Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1900-1911, 1908-07-03
HEARST AND HARTMAN

states as a political quantity to be
reckoned with, 1t has been generally
understood that he has been in serious
financial difficulties.
One of the most conclusive evidences
of this was afforded some time after
the last presidential campaign, when
he placed a bond issue, secured by a
deed of trust upon his newspaper prop
critics. The assurance of this seemed
made doubly sure later when his
mother, the excellent Mrs. Phoebe
Hearst, whose benefactions to charity
and education had become so extensive,
found it necessary to suspend some of
her contributions to the state univer-
sity. which had for years been one of
the principal recipients.
A few months ago the Times of this
city and the San Francisco Call pub
l1shed dispatches from New York
which recited how Mr.. Hartman of the
Southern Pacific had come to Hearst
financial assistance by furnishing him
with a large sum. of money to relieve
his most pressing needs.
The truth of these statements has
since apparently been established by
the fact that Hearst's California pa
pers, which heretofore had always
given especial prominence to attacks
upon the Southern Pacific company, the
Los Angeles electric railway systems
and other interests with which Mr.
! Hartman was prominently identified,
have been notably silent upon all these
matters.
This silence has been emphasized by
the fact that never in the history of
the state has there been such revolt
against Mr.. Harriman's interests and
all that they have stood for in public
corruption and misgovernment as dur
ing the past twelve months and at the
present time.
Never since Mr.. Hearst has published
paper in California has the time been
so ripe for all newspapers which are
opposed to railroad domination in the
politics of the state to accomplish the
defeat of that domination by coming
out strongly against 1t. Yet, through
all of this period, Mr.. Hearst's papers,
both in San Francisco and Los Ange-
les, have had nothing to say in denun-
citation of or opposition to the Southern
Pacific's political methods, of which
they were at one time so eloquent in
condemnation.
The alleged relations between Mr..
Hearst and Mr.. Hartman have re-
ceived new confirmation in an article
blfGha6 xaefnrdary q
Times concerning Mr.. Hearst's present
financial condition, with special refer
ence to his newspaper property in this
city. Among other things this article
states:
Hearst, by the way, is very hard
pressed financially. He owes mil
lions. He has mortgaged everything
mortgageable. The Hartman interests
and associated financiers almost own
him, owing to the huge sums he has
borrowed to keep afioat."
Nobody will question the unusual op-
portunities which the Times has of
being correctly informed upon this
matter, and nobody will believe that it
would have made such an allegation
unless it were abundantly able to prove
it if called upon to do so.
This condition of affairs appears to
prove very positively two things. First,
that Hearst has lost ground tremend-
ously in the last few years in the man
agement of his newspaper properties;
that the people, having lost confidence
in the honesty of his pretended cham
pionship of their interests, no longer
respond by patronizing his papers, and
that his papers are rapidly meeting the
fate sure to come to all public jour
nails whose owners fail to maintain
the confidence and respect of the pub
lie, upon whom their papers depend for
patronage. And, secondly, that Mr..
Hartman, in spending large sums of
money to secure immunity from attack
by and possibly to gain support of the
Hearst newspapers in California, re-
allies the fact that the political SUI
premacy of the Southern Pacific in this
state is up against" a fight for its
very existence.
Nothing else than such a realization
on the part of Mr.. Hartman could ac-
count for his investing money. even in
the form of loans, in newspaper prop
critics which are known to be on the
down grade.
In the meanwhile, the situation pre-
sents a subject of grave Importance to
several thousand citizens of California
who by their subscriptions have here
tofore supported and sustained the
Hearst newspapers in this state. 1t is
up to these people now to decide
whether or not they will continue to give
aid and comfort to the Southern Pacific
political machine by supporting public
journals which have become a part of
that machine. 1t is a subject for seri-
Gus consideration, and one that every
good citizen owes it to himself to pom
der carefully and then to act upon
promptly and effectively.
AS a necessary result, however, all
good citizens must be deeply grieved
at the fact that one Hearst paper in
this state-the San Francisco Examin-
er-which years ago stood as the UNI
swerving champion of the people in
favor of good government and opposed
to the aggressions of corrupt corpora
lions and criminal wealth. has ADAM
doned the high place which it held in
the field of journalism and become