The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1898-11-16
As Seen From the Viewpoint of
Prince KrapOtkin.
A Leader of the Russian Mini
list Organization
SEES WORSE TO COME
Than Anything That Has Yet
Been in the Conflict
Which is Going on Between the
Poor and the Richs

Chicago. Nov. 16.-The Tribune prints
the following:
DR.. George Brandes, the celebrated Dan
ish author and critic, has made public a
letter addressed to him by Prince Krapot-
kin, whose name has in the Euro pean press
more than once been mentioned in con-
nection with the assassination of the En-
press Of Austria
4 am so accustomed says Krapotkin,
''to attacks from certain quarters, and
find myself so frequently quoted as the
real originator of every revolutionary
movement, that such statements have long
since ceased to be surprise to me. II
is a wonder that LucheniS file is not said
to have been fitted to a handle or London
make; such statements are well paid for
Most people are so accustomed to think
history is made by few individuals that
nikins, of which the majority OF the pub
NC IS composed cannot imagine Lnat Ils u
different from that of their own organiza-
ton, which certainly lmphes that a rev
persons pull the strings OF the world pup
pet. -, .,s - 49, ,-,,o,. ,,-ou,a a,s
felt my heart contract with pain on hear
ing of this murderer this fresh issue Of
nnhap SS even i68g before the ctaStrophe
of her sons death, could she awake any
thing but pity in those who knew init
mately the story of her private life? Wo-
men and children, at least, ought TO be
spared in the terrible strife that now holds
our attentiOn-and in the still more fright
ful battles which are in preparation.
least. some Of the victims who have fallen
in this struggle during the last thirty
could have been spared, I should not hest
tate to offer myself. But even that would
everything else is to teach mankind the
great art of thinking.
"Analyze Lucheni- He saw the light on
a bench in one of the Paris bOulevards
homes of Paris and Parma took care Of
his education in the manner that is pc
cuiiar to such institutions. When only
q thrown n Ia
streets to shift for himself without the aid
of relatives or Friends to find shelter and
food without help, My heart nearly ceases
to beat when I think of this child-and of
many, many others
AT the age of q this man drifts into
society or persons who teach him the art
OF killing-killing his acknowledges right
age, whenever he is ordered to shoot for
the so-called salvation of the community.
Somebody has told him that this consid-
Grafton outweighs all others, even that of
human lives. And then his comrades send
him to Africa on the mission of commit
ting murder!
He has held the position of valet to a
make him respect the human family.
he was among the fug1tives who in
vaded Switzerland after those revolts
which were induced by sheer hunger and
the mass murders to which they led.
What could he learn from this?
He learned that both in the north and
in the south the hungry peasants were
massacred; that in Milan the authorities
cess1on, Killing Workmen by hundreds; that
grape shot were poured into the streets,
dren whose bodies became pierced by bull
let's were not responsible for the revolt or
motherless little ones managed to exist
He learned that fashionable women in Mi
~ +La- OIAfGeQ doWeds 70 the sot9lers ana told
tnem 70 rlo society or the r1oters-tO
knock them down and to aim well
wei, my dear George BrandeS, what
If our own children had been surrounded
throughout life by such things! Consider
of pity would have been extinguished and
Il there would not in their minds have
t1vate their own inCHnatiOns without con-
sidering for a moment that misery for
which their wealth was bought
People often say in a. thoughtless man
ner that modern society is dancing upon
not easily imagine what hatred the hearts
of poverty-str icken people really harbor
fearful. And yet, do not the actions Of
our courts as Well as the results of mill
farism impress them with this idea: HUI
man lives count little; away with senti-
mentality? If it becomes necessary for
the preservation of society to take the
lives OF sundry worl5men and peasants, it
must by all means be done.
And when we are wondering at such
people and reverse the conclusion and
think that it might be equally necessary
for the maintenance of order 10 assassin
ate few hundred prominent men and
1.-THE magical power of an execution. is
at present the frst article of average
listers and certain philosophers recognize
tered by the poor classes? Can We reason
conclusion than that expressed by I1lr-
cheni in the following words:
We must kill among the wealthy
classes, regardless of names or persons;
this is the only way in which others can
does
1T would be absurd to expect any other
conclusion than this.
In those days when everyone talked of
the deplOrable fate of Queen Eliza beth,
there were made four attempts of derail-
ing railroad trains in the vicinity of North
amptOn- Huge stones and heavy beams
nave been heaped upon the tracks of diff
Ierent lines, with the view of demOlfshing
the express trains. Now. if this end had
been accomplished. which would have been
Iar more terrible than the murder of any
one person, who would be responsible for
1EE certainly neither socialists nor an
archists- Now doubt the crime would
have been done by some Individual in
whose mind misery would have created
1mplacable hatred toward mankind in gem
eral-
This, then, is the volcano upon which
man is dancing.
Stabbing woman in the heart solely
because some may suppose that this heart
has never harbored a feeling of pity to-
this is awful
But as long as one carnage after an
other-Such as those in Italy-iS inflicted
upon those who cry out for sheer want of
TO foster the idea that human lives count
nothing IN view of what is termed the
common welfare. one victim will fall after
another, and viii continue to fall even if
every one who SympathiZes with the poor
classes and ponders over the psychology
telling his thoughts"