The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1878-01-18
JhegntelEiqetre

Now that bOWIes u ueAu buu eulhoin
arc expressing themselves about his
rsv.paper. One writer says truly that
hi, paper wa1 "nevsr exactly satisfactory
10 ANYBODY" and yet 1t had character and
,,,epv,h and was widely read. 1t under
took to be perfectly Independent OF all
p,rlis., a position that no one except the
immortal J. n. has succeeded in filling
with satisfaction. Everybody else has a
o..andpOinl," and, as J. n. says, ia right
and wrong a. judged from that standpoint.
B,wlss assumed status was that OF q
newspaper man. His motto was, "the
new. and the truth about it."
Upon this basis he ran his news
paper, and only the other day a
writer, Whose opinion was Published in
the paper itself, said that it was at once
the best and the meanest paper In New
EDslAnd. Many people disliked it be-
cause it seemed TO have no warm symps-
this., no deep down convictions, but to be
always on the surface Of events for the
purpose Of commenting on them as cold
critic.
1t rather lost caste in the last Presi-
DENTAL campaign. It was really u Tia
den paper, but supported Hayes on tue
strength, as IT ayerred, Of his letter OF
acceptance, the very letter that such peo.
pie as our Monongalia county cores
poudent thinks should count for nothing.
Most people have strong opinions and
preiudiceS, and they want paper that
nourishes them. As some one said about
the lawyers, It Is not verdict for truth
and the right that most people are after,
but victory for their own side. Men and
ne wspapers are often disliked, and even
persecutcd, whose views have made a sue.
ce,slul lodgment in the minds Of the very
p.rsons arrayed against them. 1t is
said that come Of the ecclesiastics who
helped 10 burn Bruno at the stake really
more than half believed in his philoso-
phy-in secret. And 80 with Bowles pa.
per, as represented by the critic who
called it the best and meanest paper in
New England, it gave "the news and the
truth about it" in way that was at times
quite rasping to people OF strong preja.
dices,-those who had sense enough to
know that the facts were against them and
yet didn't like to see their own side
shown up.
Itsecms as necessary to have all kinds
Of papers as all kinds Of people. As some
boly la, said, il we had not had men Of
one idea, like Wendell Phillips, and pa
pers Of one idea like Garrison's "Libera-
tor" we would never have seen slavery
abolished. Ittook men like Phillips at
the North and Yancey at the South to
precipitate the conflict between the two
sections and destroy slavery. A man
like Samuel Bowles would seem to have
had no lot or part in the result achieved,
inasmuch as he always opposed Phillips
and Garrison and Sumner, and was rather
an acCeptor OF the stern logic Of events
than Of ideas. And yet Bowlcs had part
in the results Of the war. lie gave "the
news and the truth about it" and thus
brought forward and educated public
sentiment that KEEP. enthusiasts, fana-
tics and impracticables under control,
and that allowed the progress Of thought
to ripen into success instead Of blasting
in the bud.
During the war Henry Ward Bcecher
compared Mr.. Lincoln to a turtle and
Phillips TO coal OF fire on his back. We
had to have the turtle, a slow moving an
imal, said Beecher, and we had 10 have
the coal Of fire TO quicken him just
a little at times, and between the
fire and the turtle We were educated into
final success. Bowles was a constant
conservative element in New England be.
fore the war, during the war and after.
wards, and lie had mission there amid
an auti.slavery sentiment not unlike that
of the Wheeling IsrELLroENcER on the
soil Of Virginia in opposition to pro.
slavery ideas. (.
Wr,rs ;rdsbted 10 President PendIe-