The Daily Alaska empire., 1928-09-04
SUBSIDIZED" NEWSPAPERS.

The Professional Reformer with capital let ters, customarly contends that the press, which usually does not fall for silly innovations that are launched with the acclaim that they will cure humanity's ills, is subsidized. The get-the- office-at-any-cost warrior who, with loud noises and lurid words attacks Big Business would have his listeners eff they yoters) believe that Wall Street has the newspapers bought up. The K. K K. outfit pretends to be certain that the Pope is paying doles to editors and publish CTS of daily papers that with practical unanimity denounce the Klan. Prohibtionsts, with K. K K. approval, declare that favors from the liquor in- terests" responsible for the fact that nearly every large newspaper in the country is against Prohibition.
 Of course this sort or thing has little effect with informed people who think with their brains instead of slave for their prejudices and hates and grouches.
 It may sometimes seem strange to casual thinkers that legitimate newspapers do not an- in kind. People do not always stop to con sider that legitimate newspapers have more at stake preserving their good names and protect ing sanity and upholdng the truth, than those who merely attempting to put something over.
 At that the newspapers. the overwhelming majority of which oppose Prohibition, could make much plusble than the Prohibition ists that talk subsidies make if they would try to prove that those few newspapers that support Prohibition are subsidized. They would have the fact that it is admitted that the Anti-Saloon League has disbursed $67,500000 in the cam paign to put over Prohibition and to keep 1t in the law books They would have the fact that it is admitted that many dry leaders in the National Senate and House of Representatives, paid by the people for representing them, have been on the Ant-Saloon League payrolls for lee turing, etc. They would have the fact that the Prohibition crowd has maintained in whole or part publications to support Prohibition
 And they would have the circumstance that there has never been a satisfactory explana- tion of what has been done with the vast sum of s67.5OO,00O that has been expended by the Anti-Saloon League This is tremendous amount of money. It is far more than all the National Committees of the Democratic Party the Federalist Party the Whig Party, the Ameri- Party the Republican Party the Populist Party, the Progressive Party, all the various Socialist and Labor Parties and the Greenback- CTS have collected for expenditure in Presidential and Congressional elections in the century and a third since there have been opposing organized political parties in the United States. It is than twice the amount of money the Demo- crats, Republicans, Progressyes, Socialists, etc. have had to spend for campaign purposes in the last third of a century-the years of large political funds. What have they done with tht money?
 However, a charge that the few daily news papers that support Prohibition have been paid in coin or currency of the realm would be un thinkable. Those papers conducted with tht same high ethics to guide them that guide tho hundreds of daily newspapers that oppose Pro hibition. It is creditabe to the newspapers that such charge has been aid at their door Ant we can recall but one legitimate daily newspaper that has accused the anti-Prohibition papers o being subsidized.
 However. the thought remains, what have tht Prohbitonists done with the enormous sums o money they have spent to propagate dry sent ment? Really there ought to be a statement rendered. The duty to make such expos tion is emphasized by the fact that those who have collected and spent that money have beer so free in making charges of corruption.