Georgia Justice

In recent years, Georgia's most conspicuous contribution to the science of government has been Congressman William David Upshaw, humorless Dry-crusader. But Mr. Upshaw has not been re-elected to the next Congress, and Georgia is becoming notable for two new contributions which command more general respect. One is Senator Walter Franklin George. The other is an unprecedented practice having to do with lynching (TIME, Nov. 29).

In theory, when 50 or 500 men and women rush through the night and hang a man or woman, they all--50 or 500--become murderers or accessories to murder. But in practice, in the South, lynchers have not been judged guilty of anything, because Southern governments habitually neglect to locate them. Last week, however, the most important news from Georgia was that one Gaines Lastinger had been sentenced to life imprisonment. He is the twelfth of a midsummer's night mob of lynchers to be convicted by Georgia.

Meanwhile the new Governor of South Carolina* has done nothing more than his predecessor to punish the lynchers of the Lowman Negroes and Negress (TIME, Oct. 18, Nov. 22 et seq).

* John G. Richards, famed for his nine daughters.