The Greeley tribune., 1912-02-22
Honesty is the Best Policy

After something n,oee than . year
has passed our contemporary ACROSS
the way has discovered = great light.
It has become convinced. Il aays edi-
torially. that honesty h tho best
policy and for . column q 20 nn0raI-
lies on this great discovery that
came in,emdlately following the con-
feesioa Of guilt made By r. J. Estes.
eosmer county coHAnissio0er.
80 far, 70 good. We 80 pSeRsed
to note this advanceMDeMe n etflico
on the part of our contemporary aad'
w0ulti alld q few words On the sub.
ject chosen by them 20 express tRseir
viFtuous attitude.
II Il had dlscoveFed t3laf hoaeSty
was tho best policy year or Two
ago II might have aided the Tribune
In Strengthening out MASTERS in the
county afrair~. The Tribune waA
honest enough tn print what il fosnd
to b. facts while our contemporaRy
accused us of baeely maligning hoo-
ct men and undertook the defease
Of those men without having eoy
facts to b~se their defense upou.
| The ending o. the Estes trial has
dem0nstrated which Daner was hoa.
est In the prcsnfses and which paz,er
carried ont its conviction that hoo
esty is the beSt policy.
/ Honesty gOes much farther tlaAn
merely keeping ones hands 81 of
other peoDle's money. 4 newspApee
to he honest must print the truth,
for II is obligated TO its subscribers
to give them all the news IL can.
That IL what the subscriber is bay
ing. It ms,st print the truth wisea
It knows very well that the truth
will not he relished in certain quart
ers. Sometimes II must print de
truth at heavy financial loss. - II
frequently happens that powerful IN.
teresta do not want tire truth urlnt.
ed. Sometimes newsnancr han
doubts very seriously II honesty r.
the hest policy, for from his wide
view OF humanity he must lr hope.
fOl indeed to keep from cynicasm.
fhere IL not day that pressure n
not brought to hear from .r~,>e
quarter and the pressure is not gen.
tie' either. And the newspaper that
nAs 10 Keep an eagle eve on the ID.
vertising and substitution rer.ank.
soreiy tried Mt times, especially 1t
time when wide spread scas1ial
Honesty IS TIE hest no,icv Il n
the nest morals. too. The man who
II honest only for policy's sakc Il .
poor stick at that. He Is no heater
tnan the man who refrains Ann
sealing for fear Of the penit.ntaarv.
The painful fact is true thst ~
people are honest for no,icv,. ..ke
ana remain honest because. i, 4. n.
best policy.
"oeSer wrote that line sl,nat
honesty Is a deliciously tur,.,-,s,.
cynic. He made h sound v.rv ~~S,a.
ana grand and beautiful h.. =.
mater OF fact the phrase .sv
means obey the laws and -.
uoHge Jail. In fact we h,v. ~
m"ch policy and too little h,s~~
h.v We nan AZ much honesty RI ve
".e ISrhcy. we would he a -
people than we are. Poaicv
sHi at times. an honest pcltrv /.
me, but honesty for polirv !. -
wonderful thing after n.
"eehes would have Just oh.,.t =.
'ar' a Job today in findinc ,.s..,1v
v"''st man az he did cent,r,s. -,
w'sn ne even used a Iap,e-,, n ~.
aytime In his thorough ,nh -..-o
sfve search. ana e1Se1.
honesty Is the ,..s, ~ ~,
snt- anu we hope tia, in ~ ~
~ our contemporary viii - Shs-
e observation pasted /, ~. ~
or we honestly believe ,h., = -,
nave further occasion n, @
~ policy in Its news colrn' ous tnss