Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents | Page 4

this country do not afford opportunity to every honest
and intelligent son of toil, then the door of hope is forever closed
against him. The anarchist is everywhere not merely the enemy of
system and of progress, but the deadly foe of liberty. If ever anarchy is
triumphant, its triumph will last for but one red moment, to be
succeeded for ages by the gloomy night of despotism.
For the anarchist himself, whether he preaches or practices his
doctrines, we need not have one particle more concern than for any
ordinary murderer. He is not the victim of social or political injustice.
There are no wrongs to remedy in his case. The cause of his criminality
is to be found in his own evil passions and in the evil conduct of those
who urge him on, not in any failure by others or by the State to do
justice to him or his. He is a malefactor and nothing else. He is in no
sense, in no shape or way, a "product of social conditions," save as a

highwayman is "produced" by the fact than an unarmed man happens to
have a purse. It is a travesty upon the great and holy names of liberty
and freedom to permit them to be invoked in such a cause. No man or
body of men preaching anarchistic doctrines should be allowed at large
any more than if preaching the murder of some specified private
individual. Anarchistic speeches, writings, and meetings are essentially
seditious and treasonable.
I earnestly recommend to the Congress that in the exercise of its wise
discretion it should take into consideration the coming to this country
of anarchists or persons professing principles hostile to all government
and justifying the murder of those placed in authority. Such individuals
as those who not long ago gathered in open meeting to glorify the
murder of King Humbert of Italy perpetrate a crime, and the law should
ensure their rigorous punishment. They and those like them should be
kept out of this country; and if found here they should be promptly
deported to the country whence they came; and far-reaching provision
should be made for the punishment of those who stay. No matter calls
more urgently for the wisest thought of the Congress.
The Federal courts should be given jurisdiction over any man who kills
or attempts to kill the President or any man who by the Constitution or
by law is in line of succession for the Presidency, while the punishment
for an unsuccessful attempt should be proportioned to the enormity of
the offense against our institutions.
Anarchy is a crime against the whole human race; and all mankind
should band against the anarchist. His crime should be made an offense
against the law of nations, like piracy and that form of man-stealing
known as the slave trade; for it is of far blacker infamy than either. It
should be so declared by treaties among all civilized powers. Such
treaties would give to the Federal Government the power of dealing
with the crime.
A grim commentary upon the folly of the anarchist position was
afforded by the attitude of the law toward this very criminal who had
just taken the life of the President. The people would have torn him
limb from limb if it had not been that the law he defied was at once
invoked in his behalf. So far from his deed being committed on behalf
of the people against the Government, the Government was obliged at
once to exert its full police power to save him from instant death at the

hands of the people. Moreover, his deed worked not the slightest
dislocation in our governmental system, and the danger of a recurrence
of such deeds, no matter how great it might grow, would work only in
the direction of strengthening and giving harshness to the forces of
order. No man will ever be restrained from becoming President by any
fear as to his personal safety. If the risk to the President's life became
great, it would mean that the office would more and more come to be
filled by men of a spirit which would make them resolute and merciless
in dealing with every friend of disorder. This great country will not fall
into anarchy, and if anarchists should ever become a serious menace to
its institutions, they would not merely be stamped out, but would
involve in their own ruin every active or passive sympathizer with their
doctrines. The American people are slow to wrath, but when their wrath
is once kindled it burns like a consuming flame.
During the last five years business confidence has been restored, and
the nation is to be congratulated because of its present abounding
prosperity. Such prosperity can never be created by