Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1914-05-21

ON the first page of this paper is {
letter from Mr.. F. P. Hilburn, relating
certain alleged outrages in Colorado
vi my personal knowledge, l do mo-
know whether there is truth or not il
the incidents he r%ecites; neither does
he, for he, like myself, knows only
what he reads. Pity that you cant
always rely upon what you read, be
the tales ever so circumstantially
told, and therefore l take them with
several or more grains of salt unit.
corroboration gives warrant for belief
In this connection | copy an excerpt
from the Central Christian Advocate,
interesting and instructive. 1t is tax
en- from an able editorial headed
Newspaper Deception"
Think how by false statements. ex-
aggeration, suppression, deception.
the people r misled to an extent
that they are wholly misinformed,
thrown into a rage, made the tool of
demagogues, aroused to a Willingness
even to kill, when, at last, when the
truth comes out, they find they have
been duped, trapped and betrayed.
Mexico affords a striking illustra-
ton. The people of Yncatan, a
friendly well behaved people, and
friendly to Americans, were inhamed
by reports absolutely false as to our
occupation of Vera Cruz. Extras
were gotten out one after the other;
bogus kilograms were printedin them:
some read like these: "Vera Cruz
bathed in blood but she fell bravelv.
Even women slew Americans" 'sThe
blonde-faced brutes are marching for
the center of the Republic.n The
consequence was, the people were
aroused to white heat to avenge the
victims of u atrocities. death to
the American" vas on nearly every
lip. or cours the bogus kilograms
were lies. The papers were deceivers.
tools, moral swindlers-but they got
IN their work. Hatred of Americans
was famed to a fame.
We don't have to 90 SO far from
nome Go find a curious, criminal and
even deadly exaggeration and mis-
statement of fact. Just now a COPY
OF b Literary Digest falls under our
eye. In 1t we see a cartoon represent
ing fends worse than hyenas turning
a battery OF cannon on women and
children who are imploring pity. 1t
IS a picture of the operators of the
Colorado coal mines. This is one of
hundreds of cartoons of the past two
weeks, picturing women as being shot
down by mine owners, thugs and
human beasts. Indeed it would seem
that the occupation of the men who
operate the coal mines Of Colorado
consisted principally in hunting with
Winchesters and machine guns for
women and children, to NOV them
down.
There is no doubt whatever that
the State, the state authorities and
the people OF Colorado have suffered
afdeadly blow from the descriptions in
article and in cartoon of the coal
helds war. And there is not a particle
OF doubt that this is in large measure
due to the notorious press reports in
Denver papers themselves. The
papers Of Yucatan, in their Character
ization of the stblonde-faced brntesn
who drenched Vera Cruz in blood
(~torsooth) have not drawn the picture
OF human beasts more loathsome than
q mine operators and the militia of
their own State.
When we come to ask what Is the
a c about the "blonde- faced brutesD
who took Vera Cruz and raised over
It the Stars and Stripes, we find that
they acted with self-control that thew
perpetrated no indignity, looting
nothlng; acting in fact in conformity
with the ideals of a Christian nation.
When we separate ourselves from
these cartoonG and terrible arraipn-
ments OF Colorado long enough 10 In
vestigate the fact, it is a little disoon-
certing to wrought up feeling to find
ouO lhat not one woman has been
shot. Not one.
Multltudes of children have been
shot. Yes, 1t makes the blood boil TO
hear it. But what is the fact? In an
this sorry business, all the bitter
war, n child, running into a fusilade
has been shot, and not another from
September 23d, 1913, when the strike
was declared, until May 9Th, when the
federal troops entered the field. one
only.
With all her heavy loads, Colorado
is to-day suffering from nothing SO
much as the demagoguery Of her
newspapers.
we are far from saying that there
10 nothing wrong in Colorado. And
not word to-day must be under
$1,000 ~ defending either one side Or
the other jn this Colorado ~atrocious
civil war. We will come to that later.