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Muck-Raking

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Tacoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Apr 11, 1907

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 84, No. 15.

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Muck-Raking

By N. D. Hillis, D. D.

SLANDER is a species of murder. The whisperer is altogether contemptible. We revolt from cannibalism as to the body, but many men and some women can carve a neighbor’s reputation like a fowl. And yet no generation ever needed the warning more than ours. Just now it is popular to attack the newspapers for their personalities and harsh criticisms of public men. We must all confess to a shocked feeling when we find that all senators are accused of treason because two or three have betrayed their high office. Exaggeration, harsh criticism, the charge of crime first and the proof afterward—these are the order of the day. Many a man’s health has been ruined and his heart broken by a whispered slander that was afterward found to have no basis of truth whatsoever. Judgment begins at home. We all need to remember that man-formed souls alone love evil speaking; that the ideal man can not endure to read a slander or listen to it, much less to speak one. Great is the power of the tongue. It is a little member, but it is like the rudder, which turns the whole ship and controls the voyage. Therefore avoid harsh speech and unfair criticism.—N. D. Hillis, D. D.