The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1895-06-11
A PREACHER AND A PAPER

| a PREACHER AND A PAPER
A Minister, up at Minneapolis, las
Sunday week, in imitation, no doubt
of some of his more prominent politica
bretbern. undertook roasting the Nor
rill administration, in which attemp
he seems to have failed to keep within
the lines of truthful decorum. Cover
nor Riddle, in his Messenger, called
his readers attention to the fact, mildly
suggesting that preacher in his pulpit
On the Sabbath day could hardly af
| ford to garble the facts of history, OF
words to that effect. The dominic
was thin-skinned and replied in an
| open letter through Governor Riddles
| own paper and now he has no skin at
| all. When it comes to Kidding Gov
| ernor Riddle is well named He print
| ed that defamer's letter with running
comments, four columns long, chopping
it up into bits and grinding il into
pitiable dust. He stamped ON it, tossed
il as high as a church steeple and
horned it full of holes as ii fell back
to earth, kicking the remnants out of
sight, concluding the performance by
chewing up the writer of it and spit
ting him out all over that section of
the state. Few men, certainly no
preacher in this state was so completely
and publicly done up. And he de-
served it. In his own pulpit, sur
rounded with sympathizers with every
body else dumb, he found the work of
traducing the governor of the state a
safe proceeding and comparatively an
easy matter, but his impunity did not
avail him when it came to the columns
of a public journal.
Governor Morrill, is not the weakest
and most defenseless man in the state,
neither does he lack character or con-
science. He is no thug or thief. nor
is he corrupt. He is not only a man
of large and varied public experience,
but no more absolutely pure and up
right man ever stood at the head of
any state government AS a politician
he failed to play the hypocrite. In
spite Of the fact that ours is govern
ment of majOritieS he could have put
several counties to a big cost, and with
a great show of virtue, to the intense
delight of those who do not have to
foot the bills, and thereby saved him
self all this raid of righteous @ indig-
nation, but he preferred TO stand by his
own convictions and accept the result.
The average municipality of the state
is hard enough run as it is without ad-
ditiOnal expenses and distractions,
with no possible good conserved ex-
cept the chances Of cleaning the outside
Of the platter. AS for the rest of the
racket to which he has been subjected.
everybody knows and appreciates the
source. The election Of Lewelling
stranded an army of place-holders and
another army of place-hunterS The
subsequent Republican victory not only
revived the hopes of these two elements
but the hard times additional con-
spired to bring to the front scores upon
scores of aspirants for every possible
place. Disappointment everywhere by
everybody was inevitable. All these
conditions and elements combined have
rushed upon Morrill, for revenge. That
they have failed to bear him down is
a wonder. An ordinary man, or one
of less strength Of character would
have gone down under such an unpar-
alelled attack Of preachers in their pull
pits on Sundays and of disappointed
politicians on every street corner every
day in the week. This war has not
been because Of trickery but of hon
eSty. Instead Of prevarication and
duplicity professions he honestly and
boldly declared his convictions. And
so, whether Morrill, goes up or down,
that is all there is of the fight being SO
waged upon him.
Two prominent preachers of the state
have left the pulpit to become politi-
clans, and others may follow their ex-
ample, for it is their right, but nothing
is more certain than tLat politics have |
no place in the pulpit and he who !
breaches politics in his pulpit by just
so much loses his hold and impairs his |
influence for good.