The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-10-11
TO PROTECT THE PRESIDENT.

Recent events have demonstrated anew
the necessity of maintaining some kind of
guard for the protection of the President.
Within a month three persons have been
arrested while trying to force their way to
the President, one at Oyster Bay and two
in Washington. The two arrests made at
Washington were on two successive days
country. one from Minneapolis and one
from Norwich, Conn. Both were insane
and both were armed. While there is no
evidence that they were seeking the Pres
ident's life, the fact that they were insane,
that they insisted on seeing the President
and that they resisted arrest shows they
were dangerous persons. In view of the
terrible experience the country has had in
having three Presidents assassinated, and
in view of these repeated attempts of dan
gerous persons to force themselves into the
presence of President Roosevelt, every rea-
sonable person must recognize the impor-
lance of keeping some kind of guard
about the President at all times. President
Roosevelt is a courageous and athletic man
and could take care of himself in any ordi-
nary circumstances. but person is safe
from the bullet of an Anarchist, lunatic or
crank. 1t is not the individual that these
dangerous persons are after, it is the Pres
ident of the United States. They have no
dislike for the President himself, but the
greatness of his office acts on their disor-
dered minds in such a way as to develop
the murderous mania. The two men ar
rested during the present week are now
both in the insane asylum at Washington,
but who can tell how many more such are
at large? The time has come when the
country must recognize the necessity of
maintaining some kind of a guard around
the President, though just how to do it is
not easy to decide. The Washington Star,
speaking after the first and before the sec
ond of the recent arrests, says:
During the second Cleveland adminjstra-
ton. when hard times pervaded the land
and the rabid silverites of the West regard
ed themselves as tricked and defrauded the
White House mail was loaded with threats
of presidential assassination. 1t was not
unusual for crankS about the city to speak
In most inflammatory language. Coxey's
army marched on the city, with its invita-
ton to lawlessness in the vanity and desire
for notoriety of it's leaders. In these cir
cumstances the White House guard was
strengthened. two secret service men In a
buggy followed President Cleveland's car
riage on most of his drives. But these
things were so persistently emphasized In
newspapers and ridiculed by partisan oppo-
nents that they were gradually withdrawn.
Even the little watch house which was
erected in an inconspicuous place on the
White House grounds for the comfort of
the guards on cold winter nights was de-
risively labeled Fort Thurber"
President Roosevelt has been better pro-
tected than any OF his predecessors, and no
secret is any longer made of the presence
of Chief John Wilkes men. But this is al
ready beginning to provoke remark In
Tammany Hall circles and elsewhere Gov
ernor McMillin, of Tennessee, has virtually
charged the President with cowardice in q
recent interview for adopting these precau-
tons. The section of the bill which Con-
gres3 considered, but allowed to fail Of pas-
sage. providing for the detail of a guard
OF enlisted men from the War Department,
was ridiculed in Congress and out.
The subject was discussed by Congress
after the assassination Of President Nc
Kinley, but nothing was done beyond de-
veloping a disagreement between the two
houses and a conference committee. 1t is
not unlikely the next Congress will enact a
law making attempt on the life of the
President a special crime and giving the
federal courts jurisdiction of it, and per-
haps providing for the better protection of
the President against attack.