The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1918-08-29
Can Hearst Come Back?

E. S. Martin in Life.
When the Kaiser goes will William Hearst go
with him?
Are William Hearst's works running down ?
viii the collapse Of his great machine be by
product or concomitant of the collapse of the
great machine Of the Kaiser?
1t is very interesting question, to which pru7
dent folks will hesitate to run in with answers
The current drive on Hearst is pretty brisk. It
harder pressed than any similar assault that one
remembers It is not local. It is not a fight with
municipal election. 1t is fight about fundamen-
tails, about vital matters OF public policy, in which
the missiles that William has to dodge are ex-
tracts from his own papers. 1t is the Hearst Of
1914, 1915, 1915 and 1917 that the Hearst Of 1913
has to face when he peeps out Of his trenches.
William Missed the Right Road.
ID For William Hearst got in wrong in the war
Heaven knows why. 1t seemed natural to any
one not Of German blood to be right about it.
with all he was and all he had from the day the
first German soldier crossed the Belgian line!
And it was not only natural, but it was sure in
the long run to be popular. How did it befal
that William missed that road? 1t does not lodge
In memory what his papers made OF the first
set. Probably they were Mortified, like everyone
else. Most Of the men who work for Hearst are
human beings touched by the same emotions as
the best of us, revolted by the same crimes, de-
sirous a rule, of the same benefits to hu"
uanitv The treat Tnent thew undergo lie inteIli-
gent and-so far known-neither mean nor
harsh. Their natural dispositions and impulses
not suppressed, but skifully used to give
wholesome variety and substance to the great
daily that contains in it the suggestion that
1t is the Hearst purpose TO disseminate, Prob
ably the Hearst papers rallied as heartily the
rape of Belgium as anybody but as the war went
on, the purpose took shape and grew and hard
ened, to keep the United States out OF any posi-
ton that helpful to England and to check the
development of power to help her If we should
eventually conclude to do so.
Playing the German Game. J.
And OF course, denial Of help to England meant
denial Of help to all the Allies. Steadily and
through all the period of our neutrality, Hearst
played the German game, nourishing and stimu-
lating distrust Of England and Japan, clamoring
for rigid enforcement of neutrality rules against
Great Britain, making much of the need of mill
tary proceedings in Mexico. And when neutrality
ended he was strong for American troops for
home defense and for nothing else
The evidence of all these feats is on the pages
Of the files of the various Hearst organs of pub
lie instruction and entertainment. There is no
trouble about finding it. The trouble is to make
the selections out of so great a mass. The Trib-
selections into pamphlets, that the Hearst war
record may be conveniently examined. The
kaiser bought newspaper here (The MaiD, and
had it managed in the German interest. To COM
pare its course under the imperial direction with
that OF the Hearst papers under Hearst's direc-
fion is very instructive. The Mail and the Amer
agement or both under the kaiser, for any WISH
BE difference there was in their outpourings.
Hedging 60 Save His Skin.
Having done everything he could for the Ger
man cause as long as 1T was safe, William Hearst
is now supporting the war and the government
as to suggest that he is conscious OF the need to
let out his last tuck If he is to save his journal
istic hide. We shall see If he can do it, He bet
on the kaiser, and he Is going to lose. Can he
hedge enough to save his skin? 1T.
Perhaps he can. He is a very adroit person.
He knows the newspaper business He can make
successful magazines He employs clever men,
and Is able to keep them on the. job. He knows
how very short lis the memory Of the great pub
lie and how little average readers care for what
d newspaper said last year. Moreover, theresis
doubtless an important body of readers, and per-
haps OF advertisers who are in sympathy with
hind and have been all along, and recognize his
predicanaent. Perhaps as a publisher he will
fr3unlph over adversely; perhaps even as a poli-
Eician he may do something again. He doesn't
need to do the impossible. 10 fool all the people
alI the time but only some of them from day TO
day.
So he may yet pull out of the hole, but It 81 a
DEEP deep hole, and he ia 10 il ZIP TO his neck