Middletown transcript., 1901-09-21

oalhot cause them to tremble Oul
country will go on in her own great way
toward the end which God designs fo1
her. There is no likelihood in the present
instance OF any marked change in the
. public policy: there is no reason what.
!: ever for any diminution of the pnbIic
confidence. Even in this hour of sad:
ness we may gratefully lift up our hearts
= to God and praise His Holy name that
even when the official head of our nation
IS stricken down, there is no real danger
TO our CIVIC institutions, no reason to fear
but that "peace and happiness, truth and
Justice, religion and piety" will be es-
tablished among us in the future as in
the past. Even in this dark day the
ground is firm beneath our feet. We
shed our tears of sorrow for one whom
we had learned to trust and love: but we
have no fears for the republic; we 20 for
ward as nation with UNCHANGED mr.
pose and our hearts are full of courage.
The terrible event which has lust tran
splred reveals with its lurid light the
Wisdom OF certain measures which per-
laps ought to have been adopted before
but which are now plainly forced on the
public attention. Of these the press will
take due notice and more than a mention
OF them is not necessary here.
Few men to-day will question that
those who avowedly hold doctrines sub
verslVe OF the state should be suppressed
or expelled from her borders; that the
use OF lnfiammatory language against
high officials of the nation should Coll
stitute an offence under national legisla.
ton; that an attempt on the life of the
President, or on that of one in line of
succession to the presidency should be
treated as reasonable act and not
merely like any attempt on the life of a
private citizen; that the life of a chief
magistrate is too valuable every way to
expose needlessly in promiscuous gather
lngs. Snch suggestions are on every lip
and some of them have no doubt will
find place i'll future legislation or Gus
| tom.
Before passing from this subject wish
to quote some wise words which some of
you may already have read in the cur
rent issue of the Uurchmdn.
Joined with the demaned for new
legislation, there is another change not
less important. The rapid growth of
wealth, the visibility of great fortunes
which observe to many the growth of
millions of lesser accumulations, has |
brought habit among some good but |
short sighted men, among many self
seeking demagogues, and not less among
certain irresponsible and inhammatory
newspapers, of treating all large property
as necessarily the fruit of spoliation.
There are many who habitually speak
as if the burden of proof were against
any successful accumulation, as of any
man who had gathered millions had by
that fact laid himself open to aspersion
of corruption, of oppression of labors, of
ayarice and of despotism. This frame of
mind is familiar. 1t is not held by the
of any political party or by the
majority of its leaders. III
But everyone knows perfectly that
there has been in some quarters a con-
slant appeal to this infectious suspicion |
Of the accumulation of wealth or the [
signs of industrial and commercial sue
cess. Ii
The shot at Buffalo has awakened the '
and to a consciousness that this envy 6
md hatred is not impotent in its mis- {
'eading OF the industrial advance. This 7
advance has not always been equitable.
It often results in injustice and oppres- t
ion, but i'll the main it is under control q
II the sounder forces of society. Thus in C
is origin this assassination differs from T
he crime of Booth or of Guiteau This S
las nowhere been more iudicially stated o
han by the Erening Post. p
''The first assassin of President" it L
ays, "was largely the product of his I
lmes-a man whose head was turned d
" the passions bred of long civil war.
he second was essentially crank-aI
1an whose motives we're curious mix
ure of desire to revenge the personal
rievance of disappointed office-seeking,
nd of morbid passion for notoriety. lf
he third to attempt the crime is of a "
ifferent type-a man who avows him D
elf an anarchist, and who says that he q
RED to kill the President in order to a.
verthrow our form of government A p
Ohm Wilkes Booth can hardly be p
uarded against. A Charles J. Guiteau q
lay not be identified before it is too late. p
ut Leon Czolgosz represents a class p
active enemies of society, the treat CT
rent of whom society must seriously
onsider" W
In another editorial the Post speaks in | iii
way worthy of our country. 1t prac- W
cally says that the general demand for al
gislation is natural, but men must be W
lreful that in their zeal against anarchy OF
ley do not fall into hysteria. This SO
,untry and its institutions are in no liz
anner of danger, nor is there any rea- al
N to suppose that anarchists generally m
ould direct their attacks against the f1t
Hers of those countries in which they m
ave found an undeserved asylum, rather IN
IAN against those who stand as conspic-
JUS symbols of oppression. The very al
sc with which the crime may be COM az
itted takes from it every glamor of 1t
cious greatness, and makes it only das- W.
rdly. 70
There is every reason for grief, for ",
ofound national sorrow. There is no to
ason for national alarm and no excuse i'll
r the appeals to anarchy such as have mi
'peared in respectable journals and re:
I'VE been attributed even to the Gov tn
nor and to Senator of our greatest VIC
,te. Clergymen of national notoriety tel
e heard to regret that the assassin could an
It have been killed on the spot. We SUI
all not cure anarchy in that Way. Such tel
en- rather excuse by their example mi
nat in words they condemn. The con. tag
tuition is greater than the Executive me
10 swore obedience to it, and the Con- be
tuition forbids all of us who live under Th
TO deprive even this criminal, even one moi
10 should kill the Chief magistrate, of for
j life or his liberty without due pro- SUI
s OF law. The President of the United me
ties has spoken no words worthier of to
great office than those uttered as he the
TX into his Secretary's arms: "Let no ide
2 hurt him." At crisis of Iawless- nov
IS he lifted his voice for law" doe
Before concluding, there is one other
tier of which would speak. 1t is a
tier which especially BELTS this place. 7
whose loss We mourn lived christian Por
and died christian death. Through rim,
long public career he always bore iah
nself as true christian gentleman. swa
religion was sincere and simple, as was
arnin O l,z, al1c.kk - L l. L -.