The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1918-04-17
Sees Menace to Republic in
- ~ Servility Of Press in War
Henry Watterson Birthday Takes Occasion to Express
Some Stimulating Views on Plight in Which Press
Finds Itself on Account of the War.


my days to the life work which has
filledNhe measure of my ambition and
desires. it may be that l cannot put
my seventy eighth birthday to better
use than by jotting down in familiar
way certain experiences which have led
20 certain results and opinions.
Born in the national capital Febru-
aFy l6, 1s40, and growing to manhood
in and out of Washington. with occa-
sional visits to Tennessee. which my
father succeeding James X. Polk. from
the Maury Bedford district, represented
in congress, my earliest Impressions
took their color and direction from po-
ntical camp fires and party battles.
After while I became newspaper
reporter. having a seat in the house
and senate galleries. respectively, and
writ for the papers" and fit in and
enduring OF the war;" and went to Ken
lucky whence my immediate forebears
had come.
/ have passed many intervals Of time
In foreign countries, not as sightsee-
ing tourist, but as student and work.
er making a living with his pen and
seeking to note. mark. and understand
the contrarities of life and affairs which
he who travels is likely to find in every
land and among all peoples differing
from his own.
!. Plain All Round Newsman.
At least at my time OF life l shall
scarcely be accused OF self-seeking. 1t
may be-doubtless it is-that unlike
the Crummelses' Uncle Lillyvick who.
until he married a young wife was IAN
angel and not mortal" am just a
plain. matter Of fact all-round news
man who loves his country and fain
would say something to help out OF a
Yhiddling bad fix. albeite the futility OF
individual effort--even Of printers Ink
has long been something more than
suspected by me.
The most signal dangers of the time
seem to me to spring from emotional
ism, the inevitable offspring Of state
Of war, but with us aggravated by po-
lifical and military expediency. and
dfffused into a kind of popular hys-
terra by newspaper exaggeratlon.
Among stay -homes the women APP
pear less affected than the men. There
Is nothing hysterical about their minis
trations either in the sickroom or the
workrOom. 1t may be said that as 10
the front and the trenches over
there. the battle could not have gone
on without them. England and France
must have fallen down, that. as of old,
they teach men how TO fight and how
to die, making 1t easy to tight ana
sweet to die
TO me this has brought no surprise
can distinguish even betwixt feminine
hawks and handsaws. Woman. the
moral light OF the universe, her spirit
rises to peril and duty: the greater
the peril and duty the higher the rise'
sublime sacrifice her portion from the
cradle to the grave. l have been all
my life striving to tighten her load, 10
clear 6Way Artificml distractions from
her path. to widen the area of her
opportunity.
Yet. in illustration of the triviality OF
newspaper discussion, because l can
see only untimely mock heroics IN the
self exploiting leaders of the woman
suffrage agitations, who rattle rouno
in the limelight of time wasting cluos
and vainglorious platforms, while real.
rood. and true women. needing not the
perils OF the field. address themselves to
hospitals and ambulances. bandages and
knitting needles, l am assailed as the
enemy, not the friend, of woman. a
rnrarrapher Of the Galveston News
te,is me that am too old to keep up
witt, modern progress and to appre-
date "the beauty and glory of wom-
anhood," as IL either depended upon the
ballot, whist the Memphis Appeal dis-
misses me as having no use Tor women
sxcept ITO have them look pretty and
dress fine
Speaks Up for Himself.
Let me aver that such auizzing has
never struck in my wary old sizzafo'
Rut serious misconception, actual ms
REPRESENTATION. would seem TO REQUIRE
and Justify ones speaking up for MN
SELF. | find the following IN recent
editorial In the Boston Herald:
-That to which ] cling IS woman
hand: that which ! fear is femin'sm.
Henry Xatterson could not have chos-
On a less appropriate comment TO make
that declaration Of his faltn' LOT "
connss at a time when our inherited at-
,itude toward .womanhood ana on,
hasty copeiuskns regarding Iemin'sH'
are undergoing profound modification
In tho full time of his protest against
,ho snhseryupce to the 'sHish OF the
p.,,icoat, the editor of the osafi"r-
Iournal has no leisure to bestoW On
come of the most obvious lessons o.
the war
Assuming that have made an attack
,rxop woman, the Herald proceeds upon
mis- perverted text 10 read me lecture
upon the proper attitude and my dehh-
c,,ency. and commends me ~ the pf-
rnsal of a volume by, certain ~
rA.rland. entitled 1.-The Sum OF femihihs
achievement" l shall find there, the