The Week
THE horror with which the news of the attempt upon the president’s
life was received, and the joy which was felt when it became almost
certain that he would recover from his wounds, is a measure of the
respect and affection in which President McKinley is held at home
and abroad. It is always difficult to understand what an assassin
expects to accomplish by murdering the head of a nation, but in
the case of the murder of an elected president of a happy and prosperous
country, the asylum for the oppressed of every land—a president
whose life had almost precluded the possibility of his having enemies,
personal or political—reason is absolutely lacking.
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CZOLGOSZ says that his deed was prompted by the teachings of anarchy;
he asserts that he has only done his duty as he understands it.
He is a Pole, but was born in this country, speaks English well,
and is, presumably, familiar with the system of government under
which he lived. If so, he knew that his deed was not only brutal
and criminal, but senseless as well. It is not to be compared to
the “removal” of an autocratic ruler or the representative of a
system of government which may be accused of bringing suffering
upon a nation. Those who know Czolgosz say that he was incapable
of planning and carrying out his dastardly crime; it is quite unlikely,
for other reasons, that he acted alone or without the knowledge
and connivance of other anarchists. The inspiration of the crime
is, for these reasons, more important than the crime itself, Mr.
McKinley’s life now being, it is believed, beyond immediate danger.
“Paterson Reds Can Not Conceal Their Joy” was one of the bulletins
displayed by the newspapers in New York last week. They should be
compelled to conceal it, and it is recommended in more than one
quarter that some radical steps be taken to prevent the propagation
of anarchy in this country. The right of free speech surely does
not comprehend the right to preach destruction of government and
murder of government’s representatives. If a band of political revolutionists
should openly advocate the kidnapping of children or the burning
of houses, they would be quickly exterminated, but anarchists may
plot and inflame without hindrance. This is absurd and dangerous.
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ON the day the president was shot, Herr Most’s paper, the Freiheit,
contained this statement on its editorial page:
Humanity can only be aimed to
do away with all kinds of murder, and so long as murder itself
is the best means to that end, so long will Humanity seize the
weapon and become the murderer of the murderer. If murder is
permitted to any human being it certainly is permitted to all,
but particularly to those who practise the destruction of the
murderers by profession or the Grace of God.
Strangely enough, however, Most condemns
Czolgosz’s act and says that it was inspired by “yellow journals,”
the New York Journal in particular. This can not be proved,
but it is quite possible that the Journal’s abuse of the
administration and the means it has taken to render it contemptible
and execrated would induce a slightly unbalanced person to remove
the subject of the Journal’s slanders and abuse. This is
an opinion which finds frequent expression.
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IF Mr. McKinley had not survived the attack on his life, he would
have left a noble message to the American people in the speech he
delivered at Buffalo last Thursday. This was probably the most remarkable
speech of his life in that it showed the extent of the president’s
growth of ideas and conceptions. His main point was that reciprocity,
not retaliation, was in harmony with the times. His concluding sentences
might have been a farewell address to the people of America and
the world:
Let us ever remember that our
interest is in concord, not conflict; and that our real eminence
rests in the victories of peace, not those of war. We hope that
all who are represented here may be moved to higher and nobler
effort for their own and the world’s good and that out of this
city may come not only greater commerce and trade for us all,
but, more essential than these, relations of mutual respect,
confidence and friendship which will deepen and endure. Our
earnest prayer is that God will graciously vouchsafe prosperity,
happiness and peace to all our neighbors and like blessings
to all the peoples and powers of earth.
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