Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1901-09-12
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From our Regular correspondent
WASHINGTON, Sept. 8, 1901.

The terrible calamity which has befallen
President Mckinley has been almost the
sole topic of conversation in Washington
since Friday night. The news came just
as people employed in the departments
were going home to dinner, and just before
the shops closed for the night. There were
some hundreds of people who did not go
home to dinner at all. They stood about
in front of the bulletin boards watching for
the latest report and discussing the news
The three great newspaper offices, the Times,
the Post and the Star, all occupy buildings
on Pennsylvania avenue within four blocks
of each other, and that part of the great
thoroughfare was black with people. To
one standing in front of the Treasury and
looking toward the Capitol it might have
seemed that an actual shadow had fallen
across the pathway which has been twice
traversed by President Mckinley on his
way to take the oath of Inauguration
These crowds were not mere curiosity
impelled sensation-hunters They felt a
sense of personal affliction, for there has
been no more popular President in the
White House since its erection than Mr..
Mckinley has been, SO far as his private
character is concerned His enemies are
HlduO U1 uAo PuDilC dNUo dtAu viz I'h w
which he belongs; his personal friends are
POUNDS in all parties
The lesson taught by this tragic event
was pointed out Immediately. AS one
enegetic person put it, in discussing the
first bulletin, '"This means Round up the
Reds r' While to the masses of the peo-
Pile the tragedy was unexpected and unac-
countable, it was not so to many astute
observers of public events in this city and
elsewhere The assassinations of the En-
press Elizabeth and of King Humbert fore
Swallowed only too plainly the selection of
another victim in the near future, and the
United States, as yet untouched by Anar-
chstic plots of this kind, was the field most
likely to be selected for the next coup.
President Mckinley owed his misfortune
to the fact that he happened to be President
at this particular time, not to anything
whatever that he may have done.
This is fortunate, since it relieves all his
antagonists from the fearful Odium of hav-
ing suggested or encouraged any crazy
fanatic to commit such crime. The
matter had been carefully arranged and
planned by society of Anarchists, and the
man selected to do the deed calmly did as
he was told. The question is how such
things can be prevented in future. 1t is
futile to expect to prevent them by guard
ing all public men. The network of police
in Russia does not protect the Gar. There
is no way of shutting out immigrants
which will absolutely nullify the danger
The suggestion of a morning paper the day
after the event, that restriction Of immi-
grafton is the lesson which it teaches
became absurd when it was found that the
assassin was born in this country. The
remedy seems to be strict police supervision
of such dangerous societies. They are
against the law as much as a burglars
association or murder club would be; in
fact, they are murder clubs. They should
be compelled either to hold their meetings
in public, with the understanding that
incendiary speeches will not be tolerated,
or they should be suppressed, imprisoned
and deported. 1t will not do to tolerate
such epidemics any more than to let small
pox remain unquarantined.
The Navy Department has concluded
that Captain Forsyth's explanation of his
alleged newspaper interview on the Schley
case may be accepted, and he is forgiven
Possibly the comparison with the case of
Admiral Howison and Captain Chadwick,
so promptly made by a dozen alert papers,
had had something to do with this magma
nimity, for an interrogation point some
times pricks.
The historic National Wdtchman, once the
SuUer Knight, started by Senator Stewart,
has been put into the hands of Mr.. Bryan.
Mr.. A. A. Adee, Assistant Secretary of
State, has gotten himself into little very
hot water. He wrote letter to Director
~ Do,a
Exposition, advising him not to invite the
Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York to
come to the Exposition. The letter was
personal and unofficial and intended to save
embarrassment to everybody. Mr.. Adee
in his official position, was aware of the
fact that the Duke and Duchess would not
leave Canada on their tour, that they had
declined all invitations to foreign countries,
and that they would either have to decline
this one or be obliged to ignore it, neither
of which would be very pleasant for them
nor for Mr.. Buchanan. The diplomatic
circle of Washington have talked about the
letter more or less, and the general opinion
seemed to be that Mr.. Adee should not
have written it even in an entirely personal
and unofficial way. Such are the troubles
of kind-hearted people who want to do
some good in the world.
Before last Friday there were two reputed
Presidential booms moving about the coun-
try, but it is safe to say that neither of the
alleged aspirants is thinking much about
them now. One of these booms was Vice
President Roosevelt's, and the other was
that of Senator Fairbanks. The contrast
which these two men present in their quail
fications for the position of Chief Magis-
trate is curious. Roosevelt owes his promi-
nence to his positive opinions, while
Fairbanks-well, Fairbanks is known to
some people as 'Tgum-shoes" statesman,
if you know what that means, and he was
never known to have an opinion that any
body could remember Some people say
that the only platform on which he could
stand would be the multiplication table.