Imperial Valley press., 1938-07-03
LET'S HAVE
PAPERS INVESTIGATED

the Presidents Oldest son, as 'the climax
of a long series of attacks on the Presi-
dent" says:
$50 far as we know, this article has
received more attention in the newspaper
press than any magazine article since
Charles Marshall's Atlantic Monthly at
tack on Al Smith as Roman Catholic.
I'VE don't suppose President Roose-
evelt will bring a libel suit and go into
court to prove that he is neither a crook
nor CRATER. But the President has other
ways available to him of answering The
Saturday Evening Post and the rest of
the anti-New Deal press. We think he
should so answer-not out of vindictive-
ness or anger, but for reasons which We'll
state below.
Sometime ago Senator Sherman
Milton (Dem., Ind proposed an investi
cation of the United States press. We
think the time for such an investigation
has now arrived. 1t should be conducted
by an impartial commission, composed of
equal numbers of pro-New Dealers and
anti-New Dealers, to avoid whitewashing
or -plastering.
This newspaper much as it dislikes
the idea of having its private life investi
gated, offers itself as the first specimen
about this newspapers which lot of peo-
pie would like to have investigated. OK.
"There is the matter or large bonuses
paid to various news executives. These
bonuses are an outgrowth of contracts
made when The News was young, under
which these executives were to share in
any future increased profits. Good-siZ-
ed profits have been earned (knOck
wood) and some people think these
bonus contracts ought to be scaled down
for the general good of society. Let's
have the facts. There is the charge that
advertisers Influence the policies of The
News, as of other newspapers and maga-
zines. Let that be probed.
"The publisher of this paper throws
the papers insurance business to his SON.
in-law, getting. he believes, good service
but if anybody is unjustly deprived or
injured by that practice, let it go on the
record.
"There is the talk about the relation
ship between the New Deal News and the
Old Deal Chicago Tribune. Cynics snick-
er that this organizations plan is to work
both sides of the street, so that in any
event it will have friend in the White
House. Let's have that gone into.
"The News having been thus investi-
gated by commission of, say, three anti
New Dealers and three pro-New Dealers,
we think The Saturday Evening Post
might be investigated next. Does it, di-
rectly or indirectly, employ child labor;
and if so, how much? Does it benefit by
the fact, stated often in these columns on
information and belief, that the post
office carries newspapers and magazines
at about S100,000,000 year below cost;
and if so, how much? What is its finan-
cial setup and dividend policy? And so
on.
eve think the investigation should
also include Mr.. J. David Stern, pro-New
Deal publisher of The New York Post;
Mr.. S. E. Thomason, pro-New Deal pub
Usher of The Chicago Times, and other
pro-New Deal publishers.
"Then the anti-New Deal Scripps-
Howard chain might have its turn in the
wringer, its feature writer, Westbrook
Pegler, being an enthusiastic attacker of
the Presidents family. After that, the
Hearst chains financial setup and back
ing should be looked into, and the find
ings published. Likewise The New York
Times and The New York Herald Trib-
une. And so on down the line.
''We don't say all this out of anger
We say it for this reason:
"We believe the great maj jority of anti
New Deal publishers and magazines are
trying to build up fanatical hatred of
President Roosevelt. We do not believe
they can succeed in entirety, judging
from the election returns to date We
believe that if thew do succeed even par
TALLY, they will stir up class divisions
and class hatreds which will have conse-
quences the most disastrous, not only for
the newspapers but for the entire coun-
try.
eve want to see the entire press-in-
Guiding, of course, the magazines-of the
United States investigated by an impair
tial commission as a sort Of oil-lancing
procedure, to let some of the abcessed
hate and misunderstanding out into the
fresh air. If the abcess is allowed to go
on building up without treatment, nobody
can say what the end results may be-