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94 VIOLENCE AND THE LABOR MOVEMENT
much thought expands," to hearts overladen, and to
nerves all unstrung. Life is a burden to them, though
they lack the courage to commit suicide directly. Such
is the view of these students of criminal pathology, and
they cite a long list of political criminals who can only
be explained as those who have sought indirectly selfdestruction.
It is a type of insanity that leads to acts
which seem sublime to others in a state of like torture
both of mind and of nerves.
This explains no doubt the acts of some terrorists, and
at the same time it condemns the present attitude of society
toward the terrorist. Think of hanging the tormented
soul who could say as he was taken to the gallows
: "I went away from my native place because I
was frequently moved to tears at seeing little girls of
eight or ten years obliged to work fifteen hours a day for
the paltry pay of twenty centimes. Young women of
eighteen or twenty also work fifteen hours daily for a
mockery of remuneration. . . .
"I have observed that there are a great many people
who are hungry, and many children who suffer, while
bread and clothes abound in the towns. I saw many and
large shops full of clothing and woolen stuffs, and I
also saw warehouses full of wheat and Indian corn, suitable
for those who are in want." (6) When such a tortured
spirit is driven to homicide, how is it
possible for
society to demand and take that life Shall we admit
that there is a duel between society and these souls deranged
by the wrongs of society "In this duel," said
Vaillant, "I have only wounded my adversary,
it is now
his turn to strike me." (7) It is tragic enough that a
poor and desperate soul, like Vaillant, should have felt
himself in deadly combat with society, but how much
more tragic
it is for society to admit that fact, accept the