The times and democrat. [volume] (Orangeburg, S.C.) 1881-current, 1911-05-27
The Ware Shoals Matter.
he Columbia Record says:

"The Anderson Daily Mail denomi-
mates as "fake journalism the story
in some of the South Caro-
lima papers that the employees Of the
Ware Shoals mill lad demanded a
holiday on the occasion Of Governor
Blease's speech at that place, and the
Orangeburg Times ead Democrat re-
fers to the story as "a lie out of the
whole cloth" Other papers have had
similar comments. It will be we'll to
proceed little more cautiously in
the matter of de lncing a story
published, in repl,- BILE newspaper,
written by. reputable newspaper
man, whose chief asset in his profess
sion is his reputation for truth and
veracity.
Gas for The Daily Record, this
newspaper has no interest in the
matter. The story was not published
in this paper. But we are free to
saw that we have since read a letter
written by one of the most reliable
and most prominent business men OF
Columbia, confirming the "tip" which
he gave to the reporter who wrote
the story. This gentleman was the
reporters. authority for the story,
and the gentleman himself received
his information personally fgom an
official who was assnredly authorized
to speak for the Ware Shoals mill
company. The story did not ema.
nate from the governor nor any Of
his friends"
We never intended a what we
said about the Ware Shoals Manu-
featuring Comrany's refusing to give
their employees an opportunity to
hear Gov. Blease speak at the picnic
on the 18th instant to intimate that
the reporter who wrote the story or
the newspaper that first published it
"told lie out Of the whole cloth"
We were satisfied that the reporter
who first wrote the paragraph had
been told that what he wrote was
true, but we believed he mad been
deceived by some one, and 1t still
has that appearance to us.
The Record says it has "read a
letter written by one Of the most
reliable and most prominent business
men of Columbia, confirming the tip
which he gave to the reporter who
wrote the story" This gentleman
was the reporter's, authority for the
story, and The Record says "the gen.
tleman himself received his informa-
tion personally from an official who
was assuredly authorized to speak for
the Ware Shoals Manufacturing
Company This statement COM
pletely exonerates the reporter, but
it does not agree with a statement
made by the assistant treasurer Of
the company.
He says "the help did not apply
to us for a day off; in fact, they did
not even mention the matter to our
superintendent. We decided to give
all our employees holiday on the 18th
and posted notice to that effect on
May /, 1911, and the act was Of our
own free will and accord" Both of
these statements cannot be true.
Either the informant Of the Colum-
hia business man or the assistant
treasurer of the company has slipped
a cog in some way or other in their
statements. 1t ought to be an easy
matter to show which is correct.
The assistant treasurer says the
notice of holiday on the day that
Governor Blease was to speak was
posted on May 1, seventeen days be-
fore the Governor was to speak. If
this is not true it is easily proven
false, as the employees Of the mill
must know whether such a notice
was posted or not. In the face Of
the above statement, it seems to us
incumbent on the informant of the
merchant who gave the "tip" to the
to make good his statement
or confess that he had given out
statement that he can't substantiate.