Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1872-12-09
MEMPHIS APPEAL
MONDAY MORNING. DEC. 9. 1879.
TrzE nI.ANnER OF PuBLIC ~.

THE OF PUBLIC MIN.
The of many newspaper
A on Greeley scharacter while a candidat
for the Presidency and since his dealt
are strangely at variance. This changes
conduct shows either great magnanimi
ty on the part Of the American press, o
that it is wholly and entirely unprinci
pied. Only a few weeks since the pOiu
cal atmosphere was lurid witt
lies. Greeley was called a traitor
who schemed with the ennis
saries of the Southern COnfederacy
for the betrayal of the Union cause. NJ
caricature was too gross and vile, N
epithet too course, to describe his charac
ter and person. The torrent of abuse
was poured on him by public journals
and public men with whom he had
long acted in concert, in the same poll
teal organization. Never was before
heard such recklessness Of accusation,
such holiness Of misrepresentation, such
disregard of personal reputation, such
insolent intrusion into private life, such
utter misinterpretation exhibited in de-
nouncing the motives and character OF
Horace Greeley. But now that he is
dead the unanimous voice o public opin-
ion pays to him the tribute Of respect,
from which there is no dissent. Now
all recognize him as the able, honest,
v~irtuous, patriotic citizen. Calumny
shuts its mouth and swallows its words.
Only the voice of eulogy is heard
Throughout the land. This is a sad COM
mentary upon the integrity Of the
American press. 1t shows one of two
things-that those who traduced Mr..
Greeley a few weeks since knew that
they were p~ropagating faisehoods or that
their present eulOgies are prompted by
hypocrisy, fraud, and dishonesty. We
prefer to look upon it in the most chart
table light, and attribute it to the sug-
gestions OF the old Latin maxim, that
nothing but good should be said of the
dead.
The abuses heaped upon Horace Gree
ley while he was a candidate, and the
fulsome p~anegyrics passed upon his life
and character since his death, should be
a lesson to the press. 1t is a sad spec
tacle TO see an editor who for six
months has dealt in Ibels as If
they were the most harmless Cos
sip, and stopping at nothing that would
blaeken the reputation of Horace Gree
ley, now ~canonizing his name and fame.
Such changed conduct toward the liy-
ing candidate and the dead saint should
inspire moderation hereafter in future
elections. The press has a higher mis-
sion than becoming a mere We
hicle for villifying, lampooning and
often libeling an antagonist, while
often, unjustly as justly, extrav-
agsntly defending and justihing
those of their own side. Pend
ing all elections, from that of President
down to constable, it seems to be writ
ten in the bond," that the editor Of a
public journal should be the quarreling
champion of his man, ever ready to scold,
abuse and belittle his opponent, and to
treat every one of the opposite faction as
personal enemy. The purity as well
as the freedom of the press demands that
the shocking abuse and prostitution of it
which has prevailed for thirty years
shall be stamped with the public repro
baton. We need that the line shall be
drawn distinctly and sharply between
the journal that serves the public and
acknowledges its responsibility, and the
journal that seeks only to serve private {
ends, n makes no pretension to either Z
conscience or scruple. The day has Z
passed when an editor permits him S
self to be made a gladiator, fighting
for the applause Of the multitude. The
tone of the press before and since the
death Of Horace Greeley illustrates how q
often it happens hat after an editor has !
IA FaR and r11grfyad hfg oun candidate Z
with a tremendous strain upon his own +
conscience, had vituperated as guilty of
all the crimes forbidden by the Deca- \
logue, another, who had never done him y
any harm, or been guilty Of any wrong :
ful act, or Of any foolish one, except that .
Of consenting to be a candidate, and the .
target for all the poisoned arrows of the
press. This picture is not too highly n
cOlOred. The chief vocation of the press .
has been TO make men think worse of :
one another. As the press in Y
creases in power, as it does with n
each succeeding day, it must elevate its I
tone. This it cannot do so long as it =
lives the gladiator and obsequious and
super-serviceable slave of aspiring DEM
agogues who pay nothing to the menials
that wash their dirty linen. A moral y
deduction inevitably forces itself upon o
Us in this connection, viz: that the law I
Of demand and supply exhibits its prin- =
eiples as clearly herein as in the walks 4
of trade. If the public did not listen o.
with open ears and eagerness to the cal p
umniatons, Open-mouthed slanderers
would find their occupation gone. There u
must needs be two active agents to con-
summate a slander-the calumniatoran and I
the listener-and thus a vitiated appetite 81
is e~ngendered that becomes a fixed
habit; and as the Fiji cannibal Graves pt
his unnatural food, so the eager gossip G
feasts upon q murdered reputation. 10,