Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1908-07-14

| aScribed to aStuteneSS In the puDllSh-
ing business playing upon Ignorance,
to more or less moral or mental in
validism finding refuge from uncOn-
genial work, or to other facts. Men in
duced, for one reason or another, to
live outside the south after having
been born there. have permitted new
found admirers to represent them as
martyrs to convictions alien to south
ern thought But who ever heard of
a martyr running away from the
stake?
! Nevertheless and herein, lies the
truth OF the martyr fiction. There Is
distressing habit Of too many south
ern newspapers to assail the personal
character of an opponent, to mistake
vilifcation and vituperation for argu-
ment. Too many of us, unfortunately,
are ignorant of the first principles of
parliamentary rules in debate. Too
many of US are so poorly equipped for
| the task to which we have been called
that we are obliged TO resort to the
device of the petty lawyer, who seeks
to defend a bad case by abusing op-
posing counsel. Too many Of us, In
the happy decadence Of the custom of
settling an argument by assassination,
in the street duel or in the appeal to
the code, presume upon the fact that
gentility will not resort to civil action
for damages to character. Conse-
auently, it Is almost impossible to have
vital questions discussed upon their
merits In q manner that will have
standing with intelligence, but the de-
bate degenerates, not merely into an
exposition Of the competency of an
topponent to handle the question prof.
tably, which is always permissible
within the limits of regard for person.
al integrity, but into reckless denunci-
alton of the personal character Of the
individual. One effect of this is the
very denial of the accusation that the
south suppresses freedom OF speech.
There is probably no part Of the
country today outside the south in
which unrestrained language in print
has a greater vogue. 1t Is, in fact, a
case of freedom of speech become Ii
cense to berate or defame with i'm
punity.
This journalistic falling Is one Of
the strongest drawbacks upon healthy
advance of this part Of the country.
i, Of "a date
rioration of the American public mind,
which has changed politics from devo-
ton to principles in government to a
support of persons with no clear-cut
lie questions, or losing sight Of convic-
tions in furthering personal ambition.
Confined to no part of the country this
regrettable, but not incurable. mani
festation Is the more pronounced in
the south because Of the untoward
conditions here, which have prevented
divisions in political action upon an
honest difference Of opinions on eco
nomic lines. 1t differentiates the south
from the rest Of the country in that
her politics is too often the dominant
In the life Of the community, while
elsewhere 1t Is an accident. Moreover,
against a fairly uniform habit else
where of turning politics to the best
account upon perfectly legitimate
grounds in furthering the material
welfare, we have in the south too
many exceptions being used against
the common interests under a mis-
taken view that a party name can
never become a mere epitaph, or
that a political leader may be such a
super-man that the vices Of an ordi-
nary human become virtues in him,
or that the power to do thing makes
the doing right, regardless Of conse-
quences. No one can truthfully charge
the south with the paternity of the
last mentioned concept. But no care
full observer can dodge the fact that
the south has welcomed the bantling
with unprecedented enthusiasm and
has given it its greatest chance in half
a century. Our press Is largely re-
sponsible for the luxuriance of the
crop of evils growing from the over
shadowing of broad principles by per-
sonality in public affairs. Our press Is
one of the principal sufferers from the
evils. Accustomed to measure things
by men. some Of u.s. many Of US, lose
sight of the ultimate possibilities in
project simply because 1t Is present
ed to us by some plausible individ-
ual, whom, 1t may be. we may never
have heard Of before. The plausibil-
ity is strengthened when to it Is add
ed an appeal to the higher sensibili-
| ties of a people or when 1t is accom-
panied by apparently frank express
sions of disinterested desire to be of
service. Effects Of primary suggestion
are so intense that often victims or
this plausiblity cannot be convinced
of their mistake even after the most
positive proof has been presented that
antecedents and associations Of the
plausible ones are positive denials OF
their pretenses, and that they merely
attempt to play upon the south AS
pawn in some great game in which the
real vital interests of the south are to
be considered secondarily, If consider
ed at all. Hardly year of the past
fifteen years has passed without the
south being approached by some su-
perfcially attractive scheme, engineer
ed usually from New York, and even
from abroad, and turning upon actual
or imagined necessities Of the south.
Hardly a single one Of such schemes
has not managed to use a large body
of the southern press to give it coun-
tenance with southern men, and one
of the most unfortunate features or
the situation is the readiness Of some
of our representative papers to stand
by and defend the southern men who
have been used in promotion Of the
schemes, even though the dangers OF
the schemes may have been demon
strated, and even though, after that
| demonstration, the used SOuthernerS