The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-05-11
TO THE CANDID READER.

W1thdraWn from the domain OI argument,
from the polemical field and referred
to himself under the title of the "Candid
Reader as a matter to be impart;ally and
dispassionately adjudicated upon. This title
of .scandid reader each of us is very apt to
accept without scruple as his due. Indeed,
50 far are we from questioning our right to be
thus designated That any hint of doubt con-
corning our judicial mindedness, or the abso-
lutte freedom of our minds from bias, from
preconceiYed judgments which we never have
taken the trouble of accounting for even to
ourselves-any hint of this kind would be far
more apt to give us mortal offence than to
cause us to give our thoughts an interpretive
turn, and to set them at work in a critical self
examination to sue whether we really do or
do not deserve the title with which the news
paper scribe is so prone to tlatter his readers.
And yet only a very superficial examination
of the subject suffice to convince us that the
average man not only is not a scandid reader"
but also that candor or judicial mindedness is
a mentsl attribute which he takes special care
to guard against in so far al least as his
reading is concerned.
Consider the course of procedure adopted
by a man when he sets out to collect sufficient
data to formulate a judgment concerning any
disputed question discussed by word of mouth
and connected with his every day life. OBJ
serve his method and compar it with the
manner in which he forms his opinions con-
corning the matters Of much greater import
ance discussed by the press, and note the
difference Let a man, for instance, have two
friends, A. and b.; and let a misunderstood
ing arise between those two concerning q
matter of right. Now, if he meets with A, and
hears from him, in the absence of T., his side
of the story, does he forthwith close his mind
against every presentation of BIS view of the
entirely right and & entirely wrong, and re-
fuse even to listen to All argument which
might possibly have the effect of a~rousiHg in
his mind some faint doubts concerning the
justice of the conclusions he had arrived at 8:
No; the very opposite is the course he adopts;
Upon hearing AS version of the affair, lac
remembers that there are two sides to a story,
and is careful 10 hold his judgment in suspen-
sion until such time as he will have heard
what b has to say. Then, supposing a DOWN
right conflict of evidence-a question of We
racity--to ensue, he does not allow himself to
be influenced by his personal preferences for
one of the dlsputants to espouse his cause
Instead, he guards carefully against the par
TALLY likely to result from such preference,
while he weighs carefully the probability of
error being found on one side or the other
considers the previous character of the dispu.
tants, their reputation for ~veracity estimates
as closely as possible the comparative strength
of the temptation to commit fraud to which
each was exposed,-and, u fact, sets to work
the best powers of his best Judgment in order
that his opinion, when he finally forms it, will
be based on the truth-that it may do justice
between man and man.
How different are the methods we pursue
in the world of politics. There the " candid
reader" not only refuses a dispassionate cou-
sideration of statements opposed to his par.
ticular views, but he even refuses to listen to
those statements. SO far is he from critically
reading the journals of the opposite party
and applying their arguments as a test by
which to judge of the truth,.of his own posi-
ton, that he considers those journals as some
thing unclean-as something which would
speedily pass out of existence were it not fol-
the moral depravity Of the other party from
which alone they derive their support. Thus
the "Republican Of the Old Guard" reads
only the journal OF the stalwart type, while
the dyed-in-the-wool Democrat draws his
Intellectual sustenance from some literary
"wheel-horse of the Democracy. The con
sequences are in every way to be deplored
Reading a paper in which we find only oul
own views reechoed is simply a qualification
of egotism. 1t neither stimulates though
nor exercises the Judgment. Instead, i
serves to crowd the reader deeper into Iii
own little rut until at length his politica
party, instead Of being looked upon as
human organization, intended to accomplish
certain rational purposes, is viewed in thu
light of a sacred religion, whose mandates i
would be sacrilege even to think of question
ing. 1t is this frame of mind that render
machine government possible; it isthis fran,
of mind that the machine strives to c~ultivat,
among its followers; and it was solely due tt
such ignorant bigotry and intolerance in thu
field of political thought, when it spread owe
an entire community, that tie fields of tn
fair South were strewn with ashes, drenche,
in tears and blood.
To avoid this narrow mindedness read boil
sides, a duty especially incumbent in the yea
of an important election. Independent jour
nalism might at first thought be considered
the safest guide; but outside of the grea