The Anarchist Problem

The death of President McKinley by an assassin’s hand has emphasized the fact, of which many have long been conscious, that there are a large number of people whose minds have been so warped by long years of oppression that they look upon the rulers of the nation as well as the prosperous members of the community as their enemies.
     We talk about conquering race prejudice in ourselves, and it is most important that we do so. It is hard for us to realize, however, that there is a stronger prejudice on the part of a large portion of the community toward us than it is possible for us to feel toward them. The oft-quoted remark of the Indian boy who said, when he was asked by his teacher what he thought of white men before he came to Hampton, “I thought they were devils”, shows a state of mind that is not confined to Indians or to colored people. It is probable that a large proportion of the outrages in the South are outgrowths of this feeling of prejudice against another race. So eminent a sociologist as Professor Goldwin Smith of Toronto, in a recent letter to one of the New York daily papers, accounts in this way for much of the crime in the South. But this condition of affairs is not confined to any part of the [572][573] country. Anyone who is acquainted with the foreign quarters of any of our large cities is familiar with a type of face that tells of years of oppression and a bitterness that is the direct result of it. The assassination was the expression of a feeling that is widespread; namely, hatred of rulers and of those who govern the business world by reason of their great wealth.
     We have heard much since the President’s death of the passing of laws to prevent this sort of thing in the future, we have also heard many suggestions in regard to the transportation of anarchists to some island of the sea—similar counsel to that which advises the deportation of the blacks or the extermination of the Indian. All these suggestions are utterly futile. Wise laws may help, but the only solution of the problem lies in the proper education of these people, bringing to them the proper moral and religious ideas, changing and improving their homes and bringing them in touch with the best thought and feeling of this land of liberty to which they have come.