National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-09-24


that something shall be done by that gen.
tleman and his friends. without further
delay TO attract and arouse public attention
and restore confidence in their assertions.
AMERICAN NEWSPAPER OPINION A
GRAND OPPORTUNITY FOR THE NEW
YORK HERALD.
1t must be apparent to every conscien-
tious journalist in the country who reads
his exchanges thoroughly that the majority
of American newspaper writers discuss
current topics under the influence of imme-
date and personal surroundings without
any regard to the opinions of persons or
journals directly, connected with the subject
matter of discussion. For example, not
half a dozen Republican newspapers in the
North have taken the trouble to examine
the files of their Mississippi exchanges for
the purpose of gathering correct impress
sions of the Clinton massacre in that State.
No conscientious man could perform this
duty-and duty it certainly is-without
rising from the task convinced that the riot
in question was the result of most stu
penduous conspiracy against the rights of
an inof1ensive and defenseless class of citi-
Zens. Even the information obtained from
those newspapers opposed to Gov. Ames'
administration aids this conviction. But,
aside from the light furnished by the tele-
graphic accounts, necessarily brief and
always more or less prejudiced, many of
the writers on this important subject have
evidently been groping in the dark. The
result is that the reading public has either
been only partially Informed or sadly de-
ceiVed. Under the circumstances it is not
to be expected that discreet and we'll
founded public opinion should prevail re-
garding this matter, and it is natural that
those who have examined into it closely
and analyhcallY should become disguised,
to use mild phrase, at the general igno-
rance and Misrepresentation which prevails.
The details of Captain Boynton's famous
swim, and of the greater success in the
same line achieved by Captain Webb, are
better known than the circumstances which
led to, and have prevailed since, the muir
der of hundred human beings at the
Clinton riot
Then, there is another class of journals,
like the New York Tribune, whose sole aim
is TO willfully suppress legitimate news and
reliable information regarding such matters,
or, like the n. Y. Herald, which, since the
day after the Clinton affair, when it advised
the blacks TO '.strike back" seems to have
devoted its Intellectual Department to the
task ofrehashing all the exploded and unreli-
able assertions of the enemies of the blacks.
This class, it must unfortunately be ad-
mitted, has much to do with the, formation
of flippant kind of opinion kind of
superficial judgment, on which hasty read
ers and time pressed businessmen base their
political beliefs. 1t should be explained how
ever, that the Herald is incapable of doing
anything else, and while it has always en-
joyed the reputation of sailing before the
breezes of public opinion, it has recently
for several years, in fact-been stupid
enough, as regards Southern affairs, to take
its wind from the TFibuHe's bellows. In
former times, when Mr.. Greeley managed
the Tribune as the exponent of fixed prin-
ciple, "Old Man" Bennett delighted both
to antagonize and agree with him, and the
Herald became known as nimble weather
cock, catching the currents of popular
thought with perspicuous nicely and avid
Ity, often leading even Greeley himself
often destroying the popularity.of some of
his isms, and ever acting independently of
his suggestions. But since the death of
these two newspaper giants the distinctive
characteristics of their journals have sadly
changed. The Young Man of the Herald
does not seem 10 know that the Young Man
of the Tall Tower overshadows him in the
fckleness of his adherence to principle.
The consequence is, as We have described,
that the Herald has been reduced to sec
Ond-rate position. 1t preserves its news
gathering enterprise and some OF its glib
ness, enough 20 make it read HerdLdy, so
to speak, but it has lost the shrewdness
which formerly characterized.it as the most
prominently reckless newspaper in the land.
In proof of this assertion we ask when and
where has it differed from the Tribune or
failed to follow the Iribune's lead in politi-
cal affairs during the past two yearsH When
mas it equaled its rival in the mendacity of
its representations regarding Southern
affairs, or District affairs, or the affairs of
the Administration and its officialsH When
it did venture the other day to admonish
the people of Mississippi to repress the
violence of the "blackguard" element in
that State it only made one little, weak,
insignificant "peep," aud then crawled back
into its hole, frightened apparently at its
own temerity. The same day, aud for days
following, the Tribune maintained crlmi-
nal silence on the subject, and finally, when
it got ready to sustain the blackguards re-
ferred to by assailing Governor Ames,
the only man who, properly supported,
could repress their violence, the Herald
chimed in, and since then has carefully
avoided doing anything, either good or bad,
which the Tribune had not previously done.
So it happens that the reading public of
the United States is either inefficiently
served by the smaller newspapers, the ma
jority of which are edited by men too lazy
to read their exchanges. or are supplied
with garbled nformation-garbleda after the
policy of the ibune's notorious lack of
fairness and the Herald's imbecile imitation
of that policy. But why should the Herald,
with all its wealth and its almost boundless
resources, continue to play this disgraceful
partH 1t has it in its power to lead millions
of people in the paths of independent
thought, and to destroy the wicked infu-
ence of its competitor. There is grand
ambition in this suggestion. But its real
ization would involve more than Shaking
up" A shaking down and out alone
could effect it. And above all it requires
independence, moral courage and industry
at the very outset.
TIE CONTEST IN MARYLAND.
As rule we are opposed to coalitions