The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-04-10
NO NEEp OF ExpLANArIoN.

NO NEED OF EXPLANATION. Some days ago The Advertiser reprint ed from The San Antonio Express state- ment to, the effect that after Hearst was beaten, he was going to. expose the ve- nality of some members Of the Demo- cratic Party. Commenting upon this pos | sibility, The Advertiser said that some of the exposures might affect Alabama. and alluded to the rumors about some pr the Hearst money having found lodging places in this State. l Not a word was said about any person or any newspaper in this State. The statements were altogether general New ertheless The Selma Times has been very much excited by The Advertisers arti- cie and proceeds to defend its own vir- tue and. incorruptibility at great length. LIt does this because it claims to be the original Hearst paper in the State. Of course. that defense is a matter of taste on it's part, and no one can object to 1t. Curiously, however, it saw fit in this defense to make a comparison of its vir- tue with that of The Advertiser. Fossil biy this comparison is because of the generally recognized independence of The Advertiser The Times really makes The Advertiser a sort of journalistic standard of virtue. but nevertheless it asks 8 lot of questions which imply that The Ad- vertiser has been receiving money for its Influence in various matters. The Times makes the following propositions:
 1. The editor and business manager of The Times will make affidavit over their own signatures as to how much money they have received from MT. Hearst, if the editor and Secretary of The Mont so how much money % it has % received from the railroads to beat B. B. Conner.
 2. The Times will make affidavit as to how much money 1t has received from the railroads during the campaign for President of the Railroad Commission, if The Advertiser will do the same.
 3. The Times is willing to make afhda- wit as to every dollar 1t has received the paper came into the hands of the present editor. and since the business managsT has been cen, So with it | 4. The business management of The Times will allow The Advertiser to ap- point a committee to investigate it's ness manager under oath as to ali these matters, If The Advertiser will permit the same on our part.
 If The Times had been really in earn est in these propositions. does it not look as if it would have started out with it's own affidavits before calling for any oth- CTS? Its failure to do that looks as if 1t was trying to bluff. But be that as 1t may, The Advertiser has no hesitation in | a all ha nlgoo Times in the most direct and positive way.
 and 2. The Advertiser has not received one dollar from the railroads to beat MT. Conner Nor has it any agreement or bar gain by which 1t will receive dollar from the railroads. Nor has it been approach ed by any railroad official with any sort of proposition to secure it's influence.
 The Advertiser has received hundreds of dollars from. business men of Mont gomery, and from MT. Conner as well as MT. Smith, to print advertising matter in the interest of both candidates. And all such advertising matter has been dis tinctly marked. so that every reader would know that 1t was paid matter. 3 and 4. The Advertiser has never re-
 ceived a dollar from political sources since 1885. when its present Editor start- ed his newspaper career with the first
 Issue of the revived paper. that was not
 for legitimate advertising space in It's news columns or for subscriptions
 It has never received dollar
 for line of editorial matter or for it's influence on any question or for any man. On the contrary. 1t has constantly taken positions and made fights for principles that were directly against it's monetary interest.
 The great reading public in Alabama has year by year acted as the most searching Investigating committee on all these questions, and has passed contin- uing votes of confidence in the upright ness of this papers conduct. The result is that The Advertiser has steadily grown | in circulation, advertising material pros | perity and influence. The Times may de- sire an investigating and examining com- |