The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-01-05

Tweed's money, invented story about an
unpaid bill for the enormous sum of thtr-
teen thousand dollars, as accounting for the
opposition of the Times TO the ring aud
hence the satellite Of the Herald, and few
other unprincipled sheets, have been in
structed by the ring to repeat this story ever
since. The Tribune now expresses its
belief that not less than $50,0O0 was paid
by Tammany in one way or another to
the Herald and the Telegram during last
year alone. No one SuppoSes that the
proprietor of the Herald is aware of this
turpitude on the part of his servauts-still
less that he touched a dollar of the money.
But the nature of the support given to the
Tammany Ring by the Herald ought to be
sufficient to convince everybody that dirty
work has been going on somewhere. The
Tribune goes on to assert, upon the authority
of a pamphlet just published, that William
NJ. Tweed secured the services of the Sun
during the late canvass 'by the payment of
so much cash down and the promise of
monthly stipends." What answer will be
made to this charge remains to be seen; but
we cannot ignore the fact that similar accu-
sation brought against the Sun, in regard to
a transaction with James Fisk, Jr., was pub
lshed in the Tribune a week or so ago, and
was not denied by the paper implicated.
Instead of refuting the charge of taking
bribe for suppressing q certain article, as
everybody must have hoped the Sun would
do, it simply singled out and abused a gentle
man connected with the Tribune. This was
a clear case of allowing Judgment to go
against it by default.
The systematic corruption of the press by
the Temmany and Erie cliques will begin
to excite proper attention whenever the
public once more shows any disposition to
regard corruption as a thing wrong in itself,
and fatal to the best interests of society.
Any Journalist who now faithfully performs
his duty is made a marked man by all the
bribed hacks in the country, and any paper
which refuses to take bribes is sure to be
denounced as corrupt" by the rascals who
accept money from any hand which offers it.
For example, the accusations made by the
Times against Tweed and his gang have
never been disproved, but the hirelings
employed by Tweed have simply been in
structed to trump up some insane charge
concerning the motives of these attacks.
There are possibly some who really believe
that the World calls Tweed a swindler one
day and an angel the next from sheer con-
viction, and that the Times would not abuse
Tweed If somebody paid it thirteen thousand
dollars. People who put any faith in the
Worlds foreign dispatches must be fools
enough for anything. Thus the task of
serving the public with fidelity is obstructed
by the efforts of the very journals which
have taken money to betray the public. If
the exposures made by the Tribune on Tues
day could accomplish a wholesome change in
public sentiment in regard to all journals
bribed by the Tammany gang; and if those
exposures further tended to purify the atmo-
sphere of journalism generally, our contem-
porary would have accomplished signal SER
vice. But we fear that the time is not yet
ripe for reform, and that great portion of
the public think none the worse of jour.
nal because it is proved to have taken
bribes.