The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1906-04-26

building of the House of Representative
in full is as follows:
Over a century ago Washington laid the
corner stone of the capitol in what was ther
little more than a tract of wooded wilder
ness here beside the Potomac. We now FIND
IL necessary to provide by great addltiona
buildings for the business of the government
This growth in the need for the housing Of
the government Is but a proof and example
of the way In which the nation has grown
and the sphere of action of the nationa
government has grown. We now admins
ter the affairs Of a nation In which the
extraordinary growth of population ha.
been outstripped by the growth of wealth
and the growth In complex interests. I.
The material problems that face US to
day are not such as they were In Wash
ington's tire, but the underlying facts OF
human nature are the same now as they
were then. Under altered external form
we war with the same tendencies toward
evil that were evident In washington's tins
and are helped by the same tendencies fol
good. 1t Is about some of these that I.wish
TO say a word to-day
Man with Muck Rake.
In Bunyan's pilgrims Progress you
may recall the description of the mar
with the muck rake, the man who could
look no way but downward, with the muck
-ake In his hands, who was offered a celes-
tial crown for his muck rake, but who
would neither look up nor regard the crown
he was offered but continued to rake to
himself the filth ot the floor.
In Pilgrims Progress" the man with
the muck rake IS set forth as the example
OF him whose vision Is fixed on carnal In
stead of on spiritual things. Yet he also
typifes the man who In this life consistent
~ refuses to see aught that Is lofty and
fixes his eyes with solemn intentness only
on that which is vile and debasing. Now,
It is very necessary that we should not
finch from seeing what Is vile and debas-
ing.
MI - at -
be scraped up with the muck rake, and
there are times and places where this serv-
Zee Is the most needed of all the services
that can be performed. But the man who
never does anything else. who never thinks
or speaks or writes, save of his feats with
the mcck rake. speedily becomes not a help
to society, not an Indictment TO good, but
one Of the most potent forces for evil.
Many and Grave Evils.
There are In the body polite, economic
Is urgent necessity for the sternest war
upon them There should be relentless ex-
posture OF and attack upon every evil man,
whether politician or business man, every
ness or In social life. I hail as a benefac-
tor every writer or speaker. every man who
on the platform or In book, magazine or
newspaper with merciless severity makes
turn remembers that the attack Is of use
only IL 1t Is absolutely truthful. The liar
Is no whit better than the thief, and II his
mendacity takes the torn of SANDER he
may be worse than most thieves 1T puts
Z premium upon knavery untruthfully TO at
tack an honest man or even with hysterical
exaggeration to assail a bad man with un
truth
An epidemic of fudiscriminate assault
upon character does no good but very great
harm The soul Of every scoundrel Is glad
ened whenever an honest man is assailed
or even when a scoundrel Is untruthfully
assailed.
Do Not Jump at Cancellations.
Now, 1t is easy to twist out of shape what
I have said. easy to affect to misunderstood
Ii. and II ft Is slurred over in repetition
not din1cult really to misunderstood Ii.
Some persons are sincerely incapable Of un-
does not mean the Endorsement Of white
washing, and both the interest individ-
uals WHO med withdrawing and those 9TH
ers who prsctice mudslinging like to en-
courage such confusion of ideas.
One Of the chief counts against those who
make indiscl inmate assault upon men In
business or men In public life is thst they
invite q reaction which Is sure to tell pow
errully In favor of the unscruplous scoun-
drel who really ought to be attacked, who
ought TO be exposed. who ought II possible
to be put In the penitentiary. II Aristides
n praised oyermuch as just people get tired
Of hearing It, and overcensure Of the un-
In their favor.
Exee9s invites Reaction.
Any excess Is almost sure to invits a re-
action. and unfortunately the react in
stead Of taking the form Of punish of
those guilty OF the excess Is YER a. to
take the form either Of Furnishing ,f the
unodending or Of giving Immunity aud even
financial or political profit out Of The de-
struction Of character can only result in
public calamity. Gross and reckless as
saults on character, whether on the stump
mr. IN naUunc a ~ -. k..r-
morbid and vicious public sentiment and at
the same time act as q profound deterrent
to able men Of normal sensitiveness and
tend to prevent them from entering the
public service ct any price.
As an Instance In poiDt, may mention
that one serious difficulty encountered in
getting the right type Of men to dig the
will be exposed. both without and am
sorry to say sometimes within, Congress to
utterly reckless assaults on their character
and capacity.
At the risk Of repetition let me saw again
that my plea Is not for immunity to but for
the most unsparing exposure Of the politf
clan who betrays his trust, of the big bust
ness man who makes or spends his fortune
should be a resolute effort to hunt every
graced.
Expose Crimes, Hunt Criminal.
Expose the crime and hunt down the
criminal, but remember that even In the
case Of crime. II IL b attacked in sensa-
tional, 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 eyjl that
ask that the war be conducted With san
ity As well as with resolution.
The men with the muck axes are often
indispensable to the well-being of society.
but only II they know when to stop rakinv
the muck and to look upward to the ceies,
tai crown above them, to the crown Of
things above and round about them. and
II they gradually grow to feel that the
whole world Is nothing but muck their DOW
er of usefulness Is gone.
II the whole picture Is painted bIack
there remains no hue whereby to single out
the rascals for distinction from their fell
lows Such painting finally induces a kind
ed by 1t come to the conclusion hat ns
man Is really black and no man really
v1ite, but they are all gray.
In otner words. they neither believe IN |
Of the man who II attacked; they grow
as suspicious of the accusation as of the
onense It becomes weilnigh hopeless to
stlr them either to wrath against wrong
doing or to enthusiasm for what Is right. !
and such a mental attitude In the public |
gives hope to every knave and IL the desDair
Of honest men.
Sort Good from EVIL.
AhC Bkc8l anu 6Qm1IIoQ evils or
our political and Industrial life with such
crude and sweeping congratulations as TO
include decent men In the general con-
demnation means the soaring OF the public |
There results a general aftf.
tude either Of cynical belief in and indfrer- !
ence TO public corruption or else of a dis |
trustful Inability to discriminate between |
the good and the bad. Either attitude Is |
fraught with untold damage to the country
a. a whole.
Tn fool who has not sense 20 discrim.
mate between what Is. good anO what Il |
bad Is welinigb as dangerous as the man
does discriminate and yet chooses the
There Is nothing more distressing to
every good patriot, to every good American. |
than the hard, scofing spirit which treats
the allegation OF dishonesty in a public man
as a cause for laughter. Such laughter is
than the cracking OF thorns under n
pot, for 1t denotes not merely the vacant
mind, but the heart In which high emotions
have been choked before they could grow
TO fruifion-
There IS any amount of good in the world
Ind there never was a time when ioftier and
more disiGterested work for the betternent
1f mankind was being done than now. The
forces that tend for evil are great and ter
rible, but the forces Of truth and love and
courage and honesty and generosity and
are also stronger than ever before
Is a foolish and timid no less than n