Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-23
Fulse Instructions

| UOISS IUSIUUOtlO0S
Elsewhere on this page there Is
| printed letter from Secretary Ickes
which accuses The Star of publishing
| in unethical fashion a news story
derogatory to him. The letter, in its
insinuations regarding The Stars
news policy, is false and malicious.
Mr.. Ickes, If he were familiar with
the mechanics of newspaper work,
should know that to be true. But he
seldom hesitates to stoop to vilifica-
ton, no matter how profound his
ignorance Of the subject under
| discussion.
The Star has no desire to match
invectives and innuendoes with Mr..
Ickes, for he excels in that field. But
| The Star takes pride in its reputation
for probity in the publication of the
news, and for that reason 1t makes
this statement of the facts which
Mr.. 1ckeS so maliciouSly diStortS.
The news story to which he takes
| exception was based on a demand by
Senator Danaher for an investigation
| of the circumstances under which
Secretary Ickes, with other persons,
acquired certain stamps, and whether
he stood to make large profit on
the stamps. The report of Senator
Danaher's remarks was received by
The Star late in the afternoon, the
copy desk wrote a headline simply
| stating that the demand for an
| investigation had been made and the
| story was sent to the composing
| room. Some time later a report
covering a reply made by Senator
Byrnes on behalf of Mr.. Ickes was
received, and that was sent to the
composing room as an addition to
the original story. The entire matter
was handled in purely routine FASH
ion, continuation Of the story to the
second page having been made neces-
sary by space limitations on the first
page.
In his remarks to the Senate, Mr..
Danaher quoted from a letter that
Mr.. 1ckes wrote last May 81 in do
mating some of the stamps to be
auctioned for refugee relief. This
letter brought out the fact that Mr..
Ickes' stamps were unique, in that
they had been "gummed" at his re-
quest, while those of the same issues
acquired by other officials were not
gummed. This fact, according to
Senator Danaher, gave Mr.. Ickes'
collection premium value which
would have been enhanced by the
auctioning of those donated to the
refugee fund.
AS to these contentious, The Star
expresses no opinion. But the sig
nificant fact, from the standpoint
Of the news story, is that Senator
Byrnes did not specifically deny the
allegations; nor did Mr.. Ickes do so
in his letter to The Star. Mr.. Ickes
speaks of reply" not of a denial.
My answer to this accusation" his
letter states, was that the charge
was rehashed from the 1886 (polit-
icaD campaign and that I would
sell the stamps that afternoon to
Senator Danaher for precisely what
they cost neither face value,
$780,"
That, in The Stars opinion, denies
neither the cumming" accusation
nor the claim as to the value of the
stamps, and deserved no greater
prominence than 1t received in the
news account of the incident.
Mr.. Ickes, celebrating on Senator
ByrneS' statement, told reporters
Wednesday that the stamps were
valueless to collectors and are now
worth only their current postage
price. Unfortunately a determine
ton of the actual market value of
the stamps has been made impossible
by Mr.. Ickes' belated decision to send
small check" to the refugee fund
and to request the return Of the
stamps he had sent to be auctioned
DcCduSc VI Vic 1uSS WIllC1l LIDS UcSIl
raised.
If the stamps in question are really
valueless to collectors and worth only
their current postage price, it seems
a bit incongruous that. Mr.. Ickes
should have donated them to the
cause Of refugee relief. But that Is
no more incongruous than his at
tempt to make capital out of mud
singing attack on The Star for its
handling of factual story reporting
the news of Senate debate AS for
his reply to the charges by Senator
Danaher, Mr.. IckeS would do well to
indulge in little more candor and
a little less vituperation.
Those Maryland legislators who
V0fed them selvec conn oniocn for