St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-02-04
A MALICIOUS ATTACK.

A MALICIOUS ATTACK.
1t is not long since the Pioneer Press
had special commissioner, it is be-
lieved a member of its editorial staff,
visiting various localities in North Da-
kota and giving such publicity as its
columns afford to detailed variations
of restitution and suffering. Its re-
ports were admitted to be graphic and
sensational, but their truth was vehe
mently denied in North Dakota. At
Fargo and elsewhere the boards of
trade and commercial bodies, and the
newspapers of the state generally. pro-
nounced them gross SANDERS, and de-
nounced the paper for its malicious
faDrications, as calculated to work
serious injury to the new state. 1t
was understood that they were
the basis of still more eXag
gerated and damaging reports that
wendell their malign way eastw ard.
The Pioneer Press is either strangely
oblivious of this recent episode in its
history, or assumes that its readers are
forgetful, as it reprod uces in an edito-
rial yesterday much of the indictment of
itself formulated but a month or two ago
in Dakota. and directs it at the Chicago
papers, with pathetic air of regret that
the headlines to Dakota dispatch to
the GLOBE of last Saturday brought it
in the condemnatory range. These are
the lines that excite its Indignation and
move it to grief:
1t Is Not the Drouth That Is Driving the
For 0fS nol-r fff.,,. IirI
Taxes, High Interest and Usury Have Done
Their Work
1t kindly condoneS the Offense in q
measure by assuming that a political
motive actuated the GLOBE. The article
covered by these headings was the re-
port of committee appointed by
convention of business men, held at
Watertown, to inquire into the financial
condition of the people of South Dakota,
and which contained this among other
similar statements:
Thirty-seVen correspondents report des-
titutiOn and want caused by drouth. Fifty-siX
report cause, poor management, buying too
literally of machinery and other goods; and
1876 report high taxes, high rate of interest
usury. elevator combinations and high
freight rates. 1t is evident from the fore
going that to other causes than the drouth
must be attributed the greater portion of the
appeals for aid.
1t may charitably be presumed that
the Pioneer Press had failed to read the
article before it made its charge of
malicious misrepresentation. Its eager
ness toregain something Gifts lost ground
in the Dakotas may have bewildered
its Judgment. Its amin US may be fonnd
in waning subscription lists in that
70 hn
may have inspired similar feeling, OF to
what extent they may have exaggerated
the misfortunes of few localities in
the Dakotas, is not considered. The
GLOBE is not in the range of its i'm
putatlons.
Incidental to this matter it may be
noted that at the meeting of the cham
Der of commerce yesterday morning
some animadversion was directed at
certain rather romantic dispatches from
st. Paul in January in regard to snow
storms. railroad blockades and erratic
weather conditions. The following,
sent out from ST. Paul by the Assocl-
ated Press, and published in the Chica-
go Times and every paper of promi-
nence in the United States. was not
read at the meeting of the chamber:
ST. PAUL, Mimi, Jan. 14.-severe weather
is reported generally throughout The North
west. blizzard is raging at Beardsley
Mimi, the drifts being piled twenty feet
high. A piercing north wind accompanies
| the storm. Train and wagon traffic is at a
standstill. The first great storm of the sea-
son has struck Grand Rapids, extending all
over the upper Mississippi region. AT New
Salem the very air was darkened by falling
snow. and pedestrians could not see their
hands before them. At Wabasha thirteen
inches of snow has fallen. The highways
are seriously blockaded and trains are behind
time. From Neche, n. D., comes an account
of veritable blizzard which ragged thirty
seven hours rendering all travel impossible
through the heavy drifts.
1t may be that there was storm in
the Northwest on Jan. IA, but no one in
st. Paul. except the man temporarily
acting as agent of the Associated Press.
| had even suspicion that blizzard was
raging. The town of Beardsley may
have been buried under mountains of
white flakes, but up to date there has
been no request from that locality for
snow plows. If pedestrians at New
Salem could not see their hands before
them, it was due to the fact that the
sun had SET and the moon was obscured
by cloud. Generally speaking, the
weather is as unreliable as reports con-
corning it, no matter from what source
they emanate; but now that the cham
Der is investigating the subject. the
premier blizzard report of the season is
published for the information of the
committee having the matter IN charge.