The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1906-04-14

9 EeacbAoA, Hlu, uHAOIIuAHIeiy,I He 9Ie
punishment Of those guilty Of the ex-
cess, is very apt to take the form
either Of punishment Of the unoffend-
ing or Of giving immunity, and even
strength, to offenders
Panama Canal as Example.
"The effort to make financial or DO.
litical profit out Of the destruction of
character can only result in public
calamity. Gross and reckless assaults
on character, whether on the stump OF
IN newspaper, magazine or book, create
q morbid and vicious public sentiment,
ana at the same time act as profound
deterrent to able men Of normal sen.
sltlveness and tend to prevent them
from entering the public service at any
price.
As an instance in point, I NAV
mention that one serious difficulty en-
countered in getting the right type Of
men to dig the Panama canal is the
certainty that they will be exposed.
both without, and, I am sorry to say,
sometimes within. congress, to utterly
reckless assaults on their character and
capacity.
TAT the risk Of repetition let me
say again that my plea is, not for i'm
munity to, but For the most unspar-
ing exposure Of the politician who
betrays his trust, Of the big business
men l., who makes or spends his fortune
IN lliegitlmate or corrupt ways. There
should be a resolute effort to hunt every
such man out Of the position he has
d1sgraced. Expose the crime, and hunt
down the criminal; but remember that
even IN the case of crime, If it is at.
tackled in sensational, lurid and I'm.
truthful fashion. the attack may DE-
more damage to the public mind than
the crime itself.
IT Is because I feel that there
should be no rest in the endless war
against the forces of evil that I ask
that. the war be conducted with sanity
as well as with resolution. The men
with the undertakes are often indis
pensable to the wellbeing of society;
but only if they know when to stoI
raking the muck and to look upward tc
the celestial crown above them, to the
crown or worthy endeavor. There are
beautiful things above and round
about them; and If they gradually
grow to feel that the whole world Il
nothing but muck, their power Of use
fulness Is gone. IF the whole picture
is painted black there remains no hue
whereby to single out the rascals Fol
distinction from their fellows.
Such painting finally induces kline
Of moral color blindness, and people
affected by it come to the conclusion
that no man is really black, and no mar
really white, but they are all gray. II
other words. they neither believe il
honesty Of the man who is attacked
they grow as suspicious of the accuse
ton as Of the offense; 1t becomes well
nigh hopeless to stir them either tt
wrath against wrongdoing or to en-
thusiasm for what is right; and such =,
mental attitude in the public give
hope to every knave and is the despai
Of honest men. ..'S g.
Fears Public Conscience. 4
tfTo assail the great and admitte'
evils Of our political and industrial
life with such crude and sweeping gen
ordinations as to include decent men !,
the general condemnation means tn
soaring of the public conscience. Their
results a general attitude either o
cynical belief in and :. Indifference t
public corruption or else Of distrust
full inability to discriminate betwee
the good and the bad. Either attitud
is fraught with untold damage to tn
country as whole. The fool who ha
not sense to- discriminate between wha
is good and what is bad',is well-nigh q
dangerous as the man who does discsirr
mate and yet chooses the bad. IN
There is nothing more distressin
to every good patriot, to every goo
American, than the hard, SOOTHING spiri
which, treats the allegation Of disho1
+ esty in a public man as cause #
laughter. Such laughter is worse tina
the cracking Of thorns under a pot, fe
| it denotes not merely the vacant min,
but the heart in which high emotion
have been ehoked before they coul
grow to fruition.
There is any amount Of good in th
world, and there never was time whe
loftier and more disinterested work fe
| the betterment Of mankind was bein
done than now. The forces that ten
for evil are great and terrible, but th
forces Of truth and love and courag
| and honesty and generosity and syn
| pathy are also stronger than ever b.
| fore.
cit is q foolish and timid, no les
than wicked thing, to blink the fax
| that the forces Of evil are strong, br
it is even worse to fail to take into a.
count the strength Of the forces ths
tell for good.
4 nHysterical sensationalfsm is Il
1 very poorest weapon wherewith to fgl
for lasting righteousness. The men WI
| with stern sobriety and truth assail II
many evils Of our time, whether in IL
Ipublic press, or in magazines, or
books, are the leaders and allies of a
engaged in the work for social al
4 political betterment. But if they gi,
good reason for distrust of what The
say, if they chill the ,ardor Of those wi
demand truth as a primary virtue, the
4 thereby betray the good cause, and pls
into the hands Of the very men again
whom they are nominally at war.
! Gin his Ecclesiastical Polity TIL
fine old Eizabethan divine, Bisht
Hooker, wrote: He that goeth abo
1 to persuade multitude that they a
mot SO well governed as they ought
be, shall never want attentive and {
4 vorable hearers; because they kne
i the manifold defects whereunto eve
kind Of regimen is subject, but t,
secret let's and difficulties, which
public proceedings are innumerab
and inevitable, they have not ordin
rily the Judgment to consider
Warns Against Extremes.
Il This truth should be kept CO
stantly in mind by every free peoI
desiring to preserve the sanity al
poise indispensable to the permane
success Of self -government. Yet, on
il other hand, it is vital not to perm
this spirit of sanity and self-commal
to degenerate into mere mental stagr
ton. Bad tho state Of hystericai q
element is, and evil tho the results a
which come from the violent osni1
duces, yet yet sodden acauieseenee M E,
a is even worse.