Now that the Dyer Bill is dead, it is distinctly up to the States to make good the promises and professions of their senators and representatives, which is that the States themselves will settle this problem, settle it right and for all time, if left to themselves. Here is a chance to vindicate “States rights” and to preserve the great principle involved therein—so long cherished as a vital thing in the South. —Atlanta Georgian.
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With the Dyer Bill out of the way and the State left in control of law enforcement, it is incumbent upon the authorities of every State to see to it that life is sacred and that those guilty of murder singly or in mobs are brought to justice. Our representatives were right in holding that the South would itself protect its Negro population and that the law was unnecessary. It is incumbent upon us to show that they were right in that representation. The duty already resulting upon the South was thus emphasized. It is the duty of all good citizens and all officials to preserve the good name of the South by standing for the orderly processes of law and the outlawing of lynching. —Raleigh News and Observer
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The Dyer Bill is a symptom of which the States would do well to take serious account. The crime of lynching is a disgrace and a danger to the whole Nation, and the States must find a way to put an end to it. If they do not show their capacity to deal with this evil, ultimately some measure of the general character of the Dyer Bill will be enacted by a stretching of the Constitution. –Charleston Post.
On the face of the ostensible cause of the surrender of the measure, there is a challenge to the States in which lynchings occur. The “Surrender” of the Dyer Bill advocates ought to make the anti-lynching law more effective in every state—not a federal law by the already ample State law, if citizens so will it, can meet and master the mob spirit. The challenge is upon the States, which properly stand upon their rights; the stamping out of lynching is put upon the honor, the pride, the character of the people of the several States. –Savannah News
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The Dyer Bill has failed of enactment, but if lynching and mob outlawry is permitted to continue to shock the conscience and sensibility of the American people from time to time, it is as certain as the coming of tomorrow that sooner or later a means will be found whereby the forces of federal law will be invoked to put an end to it. –Atlanta Constitution
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Lynching is a question that should be taken up by the States. That is preferable. But something must be done that will put an end to murder by mobs. If it cannot be done—if it is not done—than our boasted civilization is spurious, counterfeit, a fraud. –Knoxville Tribune
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The remedy is with the States, but unquestionably, if they do not exercise their rights and meet their duties in putting down mob violence their powers will finally be forfeited, and those who say that democratic government is only a beautiful dream will be justified by the establishment of a monarchy in form, whatever may be its name. –Asheville Citizen
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In their assaults on the Dyer Anti-lynching Bill the Southern members of Congress asserted that the South is able to cope with the mob evil. The South can put an end to lynching once it sets its hands determingly(?) to the task. It should tackle this problem in dead earnest and show that its statesmanship is equal to the situation. We cannot hope that filibusters will always be effective in defeating the enactment of a federal anti-lynching law. There is only one safe way to forestall such action and that way is to be found in the stern handling of lynching parties by Southern courts. –Asheville Times
From the front page of the Tri-City Gazette, Leaksville, N.C., Jan. 2, 1923
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