Rock Island Argus., 1907-06-20
The Common Enemy.

IGnStl the lfdIIS III tne character OF
John Looney, that have brought hiE
and his hired slandcrer, Dilworth face
to face with serious criminal charges
The people in recent years have h1d|
the upportuni.y 10 observe end con
vince themselves of what unGerliCS
the Loouey weakness and yiciousness.
To aspire to leadership of men,
whether politically or otherwise, aud
TO attain that leadership through pee
sOnal popularity. ability to organize
and recognized worth and fitness l..
laudable But LOoney's ambition has
been to control rather than to lead.
to command rather than to persuade
men to do his bidding and to serve his
ends; to hold others in a position to
serve him through threat and fear.
rather than through appeal to reason
and fairness or through the force Gf
personal character. Those who have
had associations with Looney are famil-
lar with his principle of getting
something on" the man he desires to
use. Those who know him say i
has been his policy in life to drag the
skeleton from the family closet. 10
gain information often of n sacred or
family nature, and having acquired it
to holG il as bludgeOn over the head
of the victim. II mattered not how the
victim might conduct himself other
wise so long as he did not cross
LOOney's path. Then he must yield ~
be exposed. Many an unfortunate man
has suffered the tOrments of this
predicamont. until il reached the
limits where he could endure it no
longer and then after having toll
Louney to do lis worst and put MS
threat into execution has been tha
subject of the LOOney phials Of wrath
and hatred. Aud those who have 80
done have as a rule found the expose
| not nearly 50 terrifying as the con
stant fear of that "Ill get you" threat
being put into effect. Ii has come to
pass in this city that the person WHO
does not coincide with the LoOney
view of things. must be subject to HI
| LoOney abuse. it matters not whether
| it be on questions of politics or of
public policy. Looney must be con
! sidered and consulted, so he feels. o!
death and damnation or exile to those
who disregard him. A private function
at the Rock Island Club once failed ty
include Loonay IN its lists of guests
He Immediately sought to have ev2.y
member of the club indicted. and un
Gertook in other ways to impose hard
ship upon the organization, and Ia!
since been engaged in scurrilous at
taCks upon it. Nothing that could b,
conceived of even by man o
; LCOney's low instincts was too vile /,
be said of the institution that has beer
doing so much for the upbuilding o
Rock Island. The Rock Island lndus
trial commission adopted a pan fn
F the making OF 4 Greater Rock Islam
Looney was not consulted and he ha
been fighting the project with the fu"
of a mad man, but ii has gone throug
to triumphant ana unpreCC dented su'
lCesS nevertheless. These. hOwevc
are but a few instances OF the esta
Ii7A4N'i Nisli ICl l-Ai' Va 'ii' man W aib7
f vanity ana cgotism, coupled wit
malice and hatred of his fclIuwme
has made him the most despised of m
. man beings. He must have the priv
r lege of thrusting his undesirable pre-
enCe upon anything You ID, lie mu.
know all about your every movemen
land must approve of il. or like I'll
Il bogy man-hen get you. Every il
r stinCt in man revOlts against such
creature. a man so lost TO self :
spect as to yield to such diabolical di
tates would be as lost to the fin,
n senses of nature as Looney himself.
=. Nothing too scandalous can
- said by him of those who da
IL 10 differ even politically with hiI
Second only to his self-centered natur
to his thought of self at all times al
above all else, is his abiding purpo
to get even. Revenge is 10 him l
one purpose for which he was put in
the world, and there is no form
suffering too inhuman. no disgra
too great, for him to attemI
at least, to lay upon those W.
offend him in the slightest degrt
Fiendish in his glee at even &
thought of whai he might do to an
one against whom he may concei
Il prejudice. he glories in relentle
II spitewOrk, fruitleSs although it has
he ways proven, and will always pro.
3 If he can but get something on =
II enemy then his happiness is supreT
Fear is what he wants, fear by i
fellow beings.
A newspaper is in peculiar po
tion to hear things. There is probab
Il not a newspaper in the three citi
ad that has not locked up in the minds
Ir those who conduct it, circumstances