The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-04-16

THE MAN WITH THE MUCK RAKE.
If the opponents Of Lincoln sterens.
David Graham Phillips, and other mag
azine writer's who have been telling
some unpleasant truths about corrup-
tionists in high places. can find any
consolation in the remarks made by
President Roosevelt Saturday about
the man with the muck rake" they
are certainly entitled to it.
Some days ago when it was an
nounced that the president would make
such a speech, certain Washington cor
respondents who are controlled largely
by the old senate system" telegraph
ed that the president intended to "caIl
down. the critics of the senate
Now this is a little harder on the
senate that either Mr. Steffens or Mr..
Phillips was ever guilty. A muck
rake implies that that which Is raked
is muck. Messrs. Stenens and Phillips
criticised congress-especially the sen
ate. To refer to either of them as 'the
man with the muck rake is to imply
that the senate is the substance on
which the muck rake is used.
The presidents reference was only
to that class that sees only the evil
trying to build up; that resorts to false.
hood in its criticisms.
This reference can hardly be made to
apply to writer's like Mr.. steffens. It is
true that Mr. Steffens has uncovered
masses of corruption in the municipal
affairs of our cities: he has unmasked
the enemies of the repubHc"-the big
business interests that have been under
mining honesty in public affairs But
at the same time he has told of the
La F'ollettes, the Folks, the Fagans-the
men who stand for honor and good
government.
1t is true that Mr.. Phillips has made
certain members of the senate writhe
and squirm under the denunciation of
their treason. but has he departed from
the truth? Have not the Depews. the
Platts, the Aldriches, the Elkinses, been
representing big corporations and
monied interests in the senate at the ex-
pense of the people2 Is 1t not treason
to place ones allegiance to the express
trust, the Star ard Oil trust, or some
other trust, above ones allegiance to the
people as a whole? And is not that the
treason these senators have been guilty
of?
There may be danger-nay, there is
danger-that the literature of exposure
may be carried too far. That is what
the president desires to guard against.
Wholesale and reckless charges without
facts to substantiate them would bring
a reaction. But men like Mr.. Stenens
have their facts to back them
AS matter of fact Lincoln Steffens
is doing his country a greater service
today than ninety per cent of the SEN
ators. congressman and governors who
are drawing big salaries for that work
He is arousing the pub1ic conscience to
a sense of honesty and integrity that is
greatly needed. The writer of these
lines would rather be capable of accom-
pIishing the work Lincoln Stefens has
done than to be governor of the state of
Kansas a dozen times over. Steffens is
a real patriot
The work of criticism and exposure
is by no means pleasure It is far
easier and more pleasant to praise a
public man or a millionaire and thus to
gain his good will than it is to dig up
the wrong he is perpetuating and ex-
pose it.
President Roosevelt's speech reads
like praise Of Lincoln Steffens, Miss
Tarbell and other writers like them. He
protests only against those persons who
may try to make a fad of exposure and
resort to falsehood and exaggeration TO
get material. That is to be condemned
in the strongest terms. The truth about
wrong is bad enough. It is the truth
that counts. whether it be in condemna-
ton of a Platt. an AIdrich, or a Depew.
or in praise Of a La Toilette. Hanly,
or a Folk.