Page:The Brass Check (Sinclair 1919).djvu/178

 Mr. Gavit sent me a copy of Mr. Stone's reply, promising to make an immediate investigation of the matter and report. I felt so sure of the outcome that I ventured to make an announcement in the "Appeal," June 20, 1914, to the effect that the "A. P." was to be "smoked out," it was to be compelled to answer my charges.

But alas for my hopes of fair play, my faith in the organ of arm-chair respectability! Time passed, and I wrote to Mr. Gavit, again reminding him of his promises, and in reply he asked me to call to see him. I called, and found myself up against the concrete wall. Mr. Gavit was as polite as I could have requested; all that he failed in was action. He would not tell me the result of the investigation which Mr. Stone had made, or had promised to make. He would not tell me anything, except that the case was a subtle and difficult one to judge, and that he could not see his way to take it up. I quoted to him his letter to Mr. Stone, "It is evidently necessary under the circumstances that the 'Evening Post' should deal with this subject"; Mr. Gavit was uncomfortable and embarrassed, but he would not make good his words, nor would he publish in the "Evening Post" the facts about my challenge to the Associated Press. He never published a line about it, and on the basis of the facts above stated, I believe that I can claim to have proven positively that the "New York Evening Post" is not what it pretends to be, a newspaper serving the public interest.

I make the same claim concerning the "New York Times." The "Times" did not answer my letter, it did not pay any attention to me; but it happens that I read the "Times," and know some of its editors, so I went after it again and again. I will quote from the last of my letters, so that the reader may see how desperately I tried to get something done:

New York City, June 15, 1914.



Some time ago I wrote you a letter with regard to charges I had made against the Associated Press. I asked you to consider these charges and lay them before your readers, and give them an opportunity to decide of their truth. Not hearing from you, I wrote a second time, to ask you to do me the courtesy to let me know your intentions in the matter. Still not hearing from you, I assume that it is your intention to treat my communication with contempt. I want to call your attention to the fact that in writing to you I am making a test of the sense of honor of your publication. I am putting you on record, and I shall find means to make your attitude known to the