Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-04-02
VOICES OF THE PRESS.
ScribbIers Making Hay.
(kanSas Citv JOurnal.)

tkanSas City JOurnal.)
10 attack and tear down is much
easier than to assist and construct, and
ODDLY enough, is generally more popu-
lar. what other people have laborous-
~ established, no matter at what cost
ol thought and patriotism, is always
Vulnerable to the Obstructive malcon-
tent. fusene Debs may claw ana
thunder at existing social order, but
ne mas nothing to offer in its place.
ne IS therefore an enemy and not Z
ifleiiu OF humanity. Jack London may
say 70 hell with the constitution
Win the vague promise that out of
the resultant chaos and anarchy of in
sltutlonal dissolution something better
may come than we now have. Against
such enemies of mankind society can
protect itself
IN" gravest danger that at present
threatens America is the invasion of
the So-callcd literary free lance who
has suddenly discovered that Il certain
KIND OF scribbling pays better than that
to which he had been addicted before.
Cheap magazines and still cheaper
newspapers, with an ever ready will to
ingratiatc themselves into the popular
sentiment for faultfinding and tearing
down, pay for this new kind of scrib-
bling ut the sacrifice ofapatriOtiSm and
honor The stuff is generally "syndi-
Gated and purchased at rates that
could not be paid if, for example, Lin
coin SteffenS, Ray Stannard Baker and
David Graham Phillips wrote only for
one publication. Some of their arti-
cles are exclusive, but the sort of mat
ter sent out by them to various news
papers is mere merchandise to be
bought by those who want it.
Stcffens is Il chronic faulttindcr who
has made it pay. After working along
the lines of civic graft until the field
was pretty We'll exhausted as far as
the magazines were concerned, he turn
ed his attention to Washington. With
Il great flourish of trumpets and much
bowling to the grand stand he boldly
went to the nationa, capitol. He is
turning out columns of stuff at the pre-
vaiiing rates all of which could be
written in Kansas City by one at all
familiar with the machinery of govern
mcnt. There is nothing new in the
Steffcns disclosures" They are Old
stories revamped i'll hysterical language
and presented as something just dis
covered and of transcendant iInpor-
tancc
Such exaggerated alarms as Steffens
is now unfolding to various newspapers
throughout the country have a certain
vogue because they appeal to the
prejudice and the passions of those
who seek to tear down. Evils of gov
ernmcnt there are, but up to date Stef-
fcnS has found no new ones, and it is
unlikely that he will find any, us he
cannot do more than skim about the
edges. Washington is invaded by n
host of scribblinG pot boilers who take
Eall bedrooms there for Il FEW DAYS
or a week: view the senate from the
gallery for a few hours each day; walk
about through the public corridors,
and then write lcarnedly of the inside"
of our administrative system. 1t is
good stuff" in the market at present,
ana that is why the supply is incrcas-
ing. After the sober senses of the
American people return and they see
what nonsense nne-tcnthS of all this
tCmmyrot reform literature is, the
demand for it will cease. In the mean
time however, while the pay is good
the writer's are working Overtimc-tcar-
ing down.