The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1909-04-14
TuHMulT Of PRESS
sctTt& SEEDS
OF REVOLUTION
Continued From Pags One.)

Constructive effort for the cityS up
to the rear these elements which ara
content to be merely negative and de-
structive. in that degree there will be
progress and growth, rather than
stagnation or reaction.
Business Lie Force for Good.
"A great force for good in the life
of the nation should be its business
life. It is quite the fashion to sneer
at the commercial spirit. Many would
have us believe that 1t is something
to be deprecated; forgetting appar-
emily that this spirit has been the lure
OF enterprise that has banded this
continent with highways of COM
merce. peopled 1t, conquering land
from savagery for civilization, and
brought In it's train all that American
ism stands for. It was the CONNER.
cial spirit, and no other. that brought
the current Of immigration that swept
over Indiana in the first half Of the
last century.
Love For others-Not Dollars.
Il believe that 1t is untrue that the
dollar Is more worshipped in this
country than in others. II is no mere
miser's acquisitiveness that has been
the inspiration of most of our captains
of industry. 1t has been the love of
power, the power that is as often ex-
sire to succeed and to surpass. With
the business man working in the
smaller field of endeavor, the spur to
activity is ordinarily not the love of
self, but the love of others. for whom
the acquisition Of property means
freedom from want. It Is not sur
prising that the socialist strikes at
the institution of the individual home
in his attack on individual property.
The backbone of individualism is the
family, and within that circle are or
dinarily born the instincts which
prompt men to struggle for gain.
That in this large field there have
been abuses, is unquestionably true;
the same abuses that in q small way
affect our more local affairs, and per-
haps because of their larger bearing
| justtfying a stricter scrutiny and clos
er regulation. But there is much that
| is hypocritical, more that is dema-
gogical, in the outcry against even the
| abuses of business. And Of this out
cry the country is beginning to be
| nauseated, SO that today there Is in
| evidence backward swinging of the
pendulum toward more rational judg-
ments. more sensible remedies. and .
more business-like attitude toward the
great business affairs of the people.
Business and Government.
| But what is the ordinary attitude
OF the usual business mans mind to-
| ward governmental problems? In his
own business his effort IL construc-
| tive. He measures the value of his
effort by the positive results accom-
| plished. He gets along not through
his disposition and ability to criticise
the work of others, but through his
himself. The attitude Of the success.
full mans mind in its relation to bust.
ness is constructive.
| But Of the political world, what OF
that? The sole source Of our informa.
ton with reference to public affairs
Is the printed page-and this 10 not
ordinarily the printed page written by
the disinterested student Of govern,
mental problems, nor by the disinter.
ested or the competent chronicler OF
public events. No one IL entirely com
petent to judge of the power Of the
press for good or for evil who has not
borne public responsibilities, and has
had forced upon him the power which
comes, not 80 much through editorial
utterances. but through the license to
state the case to the jury which ID
given to the public press. not always
accompanied by the right or the pow
er to answer either by allegation o,
by proof
Public Press Pessimistic.
1T IS hardly necessary for me to say
that the tone Of the public press is, or
the whole pessimistic; its attitude
critical; its tendency more toward
iconoclasm than constructive effort
This comes about from two causes
There is something In human nature
that responds readily to attack or
those In whom we have no personal
interest. There Is kind of drama in
which the popularity of the piece il
measured by the number of times the
slap stick gives out the impression Of
discontinue. There is more news il
a murder than In q marriage; in q de
falcation than in the payment Of {
debt; and the public will sit up an.
take notice more quickly when 4 citi
zen is called q scoundrel than when hi
is commended for some generous act
This Is not the fault Of the newspape:
primarily; 1t merely reflects an atti
tude Of the public mind; and newspa
pers, most of them, and magazines =!
well. are published for the purpose O
giving the people what they are mos
willing to pay for. do not believ'
that in saying this I do injustice I,
the press, the value Of which. witt