The Washington critic., 1890-02-23
SHALL EVIL BE EXPOSED
MR.. WARMERS DECLARATION AN
SWERED BY THE PASTORS.

Interviews with Prominent Ministers
on the Ouestion-They All Indorse
the Position of "The Critic"-Pro-
ressOr Coues on the Subject
The publication of articles In THE
Critic exposing the manner in which
properties of rich men in the District
were assessed at much less than upon
the lawful percentage of their value,
while poor mems property was as
sessed at its full value, recently caused
Mr.. b. II. Warner to write letter to
The CRITIC in which he expressed
himself as being decidedly against the
p ublication Of such exposes, because
he though such publications would
damage the city. His letter was pub
lished in Fridays CRITIC. Following
is the abstract from his letter in which
he arrives at this onclusion
said to your reporter that the picturng
of frauds, either of public or private
character, was, in my opinion, damaging TO
our city, and should only be indulged In
with the greatest caution.
Many residents of this city differ with
Mr.. Warner upon this question. Be
low will be found the opinions of some
of the leading clergymen;
Rev. Q. @. Meador, pastor Of the Fifth
Baptist Church, agree with Mr.. Warner
in regard to the expose of gambling and
drinking evils, but ] cannot see why the eX-
posing of actual frauds perpetrated by the
authorities or their appointees could dam
age the city In any way. l don't think tue
city, on the whole, would suffer by such
publication. 1t would be damaging to
those exposed, though, and deseryedly So
The more thoroughly frauds are looked up
and exposed the better il will be in the end
for the city. No one wants to invest his
money in town in which fraud exists, and
the sooner such fraud is exposed the better.
Rev. X. II. Mckim, pastor of the Episco-
| pal Church Of the Epiphany express no
opinion upon the facts of the case as to
whether assessments have been made below
| the proper valuation or not. ! know moth
ing about it. | agree with Mr.. Warner that
the very greatest caution should be exer-
csed by the public press in making state
meDts affecting the integrity either of the
| property owners or of the assessors. But
| If improper action has been taken by public
officials tending to dcfraud the city OF the
! proper revenue by undervaluatton, ETC.,
, and giving the rich and influential men an
| advantage over their poorer neighbors,
upon that statement of the case / think an
expose disagreeable but necessary pub
| lie duty.
Rev. $. Domer, pastor of st. Paul's Luz
theran Church-The question as to
whether the expose of evils IN THE CRITIC
or other newspapers would damage the
city depends upon how the expose is made.
As rule there is no community in which
there are not some evils or frauds existing.
/ am satisfied, however, that exposures
should be made in cases that have been
thoroughly investigated and proved to be
evils. We should proceed with great eau
tion. 1t Is very much as with the iudivld-
ual who would come to me and tell me
am doing wrong. He should put me In
the straight path, and SO should newspa-
pers act toward persons who are not doing
right. l think, however, that the only
way to abate political evils is by exposing
them in the newspapers. People mus
know that they are evils before they can be-
proceeded against.
Rev. George Elliott, pastor Of the Foun-
dry Methodist Episcopal Church,
think that the action Of TIE CRIrIc
in exposing evils is not only
right, but think that it is the duty of tho
officials, or any one who knows of sucl
evils, to make them public. This should
be done, not for the sake of sensation, bu
for the purpose of making reforms. In re
!
communities are also more or less aifectej
by this evil. and there is no question bu
that the method of making assessments re
quires special study.
Rev. Father j. A. Walters, pastor of st
Patrick's Roman Catholic Church,
frauds are not exposed we should soon b
eaten up, but such evils, as well as othe
evils, should be treated in the newspaper
only after the greatest caution has beer
used. To expose some evils would be Il
point out to some people who never hearl
of them their location and make them ac
quaiDted with things they should lnoy
nothing about. Here | refer to immora
evils. The gentleman who writes the lette
to THE CRITIC evidently thinks that eX
posures of fraud will hurt the city flnan
cially.
The Rev. Henry r. Naylor, pastor of tn
Hamline Methodist Episcopal Church
think it is the duty Of newspapers to vent
late public evils, but do not wish to b
quoted in connection with the controvcrs
between Mr.. Warner and THE CRITIC. Th
expose of such evils does not, in my opir
ion, damage the city, but rather helps It.
Rev. William A. Bartlett, pastor of tn
New York Avenue Presbyterian Church
On general principles ! think it is goo
thing for the community to have fraud
and evils exposed.