The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-05-03
A RIGHTFUL REPORT.

There was an important meeting of
the street car employees at an early
hour on Wednesday morning, in which
the Dcseret News was soundly de.
nounced for its vituperatlve, unfair,
and malevolent treatment of the strike.
At that meeting one of the men made
the statement, during the discussion OF
the general features of the negotiations,
when the willingness of the company
| 10 arbitratc was referred to. :" stand
in favor of branding that as a dirty
lie. They never were ready to arbitrate
at any stage of the game. . The Trib-
unc reported that remark, with other
! proceedings of the meeting together
with the action of the meeting COM
mending Mayor Thompson and others,
and its action in condcmning the News.
1t was a part Of the proceedings of
the meeting, and TO report that remark
was clearly the duty and the business
of the reporter, At the earliest pcs,
sible opportunity, we took occasion to
point out in these columns. that the
speaker who uttered those words was
in error; that Mr.. Bancroft had cXpli
city agreed with Mayor Thompson that
he would arbitrate the wage scale,
And vet. because The Tribune re-
ported that remark in It's account of the
meeting, the Dcserct News raves that
"The shameless sheet knew that 1T was
in error when it printed the SANDER.
Gus TRADE And it proceeds to copy
our editorial which pointed out that the
car man who made the remark was
in error This is A new view of the
duty of a reporter at a meeting. He
is not, it seems, 10 report any remark
Of speaker if that speaker is in cr'
ror. And yet, the very, essence of
right report of meeting is 10 give
rs near Us possible the remarks made
and the action taken thercat. The idea
that newspaper in reporting "A meeting
or naIrating an occurrence, must not
give the actuulitics, but some doctorcd
account. different from the true occur
renee, and that the newspaper, in re.
porting a man S remarks is A ''shamc-
less Sheet because If reported him as
saving what he docs say, even If The
paper itself knew he was wrong. is an
idea that We arc confident could never
have occurred TO any one but one hav-
ing the in6rmitics attached TO the
News S service and requirements
There is no denial that the car man
said what The Tribune reported him as
saving. There is no doubt but that his
standing gave him the right to be
named and quoted; he was John Jones,
member of the strcct-car men S cxcu"
tive committee. He was mistaken in
his statement. But The Tribune made
no mistake in reporting him. The News
simply exposes its venom, malice, and
impotcnt rage when 1T rails at The
Tribune for reporting Mr.. Jones's re-
marks.
The News rant, further, that The
Tribune 'sconvicts ITSELF is ludicrous
in this connection. OF what is The
Tribune convictcd7 Merely of report
ing correctly the public uttcrance in.
large meeting of a member of the
strect.car mems executive committee,
Only that, nothing more.
Still further the News eXclaims that
'The Tribune has been forced into con |
Tossing the factsN about Mr. Bancroft
agreeing to arbitration Of the wage
scale, Why, you idiotic reptile, that
Is precisely The Tribune s case. We
did not A" confess the facts rs to tins,
we proclaimed them, we shouted them
from the housctops, Not this week, but
last week. We gave prominence to the
fact that Mayor Thompson had been
successful IN his negotiations as TO this.
And we have constantly been heralding
this as the great achievement of the
whole controversy, the thing for which
Mayor Thompson is entitled to the
plsudits of the whole community. 1t
is our original contention, which the
News has all along attempted to cvadc,
a position which it has constantly
sought TO dodge, SO as to give credit
for the settlement to somebody else than
Mayor Thompson, So far from being
forced to confess" this great truth
The Tribune is glad to sec the News
come over to our ground, thing that
heretofore 1t has sought to shun. And
We shall expect the News to give due
recognition to Mayor Thompson for his
efforts in clinching this agreement to
arbitrate, as we did long ago, but which
so far Che News has neglected to do, n
neglect which is inexplicabIc in view
of its new-found zeal in the arbtra.
tion cause.