The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1872-08-08
''FHE OLD P4PER BUSINESS


, What one Of Mr.. Gree!ey's friend.
/ calls ''the old paper business" Is much
deprecated by the Greeley journals
E They say, in effect, "SIr Greeley was
= = journalist ; those sentiments which
I your opponents now Gull from old
IT5bt7lcS were written in the hurry
that IS characteristic Of editorial work;
z therefore they are utterauces which
honest adyerSaries should regard rs
T hasty, immature, and not to be dwelt
on, because not rejecting Mr. Gree
ley's mind in its calm and deliberate
{ moments"
Words like these are often to be met
with in the Greeley papers bIt they
appear to US of no force. They pro-
ceed upon the hypothesis that every
editorial is the result of impulse that
in the Tribune there was no cOnvfc-
ton; that Mr.. Greeley was. in the
habit o. writing his articles as Thaek-
cray did the chapters of Vanity Fair
full Of hope if they were written
after a good dinner, and of gloom and
wrath if after bad one. The fact is,
however, Mr.. Greeley ought to be
held to 4 strict responsibility for those
I
quently quoted against him during
the last three months.
Take, for example, his editorials on
the matter of secession, written in
the latter part of 1860 and the earlier
/ part OF 1861. The right of State to
secede was an old question. It had
been discussed fully in the days Of
/ JacksOn's administration. Mr.. Gree
/ ley was As familiar with all the argu-
ments, pro and con, as any historical
student in the country. All the in
formation that any man, say AIr.
Lincoln, had on the subject, he had.
When accordingly, in 1860, it became
once more the OvershadOwing ques-
ton in American politics, Mr.. Gree /
ley was as prepared as anybody, and a
coed deal more qualified than most
men to take an Intelligent position |
A position he did take. What it was, |
everybody knows. While Mr.. Lin |
coin, on the one hand, opposed the |
secession of the Southern States as
action unconstitutional, null and |
void, Mr.. Greeley deliberately wrote, /
as the result of all his study, thought, |
and investigation, that if the eIring I
sisters wanted to 90, he was in favor 1
of letting them go. This was not a !
hasty, O'clOck-in-the-m de- /
elaratiOn. 1t was the fruit of reflee-
ton, was calm, deliberate Judgment /
strengthened and sOlidified into a
profound, deep rooted conviction. 1t /
was uttered not in a single article,
but was repeated day after day, until |
Mr.. Greeley's theory on the natuae Of
the Constitution became as well
known as his views on the tariff. You
might as we'll say Mr.. LincOlnis de-
elaratiOns on the subject were hasty
Judgments as to say it of Mr.. Gree
ley's. Is ''The Old Paper Business"
which ransacks back numbers Of the |
Tribune to get at Mr.. Greeley's views
on the subject, piece of boys play,
then? Rather is it not of vital i'm
pOrtance to the people of the country
to know what the presidential candi-
date would have done had lie been
the President in 1860?
Take another case. The Democrat
ic party of to-day is made up of pre-
cisely the same elements as in 1910, /
1850, 1860, or 1868. Mr.. Greeley |!
started the New York Tribune in
April, 1871, and for thirty years or
more his paper has borne uniform tes-
mOny as to the character OF that par
ty. It has denounced every member
of it in terms that it is no misrepre-
sentatiOn to say are rather of the ma
ture of savagery than severity. Eve
ry phrase, every epithet that the COM
mand of very vigorous Saxon could Z
supply, Mr.. Greeley has employed to j
the Demoeracy-"Out
laws" convicted felOns," ''fugitives 4
from Justice, n"superannuatedr riOtersU [
sturdy beggars, "''aliens," ''pariahsu {
ishorse thieves" fIovers of rum and
haters of niggers." Thus has Horace {
Greeley characterized his late pOliti-
cal opponents with uniformity that I
could only have been born of cOnvic-
tiOn. These words and phrases did {
not come of swift pen, writing after {
but were repeated again '
and again, year after year, with
steadiness that proved observation.
Shall not these opinions be quoted,
.hen, as the deliberate expressions of {
Mr.. Greeley with regard to the char s
scter Of the party as whose candidate q
ne now stands? If this is "Oid Paper {
is it not at any rate impOr- q
ant that the people may understand
he party that is now seeking a res g
.oratIOn to power? '
When Horace Greeley gravely pro- t
)Osed and strenOusly advocated the
payment OfS4O0, 5000 to the slave
holders for their slaves, was this one
IF those trifiing mistakes that can be
excused because it was penned while
he Tribune readers were asleep, and
printed before the ink was dry? Do
he editorial friends of Mr.. Greeley G
want it understood that such grave
matter of public policy as this are in
me Tribune Office, want to be con-
eelved, pOndered, written, and prin- a
Ted in the two hours that follow mid I
night? Was not Rather this PROPOSE q
lion of Mr.. Greeley one Of those
'rightful fOllies the presentation of
which was not so infrequent a. to ex- q
,ite general surprise, and the adop. a
ion of which would have been a gi- 8
yantic blunder? is it not fair to pre- I
Ient this as one of the mistakes that a
Mr.. Greeley would in all probability C
nave made if he had been President y
,ight years ago, and to prove that he a
would have probably made it by this Y
'Old Paper Business ?'' O
We are not surprised that Mr. Gree
ey's friends do not like TO have his e
-ecOrd OYerhauled. But such excuses t
or his blunders as this we have re- Z
erred to are very lame, and it were a
Jetter not to make them. For, be- s
tides being unfounded as matter of
act, they imply rashness in Mr.. {
Greeley that would put the people all t
.he more on their guard against him.
They impute TO him a hastiness of {
Judgment on the most important d
questions of constitutional govern v
nent that would render him a most a
unfit and unsafe mau for the Chief 8
Executive. o
Mr.. GreeIey's record, made in the
we regard as of high impOr- 1
tance i'm enabling the people to come '
10 a right decision as to the propriety c
1f placing him i'm the presidential '
,hair. In spite of the wishes of our |
friends, VIC shall probably |
nave occasion to recur to the Tribune I
)ften, I'm in the belief that Mr.. Gree :
ey's record tilts hard against him.