I can kill you sure, but I can only make you cry with these words

William Allen White purchased the Emporia Gazette for $3,000 in 1895 and published it until his death in 1944. During that period he wrote over 100 editorials that received attention both in Kansas and the nation at large including one whose title, at least, has reappeared on the stage of American consciousness. Unlike Thomas Frank, however, Allen's "What’s the matter with Kansas?" criticized the thoughtlessly Liberal voting habits of Kansans. Times change, I guess.

Allen's most interesting (and successful) editorial was not published until July 27, 1922 and went on to win the Pulitzer prize that year. "To an Anxious Friend," was written just after Allen had escaped a possible jail sentence due to a public argument with the governor of Kansas and is one of the more eloquent defenses of free speech that I have ever read. He concludes with these words:

So, dear friend, put fear out of your heart. This nation will survive, this state will prosper, the orderly business of life will go forward if only men can speak in whatever way given them to utter what their hearts hold - by voice, by posted card, by letter, or by press. Reason has never failed men. Only force and repression have made the wrecks in the world.

I do worry though, what happens when men fail reason?