The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1889-01-02
not been touched npon and for many reasons 1t Is


This is one Of the periods when, as Mr.. Gladstone
expresses it. "the power of putting 1nestiohs runs
Greatly in advance of the pains to answer theih IL
is ,,criod of shallow answers to profound PROPOSE
lions It's time of doubt. of inquiry, and of know!-
edge. of alvanccmcnt ncvcrtheicss Controversy y
rife and newspapers are III the thck VI II. lhere
GOOD in this bnt newspaper m"n-comnon mcmDms
nj IN ancient and honorable Guild-owc IL to them
selves 10 he dccorons and courteous in their dealings
with each other The editors, moreover who accuse
each other of being williams liars iorsers and bias,
nhru.rs are not original. Such cthcts were applied
TO The lTcrcuyius /iuiicWs AMI .ncrcurins Iqudti-
ryS by the rrcurtiLs BrtajnichS in lGl2. when the
editor Of thu last named gazette said: VI have hiscoV'
erred The lies furrrcs inSoluncics inpictics prOphan
ili.s (yic biasIclncs Of the two sheets" When
lInracr Greeley applied to William Cullen Bryant, or
John E"cluw The cpithct. you lie, villain. You know
Won r" he merely condensed the expression used by
a prrson in similar position two centuries before
And there is 4 temptation. strong temptation some
times 20 call . lie lie and liar liar.
II j. tn he remembered, however. that civilization
first lesson is restraint. The newspaper man must
govern himself in his language or he cannot expect to
Influence the people. Violence of expression defeats
its object The hardest blows the deepest thrustS. are
those which are given dclicately that the combat
ant Is of the lists before he is fully aware of the
extent of the hurt In argument the scmtar of Sal
alin is effective than the mace of Richard
There are times when strong words arc needed Bat
force is not necessarily coarse. Vigorous and muscu
lar English is only rcpusive when those who use 1t
are not refined. II has been said that, in country
and age Of studied caantry, "vce itself lost half its
evil by losing all its srossness." Assnredy virtue
fuses much of its bcnccencr when it loses its Sim
plicty and beauty. There is for rhetoric there
is for logic, there Is room for fine phrase and di
rect word Thorc is place for every thought In every
mode of expression except in the blatant registering
brutal strain which lowers those who practice It.
while It fails Ia stain the or fame Of those
against whom it is directed. Be not ms those who
have l ,hc c"ntortinhs of the Syb without the in.
spiraton.' Behave in your newspapers, and toward
other newspaper mcl rs you hchayc ut your iresdcs
or in the midst of your friends.
Remember that there is not here the laxity which
permits men TO exhaust upon each other the lexicon
Of abusc in their newspapers and be the best Of friends
well. The idea of professional blackguardism as
distinguished from personal and social blackguardis
has no-cven after twenty years of struggle aud con-
teniion-taken deep root in the South. The eyplana.
tion Of 1t Is that newspaper in the South Is
pecttd to say IN his newspaper Just what he BELIEVES
and nothing else. When he calls another newspaper
man liar or thief he is presumed to have reason
for what he says. They who have no words too op-
probrous for each other in the columns of their
papers cannot, if they have any standing, pose as
faithful friends rol acqnantances after office hours
There Is not absolute uniformity in this respect; but
they who actdifercntly rather make-weghts thau
positive influences in public and private life.
While Captain Dawson would advise gen.
tlcmanly ciVllity rs rule, yet he would seem
to think that occasional .'blacknuardism " or
a little bullying now and then. might be per.
misslblc on the part of an editor For in.
stance, with an imperious air which is seldom
equalled, he says:
"And there is u temptation, n strong temp.
tation sometimes, to call q lie Il lie and iar
q liar
Just so, Captain. But, as rule editors who
''call lie lie and n liar q liar" are the most
discreet persons in the world The public are
too apt to notice that bully editors, who ap
ply. these offensive epithets, always select
their man.
Qbscrvation, we think, will convince the
public that editors who play the roll Of the
bully, generally choose Victim who either
lives at safe distance, or an old man, OF
some other citizen who may be present, but
unable to properly resent the offence.
We repeat, bully editors, like the town bul.
lies, are an exceedingly discreet people We
do not now remember Of any bully editor, O!
town bully, either, yielding to the "tempta.
toni to apply these epithets to men who
were present. and we'll known to be fully able
to knock either of the aforementioned bullies
in the mouth.
We believe the history of journalism in
south Careliha does not record an instance
where any editor has yielded to the "tempta.
ton IN any instance where he knew he
would be Immediately and properly punish.
ed for his ill-lnanners, though we believe old
men, young men at great distance, and men
" no were unable to defend themselves, have
been occasionally called liars.