Put Down Mob Law
Much is being said in these days
both, pro and con, as to what shall be done to suppress Anarchism
and to protect the President of the United States in the future.
The foundation of anarchy is absence of law, the want of it or the
need of it, or a rigid enforcement of it. Anarchy has prevailed
in this country for the last fifteen or twenty years without the
least attempt on the part of the authorities to suppress it. When
foreigners conspire to take the lives of men high in authority,
or to throw bombs and destroy life of the regular constituted authorities,
they are called Anarchists, but when men are hanged, burned, and
shot to death, and even innocent women are murdered in their homes,
it is called lynch law, and the men who partake in this innocent
amusement are called “Our Best Citizens.” In this instance as in
all others, it depends greatly upon “whose ox is gored.”
The way out of the whole business
is to make every man in the country obey the laws of the land, and
no matter whether it is “The Best Citizens” of the South or the
“Red Hat” man of the West, when the law is defied then let the law
step in and punish the man who defies it. Until this country is
strong enough to take care of its weakest citizens as well as its
strongest ones, anarchy will prevail to a greater or less degree,
and scenes that were witnessed in Buffalo, last Friday will likely
be witnessed at any time and in any place.
To surround the officials of this
great government with a cordon of troops every time one of them
goes out of doors is simply ridiculous, and should never for a moment
be thought of. This may do well in European countries, but in a
country like America, perish the thought. Let every man feel that
liberty is not license and that his rights stop where the other
man’s rights begin. Enforce a due respect for the laws of the land,
from every man, great and small, white and black, and we need feel
no fear, that at any time, our Chief Magistrate will in any way
be interfered with by native or foreigner.
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