Birmingham state herald., 1896-08-20
MR. STEWART SCOR ES HIM MT. Thurston Shown Up in a
 Bad Light. THE BEARER OF ISLANDER lfNot the Fountain Head-Mr. Bryans Denial of the Contemptble Charges
 Be Silent Hereafter.

Washington, Aug. 17.-Senator William M Stewart sent the following letter in reply to that of Senator Thurston, pub lished this morning:
 Washington, D. C., Aug. IT, 1896. "Hon. John M Thurston. Omaha, Neb.-
 My Dear Sir: I observe in the papers this morning letter purporting to have been written by you to me, in which I am pleased to note the following passage: I would be the last man in the world to assail the character of MT Bryan I have not done so in any instance or by any word of mine MT. Bryan is the can diiate of great party. It is not just to the American people that charges of this Kind should go unanswered. He is the man, and the only man, who can make definite and conclusive answer.
 MT Thurston, now can you deny the foregoing statement with your charge against MT. Bryan and against the silver producers, which is contained in the fol- lowing language used by you. and to which have had the honor to call your attention in my former letter:
 1The proprietors of the big bonanzas have found 1t profitable to keep a number of lecturers and other spokesmen on the road speaking to the people. Of the many who have been thus employed and carried on the rolls of the big bonanzas for many years is William Jennings
 
 spokesman of the free silver combine.
 Tn the city of Omaha, where William J. Bryan does editorial work, the Omaha Bee has made the specific charge edito- rially time and again. It has never been met. Say as an American citizen hay ing at heart the welfare of the people, that the man posing as the advocate of the downtrodden masses of his country, holding "crown of thOrns" in one hand and the bugaboo "cross of gold" in the other, owes 1t as a duty to every man, woman and child in this country to say whether that charge Is false or whether 1t is true.
 l do say my countrymen, and know whereof l speak, that for three and a half years, without regard to Bryan. there has been a selected corps of ora tors and writers, paid employees of the silver producers, spreading their litera- ture over this country from one end to the other, telling the farmer that he will nave more for his wheat; telling the la boring man that he will have more for his work
 Your disclaimer in connection with the foregoing statement requires expla- nation, provided you consider your repu- tation for truth and veracity valuable But your disclaimer that you would be the last man to assail the character of Bryan reflects either upon your verac- ity or your Knowledge of the law of li-
 
 that you have been retained by the Union Pacific railroad for so many years indicates that you are useful in some way to that institution, you ought to know that repeating islander or libel Is equally as slanderous or libelous as the original matter. You assume that you are not assaulting MT. Bryan when you are quoting what irresponsible newspa- pers say of him. and giving to such statements all the credit your high of- hcial position can confer. You belittle your understanding when you say that 1t is the duty of MT. Bryan to enter into personal controversy with every hire ling newspaper scribbler who is employ ed to islander or defame him. The people understand the animus of partisan news papers, and make proper allowances for their assertions, but when you clothe your islanders with your official robes 1t is lame and cowardly defense on your part to protect yourself by sulking behind miserable newspaper scribblers. I called your attention to the injustice of your charge, not the charge of news papers, which I have again quoted for the purpose of calling your attention to the charge you made supposng that if you were an honorable man you would retract the charges at once if you were unable to prove them. Instead of doing so you repeated other islanders against Bryan, myself, Senator Sharon, Gov I true, do not prove your charge against MT. Bryan. I shall not reiterate in kind and whole what venal newspapers or even better men than yourself say of you, because 1t is not pertinent to the is- sue. The issue is whether you have un- justly, and without proof, assailed the character of MT. Bryan. You cannot avoid that issue by pretending that you only repeated a falsehood which some body else originated. Do you not fear the repeating of a falsehood and attrib- uting it to irresponsible parties will i'm pair your influence in the cause you are advocating? EYou must remember, my dear senator, that there is a sense of public justice which is outraged by slan- der and libel, which you cannot justify by claiming you have right to remark it because you had not the courage to originate it. If you have no case against Mir. Bryan, which you have already vir- tually admitted by citing irrelevant, in- competent hearsay to prove your charge, your islanders will be harmless so far as he is concerned, but can you afford to be published to the world as peddler of islanders which you cannot prove? If you have any friends who supposed that you were both honest and brave they will be sorely disappointed if you fail to frankly avow your error and retract your islanders or prove the truthfulness of your charges, which I have quoted above Yours very respectfully,
 ''WM. M. STEWART"