The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-08
SUNDAY, MAY 8, 1904.
oovEREoR MoNrABua,s SPEECH

A few days ago The Advertiser edi- toria1ly criticised the remark imputed to Governor Montague of Virginia that he favored universal education and universal suffrage" and stated that we had seen no denial from Virginia pa- pers. Since that article was printed the two Norfolk papers have copied and commented on it and we give what they say. The yirginian-Pilot said:
 Governor Montague could not very we'll avoid the aggregation in question. but, if he said what he is quoted as saying. he spoke injudiciously. If he did not he should come out and say so. and if he did say so it would be better 10 admit it. But at any rate he should understand that the incident is being used against him for all 1t is worth by his enemies.
 And The Landmark says:
 By this time, however, our contem- porary has doubtless seen The Land marks references to the statement in The New York Evening Mail. We call our contemporary's attention to ar '- 6s. tract in yesterdays pape- f-a-aA The Newport News .ess,s WEl ,. had a rep reaenta bI;s at the Hampton exercises Ewhen the. Governor made his address 4 The Press did not understand the Gov ernor to mean anything like what The New York Mail would have him mean.
 While MT. Montague himself. so far as we have seen. has paid no attention to the publication in The Mail, we have not the slightest idea that he said any thing at Hampton to justify the criti- cisms passed upon him by The Adver- tiser. The Advertiser might have waited a moment or two before assum- ing that the Governor had been cor rsctly quoted tS by correspondent 1t whose question was quite apparent from the text of his correspondence.
 The New York Evening Post, while edit0rially all wrong on the race ques- tion, is noted for the accuracy of It's correspondence. It frequently pub fishes correspondence which Is fatly contradictory to it's editorial opinions The Post would have been delighted to feature" Governor Montague in its editorial columns if he had made the remarks attributed to him in The Mail but The Posts correspondent sent his paper report which represented the Governor of Virginia as having made tionaI observations. The fact that the New York Evening Post man did not hear Mir. Montague advocate universal suffrage should be in itself enough to satisfy The Montgomery Advertiser Knowing The Evening Posts idiosyn- crasies as our Alabama contemporary does.
 In Justice to this paper it Is proper to say that we not only waited a mo- ment" but waited almost two weeks The speech was delivered April 20, and our editorial was printed on May 3. We have since received copy of The New port News Press, to which The Land mark refers. That paper had a re- porter present at Hampton and in his report he says the expression used by the Governor was that universal suf- frage demands universal education and The Press of May 3 affirms that it's report is correct and that Chamberlain either misunderstood or misrepresentsd the Governor.
 This explanation puts quite a differ ent face on the matter and relieves Governor Montague of the odium of an- nouncing himself in favor of universal suffrage. It may be that even his ex- pression was injudicious, but that question need not be argued At the same time we insist that The Adver- tiser was justified after waiting almost two weeks in assuming that the Gov ernor had been correctly quoted.