Evening star., 1901-09-11
wv. b. rl0ses & Sons, F ST. Cor. 1 1th|

of such a situation as now presents itself
to us-indeed to more effectively prevent
the possibility Of such an occurrence in the
future. The assassination Of President Lin
coin, followed by that of Garfield, should
have taught the lesson Of the necessity OF
affording more safeguards for the preserVa-
tion of the Presidents life. At present the
punishment for such an offense is such as
is prescribed by the codes of the several
states. If Mr.. Mckinley dies. the penalty
will be death; If he survives, the extreme
penalty will be ten years In the penften-
tiary. with a Communication Of three and
one-half years for good behavior. Such Is
the present condition. Anarchists are al
lowed to organize and teach throughout the
land their nefarious doctrines, with no In
tervention whatever on the part of the au-
thorities, with no law to prevent them.
Certainly it is within the power of Con-
gress to enact q law to meet this situation.
Anarchy is dangerous factor In sociology
to deal with; it has thousands of disciples
in this country and it's whole and avoWed
aim is to undermine the stability Of our
government. 1t has reached the realization
Of one of it's desires, our nations head lies
stricken by it's fangs, while we see the an
archistic societies Of New Jersey and Kan
sas as WELL holding meetings Of exultation,
their only regret and that of the assassin
being that the President still lives
The attack on the President was not
aimed at the man, but at the government
as such. and for that reason should be
classed as treason. The harbor1ng ana
midst is not the wise administration Of
liberty but national recklessness. When
Congress convenes in December, and public
excitement shall have subsided. this mat
ter should be taken up for earnest con-
sideration and finally disposed Of In such a
way as to insure public men more protec-
tion in the discharge of public duties and at
the same time rid the country, as far as
possible, of these anarchists, the outcasts
Of all countries, whose sole mission Is but
to destroy that which the experience and
wisdom Of the ages has taught to be neces-
mankind JOHN r. BETHUNE.
To the Editor Of The Evening Star:
The attack upon the President should
cause Congress- first, to enact laws to pre-
vent immigration Of anarchists to this
those already here; second, to grant In
creased appropriations for the police and
secret service forces, so as to throttle and
punish such conspiratOrs before they have
chance to commit crime. An ounce Of
prevention Is worth a pound OF cure To
deal with crimes Matched in secret one good
detective Is worth more than thousand
soldiers. One other change In the law
should also be made. Assault with intent
to kill should be punished more severely,
especially when dangerous wound Is in
ficted. Under existing laws every anarch-
ist and every person who with evil intent
attends meeting of anarchists could be
punished for conspiracy II sufficient evil
dence could be obtained The object OF an
archism Is murder, and all organized an
archists conspire to commit murder. They
are guilty of criminal conspiracy, whether
murder is actually committed or not. The
courts have held that at common law GRIM
inal conspiracy may exist without being
followed by any overt act. Under q charge
Of conspiracy any meeting OF anarchists
may be broken up by the police. To deal
with the secret meetings and prove con-
spiracy would be work for shrewd de-
tectives. Anarchism may be suppressed
without any radical changes In the law
certainly without resort to lynching.
THOMAS W. GILMER.