The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-08-10
CRIMES WITHOUT MOTIVE.


the prime minister of Spain, is an
addition to the long list of crimes
committed by anarchists that are
apparently without motive, and
certainly without any results
that can be satisfactory even to
the murderer. The increasing number
of these assaults upon the representa-
tives of power in the state indicates the
depth and desperation of the anarchist
ic idea, and also demonstrates its fulfil
ity even from it's own point of view.
We can understand events like this in
an earlier age, because they arose Ell
Their from a private desire for revenge,
or were an attempt to rid the state of
some individual believed to be hostile
to the public interest. Tyrannicide is
not an uncommon event in history
while the favorites of kings and princes
have held their power at the price of
constant peril. But now that absolu-
tism is well-nigh extinct, and the great
favorites who determine policies and
the process of murderous removal goes
on as mere onslaught upon the power
of the state itself
Such was the recent attempt upon
the life of President Faure; such is
the assassination of Canovas. Against
neither of these eminent men was there
any feeling that could give rise to the
deed. Neither could their removal eff
feet any changes in national policy or
have any consequence whatever, be-
yond the substitution of one man for
another in the conduct of state politics.
Of all the nighttime res that have ever
obscured human vision and set human
brains awry, surely the most insane is
that of the anarchist and nihilist, who,
like a wounded snake, strike blindly
and aimlessly, giving up their lives for
nothing. 1t was not the tyrant of Rus
STA that fell by the aihilist's hand, but
the benefactor of his people, who had
freed the serf. Had the blow against
King Humbert succeeded, it would
have removed wise and enlightened
the low development of his people, in
dustrially and politically, would permit
for their welfare The killing of Cano-
vas is without even the poor excuse
that it would remove royalty. He was
merely the representative of such DOW
er as is given to the people in Spain,
and he had not abused his place. The
blow was supposedly aimed at the gov
eminent itself; and, whatever physi-
clans may say Of the assassin. the
event proves him essentially insane.
This is form of human alteration
against which we can no more guard
than we can against the earthquake or
the cyclone. The anarchist who is
brought to this point simply runs
amuck, and it is life for life Given a
man desperate enough to put an end
to his own career, and he can sell it at
the price of any life he chooses. Every
such event, however, operates tremen-
dously to retard the evolution of pop
ular liberty, ard gives a new excuse
for the lingering on the scene of relics
of ancient systems and sovereignties.
The anarchist is the common enemy Of
all mankind, but most of all of the
masses of the people. The condition of
Spain at this time is such as to mako
nP0nIa
self is an almost unbearable evil; but
it was not out Of Spanish conditions,
apparently, but out of the propaganda
of indiscriminate destruction that this
crime arose. 1t is one in which every
nation in the world has had its share:
and for which, as long as insanity re-
mains the scourge of the race, there
can be neither prevention nor remedy.