Newark leader. ([Newark, Ohio]) 1917-1946, 1923-07-20
WHAT YOU READ IN YOUR
DAILY PAPER
Public Confession by the Associated
Press in Chemical Foundation
Case-Few Other Instances
Where Facts Were
Garbled

Do you believe EVERYTHING you
read in your daily paper? If you do
you should be sure to read this edi-
toral, because it gives you a glimpse
of the way NEWS" is MANUFAC-
TURED. If you take your daily
paper with a generous pinch of salt,
as you should, you will still find this
editorial worth reading.
4
During the war the federal govern
ment seized dye patents of great
value owned by enemy aliens. After
the armistice, instead of returning
these patents to their owners, as we
were in honor bound to do, they were
sold for about five cents on the dol
lar to the Chemical Foundation, an
other name for the Du Pont Powder
Trust.
Many of the government officials
who engineered this disgraceful deal
were given fat jobs with the Founda-
ton. Among those mixed up in the
affair was A. Mitchell Palmer, at one
time Attorney General and before
that Alien Property Custodian. The
power and prestige of both offices
were used in vain attempt to make
Palmer candidate for President.
President Harding was induced to
order the Attorney General to bring
suit to recover the patents.
The case is being tried in Whining
ton, Delaware, where the Du Points
own everything visible, including the
newspapers, and much that is in
visible, including the souls of the pol
iticians.
The Powder Trust and the Chemical
Foundation sought to discredit the
governments witnesses by picturing
them as "Pro-GermanS" To bolster
up this charge one of the Wilmington
papers printed and the Associated
Press sent out to it's millions of read
ers a story relating in detail how
former Congressman H. A. Metz, OF
New York, a multimillionaire, had
confessed on the stand that he hao
employed E. w. Dieters to gather in
formation to be used in a senatorial
investigation of the dye combine, anc
that Metz knew that Dieters hao
been arrested as a spy for German
dye interests and had later fled the
country.
To avoid libel suit, the Associated
Press has printed a public apology
admitting that no such testimony was
given by Metz or anyone else; that il
did not have a representative in the
courtroom; that it accepted the story
as it was prepared for it by Du Points
Wilmington paper; and that the Will
mington paper did not have repre-
sentative in attendance on the tria
but manufactured the libelous tale ir
its own office.
X X
This is the same Associated Press
which quoted Senator La Toilette a!
having said in st. Paul, soon after
we entered the war: "We had NC
grievances against Germany" ano
later admitted that the Wisconsin
Senator had not used the word "no.
Months elapsed before the Associated
Press acknowledged the truth in LIZ
Follette's case, and in the meantime
| the Senator's enmies endeavored tt
have him deprived of his seat in the
Senate, basing their attacks on thu
one lying word.
1t is the same Associated Pres
which in the summer of 1920, at thu
request of rich mine owner, wht
was acting for the National Coal AS
sociation, sent out report of an i'm
pending coal shortage, when, as ;
matter of fact, the coal market wa'
about to break because of overpro
duction. 1t is estimated that thi
false report cost the coal consumer
of the country in the neighborhood O.
$500, 100000 in increased prices.
1t is the same Associated Press
which day after day during the shop
mems strike magnified every justice
court "scrap" into case of murder
Gus assault" in an effort to make th'
people believe that the railroad work
ers were band of lawless ruffans
| y x
The indictment might be prolonged
indefinitely, but what's the use?
The foregoing is enough. 1t proves
that the springs of information
from which the American people ex
pect to get the "news" of nationa
and international events may be, ant
often are, poisoned at their source.
Labor, Washington, D. c.