The attempted assassination of J. P. Morgan, the eminent financier, was
undoubtedly the work of a crank, or a man crazed by too much brooding
over the bloody tragedy now enacting in the theatre of the great war.
It is the men of prominence who are usually the objects of attacks from
the demented. The assassination of Presidents Garfield and McKinley
was unmistakably the work of cranks whose murderous instincts had been
set aflame by irresponsible newspaper talk and reckless political
criticism. The mind of the man Holt who shot Mr. Morgan appears to have
been unsettled in much the same manner. The incident tends to emphasize
and bring home to every one the necessity for putting a curb upon the
tongue and to refrain from vicious war talk. It is a time especially
in this country, to soothe instead of to arouse passion. The spirit of
neutrality should sit upon the tongue and the pen, preside at the feast,
and accompany us in our daily round of duties. Let there be one great
country in which the demon of strife and murder is not let loose. It is
not always possible to protect a man against a crank, but it is possible
to restrain the evil speech which breeds cranks.