The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-12
SOME ExPLANAToRY REMARKS. The Covington News has this to say:

There are lot of newspapers in this State that look upon The Montgomery Advertiser as the. whole thing. and ii rss AdyeTtssr Sea ssds sa,S t vas Ssk ws ,s upon The Advertiser as the leading paper Of the State. but that don't mean that we must follow 1t In every fight it makes.
 The Advertiser would regret very much to believe that the newspapers of Ala barna followed its course with regard to their own convictions. There are few papers in this State which we verify be- lieve. wait to see what position The Ad- vertiser takes so that they may get on the other side. It is not a creditable course. but we suppose they take this method of showing their independence. There are not many such. we are glad to know.
 It may be that there are some of our State contemporaries which adopt The Advertisers views without investigation. This papers facilities for getting at the news. and for arriving at the facts on any question. coupled with its fearless ness in expressing, It's opinions and con victions, make it 4 safe guide and coun- seilor for papers which have limited op- portunities in the way of news; and which cannot investigate for themselves the important questions of the day. We say this without any desire to boast, but as defence for those who adopt The Advertisers views as their own. This Is but justice to them.
 But when we say this we do not at all intend to be understood as favortng such course on the part of our con- temporaries. We would like to see the papers of Alabama thoroughly independ- ent. fearless and just self-sufficient enough to have their own views on all subjects and express them plainly We do not want them to follow The Ad- vertiser 'in every fight it makes" unless they are satisfied that 1t Is right. The Advertiser has no fear of opposition and no objection to contradiction or criticism. It has fought both losing and winning battles. and goes into one with as little fear of consequences as 1t does the other. Time and events have sho@n that it was sometimes wrong, but it believed at the time that it was right and would have felt like a coward if 1t had not stood by it's convictions. It has gone Into more than one contest with the absolute cer- tainty that it would lose friends and patronage, but that had no deterrent ef- feet on its course.
 In the future, as in the past, The Ad- vertiser will be guided and controlled en- tirely by its own convictions of right. No hope of reward or fear of conse- quences shall dictate it's course. It may at times be wrong, as it has sometimes been wrong in the past, but 1t will be fully convinced of the justice of it's po- sition, and when so convinced it will fol- low it's convictions to the end. unless sooner convinced of It's error. At the same time we neither ask nor desire that any paper shall give up it's own in- dependence of thought and follow this paper because it is The Advertiser. When our brethren of the press are sat- isfied that we are right, we shall be proud of their endorsement and appre- citation. When they have reason to feel that we are wrong. we shall have a much higher opinion of them if they will say so in p:ain words. and let us argue the question as brethren who unite in de- string the welfare of Alabama.
 This much by way of explanation and reply to The News.