The Montgomery advertiser. [volume], October 03, 1916, Page FOUR, Image 4

About The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982

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1912. Forty-atlrtt
Conducted from 18(5 to rv.>,
j-. ^A8. '. '' ‘ ’■ ’■!■ ■ ’■' frubfisher.
Entered at Montgomery PostofTlce aa second
' Jl»«£_matter under Act of Concrete of March
Members ot Asaoclated Preaa and American
Newananer Publlehera' Association.
COMPLETE REPORT OF
THE A550CiAltU FRESS
DAILY and SUNDAY (By Carrier or MaU.1
Per Annum ....(7.80 One Month ....( .65 i
I Six Months .... 8.80 One Week..18 I
Three Months .. 1.81 Single Codes .. .0» |
Sunday Edition alone, ner year .. (2.00
All communications should be addressed
and all money orders, checks, etc., made Day
able to THE ADVERTISER COMPANY. Mont
gomery. Ala . ..
MELLY-SMITH CO.—Foreign Representative.
I.vtton Bldit.. ChtcaKo: 220 5th Ava. N. Y.
City.
•the Advertiser Telephone No. • -“*7.'
Private braach Exchange Coaaeetlaa All
tleasr talents. _ .
1.lo.keu
8.10,844
AtUUT. Ibid.
.18.812
.18.783
.19.816
.22.565
.19.788
.19.796
8.19.786
10 .19.775
11 .19.737
12 .19.484
13 .22.225
14 .19.390
15 .18.367
16.1»
17.. —.......-ly.
18.. ..... .. •.. 10'
19......19'
..88.
21.1»
22 .19
23 .19
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
354
,235
210
226
023
205
228
221
145
113
,093
932
057
006
,992
985
.Vet Total . 5*6 346
Daily Average, August, 1916 ... 19,411
Sunday Average. August. 1916 . 21.852?
J. L. Boeshans. Circulation Manager ot The
Montgomery Advertiser, being dulv sworn.
The foregoing statement of The Adver
tiser's circulation for the Month of August.
1916. Is true and correct and comDiled after
returns and spoiled codes have been de- :
ducted.
J. L. BOESHAN9.
Circulation Manager.
THE ADVERTISER CO. !
Sworn to and subscribed before me. this >
Fourth day of September. 1916.__ ■*
(SEAL.) R. C. PHELPS.
Notary PiihRc. Montgomery County Alabama 1
THE BUILDING OF GOOD BOADS.
A wonderful growth in the building of good
roada la reflected in the report, Just mad^
by the government at Washington. This
surprising growth began in 1904 and con
tinued on through 1915, accelerated by the
national, by the State governments and by
various local authorities.
The development of the automobile is, of j
course, largely responsible for the road build- j
ing era, but we suspect that the recognition j
by the farmer of the direct benefits of good
roads, also contributed to the splendid |
achievements of the United States in road j
construction. We are to remember that .
while good roads have been extended as a
result of the automobile, that their recogni
tion as great agencies of development, and
as great benefits to the people are bjl no
means new. The Homans were among the
best road builders in the history of the world.
Some of the permanent roads which they
constructed over two thousand years ago are
still In use. .
Moreover, on the revival of civilisation in
the Middle Ages, such countries as France,
Great Britain and Germany recognized the
value of good roads nnd built them long be
fore the automobile was ever dreanftd of.
The American Republic has a population
of approximately a hundred million people—
a huge population—which It would seem,
would Insure the' construction of improved
highways. But the American Republic is a
far-flung country of splendid distances. Tho
building of good roads in America was sur
rounded with more difficulties than were thu
construction ‘ of improved highways in such
compact countries ns France and Great
Britain. But the American people have at
tacked the problem with characteristic energy
and generosity.
In 1904 the annual expenditure for Rood
roads In America was $80,000,000, in all the
States. In 1915 the total of the money ex
pended for good roads had Jumped to $182,
• 000.000, an increase of 250 per cent. If for
nothing else than It has promoted tho build
ing of good roads, the automobile should be
-counted a human benefactor, because of the
part it played in accelerating the movement
for good roads.
The various States at this time are bearing
a goodly part of the expense of good road3
building, which is as it should be. In 1904,
the road work by the State governments
amounted to only $2,500,000, but In 191G the
total has gone by leaps and bounds to $52,•
000,000. Only three States of the Union now
are without State Highway Departments, and
curiously enough at least two of the States
. are considered among the most progressive
in the Union. These States without High
way Departments are Indiana, Texas and
South Carolina.
A paragraph of the report bearing upon
the employment of convicts in the building
of good roads is of special interest to Ala- I
bama. where there is a strong sentiment for I
putting the convict^ on the roads. In fact, j
the sentiment for convicts working on the '
roads was overwhelming in the last Degisla- I
ture. and the experiment of employing them !
on the roads would have been ordered l>y
the Legislature but for the fact that the ex
periment was Impossible under the existing
condition of the State treasury.
In the meanwhile, the several counties can
work the convicts on the road and many of
them are so employing them. Yet, this
undertaking is still in its experimental stage,
and conflicting reports are made as to the
economy and efficiency of such road labor.
Frankly stated, the situation in Alabama is
that convict labor on the roads in Alabama
lias proved to be neither a success nor a fail
ure. It has not yet been established that
such labor is economical.
The report of the government would indi
cate that in many places where convict labor
has been tried, it has been abandoned. At
least convict labor In road building was no
such factor in 1915 as it was in 1904. In 1904
In road building work, the convict labor fur
tiished twenty-five percent of the total; in
1915 the per centage of convict labor was
only five per cent of the total
What haa become of the old-time pro
fessional man who wore a Prince Albert coat
and felt at home In it? ,
It will soon be time to start printing those
j? "shop early" editorials:
AS TO THE “8AG&£DNE88M OF
Institutions and traditions, political and
social, when based on eternal principles, may
become "sacred.” Thus the BUI of Rights,
the "controlling part of the Constitution.” i
Is a sacred thing and shall not be struck j
down without baneful consequences. j
The freeman who makes a fetich of the j
Constitution does himself, his State and hi# I
neighbors an injustice. By obstinately cling- j
lug to his unreasoning prejudices he declares
his Incapacity for taking part In self-govern
ment. I
Cooley, in his study of Constitutional law. 1
says of the Bill of Rights:
The Bills of Rights are intended for
the protection of Individuals and minori
ties. they declare the general principles j
of republican government and declare the I
fundamental rights of citizens: that all j
men gre by nature free and independent !
and have certain Inalienable rights, such j
as the enjoyment of life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness, acquiring, possess
ing and protecting property, and pursu
ing and obtaining safety and happiness,
and the free exercise and enjoyment of i
religioup freedom of worship without dis- j
crimination or preference. • • • That !
every man may bear arms In defense of
himself and State. That people shall be
secure in their persons, houses, papers
and effects against unreasonable searches
and seizures. • • » That all power is in
herent in the people and all free govern
ments al'9 founded on their authority and
instituted for their peace, safety and hap
piness and security: that they have the
inalienable and indefeasible right to
nbollsh their form of government as they
think proper. • • • It (the Constitution) 1
Is not the beginning of a community, nor
the origin of private rights; it Is not the
fountain of law nor the’ incipient state of
government; It Is not the cause but the
consequence of personal and political
freedom; It grants no rights to the people
but Is the creature of their power, the
'instrument of their convenience. De
signed for their protection in the enjoy- j
ment of the rights and'powers which they
possessed before the Constitution was
made, it is but the framework of ftie
political government.
Human rights are sacred, and these are
listed in the Bill of Rights. There is no
right more sacred than the right of local
self-government, which has been vouchsafed
our people, or rather, which they have vouch
safed themselves.
The patriotic Alabamians who in 190$ beat
the proposed Prohlbitiiyn Amendment were
fighting against an attempted emasculation
of the Bill of Rights, wherein there was
threat of overriding this provision: "That
the people shall be secure In their persons,
houses, papers, and effects, against unreason
able searches and seizures."
There is an issue of local self government
before the people of Alabama today. There
is an issue concerning the right to pursue
"happiness and security." These two issues
are built about the proposed Educational
Amendment. These issues concern every hu
man being in the State.
The Constitution is to be amended so as to
permit couhties and districts to Improve their
schools*whenever by popular vote they choose
to do so. That is all there is about It. If
simply provides a gfeater measure of local
self-governnjent.
As Pope Long, chairman of the Republican
State Executive Committee, says In his strong
letter: "Is it right for the State to foster
a system that will permit one white child
giving in one county to receive $30 for public
school purposes and a child living In another
part of the State to receive less than $3 and
at the same time deny that county, where
less than $3 is received, the' privilege of
changing that condition by local taxation?”
No man who is unprejudiced and enlightened
can answer that question except in one way:
"No, it is not right!”
Here is another important thought, sug
gested by Mr. Long. which must be borne In
mind: “The Federal government lias done
all we may expect, the State has done all it
can do, and now it remains for the counties
to make equal opportunities for all through
the adoption of the amendment to the Con
stitution.”
We are marked with a yellow streak if we
sit feebly by and declare that it is the duty
of the government. Federal and State, to do
those things for the people which the people
can do for themselves. But even if it were
not yellow to do this thing, the fact is that
we can’t expect the Federal government to
educate our children, and the fact is that the
State of Alabama is doing all that it can do
to educate_our children. We can't further
increase State appropriations for common
schools without materially raising taxes on
.everybody, nnd even if we kept on raising j
money, half of which to go to the schools
and half to other purposes, the system would |
remain forever inequitable. The thirty dollar
child in one county would continue to be a
thirty dollar child, and the five dollar child j
in another county would continue to lie a 1
five dollar child, or rather the relative dlf- !
ference in the amount of school funds spent j
of them would forever remain the same.
It will probably not be necessary for many i
counties ever to levy the special tax. They
will have their choice of action, of course. I
but those counties which think they wilt ;
never need to use their power should not j
stand in tlie way of those counties which i
need and want the right to vote an extra tax
upon themselves for school purposes.
This is a non-partisan question. Leaders
of all parties and factions in Alabama are
for it.
There is absolutely no intelligent argument
to be made against the adoption of the Kdu- !
rational Amendment. We challenge any man '
to point out a single substantial reason why |
this amendment should rrct be adopted' , ]
-5- J I
COTTON AND READY MONEY.
Cotton at sixteen and a half cents—but
why should it not be at top notch prices, !
with the •poorest cotton crop in history? I
The cotton crop is poor throughout the i
South, but it is poorer in Alabama than In !
any other Southern State. The average in
Alabama marks a new record and is far be- j
low that of any other cotton growing State. I
The average condition of the cotton crop,
throughout the South for ten years has beeo !
6J.3; iu Alabama this year 'the crop -Is j
placed at 36.
The census bureau, from the information j
at hand, i« conservative in estimating the j
total crop at eleven ui a half minion bales.
Since July, each month the estimate of the
ceneua bureau haa dropped. The recogni
tion of the destruction effected by the rains,
thb flood and the boll weevil was slow In
coming, but such recognition was Inevitable.
Intelligent planters and merchants have
expected but little of the cotton crop since
July. When it rained every day for six
weeks in Alabama, the experienced planter
knew that the Alabama cotton crop was
practically ruined, even if the boll weevil
had not gotten in its work.
It was unfortunate that we should have
the rains and the floods In the year when
we had to meet the boll weevil at its worst.
Xo other State of the South was ever so
prepared as was Alabama to cope with the
boll weevil. The steady and repeated rains
made this preparation worthless.
Hut sixteen rents means ready money, even
if we are to get only a third of a crop. IV
we only had half a crop we might consider
ourselves prosperous with sixteen cent cot
ton. As it Is. we are far better off than wo
expected to be in July. Our merchants now
realize this. Sixteen cent cotton haa great
ly- stimulated the circulation of ready money.
• ALABAMA MULES IN EUROPE.
The Age-Herald says lu.ouo mules and
horses have been shipped from Birmingham
to Europe for service In the war. Birming
ham has received over a million dollars from
this traffic. It is estimated that upwards of
800,000 mules and horses have gone from
this country to Europe., Over a hundred
million dollars have been involved in the
sales of these animals.
The mule that goes to the war' will live
about two weeks on an average.
In 1915 there were about 25,500,000 mules
and horses in this country; there were less
than 5,000,000 mules. For several years
mules and horses have been expensive. They
have been so costly in fact that even In times
of peace it was considered sound economics
to raise mule colts and horses for sale.
It's a mighty poor mule that brings less
than 5200 on the market. And it doesn’t cost
much to raise a few colts. Prices In future
will be very high.
Can't you find room for the advent of a
colt or two a year on your farm?
GREECE IN THE ELEVENTH HOUR.
The entry of Greece Into the war on the
side of the Entente Allies signifies no great
development In the struggle. Greece dallied
and killed time until it Is doubtful if she
secured any favorable terms from the allies
for the remainder of the war.
The position of Greece for the past eighteen
months has been unique in history. King
Constantine, educated in Germany and mar
ried to the sister of the Kaiser, has ruled
Greece as a viceroy of Germany. The revolu- i
tion in Greece, which has finally resulted
In her entry into the war, was also unique !
in history In that It is not directed at the i
King but at the policies of the King. No j
attempt, so far, has been made to overthrow
the King. The effort of Venizelos and his i
constltuerfls has been to overthrow the policy !
of the King. Constantine clung tenaciously j
to that policy until he became convinced that
his throne was In danger. Until recently,
and until his hand was forced by the Allies,
he openly sided with the Teutonic powers and
he encouraged the very active propaganda
conducted by the general agents In Greece.
To do this he had to oppose Venizelos, the j
strongest figure in Greece, the army and the I
good people.
Greece has been deeply alarmed over the j
trend of affairs. The act which moved her
to decision was the invasion of Grecian ter
ritory by the Bulgarians, their ancient
enemies. Greece today probably counts on
the breaking-up of Bulgaria, and she hopes
to join in the division of the spoils. S*e can
furnish the allies with probably 400,000 men.
Of course, her first step in the immediate
future will be to join her forces with those
of the allies against the Bulgarians on the
border.
Greece has not presented an Inspiring
spectacle as she wavered between the two
sides, pulled back now by her King, and now
by the party of Venizelos.
Middling cotton sold for 16.12 1-2 in Mont
gomery yesterday. It makes one begrudge
the temporary filling lie puts in an aching
tooth. •
Letters to Editor
ANECDOTES OP GEN. R. H. ANDERSON. j
Editor The Advertiser:
One of the most distinguished—hy his real ■
achievements if not by any adventitious ad
vertising—heroes of the great struggle for :
Confederate independence, inaugurated in
your city In the early days of 1861, was l.ieu- i
tenant General Itichard H. Anderson. He j
was “Brave as the Paladins of old, hut modest
and sensitive as a woman."
The very modesty and his belief that duty
well performed, even if not proclaimed from
the lioustops, was its own reward, is the ]
reason that for fifty years or more no at
tempt has been made to record those splendid
achievements which made the immortal I-ee
once say to him: "My noble old soldier. T
thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
But the history of such a superb soldier and i
noble man. should live forever, not alone for
his descendants, not alone ^or justice to his
memory, not alone as an houoy from his old
soldiers, but that the present generation may i
know the grandeur of character of the Il
lustrious men of that era and draw inspira
tion from such a nolde source. It has been
now determined to perpetuate his fame, to
publish his life and career in book form. At
tire earnest solicitation of his family and of
the veterans of Camp Dick Anderson, V. C. V.
and the Daughters of the Dirk Anderson
Chapter. U. D. C., both of Sumter, the Gen
eral's home, I have undertaken the work.
Even so comparatively few years since the
happening of th^ events In which he took so
conspicuous a part. It Is hard to gather all
the facts necessary to a correct history. For
most war stories we must turn to that in
valuable publication, The War of the Re
bellion Records. But General Anderson's
modesty and retiring disposition is shown
when we search these records. He made few
Ulticial Reports and these few arc brief, con- !
else and tell of results accomplished and the
men who gallantly won the successes, hut not
a word of the master mind, w hich so directed
them as to reach these successful results_
nor t»ic_ why or wherefore he did certain
'things.
So. to gather a correct story I must appeal
to the survivors of the men who fought under
| Another Delay • - |
w — _. — -- — ---- ■ -- —— y
recollect to present his character and achieve
ments In their proper light. During his
career as a division and corps commander In
the Army of Northern Virginia he had under
him sixteen infantry regiments from Ala
bama. They were the 4t{i, 8th, 9th, 10th. 11th,
13th, 14th, 13th, 41st. 43rd, 44th. 4Stli, 69th
and 60th and the 23rd battalion. I need not
dwell upon the gallantry of these commands
for they were Alabamians. But I will ask
the surviving members to set their minds
back fifty odd ydars and see if they cannot
remember something of the "incidents relat
ing to General Anderson, illustrating his
character and accomplishments. Do not hesi
tate to write. If you fear that you cannot'do
It In correct stylo. I want facts, not litera
ture. Comrades, help me, pleas?, all you can
and do your share to making this tribute to
your great leader worthy of the noble hero.
C. IRVINE WALKER.
(Now Hon. Comdr. In Chief, U. C. V.)
Address t*. O. Box 233, Summerville, S. C.
RELATIONS OP MEN AND WOMTN.
Editor The Advertiser:
"Thou shalt not kill!"
“Yet there are cases when we must.
In war, for instance, or from scathe ;
To guard and keep the one true Faith"—
And protect tl^e sanctity of the home.* j
Statements like the following have done j
more, in my opinion, to lead women astray '
than any other one statement, coming as j
they usually do from the pulpit: “The mar- j
riage vow is equally binding upon the hus- j
band and the wife has as much right to j
violate it as the husband." These statements j
tend to drag down rather than to lift up. .
When a thousand women are told that five !
hundred of their husbands are untrue to i
the marriage vow, they, doubtless, begin to j
ask themselves the question: "Is my hus
band among the five hundred?" Then some
grow Jealous, unhappy and discontented anl
finally conclude that the mountain will not I
come to them and they go to it.
When women are told that husbands, as a
rule, are unfaithful to the marriage vowy j
they grow jealous and
"Impatience changeth smoke to flame.
But Jealousy is hell.”
Ministers should at all times seek to lead
their fellowmen to live clean lives, but they
make a mistake when they, in the presence
of women, brand their husbands as libertines.
Women in all ages have been led to believe
that men are. as a rule, unchaste and they
are not expecting much change between now
and the "Millenial Dawn.” Consequently, when
the ‘’double standard" is held up before them
and they are told that they have as muen
right to live according to the lower stand
ard as their husbands have, many swing out
on the highway that leads to ruin.
The happiest woman in the world is the
woman who has implicit faith in her hus
band and no man can do a more mischievous
thing than to uproot that faith. No good can
come of "putting her wise," but incalculable
injury may be done. The fact of the busi
ness. no man’s true character should be held
up to the eyefl of anyone except the man him
self, unless to save some onej^no Is about
to fall into a snare. The unwritten law is
almost as old as time itself. History tells us
that "In the Augustan age of that once
mighty people they made a law, which was
in force six hundred years, authorising thq
Injured husband and relatives to slay the
libertine who invaded his home. The Emper
ors Augustus and Julian both promulgate^ [
this law in a pagan age. How near they ■
came to God when he handed down the
tablets from Sinai.” It is asid that “the !
Greeks a thousand years before that, from
the Areopagos, for the same purpose, pro- I
mulgated a similar law. It conduced more j
than all else to make that people the focal
and radiating center of a civilization and a j
literature that has rendered the names ot
her poets, orators, philosophers, statesmen I
and warriors immortal. It was the founda
tion of that spirit of martial glory that
carried her banners to the Indus and laid
Asia at her feet. Their noble women, of all
their thirty thousand pagan gods worshipped
none more than the vestal virgins, who min
istered at the shrine of sexual purity in the
radiance of light that never died out. The
Inspiration that transmitted to their sons
crowned them with laurels of transcendant
achievement."
“Then leave the poor plebian his single tie to j
life.
The sweet, sweet love of daughter, of sister
and wife.
The gentle speech, the balm for all that his
vexed soul endures,
The skies In which he half forgets such a
joke as yours.
still let the maiden’s beauty swell the
father's breast with pride.
Spare us the inexpiable wrong, the unutter
able shame I
That turns the coward's heart to steel, the
sluggard's blood to flame.
Lest when our last hope is fled, ye taste of
. our despair.
And l^arn by proof, in some wild hour, how
much the wretched dare.”
JOHN S. GRAHAM.
Jackson. Alabama. Sept. SO, 1*16.
OR. MeNElLL SAYS HIS “LAST WORD.”
Editor The Advertiser: .
In your reply you say:
We verily suspect that Dr. McNeill is
more interested in publishing a political
attack upon the Governor than upon voic
ing a disinterested protest against an
outrage upon Justice in the case of the
Governor’s paroling a convict who has
been convicted for manslaughter In the
first degree.
It is regretted that our friend is forced to
quit the field of tact and retreat to the
wilderness of suspecting motives. In com
menting upon The Advertiser's defense of the
Governor’s act. in which it appealed to the
unwritten law, there were four illustrations
used to show how dangerous to the public
safety were such appeals. One had reference
to the so-called code of honor, one to viola
tion of revenue, one to the prohibition law.
and one to arson for insurance. Of thes i
four why should The Advertiser select one
to base a suspect upon except to cover a re
treat? The only one other reference to the
liquor question was in answer to The Adver
tiser's statement of how the prohibitionists
found the "back-bone of the Governor.” We
much prefer that our friend stand upon facts,
law and logic and not hie himself away to
the field of esoterics.'
A perusal of the correspondence shows that
The Advertiser introduced the liquor question
into this discussion—unfortunate for that
journal. On this question my friend and I
are a “pair"—he is as strong pro-liquor as I
am anti-liquor.
H. H. McNEILL.
Dothan, Ala., Sept. 30, 1016.
A KUKLVX STATUE
New York Times. t
Southern' newspapers are debating with
considerable warmth the announced Inten
tion of Thomas Dixon to honor the memory
of his uncle. Colonel McAfee, by erecting an
equestrian statue on the Court House lawn
in Shelby, N. C. Colonel McAfee was the
original of Mr. Dixon’s hero, "the Little Col
onel," in his film play, "The Birth of a Na
tion." He purposes to portray the man he
would honor In the uniform of the Ku Klux
Klan, and it is over this part of the plan
that the discussion has been aroused. The
Charlotte Observer declares that “it would
be hard to conceive of a statue more gro
tesquely-treated.” and would have the Colonel
clad in Confederate uniform. The history In
which the Ku Klux Klan played a part "be
longs to the past,” should be "stored in the
archives as a sealed book.” None but South
erners understand, or ever will understand'
that history, and "the erection of a statue
of the class'proposed would Impose upon the
people- of this and eucceedlng generations
the duty of perpetual explanation and de
fense, a duty that might become irksome with
the passing of the years, and that might in
the end be repudiated.”
The Montgomery Advertiser calls The Ob
server’s position ‘‘ridiculous.” Colonel Mc
Afee's fame is that of "leader and organiser
of the Ku Klux," and virtually every South
ern town has a statue to some Confederate
officer; there would be nothing distinguishing
about another such statue.
Ku Kluxism is an interesting phata of
Southern civilisation, an institution that
rose up to do a definite thing, and dis
appeared when its purposes had been ac
complished. It will li^e always In the
lore of this people. • • • The Clansman’s
individuality should not be lost, but
should be Indelibly impressed upon the
minds of this and coming generations.
Where Southerners take such opposite
views, it may not be intrusive for Northern
ers to .expreBs opinions. The Advertiser’s
position seems to be the right one. If Mc
Afee was famous as ^organizer of the Klan.
that is the way he should be remembered,
unless, indeed, his people are ashamed of the
work In which he won fame and wish to re
member only the work in which ha was not
distinguished above others. largely because
of Mr. Dixon's own labors, this generation is
being taught to idealize the Klan. After the
McAfees let go of it. It fell Into the hands of
scoundrels and committed many bloody and
shameful outrages. In the beginning, how
ever, it was an uprising like that of the Sam i
Francisco Vigilance Committee, for which j
no Californian will ever dream of apologiz- |
Ing. It was the uprising of Confederate sol
Ellers against an intolerable tyranny. It was
violent and lawless, bat so was the San
Francisco revolt: both were cases where
civilisation was prostrate under the feet of
Ignorance and vice. If the Ku Klux after
ward became the instrument of tyranny and
crime, while the Vigilance Committee did not.
It was because such an instrument always in
vites such a danger, and California was
luckier than the South. It was with the
better part of the Kan's history, its fight for
the preservation of civilisation in the South,
that this Soldier was connected: and If be la
to be honored by a statue, it should be one
that will recall his real work. It was. as
The Advertiser says, a phase of Southern
civilisation which has passed. The Observer
is perhaps too touchy. It is more the North
than the South that has reason to blush at
the name of the Ku Klux Klan: that name
recalls a time when men took the law into
their own hands, but it recalls still more the
unclean tyranny thit forced them to $o sol
and of that tyranny the North has long re
pented. . > ' . ' "
A Critic of Magazines
Florida Times-tjnion. ' - "
Dr. William J. Robinson, editor or The
Medical Critio and. Guide, haa written so
clearly and so vigorously la his own publica
tion that several magazine editors have in
vited him to contribute to the pages, of their
magazines He replies to them in bis own
publication aa follows:
I do not believe I will ever be a suc
cess aa a popular magazine writer. For
popular magazine writing is essentially
dishonest writing. This statement may
shock you, but on analysis you will per
'ceive the truth of it. To be a success
as a popular magazine writer you must
first of all sprinkle your articles with a
liberal dose of striking fpfgrams. And
what is' an epigram but a cleverly told
lie? You must exaggerate, you must
paint in lurid colors, you must disregard
- or minimize facts which are contrary to
your thesis, and you must speak with the
aplomb and finality of judgment which
admit of no discussion, as if your state
ments were accepted universally by the
scientists of the whole world. Such
articles appeal to the public, and are
therefore sought by the editors. But
write a moderate article, without epi
grams and exaggerations, honestly pre
senting the present status of the sub
ject, explaining that certain points are
still sub judtee, that authorities of equal
competence entertain opposite views
about it, and the chances sre tea to one
that your article will be .rejected. For
your article would appear pale, modest,
retiring, and uncertain. But it would
be the truth. And truth is pale, modest,
retiring and uncertain. It Is falsehood
that is red-rouged, impudent, load end
brazen. And that’s what the people
-want, and that’s what the editors (sunk
so low that they believe, or make believe
they believe, that the’ people should get
what they want) will give them.
If Dr. Robinson really feels the contempt
he professes to feel for writers of epigrams,
he must be very much ashamed of himself
for there are no fewer than four epigrams in
this short quotation and they are more than
usually striking even for epigrams. If maga
zine writing Is what the doctor thinks It is
we Judge from the above that he would suit
a good magazine writer just as the editor;
judge it from other writings There is noth
ing "pale, modest, retiring, uncertain" about
the quotation we make. We would not like
to call It "red rouger. impudent, loud and
brazen:" but it le certainly stated with a
positiveness that does not admit that
"authorities of equal competence entertain
opposite views about it” and with perhaps a
little tint of exaggeration that would tead
to make it agreeable to magaaino editors,
writers and readers For instance tbs ques
tion: “What Is sn epigram bat a cleverly
told lie?" is not itself the assertion or the
intimation of a thing that is entirely true.
An epigram may be a cleverly told truth.
But in the main we agree with the doctors
estimate of magazines Magazines have no
principles of their own ss a rule. They boy
from the outside nearly everything they pub
lish and they buy It almost if not entirely
with the idea that it will increase sales.
Interesting falsehood is as good for this pur
pose as interesting truth. As a rule a
paper has its principles," some of them good,
others as good as they know and still or
Intentionally bad. But they advocate s
thing. The editor of a magazine and ....
proprietor of a restaurant alike serve their
patrons with such foed as they think will
increase their patronage.
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