Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1874-06-25


Sometimes men are candidates for of
flee whose acts, as private citizens,
may legitimately be discussed, in so
far as the discussion would exhibit the
fitness or unitness Of the persons for
the office to which they aspired This
is not, however, the criticism that is
to be objected to. That which I con-
demn, is simply abuse-an effort to
blacken or misrepresent the character
of men with a view to defeating
their election. | think much of the
Generalization in public life is due to
the abuse of the privilege of the press
in this respect. know that the kind
of men best fitted to represent the
people in Congress, in the Legislature,
and in other places of responsibility,
are, to a very large extent, kept out of
public life, not because they fear the
truth, but because they dread the lies
that would be told about them. If a
man is honest and capable, he has a
right to be candidate for Office, if the
| people choose to nominate him, and
he may be opposed or supported upon
party grounds, and upon these grounds
alone. The evil of which I speak is
not confined to the press, of course
but as the press is the great educator
of the people, it should set the exam
pie of breaking up this bad practice.
think if the conductors of the press
would investigate first and criticize af
terwards, its power for good would be
vastly increased, and great impro We
ments could be effected in the public
service.
/ am also of the opinion that the
press is too much given to maxim g
free with the names of private indiYid-
nails, and using private occurrences to
create what is called a sensation. You
all know what a great evil society
gossip is. This IS vastly magnifed
when it finds a place, even in small
part, in the newspapers There are a
great many occurrences in every com
munity that concern individuals chief
ly, and society only remotely, if at all.
These, if evil, would be eagerly read,
and would make newspaper sought
after, for the reason that, unfortunate
ly, people are more ready to believe
evil of man than good; but in all this,
there is no reason why editors should
give currency to such occurrences.
Horace Greeley once, in a few words,
conveyed the idea I am trying to en-
force, to- one of his reporters. The
Tribune had published a sensational
article relating to some occurrence of
a private character. The report hap
pened to be false, and ME Greeley
called up his reporter and reprimanded
| Ii ], -
said he, ssif true, should not have been
! published in the Tribune; being false,
1 of course had no business there +"
suppose editors print a great many
things about others that they would
not care to have others say by way OF
returning the compliment. The gold
en- rule is a safe guide to follow in
matters of this kind, and if adhered
to in the press, and in society, the
world would be vastly better than it
is.-In this respect the press should
be a shining example.
One other matter under this head
For demagoguery, which is one of the
chief curses of our political system,
the press is largely responsible. The
demagogue could not thrive without
the negative or positive support ot
the press. Men resort to these tricks
or appeal to prejudices in order to get
into office, and this is approved or not
condemned by the party press because
success is the objective point. You
have all known very small men to Sc
cure nominations and elections, too,
through the purest demagoguery. Lit
tie tricks are resorted to in almost ev-
cry election to influence votes, and IN.
worthy appeals are made to prejudice,
for the same purpose. Thus, men are
often induced to conceal their rea
opinions or express opinions they dc
not entertain, and resort to practices
they do not approve in order to at
tract votes. Honest men do not get
into Office by this road, because it is
not the road that honest men travel
These abuses, practiced at the thresh-
hold of the Government, must be re
formed if real reforms are to be ex
pected in the various departments of th'
Government, National, State and mu
nicipal, and if such reforms are to b.
brought about, the press must head tn
way, because the press, as l have al
ready remarked, is the chief educator
of the people
The next point to which 1 propos
to direct your attention is the duty o
the press to maintain.
AMERICAN IDEAS.
In order that may not be misun
derstood, l will remark that do no
, use this term in any restricted or par
tisan sense, This precautiOn seem
necessary because, in these days,
certain class of people associate tn
name with that of Known Nothingism
, Every citizen of the United States i
an American, whether born on nativ
} or foreign soil, and would make n
, distinction on account of race, colo
, or place of birth. I think it the duty
' of foreign born citizens, in making
! their homes in this country, to max
| mn THAR minds in takino the oath n