The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1898-06-03

An lows Paper Takes Notice Of
washin1tOnss Congressman.
S;oux rI.y Iournal.

Sioux City Journal.
Kansas ard Nebraska should look to
their laursss- They are not 20 be per-
rnitted 10 enjoy ali the distinction % fan
sastic representation In congress- Ths
young state OF Washington is getting
strongly In the push.
The far Western commonwealth has IN
Hon. J. Hamilton Lewis a representative
who has already won nearly as much DIS
tinctioG as Sockless Simpson with his
much longer service. He began contrib
uting to the gayety of the nations as soon
as he reached the capital and has an un-
limited capacity OF making people laugh
at him He has the courage that never
permits him to be aha5hed. as Heusen-
ant colonel OF militia should have. ana
whetheE he takes the noor 20 denounca
the officers Of our regular army as gilded
military satraps and tasse,ed society sap
heads. or for any other purpose he makes
notable appearance and adds 10 his
fame.
Mr. Lewis. however, is not the only peb-
BILE on the Washington beech. He has a
worthy colleague in Hon. William Carey
Jones, OF Spokane. Mr.. Jones has been a
little slower In getting TO the froat. but il
given opportunity viii become as famous
as Mr.. Lewis. 1t Is certain that no other
state has two such men at the national
capital Mr.. Jones IS not quite so hurnor-
Gus as his colleague. but he has the faculty
of saying unexpected things. His chief
characteristics as public man is a strong
dislike OF the press. Perhaps the press
has paid too little attention TO him. IL
so. there are indications that II will make
amends for 1t cannot permit such a genius
to long hide his light. The greater the
paper the more keen his dislike OF ii. ard
his contempt for the metropolitan Gailies
Is boundless. He has introduced a bill
which. he explains, ''is enacted into law
would require such journals to publish
periodically a fun statement. showing the
ownership OF the paper and requiring edi-
torials to be signed by the writer" The
bill has been pigeon-holed by the COM
mittee on postoffices and postroads. where
its author fears it will remain until the
people elect q congress in which Wall
street has less influence than at present"
1t will be noticed that Mr.. Jones has no
use for Wall street.
Mr.. Jones has lately made a speech on
the election of senators by direct vote OF
the people. He has discovered that the
senate rs full Of venality and corruption,
but he thinks that a corrupt press is MAIN
" responsible for the deplorable fact. He
therefore devoted much of his eioquence
to the press. The fault of eiecting bad
senators lies more with the newspapers
than with the legislators. he declares, the
newspapers being controlled by men who
have hidden, Interior and selfish pur-
poses" Soaring aloft, he exclaims: These
that ought to be the iiveries
OF heaven seem to have been chosen TO
serve the devil" Mr.. Jones admits that
not everything in the so-called newspapers
is false. They publish narratives OF COM
monplace facts. such as baseball scores.
dog fights, cock fights, boat races, adver-
tisements and the like that may be true
enough" But this is where they are dan
gerous for having ingeniously gained the
confidence OF the public with their reports
of dog fights they insidiously advance to
the consideration OF questions OF govern
ment and economic policy" and delude |
their leaders at the dictation Of the ras-
cally but gigantic selfish interests which
have now adopted the newspapers as an
adjunct to their business" He draws this
dark pictrve OF the manner In which the
modern journal Is conducted:
'The counting room directs the policy |
OF the paper without any reference to the |
honest sentiments OF those whose literary
genius is 20 give that policy editorial cur
rency.
1T has indeed even come to the pass
that the Geographic news is revised and |
revamped by the business end of the in |
Information which does not co. |
incide with the selfish interest of the pro- |
prietor is either cut out entirely or grossly |
garbled.
Great financial managers now own con-
poiitan dailies, and dictate the contents |
not only of the editorial. but of the news
and writer's employed by them
have become mere literary prostitutes,
whose duty is to put forth not their hon
est convictions, but such sentiments as
the proprietors deem most conducive to
their selfish purposes"
1t seems evident that at some time in
his career Mr.. Jones has had a disagree |
ment with a newspaper. Perhaps when |
he was running for congress and before |
he became famous some editor failed to
appreciate him. 1t is not plain. |
however, how his scheme of signed arti-
cles would reform the evils OF which he |
A signature at the bottom of |
an article would not make up for its lack |
OF truth, IL 1t had that lack. Mr.. Jones |
himself says nothing anonymously In his |
speech, and yet there may be people who |
will not accept all his statements as |
verities.
Mr. Jones Is not without courage In ex- |
pressing his sentiments, and the press |
must at least recognize that 1t has |
strong man TO reckon with. and one who |
has as thorough an understanding OF the |
way newspapers are made as he has OF |
the intricacies OF finance. Il is perhaps |
to say that Mr. Jones is a |
free silver man.