San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-02-13
A TRIBUTE TO PRINCIPLES

= In a recent letter to THE LIGHT some
one says: 1--WE been reading your cdi-
+ torials carefully for the past several
! months and am of the opinion that for
: clear thinking, fair-mndedncss and
keeping i'll the middle ground YOU are
hard to beat. How can you keep grind
, ing them out that way"
> Has THE LIGHT been so consistent in
the exercise of the qualities mentioned !?
1t has tried to think clearly and to be
fair-minded, and one who attains any
appreciable measure of SUCCESS in those
efforts is not likely to commit excuses
or run to extremes. If THE LIGHT has
been successful to an appreciate degree
2 n the ways referred to, the correspond
ent's phrase, grinding them out" is ap-
5 propriate.
: Ever carry corn to mill and watch the
grains run down the hopper and the
meal pour into your sack? Was the
meal coarse or fine? Its degree of fine
ness depended upon the particular mill
you patronized-the way the machinery
was set to begin with. Now and
then piece of shuck might come
through, but the mill ground on Just
/. the same-turning out a grist of fairly
uniform fincness. The uniformity of the
product was due to the practice of GER
tain mechanical principles in the max
ing, assembling and operation of the
mill. Any deviation from those princi-
pies would have affected the quality of
the mills product. The manufacturer
OF the machinery, the mechanics who as
ssembled the parts and the miller who
soperated the plant adhered to those prin-
ciples and let the mills product take
care of itself, so to speak
So with newspaper, or with any
other enterprise. In fact, the analogy
is as broad as life itself. There are GER
tain principles which must be practiced
IN every human activity if success, in
the best sense of the term, is to be at
.tained therein. 1t so happens that a
newspaper, if it is to perform its func-
ton adequately, must take notice of a
wide range of human activities. How
can it be consistent in its interpreta-
tons and appraisements of so many ac-
tvities-how can it keep grinding them
out that way?
r If newspaper does that it is simply
putting into practice principles from
(which it cannot safely deviate-princi-
plies with which it became acquainted
slong before undertaking to comment
upon given event. Of course there
ARE many fields to be explored and sur-
,veyed; but, after all, the problems of
mankind are reducible to just few
( classifications-about three. A person
with good mind, to begin with, may
sreach the right conclusion concerning
many questions even though he may
have instructed himself in the major
principles that mans affairs; but if he
relies solely on his native intelligence,
and ignores the experience of the ages
as recorded in the works of philosoph-
sers, scientists and great observers Of all
times, good intentions will not prevent
him from turning out product of var
liable quality.
y If The LIGHT has consistently dis
PLAYED the qualities attributed to it by
its kind correspondent, or has attained
that kind of success in any measure. it
is because this newspaper is guided by
principles from which it will not con-
sciously deviatc.