The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1893-12-20
HISTORY REPEATED.
WILL IT CO THROUGH THE VOLUME
TO TIE CENTuRY'S CLOSE?

WILL IT &C THROUGH THE VOLUME
TO TIE CeNTuRY'S CLOSE?
Arc Not Sh. '.Cranks'' of This Country and
the Terrorists of Europe the Natural Out
growth If Political Corruption and Eco
nemic Iniustice@
Especial CorrespondenceI
To those readers who look only on the
surface Of current events, the recent I'M
usual and startling occurrences in various
parts of the world win appear to be SIM
ply shocking. unaccountable, deplorable.
Their blame for individual perpetrators
will be unstinted, they will mete out
imaginary punishments Ito fit the crime,
and will presently forget them. without
once looking to see that there are depths
still unfathomed in these great world
stirring subjects. The majority of peo-
pie will read Of the panic, the hard times,
the condition of the unemployed, the
poverty of the masses, the starving min
ers of England, the tottering condition
Of the monarchies of Europe, the assas
sinatiOn of a peaceable mayor in free re-
public, the killing Of Spanish official,
the throwing of dynamite bomb into
fashionable theater, and see no signifi-
canoe, no relationship, in them.
Bat to the thoughtful there is an omi-
nous meaning in the trend and connec-
ton OF passing events. Looked at su-
perfcially. one could only say that moth
ing could he more diabolical than the hurl-
ing of bomb into the midst of men anG
women intent only on amusement; moth
ing more cowar1ly and reasonless than
70 shoot down a city's ruler in his own
doorway as he Hospitality comes forward
to welcome his visitor; nothing more in
excusable than the bomb which injured
Campos. But these things reach deeper
into the construction of society than at
first appears.
The law Of cause and effect is as i'm
mntable in social as in material affairs.
One may be as sure that certain logical
reasons rest beneath every event that
shocks the world as that the action of
vapors, air currents, heat and cold lay
behind every storm that brews. Even a
very brief examination may show that
this is true.
1t was found after Guiteau's death
that prenatal conditions had made Of
him a natural crank, with a predisposi-
ton to murder. Political hatred. the
bitterness engendered by baked schemes
of great men like Blaine and others,
famed this latent tendency to danger
ous heat. The circumstances were pro-
pitious, and in a fatal moment the pres
ident fell victim.
All the facts in the case of Prender-
CAST are not yet known. What morbid
tendencies may have been Unborn; what
sickly habits Of thought may have been
fOstered by untoward conditions Of life;
what sense OF wrongs, real or imaginary,
may have been s1noldering in this wretch
ed mans breast we can but conjecture.
He J. perhaps, after all, as much victim
as WAS Mayor Harrison. But we know
this-that Il siminering broth Of political
corruption. concocted in various abused
municipal departments and kept brew
ing by schening and greedy politicians,
is continually smoking within the city's
administrative circles, from which poi
souors N.lpor everlastingly arises, faint
ing thr al mat honest men breathe; that
ahideoUs Sp,.is system disposes of and at
the same time Gegrades every man with
in reach of It's machinery, making OF
them not public serving officials, but
greedy cormorants, and converting the
unsuccessful into bitter, revengeful NAL
contents.
The press is not blameless. Vltupera-
ton and abuse have long been consid-
cred legitimate campaign ammunition,
bat the opposition papers fairly outdid
themselves last year. What could be
better calculated to inspire and encour-
age spirit of hatred and revenge than
the rancorous revilings of the opposed
journals before Mayor Harrisons cleo
tiOn? What wonder that weak minded
man, cajoled into believing an important
office would be his, with an old grudce
already lurking in his heart, disappoint-
ed at every turn, should at last come to
believe that he would be justifiable in
removing the cause of his wrongs, and
that an intelligent jury would acquit
him?
These considerations are too apparent
to be overlooked. The strange twistings
and contortions by which few would be
leaders have been trying to read a for
eign significance into the event and in
some way mix Governor Altgeld and two
or three radical theories with the assassi-
nation are neither profound nor logical
and will mislead bl7t n few shallow pao-
pie.
And Of the recent explosions ia Spain,
In the same column which shr,eks VIII!
outraged virtue over the bomb throwing
in late paper Chicago Herald) de-
tailed account of the privations of the
peasantry finds place. In an adjoining
column the pathetic condition of tho
starving miners who were striking in
England is described. So sad story Of
suffering workingmen has not been told
Mnce feudal times in the dark ages.
Many of them received but two meals
= week, and every other comfort had
long been dispensed with. Adespairing