Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1884-01-19

f1ctS from WHICH w u'""
ences. The charge against John Ire
land, for he 1t Is at whom this dagger
of deceit was aimed. is a most grievous
one. IT. indeed, the liberties OF the
press of Texas be imperlled, then deep
err and darker dangers are drawn upon
us than those involved in the renee
cutting troubles. But who is IL rom
whence these charges come, aud whaV
record bears the accuser toVerify ms
testimony? Words are as idle breezes
and the deepest-dyed villain often as
sumes the garb of innocence. Hear
the impeachment:
"The latest instance OF an attempt 10 put
the News under official and political pro
scriptiou and to bafile or seriously Grippe u
rs an agency for obtaining aud dihoslhs IN.
portant information is one which In It's fe"'
significance, when viewed in the light oil inc
genius and fundamental conditions oil our
government, concerns the press at large ana
the people al large much more than II con-
Germs the News, lfthe rule Of excluding one
enterp,ising and widely. circulated newspa-
pcr from knowledge of transactions, directly
or indirectly affecting vital public inte es'-
in one of the great departments of govern
ment unless that newspaper should submit
TO the censorship of the department, ana
should agree TO give Information in the guam
tlty. shape and color prescribed by official
diciatlon -if such rule were once successful
~ enforc. d IL would set fatal precedent
1t may appear somewhat singular to
an unbiased public that such com
plant should be confined to one jour
nal alone, which can represent but n
fraction of the daily press of the state;
and more singular still, that the dis
covery of this infraction of its liberties
was not sooner made by Il paper pos
sessed of such peculiar enterprise to
such a peculiar degree. 1t would,
perhaps, throw more light upon the
subject to specify in what particular
instance the News has suffered from
'ofiicial prescription" For want of
better information, the GAZETTE as
sumes that reference is intended
to the governors message,
on which, in professional
parlance, the News was "scooped'' 10y
its journalistic contemporaries. This
tale has been told before in these col
umns, but $ of such an interesting ma
ture as to bear repetition. The PRO
scription" under which the News la
bored in this instance was in not being
furnished the message sooner than its
contemporaries and obligating itself,
with them, not to publish it until de-
livery to the legislature. BY pecul-
lar coincidence the morning Monday
succeeding the day on which it re-
ceived the message, the News appear
ed with Il synopsis of it,
dated three days previous and
as special correspondence"
and, by incidence still more sim
gular, the synopsis of the message COM
pared in verbiage with the message it,
self ;and--what strange fatality was this?
to complete the trio OF condolences
| telegram exactly duplicating the
special correspondence" of the News |
vas filed in Austin Sunday night. |
What wonderful combination of cir
or, what disreputable de-
sign! And this is the public Journal
that presumes to accuse John Ireland
of"oflicial prescription and restrict
ing the liberties of the press.
But this does not complete the cate
CORY of its journalistic misdemeanors.
When charged with its base
betrayal of the confidence of
q man to whom il was
more deeply indebted for this courtesy
because it had made him the victim of
its unwarranted attacks, the News had
the auda 'ity TO boast of its center
prise" Ugh at the supposed discom-
future of its contemporaries and seal
the record OF its infdelity with the
declaration that "in tue face of the
tence-cutting troubles this was a small
The people can well believe
that the violation of a sacred pledge is
small matter" with the News, with.
nut such u shameless aVowal of dis
sentiment, but some may
pause to inquire why, il it
Teens Il violation of IT,.
promise small matter,n should il
place higher estimate upon truth ia
other things; lift hesitates not to con.
slider its pledge, as matter unworthy
The consideration of an "enterprisingu
Journal, why should it be deferred hy
conscientious scruples from adopting
any course that promised sufficient
remuneration? The GAZETTE would
lake pleasure in explaining, could it
To so consistently, that tie instance
;lted (the results of which nrn-
Voked the special animo.itv
Of the News was not an
Isolated case. We dislike to enlarge
On such "a disagreeable subject, but
stubborn fact compels the additional
impeachment, that this violation of
'he condolences of officials has been
systematically pursued, and is but n
Phase of that enterprise" which has
'ccasioned the News so much self
sloriicatiou. With the arrogance of
Absolute dominion, it has compeIled