The Brass Check: A Study of American JournalismSinclair, Upton
General
The Brass Check: A Study of American Journalism
Sinclair, Upton
Associated Press; Journalism -- United States; Press -- United States
I look down the list which Mr. Stone sends me, and I see that these
“forty-one vote papers” include all of the biggest reactionary sheets in
America. One after another I look for those which I have pilloried in
this book—they are all here! The “Los Angeles Times” is here, and de
Young’s “San Francisco Chronicle,” and the “San Francisco Bulletin,” of
the itching palm, and the “San Francisco Examiner,” which sent out my
Shredded Wheat story, and the “Sacramento Union,” which was sold to the
Calkins syndicate. Here is the “Pueblo Chieftain,” which circulated the
foul slanders about Judge Lindsey and the miners’ wives. Here is the
“Baltimore News” of Munsey, the stock-gambler. Here is the “Washington
Post,” which, as I shall narrate, had a typewritten copy of a speech by
Albert Williams, and deliberately made up false quotations. Here is the
“Chicago Tribune,” which slandered Henry Ford, and the “Chicago Daily
News,” which, with the “Tribune,” robs the Chicago school-children. Here
is the “Cincinnati Times-Star,” which set out to fight Boss Cox, and
didn’t. Here is the “Boston Herald,” which, I shall show you, refused
President Wilson’s speech as an advertisement, and the “Boston
Traveller,” which lied about my magazine. Here is the “Kansas City
Star,” which hounded Mrs. Stokes to jail, and the “St. Paul Dispatch,”
whose misdeeds I have just listed. Here is the “Oil City Derrick,” owned
by Standard Oil, and the “Seattle Post-Intelligencer,” whose bonds were
found in the vaults of the Great Northern Railroad. Here is the
“Portland Oregonian,” which exists for large-scale capital, and the
“Milwaukee Sentinel,” owned by Pfister, who owns most of Milwaukee. Here
is the “New York Herald,” which suppressed my Packingtown story, and
paid me damages for the Tarrytown libel. Here is the “New York Evening
Post,” which failed to expose the Associated Press, and the “New York
World,” which favors twenty-cent meals for department-store girls; here
is the “New York Tribune,” which lied about the Socialist state
legislators, and the “New York Times,” which has lied about me so many
times that I can’t count them.
Such are the newspapers which control the Associated Press: a
“stand-pat” machine, precisely like the Aldrich machine which once
controlled the United States Senate, and the Cannon machine which once
controlled the House. Mr. Stone does his best to persuade me that in the
maintenance of this control the bonds have not played any part. He
writes:
Since the organization, over one hundred elections of directors have
taken place. In one case only, I believe, was the result different
from what it would have been if no votes had been cast upon the bonds.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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