REPRESENTATIVE CRISP

A public which is used to much political braying in the wilderness will not be surprised that Representative Crisp, of Georgia, has seen fit to introduce a bill pardoning the convicted defendants in the Massie case; but it must wonder at the state of mind which the action reflects. A pardon extended form the highest legislative body in the nation would virtually sanction the action of any person who takes the law in his own hands and commits an act of Violence. That lynching and violent personal revenge are subversive of law and order, and contrary to the spirit of modern jurisprudence has been demonstrated so irrefutably and so often as to render the proposed legislation absurd in the eyes of any thinking citizen.

But that there is a large body of unreflective sentiment in favor of justice by extra-legal methods cannot be doubted. This is particularly true in the South, and Georgia in particular has had a high total of lynchings to her discredit. Federal investigators of conditions have prophesied that increased construction of state highways here, bringing rural communities into closer touch with the judicial machinery, will curtail mob action. Anything destructive of the sentiment which motivates such action must be welcome. Representative Crisp's move, a step in the wrong direction, may be pleasing to his constituents. If he does not share their feeling he is a demagogue; if he does, little can be said for the type of education which Georgia afforded him.