Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1899-10-11
"INSOLENT AND lDI0TlC."

THE YORKvILLE ENQUIRER the few
remarks in which it took occasion to
felicitate itself on Its cotton market
wisdom. 1t contains quite extended
comments on the subject in its issue oi
Sunday. 1t not only takes occasion to
acknowledge its error; but it seeks to
abuse this paper by calling it 'insolent
and idiotic." Now idiotic, of course,
we may be; but "insolent" in refusing
to be made the unwilling mouthpiece
of text upon which The State may
indulge in its self laudation That is
good. Perhaps, though we are only a
bit modest, in not quietly accepting
the benefit of such stupendous COM
pliment. The State explains that
when THE ENQUIRER first called at
tention to the break, it clipped the
paragraph with the intention of max
ing due acknowledgement; but the
clipping was lost among "scores" of
other clippings, and the matter of such
little Importance passed out of the edi-
tors mind. Had it not been for this
unfortunate incident, THE ENQUIRER
would have left its second "idiotic'
paragraph imprinted. But really, we
did not know of the loss of that clip
ping, and even if we had known, we
are unable to see how The States
readers could have gotten the informa-
tion unless the fact were published in
The State. Again The State remarks
The wrong credit was affixed to the
quotation by lapsus penae of the sort
familiar to all writer's as resulting from an
association of ideas. The clipping was
made, we are sure, from a paper in or
near York county-possible the Rock
Hill Herald-and, with the sense of To-
cality preponderant and the name OF
"York" in mind, the credit line was writ
ten, "YoRKvILLE ENQUIRER"
Yes, all this may be true. This
lapsus penae business does occur but
unless there is subsequent correction
it is very difficult for the public to de-
tect such mishaps. A statement to
this effect when we first called atten-
ton to the matter would have correc-
ted the whole business, but since that
statement was not made, we fail to
see wherein our contemporary is war
ranted in such a fragrant and unseen
ly loss of temper as it has shown.
We not only get misquoted, but are
slurred and abused for complaining.
For instance:
Surely churlishness and vanity have
seldom gone farther than this! We can
safely challenge THE ENQUIRER and all
other South Carolina papers to show a
reason why we should prefer to attribute
a statement of fact or opinion to the
YoRKvILLE ENQUIRER rather than to
the Rock Hill Herald or the Chester Ian
tern. THE ENQUIRER's reputation is
hardly such as to induce any paper of any
calibre deliberately and wilfully" to
counterfeit its commendation and as
suredly The State did not need the inilu-
ence of THE ENQUIRER's name to prove
so plain fact as that it predicted the rise
in cotton.
Really, we do not feel called upon
to show a reason why THE ENQUIRER,
instead of any other paper, was mis-
quoted. If any other paper than The
ENQUIRER had been the object of this
''lapsus penae," then THE ENQUIRER
would not have felt called upon to
make the complaint. 1t would have
left the matter entirely to the other
paper, which could have accepted the
handsome compliment or broke forth
in an insolent idiotic, disclaimer as it
might have seen fit.
Before dismissing the matter, we will
presume to give The State a piece OF
advice, which it may regard as inso-
lent if it will; but which we hope it
will not regard as idiotic. The State
should remember that a soft answer
turneth away wrath, and it should
preserve its temper. 1t cannot help
but acknowledge that it was the often
der in this matter, and that an imme-
diate correction would have at once
set the whole thing straight. 1tgained
nothing whatever by the bad grace in
which it did finally make correction.
The abuse it serves out in connection
with it's honorable amend is calculated
to reflect more on itself than on the
object aimed at. Yes, we think that
along with its many excellent quail
ties, The State has entirely too much
temper, and perhaps, too, a little
vanity. In the meantime, too, The
State can very well take our original
complaint as a compliment rather than
otherwise. If we had no more respect
for it than is warranted by its late ex.
hibition of itself, the first complaint
would never have been made.
HGave Him His Choice.
Near Anderson, last Wednesday, a
Negro, named Tom jenkins. made an
Indecent proposal to young white