Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1908-07-01
A SAMPLE OF MiSREPRESEETA.
TON.

Nothing in the experience of the
man in public life land one can be in
public life without being in office) is
more irritating than misrepresenta-
ton OF his position, and yet it seems
TO be impossible to prevent misrepre-
sentation. A newspaper man calls
upon you, often as you are getting on
the train or getting of. and asks a
question. If you refuse to answer the
question your refusal will be miscon.
strued and yet when you answer it
You take your chance upon a misquo-
tation, and If you are misQuoted the
unfriendly papers are sure to seize
upon the misquotation and build edi-
torials upon it, gladly assuming that
you are correctly quoted. The fol-
lowing is case in point. Mr.. Bryan
went to Baltimore in response to an
invitation of a local committee to de-
liver his lecture, The Prince of
Peace" during the session of the
Methodist conference.-the entire pro-
ceeds going to the local committee
which had IL charge the defraying of
the expenses OF the conference. He
announced to reporters that as he was
not there upon political mission he
would not discuss politics. One of the
reporters asked him: "Will your ad-
vocacy of government and state owner
ship of railroads be prominent in the
campaign" Mr., Bryan replied: THAT
is not a present issue and l do not in
tend that it shall be made an issue.
The people who are pressing it are
trying to sidetrack the real issue,
which is the effective regulation CT
railroads" The reporter, instead of
reporting what Mr.. Bryan stated, pub
lished the following: This is not a
pressing issue, and 1 do not intend
that it shall be a leading issue, be-
cause the people who will press it are
trying to sidetrack the real issue,
which is the regulation of railroad
rates." and he described Mr. Bryan as
saying it with emphasis and deter
minatiOn." A comparison of the two
statements will disclose the fact that
the We, pressing" was substituted
for tho word present" This may
have been typographical error, or
the reporter may have written the
word carelessly. 1t will be noticed
also that the word leading" was in
serted before the word tissue" The
two words pressing" and leading"
change the entire meaning of the SEN
tence. Mr.. Bryan stated that it would
not be present issue; that is, not an
issue to be considered at this time,
and that he did not intend that it
should be made an Issue by those who
were using it to escape from the real
issue. Then the word rates" was
added. and this limits the railroad
question to the subject of rates, where
as the term used by Mr.. Bryan, "ef-
fective regulation CT railroads" covers
other things besides rates. 1t 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.. Bryans
attitude. If Mr.. Bryan had actually
said that the railroad question was not
pressing issue, it would have been
equivalent to saying that it was an
issue but not as important as some
present issue was equivalent to saying
that it is not an issue at all at the pres
| ent time. If Mr.. Bryan had said that
| it would not be a leading issue it
would have meant that it would have
been minor issue, but he said that
| it would not be an issue at all, which
| is an entirely different proposition
There Is no way to prevent these
presentations-and this Is only
! an illustration-without a 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 it is not always possible to have
an interview taken down in longhand
and the memory is not infallible. With
the very best of motives a newspaper
man may unintentionaily add 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-
clusions 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
paign. The question Of regulation is
an issue, and those who are opposed to
regulation. recognizing the weakness
of their position. are constantly striE-
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
have been sent in. Mr.. Bryan has had
newspaper men complain to him that
/ interviews sent in by them had been
edited in the Office so as to conform to
the editorial policy OF the paper. OF
course, no defense can be made of
such journalism and yet there are
daily papers which stoop to such meth