Tributes to President M’Kinley
The President is dead! Into the quiet
joy of a family reunion at a lovely New England home, a passing
neighbor drops this distressing message. Yet the sun shines on,
the sky is spotless blue, the river swings shiningly on its fair
highway, the meadows are graciously green, the hills lift and fall
in beauty, the whole world seems to rest and be glad for such a
day. Yet the awful problem of national life and welfare is sprung
upon us at a blow. The sweet poison is seething in the dangerous
places among the people and eradication seems impossible without
revolution. Let us take heart from the serene security of this scene
from which we write! The dear people who lived here their pure lives
sleep not far away. Their homes are holy forever. How inviolate
their sanctity, how mighty their hold on the sources of life! All
our [sic] over the land they look up to heaven to-day commanding
safety. We believe this great people is vital enough and good enough
to rid out this pestiferous element, to lift the wheat from the
chaff, to separate good from evil, to put away the dangerous and
criminal classes from touch with the healthy life of the people
and to enforce laws of order, charity, justice, purity. [21][22]
One thing must impress every mind
this day, that it sometimes costs life to give life. The sacrifice
of men should never be in vain; need never be, if we are wise, not
even in war. The smiting of our President means opportunity; it
calls for action; it summons to sternest duty. There is no call
for vengeance on any man or class of men. God will take care of
them; they invite their fate. But there is a stern sense of right
and justice, of reserve and reason in self-protection. To this the
whole nation will lend its gravest thought, give its soberest heed.
The selfishness and cruelty of anarchy come out to sight. The vileness
of the sentiments that are sown under the guise of friendship and
good will for the people, is fully exposed. Let there be an end.
Toleration can no further go. Freedom of speech that means license
to invite murder has touched its limit. Liberty of asylum for criminals
and assassins, for societies that encourage crime must be withdrawn.
The associated anarchists must be treated as we treat the one guilty
agent. The whole horrid crew of pirates that are here to plunder
and prey at will must be swept up and put to hard labor for life—work
which they dread and despise while they pretend to clamor for it—and
that the brood shall not increase, the gates must be shut against
all foreign importation. Right measures may be radical, but now
is the time to be inflexibly and fearlessly right.
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