Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-09-10
Amend the La WIS.


ment is an abnormity. 1t makes no
difference, in principle, what the gov
eminent is. Absolute and limited
monarchies, missionaries and democra-
cies are alike condemned by anarchy.
Government is expensive; it employs
millions of men in non-productive oc-
equations, who must be supported by
the workers; it usually helps the
wealthy in burdening and depressing
the poor; it may do little good in the
way of restraining few lawless char
acters, but it does, on the other hand, a
vast amount of harm and injustice, and
the taxpayer is paying altogether too
dear for his whistle, when he pays for
the support of any government. Down
with government. Such is the creed of
anarchy. Many anarchists do not APP
prove of the assassination of heads of
government. Nevertheless many of
them do advocate the killing of rulers,
as an object lesson. The killing of a
king or president by an anarchist is
not in the least induced by the charac-
ter of the individual selected to be
murdered. 1t is not the Individual that
the anarchist cares TO kill; he wants to
kill ruler, not because he rules well
or i'll, but because he rules.
Such are the defects in the common
law and the failures of the statute law
that it is not yet crime to counsel one
man to kill another, or even hire man
to do murder or use any other means
whatever to induce the commission of
murder or other crime, unless, as a re-
suit of such advice, the crime shall be
actually committed. In the anarchist
trials: at Chicago this shortcoming in
the law was made up for by ruling of
the court which many and perhaps
most lawyers who have studied the
cases regard as violation of law by
the court.
1t is entirely wrong that the country
and the whole foundation of society
should be threatened by. these half in
sane and wholly lawless men who call
themselves anarchists. Theoretically
their ideal of society may be right or
wrong. That is not the question, nor
has it anything TO do with the question.
The radical defect in the anarchistic
idea as it affects us Americans is that
the idea is held by very few persons
not by majority of the people. Per
haps there are not thousand of them
all over the country. These little scat
tered bands of law-defiers pit them
selves against the whole remaining
population. They say to us: You
have chosen form of government but
it is our will that you shall not have
your choice. You have elected presi-
dent, but you shall not have him; we
will kill him; we can kill presidents as
fast as you can elect them, so go ahead,
elect all the presidents you want to;
they shall not hold the office; they will
be killed" Thus does this handful of
lawless men speak to the whole people
of the United States.
Anarchy may have some meaning
and some logical foundation in mon
arches, and especially in absolute
monarchies where the will of single
man is imposed upon whole people
by force and without their consent.
But in the United States anarchy is as
much out of place as Satan would be in
Heaven.
Perhaps anarchy cannot be entirely
suppressed. Society has not been able
to suppress murder as yet. But society
should not be inert. 1t should try to
protect itself General laws making it
a felony punishable by long term of
Imprisonment, for any man to counsel
the wanton destruction of property or
of human life or the subverSion of gov
eminent, and that it shall be punish
able regardless of whether there shall
be any over-act committed as a result
of such counsel, would apply to anar-
chistS rs well as to others, and we be-
lieve such laws enacted Il the different
states would soon deprive this danger
Gus class of most of its present power
to do evil.