Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1906-04-14

book, create q morbid and vicious public
sentiment. and at the same time act as
profound deterrent to able men of normal /
sensitiveness and tend to prevent them I
from entering the public service at any |
price. As an instance In point, / may |
mention that one serious difficulty encoun- /
tered in getting the right type OF men to |
dig the Panama Canal is tho certainty |
that they will be exposed both without |
and, am sorry to say, sometimes within
/ Congress, 70 utterly reckless assaults on
their character and capacity.
At the risk of repetition let me say
/ again that my plea is, not ior immunity
TO but for the most nsparing exposure OF
| the politician who hctruys lns trust OF the
| big business men who makes or spends
| his fortune IN illogitimatc or corrupt ways.
| There should be rcsolutc effort to hunt
every such man out OF the position he has
disgraced. Expose the crime. and hunt
down the criminal; but remember ina.
even in the case OF crime, II II IS attacSed
in sensational, lurid and untfuthiul iash-
ion. tho attack may do moro damage 70
the public mind than the crime itsot 10
is because / feel that there ahOuid be no
rest in the endless war againet the forces
OF evil That ask that The war be CON
D ANNANA VIII aNNlNN AA fft|AA aAA fNtNi ANHffff
tion. Tho men with the muck-rnkes are
often Indispensable to tho well-being OF
society; but only il they know when to
stop mking the muck, and 10 look upward
to the celestial crown above them, to the
crown of worthy endcnvor lhcic are
beautiful things above and round about
them; and il they gradually grow to feel
that the whole world Is nothing but muck,
their power of usefulness is gone. II the
whole picture is painted black there re-
mains no hue whereby TO single out the
rascals for distinction from their fellows.
Such painting finally induces q kind Of
moral color-blndness; and people Affected
by il come to tho conclusion that no man
is really black and no man really white,
but they are all gray. In other words,
they neither believe in the truth of the
: attack. nor ia the honesty OF the man
who is attacked; they grow as suspicious
OF the accusation as of the olience II
becomes well-nigh hopeless to stir them
3 either TO wrath against wrongdoing or TO
s enthusiasm for what is right; and such a
mental attitude in the public gives hope
3 to every knave, and is the despair of
honest men.
{ 70 assail the great and admitted evils
Of our political and industrial life with such
AhNAN anu NMANliAAk AAeAANtANt'AA' t-a "
! include decent men in the general con-
T demnation means the soaring Of the pub
S lie conscience. There results a general
s attitude either OF cynical belief in and in
Z difference to public corruption or else OF a
distrustful inability to discriminate be-
81 tween the good and the bad Either atti-
s tude is fraught with untold damage to the
Y country as a whole The fool who has
e. not sense to discriminate between what is
e good and what is bad is wel-nigh as dan
/ gorous as the man who does discriminate
r. and yet chooses the bad. There is moth
d ing more distressing to every good patriot
Y TO every good American, than the hard
S scoffing spirit which treats the allegation
y OF dishonesty in public man as a cause FOL
laughter Such laughter is worse than
u the cracking of thorns under pot, Tor il
n denotes not merely the vacant mind, but
the heart in which high emotions have
T. been choked before they could grow tC
- iruition.
o There is any amount Of good in the
n world, and there never was time wher
e loftier and more disnterested work for The
betterment OF mankind was being don'
h than now. The forces that tend for evi
e are great and terrible. but the forces o.
m truth and love and courage and honesty
st and generosity and sympathy are alss
ie stronger than ever before. Il is a ioolisl
is and timid, no less than a wicked thing, t
T. blink the fact that the forces Of evil ar
d strong, but il is even worse to fail to taxi
II into account the strength of the forces tha
is tell for good Hystercal sensationalisn
le is the very poorest weapon wherewith q
ie fight for lasting righteousness. The mel
IS who with stern sobriety and truth assai
IF the many evils of our time, whether in tn
4. public press, OF in magazines, OF in book.
e are the leaders and allies OF all engage
ss in the work for social and political better
e. ment. But if they give good reason 70
Il distrust of what they say, if they chill th
le ardor of those who demand truth as
primary virtue, they thereby betray tn
ic good cause, and play into the hands {
ID the very men against whom they are nom
81 ! nallv at war