Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-10-03
MUCKRAKERS and HISTORY
Reputation Of National Figures DWin'
die Before Facts.
Big MEN WHO were NOT SQUARE

Men of the Present Generation, !,
That History Has Sought to Forget
What Was Bad and Remembered
Only That Which Was Good.
The ancients made gods Of thei'
geniuses; today we venerate them
The mere fact Of being called a great
man confers necessarily all qualities
and all virtues. We have a natural
tendency to consider our neighbor g
public opinion has marked a man
genius we simply stand back and re-
gard him with awe. No matter what
may be said to the contrary, and nc
matter how little we like it, Americans
are at heart hero worshippers Of the
most rabid type. The gullibility with
which we accept the George Washing
ton cherry tree story Is sufficient proof
of the fact.
In recent years we have taken su-
preme pleasure in undertaking the ca
reers of our contemporaries. Lurid
and hectic writer's have shown us how
some of our favorites have stolen cart
loads Of money and caused buckets OF
blood to be shed. in the operation. II
has pleased us nightly to see these
petty heroes and demigods fall before
the onslaught of the space writer's
The chance to chuck our would-be
great men in the ribs tickled us half
to death. But the few brave men who
have tried to show us the weaknesses
of our national heroes have been
treated as men and fools.
In reality, however, human nature
Is much the same whether disguised as
ditch digger or a statesman. There
is an old French proverb which says
that mo man is a hero to his valet
and the biogr- phies Of great men OF
all times and countries have borne out
the truth of the assertion. Carlyle
tortured his wife and DoniZetti acted
the brute to his family, while Rous-
seau abandoned his; Bacon traftcked
with justice; Villon became a thief
and Casanova was accused of swind-
ling. Most foreign celebrities have
ben made to totter on their pedestals
but we hold up a warning hand to all
who attempt to touch our own.
1t is not merely because we hold
our famous men sacred that we object
to historical undertaking; 1t is largely
because such research wounds our
family pride The genealogical socie-
ties cannot bring themselves to take
philosophical view of hsparaging an
ecdotes concerning their ancestors
Staid New England matrons find II
perfectly disgusting to be told that
the only ancestor on whom their only
claims to aristocracy rest was sheep
stealer. OF course they ought to be
proud OF the fact that he had sense
enough to steal sheep, but they can
not seem to see 1t that way.
Hence they try to suppress the
facts. 1t Is bad enough to be obligeo
to change dates and shift birthplaces
for the purpose of making some de-
sirable celebrity sprout on ones fam-
ily tree without standing calmly Dy
while the cherished fruit rots on the
ancestral branch. Instead these as
sociations for the manufacture OF
impeccable family trees perpetuate
all the mplimentary LEGENDS tney
can find and try to bury In OBLIVION
all the disparaging facts that others
may present to them.
The historians, too. are largely re-
sponsible for the distortion Of the
truth. They are altogether too pa
triotic to allow swindlers and bank
robbers to creep into our national
history. They are afraid the other
nations might snicker behind our
backs IL they found 1t out. They
clung to the story of George wash
ington's hatchet with bulldog te-
nacity until England proved to them
conclusively that it was a myth. Then
they had TO fall back on the state
ment, and blandly thought that they
had thereby saved their country
honor.
There was one historian, though
who a while ago mustered up his
courage and told a few facts about
the patriots of '76. But he, poor
man. nearly had his hair pulled OUT
by the roots for his pains. He had
trodden on the tender feet OF some
of the finest families And his fel-
in horror at the thought that there
could be a man so lacking in the true
American spirit and sense OF justice,
as they called it. that he would make
public such heinous truths. 1t was
only by rare good fortune that he
escaped having commission ap-
pointed to look into his sanity, and
it is certain that If such a commission
had started operations on him ne
would have been declared as crazy as
a loon. No one who destroys fam
lily legend or wounds nations PRIDE
can escape the wrath of his outraged
victims If they once get him In their
hands.
This ruthless destroyer of respec-
table ancestors was John II. STARK,
the Boston historian. He was really
not so insane as people hoped he
was. All the accervations which he
made were found on investigation
to be correct Everything was done
then to hush the matter up, but
those whose forefathers had not been
impeached took intense pleasure in
recalling 1t. Mr.. Stark's researches
were by no means exhaustive. Other
shady heroes have been discovered
since. 1t was only the other day
that it became generally known that
Henry Clay and Daniel Webster had
bunked a bank. Those who have
not uprooted the men from their
native soils and tried to graft them
on their own genealogical shrubbery
will appreciate the open-handed and
neat way in which the trick was
turned.
1t seems that the salary which
Henry Clay received while in the en-
ploy of the government was not sur
ficient for his needs. This seems
somewhat peculiar, as he was always
well paid, and life in Washington IN
those days was not so costly as IT
is today by far If the facts could
be found some interesting material
might be dug up on the subject of
how he spent his money. But per-
haps it would be well to walt un.il
his outraged descendants have recov-
cred from the shock caused by the
present discovery.
The famous statesman tried III
every possible way to get enough
money into his possession to maze
both ends meet, but he found 1t a
difficult proposition. One day he
found himself completely broke" and
with a pressing need for $3.50. He
searched his brains for some way in
which he could obtain the money
without borrowing it. He seemed to
1islilEa m nav anV money hack after he