'LAW-ABIDINGNESS' IN THE SOUTH-WEST 223 



larly in the South and South - West, can 

 honestly declare lynch law to be practised 

 anywhere without some reason for its being. 

 Yet it is just these reasons which are so con- 

 tinually overlooked, even by those who should 

 know better than to ignore them. How 

 much more so, then, by foreigners, unaware 

 of their very existence ? 



To go backwards. California was settled 

 and made habitable for the decent classes by 

 lynch law. It was the only law which fulfilled 

 its promises to the people and gave them 

 that protection, bereft of which civilized life is 

 impossible. It was in many respects, and 

 certainly in its ultimate results, a beneficent 

 institution, and the judgment of posterity is 

 compelled, however reluctantly, to endorse 

 its work. Now, in presumably civilized 

 times, what are the conditions which can 

 permit of its continued existence in any 

 corner of a great and progressive country ? 



Let us deal primarily with the legal con- 

 ditions ; or, to be more accurate, with the law 

 as it is enforced. It is, nominally at least, 

 the people's privilege to make their own 

 laws, and once made it is the people's duty 



