The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1912-05-23
LOOSE ASSERTIONS
AGAINST CLAUDE L'ENGI.E

terested in his defeat, are trying to
bring 1t about by charging him with
being a blatant mudslinger and sensa- |
tIonal journalist. one appealing to pre-
judice rather than reason in his con- |
troversies.
Nothing could be further from the
truth.
1t Is to be expected, of course, that
the men whose crooked deals ne mas
exposed should hate and misrepresent
him, but what excuse can there be for
a Journalist who should be well-posted
and impartial, to make such a state
ment7
IT is well understood among news
paper men that sensationalist is one
who prints any kind of a story in order
to sell papers, and the very sight and
sound of the word has come to sug-
gest indecency and scandal.
The sensational paper delights in the
details of shocking murders, of sala
cious divorce cases, but its pages are
nearly always sold to some interest or
other, and seldom does it print any
thing that would enable the people to
safeguard themselves from extortion
or oppression. Whenever it does show
up a corrupt influence, it does SO at
the behest Of some other influence,
more powerful and often more corrupt.
What has LEngle done to merit the
appelation Of sensational?
A few years ago the sessions of the
Florida legislature were infested, often
controlled, by swarms of lobbyists
One in particular had become so in
duential and SO bold that he did not
deny his calling. He went openly and
brazenly to the state capital, estab-
1ished headquarters, called Legislators
into his lair, told them how to vote,
rewarded those who obeyed him and
made life burden for those who defied
him. And the newspapers of Florida,
who proclaim so loudly that they are
the sentinels on the watchtowers of
the fortress of the peoples liberties,
did they expose this man, or rather
denounce him, for he had become too
notorious to need exposure? No, in
deed; they never spoke of his work,
and when they referred to him per-
sonally they did so in a complimentary
way
Claude L'Engle, in his paper, the
Sun, told of the Infamous work of this
manifold the people of Florida from
the Perdido river to Biscayne Bay, and
made his operations so disreputable
that his power was broken and no
legislator dared be seen in his vicinity.
When, after many unsuccessful
trials, the legislators who work for the
interest of the people framed uni
form text book bill. designed to break
the power Of the book trust, and give
the people of Florida school books at
reasonable prices for their children,
and the trust sent highly respectable
agents to Tallahassee, to lobby as cor
ruptly If not as Extensively as the dis
penser of red-top- rye and Tampa Gig
ars, L'Engle turned the searchlight on
them and helped to make more easy
the work OF the legislators who
couldn't be bought and wouldn't be in
Inundated.
In this and many similar if smaller
issues did Claude LEngle work with
his pen for the people of Florida.
Financially. he carried on a losing bat
tie, for his paper failed, but his work
told.
This is some of what the time-serv-
ing press calls sensationalism.
A Florida man tried to build rail-
road from one Florida town to another.
A railroad corporation that considered
all north Florida it's property, hamper
ed his work and tried to ruin it. He
could obtain no representation in Flor
ida's great daily, that claims to print
all the news, but LEngle told his story
to the world
A banker fortified in a Gibraltar of
finance tricked two Florida boys out
of their hard-earned savings. In the
courts, they compelled him to disgorge
Florida's leading dailies were dumb
but LEngle printed the story.
The city of Jacksonville, governed
by an oligarchy. suffers from many
evils. The people are overtaxed, their
money is wasted, they are treated with
insolence by their own hirelings. The
rich and powerful dailies keep mum on
these abuses. but LEngle's little Dixie
led the movement that shall restore
the people to their own.
The port of Jacksonville. important
to all Florida, is tied up by a railroad
which virtually controls its entire wa
Notwithstanding that Ocala is in
terested in almost as much as the sea
port city itself. Nobody. except the
few interested in keeping it quiet
knew this condition of affairs until
LEngle's paper told them.
Quack physicians, at regular inter
walls. raided the state, taking the peO-
pies hard-earned money and giving
only empty promises in return. and no
one would expose them until L'Eng1e
did so.
This is what the men who are trying
to defeat LEngle call sensa tionalism.
Perhaps 1t is. But we'll would it be
for the people of America if every
Journalist could and would be as out
spoken
Let the people mark we'll that
L'Engle has laid his lance in rest
against only the rich and powerful. He
has fought only those who could fight
back He has not profited financially.
but has kept himself poor. He has not
dealt in scandal but in public affairs.
He has not slung mud. but made
charges that his opponents have de-
MED, but have not disproved He has
not printed anything that gentleman
could not read aloud in the presence of
a lady How many of the newspapers
that denounce him can say the same?
We saw. the other day, in an eX-
change the statement that if L'Engle
went to Congress he would disgrace
the state by his utterances on the floor
of the House. He would have to be
very rank indeed if he was as offensive
as the corporations particular pet. the
Hon. Frank Clark.
LEngle's papers have been no more
outspoken than the New York World is
in national affairs. Why should he be
denounced for that which was praise
worthy in Pulitzer?
Doesn't every citizen of Florida
know that if L'Engle was a sensa
tionalist, making charges without