River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1910-06-02
Charity Thinketh
No Evil
By REV. w. A. CRAWFORD-FR0ST
Pastor of Protestant Episcopal Church
of Redemption, Locust Point. Md.

It is commonly supposed that when
an innocent man is accused of wrong
doing the consciousness Of his tnno-
cence supports him and is a great
comfort to him, so much SO that the
indignity offered his honor and repu-
tation cannot hurt his feelings, be-
cause he is buoyed up by his con-
seriousness of rectitude. / do not be-
lieve this. I cannot help thinking that
an innocent man accused of a crime
suffers far more keenly from the i'm
putation than a guilty man does.
man who has really committed a
crime and is arrested for 1t suffers
fear of punishment, but he has feel
Ing deep down in his heart that he is
getting what he deserves, and, besides.
a man who will commit crime is gen.
orally more careless Of what people
think about him than Is the man
whose whole life has been scrupulous,
conscientious, gentle and harmless,
who has always tried to do right and
to avoid the slightest injury to his
neighbor in body or in mind. When
man of this kind is suddenly held up
to the public as possible murderer.
when his every action for weeks
has been misrepresented and utterly
gratuitous falsehoods have been in
vented-when, say, a man of this
character is subjected to these acts OF
persecution, 1t is nothing short OF
tragic. Injustice is always hard to
bear, and this Is the worst kind, for
there seems to be no redress for idt.
From a journalistic standpoint the
fault does not often lie with the re-
porters. They have to go where they
are sent and do what they are told,
and the majority of them are intelli-
gent and honorable men. The chief
trouble comes from irresponsible
correspondents, who make up sensa-
tional stories and telegraph them en-
tirely for the money they make out
Of it.
Underlying much of this terrible in
justice is a fallacy, namely. that the
people have a right to know. The gen.
eral public has no right to know every
individuals private affairs. II crime
has been committed the people have
right to know only what facts are
brought out at due and proper trial.
This idea that the police, or any other
authorities, have a right to publish
their theories and suspicious, no mat
ter how many honorable men and
women they may dishonor, how many
hearts they may break and how many
lives they may ruin by their ignorant
or malicious impudence Is monstrous,
and the intelligence Of the American
people should be able to devise some
way Of furnishing such offenders.
It is the business of detective to
have suspicious, but it is his duty to
keep his suspicious to himself. When
he has facts sufficient to justify him
let him make his arrest, and then let
the talking come through the courts.
He has no right to open his mouth
about his suspicious, and any detect
i've who does so, or the head of any
police force who does so, and thereby
besmirches the reputation of innocent
persons, should certainly be removed
from his office.
The real root Of the matter is this:
People are too ready to think evil,
too apt to attribute the worst motive.
AS the people are, SO must the press
be, for the highest and purest news
paper in the land can only keep
certain distance above it's constitu-
ency. It must give the news that its
readers desire. or it will soon have no
readers.
The persons who are most ready to
suspect others of improperly are the
ones who are themselves improper.
The freer we are from evil ourselves
the less inclined will we be to think
evil of others.