The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1873-11-05
COIiVMBfA: ST g:
Wednesday Morning. November 8. rs.

The Claims oil the Conservative Press.
Tho imethods BY (which public opinion
iii inis State can DO Influenced Tor good
are moro limited now than they were
while it was in its normal condition.
Schools no longer supply their full con-
tingent OF justly thinking men to go
forth stately and do their part in puri-
tying and enlightsning the public mind.
Our young men who receive the benefits
of college training, have to leave the
State for the purpose. When they re-
turn, they view the country more as q
foreign land than home in which to
reside. or as suitable field for their
activity. Many are leavi ~ aitogether.
Our citizens hold no OH SS4f profit or
trust. and, OF courses are debarred from
exsSting either tho local or general in.
dHsnce which belong to official position.
The body OF citizens. so far as tho exer-
else OF = just weight on the public
councils is concerned, apart from nero
personal character. might as we'll be in
Africa AZ here. They are ciphers. end
no more.
And yet the opinions of q good and
true man carry moral force which can
not be ,gainsaid. When they are ho-
aessly formed, firmly maintained and
modestly uttered, their effect. answers
both to the truth which they include
and to that OF the mans character who
gives expression to them. II is mans
duty to have and express opinions. It
is equally his duty to see to it that they
shall be correct, What is right, he
must approve Of; what is wrong, con-
denim. If, for instance, member OF
tho dominant party here is found to be
honest, just, decent. nstriotio and pub
lic.spirited, let him have credit for it.
He is entitled to appreciation. Appro-
baton extended to him may move others
to try to secure an equal measure of it,
by similar means. And uice uersa. Con-
demnation of wrong. doing will operate
in the direction OF preventing its spread.
Perhaps the most powerful instru.
ment in moulding the views and OPT.
nioas OF community is an unfettored
press. Even where it exists under re-
strictions, as in soma of the countries of
Europe, where it has to be licensed, and
its voice uttered only under the rigors
OF censorship, it surpasses all other
agencies in giving information of our
rent events, and rivals the pulpit itself
in its approach to the inner conscious
ness and deepest thoughts of men. In
this country, it exists 80 far untram-
meled. The central power, with all its
encroachments on the rights of the
people, has not dared, except in it's
widest and most reckless excesses dur.
ing the war. and subsequent to it's close,
through its satraps in the Southern
States. to lay its hand directly on the
press. 1t is glorious power. It is q
daily map of the whole worlds life. In
it converge the rays from all the suns of
intelligence and activity throughout the
civilized globe. Its comments and re-
hections run through this world drama
as those of the chorus in the ancient
Greek tragedy upon the events of the
accompanying play.
We are apprehensive that our people
do not fully appreciate tho value and
usefulness of the only institution, 80 to
speak, which, is left to them in it's in.
tegrity and entirety. They do not give
it cordial and nm ardent support.
They do not make proper discrimipa-
tion between journals which sustuin the
honor, uphold the character and yindi-
cate the rights Of tho State, and those
which are established only to prey upon
It's resources, and exist only to traduce
its good name. In this town, we have
seen men take their business to @ sheet,
which, every day that it lived, de-
nounced them as rebels, which every
day cast reaecspns on the anciont
character and Institutions of the State,
which every day out-Heroded Herod in
the cruelty and bloodthirstiness Of its
suggestions, and whose utterances on