Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1907-12-25
ITO EVERY MAN HIS DUE. IS

Az NkfAXV DO1s
Some years ago Senator Chandler
of New Hampshire and Senator
Blackburn of Kentucky had an al
tercation in committee room in
Washington. Chandler is a little,
weazen, dried-up fellow, who al
ways presumed on his physical in
significance to saying mean things,
knowing that a big man hates to
chastise a little fellow. Blackburn
was Of gigantic sta ture and
strength. Chandler made remark
that no southern gentleman is sup
posed to let pass, and Blackburn
rose in a laundering wrath. Chand-
Ter said "You would not be cow
ardly enough to attack small man
like me. To this Blackburn re-
piled: 1.-The worst coward of all is
he who presumes on the chivalry of
big men to protect him when he
abuses them. A Newfoundland dog
will not attack little cur; but if
the cur persists in swapping at his
heels he must in self-defense give
the cur a good shaking.' And
Blackburn leaned over, grabbed
Chandler by the ears, lifted him
over the table and shook him like a
terrier shaking a rat.
Blackburn remark is applicable
to Spencer in every respect. He is
in every way so small and insignifi-
cant that a man really hates to take
any notice of him; but his persist
ent barking and swapping makes it
impossible to ignore him entirely.
If his attacks were made only for
the purpose of hurting the feelings
of the Tribune editor only, they
would be passed up in silence. But
there is a deeper motive for his
barking. He has heard "his mast
ers' voice. saying that if some of
the temperance people could be led
to believe that there was some sort
of alliance between the Tribune and
one of the blind-piggers it might
cause trouble and dissensions in the
ranks of the temperance people and
enable the whisky gang to again
gain control of Willmar. That is
the sole purpose of that particular
attack, and for that reason the Trib-
une was forced to notice it.
Let it be said once for all that
the Tribune is not now in league
with any such element, has never
been and never will be as long as it
is under its present management.
The temperance cause is the one
in which the Tribune is most vital
ly interested. No consideration for
any person has ever moved it from
that cause, and none ever will.
The small basis on which the barker
bases his noise is that the Tribune
expressed doubts as to the sincerity
of the desire of the saloon advocates
to enforce the prohibition was Just
because they picked out one man
with whom they had shortly before
had a fall-out and punished him for
something that he had openly done
without molestation before he fell
into disgrace with the chief of his
local party; while they gave others
a chance to quit the business with.
out troubling them for what they
had done. In Furnishing Schage]
for disobeying the chief, they Incl.
dentally did good thing for the
temperance cause by getting a deci.
sion from the supreme court that
chemical analysis was enough to de.
terminee whether or not liquor is
Intoxicating. While on good
grounds questioning the motive OF
the prime movers in the affair, the
Tribune is glad that such decision
has been made. Schagel's person.
ality counts little figure in this
matter. He will have to take his
medicine and that will end it as ia,
as he is concerned. But the prohi.
bitionists have thereby had placed
in their hands a weapon they did
not know existed, and they can be
trusted to use it to good advantage
in fighting blind-pig in the future.
Malice sometimes thus overshoots
the mark and hits something it had
no intention Of injuring.
The repeated attempts to '*prove'
that the Tribune IS in league with
Schagelg because he was seen in our