St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1896-10-10
ARP ON THE PRESS.
Bartow's Sage Discusses the jour-
nails of the Day.

6aIGCW . Ndg6 DiSCu5SSS eiI0 ooAA
nails of the Day.
Some Things He Don's Like Political
Abuse LIS Criticised : Newspa-
per Necessary for the
Mind.
There is a lamentabie usage of the
press and of partisans during election
times, and that is the wanton, out
rageous abuse of the other fellow and
the other side. I have not seen any
such abuse of Mckinley by the demo-
cratic press, but the northern repub-
liean journals just TEEN with the VII
est and most malicious ISLANDERS of Bry-
an and his platform. He is denounced
and cartooned as the arch anarchist and
repudiator; tool of the silver mines:
6 babbling boy; q sky scraper; bag OF
wind, and the punka of the Platte. |
don't know what punka means, but sup
pose it is some very bad thing like
polecat. His Madison square speech
which ingalls, said was very great
speech, is ridiculed as an abortion, q
chestnut, miserable failure; and they
cartoon him as a little sophomore
schoolboy orator. This is very bad poll
icy. The people of all parties know
that Bryan is very eloquent, smart and
sincere man and the reaction comes
when such slanders are used against
him. The juhilant guying tone of the
republican press reminds one of Goliath
and David: aAnd when the Philistine
saw David he disdained him, for he was
but youth, and the Philistine cursed
David by his gods and he said, Come to
me and | will give thy flesh to the fowls
of the air and the beasts of the field"
Fortunately for the country both of
our candidates for president have char
acters above reproach and clean rec
ords in their public life and are en-
dowed with very high qualifications in
craftsmanship. The one elected cam
not make a law. Then why abuse himf
Each has host of friends and it
favorite, his leader, his idol, as it were,
lampooned and vilified by penny-a-liner
scribb1ers, who have no conception of
what constitutes true greatness. There
is no manliness or good breeding in
the modern modes of conducting po-
litieal canvass. heard an old vet
eraa say to-day that he had not in
tended to vote for Gov. Atkinson, but
since Watson and Wright were denounc-
ing him for pardoning that man Hinton
he had changed his mind and should sup
port him. Candidates are in a des-
pcrate strait" said he, when they re-
sort to such demagogism as that. Him
ton ought to have been pardoned. The
governor has shown more consideration
for negro conviets and pafdoned more
of them than any governor we have
had"
Hating the railroads and loving the
negro are still campaign capital. It is all
lie, of course. for no sensible man does
either to any extent in his heart. He
says he does, SO as to catch votes, but he
knows that he is hypoorite when he
says it. Such declarations are about as
sincere as newspaper editorials and gov
ernors' proclamations against lynching
negroes for their horrible outrages. It
is all for buncombe. I've forgotten that
fellows name, but have always adj
mired him for his frankness. When he
was reminded by the speaker thaterery-
body had left the house he replied:
s'That's all right, sir; I'm not speaking
for them at all, sir. Tn speaking
for Buncombe, my county, sir, and my
constituents, for it will be printed, sir .
And he kept on with his argument.
But the way read it in the goldbug
papers the republicans are not as jubi-
liant as they were.. They are somewhat
alarmed even about the state of New
York. see in yesterdays papers that
the rich women of New York city have
organized female Mckinley clubs in
every ward, and they have pareeled out
the work and are to visit the tenement
houses and canvass among the toilers.
/ read MeKinley's letter to these
women bidding them godspeed and say
ing he was glad to see the noble women
of the country taking an interest in
politics. This is no fake. It is pub
lished in the republican papers, and to
my mind it is the first bad break Mr..
Mckinley has made. The idea of en-
couraging women to go canvassing in
the slums of great cities for votes looks
like alarm to say the least of it. Mr..
Bryan has made no break. Every ut
terance along his travels has been in
good taste and entirely proper. He has
not boasted of himself. nor abused his
adversaries, and we arc glad to see that
the people, the common people, heard
him gladly and treated him with the
greatest respect. The other day a fake
appeared that for awhile astounded me.
The idea that Ben Tillman had visited
Tom Watson to get him to come down
and take cabinet position was mon
strous, for Mr.. Rryan chooses his own
cabinet. He will not buy them, and il
he did Ben Tillman would not be his
broker. The average politician seems
incapable Of measuring Mr.. Bryan. He
can't conceive of standard that is far
above mercenary or ambitious motives.
Neither will Mr.. Bryan for moment en-
courage any attempt to get SewaH
down. It would be dishonorable, and
he knows it. What is the matter with
sewall, anyhow? Nobody, not even the
republican press, has said word
against him, except that his son is a re-
publican. Well, that is hard on the
boy, but nothing against the old man
save asuspicion that he didn't whip him