The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-22
LAYING FOR" SHERMAN
NEWSPAPER CORRESPONDENT ARE
GUILTY OF "sHADY" TACTICS.
Practice OF "Trapping' Statesmen se-
the Journalistic Code of Ethics.


SHERMAN Is Il very ola man, ana MS ueIn-
ory may be and probably is, at times,
treacherous, but even with that handicap
he is still large-sized man. and will con-
tinue to command the respect of the coun-
try, He has been in public life for mora
than forty years, and has done his country
distinguished service. The American people
do not forget these things, and they do not
indorse attacks made upon tried and
trusted servants and upon their representa-
tives in positions of trust. For that reason
those who have been lending themselves to
unfriendly newspaper assaults upon the Sec
rotary OF state find themselves in rather an
unpleasant situation at present, and on the
defensive
Many Washington newspaper correspond
ents have not treated Secretary Sherman
fairly, and in sending out statements and
interviews designed to call attention to the
secretarys alleged indiscretions Of speech
and to his forgetfulness about certain mat
ters they have departed from their usual
habit in their treatment of public men with
whom they come in personal contact at the
Capitol. They have been, in a sense, Wolat-
ing the ethics of the profession, as under
stood in Washington. If the correspondents
woCd treat all public officials they meet
and talk with as they have Secretary Sher-
man of late they would very soon fad all
avenues for obtaining confidential news
closed against them. II newspaper writers
at the Capitol made a practice of going
about trying to trap public men into max
ing indiscreet remarks and then quoting
them literally it would not be long before
officials would learn to fear and shun them
and deny them condolences. The Washing-
ton correspondent whose reputation is such
that p1fhliC faII with
him very soon loses his usefulness, and
when the correspondent gets ''on color it
is next to impossible for him to regain his
standing. -"
1t is fundamentally essential that a
Washington newspaper correspondent
should be gentleman, and he cannot be
gentleman If he willfully and knowingly be-
trays the confidence of those with whom he
is brought in contact in the pursuit of his
professional work. There is no newspaper
field in the United States where the code
OF professional honor is more rigid and UNI
compromising than in Washington. A writer
who fails to appreciate this fact or, know
ing it, willfully ignores the fact, does him.
self a great wrong. He voluntarily strips
himself of strength and puts handicap on
his own work. He will soon find himself
Stunned and treated as an object of sus-
picion by those whose good will is of vital
importance to him. 1t is the confidence that
public men of experience have in the aver
age integrity and discretion of the Wash
ington correspondent which makes them
generally free in their intercourse with the
knights Of the pencil. When they are inter
viewed upon any subject they feel that if
IN the heat Of the moment they
may give utterance to an express
false position the interviewer will pro-
tect them by the exercise of wise discre-
ton, giving the spirit instead of literally
quoting, where such quotation would work
an injury. The writer who prints a snap
interview, or who fails to observe the de-
cencies, gives himself black eye The pub
lie man who has been betrayed will shun
him, and so will others, and a few repeti-
tons of such indiscretions costs caste.
Secretary Sherman, through his long
career in Washington, has personally met
and talked with hundreds OF newspaper
correspondents here, and in all those forty
years intercourse with them he has had
very little to complain of in their treatment
of him until within the past few weeks. He
learned to regard newspaper men as gen.
tlemen, and it is almost the universal testi-
mony of newspaper writer's that he is UNI
usually free in his conversation. This is
not the popular conception, bat it is, never
theless, fact, that, If MIR. Sherman talks
at all to newspaper callers, he let's himself
to probably greater length, and his utter
ances are more unrestrained than almost
any other man of large affairs In Washing
ton. Up to lately he has been protected and
guarded as other public men have been,
and no advantage has been taken of the
confidence reposed in the interviewers. 1t is,
therefore, something of shock to him to
have lot of fellows laying for him. for
the very evident purpose of entrapping him
into saying things from which impression
could be formed that he is in a state Of
hopeless mental decay. other public men
were also disturbed when these publications
first came out, and, knowing Washington's
code of journalistic ethics, were inclined to
the belief that Mr. Shermans condition
must be very nearly hopeless or such
stories would not go out. AS the facts were
revealed, however, a reaction set in, and a
general expression Of displeasure and dis
gust at the treatment accorded the vener-
able premier has superseded that OF
startled interest and sorrow The attacking
parties have been called off, and it has be-
come decidedly unpopular to send out or
print matter calculated to discredit Secre-
tary Sherman or to put him in a false light
before the public as a mental wreck, and
as one who is charge and an embarrass-
ment upon the administration. The conduct
of the State Department under the manage
ment Of Secretary. Sherman. as compared
with that Of previous administrations, is a
legitimate subject for comment or criticism
but personal attacks upon Mr.. Sherman
himself predicated upon untruthful or exag-
gerated accounts as to his condition. have
come to be regarded as being in decidedly
bad taste.
For the first time in many years the over
sight Of immigration matters in the execu-
tive and legislative branches of the govern
ment has passed completely into the hands
Of men who represent the native-born
American element. The foreign-born ele-
ment has demanded and been accorded an
important voice in the creation and admin
istration Of the immigration laws The
House committee on immigration has al
ways had a liberal representation of Ger
nan-Americans on it. and on several oc-
casions the Craftsmanship OF that important
committee has been given TO Germans. In
the Fifty-fourth Congress Rartholdt OF
Missouri, a German-American editor and
politician was given that honor. One OF
the few changes I'm committee chair
manships made by Mr.. Reed this Congress
was to retire Mr.. Barthodt and put in his