Los Angeles herald., 1892-01-20
HYPERCRITICIsM.

There is limit to the right to criti-
else, and even where criticism is per-
missible it ought to be INDUCED within |
certain decorous limits. Fair play and |
judicious discrimination should be ex-
ercised when it is expected to have any
weight with the public. In certain OF
its structures on the Hon. jim Damron
the Times has exceeded the license ordi-
narily conceded to a newspaper in pass
ing judgment upon the acts of public
men. This is especially true in its
comments upon the "ffty-dollar toilet
service" of the Hon. Jim. Our contem-
porary is endeavoring to apply to the
case the rustic standards which prevail
in California. This is entirely unfair.
1t should bear in mind the fact that
this Republican statesman halls from
Indiana, and, for aught we know, from
the classic precincts of Posey county
itself. Elegant usages which have not
been engrafted upon our crude occi-
dental manners have long prevailed in
that portion of Indiana from which
Mr.. Damron halls, and In Egypt,
Illinois, and other refined, not
to say recherche, portions of the older
settled communities of the east. Even
as far west as Denver great sumptuous-
ness has been developed in the habits OF
Republican statesmen, as witness the
thousand-dollar night shirt of Senator
Tabor. Viewed in this light, this "dfty
dollar toilet service" may be set down
as a moderate development OF that ias-
tidiousness which was part of the Hon.
Jim's bringing up. Much must justly be
allowed to early associations.
AS to whythis distinguished gentle
man should have loaned his society to a
lot of comparative proletariats on what,
on its face, looks like a junketing trip at
the expense of the taxpayers, we confess
that we are at loss to discover. There
| is an unsolved mystery about that
which is quite fetching to one not gifted
with diyination. We confess, also, that
we do not see any warrant in the expe-
dition outside of the fact that California
is very rich state, and was blessed
then, as it is distinguished now, by a
looting administration.
1t will be hard to interest Democrats
in the prosecution Of the Lindleys for
providing the Whittier reform school
with the corkscrews. Nearly every
Democrat in the United States believes
in his heart that not only every public
institution but every household ought
to be provided with one or more of
these useful implements. The common
superstition that they are only OF use in
opening whisky bottles is mistake.
They can be devoted to the innocuous
service of removing the corks from bot
ties of strawberry jam, preserved goose
berries, and "sich."
AS to tine finger bowls, and other van
tiles, we admit the justice OF the ami
madversions of the Times. These are
utterly out OF the pale of any defense Of
ours. They exhibit rank desire to
initiate the habits of the effete aristoc-
racy of Europe, and. to persons who
have not had the fastidious bringing up o.
the Hon. Jim Damron ;theyFmYst neces
sarily be, and must foreverliSemain, Of
fensive and indefensible. As developed
in public Institution, they are calcu
lated to breed proud stomachs in the
inmates, thus incapacitating them fol
"roughing it," an avocation to which
most of their lives will be devoted.