The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1908-05-22
as TO CONSISTENCY.

According to the logic VI many
those who oppose Mr.. Carmack IN inns
oamnaien a man once wrong upon any
Issue should always be wrong. IL
that were true and if it necessarily
follows that no voter has a right 70
change his views having once conl-
mited himself upon an issue there
would still be a saloon at every cross
roads in Tennessee. If sentiment up
on This issue had not changed these
twenty years there would have oeen
no progress. Carlyle, one OF the
great masters of literature, mas wen
said Consistency is the hobgoooLh
of little minds" When the late josiah
Patterson, father of the present Gov
ernor. was chided by his opponents
for having changed his views upon the
great money question that aroused the
neonle during the early nineties, ne
was fond of quoting Carlyle.
t. NO man was allowed to change
his views the tariff issue would nave
haen settled long ago. In 1892 de-
cided majority of the voters OF inns
nation declared for a tariff for reVe-
mo only hut in a half dozen SUD
segment campaigns quite an emphaC-
ic majority has approved a protecliVe
tariff What is true of the tarlH Is
true of other questions. The great
est of all the Apostles, st. Paul.
changed from bad to good; If Peter
had been consistent he would never
have repented OF his denial Oh the
Master and would not have been the
primate of the apostles.
John Wesley changed and ne
too led the forces of discomfort
and so did Martin Luther'
The critics of the immortal hoo-
ert E. Lee pronounce him traitor
because having taken the oath as
soldier of the United States, he AFTER
wards led the armies of the Conted-
eracv against that nation. Yet we
doubt if there is Patterson partisan
in the county who would publicly
saw that Lee was not right.
While all of Mr.. Carmacks oppo-
nents deny him the right to change
his views upon great moral issue
from bad to better some OF them IN
sist that this fact is of itself sufficient
reason to justify them in changing
their views from good to bad. This is
the most remarkable feature OF the
present campaign. There are men IN
Tennessee who have for years been
preaching prohibition and seeking con-
verts TO their cause, who, now that the
most distinguished private citizen
in the Democratic party has es-
housed their cause, feel 1ustl-
fed in deserving their ban
ner and supporting the whiskey
mems candidate for Governor. THIS
is an anamoly that would be difficult
to explain.
According to the logic of those VINO
have for years preached prohibition
hut who are now lined up with the
whiskey forces, they cannot AFFORD
to support candidate for Governor
whose victory means the triumph OF
their cause, merely because he has not
always been with them. In other
words they are chagrined because
there have been acquisitions to tnelr
ranks. They denounce Carmack tor
inconsistency but are they not just as
inconsistent? Carmack frankly says
that he has changed from bad to GOOD
and is glad that he has. They nave
changed from good to bad and ap-
near also to be satisfied with their
own inconsistency.
If converts to good cause are not
desirable; if the conversion OF pad
men is going to drive good men from
the fold. is there not something rad
ically wrong with the plan of sal
walton? Again if one distinguished
citizen has no right to become the
champion of the Home, have others
who have been it's defenders in the
mast. the right to champion the candi-
date of the liquor interests? We do
not say these leaders have no right
70 change their views. They have
that right. But having been incon-
sistent themselves are they justlted
in denouncing Mr.. Carmack for incon-
sistency?