The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1883-02-08
KENNETH LAMAR.

VIII II. herman, the fire-eating po-
litical writer, has attained Il nOtOriety
not 1T all enviable. Many people seem
to entertain Il real hatred for him be-
cause Of his extravagant utterances
through the papers with which he has
been connected. But what does his po-
litical extrayaganZas amount to? They
amount to just What other people and
other papers make of them, and moth.
ing more. Will II. Herman, personally,
as IL political writer, is simply Il gro
tesqne figure in American :jourl,al-
ism. He is \ poet, struggling ut the
impossible task of claiming his muse
down to politics. and those who do not
comprehend his genius, or will not ad-
init he has any, look upon him as a fool
0r denounce him AS 4 k,ave lie is
neither. With the exception of Edgar
Poe, no American poet ever wrote with
more divine af1latus than he, and just
50 soon as he drops politics and con-
fines himself to poetry, he will cease To
he notorious and will rapidly become
famous. He is already acquiring fame
rs 4 poet, his effusians >ee,.s}ly appear
ing under the non de plume of Kenneth
Lamar. Asapclitical writer we have
u" sympathy nor admiration for him,
hnt we are willing to forgive Will II.
Herman almost anything for the sake
Of Kenneth Lam ar.
The editor of the Herald evidently
has the taste to appreciate and enjoy
genuine poetry, but he writes us Il par
tiZan and judges Kernan's prose from
\ ra'ty stand point. We only wish
there were thousand Will Kernans
and Brick Pomeroys at the head of
newspapers to denource III plain Ian
guage the corruption and cowardice Of
political parties, the hypocricy and
bigotry of the churches, the shams, in
justice and toa'lism of society. ker-
nan, like any other true poet, sees at a
glance the false and the wrong in our
American life, and while we do not al
ways agree with him nor approve of
his spaSm ,dic style, we 'glrry III his
spunk.'' We want him to help tear
down the false by his prose and build
up the true 10y his paetry.
AS poet. he comes nearer being a
second edition. Of Poe than any. other
writer tina, has ever lived, and we can
assure him that Edgar \. Pee's spirit
has 4 hand on Kernan's genius and
nay produce other and better ''Ra-
vens' than he did while in the flesh.
COMING TO IT.
Some years ago the ADVANCE threw
its columns open to all shades of relig
ions, social, political and scientific
thought and invited communications.
1t especially held that the great spirit
ual movement was entitled to Il hear
;ng us well as all other great move
mruts. 1t seemed unjust in the press
to give Column after column every day
;,,t: every week to the sermons and the
'ings OF tie churches and ignore the
spiritual and other movements. This
we it-ra,ed and reiterated in defend-
ing the ADVANCE from the attacks Of
t'Mid ana bisottd people.
The ADVANCE was among the first
papers to adopt this course. One by
one the secular papers are coming to it
and now there are scores OF them Civ
ing Il hearing 70 liberal movements i'll
cluding Spiritualism.
The latest 10 which our attention has
been called is the indianapolis Su,,
which recently published three-col-
umn report ct u seahce iii that city.
The Sun says it is ''surprised 1T the
number who expressed a belief" in the
spiritual theory, and expresses the
opinion that it is the duty" of the
press to give it a hearing. 1t will con-
tinue to publish articles Oh the subject
and says:
The object Of the Sun, in the series
Of articles which will appear III it's col
umns. is not to a.gue pro or con-, Lut
Simply t. fulfill it's mission as 4 news
paper, giving facts and phenomena AS
they presen: themselves 70 the reporter,
believing that all things and n! nen
are entitled to all unprejudiced hear
irg and having no sympathy with those
who would hide from the masses any
thing which is not strictly in the line
OF old theories and old ideas''