The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1901-10-04
A FLOOD OF sLoP.

buCu tIdBtuy as Jue nuIueI VI MI
Mckinley should provoke 30 much com
ment that offends against good taste,
good sense and the truth of history
Some of those whose lamentations
are loudest, are as disgusting to people
of good sense as tho few fools and ma
lignants who have expressed satisfac-
ton or Indifference.
There was deep and genuine and
heartfelt sorrow throughout the nation
for this awful crime and calamity but
such feelings find no expression in the
everlasting food of slop-slop senti-
ment, slop rhetoric and slop history
that has washed the continent from
one end to the other There is no
genuine grief or honest indignation in
the eagerness to connect patriotic OPP
position to the policies of the admin
istration with the assassination of the
President-to make, in fact, the Demo
cratic party the responsible author Of
the crime; and the man or the news
paper that stoops to such utterances is
possessed of a mean and malevolent
spirit, capable of almost anything ex-
cept an honorable emotion.
But it is not alone the malignant
partisan slanderers who have offended
against public decency. There is the
slop of laudation as we'll as the slop
of calumny. 1t is well enough while
in the presence of death to refrain
from censure and to dwell only on the
good qualities of the dead. Mr.. Nc
Kinley had some admirable qualities,
and no man would withhold from
him the praise that is due to his
memory. But TO place him on line
with the noblest and greatest men Of
all time, is gross offense against
truth and common sense. He was by
no means faultless as public man, and
his administration, we believe, was
full of dangerous mistakes While
himself man of good intentions he
was dominated by his party, and Hit
party was dominated by the worst in
iuences il American politics. Again
and again he avowed the most intense
convictions on grave questions, and
then yielded them to party pressure
1 No hoc a 4
Philippine grab in stronger terms
than Mr.. Mckinley did. He even re
sisted for time the growing spirit o.
jingo greed in his own party-but in
the end he yielded. He took strong
ground in favor of free trad,
with Porto Rico; but when his part,
surrendered to the lobby, Mr. McKin
ley surrendered to his party
He has frequently expressed his op
position to the growth of trusts ant
monopoly, and we do not doubt tina
he expressed his own feelings. Blu
the trusts have absolutely controlled
his party, and they have never -four
ished with such vigor as under his ad
ministration.
Mr.. Mckinley has been much praised
because he has shown kindly feeling
toward the South and he is credited
with having wiped out all sectiona
prejudice by recognizing the loyalty
of the Southern people For this, al
thanks But must we go down on GU
knees in slavish adulation becaus
after generation of persecution an,
defamation Mr.. Mckinley admitte,
that the men who helped him fight tn
war with Spain were not traitors
Could any man have done less2 Gu
own self-respect forbids any maudlil
gush over this reconciliation. TIL
South needed no reconciliation. /
was just as ready twenty years ago t
fight for the Union as it is to-day
But there was no war to call it to th
field and it suited the purpose Ct til
Republican party to represent it d
seething with treason and given owe
to barbarism. How we'll they did til
work is shown by the fact that Spanis
{ newspapers actually counted on Soutf
ern aid and sympathy.
We cannot forget that it was nc
=. until Republican administrator
e needed Southern soldiers that theI
s came change in the Republican att
, tude toward the South. If there ha
been no such need, there would hay
been no such change. 1t was not III
$ til the country was on the very verg
: of war with Spain that the law wa
e repealed excluding ex-officers in Ii
: Confederate army from service und,
o the flag of the Union. When the
swords were needed. when il was in
b portant TO show the world that tn
= country stood united in battle array
= the law was repealed. But for tn
n the last one of them would have gor
\ to his grave, as hundreds had alread
e done, with this brand upon them.
l. SO far as Mr.. Mckinley is concerne
It we have no doubt that his feelin,
: toward the South were always kind
c but he stood with his party. Il
consented, reluctantly we believe.