Caesar, Alexander, Napoleon and others like them had great
ambition. To gratify their ambitions they forced millions of men
to die for them.
Human beings have protected themselves against the murderous
ambitions of their great leaders.
The Napoleon of to-day must get a Congress to give him his
soldiers.
Public opinion, the ballot and financial science have pulled the
teeth of the greatest instrument of crime--the conquering army of
ambition.
It is horrible to witness the assassination of a national leader.
The murder of McKinley or Carnot makes republican hopes seem
chimerical.
But it must be remembered that not so long ago the head of a
government who ESCAPED assassination was the exception. A few
centuries back, and murder was the natural end of the average
ruler. ----
Murder results first from control of the brain by animal
passions. Almost every animal is a murderer, and at stated times
murders its own kind. Primitive man is always murderous. Murder
results, in the second place, from misdirected forces within us.
Crime will diminish through education, as the mind takes control
of us, and through society better organized, which shall give men
a chance to develop normally. Thanks to education and to
improving social conditions, crime is disappearing, NOT
increasing.
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