The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1888-05-11
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cHAFF AND COMMENT.
But people haven't got much time for any
one man these days-especially the one WIFI
considers his person ~sAcred-and f0ssiliZed
gods are at . discount. The free and indie
pendent American don recognize the right
OF anybody to set mp q piece OF antiquarian
statuary that takes up ill the room in the ar,
gallery. But he does reserve the right to
crack anybody or anything, as suits his
fancy, yet, ut the same time, comedies the
right to anybody to crack back, either with
or without gloves.-lndependent.
So this is your grievance, is it, Mr.. Eastin:
You found . few newspaper men in and
abont Montana on your recent advent who,
through personal good will, occasionally
said . perhaps undeserved kind word of one
who is not an Office seeker, aud who has
been in the newspaper business here some
time, who had always a welcome for new
men with better methods, and whom some
Of the late corners had not found 1t necessary
to hate. The facts riled you, excited your
petty animosity, and you concluded to throw
mud at him. You are off wrong, and if you
have average sense you know it. You were
throwing mud and malice At a great rate. 1t
vas becoming habitual and . nuisance to
the public generally. We trust the rebuke
will do you good. We snubbed you princi-
pally as q precaution against your spreading
an infectious disease in Montana, the Legs
lature not having a%pprehended your coming
with your methods when it passed the gen.
eral quarantine act. And you are off wrong
again when you think the Stree and inde-
pendent American has = right to crack any
body or anything" He has no right to
crack q safe; neither has he q right to assas-
sinate character. Please learn these things;
you may not feel sc 'sfree and independent"
but you may be a better man. =
He (Mr. Waters) is sensible enough, too.
to distinguish between iocular pleasantly
and deliberate ridicule. Ibid.
And that is just where the editor of the
Independent fails. The line of distinction
between malicious %buffoonery and %'jocular
pleasantly" is broad enough and strong
enough that it need not be crossed by any
sensible man except with intent.
Everything that has been said by the indie.
pendent was based upon information cleaned
from q source that was considered reliable
the Territory. If he malicious1y misrepre-
scented the facts-which there is no evidence
of his having done-no great harm has re-
suited from it, and there is no occasion for
the belching out of a lot of bile. Ibid.
Then you must have sucked your misin-
formation from some one with q grievance,
or encountered a humorous Montana Mephis.
topheles, who, seeing you bound into Mon.
tana politics with cap and bells, gave you
his tarred stick for your TESTERS wand. Be-
ware Of ''sich." He is likely to hand you
the other end Of the stick when be gets oc.
casion.
At one time he uhe editor of the NEW
when he had no newspaper
competition, posed as a great man. But the
conditions have changed very radically. He
has refrigerated while everything has grown
away from him. Ibid.
That time never existed. If you shall
ever be the peer of such men in the Demo-
cratic ranks as Maginnis, Roman, Wilkeson,
Bruce, Rogers, Voolfolk, johnson, Hendry
and . dozen others who have occupied Dem
editorial chairs and are gone, you
will have to change hats or wear q bandanna
on your brow. We should say the condi-
haze changed radically. Shades of the
departed have mercy on you! Dom. initiate.
The frog bursted, you know, before it
the proportions of the OK. Be truth
full and sincere. Take your conscience up
Mount Helena for exercise and develop it a |
little. If you 'come to the country with one
lung and two CALLS" as the saying goes,
give your gals a rest. And don't throw mud
in an alkali country. It might irritate your
.uticle. Don't imagine that a big town or a
o,g city will make q big man Of you. The
own is not the measure of the man. Tbere
're plenty Of idiots in big towns, who some
lines accidentally get into too big places.
Don't destroy q paper that good editors have
up. And don't take any Of this advice
'nless you wish to. You may prefer your
real hot, you know. ia, ia.