The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1906-08-11
REPLY
TO THE Times

1QltpN1pe 1H5IQ3 l9ItsE S31AAat
caman@shaK Faimon Zines
Appeared 4 tie coinns this
Mr. shaWss Letter
The Eairmont Times
For ne last few years your paper
has ailigently and premeditatedlyI
kept mp a personal carnpaignSo of abuse
against me for what reason and that
object the owneEslof said paper know.
best. Less than two years agoI took
The trouble to run down one Of your
anonymouss communications, which
attacked my personal character, and
the evidence discovered strongly in;
dtcated that the anonymous writer
in the Times Office itself. AS to
the Identity OF the writer, other exs
pressfons in the Times confirmed my
suspicious, Last summer was most
ly consumed by the Times in printing,
eiftoriaIly and otherwise, misrepre.
s4ntations about the Morgantown ave-
nue. sculyert sewer This summer
o have been engaged in the same
thing about the State street wall
Now you continue your yirnient at:
tacks upon me because you lid not
get the contract for printing the city
ordinances. Here are three distinct
subjects, which the Times has given
much space to. all Of which l think !
have read, and ] cannot recall a single
article on these subjects that contain
ed the truth about either.
To discuss any public matter which
may come before the council is the
privilege Of any citizen or OF any news
paper. To oppose any act Of injustice
against the city Is commendable. But
when a newspaper OF citizen has to
resort to a misrepresentation OF the
facts or a concealment Of the truth in
order to cover up an u~nwarranted con.
clusion Ga conclusion founded only
upon his or its own desire, prompted
by personal ma1ace), then mi is jus.
tilted in the opinion tnnt such citizen
OF newspaper ts neither truthful dor
honest In a newspaper. 1t %tniptes Rrt
only the person 1t attacks, but it does
great injury to the readers thereof,
who do not know the truth, causing
them to form opinions upon false
statements. A lie or c%oncealment Of
truth may give the liar a temporary
advantage, and give him q temporary
qualification, the duration and inten-
sity of which depending upon the
amount Of political or personal malice
in the mind Of the liar.
When these Misrepresentation were
being made by your paper as to the
"cuivert sewer and as to the wall
Z made no reply. for the reason that
all matters pertaining to either were
presented in open council, thoroughly
discussed for a number of meetings,
and rested entirely upon their merit,
SO far as l, was concerned. I sup.
posed that the council was the prop,
er tribunal TO pass upon such matters.
Some, including the Times, seem to
think that the place to try these mat
tiers is in the columns of your paper,
where only one side is presented, ana
the truth as presented toscouncjl. Is
mostly suppressed. ] felt satisfied
with the knowledge that the members
of council and those who attended Its
meetings knew the facts to be very
different from the statements appear
ing from time to time in your paper.
Except for the fact that some people
ma not understand that an editorial
is, or may be, only a common lie o.
the editor. put in writing, and the fact
that your paper on yesterday relter-
ates its falsehoods about the above
mentioned matters, I would not now
trouble myself to make reply.
You say in yesterdays paper that
am always ION the defense" This is
the principal truth see in your artl
Gle. Yes, ] have always been on the
defensive, when IT comes to ma1ing
bitter, personal attacks on. any one
i never engaged in the practice SO
common in certain quarter OF Iiar0
featuring and circulating false tales
and insinuattons about the character
of any citizen either to vent my own
splenn or to accomplish his political
defeat.
You say in yesterday paper: "tt
hasn't been SO long ago that he
tmeaning myself( tried to get council
to spend thousands Of dollars to make
a storm sewer up Parker's run so that
private property ia which he was in
terested could be. made into saleab1e
lots at the city's expense" THIS salre
expression has many times appeared
in the Times. sometimes editoriallyi
and / want to say now as emphatical
ly as I can, that the entire statement
is a base falsehood made out the
.An1oe a1n%b Met on1v 1asft false hnI