"The Republicans have made promises for 75 years now and today are discredited in the eyes of the Negro people.'
According to the terms of the project, local authorities ju the various states will be held responsible for any lynchings in their areas of jurisdiction and will have to pay indemnities to families of the victims of such mob rule.
The House specified before voting on the Bill, however, that it does not apply to cases of violence arising out of labour strife strikes.
Ultimate aim of the Bill is to compel authorities throughout the U.S. to take drastic measures against lynching.
During the many debates on this Project, feelings frequently ran high among Congressmen hailing from. the southern states, where most cases of lynching have occurred. One of the obstacles placed in the way of the Bill was the problem of its constitutionality, Southern' Congressmen contested the right of the Federal Government to intervene in their states. Other Congressmen accused the Republican Sponsors of engaging in a manceuvre "to buy Negro votes."
It was pointed out also that lynchings in recent years have declined steeply. Whereas statistics reveal 231 cases of mob violence in 1922, there were only 20 in 1936, eight in 1937, Gove im 1938 and two last year.—vas 6,000 Tons of Goods for
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.