The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-09-24
MIX. kEITT'S MEMORY Is BAD.
He Should Stick to the Record He Con
tiuues His Unjust Warfare on the
Newspapers.

Mr.. Editor: In your paper Of this
week you claim that have been "abus-
ing The Herald and News" and I am
challenged to point out when or where
YOU have misrepresented me or the
| Alliance.
assume that you allude to my pub
lie utterances at the different points in
the county where Alliance meetings
were held last week and particular, at
| Mt. Tabor church, as you give par
tial synopsis of that meeting. The lam
guage 1 used there is about the same
that / have expressed at other points
and, perhaps, also in the press. 1t had
! no special application to your paper,
though am compelled to say that /
am strongly impressed with the con-
viction that your paper has been bitter
ly hostile to the Alliance.
shall give you, for the benefit of
| the NeWberry papers, as nearly as L
can, statement of that part Of my
speech at Mt. Tabor that concerns
them:
The speeches by the lecturers had
been made. The day had apparently
passed pleasantly. Certainly the speak
ers were handsomely entertained in
every way. Soon as the State lecturer
finished Mr.. Scott took the platform.
He congratulated the people on the
success of the occasion. Asked them
to think over what they had heard
| from the lecturers. For his part be
| could not agree with all that had been
said. He was not satisfied with the
| Sub-treasury plan--then nearly every
thing that was said was about politics.
He did not believe that politics ought
to be in the Alliance. The papers IN
formed him OF some things he did not
like. He did not like the aUdy Macune
acted, dc. I then stated to Mr.. Scott
that I wished to say a few words before
the audience was dismissed. In reply
I said the lecturers were not there of
| their own accord, but were representa-
tives of the Alliance. 1t was their duty
| to discuss the principles and demands
i of the Alliane and to teach its true doc
| trines.
All the demands, including the Snb-
treasury plan, were made upon Congress
and were necessarily political. Mr..
Scott had made statement from news
paper information. | desired to know
where be got his information. then
turned to Mr.. Scott and asked If he
took the National Economist and the
")tton Plant; upon receiving a negative
eplv asked what papers be took. He
said the Newberry Herald and News,
the Observer and the Charleston World.
| then turned to the audience and said,
that explained why Mr.. Scott knew
! nothing about the Alliance. That he did
not take our nationl or State organ, and
every one of the papers he took was
against US and could not be depended
upon to express the true situation in
Alliance matters.
may have said that they would not
| tell the truth when they could. [ Illus
trated this at st. Luke's by saying,
'sseveral months ago these papers, all
over the country, published with fam
| ing headlines the great antl-Sub-treas-
ury meeting held at Fort Worth, Tex
as. at which Hall and McAllister and
| loo delegates, representing at least
| $4,000 Alliance men, squarely renounc-
ed and repudiated that doctrine" The
meeting ia fact was Insignificant. Hall
and McAllister, men who have violated
their solemn obligations, were the only
| two men there from outside Of Texas,
and the few from Texas represented
| nobody but themselves.
Notwithstanding this fact, these
papers have never yet corrected the
error. don't keep a file of your paper,
| Mr.. Editor, but if mistake not yours
is one of them. I think the National
| Economist is correct in its observa-
tons upon this meeting when it says:
sThe only bad effects come through
| the mendacity of the partisan press. "
1.-The object of such gross mlsrepresen-
tation is easily discovered. 1t is to
mislead and deceive the brethren, well
knowing that such falsehoods scattered
by the large dailies Gan only be correct
ed through the weekly reform press,
| the Alliance being refused the columns
of such dailies in it's own defense" l
think the weeklies in this State copied
| from the News and Courier.
Again, certain papers, disclosed their
| hostility to the Alliance in stimulat-
ing the Liberty Hall Alliance to ignore
the request of the County Alliance to
withdraw certain resolutions in which
partizan politics had been introduced,
clearly in violation of the Constitu-
ton.
There can be no justification peef this
course; and I can assign nGG~cause for
If otSer than desire to.~create discord
| among brethre1 and disorganize
| the Alliance. fcsnnot speak positive
", az the record is not before me, but
| if nv memory is correct, your paper
was one of them. .,
A favorite plan of the press, that is
working to destroy the Alliance, ls rldl-
Guile and abuse of its leaders. Your
paper, Mr.. Editor, has been prolific IN
such literature. The issue now before
| me. in which you "try to be fair' has,
standing out in bold relief as the first
three words of your paper, "M0Etng
Stokes Squ;rna." In your heaoines
Stokes is spoken of as "President of the
State organization of the Farmers Al
Alliance" The conclusion is unavold-
able that the disgusting epithet is dl-
| rected against him in that capacity,
| and. as such, is an insult to every
Alliance man in South Carolina. We
know that Polk has shared the same
| fate at the hands Of the opposition
press. and that Macune, too, has been
villified IN the most outrageous man
| ner, only because of his fidelity lo the
trusts imposed upon him by his exalted
position. You claim to have published
about "as much on the Alliance side
as on the other" Can you point out
single instance in which odious head
lines have been applied to opponents of
Alliance demands. I have never seen
| them.
AS lecturer of the Alliance 1 shall
| never hesitate to warn the people
against the influence of newspapers
! that are fighting US unfairly. l recog,,
nize the right of opposition, and will
| certainly do nothing to inJure any
paper conducted in an honorable man
ner. At the same time cannot recon-
mend them to the people as educators
upon Alliance matters.
Respectfully,
JOS L. KEITT.
| SondIey,s s G.. Sent. -, 1891.