Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1906-08-13
THE ANARCHIST
Receives the Attention Of
Secretary Bonaparte.
Fully Discussed In Address De-
llVeTed at Cumberland, Nd.
Thinks The Lash Would Be a Benefit II Ap.
piled in Some Cases.

| iiNtiSu Gil TINS evening, al tne
| Alleghany Chautauqua. near Cumber-
| land before a large gathering his sub
]ect being "Anarchism and it's remedy
| secretary Bonaparte was greeted with
| the Chautauqua salute and much ap-
pause. He was introduced by Con-
gresham George A. Pearse of Mary
land, and said in part:
In September, 1901 when the Amer
lean people heard that their President
was the victim of an assassin, there
mingled with the universal Amusement,
grief and Indignation. feeling of Pc
cullar horror aroused by the apparent
absence of any provocation or even in
t"lllS1hle reason for the crime. Lincoln
was slain when Il whole people, exas-
rerated by four bloody years of the civ
il war. we're desperate in the certainty
of hopeless and overwhelming defeat
inflicted, most of all by him. That "A
wicked and reckless man should have
conceived and carried out at such a
monenI a scheme for his murder, how
ever deplOrable. was after all not sur
rrSing. The wretch who murdered Gar
field combined such intellectual frailty
with such moral depravity as to seem
rather a hideous luSuS naturae than a
fair type of any class of men. But
CZOlgocZ was at once recognized to be
probably no worse than some thou
sands of men and women i'm our midst
and many more scattered throughout
the civilized world; men and women
who accept the names and share the
opinions he avowed; so far as could be
seen, his reasons for killing President
III .f
to kill President Roosevelt, should OPP
portunity offer; and, with this practical
application of their theories, their ex-
istence became Il source of real peril,
not only to Presidents, but to all pub
lie officers and to all eminent men.
Most of the plans put forward to
rid the world in general and the United
States in particular, of Anarchists and
anarchism We're soon shown by the dis
cussion they provoked, to be either
wholly or in greater part useless, mis-
chievous or impracticable, and at one
time there seemed to be more danger
lest, perceiving the undoubted diff
culties of the problem and questioning,
with much reason the possibility of it's
prompt and complete solution, public
postponement of the whole matter, and
we might drift along. as we had drifted
in the past. until another great crime
should call forth another outburst of
popular wrath and dismay. While this
did not happen yet the measures final
ly adopted We're mere palliatives."
Mr. Bonaparte then took up the sug-
gestion of concert of powers" which
would recognize Anarchistic crimes as
eXtraditible. This. he said, would not
destroy Anarchism. nor would the one
to prevent dissemination of Anarchistic
literature. AS to the proposition to
forbid harsh criticism of any President,
the secretary said:
This proposal hardly merits serious
discussion. If our country is to con-
tinue free we must and will continue
talk and write as freely as We and our
fathers always talked and wrote about
public acts of our public servants; II
this freedom of speech exposes them to
violence and if we cannot or will not
protect them. then we do not deserve
to live in a free country.
I'm any event to discharge or even
forbid, a fair expression of public Opin-
ion, as to public men would certainly
not destroy. or even check Anarchism.
There was and Is much more to be
said in favor of those restrictions,
which are intended to shut out foreign
Anarchists from our shores; and 1t was
undoubtedly well to arm the federal
executive with wider powers to deport
or otherwise rid the country Of dis
loyal or turbulent aliens, whether
these call themselves Anarchists or
not. But. while we may thus reduce
the number of our Anarchists. it is sad
ly certain that we cannot thus get rid
OF Anarchism. We have now a home
made brand of the article, and, al
though the original plant Of this in
fan industry was undoubtedly import
ed. the domestic product Is large
enough to gravely trouble us.
Anarchism Is the product of two
conditions, which prevail to a greater
or less extent. among the less enlight-
ened classes Of modern civilized socie-
ty. namely, the decay of religious
faith, and a measure of superficial and
therefore unsound. popular education.
ut is sometimes said that Anarchism
and socialism. as systems. are mutual
two divergent stems growing from the
same root; that root is the doctrine
that all men Of right ought to be and
should. therefore. be made and kept,
precisely equal.
"In this community socialist mere
ly substitutes for the omnipotent, om-
nicicnt master an omnipotent, omnis-
Gent corporation, made up Of the
slaves themselves and
names this corporation, The State
The Anarchist demands that there be
no government at all.
$50 much of the evil: how can 1t be
cured? If we mean cured in a day. q
month. year. a decade, 1 answer I'M
hesitatingly-not at all. Anarchism will
not be removed within a given time; or
through a special measure or set OF
measures; perhaps II will not be wholly
removed in any time or by any means. |
would see ourselves and our public |
servants in earnest and willing to be
guided by common sense and expert |
ence in seeking a remedy. without re- |
gard to a little doctrinaire prejudice |
and a little psuedo- clap