The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1893-12-27


YArLA wAILa. Dec -. 1853
Te THE EDfroR. In resent issue OF the
WaIla Waila Tssioa ysnyani iss editor. r.
Is. Johnson. In an open letter 70 the editor
Of the Posr-IsrErIisEScrs.t denies that he
evev wrote the seurriieus letter that Was
sent cat from here 20 the Spokane Reriew,
Portland Oregoniaa and Taroma Ledger.
He not only denies having written the
letter. bat ssa.es: II do not know who
wrote the long letter etc." and thus ne
continues ~ great length 10 deny any
knowledge Of the matter and begs not TO
be held responsible for the sins OF others.
By var Of reminder 1t would be well for
Mr. Johnson 30 look back 10 the columns OF
bis own paper, and there he can ind THAI,
not more than . week ago. he admitted the
letter to have been written by q man in his
employ. but shirked the responsibility on
the ground that the letter vas not printed
In the Tsioa Jourmai, OF which he is the
editor
1t il immatsriai, however, whether Mr..
Johnson was or Was not the author OF mat
letter. or whether he did or did not fur
nish the false matter therein contained
This much il certain: he admits the con-
tents thereof to be false, he Acknowledges
that there was not an atom OF truth In
any of the statements, and yet he had not
the manhood to contradict them In the
columns of his own paper.
At great length he tells rs IN his ''open
letter" TO the editor Of the PosT-IyTELLr-
sEScKR that he was and Is always ready to
eritieise men and measures in an open and
manly way. I submit that he who is
always ready to condemn men and meas
ures that are detrimental TO the public
good ought to be equally ready and will
ing to commend men and measures whose
acts and aims are beneficial TO the public
good.
Mr.. johnson. Who has been identified
with that public institution. the state peni-
tertiary, located here in Waila Waila. for
quite number of years. knows perfectly
we'll that the acts Of the board OF directors
Of the penitentiary, spoken Of in that
''long letter" Melted the state So. 800 an
nualiy. The usual price. with one or two
exceptions, paid for wood was s. per cord,
and sometimes over that The contract
let recently by the directors, Of which that
''long letter" complained SO bitterly, is
for wood of equal quality 1T the price of
81. 20 per cord. 1t is equally true that Mr..
Johnson, though sick AZ he claims to have
been at the time of the failure of the Walla
Walla Savings bank, knew that not cent
of the revolving fund money was deposited
in the said bank. and that the running ac-
count that the warden kept in that bank
amounted to only a few cents over $500.
Was 1t not the proper and manly thing for
Mr.. johnson, who claims to be always
ready to condemn evil and commend
good, to have denied, and Immediately
so, in the columns of his paper. the
false assertions made by several journals
that the state treasury would be a heavy
loser by the failure of the bank? Was it
not incumbent upon him to say: "The
Walla Walia Union Journal, of which am
the proprietor, is public journal, devoted
to the public good. and if the public funds
were in peril or wrongly applied, the jour
nal would have said 30 and cautioned the
public of the danger. The Journal, being
printed in the same city where the peni-
tertiary is situated, feels it to be primar-
lily its duty as public journal to condemn
all wrong acts therein committed and to
commend all good ones" In that event
no one would have made the mistake of
accrediting Mr.. Johnson with having writ
ten or instigated to be written that which
he declares to be false. Mr. johnson
would then have had no occasion to print
an "open letter" In the editorial columns
Of his own paper addressed to the editor of
another public journal.
A RESIDENT OF WALLA WALLA.