The Irish standard., 1905-08-19


position to be placed in, and yet, ii
we are to preserve intact the heritage
that was bequeathed unto us by our
forefathers, if we preserve such gov
ernment as the martyred Lincoln por
trayed in his immortal Gettysburg
speech-"a government of the people.
by the people and for the people,
then we must be prepared, when occa-
! sion demands it, to do those things,
otherwise we surrender our rights to
insidious foes and forfeit all claims
to those inestimable blessings enumer-
ated in the declaration of indepen-
dence
Why is it that as soon as man
, cries out against an existing evil which
has become unbearable and is growing
worse year by year, his motives are
impugned and his private character
even assailed? Why is it that the
great dailies which claim to be the
.agencies for the dissemination of doc
with coarse, vituperative language and
denunciatory inuendoes? Can they
not, or will they not, see that the
people are fast losing confidence in
their publications? Why, in numer-
GUS instances lately, reformer can
not get his views on public questions
int in Of
pers unless he pays for it at adver-
tlsing rates. Only last fall, when the
great campaign was on and the con-
test waxed hot in Wisconsin between
the La Toilette administration forces
and the Boilers under the lead of Sen
| ators Spooner Quarles, Babcock & Co.,
! an administration man in my own city
wanted to refute some of the misrep-
reservations that were pNblished in a
certain stalwart Republican newspa-
per, but he was told very plainly that
| the paper was being run for the mon
! ey they obtained, that they wrote their
editorials and argued the public ques-
| tions that arose the same as lawyers
argued cases in court for the men
i who hired and paid them, and that if
| the La Toilette man wanted to publish
defense of his principles he must
/ pay for it at advertising rates. Shades
i of Horace Greeley! look down upon us
from your abiding place and see how
, journalism has been prostituted in the
! interest Of rapacious greed!
Freedom of speech and the liberty
of the press are high sounding phrases
, and are incorporated into the consti-
tutions of every republic and for a
time receive due consideration, but
under the tyrannical rule of CONNER
cial corruptionists they became as
sounding brass and tinkling cymbals.
tell you we must arouse ourselves.
1t has been we'll and truthfully said
that "the blessings of a free govern
ment can only be maintained by firm
adherence to justice, moderation, tenn.
perance, frugality AID virtue, and by
frequent recurrence to fundamental
principles" That being true it be.
hooves all those who would maintain
free government to teach and preach
those fundamental doctrines to each
succeeding generation:--not only that,
but keep it constantly before the peo-
pie at every convention, every confer
ence and every meeting, the same as
is stated in the Lords prayer which we
are taught to repeat every day: "Give
us this day our daily bread"
Oh, those monstrous and iniquitous
trusts; how they have already en-,
shaved so many of our misguided fel-
low-creatures Why do so many of
our publications try to belittle or con-
done the acts of Depew in his relations
to that insurance society? Why do
they try to conceal the guilt and con.
viction of MITCHELL or, if they publish
it at all, it is only in small type and
in some obscure corner of their pa
per? Why ignore or passively con-
done the guilt of Statistician Holmes
on the cotton deal? Why is 1t that too
often are we compelled in the interest
of fair play anG honest government to
seek information from our one time
political foes? AS I write | have now
lying in my desk before me copy of
an Atlanta, Ga, paper sent to me by a
friend now living in the South, in
which it appears that our president
has used, no doubt, truthful terms,
when he said that "the man is in my
opinion far greater scoundrel than
if he had stolen money from the gov.
ernment"
The paper mentions the matter in
large capital letters and places it, as
it should, upon the title page SO as to
attract attention and awaken our peo-
pie to the dangers that beset u.s. 1t is
really too bad that we submit to a
press that tries to conceal or excuse
grating, boodling and stealing by our
public servants, even though they may
vote the same party ticket with us.
In this country all the voters are our
fellOw-citiZens no matter what party
they may train with, and If we are
good citizens, If we love our country
and good government better and with
| a stronger attachment than we do orr