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Salisbury Clergy Ignores Criticism Of City Made By Federal Council Of Churches
Ministers Of City Decline To Make Public Comment Upon Report Published Today
BASED ON VISIT BY
HOPKINS PROFESSOR
Declares City Lacks Public Spirit,
Civic Morality And Practical
Religious Application
EDITORIAL
This editorial is published today vn> several metropolitan newspapers in the east as a reprint from The Time.
NO COMMENT NECESSARY
So much unfairness and untruth is recognized .in the published report of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America castigating the entire populace of Salisbury and the Eastern Shore for the lynching her3 on December 4 that the* best reply is to completely ignore it.
Dr". Broadus Mitchell, whose socialistic teachings afford him what little
The clergy of Salisbury and leaders in business and professional circles showed a disposition to ignore the sharp criticism directed at the people of Saliybury and the Eastern Shore by Dr. Broadus Mitchell in a report of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America published in The Baltimore Sun today. ,
Dr. Mitchell, of the Department of jclaim to fanle he may eI1J°y> basod hls Political Economy at Johns Hopkins [ conclusions upon a three-day visit to University, came to Salisbury two Salisbury. He proceeds to set up a weeks after the hanging of Mathew,straw man and then attempts to teal. Williams on December 4 and inter-1., ... _, , , ,. . viewed 12 people. His conclusions!" to blts- The whole thln§' ls baaed from these interviews obtained in a ! upon a false premise and has no truth three day visit formed the report of in fact. the church federation.
Local ministers declined to com- If thc Federal Council of Churches ment for publication, but privately' would devote the samsi energies to expressed views ranging from aston- |the suppression of Coraraumsm in Bal-lshment and indignation to absolute' (.:„,„ „ , j.. , ,-,
silence upon the subject. !tlmore and other metropolitan centers
"The most sorrowful reflection" the \ and to elimination of loopholes in the report as published by The Balti- American legal system the organiz-more Sun said, "is not that some ig- ! ati0n would go far toward abolishing iiorant countrymen and townsmen 4.1, .,, ,. .. . . .,
gave way to violence but that no one the.causes of ,yncWn3 throughout tl„ from among the intelliget fair-minded nation.
citizens exerted the intelligent fair-j Dr. Mi'xaell, like rainy other.-,, h&a minded citizens exerted himself with • , ., • : , .
spirit to stop the lynching." mlBSed the ma->or P0,nt al lasue> *»
"Credit should be given to two cit- "e fails to differentiate between jus-izens who opposed the mob; one who tice and law and order. tried tc stop the lynching and one who attempted to prevent the barbarism of the burning." Professoi Mitchell refused to reveal the names 01 the persons to whom he raferred.
"The Chesapeake bay in a sense contributed to the lynching in Salisbury. That is, the Eastern Shore is isols.-ed geographically and has become backward in its spiritual and mental development," Professor Mitchell asserted.
Again attacking the attitude of the citizens of Salisbury he said: "Two weeks after the lynching the place was rife with excuses for the hanging, if not, - indeed, full of justification of it."
"This attitude of self-defense was stimulated by the criticism of Salisbury that came from other parts of the state. The sectional feeling was increased when a local newspaper stated that the Eastern Shore, on which Salisbury is located, feels 'that the greater part of the responsibiity for it (the lynching) results from the interference of Baltimore City in the affairs of the shore.' The sectional feeling ran so high that several merchants in Salisbury even cancelled orders with Baltimore firms.' '
Continuing with the events leading up to the lynching the report of the Johns Hopkins professor said "if it be said that it occurred too quickly, it is to be answered that there probably knowledge in the town an hour or more beforehand that trouble was brewing. And if private citizens are to be excused the officers of the law have no excuse. It may fairly be concluded that the chief of police, his three patrolmen who were on duty and the sheriff and his deputies offered no resistance to the lynching. "The impression was received by the inquirer that the public spirit of Salisbury is far below what is desirable.
"Those whom one would expect to he leaders in a crisis decided to fall in with the ignorant, the prejudiced, the frightened, the sullenly boastful. "Salisbury. has given proof of its lacy of civic morality—not only in the lynching and burning and even more pointedly in the childish defenses. offered for the lynching afterward. One feels that the business organizations stand for nothing better than for mere town boosting, the churches have neglected the application of religion to life."
"The town of Salisbury needs an active local interracial committee," the report concluded.
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