The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-04-15
=debasing. Now, It is very neces-
DY,we should not finch from seeing
RItile and debasing. There is filth
O.Dor, and 1t must be scraped up with

- where tfllB B9TVlCS ii JH0 HlOSJ nesuSu
all the services that can be performed.
1T the mar who never does anything else,
Sho never thinks or speaks or writes save
Nof his feats with the muck rake speedily
becomes, not a help to society, not an in
element to good, but one OF the most potent
forces for evil.
There are, in the body polite, economic
and social, mally and grave evils and there
IL urgent necessity for the %s;eTnest war
upon them. There should be relentless
exposure OF and attack upon every evil
man, whether politician or business man;
every evil practice, whether in politics, in
business, or In social life. | hail IA a bene-
factor every writer or speaker, every man
who, on the platform, or in book, magazine
or newspaper with merciless severity
he in his turn remembers that the attack
is Of use only II 1t is absolutely truthful.
The liar 10 no whit better than the thief.
and IL his mendacity takes the form OF
nlahder he may be worse than most thieves
II puts n premium npon knavery untruth-
fully to attack an honest man. or even with
hystericnl exaggerati2n to assail a bad man
with untruth. An epidemic OF indiscrlm-
mate assault upon character does no good,
but very great harm. The soul or every
scoundrel Is gladdened whenever an honest
man il assaulted, or even when a
In untruthfully aSsailed.
MUD sL1NGERs AND wHITEwAsHERs.
Now, it is easy to twist out OF shape
what [ have Just said, easy to affect to mis-
understand it. and, if it is slurred. over IN
repetition, not difficult really TO misunder-
stand it. Some pereons are sincerely inca
nable OF understanding that to %denounce
mud singing does not mean the Endorsement
Of whitewashlng. and both the Interested
individuals who need white washing ana
those Others who practise mud sllnglng
like to encourage such confusion OF ideas.
One Of the chief counts against those who
make ndiscriminate assault upon, fnen, IN
business or men in public life is that they
invite a " ction which Is sure to tell power,
fully in favor Of the interruptions ~scoundrei
who really ought to be attacked, who ought
To be exposed, who ought, If possible, to be
put in the pen~i.entiary- II Aristldes Ia
praised overmuctI as just people get urea
Of hearing it and over censure OF the unjust
finally. and from similar reasons, results
In their favor.
EXCESS INVITES REACTION,
ANY excess is almost sure to invite a reac-
ton. and, unfortunately, the reaction, in.
stead of taking the form of punishment OF
those guilty OF the excess, is very apt to take
the form either of punishment OF the I'M
Offending or of giving immunity, and even
strength. to offenders. Inc enorS 10
destruction Of character can only result in
public calamity. Gross and reckless as
sa,Ilts on character. whether on the stump
or in a newspaper, magazine or DOCK, create
a morbid and vicious public sentiment ana
at the same time act IA a profound deter
rent To able men of normal sensltlveneSs
and tend to prevent them from entering the
public service at any price, AS an instance
In point. I may mention that one serious
difficulty encountered IN getting me r,ghs
tie certainty that they will be exposed,
both without, and, | am sorry to say, some
times within, Congress to utterly reckless
assaults on their character and capacity
At the risk of repetition let me say again
that my plea is not for immunity TO out
for the most %unsparing exposure OF the
nolitician who betravs his trust, OF the
big business man who makes or spends
his fortune in illegitimate or corrupt ways.
There should be a resolute enort 70 hunt
disRraoed. Expose the crime and hunt
down the criminal; but remember. that
even in the case of crime if it is attacked in
sensational, lurid, and untruthful fashion,
The attack may do more damage to
the public 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 thai l ask that the war be CON
Quoted with sanity as well as with resolu-
ton. The men with the muck rakes are
often Indispensable to the wellbeing OF
Society. but only if they know when to
stop raking the muck and to look upward
70 the celestial crown above them. to the
orowp of worthy endeavor. There are
DGdullul llhllko opONS $3.50
them, and if they gradually grow to feel
thst the whole world is nothing but muck
their power OF usefulness ls gone; II the
whole picture is painted black there re-
raeoals for distinction from their fellows.
Such painting finally induces a kind OF
moral color blindness, and people affected
by It come to the conclusion that no man
IN really black and no man really white
but they are all gray. In other words,
thew neither believe in the truth of the
attack nor in the honesty Of the man who
Ia attacked; they grow as suspicious OF the
accusation as Of the offence; 1t becomes
we'll nigh hopeless to stir them either to
wrath against ~wrongdoing or to ent husiasm
for what is right, and such a mental attitude
In the public gives hope TO every a
aud is the despair of honest men.
To assail the great and admitted evils OF
cur political and industrial life with such
crude and sweeping generalizations as to
include decent men in the general condem-
nation means the soaring of the public con-
acience. There results a general attitude
either OF cynical belief i'll and Indifference
to public corruption or else OF n distrustfull
inability to discriminate between the good
and the bad. Either attitude is iraugnt
with untold damage TO the country as a
whole. The fool VINO has not sense TO dis
eliminate between what is good and what
10 bad is well nigh a. dangerous a. the man
who does discriminate and yet chooses the
had. There is nothing more distressing to
every good patriot, to every good American.
than the hard, soothing spirit which treats
the allegation of dishonesty in a public man
"a a cause for laughter. Such laughter is
worse than the cracking of thorns under a
not. for it denotes not merely the vacant
mind. but the heart in which high emotions
have been choked before they could grow
70 fruition.
~ HYsTERIA H POOREST or WEAPONS.
There is any amount of good in the
world, and there never was a time when
IoStier and more di~sinterested work for
the betterment of mankind was being
done than now. The forces that tend
Tor evil are great and terrible, but the
forces of truth and love and oourag e
and honesty and generosity and sym
pathy are also stronger than ever before.
Re Is a foolish and timid, nc less than a
wicked thing to blink the fact that the
forces Of evil are strong, but it is even
worse to fail to take into account
the strength Of the forces that tell for good,
Bvgterical sen~sationalism is the very poor
est woa o wherewith to fight for lasting
righteousness. The men who with stern
sobriety and truth assail the many evils
Of our time, whether in the public press or
in magazines or In books, are the leaders
and allies Of all engaged in the work for
eocial and political betterment. But if