The Ocala banner. (Ocala, Marion County, Fla.) 1883-194?, 1894-11-09

attention OF the newspaper profession
of Florida to matter that think, for
the glory Of our calling, cries out
.ulghtily for correction, without SUBJ
jecting myself to the charge of arro-
gance on Office hunting and If the lat
ter, hope only for the fraternity in
general. / use the word correction"
instead Of reformation purposely,
because / do not wish to arouse the
hostilities of my brethren of the quill,
as have no ambition to be buried I'M
der an avalanche Of adjectives and
anathemas by the many among them
who have sworn eternal enmity
against everything in the lexicon
either sign or symbol that bears the
least resemblance or kinship to the
word reform
wish to call their attention to the
fact that ever since Florida was adj
mitted into the Union, now nearly
fifty years ago, it has never entered
into the scheme" of those who ma
nipulate the. politics Of the state to
permit the man who runs a newspa-
per to amonkeyn with an Office, either
by appointment or election. 1t is het-
erodoxy of the worst and most malig-
nant form, and is made 50 largely by
the editors themselves.
In the disposal Of the Offices in the
conduct and management Of CAM
paigns-th the editor is not consulted or
considered. He may put the chesnuts
in the fire and pull them out, but
there his part Of the programme ends.
He has so degraded his calling until
it is understood to be his business, and
solely his business, to sswhoop up the
"other fellow.n He must beat the
tom-tom, rattle the drum, sound the
tymbal, blow the horn and illumine
the circumambent skies with vivid
and graphic pen and pencil pyrotech-
MICS, until red-hot enthusiasm is
worked up for his candidate, and it is
understood by the masses that his
man towers far above all other mortais
in the possession of all the mental and
moral graces and accomplishments
It is the EDITORS business to explain
away his candidates faults and foibles,
to exaggerate his virtues, TO cxtol his
political integrity and loyalty, to mag
Nifty his special and peculiar fitness for
craftsmanship, if the Office requires
craftsmanship, and for business if it
requires business. When his candi-
date is secure and safely in Office, it is
the editors high privilege to stand
without the political enclosure and app
plaud him as he gives the favors he
has to bestow to the tother fellow
and his friends to the third and
fourth generation Of those that did
nothing for his elevation.
This is the magnificent spectacle the
Florida editor presents to the non-par-
tisan observer. The bare statement of
the story, 1t seems to me, should be
more humiliating to the pride of the
profession, than any arrows of sarcasm
can make it.
If there is an editor in Florida that
has any other experience, I should
like for him to stand up aud be count
ed.
! acknowledge it in shame and ia
sorrow, / confess it IN confusion and
humiliation, that no governor of this
state, that no member of any COVER
nor's cabinet, no presidential elector
save one, and he borrowed from Geor-
gia, John Temple Graves; no APP
pointment under any federal admins
tratlon; no immigration, railroad, or
other commissioner; no member of
the bench, no congressman, no United
States senator, nor even state sena-
for, has ever been furnished from the
ranks Of the newspaper profession in
Florida.
The political influence of Florida
editor is no more potential carries
with it no more weight-than the dis
tinguished individual who shovels
rock in phosphate mine.
Let any editor in this state, however
eminent he may be, and we have had
some eminent ones &c. III. Jones, for
instance), be named for any Office
above that Of member of a county
school board, and at once the defama-
ton of his brethren of the press Tray,
Blanche and Sweetheart-is called
down in an almost fiood-tide of fury
upon him as if the bare mention of an
editor being named for an Office is, in
itself, monstrous, and the expenditure
OF what is intended for wit, that is
hurled at him, is both poignant and
painful. II. perchance, some one, in
. reckless and insane moment, should