The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-10-06
L.N:yrs

shock that made the nation tremble has
pissed away. Editors and preachers
have had their say and the wheels of
Government roll on in their established
way. Not for a day was there any in
terruption to commerce or agriculture.
Party and partisans softened down and
paid regard to the time -honored maxim,
DE morituis nil nisi bonum''-say moth
ing but good Of the dead. Even the yell
low journals stopped their cartoons and
gave their readers rest. But one ex-
treme always follows another and so
idolatry began as soon as the President
was assassinated. He would have been
sainted if sainting was revived. Now
that he is dead he is everybody's Presi-
history is beginning to be made. NJ
Mckinley was no demiged nor will he be
written down as great statesman. He
was a Christian gentleman-a better man
than his party-but was carried along
with into an unjust war that will not
bear the scrutiny of time. He had to fall
intoline with the greed of commerce,
and the consequence is there are thous-
ands of widows and mothers silently
mourning for husbands and sons killed
in battle or died in hospitals in foreign
land There is no lamentation over
them.
But as Governor Oates said what are
we going to do about it; nothing? Some
preachers say 1t is the. will Of God and
the way to spread the gospel. l don't
believe it; and have not much regard
for the preacher who does. 1t takes
more faith than l have got to see the
hand of God in any war for dominion or
the acquisition of territory. For more
than a hundred years Ireland has been
held in vassalage against her will. So
were the American colonies held until
our fathers rebelled. Napoleon coveted
the earth and our government coveted
Cuba and found casus belli in a pre-
tence of feeding her starving people, but
never fed them. Then our commercial
greed crossed the ocean to the Philip
pines and bought them for song with
ten millions of negroes thrown in. Eng
land coveted South Africa and has al
ready spent millions of money and rivers
of blood in an effort to subdue free
people and get possession of their gold
mines! / don't believe that any of this is
Gods will. Greece and Rome and Garth
age and Napoleon all came to grief.
Offenses must needs come, but woe unto
those by whom they come. / don't be-
lieve that any war of aggression has the
favor of God. but sooner or later the ag-
gressOr will reap what he has sown.
John Brown was backed by Henry Ward
Bcecher and other preachers who thought
they saw tho will of God in an uprising Of
the slaves against their masters, no mat
ter If it resulted in murder and arson and
other outrages too horrible to mention
He was as much an anarchist as Cool |
gosz, and his infamous scheme a thous |
and times more horrible; but last year
they removed his bones to Connecticut |
and reinterred them with honors and a
monument. No. | am still the same old
rebel-unreconstructed unrepentant, and |
] am incredulous Of any real or lasting
harmony between the North and the |
South as long as the pension grab goes
on and gets bigger every year and we
have to pay third of it for being con-
quered. If peace and love and harmony
prevails, why bleed us forever? Why
take our hard earnings to support the
children and grandchildren of Union SOL
diers, third of whom were Hessians
and hirelings who were fighting for $40
month and rations, with no thought of
patriotism? From that imported class,
no doubt, sprang these anarchists that /
breed discord and discomfort among our
people. Czolgosz was no foreigner. He
was born in Detroit went to school
there. learned his trade there, and his |
cider brother was a soldier in the Union
army and he is just as much an Ameri- |
can citizen as "a per cent of the popula- |
ton of New York city-native- born but |
CT foreign parents. The seed of anarchy |
was sown long ago, and it is too late to
drive it out by any legislation. The |
assassns of our Presidents were all ma
tive born American citizens. Indeed. it |
is not surprising that among 75OOO,OOo !
of people there are to be found few men
OF such abnormal mind as to glory in
killing President. AS Roosevelt said, a
President must take his chances. I'm
easy lies the head that wears crown
Why that wretch should wish to kill such
a kind hearted and unselfsh man as Mr..
Mckinley passeth comprehension. If he
was jealous of power or great wealth.
why didn't he pursue Morgan Rookie
An unselfish, great-hearted Christian
gentleman. No wonder the women are
helping to build the Atlanta monument,
for Mr.. Mckinley was a model husband,
true to his marriage VOWS and ever
thoughtful of his loving wife. Even in
apprehension of his fate he carried
100000 of life insurance, and it was all
for her-yes, all for her whom he loved
better than fame or wealth or power.
And now comes President Roosevelt,
the first President from Gorgia stock.
like the start he has made, and | be-
lieve he will be much the President
as was Andrew Jackson. If we had a
United States bank he would close it
and remove the deposits. Yes. l know
the stock from away back When | was
a school boy l visited Roswell, where the
Kings and Dunwoodys and Bullochs and
pratts and Hands all lived in elegant
seclusion Dan Elliott was one OF my
comoanions-a mischievous. black-eyed
youth of Is; / went to school with him.
He was half brother to our Presidents
mother Yes, know the stock and may
be I can get some little office with good