Show I THE LOLMSTAiMV LYXCHFXG Six or seven years ago some eleven Italians were murdered in cold blod by a New Orleans mob The affair besides being a disgrace to us as a civilized I civ-ilized people came near Involving the United States in serious trouble with Italy Happily the affair was amicably settled and cordial relations with Italy resumed and they have continued ever since Now comes an account of the lynching lynch-ing of three Italians in St Charles parish I par-ish Louisiana Whether any of the three i men lynched were naturalized is not known If they were not it means that Italy will demand an explanation and reparation in some form Tn case of the lynched Italians our government was under the necessity of declaring that the federal government had no authority to in any way coerce a sovereign state in such a case which is the actual case under the constitution constitu-tion To which the Marquis di Rudini I replied that Italy knew nothing of sovereign sov-ereign states but only recognized the I United States of America That must again be the answer of the United I States and it is not a satisfactory one irJ any respect At the time of the i New Oreans lynching the proposition I to give congress power in such matters mat-ters was generally discussed and approved I proved but nothing ever came of it The case will probably bring the question I ques-tion up again I If a monetary indemnity is to be paid the state where the crime against a I foreigner is commi teed should pay it But what is Vo be done where something I more serious than a monetary indemnity indem-nity is demanded What if Italy in the present case were to demand an apology apol-ogy and all that that means what are the United States to do This lynching business in the United I States is the great blot upon our civilization civi-lization American lynchings are as bad in every respect as Armenian outrages I out-rages The latter horrify us while we I regret the former These lynchings 1 I should be stopped even if ile is at the cost of the lives of the many lynchers It is in the power of a lawless mob to plunge this country into a foreign war at almost any time It is very much better that a mob of wouldbe lynchers be shot down than that the country be II plunged into a foreign war through its I unlawful doings |