Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-04-14
PRESIDENT HITS
THE MUCK.RATE MEN
Continued from Page one.)

good, but very great harm. The soul
of every scoundrel is gladdened when
ever an honest man is assailed, or even
when a scoundrel Is untruthfully as
sailed.
Now, it is easy to twist out of shape
what | have just said, easy to affect to
misunderstood it, and, If it is slurred
over In repetition, not difficult really
to misunderstood it. Some persons are
sincerely incapable of understanding
that to denounce mud singing does
not mean the Endorsement of white
washing; and both the interested indi-
viduals who need whitewashing, and
those others who practice mud
singing, like to encourage such
confusion Of ideas. One OF
the chief counts against those
who make indiscriminate assault upon
men in business or men In public llte
Is that they invite a reaction which is
sure to tell powerfully In favor OF the
INSCRIPTIONS scoundrel who really
ought to be attacked, who ought to be
exposed, who ought ii possible, to be
put In the penitentiary. II Aristides is
praised overmuch as just, people get
tired Of hearing it; and overcensure of
the unjust finally and from similar rea-
sons results in their favor.
Amy excess is almost sure to invite
reaction; and, unfortunately, the re-
action, instead of taking the form of
punishment Of those guilty OF the ex-
cess, is very apt to take the form either
of punishment of the unoffending or OF
giving immunity, and even strength,
to offenders. The effort to make finan-
cial or political profit out of the de-
struction of character can only result
in public calamity Gross and reckless
assaults on character, whether on the
stump or in newspaper, magazine, or
book. create a morbid and vicious pub
lie sentiment. and at the same time
act as a profound deterrent to able men
Of normal sensitiveness and tend to
prevent them from entering the public
service at any price AS an instance in
point, may mention that one serious
difficulty encountered In getting the
right type of men to dig the Panama
canal is the certainty that they will be
exposed, both without. and, am sorry
to say, sometimes Within congress, to
utterly reckless assaults on their char
acter and capacity.
cat the risk of repetition let me say
again that my plea is, not for Immunity
to but for the most unsparing exposure
of the politician who betrays his trust,
of the big business man who makes
or spends his fortune in illegitimate,
or corrupt ways. There should
be resolute effort to hunt
every such man out of the
position he has disgraced. Expose the
crime. and hunt down the criminal; but
remember that even in the case OF
crime, If 1t is attacked in sensational,
lurid. and untruthful fashion, the at
tack may do more damage to the pub
llic mind than the crime itself. 1t is
because l feel that there should be no
rest in the endless war against the
forces of evil that l ask that the war
be conducted with sanity as we'll as
with resolution. The men with the
muck are often Indispensable to
the well-being Of society; but only 1T
they know when to stop raking the
muck, and to look upward to the ce-
| lestial crown above them. to the crown
of worthy endeavor. There are beauti-
full things above and round about them,
and if 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 remains no hue whereby to sim
gle out the rascals for distinction from
their fellows. Such painting induces a
kind of moral color blindness; and
people affected by 1T come to the con-
clusion 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
| in the honesty of the man who is at
tackled; they grow as suspicious OF
the accusation as of the offense; it be-
comes well-nigh hopeless to stir them
either to wrath against wrong doing
or to enthusiasm for what is right; and
such mental attitude in the public
gives hope to every knave and is the
despair Of honest men.
at is a prime necessity that if the
present unrest is to result in perma-
nent good the emotion shall be trans
lated into action. and that the action
shall be marked by honesty, sanity,
and self-restraint There is mighty
! little good in mere spasm of reform.
The reform that counts is that which
comes thru steady, continuous growth;
violent emotionalism leads to exhaus-
/ tinn