A Matter to Consider

     The attempted murder of the President of the United States, which so lately horrified the civilized world, constitutes a foul blot upon this land of freedom. The bullet evidently was not aimed at Mr. McKinley as an individual simply, but rather at the executive head of a great nation, because in him was exemplified the governmental idea, with which anarchism is not in sympathy. The shooting furnishes an episode, graphic and acute, calculated to excite profound reflection as to the underlying causes that led to the action of the scoundrel who perpetrated the hideous deed. It calls for the exercise of wise legislation that shall result in the enactment of laws which, in their operation, shall effectually reach, eradicate and stamp out, wherever found, the treason to humanity and disloyalty to government, alien in its origin, that has taken root and found accursed expression in this country by certain persons of foreign birth, or whose immediate ancestry is exotic.
     The liberty of these hospitable shores, of speech and of action thereon, have been mistaken in their meaning and ideals, and degraded by false interpretation into unrestricted license. Emanating from low conditions of birth and surroundings, influenced by ignorance and baseness, fostered in the saloon and nurtured by idleness, it is a shame and a disgrace that this nation should be terrorized, threatened or disturbed by the ravings and outbreaks of anarchism. The demand that has sternly gone forth made by an outraged people, that anarchy in this country must be cleared from its midst, must be heeded. More than that, it must be kept out, and emigration laws to this end must be revised, made more strict and be more faithfully administered. America should no longer tolerate the swarming to its shores of the vast and unregenerate scum of Europe. The undesirable should be carefully winnowed from the desirable. Our tariff laws are designed to protect us commercially: emigrations [sic] laws should protect us in our moral and political welfare.
     The situation that confronts the American people in this regard is most serious and rises far above the level of partisan politics; it demands the exercise of an energetic and lofty patriotism that shall unite the intelligence and thrift of the country in a common cause against the most diabolical ideas and festering unrest of modern times.