The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1911-01-25


sional connection with a noted Grim
inal case in this State. l most respect
fully recommend that you gentlemen
OF the general assembly pass at this
session an Act providing that any
newspaper editor or reporter who
shall publish. or cause to be published,
any article rejecting upon the private
character or the public record
of any citizen of this State, which is
not true, shall be punished by fine
and Imprisonment An Act OF this
character i'll my opinion, will save
much bitter feeling. and possibly
bloodshed, in the future OF our State.
beg leave in this connection to
cell your attention to leading editor
ial i'll the Newberry Herald and News
of September 8, 1910 which is as
follows:
1T is good subject at this particu.
lar time. and it's Importance has been
driven home.
THE people of Suth Carolina are
menaced
"rhe menace is unfair newspaper
methods.
"The Columbia State of Thursday
| carried on it's first page cartoon of
Mr.. Cole l.. Blease, over the label,
The Menace"
The Columbia State knew mt the
| time the cartoon was published that
| fni FOL No
Columbia State knew when the car
toon was designed that it was mis-
leading and false. Tie Columbia State
knew that the publication OF the car
toon had for it's object the misleading
of the voters of South Carolina, and
was, therefore, maliciously false, and
was malicious slander of a man who
led all the rest of the candidates and
received thirty per cent of the vCters
of the State. Is that not an intentional
and gross insult to one-third of the
voters of this State'
Ills side will have no showing in
the Columbia State. No reriy will be
allowed.
THAT IS the Columbia States meth.
od
THAT is the menace
The Columbia State has large
circulaticn. There are people who
read the State and who do not see
the other side because the State does
not print the other side.
Tint is tue menace
Before the first primary The News
and Courier. the Columbia Record ard
ether newspapers in South Carolina
we're charging the Columha S!ate with
nifajrncss: and. in fact wi II malicious
! talsehood.
Simply because these newspaper;
now agree with the States polIcy in
the Gubernatorial race. will they keep
silent under the same conditions
"! ich existed when they brought their
charges against the Columbia State
because. forSooth. then the Colum-
bia State was going against the grain
and now 1t is cutting along with IL"
Surely the manhood of the news
papers of South Carolina is not a
thing of the past.
The newspapers of South Carolina
have in the past welded wonderful
influence. 1t Is because they have
made for themselves n reputation OF
fairness, and. presenting both sides,
have urged the claims OF the side
which the newspapers thought would
be for the interests of the State of
South Carolina.
The course which some of them
are now pursuing may help the men
of their choice in this particular race
though we doubt it-but the profes-
sion suffers
why not give everybody a. square
leal?'
The Columbia State. for instance
and other anti-Blease newspapers will
reprint in their news columns com
ments favorable to Mr.. Featherstone
but ignore anything favorable TO Mr.
Blease. That is newspaper businss.
with a vengeance
so far as the Herald and News is
concerned we delight in being ignored
by the Columbia State-or boycotted,
or put on the famous black list as
you please-but what we started out to
say was that the cartoon in the Co.
lumbia State of Thursday morning was
the limit downward in newspaper bus
mess as we have observed it,