The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1906-04-14
ON THE MAN
WITH THE MUCK RAKE

similar reasons results in their favor.
Any excess is almost sure TO invite a
reaction; and. unfortunately, the roao-
tion, instead OF taking the form OF pun
ishment Of those guilty OF the excess. Is
very apt to take the form either OF pun
ishment OF the unoffending or Of giving
immunity, and even strength, to offend
ers. The effort to make financial or po-
litical profit out OF the destruction OF
character can only result in public
calamity.
Gross and reckless assaults on char
acter, whether on the stump or In news
paper magazine, or book, create a NOR
the same time asst as profound deterrent
10 able men OF normal sensitiveness and
tend TO prevent them from entering the
public service at any price.
AS AN Instance In point. l may mention
that one serious dihculty encountered In
getting the right type OF men TO dig the
Panama canal IL the certainty that they
will be exposed. both without. and. i am
TO utterly reckless assa ults on their char
acter and capacity.
At the risk OF repetition let me say
again that my plea Ia, not for immunity
TO but for the most unsparing exposure
OF the politician who betrays his trust.
OF the big business men who makes or
spends his fortune In illegitimate or cor
rupt ways. There should BE- n resolute
effort 10 hunt every such man out OF the
position he has disgrared Expose the
crime, and hunt down the criminal: but
remember that even In the case OF crime,
IL IL is attacked I'm sensational, lurid and
nn1hrmthful fashion, the attack may DO
more damage 70 INC rubftc mind than the
crime itself.
IL is because feel that there should be
no rest In the endless war against the
forces or evil that | ask that the war be
conducted with sanity as well as with res
olution. Then men with the muck -ralxes
are often Indispensable to the well-being
OF society: but only II they knew when TO
stop raking the muck, and 20 look upward
TO the celestial crown above them. TO the
crown OF worthy endeavor There are
beautiful things above and round about
them; and II they gradually grow 20 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 single
out the rascals for distinction from their
fellows Such painting finally induces a
kind OF moral color blindness. and people
affected by II come TO the conclusion that
no man is really black. and no man really
white. but they are all gray In other
words. they neither believe In IN truth OF
the attack nor In the honesty OF the man
who Is attacked; they grow as suspicious
OF the accusation as OF the offeuse; Il
becomes well-nlgh hopeless to stir them
either 20 wrath against wrongd0iug or 20
enthusiasm Tor what IS rlEht. ana such
a mental attitude IN the public gives hope
90 every knave and is the despair of hon
est men
To assail the great and admitted evils
OF our political and inductrial life with
such crude and sweeping generalizatiors
az to include decent men IN the general
condemnation means the soaring OF the
public conscience There results n general
attitude either OF cynical belief In and In
difference 60 public corruption or else OF
Inability 90 Discriminate be-
tween the good and the bad. Either att-
tude is fraught with untold damage TO tho
country as a whole. The fool who has
not sense 10 discriminate between what II
good and what is bad is wcl-ngll as dan
gerous as the man who does discriminate
There Is nothing more distrossInE 70
every good patriot. 60 every good Amer
lean, than the hard. scoffing spirit which
treats the allegation of dishonesty I'm
public man as cause for laughter Such
is worse than the cracking OF
thOrns under a potter n denotes not
merely the vacant mind. but the heart
in which high emotions have been chqkct
before they could grow Go fruition-
There T. any amount ~ good I'm the
world, and there never was a time when