The thing a newspaper desires sometimes more than money is shown in the following editorial from the Mountaineer of Newland, which was established 13 weeks ago by F.A. Carr. There is a good moral for the ordinary newspaper reader in this story:
It is time the people and the editor should understand each other and either pull together for better things or keep quiet together and let things go to the devil as fast as they can and as far as the editor is concerned he is anxious that the people who are really interested in improvement should come out from under cover and get together and pull together. The Mountaineer has set the pace and started the ball rolling and now it is your move.
We were informed last week by one of the owners of the gambling machines in town that they had been laid away because of information given by the solicitor that they were gambling machines and a violation of the law and that their continued use would result in prosecution. We have evidence that both have been in operation since court adjourned. We are told that the editor is the only man in the county who objects to these machines running.
The editor located in Newland because he likes the people and the country. He was told on every hand that the people wanted to live according to law, that they wanted to suppress lawlessness and that a newspaper could help and the help would be welcome.
The Mountaineer’s efforts have been commended by a great many people privately to the editor, but so far we have failed to see anyone come out in the open and back the editor’s efforts.
The editor is not the giving up kind. He has started in to go all the way, but if he is forcing his ideas and wishes on the people of the county and none of these people want what he wants, then he is a mighty selfish man and the sooner he and the Mountaineer leaves Newland and Avery County, the better it will be. He is tired of having people call him off to one side where no one will hear and say in effect “Sic ‘em, Tige, I’m for you!” If the people of Avery county want tee improvements the editor wants, if they want the enforcement of the law and better moral conditions, it is their move, their time to come out in the open before the people and say so.
It is not a question of money. We are making that in a satisfactory amount. It is a question of the open moral support of the people.
The Mountaineer and its editor are both wanted elsewhere, where the people understand our aims and our position and are willing to work openly with us for things that are in the line of public improvement. If there are any people in Avery County who are willing to put their shoulders to the wheel and help for better things it is time for them to say so.
The columns of the Mountaineer are open to a reasonable extent as far, in fact, as our force can set up the type for articles from those who oppose him. It is the people’s paper. To those who have been asking us to do certain things, however, the time has come for you to ask it openly in print over your own signature.
Christ opposed evil whenever he found it openly and boldly.
His disciples followed Him.
He said not those that say Father but those that do the will of the Father will enter the kingdom, and instructs us repeatedly not only to avoid sin, but to oppose sin. Unless we have the faith that will force us to do what He tells us to do we may be church members but we are not Christians and we will fail of the Christian reward.
Shall the Mountaineer and its editor keep up the fight for law and order for a better moral atmosphere for you to raise up your boys and girls in? It is your move. A short letter from you printed next week will be the answer. There is not a person in the county whom we are willing to oppose personally but wrong doing we will oppose clear through to the end if we feel that there are enough people sufficiently interested to come out openly for the welfare of their own children, but we shall wait to hear from you. Don’t tell us unless you are willing to tell the world for you don’t count unless you are willing to stand up in the open and be counted.
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