Gunnison news-champion., 1908-07-24

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2 SAnekG o. n.saspaGxesvA-
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N9thiHz in the ex.sriencs 81 the
an IN public lsis ,ana one can be IN
Ftiniic bie without De.as IN ef,cei Is
iter. irritating thaa BsisEe,,res.nta
aun Of his position aud yet u seems
be iHn.sessi.i. To prevent asizrepre-
niatsoa- A E.~spagsT mar calls
il'on yoa. often as yoa are s.tfine os
as train or getting oa. and asks q
question. u you refuse 10 answer the
question yosr refusal viii be- mi.cou-
s'rued and ye; when sou answer II
au take yoaT chance uy.oa a misauo-
alton. and II yoa are misaaaaed the
iHiri"ndly papers are sure to seize
Pon tn. misqao;stioa and build eci
'uriais upon 1t. gladly assuming that
sou are correctly asosed. The fol
nSins IL case In po.at Mr. bryan
Seni to baltimore in response to an
'nNiiation of q local committee to de
lFer his lecture. The Prince u
fcace. during the session Of the
Methodist coaference-the entire pro
ceeds going to the local coumittee
which had in charge the defrasi ing Of
he expenses Of the conference. He
announced to reporters that as he WAs
not there upon a political missios he
Wpuld not discuss politics One 81 the
reporters asked him "Will your ad-
tpcacy of government and state owner
mp of railroads he prominent in the
'ampaien?" Mr Bryan replied That
Is not present issue and | do not in
end that II shall be made an issue.
he people who are pressing IL are
'rying to sidetrack the real issue.
which is the effective regulation Of
railrosds.' The reporter. instead u
reportine what Mr. Bryan stated. pub
dshed the following This Is not Q
PRESSING issue. and 4 do not intend
that II shall be q leading issue. be
cause the people who will press II are
wing to sidetrack the real issue.
rates" and he dscribed Mr. Bryan AZ
saving it with emphasis and deter.
mination.' A comparison Of the two
statements will disclose the fact that
he word ''pressing" was substituted
for the word present" This may
have been typographical error. or
the reporter may have written the
word carelessly. II will be noticed
also that the word leading" Was in
serted before the word issue" The
two words pressing" and leading
change the entire meaning Of the sen
fence. Mr.. Bryan stated that 1t would
not be q preseat issue: that Is, not On
Issue To he considered At this time
sd tAot he did nOt intend thai =
should be made an issue BY those who
were using il TO escape from the rea
Issue. Then the word rates" va,
added. and this limits the railroad
question TO the subject of rates. where
as the term used by Mr.. Bryan. "ef
fective regulation Of railroads" covers
other things besides rates. II will be
seen, therefore. that the reporter by
using three words that Mr.. Bryan did
not use gave the opposition press a
chance to misrepresent Mr.. Bryan's
attitude. If Mr.. Bryan had actually
said that the railroad question was not
a pressing issue, il would have been
equivalent to saying that it was an
issue but not as important as some
other. but to say that it was not a
present issue was equivalent to saying
that il is not an issue at all at the pres
ent time. II Mr.. Bryan had said that
II would not be a leading issue (,
would have meant that il would have
been a minor issue. but he said that
Il would not be an issue at all. which
is an entirely different proposition.
There is no way To prevent these
Misrepresentation this is only
an without refusal to
answer questions. The newspapers
are doing a great work and the rep
resentatives are, as a rule, conscien-
tious and anxious to report correctly
but il is not always possible to have
an interview taken down in longhand
and the memory is not infallible. With
the very best of motives newspaper
man may unlntentlonallN ddd word
or phrase. and the phrase omitted or
added may change the entire sense of
the sentence or may give unfriendly
critics chance TO draw wrong con.
illusions from the Interview.
Mr.. Bryan has stated time and time
again that the question Of government
ownership of railroads is not an issue
and will not be an issue in the cam
paisn. The question Of regulation is
an issue. and those who are opposed 10
regulation. recognizing the weakness
of their position. are constantly striv-
ing TO deceive the voters and TO turn
attention away from the subject under
consideration to some other subject.
Sometimes interviews are doctored
in the newspaper Office after they