The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1914-04-04
JUDGE COLEMAN
DEFINES POSITION
Ely, Nevada, March 2s, 1914


of the purity election law, run for
office this falls That is the question
every newspaper is asking with a
purpose. The honorable gentleman
certainly slipped one over on the
newspapers of the state. and they
would like to bring him prominently
before the public"
When you say that I "slipped one
over' on the newspapers of the state
you pay me a very high compliment,
for the newspaper profession is made
up of trained thinkers, sagacious, far
sighted and wise men, and for me to
have "slipped one' over all the
argues well for my ability and dip
lOmacy.
Please be so kind as to tell me what
grievance the newspapers of the state
have. I simply wrote an article urg-
ing the passage of the purity of elee-
tions law and, so far as I know, not
one paper in the state attacked the
movement, but many of them (and
you among them), commended it. If
it was a good thing then, why is it not
good thing nowa If it is not good
thing. point out wherein it is not, and
if I am convinced that you are right,
I will gladly help to make it what it
ought to be. What can be fairer than
this?
That the people NAV know my at
titude in thise important matter and
your views as to the changes desired,
7 will be glad if you will publish this
letter and your suggestions.
Thanking You in advance for your
courtesy, ] am,
Very sincerely,
BEN w. COLEMAN.
That's exactly where the joke
comes in, that not a single newspaper
in the state offered single objection
to the bill, and MANY, the Free Press
among them, heartily supported a
measure that would tend to purify
politics. The newspapers had so much
confidence in the originator of the bill
that it was not looked into carefully
and became a law as the father evi-
IDENTIFY planned it to be. Then imme-
diatelv came rumors that there were
iokers in the bill Replying to Judge
Coleman we quote single paragraph,
taken from the verv middle of a sec
tion. which makes it absolutely i'm
possible for a newspaper to comment
on any candidate for the simple reas-
on that newspapers are run for profit
and cannot exist on mere sentiment.
Editors under this law are "indirect-
W. liable for every article or edi-
torial which might appear, and in such
way that they are effectually silenc-
ed on every matter political.
"No person shall directly or indi-
rectly pay or offer anv inducement to
the owner. editor, publisher or agent
of any newspaper or other periodical
TO induce him to editoriallv advocate
or oppose any candidate for nomina-
tion or election. and no such owner,
editor, publisher or agent of any
newspaper or periodical shall accent
sreh payment OR OTHER INDUCE
MENT.o -
Then the clause compelling the
newspaper to serve personally a copy
of each article that is written about
the other fellow FIVE days before the
article appears, in order that the ar
ticle might be denied, is practically
prohibitive. Personal service on some
of our candidates would be hard
matter.
If the printer prints a lot of circu-
lar letters for another man, he must
first investigate and find out if there
are anv false statements in the eircu-
lar, and if there should he and the
circulars are printed and distributed,
| he is liable to arrest and conviction
and the smallest penalty for this
crime is one year in the penitentiarv.
What printer would take this chance
for the price of few circularsg What
q chance for the enemies of the poor
editor to slip false charge into a
circular and then send the poor scribe
to the tender care of Warden Dieker-
son.
It puts muzzle on the press with
vengeance. and the opinion of some
of the most prominent attorneys in
the state is "if YOU don Z want to go
to iail. talk ahout the weather and let
polities alone'' With this opinion
before us there is but one deduction
that we can arrive at, and that is that
the man who had the bill introduced
(and who. while il was being made in
to law, pulled the wool over the ewes
of the craft it was aimed at) must
have had in mind that he was going
to run for office and did not want the
newspapers TO be in position to talk
about his candidacy. We do not know
whether this be true or not, and are
following the stylish procedure of
watehful waiting
The grievance of the newspapers of
the state is that they are muzzled. Is
tat not enough of grievance, Judge
ColemanP-Elko Free Press.