The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-05-21
cAusE AND rrrrcr i.

ueCiueuiy tnteIestlhS, cFcu II WV leave out the disgraceful lawlessness in connection with the street car dis turbances. Matters long antedating those troubles are apparently coming to e head in a way that gives prom ise of removing some portion Of the stain that has 90 long rested on the city. The confessions of Ruef, so long the unquestioned boss of the city, of the prominent part played by him during the reign of theft bribery grating and every other form of cor ruption that e wicked brain can de- wise, is good start. His confess sions, and his profier to turn States evidence may possibly save him from the punishment he so richly deserves, but nothing he can say or do will save him from the weight of contempt and obloquy in the eyes of all honest men everywhere. He may escape the penitentiary but he cannot escape the condemnation of good men who have learned of the depth of his rascality.
 And Mayor Schmitz, 1t will be ob- served, Is in little better condition. That he was merely the tool of Ruef doesn't help him much, for he was plainly a willing tool. who, took or ders as we'll as office and pelf from the greater villain. His latest move Is to have his case removed to some other court. on the plea that he can not get justice from Judge Dunne's court. There may be a shadow of truth in that plea from two points of view. It is possible that at jury in his case may have on 1t some of the tools of himself and Ruef who will the other hand the jury may be com posed entirely of strictly honest and upright men, but who will have such a strong feeling of contempt for him and his acts that they will be biased against him from the start. Still. 1t is probable that he will get as fair trial there as he will in any other court in California.
 Discussing the San Francisco affairs The Chicago Journal declares that these conditions are only what was to be expected in a community that by MT. Hearst's teachings. For many years Hearst has preached discontent to workingmen. He has cried out against enterprise and industry. He has set employees against their em- pIoyers, telling them that they were
 with oTHtt Q invested in business have been un- ceasingly attacked as enemies of the poor. workingmen have been advised to make as much trouble as they can. strikes have been fomented, the re- lations between labor and capital have been distured as much as possible"
 No doubt The Journal is correct in its charges. Whatever some people may think and say about the power and influence-or lack of it-of the press of the country there can be no doubt of the influence for evil of de- graded journalism. A newspaper with unlimited resources behind 1t, and with a total absence of moral respon-i sibility, which appeals continually to the lowest passions of humanity and to the most 1awless clement of citizen- ship, which hesitates at nothing that will add to it's popularity and profits -such a newspaper does have infiu- ence. and its influence is invariably bad.
 There is no doubt as to the infiu- ence which the Hearst style of jour nalism has exercised in San Fran cisco. The evil seeds constantly sowed by that paper have found a soil ready prepared and receptive. His teachings have been dangerous and they have borne the fruit that might have been expected of such planting. AS The Journal further says:
 Business men should realize this, for they, in the last analysis, are respon- sible for Hearst. They dislike him and his papers, but they want to take advantage of his power to reach the people. So they advertise with him. and pay him the money without which his power would be destroyed, for the Hearst papers could not live a month without the advertising done by mer- chants he is continually undermining and attacking.
 san rTanclSco DuSlneSS men are Suf- fering terribly now, but they have caused their own suffering by fnanc- ing the gospel of riot. If there had been no Hearst paper in San Fran cisco the workingmen would not have been put into their present frame of mind and the city would be peaceable and prosperous; and if merchants had refused to advertise with Hearst there would have been no Hearst paper.
 This is a fair and just presentation of the case. The Hearst newspapers are power for evil, and they are so because good citizens sustain them. Because of their character they have a large circulation; because of their large circulation good men in busi- ness life patronize them, and because of such patronage they flourish and continue to spread their baIoful blight on all communities where they obtain footing. It is a regular and logical sequence of events. As long as an evil newspaper can flourish and make money just so long it will continue it's evil ways unless 1t finally passes the limit of legal endurance. Lawlessness and disorder have had much backing from the Hearst style of journalism.
 
 SET1LEsO SOME MORE.
 Well, The Charleston News and Cou- rier, which has all along claimed that Andrew Jackson was born in South Carolina, has settled it in it's own fa-