The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-09-27
SAFEGUARDING The PRESIDENT.

Sneakine lust before the ceatn u
President Mckinley, the executive heao
of Oberlin College, Rev. Dr. }. h. Bar
rows. voiced the following Sentiments
which are now common TO the Amefl-
can people:
Thrice in my life have 1 heard Of the
ASSASSINATION OF an American pfeStueh - :.
/ SHAH never forget the bells that tolied
rho .aea1n Of Lincoln. 1 shall never ior-
get the long agony with which, twenty
Years ago we waited around the death-
bed of Garfield. That President Mchin-
ley's fate may be an exception TO tnat Oh
these Others we all devoutly ana earnest
ly pray, We are glad today that the
hand which fired the dastardly shot was
not the hand of an American But ps-
lieye that America Is indirectly respoiisi-
Bile, In some measure, for what mas DC
s Cured. We have furnished the world
with many examples of lawlessness In ali
PARTS of the country. We have so culpa-
bly Identified liberty with license, we
have allowed our cities to be such saIe
refugees for law-breakers and anarchists
and we have so foolishly permitted our
presidents to expose themselves TO the
deadly bullets of idiots, lunatics, scoun-
drels and dangerous people or every SOFT
that there is some shame mingiing with
our sorrow today. OF course we kno"
that President Mckinley himself mas
been warned again and again py those
who stood near to him, and We know
how brave and trustful he has always
been. laughing at danger and believing
that in the midst of the American people
there could be no peril to himself. But
there was nothing American about the
criminal anarchist who did the dastaroiy
deed. And we have no right to expose
our choicest treasures before the eyes
and hands of brutal murderers. IL Would
be foolish for the wife OF an Astor OF
a Vanderbilt to decorate herself with all
her diamonds and walk at the hour or
midnight through some of the vilest
streets of New York, but l believe that
il is more foolish and culpable for the
American people to do what no other
great nation permits to be done, allow,
and almost compel, the chief mag stra1e
of the republic to appear before an I'M
sifted crowd with no more protectlon
than Mr.. Mckinley had last Friday after
noon in the Temple of Music in Buffalo.
It is one thing to allow great freedom
of access to our president In his own
house in Washington, or in private
houses throughout the country, and an
other to tear down all barriers, and prac-
tically to invite every anarchist and
every other child of hell to come and
shoot him. The president of the United
States Is at the head of the most impor-
tant nation in the world. He has pow
ers beyond those of many king. He.
represents a people destined to the pri-
macy of the globe, people hundred
years hence to be three hundred millions
In number. The nation is to go on pros
pering, the Office of president Is to be
more and more important, and the time
has come for sensible and right-minded
Americans to say, once for all, that the
person of the President of the United
States Is to be reasonably well protected.
I regard this as the plainest and most
obvious lesson of the present hour.
The time has come as DIR. Barrows
has pointed out for the President to
shield himself from contact with mis-
scellaneous crowds. 1t Is duty that he
owes not only to himself and his family.
but to the American people who elect
President to carry out certain public
aims. If he dies in Office he is likely
to defeat the objects of the people in
electing him. So far as he can control
the matter he owes them a full term
or terms and this being true 1t is his
obvious duty to take every precaution
against assault, even to the extent of
using a military escort wherever he
may go