The San Francisco call., 1898-01-07
BULLETINS
 GUILT IS
 CONFESSED Brothers to Avoid Fur ther Shame Will
 Compromise. Another Meeting of Vic tin1ized Merchants Will Be Held To-Day. Additional Proof of Duplicity and Swindling Ready for
 Production.
A CAMPAIGN INCIDENT.
An Attempt Was Made to Hold Up the Chairman of the Republican
 State Committee.

The proprietor of the Bulletin and his advisers will get a fair hearing at the meeting of the victimized mer- chants to-day. The men who have been robbed are not desirous of convicting any one unjustly, but they will demand in no uncertain manner a confession from Brothers and his advisers of all the facts. When the truth-the whole truth-is submitted Judgment can then be passed as to the degree of guilt If 1t can be shown that Brothers and his advisers were simply the tools of trio of professional schemers in the advertising line the verdict may be tempered with mercy. Any attempt on the part of the Bulletin crowd to dodge the real issue by insolent tactics of bulldozing and ungentle allusiOns to the victims as kickers, such as the col unns of the Bulletin last evening might imply, will be met by firm de- termination to punish the offenders for contempt as well as to infiict upon them the brand of shame.
 II may not have dawned on what it seems funny to call the minds of the Bulletin that the paper is no longer feared or respected even by the most timid of citizens. Every one outside of the old concern knows that its glory Has SOUG-ludl US piGSllSG htS OCpol - ed. Small boast is uttered that Its publication is profitable, which boast might be made by q veTitable bunlo steerer who had escaped the vigilance of the police.
 No one about the old paper seems to have the intellect or conscience to comprehend that the injury to jour nal which follows the loss of character and honor involves q greater loss than can be measured by dollars and cents. There was a period in the history of the Bulletin when half million dol lars placed for its conductors on the side of infamy and honor could not as much as tempt them to swerve from the path Of journalistic honor. But these men of heroic integrity are not managing the Bulletin to-day. Their example has been lost on Cro- thers and the weddings who surround him. His paper has been going from bad to worse since the day that he bought it. The stupidity of the busi- ness department is matched by the asininity of the editorial bureau. The news department occasionally aWak- ems the world of feminine fashion with a page descriptive of foreign lingerie, and meanwhile the poor old admins trator of the Pickering estate goes along. obliviOus to the march of events in journalism, deluding himself with the notion that he is publishing a newspaper.
 True enough, the head of the busi- ness department daily tells him that 1t is not 6 newspaper from a news point of view, and the head of the news department tells him that 1t Is not newspaper from a business point of view, and while Brothers hesitateS to believe either the public readily be- lieves both.
 On the quiet Brothers is passing along the word that he is the chief vic Cr., should not deal harshiy with the Bull letin. The business manager is trying to square things with soft soap, but the manipulator of the fashion page wants Brothers to get cut and fight all the merchants who protest against being robbed. So the Bulletin as 1t appears Is not the Bulletin as it exists WhaI attitude that precious legal light of the institution will take may not be disclosed until the meeting to-day. While he is writing and declaring that no compromise can be made the busi- ness manager is cOnfidentiaIly com promising. Brothers is already so lamentably compromised that he is willing to throw up the sponge and make restitution. The chances are that the Bulletin crowd will go to the meet ing with big threats and bold bluffs The merchants who have the right on their side and the obligation to protect themselves and the community in gen. eral from swindlers and blackmailers should not yield an iota. The Call has cut the claws of CrotherS' old newspa- per cat and no one need fear its scratch.
 Proof of the Bulletins guilt is cun1u- lative and overwhelming Scores of reputable merchants of the highest standing come forward voluntarily and describe in detail how the swind- ling dodge was worked on them. Old friends and advertising patrons of the paper tell Brothers frankly that so many business men would not league themselves against his paper without just cause, but he is so completely un- der the domination of weak and fnex- perenced advisers that he hesitates to confess and ask forgiveness He has been told that the way to win is to brazen it out
 The animal that brays loudest on the Pickering pasture tells him that commerce breeds cowards-that men who sell merchandise for a living have not the courage to fight and will con- sequently fall down and whimper If the Bulletin preserves bold effrontery
 The merchants of the city who have been robbed have a duty to perform which they cannot afford to shlrk The least sign of weakening on their part will encourage the boOdlers to assail them with extra venom. They should therefore assemble with a firm and fixed purpose to obtain instant restitu- tion. Insolence, if tolerated for a mo- nent, will breed more insolence It af- fords The Call no pleasure to advertise the Bulletins shame. but journalism has its duties and obligations which must be performed. In the present performance there is tinge of regret in the reflection that paper like the Bulletin. which once stood so high in the confidence of the commercial com munity of San Francisco, should have descended to its present degree of deg radiation and in its decline boast thai the publication of the paper was 8 source of profit to its conductor
 Some weeks since Colonel J. P. Jack son. Collector Of the Port, was furi-