5*6 Presidential Addresses 



substantial rights of the prisoner to a fair trial must 

 of course be guaranteed, as you have so justly in- 

 sisted that they should be; but, subject to this guar- 

 antee, the law must work swiftly and surely, and all 

 the agents of the law should realize the wrong they 

 do when they permit justice to be delayed or 

 thwarted for technical or insufficient reasons. We 

 must show that the law is adequate to deal with 

 crime by freeing it from every vestige of technicality 

 and delay. 



But the fullest recognition of the horror of the 

 crime and the most complete lack of sympathy with 

 the criminal can not in the least diminish our horror 

 at the way in which it has become customary to 

 avenge these crimes and at the consequences that are 

 already proceeding therefrom. It is of course inevi- 

 table that where vengeance is taken by a mob it 

 should frequently light on innocent people; and the 

 wrong done in such a case to the individual is one 

 for which there is no remedy. But even where the 

 real criminal is reached, the wrong done by the mob 

 to the community itself is wellnigh as great. Espe- 

 cially is this true where the lynching is accompanied 

 with torture. There are certain hideous sights which 

 when once seen can never be wholly erased from the 

 mental retina. The mere fact of having seen them 

 implies degradation. This is a thousandfold stronger 

 when instead of merely seeing the deed the man has 

 participated in it. Whoever in any part of our coun- 

 try has ever taken part in lawlessly putting to death 

 a criminal by the dreadful torture of fire must for- 



