National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1875-08-07
A WORD OF ADVICE TO NORTHERN RE
PUBLICAN EDITORS.


misfortunes. They are doing the same
thing now. Instead of teaching them that
the Government is powerful to protect
alike the high and low and the great and
small, they hold it up as an object Of exc
Grafton which is responsible for 'todious ne
gro suffrage" and all the imaginary ills
that are supposed to result from the war
amendments 10 the Constitution. This is
the stock in trade of the Southern Democ-
racy on the stump and in the press. Not
one of their leaders has ever been known
to attempt to find anything beneficial in
those amendments, or anything to praise
in the results ensuing from their adoption.
On the contrary, they are, one and all,
constantly engaged in seeking devices by
which they can avoid their effect or escape
from the necessity Of obeying them. Yet
they claim to be thoroughly reconstructed,
to be submissive and to be as loyal as the
foremost Union men in the North. If the
Northern Gushers, many of whom are
honest and conscientious citizens, who de-
light to abide by those amendments, and
have pride in them as the most glorious
achievements of the war, could be made to
understand these facts. they would spurn
the offers of Cancellation extended by. these
doubly- dyed rebels as they would the ad-
vances of overt treason ITSELF But the
Centennial Gush fever Is abroad in the land,
and spasm Of weakened warm hearted
ness has seized upon many of them, which
enables the Southern plotters to succsed
with their efforts to conceal their real de-
signs with cloaks of deceitful penitence.
For this condition of affairs we charge
that the Republican press of the North is
mainly responsible, and fearful RESPONSE
bility it will prove to be. With reliable
avenues of communication open to it at all
times, it has allowed its readers to be mis-
led by the lying accounts of Associated
Press agents, and has neglected, with rare
exceptions, to spread the truth before them.
That the Southern Democrats have care
fully and shrewdly obtained control of all
the news agencies in their section, every
editor and intelligent newspaper reader in
the country will admit. Notwithstanding
this, the statements regarding public affairs
coming from these sources have been &C.
cepted as reliable and commented upon as
If they were truly non-partisan. To some
extent this has also been true of the news
agencies in the North, because the men,
bers of the New York Association, which
controls all Of the news of the country OK.
cept that furnished by the American Press
Association, are, with one or two excep.
tons, opposed 10 the Administration and
the party. In short, instead Of on.parti.
san dispatches, the press Of the country has
for the last three years been supplied with
Q class OF news which shows, upon close
analysis, that those who prepared Il, either
purposely or with equally criminal igno.
rance, gave Il q color acceptable TO the
Opposition and unjust TO the Republicans.
In this way II has become the fashion 10
ignore the claims OF both Southern and
Northern Republicans for recognition and
10 iayor everything inclined 10 advance the
intervals OF the Democracy. biased and
false reports OF the sayings and dolngs OF
public officials and inlAslAtemehts regarding
incidents Of their travels, such "a the manner
Ia which they may have been received by
the people, have been the order Of The day,
When MI Vice President Wilson made his
last Southern tour, for example, almost
every mile Of bis journey was described,
including descriptions Of the cordial man.
BeF In which The Southern people received
him, and reports Of speeches Of welcome
10 show that on esteAtatieus hospitality had
been extended 10 him. The wires were
buIdeRed nightly with the beldesl and most
bAFe'iaeed efforts 10 create political opinion,
30 II was when Judge Kelley made his
declaration Of peace and goodwill toward
the deeelVing wFetehes who but q few years
before drove him At the mouth uf their pIs,
tolls from the stand from which he at
tempted to address them, Everything that
he said then, or that others may have said
on other similar occasions, that could,Be
used to bolster up the Gush movement, was
telegraphed broadcast throughout |
the land, and made the basis Of editorial |
and reflection by men who should |
have been able to penetrate the partisan In |
tent involved, but who for the time being |
seemed TO be callous to every desire to reach |
and expose the truth.
In the pending campaigns IN the North |
ern States the same thing would occur If |
It were not for the fact that the Associated |
Press managers are themselves divided |
upon the questions at issue. Ifthey could, |
Or majority Of them would, agree upon
policy to be pursued regarding the finance
question, or, If by tacit consent, their |
agents should begin to make use of the |
wires to prejudice the public mind one
way or the other, the newspapers of the |
day would be filled with biased accounts |
regarding the occurrences of those cam
paigns, as they invariably are regarding |
the incidents Of those in the Southern |
States. Senator Thurman would then
have been pulled from Cincinnati for his |
Gallipolis speech, as Gen. Lamar was from
Memphis for his. address to the people of |
Corintb.
These facts, we say, are known to Re-
publican editors everywhere, as well as |
the further fact that two-thirds of the
special dispatches sent from Washington
ire similarly biased. We have nothing to
'ay in derogation of the character Of the
Associated Press dispatches from this
point. Although they do not always meet
with our approval, we believe they are as
ntelEgently non partisan as it is possible
or the very capable agents here to prepare
hem. But they are simply overshadowed
~ the impudence of the specials. The
after, in fact have precedence
in the columns of the journals to which
hey are sent, and receive extraordinary
than their average merit
leserves-at the hands of night editors, in
he way of displayed headlines and the use
Of double-leads. These specials are thus
orced upon the public in an attractive way,
md are not only made the staple of ordi-
nary conversation by the people, but are
lished up again and again with editorial
Pressing, until the opinions or lies Of some
and incompetent hoodlum
N Newspaper Row" become the ground.