POLITICAL ASSASSINATION

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 219, 10 May 1932, Page 4

POLITICAL ASSASSINATION

France mourns and the whole civilised world has been shocked as the result of a crime as cruel, as cowardly and as futile as it is possible to conceive. Sometimes it is possible to understand, though never to condone, the act of a political assassin, but there is, there can be, notbing to be said for the murderer. of M. Paul Doumer. A son of the people endowed with gifts of mind and eharacter &bove the average, M. Doumer had given a long life to the service of his eountry and his fellows, by whom he was last year rewarded with the highest honour in their gift. His outstanding quality was a highly developed sense of duty reinforced by an unwaVering readiness to sacrifice self for those he sought to serve. At the moment he fell to the bullets of the assassin he was engaged in a charaeteristic kindly act, apparently against the advice of those responsible for his personal safety, in an endeavour to assist ex-soldier authors. As Mr. Lloyd George said, it is impossible to understand anybody nursing animosity against such a man. This but makes the murderer Gouguloff's action the more cruel and the more cowardly. It is suggested that Gouguloff is mad. He may be, and probably is, but his madness did not prevent him planning his crime with considerable skill. His own statements, supported by documents found in his possession, and his known movements prior to the crime show that his deed was premeditated and that his plan was one of perfect simplicity, so that, so far as his control over his actions is concerned, he was sane enough. It is only when his admittea motive is considered that doubts arise concerning his sani.ty. Even the man simple enough to believe that the assassination at Serajevo in 1914 was the real cause of the world w*ar could hardly believe that in these days a similarly irresponsible act could have a similar result, unless he were mad. If, therefore, Gouguloff's motive was really what he claims, its ghastly futility is seen in all its tragic nakedness. Unhappily acts such as this, serious enough in their effects upon the nation of the victim, cause re-actions far beyond its borders. The world has, in many senses, grown steadily smaller, with the result that it is seldom possible to confine the results of major events within national borders. Apparently the assassination had no political significance, but this is not to say that it will not have its effect politically, both on France and on her neighbours. The French general elections are in progress, and cabled comment published yesterday suggested that the murder of M. Doumer might have the effect of swinging the voters at the second ballots taken on Sunday toward the present Prime Minister, M. Tardieu, with the result that France's recent uneompromising attitude on international questions would be likely to be maintained at the forthcoming Reparations Conference at Lausanne. This is a matter which vitally affects the whole world, including this Dominion. The latest election results available indicate that this fear is un~ founded, but the fact that it could be seriously entertained is an effective illustration of the far-reaching effects, possible in these days, of a madman's actions. It is not, however, necessary to shoot presidents in order to affect adversely the interests of the civilised world. Many a man of no outstanding personal quality,. elevated by 'the turn of political fortune to place and power, has with equal stupidity committed against his own and other people, crimes of equal magnitude and futility. Which suggests that even New Zealand's politicians, whether in! or out of power, may learn, if they will, one or two useful lessons, even from an event