The third paper which replied to me was the "New York Evening Post"; the only one which took up the matter in what I considered the proper spirit. Mr. John P. Gavit, managing editor of the "Evening Post," wrote as follows:
Your letter of recent date, together with the exhibit embodied in
the first page of the "Appeal to Reason" for May 30th, is hereby
acknowledged. I have undertaken an investigation of the matter which
will take considerable time and I am writing now only to prevent
your having the mistaken impression that your communication is to be
ignored. I attach for your information copy of a self-explanatory
letter which I have addressed to Mr. Melville E. Stone, General
Manager of The Associated Press.
Dear Mr. Stone:
I hand you herewith copy of the letter which we have received from Mr. Upton Sinclair, together with a page from the "Appeal to Reason" published at Girard, Kansas, under date of May 30th, 1914. I have been out of town, which fact will explain my delay in taking this matter up with you.
I am perfectly aware of Mr. Sinclair's reputation among newspaper men as an insatiable hunter of personal publicity; but it seems to me that his telegram to President Wilson, making specific allegations in connection with a matter of the utmost public consequence at a critical time, ought to have been transmitted by the Associated Press men at Denver. Of course, it is perfectly absurd for any Associated Press man to say that it is the policy of the Associated Press "to avoid controversy"; that theory of the service is long out of date, and two-thirds of its news reports relate to controversies in one way or another. I have not examined the reports of the matters to which Mr. Sinclair refers, but on its face his article certainly creates a prima facie of suppression of important facts regarding the situation at Denver. At the time to which he refers, I realize that the Denver correspondent was in a very difficult position in all this business, but in this case I think he made a palpable mistake.
It is evidently necessary under the circumstances that the "Evening Post" should deal with this subject, and I shall be glad to have at your early convenience any statement which you will be willing to have published over your signature. I personally believe that this should include some explanation from the Denver correspondent as to his reason for refusing to mention Sinclair's telegram to the President; though, of course, that is a matter entirely within your discretion.
Yours very truly,
John P. Gavit,
Managing Editor.
The above letter was perfectly satisfactory to me. It did not trouble me what either Mr. Gavit or Mr. Stone thought about my reputation among newspaper men. All that I was concerned about, all that I have ever been concerned about, was that the truth about social injustice should be made public.
