The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1908-12-26
NEWS AND GOSSIP
OF New YORK
BY Glenn Guernsey.

NEW YORK, Dec. 2G.-NOw that
the smoke of battle has cleared away
and the roar and crash OF combat
have become but an ecno. New York;
ers are beginning to take serious and
sober note of the recent warfare be-
tween Washington and Park Row.
That two great metr: politan newspa-
ners should nave so onended against
the prepri.ties as to merit public con-
demnation of the President of the Uni
ted St.Gtes is thing unprecedented.
It is yet too early to judge whether
President Rooseve1t's structures Will
have serious and lasting effect upon
the influence OF the journals Involved.
Certainly, no event of recent wears
has caused such a furry in tae iour-
nalistic circles Of Park Row, and sven
here opinion is divided as to the mer.
Its of the controversy.
Few Persons were surprised when
the President attacked the Sun. What
ever else he may be, Mr.. Roosevelt
is earnest. direct and natural-a IMAM
with the bark on The Sun Is n iour.
nal of decentralization. 1t is utterly
lacking in the capacity for staunch and
steadfast adherence to a psiicy. 1t is
bright. witty. satrical. mucn given to
classical allusion and cnustic cr:ti-
cism, but as devoid of fixed construc.
tive principles us Mexican dog of
hair.
What Yoltaire was among writer's
the Sun is among newspapers-a cynic
and a mocker. laughing at all the
world, and hiding its own superior
wisdom In multiplicity OF words.
The great Frenchman himself dis
pensing bitter insults in suElr.c,ated
pills OF nattery and abject apology,
could hardly have surpassed the suns
brief compliments" to the President.
Between a man like Roosevelt and
newspaper like the Sun. there must OF
necessity be natural and bitter an.
tipathy. The Presidents savage on.
slaught was thing to be expected.
The Suns polished and causuc reply
was a matter OF course.
Between a Roosevelt and Pulitzer
the sources OF anlmcsity are more
closedly associated with the direct
cause of tie wordy warfare, and less
matter of wide divergence in at.
titude toward things in general There
ere hundreds Of thousands of New
Yorks rs. and among them many ad.
mirers OF the President. who believe
that the ideals OF modern journalism
come nearest to fulfIllment in the
Pulitzer papers. To such as these.
the violent structures q, the President
are matters Of much moment. It is no
small thing to see the reputation of a
friend dragged in the dust, whether
that friend be human or thing of ink
and wood pulp. Drawn I, the fine
point of a question of veracity be-
tween the President and Mr.. Pulitzer,
'-AS iSAbSCl VIII hoL Oe Without MS IOl-
lowing.
Meanwhile. the unpreIudlced and
observant are inclined 10 the belief
that both parties to the controversy
have been unduly severe in their criti-
cisms. Granting the probability that
the Panama story was grave error,
II is yet hardly such as to merit the
utter damnation of the past, present
and future of the newspaper which
gave it publicity. Those. who do
things. whether 1t be running a news,
paper or a nation, make mistakes, and
President Roosevelt should be among
the first to recognize this fact. So say
those whose interest in the contro,
versy is neither hot nor cold.
Whatever of serious moment may
result from the warfare OF words, It
has not been without It's element ct
humor. William Randolph Hearst, the
Saint William Of the Fourth Estate,
wearing upon his god-like brow the
shining halo OF journalistic Holiness,