The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-02-24
THE ADVERTISERS STANDARD

use of language excited and hysterical, be- cause The Age-Herald, on last Wednesday, exposed the efforts of the Advertiser to smear the Democratic party, the administration of Woodrow Wilson, and party leaders like the lamented Franklin K. Lane, W. c. McAdoo, Lindley Garrison and others, with the shame full stigma attaching to Republican adminis- trators in connection with the Teapot Dome investigation.
 The Age-Herald lin an unjustified criticism of the Advertiser based on an untrue state ment, says in its issue of last Wednesday:
 One newspaper in Alabama, the Mont
 gomery Advertiser, though protesting
 Democratic allegiance and without wait
 ing for more substantial evidence than
 mere suggestion on the part of witness
 ness himself under grave suspicion even
 said that Mir. McAdoo was as badly
 tarred with the oil scandal as Mir. Fall" On this the Advertiser comments as follows:
 As matter of fact, the Advertiser said
 nothing of the sort It never used any
 expression that could be honestly dis
 torted in such way.
 From which it appears that the Advertiser,
 
 ing had it's party disloyalty brought home to it, is not able to stand the gaff and seeks to sidestep the consequences.
 In reply to the above denial by the Advertiser, The Age-Herald needs only to quote from the Advertiser of Saturday, Feb ruary ?, and let the people of Alabama draw their own conclusions. In that issue the Ad vertiser said tbat Mir. Doheny, "in a brief but convincing testimony made the scandal a bi-party affair."" Note that the Advertiser declares that the testimony is convincing" and then goes on to say "It is no longer a Republican affair. Democrats of promi- nence, several cabinet officers of few years ago, and one candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination were accused by the oil man of taking money from the oil com pany" In other words, the Advertiser in these terms reveals a willingness, almost an eagerness, to duplicate the Democratic ad- ministration leaders in the scandal, and that too on the testimony of man himself under a heavy cloud.
 But the most significant proof, from the
 
 attack upon men prominent in its own party, follows. Says the Advertiser, in the same issue of February 2: '"The Democrats have naturally put the Teapot Dome scandal to the fore. They have educated the public to expect sensations and have represented with some truth that the scandal would be the greatest the country has known in genera tion. They have made good on that predic- tion, but we can guess that the Democrats in congress never expected to show the ramifi- cations which involved leading Democrats" Indeed, it appears that in the above sentence the Advertiser is actually impugning the good faith of the party in congress and i'm putting to it improper motives. The meat in the coconut follows: Democratic party leaders were exploiting the scandal for use as an issue to stir and arouse the public as a political issue in a presidential year. One faction in the Democratic party is exploiting the candidacy of a prominent Democrat who, they expect, will be named as the Democratic nominee for president. There are now ob- vious difficulties in the way of fulfillment of these hopes. The Democratic party can hardly nominate for president leader who is as badly tarrsd with the oil scandal as MT. Fall and at the same time make an issue of the Teapot Dome scandal" The Age-Herald is willing to leave to the public whether the Advertiser is not unmistakably saying that MT. McAdoo is as badly tarred with the oil scandal as Mir. Fall" The Age-Herald AL 4l ,IoAl, the Advertiser has cleared itself of the charge of attacking the Democratic party's adminis- tration of the national government, or of the charge of attacking the good faith of those leading Democrats in congress who have ex- posed Republican forfeiture of public trust. There can be no defence of the above lan- guage of the Advertiser by that newspapers attempt to minimize or deny it.
 This policy of the Advertiser of defaming other Democratic leaders in the supposed be- half of Mir. Underwood is of some months standing. Thus, on September 25, 1923, re- ferring to the Advertisers approving quota tion of a partisan Republican attack upon a leading Democrat, The Age Herald said: Tt appears to be simple political philosophy that Mir. Underwood can only be nominated by the votes of delegates from other states, who may also have favored son and be committed to his cause. Any expressed hostility to these other aspirants, by leaders of the party in Mir. Underwood's home state, is not calcu- lated to inspire a friendly feeling for Mir. Underwood, but, contrarily, to arouse hos tilty. We suspect that tlN attack upon other aspirants, by some of those who seek the limelight in espousal of Mir. Underwood s cause, is not born of desire to serve MT. Under wood, but prompted by desire to satisfy per sonal vanity or animosity. True friends of Mir. Underwood, therefore, who hold his interests above any self-interest, must deprecate these attacks upon other Democratic aspirants. for in the ultimate they cannot but be harmful to Mir. Underwood, and to the wholehearted sentiment of Alabama for him "