Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-02-14
MR.. HEARsT's STATEMENT.
Defends His Right to crlt1cise the At
titude Of His Party.

Representative Hearst in an interview
last night on yesterdays incident In the
House of Representatives said:
II need not say that I consider today S
session of the House disagreeable to all
and absolutely disgraceful to those who de-
liberately planned such a scene and forced
it upon myself and other unwilling mem
bers. l feel that they deserved the dis
agreeable shock and discontinue that met
them when they learned through me the
extremely appropriate kind of man whom
they. had selected as their mouthpiece.
1.-The one interesting feature to neWspa-
per men and to the public whom they serve
is the question which was raised or the
right of an editor to sit in Congress WITH
out making his newspapers subservIent TO
the opinions of his congressional asSocl-
ates. L say as emphatically as L can tnat
it would be of the greatest possible value
to the United States if a hundred editors
of important newspapers could be elected
to Congress l wish that these men could
see for themselves and tell the people OF
the country, much better than am able
to do. exactly to what extent the House
of Representatives is a representative BODY,
and they might guided by actual knoWl-
edge obtained as members of Congress, use
their newspapers to force upon the House
the needed reforms and compel action and
definite obedience to the wishes of the
people.
MY stand is this, and as far as l know
L
are very few that would not agree with me:
As member of the House, speaking IN
the House, L expect to be bound by the
rules of the House.
"As an editor of a newspaper, represent
Ing a constituency much larger than that
of any representative, l expect to be bound
now, as l have been in the past, by news
paper ethics, that is to say, by the real
interests of the readers whose approval
gives my newspapers what force they have.
l am perfectly certain that no American
newspaper editor worthy Of the name would
allow himself or his newspaper to be con-
trolled by the membership of any club or
any legislative body to which he might be-
long.
Il am not interested in knowing who it
waSrthat actually prepared or inspired the
lengthy, elaborate attack upon myself
which Mr.. Sullivan read from manuscript
this afternoon. This strikes me as the one
feature In it of interest to the public.
''rhe gentleman from Massachusetts,
spoke as the representative of the respect
able democracy He spoke about protest.
Ing on behalf of the respectable element
In the democratic party. According to men
OF this type he who tries to accomplish
real reform Is an anarchist. Mr.. Sullivan
illustrated this tendency of his class inter-
estingly not only by attacking an individ-
ual democratic representative as an an
archlst and socialist, but declared the
whole republican party to be pushing the
country into socialism because Of the re-
cent effort urged by the President to bring
about reform in railroad rate legislation.
THE original attack upon me by Grove
johnson was due to my opposition to the
Will OF the Southern Pacific railroad, and
incidentally to my having defeated him for
reelection. And this attack by Mr.. Sui
Ivan is apparently due to my efforts to
force the democratic party in the House
to take stand more advanced than that
Of the republicans and in harmony with the
professions OF the democratic platform for
the last eight years IN regulating railroad
rates.
archist or socialist or under any other
opposition with the respectable element Of
the democratic party, as represented by
MT. sullivan, and have no doubt that the
honest republicans who have insisted upon
some measure of railrOaA reform will also
view with complacency their denunciation
- socialists from this particular SOURCE"