Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-02-10

they conceive mischief, and bring forth
iniquity" Again, in Ezekiel: because we
have spoken vanity and seen lies, there
fore. behold. am against you. And my
hand shan be Upon the prophets who see
vanity and that divine lies" N
AS understand Ezekiel, the much raker
sees vanity because it is a palpable effiu-
viu1n rising like a mist out of his own
heart. and making his vision murlky.
Excellent jeremiah said of them: "And
they bend their tongue like their bow for
lies; but they are not valiant for the truth
upon the earth" The book points out that
the muck rakers' industry is not cheerful
to any but themselves. In Ezekiel this is
stated with admirable clearness, thus: BE
of the righteous sad. whom 1 have not
made sad"
This thought leads us from the moral
to the commercial aspect of muck raking.
Nothing in magazine journalism which is
| not cheerful can permanently succeed
| unless it chances to be well written, and
their most STAINLESS apologist has never
said that a muck raker could write we'll
No magazine proprietor would indulge in
even a natural propensity for muck rahing
! If he thought 1t were immoral-and have
proved that 1t is immoral by authorities
| which magazine proprietors and editors
would have obeyed II they had heard of
them before now. No; speak of the conf
mercial aspect. assuming that 1t has beea
considered heretofore by those who believed
| the industry moral.
| God did not make US sad; and the meas
ure OF our littleness compared to His infinite
| greatness is manifest In one respect, in
that while God did not design us to be sad,
some men in all ages have endeavored to
| make US 50. To this ungodly class the
muck raker essentially belongs.
1t is godlike to be cheerful, and it is thus
the instinct of honest men; but to be cheer
full is to be natural to attract attention
from the general, and is therefore dis
esteemed by the muck raker. But with
malicious generalization to set about the
task of making people sad will gain noto-
riety which, to the vain, is a welcome es-
cape from lives of concealed uselessness
"If we cannot be known for doing we'll
at least let us be known for doing ILL.," they
shrek, land set the saddening muck rake
| flying"
The born muck raker cannot endure to
waste his equivalent for fragrance on the
desert air; IL must be waited in the market
place. no matter how it offends the nostrils
OF the people. At least the people know
1t is there, though they suffer In the kpowl
edge. No muck raker ever persisted from
excess OF decency.
50, we ask, is Il commercially wise for q
magazine to do that which though II mo
mentarily attracts attention does II only
to sadden? Attention. as II is interpreted
by the muck raker and his publisher, Il
success. But an attention which has In 4
the force OF repulsion is as improbable a.
the dream stolen from the cupi the awaken
ing comes not alone with a sore heart
which can be hidden, but also with sor'
head, which advertises itself
To reduce our figure to literal speech th'
magazine which attracts attention, that is
readers and advertisers. by making dis
orderly noises in bad company Is preparing
for itself a lodge in some vast wilderness
where IL win circulate only among carrioI
birds and carry no advertisements excep
OF disinfectants- Healthy readers rebe
when they realize that the cause OF thei
sadness while reading a magazine Is bas
J smell, and that they are not suffering from
any complaint which bad smell will cure
The muckraker is a poor judge OF human
, nature; he does not discriminate In his use
OF the evil which is In man. In that respec
, he Is less crafty than the blackmaiier, VIII
. profits by his knowledge that there Away
: are men who win pay TO keep some usuci
; ! out OF print So. ask. Il Il even good Dusi