The Washington herald., 1907-10-08
The Press and Public Men.

serving his country we'll II we should
get the point Of view Of the officer him
self, doubtless it would be that the press
was cut 70 do" him. and frequently he
would be quite right. Anyway. the pub
lie official faces an Unfriendly outlook at
the start. and he is lucky II he so COM
port himself as 10 win enough public
favor TO enable him 10 submit to adverse
opinion with some degree Of complacence
The independent press is quite as crit
ical as the partisan. Whereas the latter
hunts for flaws only in representatives Of
the opposite party, the former delights 10
dispose It's invectiye more impartially.
Every public act. every public utterance,
is scrutinized for a peg upon which 10
hang jibe or jeer AS the American
people dearly love joke. scores OF testers
seize on the ludicrous in our public life. OF
pOunce on any chance contretemps into
which statesman may fall. 10 rouse the
H0meric laughter OF a nation. Terrible
are the shafts OF ridicule. and many are
the men in the public eye whose reputa-
tons are those provided for them by the
professional iokester, rather than those
they have gained in the sight OF their
friends and neighbors. Many an absurd
profess 4 reform. many an impossible
political pretender, has been simply
laughed out Of court There is no more
wholesome method Of getting rid Of fool
/ ishness.
/ OF course. the pitfalls into which the
/ journalistic critic may tumble are numer-
Gus. He is particularly liable 10 form a
/ distorted or erroneous judgment He is
never sure OF his facts, nor certain Of the
motives behind the acts Of which he is a
witness. Nothing is more difficult, after
all, than TO arrive at the truth respecting
any human event. The lapse Of many
years IS required to develop not only the
/ historical perspective, but also the his
torical fact Even then the most impair
| tial historian frequently errs both in mar
Tative and IN opinion. The journalist gets
only a passing glimpse Of the course Of
affairs. He must accept the facts avail
able and discern motives as bsSt he may.
/ 1t is not strange that he should be an
occasional. or even frequent, victim of
misrepresentation. or that he should be IN
able to frame adequate explanations or
matters which may not be understood a
half-Century hence. with all the available
documents in evidence
But the critics Of the press are not al
| ways misled, they are sometimes bale
fully instructed. Errors may be excuss-
| BILE; willful Misrepresentation is not. Par
tisan journalism sees nothing save IN its
own light, but there Is a commercial
Journalism which sees nothing except in
the light Of the mighty dollar 1t has
| been discovered that criticism is more
profitable than praise. and that the black
ening Of regulations sells more news
papers and magazines than the publica-
ton of vlTtuous deeds. Muckrakers have
therefore secured the country for wicked
ness, and where II couldn't be found il
was imputed. Perhaps a good deal of
this sort OF work needed the doing, but
much of It has tainted motive When
a fortune can De made by exposing cor
Tuption or by reckless criticism of men
and institutions, We begin to entertain
rather cynical notions about the agency
and even the necessity Of reform. Pos
sibly this is one reason why. in a city
Ike New York, where the press has been
! hammerinS away at corruption political
and financial. for yeaTS practically moth
Ing has been accomplished TO purify the
atmosphere. The business has been over
done, and the truth itself so distorted and
exaggerated and misrepresented as to ap-
pear somewhat mythical When the press
Tails 10 command confidence its usefulness
as a critic Of public affairs is at an end.