The three pairs of years,—1885-6, 1901-2, and 1906-7,—show 165 Negroes lynched in the South for rape, 160 for murder, and 127 for all other causes. Here rape takes the lead. Adding to these figures the statistics for 1892-3, the numbers for the four pairs of year are: 259, murder; 253, rape; and 227, minor causes. Again, adding for the four years 1911-14, the result for the twelve years, is: 376, or 39+ per cent, murder; 296, or 31+ per cent, rape; and 282, or 29+ per cent, minor causes. This would seem to indicate that rape was not even the leading cause. However, according to the statistics for the twelve years under consideration, 502, or 57+ per cent of the Negroes in the South who committed murder during these years were legally executed, and but 376, or 43- per cent were lynched; while for rape, only 60, or 16+ per cent were legally executed, and 296, or 84- per cent were lynched.[53:3] The proportion may be stated thus: 57:43::16:84=7+. This shows that a Negro is more than seven times as liable to be lynched in the South for rape than even for murder. Indeed, the belief of the average white man of the South that lynching is the most effective way of dealing with the Negro for his crime against white women also seems to be borne out by the statistics: In 1892-3, 88 Negroes were lynched for rape; in 1901-2, 59; while for the four years 1911-14, only 43. That this great reduction in rape cases and lynchings was not due to legal executions is shown by the fact that during the same time but 36 Negroes were legally executed, only 12 of these being for the four years 1911-14. Thus as a consequence of a reduction in the crime of rape by Negroes is noted a great reduction in the lynching of Negroes,—from 287 in 1892-3; 185, 1901-2; 129, 1906-7; to 91 for 1913-14. However, during 1915 and 1916, 104 Negroes were lynched in the South as compared with 91 for 1913 and 1914. The increased number lynched for rape is very marked: being only 13 for 1913 and 1914, but twice the number, or 26, for 1915 and 1916. During the former two years, also, 6 Negroes were legally hanged for rape as compared to 12 for the latter. The proportion remains the same: thus during 1913 and 1914, 19 Negroes in the South were put to death for rape as compared with 38 for 1915 and 1916. Although the legal execution of 12 Negroes in the South for rape during 1915 and 1916 may show a tendency to allow the law to take its course in such cases, may not the above statistics also indicate that when for a few years but few lynchings occurred, especially for the crime of rape, that the effect of such immediate and fearful punishment—consisting of burning as it sometimes does—gradually fades from the mind of the Negro inclined to such crime, with a great increase of rape as a consequence?