Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1895-11-28
The Decay Of poLIoekisln.

withstanding its energies may have
been generally misdirected.
Ten years ago Edward Pollock vas
potent force in Lancaster and Grant
county His satire had sting and
his wit produced laughter. Today his
yenomous vaporings are laughed at
as the buster Of Don Quixote and
bis attempts to be severe produce no
other effect than a plying smile or
contemptuous curl OF thc.lip.
Once his editorials were clear, keen,
incisivei his words were quoted in the
councils Of the county and the state.
Now he requires a column OF matter
to say of man that he is tadpole
When the pickering light Of his dying
intellect does flash out an .asstootn
witticism the overtaxed mind must
straightway destroy its force by label
ing il q pun.
Has age dulled his intellect Or
has his instructed life, like a BOOM
erang, recoiled and smote his INTEL
lectp
What has produced this strange de-
generacy7 Or was he always thus,
the novelty and audaeity Of his writ
ings obscuring their real holiowness?
1t is cu.1ons case Ed Pollock
has spent the major part of his life
in abusing men whom he could not
bleed or use for selfish purposes; and
woman character has been theme for
his most pointed slurs. For years he
poisoned his darts with bitterest gall.
but seems at re same time to have
been poisoning his own soul as well.
Once he could cent to the quick
but now he can merely scold. There
was a time when Ed Pollock had the
disposition and skill to Hay alive the
man who incurred his wrath and hold
up with pitiless ridicule the acts of
public men. He still has the dispose
tion but lacks the skill He can now
only indulge III vulgar personalities,
II would be easy to say that Ed.
Pollock i man without manliness.
a creature without feeling. being
without principles, and that he is
without any moral sense and has not
the slightest conception Of what con-
stitutes gentleman, but that meth
cd would be % Polloeky to he legiti-
mately used
Besides his private character Is nos
worth considering.
The man rs reflected from the coll
nmns 81 his paper is the subject ii
this article We must not look into his
private life, that is too foul i record to
be spread before thepublie gaze.
Ills egotistical assumption Of he
office 81 censor II local. county, state,
national and private affairs must be
found ii his writings, ii 1t all As
there il not the least evidence Of man
illness III his weekly faulttinding sheet,
not an eyota Of the public spirit that
should characterize an editor, not a
particle If the charity aud eonsidera-
tion for others that the meanest should
possess in some degree. not even
suggestion ii the ability 81 former
years except tiresome repetition OF
populistic thought imbibed from
the Greenback craze ot twenty years
ago the conclusion is irresistible that
Pollock i becoming imbecile Or in-
sane 4 too vast admiration OF him-
self has undone the old man. lie
has worshiped at the shrine Of his
own greatness 50 long that the refusal
of others 60 do the same fills his NOR
bid nature with an ungovcrnable mad
ness. His abnormal selt-homage and
self-love have been absorbed. producing
blood poisoning aad softening Of the
brain.
Edward Pollock might have stood
high in the county and state had he
been human and humane; he has fail
ed because he has been diabolic. and in
attempting 10 destroy others he has
destroyed himself Il Is now an asp
without a sting, an illnatured, wasp
ISL. aneharitable, heartless being who
finds his sole delight in the effort 10
pain ,,thers
New York city advertises man
who is apparently transforming from
man back 70 an ape. Can not Lancas-
ter announce greater curiosity-that
Of man, still retaining the human
form. but with the attributes Of a
demon9 Not the proud. eourtly Sa-