Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-10
By way of giving strength to its ar

gument, the State recalls twenty or
twenty five years back when courage
Gus editors by doing such work, laid
the foundation for the future peace
and prosperity Of their respective COM
munities. And at the same time 1t
does not neglect to make plain that 1t
understands the dangers to which edi-
tors who do their duty in matters of
this kind expose themselves; but dis
misses this with the declaration that
the editor who shirks his duty in this
regard is not worthy to conduct a
public journal.
That generally speaking, the State is
sound in what it has to say, we do not
deny; but still we think that the ques-
ton is q many sided one, and the prop
er solution of the problem requires a
great deal of prudence as we'll as cour-
age And of the qualities of prudence
and courage. maybe prudence is rather
more valuable than courage for the ac-
complishment of the end to be attain
ed.
It Is a fact, as the State remarks,
that every community in South Caro-
lima has a conscience, and the impulse
of that conscience is generally in the
direction Of right. This fact Is indeed
gratifying, for otherwise the publica-
ton of a decent, high toned newspaper
would be impossible. But this is not
all, by any means, because while most
communities stand for right, the work
of establishing the right, especially
against active opposition, is often a
slow and tedious process.
And again, while the murderous
bully with the ever ready pistol on
his person is an annoying proposition
he is by no means the most dangerous
of modern menaces to the peace and
well-being of society. A far greater
danger is the slick, polished and not
over scrupulous individual who may be
more or less firmly grounded in in
fiuential social support, and who
from those who may he far better and
more useful to society at large than
he is, but who are without the con-
fines Of his circle. The state Of South
Carolina is full of such, and they can
only be reached through publicity.
We do not mean to take our Co.
lumbia contemporary to task in this
discussion, because we are firmly con-
vinced that even though it may be In
error at times, it always means to be
right But right here we are reminded
of a situation that arose some time
ago, when certain individuals engaged
in a Mississippi bubble scheme which
resulted as most thoughtful business
men believed it would result, in COM
plete loss to the investors. Somebody
reproached the State for its failure to
expose the fiimsy foundation on which
the whole thing stood and the reply of
the State was to the effect that it was
not a public wet nurse, or something
like that.
Now, in this particular case, as we
stated at the time, we do not know
that the State was to be blamed. 1t
could easily have laid itself liable to
very heavy penalties. We do not be-
lieve that the State would have been
deferred from it's duty even through
fear of those penalties, and we said so
at the time. But the exposure of the
situation referred to was one that re-
quired prudence. The men behind the
thing were big and influential, and the
newspaper that might have dipped in
too prematurely would have got the
worst of 1t. The manipulators would
have gone into court with damage
suit, claimed that their enterprise was
honest and meritorious and that it had
been ruined by the interference OF the
newspaper. These manipulators were
at that time strong enough by reputa-
ton, both socially and legally to make
such a showing, and the final result
would have been that the newspaper
would have lost heavily in money and
credit, while the charlatans would have
been vindicated and left in a position
to successfully launch still greater
swindle.
But the points made by the Colum-
bia State in the editorial referred to
are not at all amiss. They are correct
ly aimed and will do good; but we sub
NIT that they lack great deal of COW
ering the whole situation. They mere
ly touch the surface Of problems with
which the right thinking and right do
ing people of the world have wrestled
since the dawn of civilization and with
which they will continue to wrestle
until the dawn of the millennium.