Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1902-03-06

SUl SIC SuISuBuo sB oJr suonlpuoo u5A3
winds, where the laborcr of to-day is the
capitalist of tomorrow; under laws which
are the result of ages of evolution, so UNI
form and so bcnchccnt that the President
has just the same rights and privileges as
the artisan: we see the same hellish
growth of hatred and murder which dogs
equally the footsteps Of benevolent mon
archs and blood-stained despots. How
many countries can join with us in tn"
community of kindred sorrow! ] will not
speak of those distant regions where as
sassination enters into the daily life of
government. But among the nations bound
to us by the ties of familiar intercourse
who can forget that wise and mild
autocrat who had earned the proud :itlc
of the liberator? that enlightened the
magnanimous citizen whom France stu
mourns? that brave and chivalrous King of
Italy who only lived for his people? and,
saddest of all. that lovely and sorrowing
Empress. whose harmless life could hardly
have excited the animousity of a demon.
Against that dcvilsh spirit nothing avails
neither virtue. nor patriotism, nor ago
nor youth, nor conscience nor pity We
can not even say that education Is a SUI
ficicnt safeguard against this baleful evil
for most of the wrotches whose crimes
have so shocked humanity in recent years
are men not unlcttcreu, who nave gone
from the common schools, through muir
dcr, to the sCaffold.
Our minds can not discern the origin.
nor conceive the extent of wickedneSs so
perverse and so cruel; but this does not
exempt us from the duty of trying to con-
troll ana counteract it. We do not UNDER
stand what electricity Isl whence 1t comes
or what its hidden properties may be.
But we know 1t as a mighty force for good
or evl-and so with the painful toll oil
years, men of learning and skill have
I,,lx al at,1 to n
neutralze, and even to employ its des-
tructivc energies. The problem OF
anarchy is dark and intricate, hut 1t
ought to be within the compass of demo-
cratic governmcnt-although no sane mind
can fathom the mysteries of these
untraclied and orbitless natures-to guard
against their alterations, to take away
from them the hope of escape. the long
luxury of scandalous days in court. the UNI
wholesome sympathy of hysterical degen-
crates, and SO by degrees to make the
crime rot worth committing. even to these
abnormal and distorted souls
1t would be presumptuous for me in this
presence to suggest the details of RENE
dial legislation for a malady so malignant.
That task may safely he left to the skill
and patience of the National Congress,
which has never been found unequal to any
such emergency. The country believes
that the memory of three murdered com
rados of yOurs-all of whose voices still
haunt these walls-will be sufficient
inspiration to enable you to solve even this
abstruse and painful problem. which has
dimmed so many pages of history with
blood and with tears.
Before an audience less sympathetic than
this. | should not dare to speak of that
great career which we have met TO com
mcmoratc But we are all his friends, and
friends do not criticise each others words
ain
honor you have done mo in inviting me
here, and not less the kind forbearanct
] know | shall have from YOU in my most
inadequate efforts to speak OF him
worthilN.
The life of William Mckinley was. from
his birth to hrs death. typlcally American
There is no environment, | should say
anywhere else in the world which could
produce just such a character He was
born into that way of life which elsewhere
is called the middle class, but which il
this country is so nearly universal as Il
II axe of other classes an almost nt ghGiblt
quantity. He was neither rich nor poor
neither proud nor humble; he knew nc
hunger he was not sure of satisfying. ne
luxury which could cnervate mind or body
His parents We're sober. God -fcaring peo-
pie; intelligent and upright; without pre-
tension ard without humility He grew
up in the company of boys like himself
wholesome, honest, sclf-respecting. They
locked down on nobody: they never fell
it possible they could be looked down upon
Their houses were the homes of probity
piotN, patriotism. They learned in the adj
mirablc school readers of fifty years age
the lessons of heroic and splendid life
which have come down from the past
They read in their weekly newspapers the
story of the worlds progress. in which
they were eager to take part. and OF tbs
( q
they burned to do battle. 1t was a scriOu;
and Thoughtful time. The boys of tha
day felt dimly, but deeply. that days OF
sharp struggle ana high achievement wor'
before them. They looked at life with tho
wondering vet rcSOlutc eyes OF a young
esquire in his vigil of arms. They fell
"A time was coming when to them SHOULD
be addressed the stern admonition of thu
Apostle quit you like mon; bc strong.
1t IS not easy to give to those OF a lat
generation amy clear idea of that extra
ordinary spiritual awakening which pass
ed over the country at the first red sigma
fires Of the war between the States II
was not our earliest apocalypse; Il hund
red years before the nation had been re-
Noaled to itself. when after long discus
sion and much searching of heart tn" PEG
pie Of the colonies had resolved that I,
live without liberty was worse than t.
die, and had therefore Wagcrcd in tn,
solemn game Ol war lItlT lives, llltll
fortunes, and their sacred honor In .
stress of heat and labor unuttcrable, tn
country had been hammered and weld,
together; hut thereafter for nearly a cen
tury there had been nothing i'm our life Il
touch the inncrmost fountain of feeling
and devotion; we had had rumurs Of war.
even wars we had had, not without sacri
fees and glorY-but nothing which wen
t. the vital sclf-conSciOusncsS of the cOun
try. nothing which challenged the nation
right to live. But in 1860 the nation wa:
going down in the Valley of Decision
Tho question which had been deb lted OF
thousands of platforms. which had been
discussed in countless publications
which, Numbered from innumerablc pull
pits, had caused in their congregation!
the bitter strife aud dissonsion to which
only cases of conscience can give rise
was everywhere pressing for solution
And not merely in the various channels
of publicity was it alive and ClamOrous
About every iireside in the land. in th'
conversation of friends and ncighbors
HAPPY RESNI,TS