The Birmingham age-herald., 1904-12-04

rience might bring to its support an ample commentary with illustrations. But l am none the less moved to in- sist on this point and to strengthen my position with examples.
 Formerly the means of communica- f1on between men were considerably restricted. It was natural to suppose that in perfecting and multiplying ave nues of information a better under standing would be brought about Ma tions would learn to love each other as they became acquainted; citizens of one country would feel themselves bound in closer brotherhood as more light was thrown on what concerned their common life. When printing was invented the cry arose, "E'iat luxr and with better cause when the habit of reading and the taste for newspapers increased. Why should not men have reasoned thus: Two lights illumine better than one, and many better than two. The more periodicals and books there are the better we shall know what happens, and those who wish to l write history after us will be right I fortunate Their hands will be full of documents" Nothing could have seemed more evident.
 Alas, this reasoning was based upon tho nature and capacity of the instru- ments without taking into account the human element, always the most inn I portant factorl And what has really come about is this-that cavilers, ca lumniators and crooks, all gentlemen glib of tongue, who know better than any one else how to turn voice and pen to account, have taken the utmost ad- vantage of these extended means for 1 circulating thought, with the result that the men of our times have the greatest difficulty in the world to know the truth about their own age and their own affairs. For every newspaper that fosters good feeling and good under standing between nations by trying to rightly inform its neighbors and to study them without reservations, how many spread defamation and distrusti What unnatural and dangerous cur rents of opinion set in mottUni What 1 false alarms and malicious interpreta- 1 tions of words and factsl And in do- nestle affairs we are not much better informed than in foreign. As to com mercial, industrial and agricultural in- terests, political parties and social tendencies or the personality of public men, it is alike difficult to obtain dis interested opinion. The more newspa pers one reads the less clearly he sees in these matters. There are days when after having read them all, and admit 1 ting that he takes them at their word, the reader finds himself obliged to draw this conclusion: Unquestionably noth- 1 ing but corruption can be found any i longer; no men of integrity except few journalists. But the last part of the conclusion falls in its turn. It ap- l pears that the chroniclers devour each other. The reader has under his eyes i a spectacle somewhat like the cartoon 1 entitled "The Combat of the Serpents." After having gorged themselves with 1 everything around them the reptiles fall upon each other, and there remain upon the field of battle two tails.
 And not the common people alone feel this embarrassment, but the culti- vated also; almost everybody shares it In politics. finance, business, even in science, art, literature and religion, there is everywhere disguise, trickery, wire pulling-one truth for the public, another for the initiated. The result is that everybody is deceived. It is vain to be behind the scenes on one stage. A man cannot be there on them all, and the very people who deceive others with the most ability are in turn de- ceived when they need to count upon the sincerity of their neighbors.
 The result of such practices is the degradation of human speech. It is de- graded first in the eyes of those who manipulate 1t as a base instrument. No word is respected by sophists, casuists and quibblers, men who are moved only by a rage for gaining their point or who assume that their inter ests are alone worth considering. Their penalty is to be forced to judge others by the rule they follow them- selves-say what profits and not what is true. They can no longer take any one seriously-a sad state of mind for those who write or teachl How light ly must one hold his readers and hear CTS to approach them in such an atti- tude! To him who has preserved enough honesty nothing Is more repug- nant than the careless irony of m ac- robat of the tongue or pen who tries to dupe honest and ingenious men. On one side openness. sincerity, the desire to be enlightened; on the other, chicanery making game of the publicl But he knows not, the liar, how far he Is misleading himself The capital on which he lives is confidence, and nothing equals the confidence of the | people unless it be their distrust when once they find themselves betrayed. They may follow for a time the ex- 1 ploiters of their artlessness, but then their friendly humor turns to hate. Doors which stood wide open offer an impossible front of wood, and ears once attentive are deaf. And the pity is that they have closed not to the evil alone, but to the good. This is the crime of those who distort and degrade speech: they shake confidence general ly. We consider as calamity the de- basement of the currency, the lowering of interest, the abolition of credit There is a misfortune greater than these-the loss of confidence. of that | A -Y-