The Portland daily press., 1874-11-13
A Journalistic Dis0rganizer.

sat A Journalistic Dis0rganizer.
The Bangor Wing has assumed such Often
sive airs of superior orthodoxy as Republi-
can journal, that it is entirely fitting to in
quire into the grounds of such assumptions,
especially as that paper has gone to the ex-
tent of deliberately calling several of it: con-
temporaIies to account in an er cdthedrd
fashion for some alleged lapses in party
iealty. That the Wing has been faithful in
the way of endorsing and apologizing for all
the errors and malfeasances ofparty leaders,
no one will question. This it has done with
ready zeal--so ready and profuse as to be
sometimes embarrassing to the recipients OF
its laudations-but it seems never to have
a conception of the higher faithfulness inn
piled in that just and careful criticism Of
party men and measures whose object is to
correct mistakes, to prevent wrong-doing
and to make the party worthy the praise and
confidence Of all men. Thus ssoe VIA gbe Grave
Maine delegati2Seen Ia Joseph Il. Marley for
head of the Internal Revenue service of
New England, and the PRESS promptly
called their attention to the reasons why the
appointment should not be made, the Wing,
in discharge Of its self-imposed duties as
organ-grinder in ordinary to the delegation,
came out with one of its elaborate and pom
derous articles of denunciation of the PRESS,
sustaining the recommendation and white
washing Mr.. Marley. The delegation,
meanwhile, on further consideration, with
drew the recommendation, which had evil
IDENTIFY been made somewhat thoughtless-
ly, and left poor Mr.. Organ-grinder suspend
ed in mid air in a singularly ridiculous atti-
tude. At the urgent request of messenger
from Mr.. Manley, for whom we never had
other than kindly feelings, we forebore to
pain him by pursuing the matter, as our OBJ
ject was fully accomplished by the with
drawal of his name, and thus the Wing es-
capped on that occasion the punishment
fairly due to its impertinence and the deiision
due its folly. This is sample of the habit Of
indiscriminate eulogy INDUCED in by that
journal toward those whom it suTposes it
self in duty bound to praise; and this system
the Wing probably calls journalism.
But the habit of thck-and.thin praise Of
whatever is labeled regular is MT the only
eccentricity of this organ; it has an equally
culpable way of lavish denunciatbn of. every
body or everything within the Iarty that i'll
supposes the 'Headers' do not approve. A
notable case in point was its colduct in the.
campaign for the gubernatorid nomination.
oflast year. Not content withgiving warm
support to Gov. Kent, in whth the PRESS
concurred with it, and trating the other
candidates in a decorous manner, as the
PRESS did, the Wig attacked Mr.. Dingley
with such savagery before the nomination as to
make a subsequent support If him very awk-
ward. There are some facs connected with
this transaction of a Character peculiarly
damaging to the present management Of the
journal, which we forbear 10 give out of con-
sideration for the feelingsof parties interested
"a forbearance which tie Wing would never
exercise. Concerning its studied attacks
upon the PRESS, for which there is no con-
ceivabie motive other tian petty and mag-
nant Jealousy about tho relative standing in
the state of the two journals, we have nothing
to say,for they harm nobody and, as Mr.. Toots
would say, are mot of the slightest conse-
quence.''
And, in the campaign of last Summer and
this Fall, we submit to all who have seen the
paper that it has subordinated the interests
of the Republican party to those af Mr.. Ham
lin that it has been in the most offensive
sense of the word a personal organ; that its
hard words have been reserved almost exclu-
sively for Republicans and Republican jour
mails, and that its arguments and laudations
have been for Hamlinism rather than Re-
publicanism. There is kind of willing wit
ress, with whom lawyers are familiar, whose
testimony is dangerous to the side he !avors;
SO this journalistic swift witness enthuses
with such fervor for whomever it seeks to
help, as to seriously annoy the subjects of
his iulsome gush. Mr.. Manley and the
Maine delegation had taste of this las
winter, Gov. Kent tried it last year, and
poor Mr.. Hamlin must have often begged in
very agony ofspirit during the current cam
paign to be saved from such friend whose
zeal is far too fleet of foo. for his discretion.
The capacity Of the Wing for stopping over''
rises to the hight of genius. In its eagerness
to do the service required of it no extrava-
gance is too great for it-truth, decency and
proprety are thrown to the winds. 1t has
even gone to the extent of quoting pretended
private utterances of brother editors as dis
tinguished from utterances of their journals
apparently with an utter Inconsistencies
that the field of legitimate criticism stops
with the printed matter.
The most mournful feature of this conduct
is its effect on the fortunes of the party.
For many years the Wing has been the lead
ing Republican journal of Eastern Maine, and
its influence has been large. Everybody will
regret any diminution of its prestige as a
safe and candid adviser of the people. But
such intensity of partisanship within the
party must lie productive of heart-burnings.
lisgusts and animosities which will greatly
weaken the cohesion of the organization.
We therefore arraign the Wing as a disor-
ga.izing element, dangerous in its sphere to
the perpetuation of the party. 1t is unpleasant
to feel compelled to utter words of censure of
contemporary, for many of whose qualities
we cherish a sincere respect, but which dis
figures itselfby such reprehensible features