The Western news., 1902-02-26

The pleas Of sentimentalists for VIII.
lam McKinley's assassin as IN some
way irresponsible" are conclusively
refuted in the elaborate report on his
physical and mental status recently
published by Drs. Carlos Macdonald
and Edward A. Spitzka. These men
are among the foremost In their
branches Of the medical profession. DR..
Spitxka as an anatomist and DR.. Mac.
Donald as an alienist. They agree that
the assassin was physically normal and
mentally sane and responsible for his
crime The only thing that allied him.
they say, was 1.-The social disease, an.
archy;" that is. he was moral per-
vert who had deliberately abandoned
himself to wickedness. when he as.
sassinated President Mckinley" re,
marks DR.. Macdonald, "he was In all
respects a sane man, both legally and
medically, and fully responsible"
Taking all In ALL" adds DR.. Spitzka,
''the verdict must be socially diseased
and perverted, but not mentally dis
eased,' The most horrible violations |
Of human law cannot always be con-
doned by the plea Of insanity. The wild
beast slumbers in US all. 1t Is not
always necessary to invoke insanity
to explain its awakening" 1t is re-
lated Of a celebrated English divine of
the eighteenth century that whenever
he saw a criminal led to execution he
used to say, in all sincerity: "But for
| 80 nv xyoo1f ~
He did not refer to any particular per
sonal escape from guilt, but merely
stated in the language Of his own time
the general principle stated by DR..
Spitzka in the speech of modern SCI
ence. It is a solemn fact, says the
Chicago Inter Ocean, that every human
being has within himself the capacity
to be a Guiteau or Czolgosz. While
environment may impel him one way
or the other, the ultimate decision Is
not made by his environment, but with
In his own soul. Those who would teach
US otherwise virtually deny the exist
ence Of human will, with its freedom
to choose between good and evil, and
reduce man to the level Of a machine.
! They are not even logical in their de-
NAL. II they were they would not talk
} Of restraint and mental treatment
Of criminals. They would do as we dc
with a machine which breaks down OF
, becomes the instrument of mischief
We do not attempt to change th<
} mind" OF an efring engine, for it hal
none. We merely repair it physically
and start It mp again. But the ''all
} crime diseass" fanatics, while af
: frming that man u merely 4 machine
: ask ~ not only to repair his physica
} injuries, - we do with q crimina
: wounded In resisting the police. bu
: also ask % to medicine the soul, whicl
they declare he has not Illogical alb
surdity could 70 no further. The an
: archist IL q victim Of social disease,
but It u wholly Of his own creation
He has willfully abandoned himself t,
rebellion against the established orte
Of the universe. That shows US every
where the reign OF law. but the anarch
ist win have no law. He denies tn
: existence Of any law save his own de
, sires, and against all government as tn
? embodiment Of law he wages war. B,
} his denial Of the established order o
the universe he peryerts his own SOU
t and plunges 1t into wickedness. H
. becomes a lawless wild beast. doome'
to destruction. Such Czolgosz was
! such he had made himself. and az sucl
D he was rightly destroyed.