Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-07-04
THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS

inquiry as TO Where the mehaSe L'es'
ArEuing that the appeal Of the
demig ogue to the prejudice Of the ig-
nors Mt classes in South Carolina has
mua5 the state press a political issue
per Sc, Mr.. w. w. Ball, managing ed
itor of the Columbia State, in an ex-
cellent paper on why Freedom Of
the Press is Menaced in this State, >"
which was read at the recent meeting
Of the South Carolina Press associa-
ton, had the following to say on the
conservatism of South Carolina jour-,
nalism:
1.-The haranguers point to it as a
menace. They did not forbear by i'm
plication to threaten its existence.
They introduce measures to expro-i
pirate its material possessions and
they describe 1t as violent, menda-
cious and tyrannical. This Indictment
has been so dinned that many read
ing people fancy that the newspapers
Of South Carolina are rabid In their
manners Of expression, when the plain
truth is that by comparison with the
newspapers of the average northern
state their utterances are mild and re-
strained. Some ten years ago rail-
road wreck in New York occurred and
the most conservative newspaper Of
that city, one that is honest and bold
but that speaks peculiarly to the high
browed wealthy, printed in an edi7
torial article tabulated list Of the
millionaire directors and officers of
the railroad company, and said In
terse Anglo-Saxon, These men are
murderers.' I know Of no parallel to
that editorial article in South Caroli-
ma. No libel suit followed 1t. The
other day New York state senator
was accused of seeking a bribe. The
state senate proceeded to apply him
a coat of whitewash. The New York
newspapers unqualifedly denounced
the senator as guilty and ridiculed and
lampooned the verdict Of his fellow
senators. Thereupon the senator was
indicted, tried and convicted and SEN
fenced to prison by court and jury.
President Mellen, Of the New York,
New Haven and Hartford railroad
company has been the target in re-
cent years Of more persistent attacks
than any South Carolinian has been
since 1876. A few years ago such
private citizens as Mr.. Rockefeller
and lesser magnates were repeatedly
cartooned as vultures. Charles F.
Murphy, who holds no public office,
was time and again cartooned as a
convict in stripes, wearing a ball and
chain by a New York daily. Yet the
press of South Carolina is believed by
many intelligent South Carolinians to
be rough in its treatment Of politici-
ans. One would not like to contem-
plate the conditions that would have
followed in New York and Pennsyl-
vania had politicians been accorded
treatment so gentle from the press as
the press Of South Carolina Is accus-
toned to accord them. 1t Is fair to
say, however, that the reading people
Of this state do support their news
papers with praiseworthy loyalty and
liberality. 1 doubt If the daily press
in any American state is more general
ally read by those who can read than
is the daily press of South Carolina
Moreover, our newspaper readers
give more attention to the editorial
page than do those Of most communi-
ties"
1t is undeniably true that the news
papers of South Carolina, as a class
are conducted along very conservative
lines, comparatively speaking, but we
think it is true, nevertheless, that In
personal bitterness and spleen shown
on the editorial pages of some of our
leading journals. Some terrible
blunders, we believe, have been made
in this respect, and 1t will perhaps
be many years before South Carolina
gets over it politically.
But Is not this fact in itself suff1.
cient proof that the newspaper read
ers of this state have grown accus'
toned to a conservative press? Lei
an editor go out of his way to abuse
and villify and in nearly every case
the object of his attack is benefited
The exception and not the rule ha!
been to step aside from the line o.
decent journalism, and this Is the
very reason that what is sometime!
called the yellow press" has ap'
peared to be an outstanding feature
of South Carolina journalism, when
as a matter of fact. its unusualnes
made 1t prominent.
However, we believe that those
newspapers that have practiced thi
kind of journalism have seen the er
ror of their way. A press that dis
cards personalities need have little
fear of the demigogue.-Greenwoot
Journal.
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