The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1902-04-29
The Dispatch and The Times.

SO far as we can Judge, Ihe puhilc has
very little use for The Richmond Times.
but The Times on occasions has urgent
need of the public, and just now calls it
in as authority for false allegations re-
gardng the Dispatch
The day before yesterday the Dispatch
challenged The Times to say who alleged
that the Seaboard Air Line Railway had
a. proprietary interest in this newspaper
Yesterday The Times editorlally an
nounced that it's authority for this safe
ment important and intended to be IN
furious, is 1.-The public" This Is conven-
lent, but we regret to say that we can
not regard it as straightforward or chlV-
alric The public is impersonal-a most
convenient barrier and shield behlnd
which SANDER may hide. 1t cannot pc
called on to produce proof, or in default
of doing so to acknowledge its error;
The Times "eXpanation' is pltapie
and a miserable avoidance Tor a News
paper which has undertaken to pose
as the representative of the high and
pure-an exemplar Of journalistic ethlcs.
Announcing that a certain condltion
was alleged to exist, and called on
to tell who made the allegation, and
on what authority The Times tells us
that it's authority is the pubic. Oii
former occasions this same estlmaple ana
amiabe contenir orary, this same preaCh-
er OIL the SOOu anu lllC oSeiu'Aie'i'
sought to injure: the Dispatch, its sue
cessful competitor in business, by going
out of its way to lug in quotations from
other newspapers conveying insinuatlons
which it did not venture to father. ms
time it brings into the discussion OF the
removal of the railroad tracks from the
West End an allegation which has noun
ing to do with the question, ana ior
the introduction of which its whole article
49, ,.,.,4 y1y, ~
method of the smallest and cheapest or
ward politicians and of the most incapa-
BILE keeper of a crossroads grocery-the
circulation by insinuaton and whisper OF
stories intended to injure an opponent
If we judge our esteemed contemporary
by some of it's sanctimonious editorial es-
SAYS on exalted functions of the press, we
would be surprised by its descent to such
human weakness as malice and to such
work as the ordinary citizen would be
ashamed of. qaei
However. as the matter has been
brought IN and saddled on the patient
and comprehensive public, it is just as
we'll to give the public the facts once for
all The Seaboard Air Line Railway
does not own one dollar OF stock III the
Richmond Dispatch. never has owned one
dollar of that stock and, so TAR as we
are informed, never has tried TO own
N
corporation or of any other corporation
has ever had line written in an edl-
toria lar:lc G, or, so far as we know,
even in a local item in the Dispatch.
The Times is owned by a most estlma-
BILE and valuable citizen who is. or was, a
large stakeholder in the Southern Kali
way, and a director of that company.
the general offices of which, by legal
fiction. created to violate a direct and
to State
are in The Times building. The same
gentleman. owning The Times, is or was,
tla chief owner of the Richmond Loco
motive Works and the local representa-
tive of one of the most enormous ana
vigorous trusts in America. Ihat IS
none of our business and we refer ~
it only to show how peculiarly NEAL ..,,
and Hypothetical the position OF Inc
Times is. We have been contented to flsht
+hat esteemed contemporary in an entire
" good hundred and professional way by
printing the best newspaper we Gould ana
leaving the public to judge the merits OF
the Dispatch as compared with us rivals
since our esteemed competitor sees IT.
however. to drag before the public private
business matters with which the pubnc
really has no concern, we are ent.reiy
willing to meet the issue SO presented
J;usincss men of this city, among W:lcm
,ra Mr., John L. Williams and his sons,
Who are supposed to own stock IN the
seaboard Air Line Railway, also own
stock in the Dispatch Company, as they
are said to do in the Trigg shipyards,
in several banks, the Johnson Puollsmng
Company and other local enterprises:
Ne-are clad to say that they have found
the investments satisfactory in a finan-
cial way, and that is the only interest
thew have in them. Nobody outside the
Dispatch office controls or suggests the
policy Of the paper, which IS under inc
nurpose that has been honored by the
confidence con and approval Of the people OF
Virginia these many years The editors
of the Dispatch are never required to
consult the stockholders Neither MT.
Leland Rankin, the president OF Inc
company, nor his associates. among whom
are Mr.. John L. Williams and his sons,
undertake to control the editorial course