The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-02-22

MR. EDITOR III there is anything repulsive to
an educated and intelligent mind it is fulsomr
praise and the author OF it cannot but subject
himself TO the ridicule and contempt OF all whose
opinions are worthy of consideration. Where
there is true merit. nothing can be more BETTING
than its proper acknowledgements and nothing
would be more grateful TO the object of such, than
q delicate psnegyric, finding a genuine response in
the minds Of those to whom il might be addressed.
But crude and obseqniuos ~fattery, especially Of
those in Office and power, while exposing the
meanness Of its author, may procure for the object
also. a notoriety not at all benefited by the assO-
citation, and i'll in keeping with the usual tenor OF
retiring merit
AS the position occupied by the sycophant is
more important, and his power by such to WELD a
healthy influence, is greater. so will his perform
anee be low, bearing always an inverse ratio. so to
speak, to his capabilities for possible good. Now
there are few positions in which a man can be
placed wherein his capabilities for serving the
public interest are greater than in that Of the Ed
itOridt Chair ; and it is expected of such as would
occupy it, that the utleTance therefrom should be
truthful and fearless. and consistent with the dig
nifty properly attaching to such Office. 1t is also
the case that there are few positions in which one
can more easily expose himself to universal con-
tempt than here, especially when the utterances Of
the Press are made slavishly subservient to indivi-
dual interest. Nothing is more sickening than the
spectacle presented by a public journal whose
tone is ever being modified 10 suit the ear OF an in
dividual. a sect. or an administration and forever
begging for notice which it should be able to com
mand whose columns, in the stead of open and
manly criticism upon subjects of public interest,
are only replete with obsequious paragraphs, i'm
portant perhaps to an individual or we The fact
that a person has been " born with a silver spoon
in his mouth, - or that one has subsequently been
acquired. is sufficient, when stated, nor are the
public interested or edited in the smallest degree
by editorial comments upon the skill manifested
in its manufa cture. the remarkable ability of the
Agent who imported it and much less in the de-
gree of estimation in which the spoon-holder is
held by the Editor.
1t is exceedingly Notifying to have our efforts go
unrewarded, and for that reason no public journal
list should devote his time in this way-at least
not unless he be content with the style of reward
offered to the man in the story, who was allowed to
smell the jug after his host had emptied the wine.
AS the public of Honolulu have lately been served
to safety with the kind OF literature alluded to. per-
haps the knowledge of the fact may induce the
Editor who has dealt most largely therein. to ad-
opt n style of 81 mem - more varied, and better
adapted to the mental stomachs OF his readers-at
least this is the hope OF one who has ventured to
echo an opinion very generally entertained.
ONE OF THE AFFLICTED.