New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-04-29

ing incident in New York was without
ryhme or reason. and it is this utter
lack of reason which makes anarchy
so hard to deal with. It is never
possible to anticipate its outbreaks,
because it never has anything to gain
by its crimes. 1t is possible to guard
against crime that is logical or that
is moved by reasonable self-interest,
but there is no logic in bomb-throw-
ing. Every once in SO often among
the many men who brood too much
over social disorders or talk too much
over the coming revolution a man or
a group of men suddenly determine to
commit some striking crime as a pro
test against society. They kill ruler
who is no different from other rulers
and who is absolutely sure to be sue
ceeded by another like himself. They
murder a priest at the altar not be-
cause he has ever done anything to
offend them. They attack a chief of
police for nothing that anyone can
find out. They explode a bomb amidst
a number of innocent and unoffending
men. They assert their opposition to
organized society, but none of these
deeds affects or is even remotely like
" to affect the organization Of society.
They seem to be moved by a sort of
vanity for reminding society with sem
sational publicity Of its dangers and
for showing now and then that their
threats of revolution are not all empty
air.
When it comes to the question Of
remedies, press and students alike
seem to be all at sea.
The Philadelphia Ledger talks
rather vacantly of bringing about $50
stable and just a settlement of indus
trial and economic conditions" as to
stsweeten the lives of the submerged"
and stop the breeding of anarchists.
The New Orleans Picayune, seems to
say something, but doesn't, when it
observes that 'sthe anarchist evil can
be met in one way, namely by firm
and stern repression The New York
Times admits that there is no deny
ing that we have reached something
like social crisis in the United
States" and it suggests, as its con-
tribution to the discussion that people
in high places-that is to say the very
rich--can assist in reaching peace
full solution by awakening to a sense
of duty and leading better lives. The
New York Sun suggests federal law
making it a penal offense to have
dynamite or other deadly explosives
in ones possession, and the Boston
Herald says oracularly that disturb
ing agitation must be discouraged, y
and that there should be more APP
peal for a law-abiding nation and less
effort to develop class consciousness.
All of which gets US nowhere.
'''After the novelty of the sensation
has worn away" says the New Orleans
Times Democrat, 'swe shall probably
sink back to the old carelessness and
old tolerance, as we have so often done
before And it is this attitude of
tolerance, thinks another writer, which
is precisely the attitude to be taken so
far as anarchistic utterances are con-
cerned, for to prevent anyone from
speaking on behalf of anarchy is to
give the cause of anarchy the most
formidable weapon it has ever pos
sessed, a weapon even more dangerous
than the bullet Of Czolgosz, for if the
people were once to say to the anar-
chist, you have no other means for
the propagation Of your doctrines ex-
cept assassination, they would give
him the first real excuse for his detest-
able crimes.
The New York Evening Post en-
dOrses this sentiment unreservedly
when it says we must avoid the effort
to punish man for his beliefs when
he has committed crime. The police
method OF treating anarchy as an aw-
full mystery, in the opinion Of the Post,
makes it doubly fascinating. "There
is one way, and only one way" says
the Post, ito combat it effectively,
and that is by reason. If we cannot
marshal arguments to destroy the fall
lacies and the half-truths upon which
the structure OF socialistic and anar-
chistic theory rests, our case is hope
less. Argument with ignorant, hungry
and excited men is, obviously, a for
midable undertaking, but still it is the
only method in a free country like
this. Certainly, the clubs of the po-
lice will never put sound ideas into
peoples heads. And in particular
e.