The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-05-25

or misapprehension. But political prin-
ciples are only convenient formulas, ex-
pressing what are conceived to be funda-
mental political truths. They are rules
of action they are laws, but not laws
like the law of motion or of gravitation,
which are exact, and admit of no dispute.
We who are Democrats, and are guided
by the principles of the Democratic party,
are confident that our principles, and
none other, are true. And they who are,
ihtelligently and by conviction, members
of the Republican party believe that they
alone are right, and we are wrong
Neither can be sure that they are wholly
right. The lapse of years, the survival of
the fttest, will tell which of the two will
best "ensure domestic tranquility, pro.
mote the general welfare, and secure the
blessings of liberty to ourselves and our
posterity." We should, therefore, be
careful that we do not confound moral
principle with political principle; what
is sure with what is uncertain !; that we
blame no man for honestly and conscien-
tiously preferring one political creed or
party to another that we do not even
censure him uho, with no selfish object,
is converted or perverted from one party
to another. All that NE can fairly insist
on is, that the man or the journal shall
be true as steel to the party whose creed
he or it processes. All that we can fairly
demand is, none shall remain in our camp
whose opinions or fancies fit them, as
they and we know, to serve only with our
enemy.
I grant that the sense of responsibility,
the fearlessness, the honesty, and the lib
erality, whose nature and application I
have endeavured to describe are more
difficult of complete attainment in jour-
nalism than In most professions. Mount
we never 80 high, the peak where perfec-
ton sits Is far beyond. Yet in gazing
upon it, and aspiring to 1t, are we already
elevated above those who linger on the
plains, or are hidden in the valleys. The
way of the journalists steep and rugged;
but if it be seen that he steadily press
onward, that his eye is fixed on the
heights above him, few or none will be
quick to blame if the bruised feet some.
times stumble and slide, or if he should
20 astray, in some moment when the
clouds of political discussion hide the
straight path from sight. At least, I
trust so
The press, as have shown, owe much
to the public; but the public owe some
thing to the press. They who read can
no more evade their obligation than they
who write and print can escape theirs.
It.is to the interest of the reading public
to encourage men of character and stand
ing, of brain and culture, to remain
among them as journalists-to encourage
them by recognizing the nobility and
value of their work. Journalism ranks
high as profession, because Its capacity
is great for good or evil. 1t breaches to
more souls than the church does; it
pleads more causes than the bar do; it
destroys or confirms more diseases than
medicine knows of. Of it may be said
what Sieyes said of the Third E. late, the
People,: "1t was nothing, It is some
thing, it aspires to be everything"
There should then be, in the dealings of
the two powers, the Press and the Public,
no sense Of favor on either side, an entire
absence of any feeling ofpecuniary obi.
cation. Familiarly speaking, the pur-
chaser of a newspaper no more confers
a favor on the publisher of that paper
than he who buys piece of longclOth
confers favor on the merchant whosel
it-unless he knows that the article is
not worth the money, in which case he
has only himself to blame; or unless he
was deceived as to its value, in which
case he certainly will not buy similar
article at that place again. 1t is busi-
ness transaction. The newspaper is sold
at so much copy, snd its advertising at
q fixed price. They who buy either get
full value for their money-so the seller
thinks. If the buyers do not think so,
they need not buy. Let this be once un-
derstood, and the public will no more ex-
pect valuable favors from newspaper,
because they are "old subscribers, "reg-
ular advertisers" and the like, than the
purchaser of barrel of -four expects the
seller to throw in demijohn of molas.
ses as mark of his appreciation of the
honor done him in buying good article
alta fair market price. This may seem
q very independent way of conducting a
newspaper. 1t is nothing less. And in
mo other way that I know of can news
papers be made to occupy their proper
relation to each other.
But the support and countenance that
the public owe to the newspaper is not
entirely matter of money. In buying
O newspaper the public do not buy mems
souls. Yet it is expected, many time,
that the newspaper shall bow obsequious-
ly to the demands of Its readers, and,
right or wrong, echo their complaints.
OF what worth is such a newspaper,
journalistic chameleon, that takes the
hue of what it feeds on? My friends /!
the journalist who says or does any single
thing, merely because it accords with the
likes or dislikes of its readers, is unwor-
thy of his profession, and untrue to his
public. For this reason should the pub
lie be at least as tolerant in dealing with
newspapers as in dealing with each other.
When one friend differs from another in
opinion, does he denounce that other as
dishonest or corrupt because of that diff
ference? Of course not They believe
each other to be upright and sincere, and
lose no whit of their common respect
This is what the journalist exacts Of his
public. Be sure that his aims and OBJ
iects are good, and you may be pretty
sure that be will reach the right goal in
the end. And if, working honestly and
assiduously, he should fail, need he be
outlawed and branded7 We of the South
know, only too we'll, thatthe cause which
Is lost is not always the cause which de-
served to be lost; and we who suffer by
defeat, and, therefore, are quick to CEN
sure those who were conspicuous in dis
astrous fight, should take heed, both press
and nuhlic lest our inactivity or dristrust