The Washington times., 1905-08-06
Speak Out or Keep Still.

Several days ago The Times pro-
tested against labelling American c.ti-
zens with graft on mere suspicion.
1t voiced a thought which must have
impressed welI-balanced men all over
the country-that thought that the
present eagerness to detect and pun
ish evil in public Office is in danger
every day Of involving and wrecking
the lives of blameless and honest men.
Another manifestation of danger
from this same source is offered by
the last issue of the Manufacturers
Record, "A Weekly Southern, Indus
trial, Railroad, and Financial News
paper" published in Baltimore 1t is
edited with great intelligence and
marked enterprise. All The more re-
markable is it, therefore, that now it
publishes an editorial over a column
long filled with Nominations against
the Department of Commerce and
Labor unsustained by a single speci-
f1cation. And at the end of it the
reader is asked to consider this
seriously:
If the Government may publish daily
newspaper ranging from Dan To Beer
saeba under the guise OF consular and
trade reports, why may IL not take ii
wider range and give OTf1ciaI stamp and
self-bolstering color 10 all other activi-
ties and interests Of American life, and
= ny may 1t not, with its free distriSu-
ton OF such = newspaper drive all
others from The field?
1t may not be entirely accurate 10
state that such = scheme has already
been framed at Washington. But the
germs of it are ali there. and only blind
ness or careIessness on the part OF the
pubic and the daily press Is necessary
10 give them the chance to expand in
hGfFid nlenacing rankness.f
Introductory to this are such
phrases as the following:
1t is needless to review the nantes
tatiens of the feYered, absurd but none
the less menactng career of that youth
Iul branch OF the National Government.
NO arguments are needed to prove the
possibilities IN IL for evil, especially in
lis possession or 2 power utterly foreign
10 the spirit of American institutions, to
place at the mercy of an Administra ton
the fortunes of the individual. Facts of
the past Few years speak for themselves.
The Times does not deny that there
may be a basis for all this. AS in
the case OF the attack by the Des
Moines Capital on the government of
the District of Columbia-to which
reference was made recently-it can
neither deny nor affirm until it knows
what it all means The charges as
they stand are distinctly a reflection
upon the publication in which they
appear. because their purpose is evil
IDENTIFY to make the reader mistrgst
one Of the departments Of his Gov
eminent without detailed accusations
TO sustain that distrust or the tender
of a whit of proof to aid the Govern
nent in investigating il
The Times says again II is time to
go slow If any of us know of graft"
anywhere in the whole range OF the
Government it is our duty to help in
the detection and punishment of the
offenders. But let US be above vague
charges which hold us to nothing and
cast suspicion on the many rather
than on the few who may be guilty.
Ii we have anything to say. let us
say it like men. As for the Manufac-
turers' Record, until its editors are
ready to speak out like men, the
country ought to believe and will be-
Iieve that its structures are empty
words