The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1881-07-21
Lessons OF the Crime.


President Garfield suggests number
of considerations:
1. II grew out of mania, which
results from certain false public teach
ings. 1t is but recently that the idea
of remedying fancied wrongs by kill
ing the head of the state became pop
ular. 1t is feature of Communism,
or Nihilism. We have in New York
q small but vicious nest of French
Communists; and in Chicago their
power and boldness are very consid-
erable. They are not Republicans,
but are antagonistic to our form of
government, though I'm a less degree
than to the nonarchies of Europe.
They desire II Utopia-a system which
will despoil the rich for the poor, and
allow the widest individual license
without the restraint of government.
Their instincts are criminal. They
infuse their violent spirit into weak
brains, and these, half crazed, plan
assassinations. TO remedy the evil it
should be struck at its root. To do
this is to assail the communist organi-
zations, And this in turn requires
laws such as hitherto we have
not desired to have enacted. Our aim,
as a nation, has been to give the least
possible attention to mere agitators
and control them by the better sense
Nf a i,,.~ \, =
by legal compulsion. But the ques-
ton now arises whether the present
outbreak does not teach the necessity
of going to the limit of striking at the
root of this evil?
II. Congress should enact law
making Il murderous assault OH the
President of the United States capi-
tai offense, whether it is entirely sue
cessful or not. In the present ease if
the President should not die his as
sailant cannot be hung. Yet there is
a very clear distinction between the
President and private citizen. He
is the head of the state. His life has
peculiar value to the nation. 1t is
of more importance to the natinn than
the life of citizen in private station.
There can arise motives for taking his
life which pertain entirely to his pub
lie character. Lincoln was murdered
because he represented the conquer
ing element of the nation in the war
of rebellion. The attempt on Gar.
fields life is attributed to certain
views of public policy which differed
from those of his assailant In both
cases public and not personal reasons
accounted for the murderous deeds.
Hence these should be punished by
death, whether the criminal succeeds
or not. Nothing less rigid will an
swer. The foolish humanitarianism
taught by Greeley, and which would
let all great criminals go unpunished,
should be cast aside. Calm, infiexible.
certain justice is needed and congress
should emJody it in u law fixing the
penalty of death for assaults on the
Presidents life.
III. The person of the President
should be guarded. TO what extent
this should 90 or what form it should
take will require careful thought.
Ostentatious display, such as is the
case in Europe, would be offensive.
The trappings of monarchy are not
congenial to the people. But in some
effective form, however simple, the
personal safety of the President should
be secured SO far as human precautions
will do it.
w. There should be careful dis
elimination made between this at
tempt at assassination and an assault
on the republic. 1t does not neces-
sarily follow that such attempts en-
danger the safety of the government.
True, assassination tends to anarchy,
and this is danger to the republic.
But so long as our people retain their
purity the. republic will stand. The
Roman republic fell through the assas-
professedly, to save the republic.
Brutus and his associates were pro-
fessedly pure and lofty patriots, and
Caesar endangered Roman liberty. So
John. Wilkes Booth shouted sic Semper
tyransaiS when he shot Lincoln. Yet
the Roman republic virtually died
with Cesar. But the reason was that
there was not enough public spirit to
punish the perpetrators of crime.
The murderers of Caesar, red-handed
with his blood, addressed the people
from the forum and assumed to be
heroes and patriots for what they had
done. When this nation falls into
such imbecility, and has not the
courage to arrest and punish preten-
tious demagogues, the republic is near
its end. But SO long as courage and
virtue remain, the mere assassination
of a President, however lamentable
it may be, will not it to fall.
There should be attention given to
our power to assimilate incoming for
eign population. Our immigration
now Is at the rate of half million a
year. Fortunately it largely embraces
a better element than we thus received
in former years. Europe has emptied
systematically and purposely its Grim
inal and pauper classes upon us. Of