University Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1908-1916, 1913-05-12
(By c. L. Hobart, Editor Of the Holden
MOI PrOgreSs.)

| "A
Exact science" there will be oppOs-
ing views on what not to print. No
one seems to have an objection to the
printer Of good news"-it is the
other kind that creates the division.
Those who claim the bad things should
not be told are never at a loss for
words to defend their position, not
withstanding these items are part and
parcel of the days history with di-
rect influence on the welfare of soci-
ETY. and the future of the race. Did
these "suppressionists" ever consider
the Bible as a standard?
Moses was the great law-giver and
leader. yet we read without extenua-
tion of his murder of the Egyptian, his
flight into indian, and lastly his un-
belief which kept him out of the prom
ised land Abraham led wonderful
| life, yet there is told with merciless
fidelity his lie about his wife, and his
cOwardly turning adrift in the wilder
ness of his bondwOman and her child.
You remember AbsalOm, who acquired
as swift gait as any of the modern
fast set?" The tender feelings of
the father, whose load was already
more than he could bear" kept none
of the story out of print. Speaking of
mellow tones" why not enlarge on
David's psalms and "charitably draw
the veil' over his cOveting of Bath
sheba and his infamous murder of
Uriah to get her? Certainly with all
the persecution leveled at the early
Christian church, the path could have
been made smoother by emitting that
selfish request of James and John, who
attempted to use pull" to cinch the
choicest appointments in the coming
administration" In the case of Peter,
that was nice piece of undertaking, |
giving the whole story of his treachery,
his cowardice, his lie (and a crude |
one at that and his contemplate en-
uCdNoi W ooiStCl IL os Sui SihS III thC
presence of a maid. Even Paul's diff
fculty with Barnabas escaped the
blue pencil.
The stock question of the suppress
ionists i'm what good can be accom-
plished by publishing the evil things?"
What good did the Almighty accom-
plish when he permitted them in His
inspired Word?
What is the mission of the newspa-
per, any way? Has it legitimate place
in our civilization other than a me-
dium to aid tradesmen, more or less
honest, to dispose of their wares? Has
it a share in the great wOrld-Old con-
flict with the powers of darkness? Or
is it merely mountebank with pleas
ing mummery (although repeated
facts) for the "ears of the ground
lings?"
The answer is found i'm the tele-
graph columns every day. We say
the white slave traffic must be wiped
out; how can it be done if the people
know nothing of the evil or the diabol-
ical Vaccinations of it's promoters?
For weeks we have been reading of
the work of the Illinois vice commits
sion: some of the details have been
actually mot fit to print" to quote
the stock expression of the prudes.
Filthy, you say? But how can you
clean out one filth unless you know
what is is? How could the police de-
partment of New York be made
safe institution if the almost incredible
reports recently printed had been sup
pressed for the sake of the city's good
name and the feelings of helpless
wives and children of officers? How
will the alliance between Big Business
and corrupt politics be broken? Not
by defying senators and bowling
'muckraker" every time a fearless
prints the truth about t
things in high places. The other day 7
Scott of the lola [
(KanD Register commended the papers
Of Oakland, Calf. for saying nothing
about seismic disturbances although +
there had been several distinct shocks
since the San Francisco "quakes." This =
silence induced many persons to locate
there instead of San Francisco, where
it seems the papers have a fool hab- =,
it of telling the whole truth. Mr..
Scott called it loyalty" on the part of
the newspapers. Yea. somewhat akin
TO the loyalty of capper Of bunco
game. Following the same line of rea-
soning. the Kansas City papers should
omit the crimes of Little Italy," the
Greek quarter, and similar localities
common to metropolitan cities. Doubt
less the guileless populace who wan S
iered that way and lost their cash S