The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-04-21
MORE SERIOUS THAN MEXICO

MORE SERIOUS THAN MEXICO.
Under the above heading the New
York World discusses the recent at
tempted assassination OF Mayor Mitch
ell of Ne1. York in an editorial tna'
should have the widest possible pun
licity and the thoughtful consideration
of all lawabiding citizens. 1t follows:
What happened in front Of the city
hall yesterday u another sign OF con-
ditions that are infinitely more men
acing to the United States than any
thing that 10 going on in Mexico.
No defiance Of the republic from
abroad is comparable to this defiance
of the republic from within.
Any insult that q Huerta can Offer
to the American flag IL trifling in its
seriousness a. against the appeal
which is made here at home day after
day to anarchy, to demagogy, to class
hatred. to public passion and to
sabotage, and which finds It's flnai
expression in assassination.
Churches are invaded by MODS
which hurl their blasphemies at the
altar, while they demand the right to
sleep in the pews in preference to a
municipal lodging house.
Leaders Of the Industrial Workers
of the World are permitted to preach
openly the gospel Of violence and ia
counsel their misguided hearers to
take anything they want.
When the police undertake to main
tain public order an army OF senta-
mentalists rush into court to protest
AGAINST the brutality" that deals with
riot as riot.
Mobs assemble to march upon the
national capitol, and jails are opened
in order that their Migrants may join
the army and prey upon the coun-
try.
Our courts are persistently assatied
a. cunningly devised institutions 10
enable the rich to Cypress the poor.
Men like william r. Hearst are
daily shrieking to an Unbalanced eie-
ment Of the population that the presi-
dent Of. the United States is a coward
and a traitor who has sold out" his
country.
Everywhere the doctrine Is taught
that government IL directly RESPONSE
HE for every mans wealth and every
mans poverty. Everywhere the doc
trine is taught that whether a man -
an honest, decent citizen or a loafer
and a criminal depends not upon nim-
self but upon society. Everywhere
the doctrine is taught that II a woman
earns 50 or SO a week she ought to
no chaste. but II she earns only 81 or
90 week prostitution is a legitimate
avocation.
cranks, fanatics and lunatics. their
wretched brains added by all tnls
demaRogic nonsense should come TO
believe that they, have q mission to
reeenerate human society! Whas
wonder that more and more Of them
seek to carry to q coffin their fancied
quarrel against government and its
administrators!
The man who tried to shoot Mayor
Mitchell Yesterday and wounded the
counsel went to his MUIR
derous task straight from one OF the
I. w. W. meetings that are held every
dav around the Franklin statue. That
is the sort Of food upon which such
minds feed, whether 1t had any inn
mediate effect on his mind or not.
That is the sort of thinking that sus-
tains their obsessions and nerves them
to deeds Of violence. Thanks to the
teachings of our pampered dema.
gogues, we have a condition of affairs
in this country in which every man
who holds high public office is the
possible victim Of an assassin's bullet.
What took place in New York yester-
day might take place in any other city
tomorrow.
There are thousands of men at large
who are as crazy az the man who
tried to kill the mayor. Most of them
have a mania about political and
economic questions. and many of them
are only waiting for a casual word of
inspiration to set forth upon a mission
Of murder. American society Ia per-
hitting the manufacture Of such men
as Michael p. Mahoney in wholesale
lots, and every demagogic politician,
every demagogic orator, every dema-
gogic editor, has a personal RESPONSE
bility for the finished product.
For two days the country has been
highly excited about the turn of af-
fairs in Mexico. and whether. If
Huerta salutes the flag, the president
it not about time that the country
began to get excited about certain
affairs at home which are again laid
bare by the attempt to assassinate
Mayor Mitchell?
The army and the navy can deal
with Mexico II need be- But neither
army nor navy can cope with the
spirit Of anarchy and demagoGy and
class hatred and political assassina-
ton. That must be done. II it 10 done,
by the American people themselves.
THE BUSINESS OF BEING A MAN.
More than three hundred years be-
fore Christ there lived = man by the
name OF Aristotle-a thinker. q teach