Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-30
hon. W. ii. GRAIN TO THE NEWS.
A Manly Reply to q Newspapers Ortiz.
otemn,
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,. U,
WASHING ION, March 25, lSS:

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, U. 8.
WASHING ION, March 25, 1888. !
To the Gazette. Fort Worth, Texas:
The News in It's issue of the 21st inst.
attempted to place me in 8 false attitude
respeciiSg letter of mine, which it re
fused to publish or to deliver, at my re-
quest, to Mr.. Burson of the Evening Til
bune for publication. In justice to me
respectfully request the publication il
THE GAZETTE of the inclosed true copy o.
the aforesaid letter. Your obedient ser
want, W. Il. GRAIN,
To the News: -0''
Why doesn't the News stand up to its
punishment and not double up, twist,
squirm and wriggle like sn eel that is
having its cuticulsr covering removed
Asked to defiae its position on the deep
water question, it abuses Messrs. Stew
art aud Grain. Called upon to say wheth-
er it favors the solution of the deep.
water problem by the government engip-
GERS 1t revemps and rehashes lot OF
stale stuff which has often been repeated
by chronic grumblers like itself. Chal-
lenged TO declare that it is not opposed
to concentration of the governmental
appropriations under the river and har-
Dor bill, 1t hides its head behind private
letter written by me upon q subject en-
tirely foreign to the question under dis
cussion. The publication OF that letter
demonstrates the weakness of the posi-
ton OF the News, it's inability to sustain
that Position, the irritation produced BY
Shescdns.ic criticisms of its course, and
its will gness to defend itself by resort
log TO means, methods and instruments
more in keeping with the character of q
thug, or an assassin, than that of re-
spectacle journal to which it aspires.
thought when entered the lists and
crossed lances with the News that our
contest WAS to be conducted in accord
ance with the highest standard of con-
troversisl ethics, and 1 should not have
recognized the equality of the News had
l fofeseen that when we would come TO
Ietose quarters q stiletto would be slipped
into my back. The contents OF the letter
neither add to, nor detract from the
merits OF the controversy, and its repub-
hcstion by the News shows the venomous
spite and the poisonous malice of
hat paper. Although this Is the
case, / take the liberty of saying right
here, thai the statements contained in
thst letter sse2-rue, and that am proud
that tSepeople of Galveston see, through
the medium of letter which was not in
tended for the public eye, that I was as
Just In my connection with the distribu-
zion Of the federal eff 'es as intended to
be in the matter Of the river and hsroor
appropriations. Whist would the News
say were TO publish certain letters writ.
q re- f11a To ~, 1I.t
appointment of collector st Gal
weston? Does the News remember that
when IL was discovered that 1 could not
pc coaxed to turn my back upon q man
tshom had promised to support for the
cpllectoTship, it Immediately began to
abuse aE< belittle me, and attempted to
accoHplish by bulldoxing what it had
f.ijed to do by private methodist Does
the News remember that when 1t pub
lished this same letter In an equally inap-
plicable way motif I'd the writer of the
aforesaid letters that 1 would publish
them side by side with his editorial at
tacks on nae, and that received q tele-
gram begging me not to do itP The
same hand which wrote the letters
penned the editorial assaults on me. In
yiew Of the repetition of the cfsnse,
which, once condoned, ought to give
those letters to the public, but am not
justified in resorting to dishonorable
practices because my adversary descends
to their employment. Indeed, would
not shelter myself behind the excuse that
mine was q private letter written to q
third psrty and acquired by the News in
manner best known to itself, while the
others were written to me upon public
matter by the political editor OF
the News who, may say, was the most
brilliant writer Of his day In Texas.
But, to return to the deep-wster ques-
ton, 1 now charge: /. The News does
not want deep water at Galveston IL 1t is |
to be placed there by the government en-
gineers. 2. The News does not want O.
concentration OF the river and harbor