The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1935-01-18
Verbatim Reports Conceal
Ugly Aspects of the
Proceedings
By ALLEN JOHNSON

0OIlNNlIN
FLEMINGToN, N. J.-No Incl.
q q In the recent history of the
United States reveals the class Nc Nc
o o consequently the ugly
corruptiOn-of the capitalist pres res
as thoroughly as the trial nov, %
ing on here of Bruno Rioaee1a
Hauptmann for the murder of +bo
Llndbergh baby. This comnla+o
corruption is not easily discove,oJ
nor Is it amendable to simnle
proof but that it is being Az
pressed in every account Of tbo
trial appearing in the canitalist
ton. 4ueS-
The verbatim testimony of the
trial is an excellent case in point
One could expect that a steno~
graphic report of what actually
was said in the courthouse her.
could be relied on. Workers nar-
tlcularly, who love facts because in
the long run their very lives de-
perd on their ability to learn the
truth about the society thew live
in, prefer to read the actual testi-
mony at the trial as presened in
the verbatim reports in the cant
talist press, rather than a boiling
down of that testimony or an in
terpre tation of it. But the CHASTITY
truth about he verbatim reports in
The capitalist press is that these
reports frequently disagree with
each other, and that many of the
verbatim" reports are not COM
plete reports.
It is this confusion, about the
meaning of verbatim" which is
Internationally lea ding many
workers ard farmers to the con-
'lusion that the verbatim reports
Of the Hauptmann trial are COM
plete and therefore true. reports
But events here are proving again
that it is impossible to give a YER
hatim report of the proceedings Of
a trial and render completely in
accurate report of what actually
occurred at these proceedings.
1t is the excerpts-published YER.
batim-from the complete report
OF the proceedings that are "play.
ed up" by the capitalist press un.
der eight column headlines, plus
what is not reported at all. thai
creates in the reader the picture
Of what actually happened.
The enormous headlines. for ex.
ample, which proclaimed that Bet
ty Cow had frustrated Reillv's at.
tempt to shake her testimony. were
complete distortion of what ac
tually took place, as a careful
scrutiny of even the verbatim. ,
partially complete, reports will
prove. Reilly cross-exanined Bet.
tv Cow that day with the view Of
bringing out that she was the in.
innate friend of "Red" Johnson
an apparently easy-living sailol
who was shipped to Norway short
" after the kidnapping; that sh,
frequented roadhouses with him
and that she had been in the com
many OF many men in Detroit wher
she had lived there. Reilly's pur
pose, of course, was to try u
prove that Cow liked the company
of sophisticated men, and tina
when she lived in Detroit she ma,
ave been friendly with member
of the notorious Purple Gang IL
that city who have been accused
of being the actual kidnappers o.
the Lindbergh baby.
What Press Omitted
And did Betty Cow actual,
make Reilly look foolish, as ever,
capitalist paper in New York ant
almost certainly in the Unitet
States, declared, quoting the ever
batim" testimony? On the con
trary. Reilly made his point ever,
time. Not only did Cow admit Thu
three points that he was tryirJ
to prove, but he actually force,
her to contradict herself twice il
her testimony on important points
Something none of the capitals
papers mentioned, although it wa
hidden in most of the verbatim re
ports which they carried.
Then there is the enormou
amount of wordage being carrie
in the capitalist press to the eff
feet that the population of Fler
ington is in a white heat over tn
trial. The purpose of these storie
is to try to convince the America
working class that not only ar
the newspapers vitality intereste
in the proceedings of the Haupt
mann trial, but that the locs
workers are too. cit is perfect
justifiable for you, as workers,
be interested in this trial to tn
exclusion of your real interests
the capitalist press is saying, be
cause the workers of Flemingtor
whose interests are similar I
yours ard who know more abor
the case than you do, are interests
in it as much as we are. And
the workers of Pennington are il
terested in this case, you worker
needn't be ashamed of being int,
ested in it, too"
But what are the facts? tt
workers of Pennington are NO
vitality interested in the trial, pr
cisely because they know too muC
about it. Last week this report,
happened TO be nreSent when.