The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1892-12-29
Did Brother Godkin Gag Himself?

Did Brother Godkin Gag Himself?
Tho news OF the year would be incom-
plcte without some mention OF tho very
artistic castgation just administered by
our distinguished friend. Mr.. E. i. GoDK1N.
to our esteemed contemporary. the Boston
Ddiiy Advertiser. New York newspaper
readers including even the readers OF the
Erening Post. may not be aware that the
editor Of that admirable journal has been
writing in his own name q series Of let
tiers to the Boston Advertiser. showing with
great ability that he did not by cow
ardly silence make himself subservient
to Tammany Hall during the recent
canvass for the election OF Presi-
dent Of the United States and Mayor Of
this town. Yet such is the case: and to
withhold the facts would DO unjust alike to
those who want to possess all Of the infor-
nation that is current. and those whose ap-
petite for humor Graves the latest and most
piquant manifestations Of the ludicrous.
The Boston Advertiser charged. in sub
stance. that in his zeal to live up to the
spirit OF the Victoria Hotel conference-at
which, it Is proper to say, he was not present
Mr.. GoDKIN swallowed his inveterate
hatred OF Tammany Hall and caused
the newspaper which he. under tho
greater gods. manages and controls.
to pass through II municipal CAM
pagn. where the direct issue was
Tammany Halls capacity to govern honest
ly and well. without the slightest effort to
rescue tho city from the clutches Of what
he had SO frequently denounced as q semi
criminal organization" In other words.
the Advertiser practically accused Mr.. COD
KIN and the Evening Post Of being parties
to conspiracy Of silence in the interest Of
Mr.. CLEVELAND. viewed as favorite OF the
Mugwumps for President.
This charge. and the implied idea OF per-
sonal humiliation as a Mugwump captive
bound to the whirling wheels Of Tammany's
triumphal chariot. naturally fired Mr..
GoDK1N's indignation as nothing has fired
it since Fire Island. He Immediately pre-
pared an elaborate defence, in the form of
series OF letters with accompanying docu-
ments and exhibits. and forwarded the
same to the Boston Daily Advertiser. His
principal ground OF Defence as we under
stand 1t. Is found in the assertions.
first. that since 1890 it has been
the rule in the Evening Post Of
tice to respect the sacred right OF its
readers not to be bored to DEATH" and to
ATTACK TammaEy whenever it has COM
mitted any offence against the city, but not
oftener;" and. secondly, that during the
period alleged to have been period OF
ignoble silence and abiect submission on the
part Of Mr.. GoDKIN. Mr.. GoDKIN was really
laying it on to Tammany with all of the
vigor ut his penis command
AT first sight the two pleas may seem
contradictory. If not mutually destructive.
Why. it may DO asked. should Mr.. GoDKIN
admit the silence and allege the new rule OF
his Office against boring readers to death
unnecessarily. II. in fact. his newspaper
was not silent during tho canvass. but ac-
tive and vocfcrous as OF yore in its denun-
citation OF Tammany? And. on the other
hand. II he means to acknowledge the truth
OF the charge OF the Boston Daily Advcr-
tiser. why should he be at pains to
scissor with his own shears from the
files OF his interesting sheet certain
articles published. as he explains. between
the famous CLEVELAND dinner and the cleo
ton" and to mail them to Boston as proofs
that the Evening Post was not silent? 1t
would require some space to answer these
questions satisfactorily: and we are not
surc that 1t Is our duty to attempt to an
swer them. Tho main point is as clear as
crystal. Either plea. standing alone, is
perfectly sufficient to acquit Mr. GoDKlN;
and tho reader OF his most eloquent and in.
genlous letter TO the Advertiser Is free to
accept the one plea or tho other. according
to individual taste.
With what appears to us to DO Giscred-
itable lack of candor. tho Boston Advertiser
proceeds to examine the documents sub
mittcd to 1t by MI GoDKIN to prove that he
kept pounding away at Tammany between
the time of the Victoria Hotel dinner and
election day. 1t asserts that of the four
articles offered by him in evidence OF his
unremitting hostility to Tammany Hall,
two were entirely devoted to personal
attacks upon tho Health Oiiic,r of this
port. who in the exercise of his duty had
the misfortune to DO compelled To detain
Mr. GoDKIN In quarantine last September,
along with Senator MCPHERSON. Miss LOT
TIE COLLINS, and other eminent public
characters; ono was really all attack upon
tho local Republican organization, rather
than Oh Tammany. while the fourth con-
dcmEed certain Tammany nominees for the
Legislature on tho strength of their last
years record. without. however. advising
anybody to vote for their Republican COM
petitors. "ict all this" adds the Adre,-