The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-04-10
DIR. Swallow.

DEs o"utio"'
II is Rev. DR.. Swallows misfortune
at present to rest under the suspicion OF
being irresponsible for some OF his
statements. His accusation that wit
nesses upon whom he had relied to es-
tablish the truth of his charges against
prominent state officials have been
tampered with, may be true, but the
circumstances under which 1t is Of
fercd weaken the public's confidence in
this hypothesis.
If the reverend gentleman had not al
ready been convicted of permitting his
mere suspicious to run away with his
Judgment; If, in other words, his gen
eral reputa ton were that of q careful,
cautious, conservative man, it is very
probable that his latest sensation would
attract the credibility of large numbers
of citizens throughout the state. 1t
may win some believers as it Is. The
common theory that men in public Of
fee are actuated by a different and
lower code of morals than obtains in
private business circles has been art
fully worked upon in Pennsylvania for
many years by tricksters aiming at
personal ends. The fact that upon oc-
casions rascality has been discovered
in the service of the commonwealth
causes many persons to believe that it
is the natural thing in that service
and that it is safe on general princi-
pies to call any office holder a knaVe
and a thief whenever the spirit moves.
Something of this spirit appears to
have actuated DR.. Swallow at the be-
ginning of his present crusade; but at
present he seems more bent on martyr
izing himself with f. view to fancied
retaliation than on the impersonal vim
dication of Righteousness.
AS we view this whole case-and we
try to be charitable-it is simply one
of several recent instances of the minis
terial prercgative getting dragged into
the mire through ar utter lack of judg-
ment on the part of the clergymen af-
fected. Take. for instance, DIR. Park
hurst. Beginning undoubtedly with a
high aim and pure purpose, and doing
for a time incalCulable good, he got at
last so Intellectually Incorporate and
so irritable and fractions that il is now
a reasonable inquiry whether all the
good that he achieved in the fore part
of his war on vice has not since been
neutralzed by the reccil from him, and
from such reform movements generally,
of public confidence. Zeal invariably
defeats itself when uncoupled from dis =
CretiOn; and we have observed that zeal
rarely charges the enemy so madly,
rashly and disastrously to itself as in
the case of a clergyman who carries
into practical affairs the combative
weapons and tactics of the idealist.
DR.. Swallow would never win a cam
paign as the general of an army if he
were to handle soldiers as he has
handled, or rather as he has been
handled by, those who set him up to
his present task. He would never by
such weak methods carry to success a
political movement or build up a. great
industry or win renown in a learned
profession. To accuse the other fellow
of stealing his thunder would not be
admitted as an excuse for defeat in
any of these walks of life, and it really
is no excuse now. If his witnesses
were of the kind that could be bought
up, then he should never have used
their uncertain gossip as the foundation
of a wholesale and virulent attack upor
the regulations Of men in high posi-.
tion in the state. A bid for sympathy
along this line must mean, among prac,
teal men, also a bid for pity and con
tempt. But here again we have only
the Doctors unsupported word. Wha
is that worth? What does his recort
as a publisher indicate it to be worth
Some friend ought to be kind enough
TO Dr. Swallow to draw him out of tn,
pit which he appears to be bent on dig
ging for his own discontinue.