[untitled] [excerpt]
The all absorbing topic of the day
is the assassination of our beloved President. The last sad rites
have been performed and the body of President McKinley lies entombed
in Canton, Ohio, his old home. Memorial services were held not only
there, but literally throughout the world. The suspension of business
in the United States was complete and in every city, town, village
and hamlet there were demonstrations to express the sorrow so universally
felt. Never in the history of any nation were its people so entirely
united in a great grief as has been those of the United States in
the presence of this calamity. Never in the history of the world
has there been so general or more sincere sympathy in all of the
nations. For the chosen ruler of a great people; for the man whose
simple virtues claimed the love of all who knew him; for the victim
of a crime unspeakable in causelessness, the people of all lands
gave tribute of respect. At the last the honored leader is laid
to rest. But the good he has done lives after him. The lessons of
his life and of his death are as guiding beacons. As might be expected,
all the expressions with regard to the assassination of President
McKinley vie with one another in the condemnation of the atrocious
crime. They are also practically a unit in demanding that Congress
shall without delay provide adequate penalties for this crime in
the form of a national statute making the attempt to kill the President,
Vice President or any of the cabinet punishable by death, and the
teaching of the doctrines of anarchy by imprisonment for life; or,
let the several powers purchase an island sufficiently large enough
to maintain them and all stand their pro rata share in keeping them
secure and thus rid the countries of this dangerous element.
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