The news & observer., 1905-12-29
Hildebrand'S RetOPt.


gram was inspired to injure him, and
in a column signed leader in the Ca
zette-News says:
THE foregoing (the special printed
above) taken from the Industrial
News, paper published at Green's
boro, has occasioned some surprise
among my friends. This feeling Of
surprise springs from the fact. known
among all men who have taken the
slightest interest in the contest over
the Asheville postoffice that my name
was not for q moment considered in
connection with this office. Even he
who ran could read in the Gazette
News where my sympathies lay, and,
besides. bearing no blood relationship
to the Republican organization l
am not likely to harbor the fatuous
notion that l could obtain an appoin-
tive office in North Carolina. The
idea is to laugh, and it was precisely
this nowledge-that I was not seek
ing this or any other appointment-
that did not set agreeably upon the
minds of a number Of persons, nota-
bly, that of che Republican State
chairman.
1T has hitherto been the establish
ed policy of certain Republican lead
erS. whenever their methods of
trafncing in office have been objected
to, to waive aside the objector with
the declaration that he is Just a sore
head office seeker When the present
dictatorship of the Republican party
revived an alliance with Marion But
Ter which Republicans generally found
hateful, this paper raised some OBJ
jections. But as the editor of this
paper was not seeking office, and fair
means would not avail. it became
necessary for the Republican leaders
to adopt methods that were foul in
the effort to create in the public mind
the impression that this paper, in
criticising certain Republican party
methods, was actuated by a desire to
air personal grievance With a cum
ming mental process that was almost
human, the Republican State Chair
man arrived at the conclusion that
certain amount of odium attached
to the chronic office seeker, and he
straightway attuned his Tyre. An at
tempt was made to get the story, that
| desired the poStmasterShip at AShe-
vile, aired from the Washington end
of the line, but it was discovered that
Washington correspondents have an
incOnVeniently acute regard for the
truth. | have been informed that the
Republican State chairman gave a
statement to the Asheville morning
paper, which purported to give
Blackburn slate in which / was rep
resented as q candidate for the office
of postmaster. This attempt was
likewise abortive, as the publishers
realized that the story was lacking in
the element of truth. and in the saw
ing grace Of plausibiity. And then,
failing to impose upon any creditable
publication, the organization got the
story printed in the Industrial News,
a publication that was brought into
being for just such purposes.
which brings us down to that al
legged Asheville special That dis
patch was never sent from Asheville,
leastwise it was not sent by that pa
per's Asheville representative or from
any other creditable or honorable
source. The Industrial News had no
motive for framing up a consciously
false statement other than the vicari-
Gus reason that might be ascribed to
any organ that becomes a willing tool
in any base usage. The story can
not therefore, be dissociated from the
personality of the Republican State
chairman. He alone had the motive.
and there is cumulative evidence to
show that the story was a creature
of his individual brain. His object
was two-fold to discredit the utter
ances of the Gazette News and injure
me as a Washington correspondent
If 1 have been misinformed it is In
the power of the State chairman
quickly to clear his skirts which he
can do by saying whether or not he
is in any wise responsible for the
false statement printed by the Indus
trial News, or whether or not the ar
ticle was published with his knowl-
edge or consent, and secondly wheth-
er it is true that he gave to reporter
for the Asheville morning paper
statement representing me as a candi-
date for the Asheville postoffice. The
Industrial News is published by cor
poration of which Chairman Rollins
is the president, and is the official
mouthpiece of the organization of
which he is the titular head. He
cannot, without some explanation, es-
cape the responsibility for such an
utterance and I prefer to believe that
he would not, if he could. for to leave
the matter as it now stands would
leave the publishers Of the paper in
question in the attitude of having
given publicly to a deliberate false
hood Mr.. Rollins will, of course, in
answering these questions, take oc-