The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-08-04
lfR. RoUNrREE,s sILENcE AND
 HIS DEMAND

On Friday The Advertiser printed . severe enough criticism of Secretary Rountree's personally conducted tour" under the name of the Alabama Press. to have called out some sort of . state ment from him. On Saturday, never theless. The Birmingham Age-Heraid reported him as answering "No'' simply to its enquiry as to whether he had any statement to make.
 Sundays arraignment. was still more pointed. It included q signed statement from the Superintendent of the Pullman Company, showing that they had received only sl,44o from Mr. Rountree out of the ss.S25 he had probably collected from the 1s5 excursionists at $2s apiece. It was to have been expected that these figures would have elicited some statement from Mir. Rountree. But 1t has not.
 Yesterdays Age-Herald contained this: day I have wired President Yerby and also written him. At the proper time will talk. I am perfectly willing for the press of Alabama to pass judgment on me when they have heard me.
 Copies of his telegram and letter to President Yerby appear on this page. He simply calls for the appointment of a committee of invesgitation. to report in writing. to be received and passed on by the Association as per the constitution"
 The curious feature of both his letter and his brief statement is that in neither is there a word of denial of any state- ment in The Advertiser. 1Ie does not assert that any allegation is incorrect. unfair or untrue. The average man, guilty or innocent, would have given to the, public some kind of defense, and would have. indulged in some sort of a display of indignation. But not so with the willy Secretary. He says that ''at the proper time he will talk" The State press and the public will be unable to see why the present is not the proper time.
 Now the Association does not meet regularly for nearly a year. Unles: President Yerby calls special meeting of the whole body, a committee, no mat. ter how active and energetic, could no report for nine or ten months. In tht meantime the bulk of the press and the public might forget all about 1t. There may be method in the seeretary's caimn. ness and postponement of talk.
 Of course, President Yerby will grant the secretary's demand" and 1t is not likely that he will appoint any white washing committee. for he has already in- dicated his attitude on the matter by his prompt, telegram to the Pullman Com pany to furnish The Advertiser the figures which the Secretary had declined to. give and the company at first withheld. Undoubtedly MT. Yerby wants to uphold the honor of the Alabama Press, to get at the bottom of this ugly business and to take proper steps to stop 1t for all time. &8 @ #z State papers out of the Association than The Advertiser supposed. Some of these have already assigned these promiscuous excursions of the Rountree regime as the cause of their lack of interest in the organization. There has been some talk of forming a new Association on different lines, and in the last few days The Adver- tiser has had private letters from Ala bama newspaper men stating that such a plan was going to be pushed. It may be easier to create new body than to reform the old one. But be that as 1t may. something should be done to rehabil- itate the organization of the Alabama newspapers. and we believe it will be done promptly, thoroughly, firmly.