New-York tribune., 1918-08-30
Mr.. Wiley's Exhibit

Wlr. whey EXIllOAt
No public statement on behalf of the
publishers who are supporting Hearst IN
his fight with the newsdealers is forth
coming. The pact of silence is heroically
kept in both the news and editorial col
umns. But we have at last a statement
from The Times alone, in the form of
letter to correspondent who had chal-
(enped it on the character of its associa-
lions. Here it is, with the name of the
sddressee omitted:
"Dear Sir: Acknowledging your letter
of August "a, some newsdealers are strlk-
ing against all the New York City news
papers with the ill-advised encourage
ment Of The New York Tribune) to re-
duce the wholesale price Of the daily
newspapers of New York from S140 per
hundred to s1.2o per hundred.
"When the price of the fifteen daily
newspapers of New York City was in
creased from one cent to two cents per
copy uniform rate TO newsdealers OF
$14O per hundred was established, and
The Tribune was an active factor in
establishing the price.
"The object of few newsdealers is to
reduce the wholesale price of all the
newspapers, and to this end they have
begun the fight on the Hearst news
papers, with the aid of The Tribune.
~The issue Of loyalty is in no way in
VOWED Thsa - false pretence. There
il surely no effort on the part of the
sxAer newspapers to foist Hearst news
Dapers upon any reader.
"The present price of The Tribune to
dealers and readers is made possible be-
tsuse that newspaper has the benefit of
&c action of the New York City Publish
sys' Association, which it is so unjudi-
egously antagonizing. Very truly yours.
THE NEW YORK TINES"
LW'SK
Obviously it is form letter such as is
prepared in cases where lot Of people
are all writing alike about one thing and
may be answered alike. But by the in
itials in the lower left-hand corner we
are enabled to ascribe the authorship to
Louis Wiley, business manager.
LII d SplIlt vi pelSCildl SOOQ-WllA, N4A ..
Wiley, we urge you hereafter to submit
your letters to the editorial council Of
The Times. 1t may be that nearness to
it dims your appreciation of it's wisdom,
but we are sure it would advise you that
If. one cannot afford to tell the truth
about ones case one had better go on
keeping still.
Every direct assertion in your letter is
untrue, except one, which is historical
and immaterial. Your premise is false,
to begin with, namely, that newsdealers
"are striking against all New York City
newspapers with the ill-advised encour-
agement Of The New York Tribune) to
reduce the wholesale price of the daily
papers of New York from s140 per hun
dred to S120 per hundred"
There is not now, and never has been,
strike of newsdealers against all news
papers. There is a strike against
the Hearst papers-that and nothing else.
Hearst in self-defence tried to convert it
into strike upon all the papers. At a
meeting of the Manhattan newsdealers
in Beethoven Hall a man whom the anti
Hearst leaders recognized as a Hearst
employe, with the aid of gang" pre-
tended to pass a resolution declaring a
general strike on the question of price !;
but no such action has ever been taken
by the newsdealers.
But before that, Mr.. Wiley, before
anybody had suggested that the fight
should become a general strike, the Pub
fishers Association had notified the
American News Company not to sell The
Times, The World, The Sun, The Herald
and The Tribune to newsdealers in
Brooklyn who had begun to cancel their
orders for Neao York Americans.
How do you explain that fact or recon-
cile it with the assertion that "there is
surely no effort on the part of the other
to foist Hearst newspapers
upon any reader?
1t was not until after the Publishers
Association had used it's power to compel
the American News Company to refuse
10 sell The Tribune to newsdealers who
cancelled their orders for Hearst papers
that The Tribune cut it's price to $1.2O
per hundred. And we cut the price be-
cause to keep control Of our own edi-
Sorial policy it had become suddenly nee
sssary for us to get control Of our own
circulation. The Publishers Association
'orced ug into that dilemma.
Then-and not until then--Was the