The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-04

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 Fashington, Dec. 3.-The message of
 sident Theodore Roosevelt to the Fif>
 seventh Congress of the United States
 Is follows:
 the Senate and House of Representa-
 tives:
 he Congress assemblies this year un-
 the shadow of a great calamity. On
 9th of September, President Mckinley
 shot by an anarchist while attending
 Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo,
 died in that city on the 14th of that
 nth.
 f the last seven elected Presidents, he
 he third who has been murdered, and
 bare recital of this fact is sufficient
 justify grave alarm among all loyal
 erican citizens. Moreover, the cir
 Instances of this, the third assassina- of an American President, have a
 uliarly sinister significance. Both esident Lincoln and President Garfield Ee killed by assassins of types unfor-
 ately not uncommon In history; Presi-
 Lincoln falling victim to the ter-
 A passions aroused by four years of
 Awar, and President Garfield to the
 engeful vanity of a disappointed off,
 seeker. President Mckinley was kill
 by an utterly depraved criminal be- ging to that body of criminals who ob- to all governments, good and bad <e, who are against any form of pop
 r liberty If it is guaranteed by even
 most just and liberal laws, and who as hostile to the unright exponent
 free peoples sober will as to the annical and irresponsible despot.
 is not too much to say that at the be of President McKinley's death he Is the most widely loved man in all the ited States; while we have never had public man of his position who has kn so wholly free from the bitter ani- |sities incident to public life. His po- cal opponents were the first to bear
 &heartiest and most generous tribute
 the broad kndliness of nature, the eetness and gentleness of character Itch so endeared him to his close asso- tes. To a standard of lofty integrity public life he united the tender affec- ms and home virtues which are all- portant in the makeup of national Rracter. A gallant soldier In the great
 for the Union, he also shone as an
 mple to all our people because of his
 duct in the most sacred and intimate
 home relations. There could be no
 bonaI hatred of him, for he never act with aught but consideration for the flare of others. No one could fail to $pect him who knew him in public or tvate life. The defenders of those mur- rous criminals who seek to excuse their minality by asserting that it is exer- Jed for political ends, inveigh against $alth and irresponsible power But for &s assassination even this base apology Ennot be urged.
 3s A Strike at Honest Foil. President Mckinley was a man of mod bte means. a man whose stock sprang Ebm the sturdy tillers of the soil, who d himself belonged among the wage brkers, who had entered the army as Mvate soldier. Wealth was not struck when the President was assassinated, At the honest toll which Is content with .bderate gains after a lifetime of unre- stting labor, largely in the service of e public. Still less was power struck in the sense that power is irresponsi- k or centered in the hands of any one 31ividual. The blow was not aimed at ranny or wealth. It was aimed at one the strongest champions the wage brker has ever had at one of the most Sinful representatives of the system of ! bile rights and representatiye govern Int who has ever risen to public office. esident Mckinley filled that political II ee for which tho entire people vote, lde no President-not even Lincoln him. af-was ever more earnestly anxious to present the we'll thought-out wishes of s people; his one anxiety in every crisis &s to keep in closest touch with the peo- f-to find out what they thought and to .&ieavor to give expression to their ought, after having endeavored to guide < at thought alright. He had just been elected to the Presidency because the Rjority of our citizens, the majority of r farmers and wage workers, believed at he had faithfully upheld their inter- Is for four years. They felt themselves
 close and intimate touch with him. ey felt that he represented so well and honorably all their ideals and aspira- ms that they wished him to continue \ another four years to represent them. End this was the man at whom the as- 'Bsin struck! That there might be noth- x lacking to complete the Judas-lilSe in- 7 my of his act, he took advantage of an ,asion when the President was meeting
 people generally; and advancing as f 1 take the hand outstretched to him in Idly and brotherly fellowship, he turn 7 the noble and generous confidence of I, victim into an opportunity to strike & fatal blow. There is no baser deed in the annals of crime.
 The shock, the grief of the country, are ter in the minds of all who saw the rk days. while the President yet hover ' between life and death. At last the Int was stilled in the kindly eyes and
 breath went from the lips that even mortal agony uttered no words save of $ giveness to his murderer, of love for # friends and of unfaltering trust in the &l of the Most High Such a death, wning the glory of such life, leaves [ with infinite sorrow, but with such de in what he had accomplished and fin
 own personal character, that we feel blow not as struck at him, but as uck at the Nation. We mourn a good n great President who Is dead: but ile we mourn we arc lifted up by the endid achievements of his life and the Ind heroism with which he met his #th.
 Repression of Anarchy.
 When We turn from the man to the tion. the harm done is so great as to lite our gravest apprehensions and to hand our wisest1 and most resolute ion. This criminal was a professed brchist inflamed by the teachings of blessed anarchists, and probably also
 the reckless utterances of those who. the stump and in the public press, ap- Il to the dark and evil spirits of malice
 greed, envy and sullen hatred. The N hd is sowed by the men who preach h doctrines, and they cannot escape ir share of responsibility for the whirl- hd that is reaped. This applies alike the deliberate demagogue. to the ex- ter of sensaticnalism, and to the crude A foolish visionary who, for whatever Aon, apologizes for crime or excites
 ess discontent.