Department of State,
Washington, December 16,
1901.
[Inclosure]
memorandum.
Department of State,
Washington, December 16,
1901.
In reply to the memorandum handed me by the ambassadors of Germany
and of Russia, I am directed by the President to express his cordial
sympathy with the views and the purposes therein set forth.
The President in his message of the 3d of December earnestly
recommended 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,” the President said, “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 insure 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 President further recommended that “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.” He also recommended that anarchy
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should be declared an
offense against the law of nations through treaties among all
civilized powers.
These extracts from the President’s message, it is believed, will
assure all governments of civilized peoples of the President’s
earnest desire to adopt every practicable means to eradicate this
deadly growth from our body politic. The President will be glad to
adopt such administrative measures as are within his constitutional
power to cooperate with other governments to this end.
So far as concerns the legislative action which may be necessary, the
large number of bills which have been introduced in both Houses of
Congress during the present session sufficiently show the trend of
public sentiment in the same direction. The President will take all
proper means to urge upon Congress the adoption of such measures for
the suppression of anarchy as may be found acceptable to the
National Legislature and which may enable the Executive to act in
the matter with greater effectiveness in concert with other
powers.
