New-York tribune., 1875-05-14
TIE uOR1L QUALITY OF TYPE.

1t is inherent, it seems, and not an accidcn-
tai or an acquired thing, after ALL The total
depravity of the types we mean. 1t is in the
nature of a constitutional disease, congcnital
affction an hereditary maady for which there
is no palliative except patronage and no cure
at all The types are in themselves bad. Their
unrighteOusncss is inborn. Their unhOness
has not been imposed upon them. 1t is Mt
association with what the average Adminlstra-
ton Congressman calls "venia1' newspaper
press that has wrought this degradation in their
moral nature. Independent journalism has
been itself victim of its little lcaden scryi-
tors, and its sins against party, its irreverence
for holy caucus, its lack of faith in Presldcn-
tial nfallibiity, its unregcnerate Obstinacy in
the matter of publishing full and accurate
news, without regard to the disastrous ef
fccts which plain truth is sometimes capable
of working in political matters,-all these its
sins have been the necessary consequences of
the use of type. NOxiOus nonpareil, men
dacious minion, blasphemous brevier,-thcse
have been the real transgrcssOrs. This is now
the true faith, rs held and acted upon by a
member of the political college of cardinals,
yugarly known as the Cabinet. And there is
lery of the House of Representatives, have lis
tened while back-cOuntry statesmen were hurl-
ing-statesmen always "hurl" things nowadays,
as everybody d-hand anathcmas
at "licentious and unbridled press" and all
that sort of thing We all thought it was the
newspapers they mcant,-the moro because
these great statesmen have always taken pains
to tell us, when they got through hurting, that
they were able to rise superior to newspaper
"clamOr."
But it now appears, from the action Of a
great Cabinet Minister, that types are treacher-
GUS altogether and not to be trusted anywhere
except in the Government Printing Office.
Even our grave historians grow politically
herctcal when they fall into the cOmpOstor's
hands. The rbaldry OF our MOtleys and Park
mans is as hurtful to the cause of good gov
ernment and the third term as the blasphcmy
of THE TRIBUNE itself. And so tho Admin
istration objects to the writing of history,
lest some rascally printer shall put it in
type and publish it afterwards. A year or
two ago the Government bought the official
archives of the late Southern COnfed
eracv. at some expense to the taxpayers,
and since those historically valuable documents
became the property of the nation, presnmp-
tuous historians have fallen into the error of
supposing that the material had been bought
for use, and one after another they have ap-
piled for permission to examine it. But I'M
luckily onr writer's of history have bad habit
of printing their works, and to this the Gov
ernment objects. And so the Secretary of
War suppresses this valuable historical material,
wear after year. in face of the fact that its pur-
chase with the nations money was justiiiablc
only in view of its value to historians, and
through them to the people at large. When a
writer of history asks leave to consult the
documents, in any way and under any limita-
tions the Secretary may choose to impose upon
him. that functionary replies with true diplo-
matte indirectness, as he did last month to a
gentleman now engaged in collecting material
for an important historical work: IL beg to
estate, in reply to your inquiry concerning the
Confederate archives in possession OF tins
department, in letter of the 2lst instant, that
"those documents are not in u condition to
"permit me to offer you tho facilities you
"desirc for consulting them"
Even tho General Of the Army-the one man