Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1903-07-11
Oyer-Advertised Correspondent
Failed Utterly In His Con-
vention Report
INSURANCE STORY A FRIGHT
Des Moines Newspaper Men and citi-
zens Discover That Great Idol Is
But Cheap Imitation-curtis Failed
to Grasp Convention situation-In
surance Story Grossly Unfair.

Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, July 11.-Now that the
people of Des Moines have had time tc
reflect upon the matter a week, they
are madden than ever to think that an
itinerant reporter drawing pay from q
| Chicago newspaper was shown any
extraordinary courtesies while here
But 1t is the old story of bowling and
scraping before the fellow well adver-
tised as some thing great and discover
ing in the end that he is merely ordin-
ary
When it was made known that ". +.
Curtis was coming to Des
Moines to do the republican
convention, nobody supposed he
planned to do everybody who came in
his pathway. Now that he has ground
out the poor grist he got here everyone
is asking his nelghbor why anybody
ever called Curtis great newspaper
reporter. AS between his story Of the
convention and his story of insurance
laws, Des MONIES peopie are puzZling
themselves 10 know which was worse.
In politics he showed that he was an
ignoramus and didn't care to find out
any facts or to tell the truth; in regard
to insurance the feeling is that he VENT
ed his spleen. AT any rate he made
such botch of both jobs that the dis
appointment felt by Iowans when they
read his trash about the convention was
turned into anger when they read his
insurance story, and this anger has on
~ increased as 1t is pondered over.
The Curtis write-up of the republican
state convention illustrated how easily
it is for one to be misled. Curtis did
not discover what really happened at
the convention. did not know why and
how the thing was done, did not get
under the surface in single instance
TO get at the essentials of the conven-
ton. The only excuse offered for him
by anyone is that he fell into the hands
of a small coterie and was filled with
transformation which he accepted
without questioning. Now the question
s. who did /. and why: The head
lines on his story to the Chicago paper
show what he was getting at, for they
conveyed the transformation about the
governor that he was beaten at every
point by the old leaders" and that "the
republican party in the state is badly
demoralized,' etc. From this 1t may
be inferred who paid for Curtis lunch
that day. The stuff was not only rank
ly partisan and factional but what
caused the most annoyance was that
the correspondent who had been LIBERAL
ly advertised as great card for athe
newspaper that hires him failed COM
pletely in securing any real informa-
ton as to how the platform was made,
who was responsible for 1t, or what
it meant. Stock in Curtis fell hum
Idred per cent the next day after his
twaddle was printed.
The insurance story Curtis palmed off
was fright. 1t is still mystery In
Des Mones who it was that led him to
his plumbers. But inasmuch as there
has been an old fight on to kill off all
Iowa insurance business in the interest
of the rotten Chicago concerns, some
persons here are free to do some guess
ing as to the influence that inspired
Curtis in his wholesale attack on the
state. What Curtis appeared to aim
dl WIS lIlS SOlQ SoiiPeth-
les of the state, and they are as thor
oughly despised and heartily regretted
by the legitimate insurance men of the
state as by anyone. But he did not
attack them specifically. He made his
attack general. He did not, as this cor
respondent has on many occasions
done, give the names of companies and
names of their officers. and excerpts
from official reports, making the mat
ter specific and direct. All this has
been printed in full in this correspon-
dence in the past year. Curtis was
digging in an old graveyard. But he
made no distinctions and struck at all
the insurance business of Iowa, and the
Insurance laws of Iowa, and the state
officials, without regard to their char
acter. Herein was the injustice, and
1t was an error inexcusable even in an
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