The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-09-25


but decent opposition entirely lost?
Have orators and editors no longer the
| cleverness or power to arouse interest
or carry conviction without resort to
billngsgate and reckless falsehood,
such as once were regarded as marks
of weakness in argument rather than
OF strength? Have the people so de-
generated that sane reasoning no lon
ger influences them. and that the only
resource of those who would not see
| them sink into apathy and slavery is
| violent language and appeals to pre-
judice?
OF course the freedom of discussion
must he preserved. Constitutions
guarantee free speech and free
press, hut always subject to response
bility for abuse Of those rights. But
| is the line between the rights and
their abuse strictly enough drawn. and,
also, is evident transgressing over the
| line, no matter how loosely drawn.
punished by law or public opinion as
| it should be? There can he no ques-
tion OF the right of citizen to criti-
| I lSt Nli' - i'li'i'S hiv''
| verely. For instance, Senator Hoar's
remark that the subjugation Of the
| Philippines meant "thc abandonment
of the principles upon which our gov
| crnmcnt is founded, and it will change
| our republic into an empire was
| within the limits Of legitimate criti-
| cism. 1t was one view of the ten
| 4. q
tor. who. because the president carried
out that policy, talked about "Mckin-
| ley, with his wicked and cowardly
heart, raising his bloodstained hands
to heaven in hypocritical prayer
| transcribed those limits and de-
sccnded rot only to personal abuse.
| but to unpatriotic attack upon author
| ity. 1t Is ono thing TO disapprove a
war, quite another to call the officials
who perform their duties at the head
of a nations armies thieves and muir
| dcrers.
Likewise, it is perfectly legitimate
for those who think that the adminis-
tration's policy favors certain imam
Ciers to point out the grounds of that
belief but it is not legitimate daily
To hold up to the hatred of the ignor-
ant the president of the United states
as the contemplate tool of repulsive
villains, engaged in imaginary atroci-
ties. Sarcasm. ridicule and denuncia-
ton are all proper instruments of poll
tical opposition, but those who use
them are morally bound to use them
with a due sense of responsibility and
a due regard for truth, and not to
call an official scoundrel in mere
preiudice, confessedly without facts
TO warrant such conclusion. The
acts of public official are always
subject to more rigid scrutiny ana
sharpcr criticism than those of pri-
vate individual, but lie about MN ls
Just as much lie as one about any
body else, and is abuse of the freedom
of speech and the press. If we ever
have president or Il city official VINO
is a murderer, let us know the facts,
and call him one by all means. If we
lind that he steals, let us expose the
rascality. But let not an official be
called a murderer or thief Just as
an incident to incorporate opposition
TO his public policy. He ought to he
protected from such outrageous libels
as well as any other man.
A public officer can hardly look to
the law for such protection without
seeming 10 interfere with free speech,
though even in this free country Off
GERS have not feared TO call to account
in court those who personally SLAM
dered them. He ought, however. to be
protected by public opinion frowninG
on unbrdlcd political bitterness. AL
ways after a period of such bitterness
the people come to see its injustice and
to regret it. The hotheads who abused
Washington and gravely charged that
he was surrendering our liberties to
England, might have known then that
they were wrong as we'll as a dozen
years later, and have based their op-
position to his policy on appeals to
reason and not to ignorant prejudice.
SO, too, those who charged President
Mckinley with hideous crimes have al
ready found out their error, and some
of them have retracted. How much
better they would feel today if they
had never written those verses, never
pictured him as a tool of trusts, never
called him a murderer!
Political life does not depend for it's
freedom on license for such libels.
They are merely the mark of low civil
ization and inability To deal with pub
lie questions with seriousness, sobriety
and regard for the decenccs of life.
Instruments of free discussion, our
people should shun them, so that poll
teal controversy may be made to deal
with facts and TO be decided by rea-
son. Then to call an official a muir
dcrer VIII mean that he is one, and
people will stop to consider such "A
charge. Now such awful epithetS are
flung about So freely that no attention
is paid to the abuse by sane people,
and wicked official rests secure in his
p wlckedness from their action, while
the honest man may fall victim Ia
the misdirectcd passions of the crimi-
= nal or crank.
Mr. Shaffer is prepared to attest that
in financing a big strike kind words
, alone butter no parsnips.
The opinion seems to be growing that
| Ia. anarchist moods "A dnGa of his pu, d