Los Angeles herald., 1910-04-29
GAYNOR CHARGES
HEARST IS GUILTY
OF TWO FELON|ES
Mayor of New York Makes Sen-
sationaI Attack on His
Recent Opponent
SHOWS PUBLISHERS EVIDENCE
Forgery and FaISification of
Document Accusations
Made in Speech
Associated Pressl

AT EW YORK, April 2S.-Mayor Gay
Y nor of New York, in an address
~ at the banquet of the Associated
Press and the American Newspaper
Publishers association tonight, charged
w. r. Hearst with the commission of
two felonies, forgery and Justification
of public document, In an effort to
defame him. His charges caused sem
sation.
"You have given me the subject, 'The
Press in It's Relations to Public Of
ficals,' and told me to speak plainly
and freely. That is what you want"
said Mayor Gaynor.
1.-THE press as a whole is Just to pub
lie officials. When the election is over
it's wholesome wish is to see the one
elected give good government and to
help him do so. In that just frame OF
mind you often forbear much. This is
true of all honest and unseltlsh pub
fishers and editors. But If a publisher
or editor be himself n perennial office
seeker, he may desire to assassinate
everyone he thinks in his way and
then alasl what disgrace he brings
upon journalismI
"a newspaper proprietor or editor
who is simply bent on cutting throats
is an awful spectacle. In no nook or
corner of his head, or his heart, is there
the slightest sense of truth or justice.
We may pity him, but cannot in the
interest of public morality and in de-
cency remain silent about him.
LET me illustrate by mentioning one
thing out of many. At late as the 18th
Of this month w. r. Hearst printed in
his principal paper here the facsimile
of draft on the treasury of this city
for $4S.000, with headlines and an article
attributing such draft as the eXpendi-
ture to the present mayor.
DATE Is LEFT BLANK
"The headlines and article assert I
fixed the award and amount and paid
IT., and the draft of the treasury is
printed to prove Ii. But when you look
at the draft, as given In the article
(but how few people scrutinized 1t that
closelyO. you perceive the date of 1t Is
left blank.
"I have brought it here, as printed in
this newspaper. to show It to you, and
here it is. When you look at the orig
inal draft, which l have also brought
here for you TO see, you see the dats
of il is at the top in large letters and
figures as Dec. 81. 1909 which is before
the present city government came in.
when you examine the original fur
ther you see 1t bears plainly the date
audited and vouched, which established
the claim as legal liability of the
city, was recorded in the comptroller $
office on December 20, 1909 This date
is also omitted in the newspaper copies,
as you perceive. In plain words, two
state prison felonies-namely, forgery
and falsiieation of public document
we're committed in the eagerness of
this publisher to wrong the mayor of
the city of New York.
PUBLISHES AN EXCUSE
"a day or two afterwards. when he
had heard rumors that members of the
grand jury were taking notice of the
matter, he published, as an excuse, that
the dates were so faint in the original
draft the photograph did not reproduce
them. Now, just look at this original
draft again. The date at the top as
you see, is in larger and more pro-
nounced letters and figures than any
other part of the draft.
II II had the draft photographed as a
test and here is the photograph. You
see that shows the date as plainly as
any other part of the draft. But if it
were true Mr. Hearsts Photographic
apparatus would not reproduce the
dates why should be print the draft
without dates? Why did he not put
them in in some way? The truth is, I
am assured, that the dates were actu-
ally cut out of the plate with routing
machine. An inspection of the draft,
as falsely printed, also shows that to
be the case, as you see in respect OF
the date Of December 20.
"Now, l do not call your attention
to this low crime because it annoyed or
embittered me in any way. The news
papers of this man had done as bad or
worse to me and others, but it was
borne in silence, except that l spoke
on the criminal aspect of such things
before the bench and bar at the dinner
Nl.FaNs las Bn
cause l thought someone should do so
for the sake of society and the decent
and honest newspapers.
DEBT OF EARLIER ADMINISTRATION
"I need not say to you that the in
debtedness for which this draft was
drawn was incurred several years be-
fore the present members of the city
government were elected, and was au-
dited and made fixed and legal obliga-
tion of the city before we took office,
instead of any of us fixing the award,
as this article says.
"Probably 1 meyer would have seen
this article had not an official brought
il to me last Friday and pointed out
the crime to me. | mention the matter
TO YOU because right here is where it
should be mentioned And let me add
that it concerns you. the publishers and
editors of decent newspapers, far more
than 1t concerns me. If you can stand
ch~things in your great profession,
the rest of us can stand it, or will try
to stand it until the hour arrives when
we shall make up our minds to utterly
destroy it and take effective measures
to that end.
at is high time these forgers and
libelers were in state prison, and the
time is not far distant when some of
them will be there. And just think of
a man who is capable of doing things
like this being possessed of the notion
he is fit to hold any office from mayor
TO president of the United States. Nor
ally speaking, his mind must be a
bowling wilderness. Never Will the
tContinued Page Three)