Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1919-08-02
Attack on Meat
Dealers Unfair 2
Says Merchants

Retraction of an. article attacking
the local meat dealers, which ap-
peared in a recent edition of. the
Grand Forks American" a local
Socialistic organ, has been asked by
the Merchants association Of Greater
which appears in the weekly bulletin
of the association, under the heading,
"An Unfair Attack"
The bulletin questions an article
which appeared on the front page of
the American and terms it "a most
unfair attack on local meat Dealers"
The article, it says. is injurious and
unfair to both the city and the local
dealers.
The. bulletins article is as follows:
"A local paper a few days ago made
what appears to have been a o un-
fair attack on local meat dealers, at
the same time doing an injury to the
city of Grand Forks which it will be
difficult, if not impossible, to wholly
repair. The article referred to was on
the front page and bore a headline
in very large bold type the whole
width Of the page, conveying the idea
that there had been q combination
among the meat dealers to keep meat
prices ~unreasonably high and that, the
combination had been broken, with
the result that prices had fallen. We
have information indicating positively
among the dealers and certain we'll
known facts tend to disprove the claim
that prices have been unreasonably
| high. 1t is well known that n Of
our butchers, though a hard worker
land a careful man, operating at low
expense, was obliged to quit the bust
ness about a month ago. It is also
we'll known that one of the largest
firms in the city is changing over to
operate on that basis after August
list. II this firm had been making
large profits on a large volume OF
business, would it risk the uncertainty
Of such a radical change in its meth
DDS Of doing business?
Publishers r under a RESPONSE
bility to work no injustice and when
they make a statement affecting the
business or the character of an indi
| vidual they should, to say the least
be sure of their ground. Mere loose
talk is bad enough and in the aggre'
gate no doubt does a great deal Of
damage in poisoning minds and max
ing trouble: but its effect is not to be
compared to that of the printed word
If the article to which we refer wa.
hastily and thoughtlessly published
| quill IIl11l6S SO11lCtAIAlCS AAopPSi Ill 6SL
ting out a daily paper-the least thu
publishers can do is to investigate tn
facts and publish a retraction a
prominently as the original articl,
was published. ~
"Our Commercial club and othel
civic organizations, at great expense
of money and effort, are ~endeavorins
to sell the city of Grand Forks to tn
world as being up to all standards o
a city of its class-a good city II
which to live or with which to d.
business-and along comes an articl
like this to pull down what has beef
built up and to make it more Difficult
to build in the future.
This is a serious matter and pos
sibly, as, the attack was on a specia
limited class, the members of which
are we'll known, and none of whom
were excepted in the article, they cal
maintain an action at law against tn
publishers. particularly if a full an
satisfactory retraction is not pub
lished. AS a local business a re
marked a day or two. ago, retail deal
ers have been too careless about re
senting attacks of this character. /
is about time for them to stand wit
their backs to the wall and defen
themselves" e.. -