Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1916-07-12
Editors Letter Box
Mr.. Hight Seconds the Motion
Augusta, Me-, July II. 1916.

seems to me to afford subject for fur
| Their consideration. l venture, now
ever, with Some misgivings, for you
disposed Of Mr.. Pagan with sucn Vlo-
lent energy that may run the chance
of what would be extremely dlstaste-
full to me-more of the same sort Oh
treatment for myself. Nevertheless,
would respectfully submit the follow
ing:
1t is to be regretted that you saw
fit to administer your rebuke in the
terms you used. l grant you that there
are times when an arrant demagogue
may proffer even good advice when
We find it difficult to listen with
courtesy because Of our intense con-
tempt for him and his methods. The
Railway Signalman, however, is not
such a person. Were it not an incred-
ible thing, knowing as l do your wide
acquaintance with public men, l
should suspect that you were not fully
aware Of the personality of this man
Pagan" as you call him. I should
think that you were mistakenly class
| ing him with some of the dishonest Ia
Dor agitatoEs or with the equally dis
| honest hireling mouthpieceS of the
predatory rich but. of course, you
know that the sturdy Scotchman who,
while tending his signals at North
| Cambridge, turned over in his mind
the thoughts that reused the interest
of many men when he expressed them,
is no such person. Harvard called him
from his signal tower to lecture for
the instruction of it's students, and he
! NV
which is not careless in such gifts,
with an honorary degree. The late
James j. Hill regarded him as wise
and worthy of friendship. who's
Who" deigns to include him in it's list
of the great, and classes him as an
author. incidentally, your offering to
print his views at advertising rates
may amuse him. The Atlantic Month
ly has willingly paid him for his con-
tributions. and his books on matters
kindred to the subject of your polemic
are read by thoughtful men who I'M
grudgingly pay for the privilege.
Telling such a man to hire a hall"
characterizing his observations as
nonsense" and silly assumption"
seems trihe rough.
A careful reading of his letter in a
calmer spirit than that in which you
were when you wrote the editorial
will, l think. convince YOU that the
point which he wishes to make is
this: that there is no way in which
the people Of this country can form
an opinion as to the right and wrong
of quarrel which threatens to par
alyZe the whole of the United States
! I,
of the controversy set forth in the
press. There has never been a time
when popular favor or condemnation
was so potent as now.
The railroads recognize this the
wage-earners recognize it. Both eager
ly seek to present their facts to the
great jury of millions for judgment.
Mr. Pagan wisely says that this is a
very satisfactory ard healthy indica-
| ton" This cannot be done by hiring
halls. The questions will be deliberat-
ed by the firesides and in the country
stores. This section of Maine should
have a chance to form its judgment,
and should have the facts from which
to reason.
| We can look to no source for these
| facts except to the press, and your
paper, for many communities contain
ing thinking men is the press. We like
to discuss matters printed in the news
columns, rather than in the advertising
columns. If your friend Deak Worm
wood wishes to debate about his cut
worms and cabbages, let him pay for
his space or keep still Your readers
:: AN..-
to do, not with cut-worms and cab
bages, but with the life in the nations
arteries Of commerce, and we want to
know about it.
Can you not look the situation over
carefully, Gull from the material which
has escaped the waste-basket such
facts as you believe to be true, follow
up with such real facts as come to
your eye from day to day relating to
both sides of the great question, and
thus little by little supply the evidence
from which this part of the world may
form it's judgment. And this, after all,
is what Mr. Pagan was bold enough to
suggest. Read his letter again careful
~, and you will, I think, fail to find
that he has anywhere asked you to
print as your own views the press
matter supplied by the belligerents. All
he asks is that you permit a fair and
| impartial setting forth of the news.
| And 1 beg you to agree with me that
| these facts are news and news in the
most dignified sense. You did not ques-
ton the existence of the news quality
when the Yellow Book and the White
Book and the rest of the variegated
! library came out after the beginning of
the great war; and, my dear Mr.. Ed
itor, l venture to say that if this la
Dor struggle breaks as it threatens to
do, the European war will seem very
| far away, our foreign relations will
| pale into insignificance, and this coun-
try Of ours will enter upon a season
| Of storm that all the editors in the
land cannot check. The way to prevent
this is to let the people become pos
sessed Of the facts, the more quickly
the better, and il it is not already too
late, a great sweep of the peoples COM
nonsense may remove the peril before
we are overwhelmed.
| Very respectfully,