Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1906-03-31


II, 1903. at the postoflce, ottumwa, Iowa,
p 1873. the Act Of Congress Of March 3
GLASS HOUSE CRITICS.
There is a reaction in this country
against the literary scandal mongers,
self-styled correspondents" whol
make living tearing down the insti-
buttons that have made America great
hunting for dishonesty among those
prominent before the public eye. This
writer's hysteria" has many expo
nents. Magazines and many newspa-
pers have been full of their rot. They
accuse right and left, choosing this
prominent man and that. and creating
an impression that there is no longer
any honesty nor honor in the nation.
This reform" campaign, in which
the. writers have enlisted compare
lively recently, has been going on for
several years but has been brought
into the limelight recently by reason
Of the hysterical articles written about
! 1t. One of its chief opponents has
been District Attorney Jerome of New
York. With Folk, La Toilette and
some others Of less prominence he has
been hailed as the champion of re,
form, a savior of the people from the
tentacled dragon, graft. Reams OF
copy paper have been filled with
space articles about him and his fell
low reformers. And now, strange to
say, Jerome has turned against the
very men who have advertised his
name to the world.
Jerome, as is the case with the
chronic, publicity seeking .'reformer,"
realizes that it is easiest to gain no.
doing the unusual. According
time ago, he made fierce
IAN after dinner speech upon
.(sterical writer's whom he de.
as "the literary free lances," at
or $4,000 year, who are tear
out the basis of national life.
Speaking of the recent diatribe of
of these literary free lances, de.
ncing the United States senate as
9use Of traitors, Mr.. Jerome says:
We are growing so accustomed to
erlatives that even our racy
5eech has become debauched, and
we have no words left when we would
speak in superlatives. Is the senate
Of the United States reasonable
body? Is the senate-to borrow a
term from machinery-which is the
governor of the body polite, guilty of
treeAon? There are in the senate
base men, no doubt, but when you say
the senate OF the United States is
reasonable, you either lie or miscon-
ceive the meaning OF the English Ian.
guage.
sive, who thinks that every yearnins
for the benefit Of humanity must be
constantly enacted into law, and a
house Of representatives typified by
William Sulzer, that great friend OF
the people, we hear talk always OF
the reasonable acts of the United
States senate.
..There are upright men, respecta-
HE men, who were in the United
States senate when we were at our
mothers breasts, and they would no
sooner be guilty of treason to the
country than the writer l named
would"
While this criticism is true and
meets with the approval of all who
have not been carried away by the
ARTICLES criticised, it does seem queer
That Jerome, Of all men, should be the
lsTne to make it. Surely, If he should
Mook about him he could hardly help
@out realize that he and his FELLOW
&reformers," working with advertis
I ING agents always at hand, travelling
S Rp and down the country talking re
form doctrines, first put in motion the
wheels OF the juggernaut that jerome
now calls literary hysteria." The
magazine writer's are to blame, but
they have only worked out the natur
al sequence Of the events in which Je
rome and such ilk were the moving
spirits. While Jerome has done some
good he has done much harm and he
s is reaping his harvest in the form O
the literary hysteria that now per
vades the country.
The Ray Stannard Bakers Of the
magazines and yellow newspapers de
serve criticism, strong and unmistak
able in its terms, but the Jeromes, liv
ing in glass houses, should be the
very last to throw stones.