o

tern hore were against

it .

They could do nothing

becau

all

they ha.d to live there. They needed help from outside

own area.

The

Governor of Maryland at

the

time tried

to

give

t help but it turned out under our constitutional law

.f

wa_

impossible to make

that a.id

efficacious.

Are there any other que tio sir?

Se.na or V.A~ N"GY. We had .everal of the citizeps of Maryland

our former public hearing . ·

lvir MENcKEN .

Yes si1 . I remember them, including one of the

t

public

officia ls

we ever had in the State

of Maryland,

Attorney

.

Senator

VAN NuYS.

I took occasion

to

compliment him on h.i fear

sness as a public

official.

Mr .

}.lfaN

KEX.

He is a fearle s and an honest man .

enator

aN

Nurs. You were fairly familiar with that lynching

a

general way .

Mr .

~ENCKEN.

In a

general

way ye', sir . ' I do not know a much

1

n.sAttorn

y

General Lane .

enator

VAN NUYs.

Has that added to th e.support of this ort

o

in Maryland or are Jou advised on it Mr . Mencken i



Sell, 1,tor

V,AN.,Nm;s .

T.µp.t li? ;ue .in ,iµost of these lynchings ,, as

relates to county authorities t ,

}fr.

MENc~. ,I

think so.

A~

al), these people have got t<?go

-on

livip.g

:ip

.that J?..e~ghl:>orhc;>od._ . .

,Senator

VAN

N

UYs.

Yes. .

Mi:.'MENOKEN• i\.n:d the . a-me iiiob:that lynches a prisoner is quite

.a.pt t-0.shoot them from ambush, or

pll,t.Ilheir

house or do something

of .

he

sort,

an,d. tht3y

h l,ve I-~at~aL fe~r for

them

elves

and

their

families. .

Senator

Cos.TIGAN ..

Mr . Mencken, how do you account for the

sheriff in Tennesse -~ .recently res.isti.ng) . ~ob

·eelcing to take a pris

oner from his custody~

Mi;. :M".:E...c;KEN I t.liink tliat could be accounted for quite easily

'"'enator. Every now ~nd· then you "get a good sheriff. Any sheriii

could do the same . But I ho:ee we do no .have to offer any evidence

thf ,t th~ sheriffs -in ~ica do 11.~t colllDlonly come from the lead

ing class of citizen . They are focal politicos of a rather inferior

ty}le, and hence not much co.uld be .expecte l of them .

Senator

'CosnGAN.

In you.r ju dgmeu

if

heriffs vrnre waited on

by the leadinu people of the community and were mged to protect

a prisoner by means of aving theai-payer expense, do you think

that shei;ills ordinarily would . be. 'rci;ponsiye to such requests and

would be mor diligent

in

the protection of prisoners i

Mr.

MENoKEN.

I

think they would

in

most

cases

provided it

would not be dang erous to the life an.d limbs of the taxpayers to

approach them :in the face of the .mob. They would have to fight

their way through the mob to get to the . beriff probably.

enator CosT,CGAN Usually ucl;t action is taken in advance of the

g-afuering of the mob, and while .i-umors are current that a mob is

oru.ng

ormed for the purpose. .

Mi

MENCKEN.

Usually there · is som effort made to stop them

down on the Eastern Shore.

In

one.instance the sheriff made some

effort

to

stop it. They di i:egru:ded.it.

The sheriff had the

fear of

his life, and he allowed them to uo in order to ave his own life .

Senator Cosr:rrG.aN. rdinarily an alert sheriff can mo e the pris -

oner to some other place .

Mr.

MENCKEN~

He could nine times out of ten .

Senator V

A..'f

Nur. Any further .questions~

Senator CosTIGAN.

No

enator

VAN

Nun. Thank you v.ery.much }fr. Mencken.

We ha.ve two other witnesses to be heard. · The next is Dean

harles

H..

Rous .ton,

Dean of Howa.i:d Unive rsit y. We ball be ver

glad to hear from

D ~an

Houston

at

this time.

mencken statement to u.s. senate subcommittee on anti-lynching bill

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