Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-10-22
HEARST'S CAMPAIGN
AS 1T APPEARS TO WILLIAM J..
BRYAN

| MT new Ork newspapers print
ed In triple-leaded, double column type,
| yesterday the comments of William j.
Bryan on the New York campaign. The
| article said
The eubernatorial contest in New York
| is attracting attention in all parts of the
world. Mr.. Hearst is being bitterly opposed
| by representatives of great corporations and
| by editors of rival newspapers.
THE history of the present campaign in
| the state Of New York does not begin with
| the nominating conventions of the demo-
cratic and republican parties of that state
| 1t really begins with letter issued by AL
| ton B. Parker democratic candidate for the
| presidency, early in the national campaign
| of 1904.
In that letter Judge Parker charged
| that the republican campaign managers
| had solicited contributions from the great
| trusts and combines and the charge was
! instantly met by President Roosevelt, who
| in heated language declared 1t to be false
and malicious. President Roosevelt chal-
| lenged proof that such contributions had
| been solicited
The Armstrong Committee.
Then came the famous Armstrong COM
| mittee investigation into the insurance
| scandals, and here it was that Charles E.
| Hughes republican candidate for governor
| of New York, made his appearance in the
! field. Mr.. Hughes engaged to take
charge of the investigation. During the
| progress of that investigation officials of
the insurance companies went upon the
| witness stand and calmly admitted that
| in 1896 1880 and 1904 they had contributed
| largely to the republican national campaign
| funds.
These admissions aroused national In
| terest and the people were on the tiptoe of
| expectancy. waiting for George B. Cortel-
| you and Cornelius Bliss to be called upon
the witness stand 1t was most interest
| ing situation. But, like all other nves-
| LEGATIONS conducted under similar condi-
| tons, this one stopped just short of its most
/ interesting and valuable developments.
'Messrs. Cortelyou and Bliss were not
| put upon the witness stand. Like the IA
nous King of France, who marched ten
| thousand men to the top of the hill and
marched them down again, Mr.. Hughes
| had taken the investigation up to a point
where it promised something tangible in
| the way of revelations and then gently and
| quietly backed down.
| A Peculiar Coincidence.
ut was about this time President Roose-
| welt made his famous Muck Rake speech.
| By a peculiar coincidence. the gentle SUBJ
cidence Of the investigation began conc-
| dent with the fact that it was up to Mr..
| Hughes to put Chairman Cortelyou and
Treasurer Bliss upon the stand.
| THE investigation came to a sudden and
| ununely eTlQ IN so lar as real results were
| concerned. A few of the minor grafters
| and benefciaries of graft were mildly repri-
| manded.
| "A few months later the newspaper dis
| patches credited President Roosevelt with
| intimating that Charles E. Hughes was the
man who should be nominated by the
| publcans for governor Of New York. Who
| is Charles E. Hughes? With one accord
the administration press exclaim: He is
the man who probed the insurance scandals
| to the bottom.
But the answer is incorrect He inserted
| his probe only deep enough to make the re-
publican party managers vince, and then,
l. needing a broad intimation that it time
! to quit, he withdrew the probe. And then
| he was nominated for governor by the men
who WINGED when he sank the probe part
| way into the insurance mess.
| Some Questions Asked.
why did Mr. Hughes fail to put Cortel-
| you and Bliss on the stand? How did it
| happen that the President made his Muck
| Rake speech at the very moment when
| Cortelyou and Bliss should have been sum-
| moned? Why the investigation prac-
| tically dropped after the Presidents Muck
| Rake speech? And how can the nomina-
ton OF Mr.. Hughes, made In the face OF
| these circumstances. be explained!
| THE voters of the state OF New York
/, in particular and the voters of the republic
in general are entitled to hear frank an
! Swers to these questions.
Review of Campaign.
| The New York Herald yesterday devoted
! page to review of the Hearst cam
| paign up the state. The summary of the
| review said:
| The Herald prints reports collected in
many counties in the state upon the prog
| ress of the campaign for governor. These
| reports were undertaken for the purpose
| of getting at the facts in the counties north
of the Bronx because in these counties the
| which will make him governor. They as
sert that, while Mr.. Hearst may lose in
| this city, the state-that is that portion
known as rural New York-will elect him.
| NO such sentiment exists, according to
| the reports sent to the Herald. The cor
| respondents were instructed to use more
} than usual diligence to get at the facts.
| In some instances counties were covered
by several different persons each working
without the knowledge of the other. The
| section west Of Albany to Syracuse was
covered not only by two men but by three.
| They all found the same state Of affairs
There is no Hearst Landslide" A condi-
| ton is plain to the ordinary observer, and
| this condition has been disclosed by Mr.
! Hearsts own efforts. He went up the state
| to stir the farmers, and he has failed.
Drift to Mr.. Hughes.
ut is true that there is a slight repub-
lican drift toward Mr.. Hearst in some Of
the counties. The reports from Chenango
| are SOOQ ILL., But the republican Qrl1C
| toward Mr.. Hearst is more than made up
| by drift Of democrats from him and to
| Mr.. Hughes. Everywhere democrats are
out in the open opposing him. Organization
| men are fighting to save their party by de-
feating him decisively. A correspondent
| who made a tour Of northern New York
| counties reports that the democratic party
| has been practically wiped off the map"
| One of the correspondents, writing private
| ly, said that he found that the strong
| Hearst sentiment was always in the next
| county and never materialized." 1t was
| REPUTATION of the story that while Mr..
| Hearst might lose the city, the upstate
| counties would eiect. him.
| THE correspondent who has accompanied
| Mr.. Hearst on his tour of the state notes
| hopelessness on the part of the nominee,
| and Is satisfied Mr.. Hearst is convinced his
| raid on the republican strongholds has met
| with defeat. He does not even expect his
| own election.
| 1.-The correspondents who made the inves-
| LEGATIONS for the Herald were instructed to
| be conservative and make their reports
| without political bias In every instance
| their political preferences were known.
Some of them said that they woui~ proba-
bic vote for Mr.. Hearst. Nearly all Of them
4 have accurately portrayed political condi-
1 lions for this newspaper in many previous